I enjoy a glass of red wine with Italian food and therefore went out to buy a bottle before Joy fixed baked ziti the other night. Once I made the decision on the variety and the vineyard, the merchant had two vintages to chose from. I didn’t know much about the vineyard where the wine came from but I do know a general rule of thumb is to choose the older wine. I reminded myself that advice was even Biblical. Christ said “And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.'” Luke 5:39. The merchant actually recommended the newer vintage. Too often I’m drawn to the old but it’s like Christ said, no one WANTS the new. When Jesus makes wine, the new is ALWAYS better.
Most believers know that Christ’s first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding festival. Every move Jesus made was wrought with meaning and intentionality. At the end of the wedding when everyone had consumed all the wine and there was nothing left to drink, Christ took tasteless water and turned it into something new and special. The master of the wedding banquet drank a little of the new wine and immediately went to the bridegroom to give him props for serving such a nice wine. ‘”Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now.'” John 2:10. The wine Jesus makes is always better than the wine I choose and the best is often served later.
Romans 8:29 reminds us that the Holy Spirit is in the process of changing believers from water into wine. “For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed into the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Too often Christians get caught up with the words ‘predestined’ and ‘foreknowledge.’ The focus should be that we are being changed and made into something new. The purpose is to make us more like his Son so that the family gets bigger. The master of the wedding ceremony didn’t miss the fact there was new wine. Don’t miss the results or the purpose for the changes going on in your life and heart…or in those around you.
The process of conforming us into the image of Christ can be chaotic in our lives. We must remember and recognize there is a purpose. Pouring something new into something old can cause havoc. “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” Luke 5:37-38. Just like the wine, I tend to choose the old ways and not the new ones. God needs to pour something new into our lives so don’t be surprised if you start to spring a few leaks.
What does new wine look like in your life? For starters, it requires a new skin, not a patch job. “He told them this parable: No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.”Luke 6:36. If God is building a new person or a new company or a new church, He will make the people new and build something new. God will make the components of his creation into the image of his Son which will require turning something common and tasteless into something special. He will take pride and make it humility. He will take the light away from you and turn it to Himself. Look for the new wine in your life and the lives of others. Drink from the new wine and recognize the difference when you taste it.
Too often, I want to skip the process of being made new and just drink from the old stuff. Too often, we focus on what other people were and not what they have been made into. The old saying, ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’ would have kept the guests at the wedding festival from enjoying what Jesus had done with the water. All believers are being made new. Those that we are closest to, our families and friends, are often the people we never enjoy the new taste of because we focus on what they were and not what they have become. Don’t be too rigid to try the newer vintage.
I’ve lived long enough to know that I am a shadow of the man I used to be. I’m a new vintage and a new wineskin but I physically look like the old one. Outwardly, I AM wasting away, but inwardly I AM being renewed every day. I thank God that He has made me a new wineskin because the old one definitely leaked. I tried to sew on patches, but He had a different plan.
Jesus makes new wine. He only pours it into new wineskins. When you and I are being conformed into the new wineskin it may not be a pretty process, but it is a necessary process. ALL believers are being conformed and turned into new wine. Find another believer and pour a glass from their wineskin. The new stuff tastes great.