The New for the New

WHAT'S NEW?

No, he pour new wine into new wine skins.  (Mark 2:22)

 "New" makes its appearance on labels of products as "new and improved" or "new look."  It also shows up as "brand new" and "as good as new" in the area of resale.  Unfortunately, this sort of marketing is not isolated to the sale of candy or used bicycles.  This concept of "new" has crept into our spiritual lives as individuals and communities.

Such newness follows our worship of human progress and technology.  Last year's computer is not as good as this years model.  The latest fashions are always better than the ones of last year or the last decade.  Even the nostalgic appeal to "classic" or "original" is based on having greater choices and variety - something new all the time.

It's not all bad, but it has little to do with the new wine that Jesus wants to give to us.  Jesus wants to fulfill rather than replace.  What is old cannot hold the new, but what is old points to what is new and lays the ground for it.  The new wine is Jesus's new teaching, which is not confined to a book, but lives and moves in and through and with us.

This new wine is new because it is constantly growing.  It is vital.  It is living.  Jesus's teaching continues and finds life through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who will remind us of everything Jesus said and lead us into truth.  Such a new living wine cannot be contained by the same containers; they give out and burst eventually.  No, he pours new wine into new wine skins.

Jesus's disciples are the new wine skins.  They are the ones made new through a living, conversational relationship with Jesus and his Father through the Holy Spirit.  Their lives make more and more room for God rather than shrinking and hardening by trusting in the correct professed beliefs or in the right good actions or in the best informed community.  Beliefs and actions and community are important, but  they cannot hold the new wine.  Only a discipleship of interactive love with Jesus can hold this new wine.

THE OTHER WINE SKINS

Jesus warns against two alternatives to his teaching and Spirit later in Mark (8:15).  He tells his disciples to watch out for the "yeast" or the teaching of the Pharisee and of Herod.  Pharisees taught about a life of service to God, full of deeds good in themselves and under the protection of the Jewish religious institution.  Self-righteousness was their trademark.  Hypocrisy was the outcome.  A life devoted to their teaching was one where they found themselves doing everything so that others would see.  To them Jesus said, "Clean the inside of the dish and the outside will come clean as well."

The teaching of Herod was one that accommodated to the world they lived in.  He was careful to stay on good terms with those around him, especially important people, like rulers.  His life stood in opposition to what was moral and right, but he tried to buy support through building temples for the religious people.  Unrighteousness was his trademark.  Friendship with the world was the outcome.  Such teaching resulted being darkened in the mind and cut off from the life of God.

Self-righteousness and unrighteousness seem to promise "new wine."  One with the spiritual fads, good deeds, or orthodox practice, the other with new pleasures and personal "freedom."  Neither delivers.  Communities that thrive on such teaching and practices reap the same benefits: falsehood and emptiness.

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I am too easily swayed by these paths, especially self-righteousness.  Becoming a new wine skin seems so much harder until I see or experience the fruits of the other ways.  If I take the other paths, I inevitably find myself backtracking and unlearning what I've been learned.  Whether I find myself drawn to professing the right beliefs to be right with God or to doing good deeds for God without coming to know God himself or to taking care of the church so it will take care of me, I find they leave me empty, since God will not fill such wine skins with his new wine.  Jesus's teaching and His Spirit can only reside in his apprentices, otherwise I find myself broken and worn out, unable to sustain the life he longs to fill me with.

Lord, re-new me today.  Yesterday's thoughts and feelings and desires will not carry me through today. Give me this day your daily bread of renewal and transformation so that my life might be a holding place for your Spirit of love, joy, and peace.  Amen.

The Cost of Legalism

Recently, I heard someone ask at church, "What is legalism?"  Mostly, it is a slur thrown around at people who are harsh and overly religious.  As far as that definition goes, I need to ask myself, "Would Jesus be called a legalist if someone met him today?"  Maybe. . . .

Jesus carefully warns his disciples about the "yeast" or teaching of the Pharisees (Mark 8:15).  He describes this yeast that spreads so easily in Matthew 23:

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1. Right words, wrong actions (vv. 2-3)
2. Produces guilt with no freedom (v. 4)
3. Does good deeds for others to see (vv. 5-7)
4. Focuses on authority in position rather than in deed (vv. 8-12)
5. Minimizes God's influence and power in this life (vv. 13-14)
6. Makes converts to an idealism instead of disciples of Christ (v. 15)
7. Uses words to convince instead of clarify (vv. 16-22)
8. Does "good" deeds without good character (vv. 23-24)
9. Outwardly clean without inwardly filthy (vv. 25-26)
10. Outwardly beautiful but inwardly dead and decaying (vv. 27-28)
11. Justified by self instead of by God (vv.29-32)
12. Persecutes and destroys those sent by God (vv.33-36)

 Legalism is a malady of the heart.  It has followers from all walks of life.  It is not defined by a particular viewpoint, but more by a particular attitude, a way of doing things.  Spiritual formation or discipleship or social action that does not have the substance, the reality, the heart of goodness leads inevitably to legalism.  A legalist believes a person can do good without being good.

I am grateful for this teaching in Matthew 23.  Jesus was right to warn me about legalism.  It is a trap. Jesus gives me some words for avoiding this trap:

1. Do everything they tell you.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  (v.3)
2. The greatest among you will be your servant.  (v. 11)
3. You have one Teacher, the Christ.  (v. 10)
4. First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.  (v. 26)

I count the cost of legalism not only in what bad it does, but also in what good I miss.

1. I will miss being able to practice what I preach.
2. I will miss relieving people of their heavy burdens.
3. I will miss having God as my Master, Father, and Teacher.
4. I will miss being in God's kingdom, in his power and influence.
5. I will miss seeing others come to know Jesus and follow him.
6. I will miss speaking words that bring knowledge and truth.
7. I will miss having a just, merciful, and faithful character.
8. I will miss inward purity.
9. I will miss inward vitality.
10. I will miss being justified by God.
11. I will miss being a prophet, wise man, or teacher sent by God.

Other than the recognition gained from legalism, all it brings is hypocrisy and blindness.

I get all tied up inside when I worry about what everyone else is doing or what everyone else might be thinking about me.  I find that such thoughts carry the temptation of legalism.  Today, I am most moved by the thought that I have one Teacher, the Christ.  Through him I find that I have a Master and a Father as well.  There are many voices out there, but only one I have to attend to, really.

Master, Teacher, Father,  what good do I have apart from you?  Sometimes I fear what following you might cost me, but I see better what it will cost me to not follow you.  Let my surrender be based on counting the cost.  Let my examination bring me to your rule, your lessons, and your arms, loving Father.  Amen.