This is really more for myself than anyone else because I don’t really think anyone follows what I write down here quite as religiously.
For the record I’ve made an update to one of my previous posts. I’ve also actually made a post recently which goes more in-depth into one of the projects I have in mind… but in my reluctance to make it all public, I kept it private. I updated that as well.
The ‘update’ on both articles was really just me taking out my more personal notes on the matter, keeping everything else, and making it public. With that said, my total running word count was impacted… and I suppose I’m writing this to make up for the deficit.
The cybersecurity CIA Triad comes to mind: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. With regards to this project I’m developing, I think I hit all three… Well, according to how I understand it, at least.
The project remains confidential, meaning roles are defined (pretty simple: Me and the rest of the world), and consequent access privileges are enforced (again, pretty simple: Private, and Public). It retains integrity: All data has been retained, and backups are saved locally. Finally, it remains available – in line with confidentiality, I have access to what I’ve permitted myself to access, and the same thing applies for the rest of the world.
Moving forward, if I am going to be writing about personal projects, I think that I’ll keep on going with what I had in mind, but I would involve a final edit – that is, a run-through to take out whatever I’ll keep to myself, before making the entire thing public.
The risks of sharing even my more personal thoughts are not worth the additional word-count, and the cheap dopamine rush. On the other hand, keeping some things to myself further challenges me to make a more direct approach in the application of what I had in mind – in other words, I’m holding myself more accountable to move my ass.
With all this said, I don’t think I’ll be posting all this in a single article; Padding all this with some actual Scripture I want to delve into today. -jb
As I’ve made known numerous times, I’m going through the entire Bible, following the guide as indicated in Our Daily Bread… but let me be honest, I’m more than a couple chapters ahead in both the Old and New Testaments. Some of the chapters I breeze through, but some chapters I enjoy so much that I don’t really count it as a chore to read.
I thought that I settled with myself that I didn’t need to go deeper into every thought, nor will I be writing about each and every insight that pops up as I read. I thought I was pretty consistent, until I stumbled upon Luke 5:
(Jesus) went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:27-32
First of all, I find that amazing that Jesus only had to tell Levi (a.k.a. Matthew) two word to do so much. “Follow me”, Christ says, and Levi leaves everything, follows Him, and makes Him a great feast.
Earlier in chapter 5, Jesus healed a leper. And take note, it’s in the same way He cleansed the leper in Matthew 8:1-3; Also, we know these were most probably two separate lepers because the one in Matthew was met while we was coming down from ‘the mountain’, while this leper in question was met ‘while He was in one of the cities’; But in both cases, BEFORE He told them that He was willing and demonstrated He was able to cleanse them, He touched them – but in this act that would render Him unclean according to the Law, it was the leper who was rendered clean!
After the story of the leper, we read in the same chapter that Jesus healed the paralytic man, lowered to Him from the ceiling. The religious crowd was offended when He told the man ‘Your sins are forgiven’, but EVERYONE was amazed when He commanded the man to rise up and walk, and He did.
So you can imagine that there was probably some hype going around, and word of this leper-healing, sin-forgiving Man made its way to Matthew…
…and I could imagine, Matthew/Levi the tax collector was probably pretty aware of his vile actions, and his own reputation as a traitor to his own people – A Jew collecting Jewish money for the Roman treasuries.
Considering both speculation I could say that BOTH the goodness of God and Godly sorrow were at work to bring Matthew/Levi to repentance (see Romans 2:4, 2 Corinthians 7:10)… and Christ’s “Follow Me” was the catalyst, more than enough for him to drop everything and to give everything to Him.
Now whether there’s some solid ground on what I’m speculating here or not, what is consistent is that there’s power in Christ’s word: Whether to the leper (“I am willing; Be cleansed”), the paralytic (“Your sins are forgiven”), or the tax collector (“Follow me”), the Word of the Living Word is Life.
Wow, let me say that again. The Word of the Living Word is Life.
As we read on, we see the Pharisees and the scribes – who apparently stayed offended by Christ’s ‘Your sins are forgiven’ even after they saw the paralyzed man stand up and walk – also grumbling (take note, to the disciples, and not straight to Christ’s face) about those He eats with.
Christ, in His grace, compassion, and love – the same Christ, the Living Word who spoke to the aforementioned seemingly hopeless cases, now speaks to these folks, telling them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Take note that He keeps it simple, but gives elaboration when necessary. But all the same, whether it be to the leper or the Pharisee, our good Savior speaks Life.
Later on in John 1 we will read, the Law came through Moses, but Grace and Truth comes through Jesus Christ. And we see here, that He speaks Life – that is, grace to who He knows needs grace, and truth to who He knows needs truth.
I believe this is the same Wisdom alive in us, poured upon us as the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the manifestation of the mind of Christ, which we have by His finished work. We’re led to speak grace and we’re led to speak truth, just as Christ is grace and truth alive in us.
Christ is the Life, and we have Christ, the Living Word. And apparently, just as the Word of the Living Word brought us to life, so the Life in us, the Living Word, brings us to speak His Word… to the glory of God, our Father.
And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
Though those who come against Him are persistent, Christ is consistent. In His wisdom He responds against condemnation with grace… and to drive the point home, He leaves them with something to think about. A parable:
“No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
Luke 5:33-39
Now, it’s this final portion of the chapter that actually got me sharing all this in the first place. I’m pretty sure there are online resources with other wise men of God sharing their valid takes, but I feel like I want to go through this personally before anything else.
I mean, we look at Christ’s words regarding old and new garments, about old and new wine and wineskins, on its own. It’s a beautiful message on its own, I agree – we come to conclusions such as Christ making us new before filling us with the new, and so on. But I’m just trying to figure out now, why did Christ share this parable to the audience he had at the time, in the conversation that they were having?
Let’s make an analysis. To stretch their claims: The Pharisees were complaining that (1) Christ shouldn’t feast with the tax collectors, but with the righteous, and (2) His disciples shouldn’t eat and drink because disciples of other… well, disciplines – they not only fast, but pray.
As we read, Christ responded – He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners, not to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance. And He says that His disciples eat and drink while the Bridegroom is with them.
It’s the same, no matter who Christ talks to. Christ speaks grace and truth.
To those who have been brought to submission by God’s Perfect Law (the leper, the paralytic, and the tax collector), Christ speaks grace.
To those who continue to strive to uphold God’s Perfect Law (the Pharisees and the Scribes), Christ speaks truth.
…And the parable?
“No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.”
Well, I’m led to believe now that just as the old wineskins burst after being filled with new wine, and just as old garments tear when new cloth is sewn in, so grace and truth fulfills – OVERWHELMS the vessel of the Law.
The goodness of God, and/or Godly sorrow brings us to repentance… and more than our wallowing in self-pity and self-abasement over our sins, true repentance is seen in our being made new – New wineskins, or new garments… new creations.
We aren’t made new by the company that we keep, or whether we eat or fast – We’re made new by the Word of Christ. After all, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the WORD of Christ (Romans 10:17).
So there doesn’t seem to be more than we already know: New creations take in new wine. BUT I think the slight nuance here opens our eyes to something greater – It’s through Christ’s Word that we’re made new.
Through Christ’s Word, the leper was made clean. The paralytic stood and walked. The tax collector gave everything up to follow Him. The grumbling Pharisees and scribes were given a heavy dose of truth.
‘Okay, but what about this last part?’:
And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
We talked about how Christ held the leper’s hand, and it wasn’t Christ who became unclean, but it was the leper who was made clean.
In light of all we talked about here, I submit to you – The transaction between Christ and the leper was NOT a transfer, but an exchange. Christ took the leper’s uncleanness, the leper took Christ’s cleanness, and it was the leper who was clean.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:28-30
We can drink old wine, and insist, ‘It is good’.
The same Christ who once said He came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17) drank the sour wine, and said, ‘It is finished’.
Christ didn’t mention what happens when old wine enters new wineskin.. Because that task was reserved for Him alone.
And the result was an exchange, leading to our salvation.
Christ took the old wine and died. Christ rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and new wine was poured upon us.
This adds so much more value to what we already say, so often:
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
No sickness, no leprosy, no fire, and now, no old wine can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What a mighty God, in whom we trust.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
What a salvation He paid for us to have.
What a faithful Spirit we have.
God bless us all.
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#NewCreation #NewWine #Wineskins #Gospel #Luke #BibleStudy #BibleInOneYear #ChristsFinishedWork #PerfectSalvation #HolySpirit #Grace #2024YearOfTrust #PracticalChristianity #BenefitsOfSalvation
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