Who Christ Prepares, the Spirit Sustains
Notes
Transcript
Who Christ Prepares, the Spirit Sustains
Who Christ Prepares, the Spirit Sustains
Introduce the Text
Read the Text
Preach the Text
Introduce the Text
Introduce the Text
Our text is the same as last weeks, however we will mainly be working from the last two verses. These two verse are themselves two parables that answers the why the disciples must be prepared before Christ departs from them. Not only do these two parables explain why they don’t fast, but it also testifies to the faithfulness of God. The Father sends his Son, the Son calls, redeems, and prepares sinners, and the Holy Spirit sustains them. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all play a part in the salvation of God’s people
Read the Text
Read the Text
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “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. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
Preach the Text
Preach the Text
Introduction
Introduction
Exegete
Exegete
The Preparation and Sustaining of God’s People
The Preparation and Sustaining of God’s People
Introduction
Introduction
As we begin lets remember that V.17 must be considered for these parables. In this verse Jesus tells the pharisees that he has come to call sinners. Some of these very sinners that he has called are now his disciples. So Jesus tells them they don’t fast because they are in the presence of God and are delighting in his presence, and now he tells them they do not fast because they are not prepared yet. He gives them these two parables to illustrate his point.
Exegete
Exegete
21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.
A simple parable to illustrate the previous two verses. Any unshrunk cloth, or cloth that is not properly prepared will tear away making it worse. Here, under Old Testament Law, it was not permitted to sew two pieces of fabric together that were of different material. The proper understanding of this parable is cloth that has not been "refined"; cloth that the seamstress is not finished with. In the same manner, Christ is not finished with the disciples yet. He is still preparing them for what is to come; his crucifixion and later his ascension.
Because the patch was of the same fabric as the garment we can know that Christ is not talking about his disciples being prepared for the world or to be like the Pharisees. After all, we are not to be conformed to the ways of this world (Romans 12:2). Christ is preparing them for the Kingdom of Heaven. This little detail circles back to V. 19, why they don't fast. The purpose of fasting and prayer is to be in communion with God and seek after God while Christ is apart from us. Again, they have no need to fast as long as they are with him. These few verses give us a small picture of what heaven will be like.
22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
The wineskins here are were more like leather bags made of goat skin. The fermentation of the wine eventually wore the bags down. The strength of the new wine would cause the bags to burst open. We see something very similar to the previous parable; Jesus preparing them for the right time. The disciples must be made new (born again) in order to be filled with the newness that Christ offers. Christ makes us new and fills us; all the work of Christ. This relates to fasting in the way that new wine and wineskins will eventually become old we must be renewed daily through fasting and prayer; seeking after God each day.
The Preparation and Sustaining of God’s People.
The Preparation and Sustaining of God’s People.
Redemption and salvation
family worship/raising kids
church leadership