Smitty City

Every age knows the temptations to forget that the gospel is ever new. We try to contain the new wine of the gospel in old wineskins - outmoded traditions, obsolete philosophies, creaking traditions, old habits. But with time the old wineskins begin to bind the gospel. Then they must burst, and the power of the gospel pour forth once more. Many times this has happened in the history of the church. Human nature wants to conserve, but the divine nature is to renew. It seems almost a law that things initially created to aid the gospel eventually become obstacles - old wineskins. Then God has to destroy or abandon them so that the gospel wine can renew man's world once again.

The gospel is new in our day. It is still "the power of God." It is still bursting old wineskins and flowing forth into the world... But there is something else this parable teaches us - necessity of new wineskins. Wineskins are not eternal. As time passes they must be replaced - not because the gospel changes, but because the gospel changes, but because the gospel itself demands and produces change! New wine must be put into new wineskins - not once-for-all, but repeatedly, periodically.