Sermon Tone Analysis

Copyright January 29, 2023 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

They say the seven last words of any church are: “we’ve never done it that way before.”

It means a church that refuses to change and adapt, a church that insists on doing everything the way it has always been done, will die.

Equally dangerous the idea of saying, “let’s do what everyone else is doing” may also be the 7 last words of a church.

In this case, you are no longer doing what is best for your congregation or seeking God’s direction for your church, you are now running after a crowd instead of working to build God’s Kingdom.

Sometimes change is good, but change for change’s sake is foolish.

Things and times are always changing.

I used a typewriter in college and jumped for joy when they came out with erasable typing paper.

In those days, the first draft of a paper was the draft you were going to turn in because there was no way you were going to re-type the whole paper!

It wasn’t until I came to LaHarpe that I used my first electric typewriter that had a correcting ribbon so you could go back and correct mistakes.

Now we have computers and can move paragraphs around and have spell checkers and grammar checkers!

Things change.

I remember going to a wedding that someone was videotaping a long time ago.

They had huge spotlights that blinded the congregation and produced a grainy video with no sound.

At that time the cameraman had to walk around like a pack mule.

Now everyone can take better quality wedding videos with their phone than this guy did with thousands of dollars in equipment.

As times and people change our church has changed.

We have expanded our footprint (twice), added comfortable chairs, padded the pews, added air conditioning, created a good quality sound system, and then the multimedia system.

Each time there were some who did not like the suggested changes, but in the end, they were all well received.

This morning Jesus is going to talk to us about change that is far more extensive than the changes we have been talking about.

But . . .

before we get there, let’s look again at our text in Mark 2:18-22,

18 Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do?”

19 Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom?

Of course not.

They can’t fast while the groom is with them.

20 But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

21 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth?

For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

22 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost.

New wine calls for new wineskins.”

Criticism About The Role of Fasting

When people talk about fasting today it is usually about weight loss or preparation for a blood test.

In Biblical days fasting was seen as a sign of repentance and sorrow for sin or to be more attentive to God when you were seeking an answer or resolution for some issue.

You hear people talk sometimes about times of prayer and fasting.

So fasting is a legitimate spiritual discipline designed to help you grow in your faith.

Jewish law required one day of fasting a year on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.

This was a time when the sins of the people were confessed before God by the High Priest and a special sacrifice was made on behalf of the country in the Most Holy Place of the temple. . . the most sacred spot in Israel.

Most likely John’s disciples fasted regularly because of John’s stress on repentance from sin.

The Pharisees however, fasted twice a week as a sign of their devotion to God.

This devotion made them swell up with pride.

In fact, the Bible indicates the Pharisees worked hard to make sure everyone knew they were fasting.

It became a badge of superiority or a sign that they were holy (and, by implication, others were not).

Consequently, when the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were both fasting the question became: “Why aren’t Jesus and His disciples fasting?”

It was a question designed to call into question the legitimacy or the spirituality of the work of Christ.

I’d like to say that this doesn’t happen anymore, but it does!

If you don’t worship the same way as I do, the genuineness or depth of your faith may be called into question.

If your experience does not match mine, or your way of baptism, or church government, or your view of the end times, or the version of the Bible you use, the kind of music you sing, the length of your prayers, the ministry emphasis of your church is different from mine. . .

you are considered suspect as to the genuineness of your Christian profession.

Do you think I am overstating the case?

I don’t think so.

We are all uncomfortable with those who do things differently than we do.

Sometimes the issue is one of right and wrong but many times it is not!

Sometimes we just have different ways of doing things.

We have different experiences, different tastes, different gifts, and different areas of emphasis.

The Lord’s Response

As so often the case, Jesus responds to his critics with an analogy.

“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

R.C. Sproul wrote,

“Weddings in Israel did not last twenty or thirty minutes, followed by a reception that went on for a couple of hours, after which everyone went home.

A wedding feast lasted for a week.

It was a time of eating and drinking.

No one wanted to be involved in a fast when a wedding feast was on the calendar.

That was a time to celebrate and revel.”

We also know there was a rabbinic ruling which said, “All in attendance on the bridegroom are relieved of all religious observances which would lessen their joy.”

The wedding guests were exempt from all fasting.

This is what Jesus is referring to.

You were not supposed to fast during a celebration.

The Lord applied this to Himself.

The people of Israel fasted and prayed for the Messiah to come.

Why would they fast and pray while he is in their midst?

There was coming a day (at the crucifixion) when the celebration would end, and they would fast and pray again.

We are not required to fast because we are forgiven and made new.

We are now children of the Father, and the celebration will go on through all eternity.

However, fasting is good for many other reasons.

Jesus has another analogy,

21 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth?

For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

If you have ever repaired garments, you know worn garments shrink the first time they are washed and maybe keep shrinking (I’m sure that is the reason my pants and shirts keep getting tighter).

If you have a hole in the garment and patch it with a new cloth, the first time you wash the newly patched garment, the patch will shrink and will tear away from the previously washed garment, and you will have a bigger hole than you did before!

If Jesus stopped at this point in the text, we would be forever confused about the point He was making.

Fortunately, he continued.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost.

New wine calls for new wineskins.

The principle is much the same as the patched garment.

When the fruit of the grapes is put into a wineskin it is allowed to ferment.

While the wine is fermenting it produces a gas which causes the wineskins to expand.

By the time it is fit for consumption, the wineskin is stretched way beyond its previous shape.

As the skin dries, it becomes tough.

If someone came along and put their new wine in old wineskins it would turn out badly.

The wine would begin to ferment, and the skins that were dried and had already been stretched would hold the wine briefly but when it was time for the skin to expand it would have nowhere left to expand (Much like my belt!).

The result would be the wineskin would burst, and the wine would be lost.

Thus, Jesus said, new wine demands new wineskins.

Some of us hear these words and think, “Well, those are certainly interesting analogies, but . . .

what is the point?

Is there some principle we are supposed to be taking away from this?