Title: Text of the sermon on February 14 (hymn)
Contents
Mark 2:18-22 “New wine in new wineskins”
(Hymn 210 After My Sins Are Forgiven)
Mark 2:18-22 “New wine in new wineskins”
(Hymn 210 After My Sins Are Forgiven)
The Pharisees had a religious tradition of fasting twice a week.
The fast prescribed by the law was only one day a year. It is the Day of Atonement, a day when the whole nation repents before God and offers sacrifices for atonement.
However, the Pharisees and religiously zealous fasted twice a week, Monday and Thursday. That fast was a kind of weekly fast from 6 in the morning to 6 in the evening. We ate after 6 o'clock. They considered abstinence and temperance necessary to lead a godly life. It started from the heart to live according to the will of God rather than live according to the lusts of the flesh through physical abstinence and self-control.
But, as with everything in the world, these initial pure religious motives did not last long. While the Pharisees were fasting, they walked through the streets wearing pale faces and old clothes, letting people know that they were fasting. Fasting before God is an outward expression of your inner religious state. However, they had to fast in order to appear in front of people. After all, it is not a sign of inner determination and sobriety before God, but a religious act to reveal oneself to others and to brag about oneself.
Jesus worked freely without being bound by the traditions and traditions of the Jews.
During Jesus' public life, there were many hungry, cold, and tiring days, but there were also many pleasant and pleasant days. Many people would invite Jesus to their house and have a meal together. Where Jesus was, there was always joy and joy like a banquet house while eating, drinking, and talking.
During his public life, Jesus did not fast, like the Pharisees or the disciples of John the Baptist, but ate delicious food, drank wine happily, and talked with people. And you worked hard.
One day some people ask Jesus' disciples a question
People who are religiously zealous, that is, the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees, fast, but why don't Jesus and his disciples fast like them? They look at the disciples with puzzled expressions.
Jesus tells them.
“Can the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them? You cannot fast while you are with the groom! ”
In Israel, the groom brings the bride to the groom's house and usually has a feast for about a week.
This day is the happiest day of my life. Neighbors and friends of the bride and groom gather together and enjoy a feast, eating and drinking to their heart's content for a week.
Fasting is a sign of sorrow and pain. However, if the friends of the bride and groom come to the feast and fast, they will be displaying a sign saying, “We are so sad and in so much pain that you are getting married now.”
that it cannot be. At the banquet house, the friends of the bride and groom bless the groom and the bride to enjoy and rejoice.
Why did you use this parable?
The period when Jesus came to this earth as the Savior and lived his public life is like a banquet house.
He came to save the world.
The world is saved through him.
Also, Jesus is the true bridegroom of those who believe in him.
While he is in the world, people are in truth, life, and light.
The world ought to rejoice and rejoice in him.
Therefore, Jesus or his disciples, the bridegroom, do not have to fast.
Then Jesus teaches an important truth through a very interesting parable.
That is the topic of today's sermon.
(The story of a piece of raw cloth and old clothes)
A piece of raw linen refers to a piece in the state of first weaving. The raw cloth is in the state before being washed in water. We see that when we buy cotton or linen clothes and wash them for the first time, they shrink a lot. Hemp is more severely reduced than cotton. The same is true for cloth made of linen, which is similar in nature to hemp. After the first raw cloth gets wet or washes, it will decrease significantly. However, the old shavings are old and do not shrink. So, just because the old sackcloth is broken, if you put a piece of raw linen on it to tilt it, when the garment gets wet or washed, the piece of linen shrinks severely, but the old sackcloth does not shrink, so the old part breaks off or a larger hole that this will be born. So no one is doing that. Also
(The Tale of New Wine and Old Skins)
On the other hand, nomads like Israel in the old days used skinskins made from sheep or goats because they did not have water bottles like today when carrying water or wine. When the leather bag was new, it was raw leather, so it had good shrinkage. However, after a long time, it hardens and hardens. Just like the old leather shoes we wear. However, new wine is a fresh wine that has not yet been fermented. However, if you put this new wine in an old leather bottle, as the wine ferments, its volume increases, and the air pressure increases and expands by the generated gas. Then, the old leather bag that does not shrink can not withstand the pressure of expansion and burst.
So no nomads put new wine into old wineskins. Because everyone knows how it goes. New wine must be stored in new skins.
What these two parables mean is this.
Gone are the days of living under the law, the days of following people's traditions and customs.
A new era has come through Jesus Christ.
In a new world in Jesus, people will follow a new order and live a new life.
What is the new world and new life of those who believe and follow Jesus?
Romans 8:1,2 is written about this.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
The new way of life for Christians is written down as “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”
“The law of the Spirit of life in Jesus” This tells us three things.
First, it is the law in Jesus.
Jesus called those who are in him to be free.
John 8:32 says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Also Galatians 5:1 says, “For Christ set us free, so stand firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
Jesus called us to set us free with the truth. Those who are in Christ are called free. Christians are free from sin, from the law, from death, from the devil, and from the customs of the world.
Those who believe in Jesus and come to know the truth will enjoy true freedom.
For Christians, everything is right. You have given me freedom in everything.
You can eat anything, you can touch anything. Wherever you go, whatever you do, anything is possible. He has given us the freedom and the will to choose. Hallelujah!!
But not everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. (1 Corinthians 10:23,24)
1 Corinthians 10:23,24 says, “All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial; all things are lawful, but all things are not edifying.
Also, Galatians 5:13 says, “Brothers, you were called to freedom, but do not use that freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
We are given the freedom to choose and to do whatever we want, but we must use that freedom not to make choices or actions that harm our body or soul or harm others.
Second, it is the law of life.
The ultimate goal of all things should be the saving of life and the giving of life, not the killing laws, ordinances, or religious ceremonies.
The Sabbath should be the day that saves people and gives them life.
In order for even one person to be saved, sometimes he must become like a Gentile, and sometimes he must become like a man under the law. Among all our values, the value of life, the value of saving souls, must come first.
We must not forget that God gave the law to save us, and that He sent Jesus into the world to save us.
We must remember that the Lord sometimes puts the saints in suffering and sometimes uses the scourge of chastisement to save us and save us.
Third, it is the law of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord has sworn and promised us with blood. Not in stone tablets, but in our hearts and minds
It means that you will write the word of God. And according to that promise, the Lord is writing the Word of God in our hearts and minds every day according to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Through sermons, meditation and prayer, through Bible study, and while reading the Bible, the Lord is constantly fulfilling His promises. Hallelujah!
The law of the Holy Spirit means that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who dwells within us, guides us according to the words of truth written in our hearts and minds. With the Word of God written in us, the Holy Spirit enlightens us, gives us burdens, moves us, gives us desires, and gives us thoughts. All of this is the work of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit guides us with the word of truth, we obey it and live according to it.
Living according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of obtaining and saving life with the freedom that has been given to us is the new way of life for us who have become new creatures and new people in Jesus.
This is the new bottle that Jesus is talking about to us.