Rip You A New Wineskin

Jesus said, "no one pours new wine into old wineskins."

I've heard this scripture all my life. And I always thought of it as Jesus' version of "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." Which it sort of is. But I took both of those things to mean that the old wineskins and old dogs just have to move aside and make way for the new wineskins and young dogs.

But, let's face it, if you grew up in the church, you've probably developed an old wineskin. Some manage to stay fresh, but most get hardened over time and either settle into old habits or complain about how you can't change things anyway.

Which just shows how little we actually believe in resurrection. We claim to follow a man who not only rose from the dead, but assured us that His resurrection meant that our resurrection was possible. That a new world could be made of the old one.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. But Christ can make him a new dog.

You can't pour new wine into old wineskins. So if Jesus plans to pour new wine into you, He may have to rip you a new wineskin.

That was what the first year or so of church planting was for me. It felt like the old skin was being flayed off of me. It was beyond painful.

But when the new wine starts to flow, it's all worth it.

Suffering sucks. But it passes. Often it even serves a purpose. Often we are being made into new wineskins in order that we might hold new wine.

If we are a people who believe in resurrection, we can afford to die. We can afford to shed our old lives and habits and ways and to walk in a new way, the Way of Jesus.

So if you're asking for God to make you new, don't be surprised if it hurts. A lot.

And if it feels like God's ripping you a new wineskin, hold on. New wine is coming.

The First Thing I Can Do

"...since we're all connected, I have to believe that making peace on a small scale helps toward making peace on a large scale. If I want President Bush to stop the war in Iraq, I can sign a petition, send a letter to my congressperson, picket the White House. But maybe the first thing I can do is reconcile with my little sister." -from Redeemed by Heather King

But whoever loses his life...

Ian Usher has the life many people dream of. He owns a $400,000 home, a sportscar, a jetski, a boat, and a spa.

But Ian Usher isn't happy. His marriage recently ended, and he's looking to start again.

So, Ian Usher is auctioning off his life on eBay.

The winner gets his house and all its contents, two weeks training for his job, and an introduction into his group of friends.

This story is true, it is happening, and it is fascinating to me.

And, with Easter just around the corner, I can't help but draw Biblical applications.

Jesus said, "whoever wants to keep his life, will lose it, but whoever loses his life for the sake of the good news, will save it."

I don't know what Ian Usher's story is, beyond the little I can glean from a 2 minute news story. But this is a man who is making the choice to lose the life he has in the hopes of something better.

It may be that Usher is just bailing out on his old life and the responsibilities that come with it. It may be that he plans to drag his same issues and hang-ups and habits and problems into this new life and that this is more of a quick fix/running away than an actual life change.

But what if it isn't. What if Ian Usher decides to really begin again? What might happen to him?

Holy Week is a time when we remember both the death and resurrection of Jesus. We remember that our hope is in losing our life in order to be "born again" into a new one. This doesn't mean we drag old habits and old ways into a new set of circumstances, it means we die to old habits and old ways in order to walk in a new way, the Way of Jesus.

This can be bad news for people who like their lives the way they are.

But for guys like Ian Usher, whose cars and house and spa couldn't hold together a marriage or make him happy, maybe this is good news. Maybe it's good news worth losing your life over.

Hospice

I think Hospice is a great name for a church plant. If we hadn't grown into the name Immanuel in such a meaningful way, I might use it myself.

The dictionary defines hospice this way: a lodging for travelers, pilgrims, foundlings, or the underprivileged, especially when maintained by a religious order; a program designed to provide a caring environment for meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those who are ill.

Just a few Jesus quotes:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Thanks Bob

"What you win them with, you win them to." -Bob Hyatt

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Living Water

http://thecorner.typepad.com/journeylent/2008/03/kester-smith-li.html

Thirst For The Word

"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD,

"when I will send a famine through the land-

  not a famine of food or a thirst for water,

  but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD."

-Amos 8:11

So, this week's passage for Lent is the story of the woman at the well. It is a reminder that those of us who might pursue other things in our thirst, must turn to Jesus Christ, the source of living water, if we want to stop thirsting.

In preaching from this passage, I spent time reading other passages on thirst and hunger. I came across the passage from Amos 8, and I realized something frightening. I don't thirst for words of the LORD. I'm more likely to use my Bible as a preaching tool than as a place that I return to for daily sustenance. And I've been wondering why that is.

It isn't that I don't value the Bible, its words carry more weight in my life than any other book. It is my "desert island" book. Yet I find myself having to "make time" for it more than thirsting for it. 

So I'm putting this within the context of Lent and the context of fasting and I'm realizing that maybe I don't give myself enough opportunity to thirst for the words of the LORD. Maybe when I thirst for words (and I am a voracious reader), I just reach for whatever is handy. Maybe I'm so full that I can no longer be moved. Maybe it takes a desert island experience to bring about a desert island thirst.

So, here's what I'm doing. For the rest of Lent, no more books but the Bible. Even as I write that, my stomach gets kind of sick. Which is probably a good thing. Maybe those are hunger pangs.

Let's be clear about two things. First, I don't think reading books besides the Bible is bad. I'm sure anyone who knows me doesn't have to be told that, but just so we're clear. Secondly, I don't announce this here to get credit points, but because if I don't tell you I'm doing it, I won't do it. This will be the hardest thing I have ever given up for Lent. 

But my hope and prayer is a renewed thirst for the words of the LORD. My desire is to get back to reading it the way I did when I first fell in love with its story. Pray for me.