Are You the Kind of Person Jesus Blesses?-Luke 5:1-39

Luke 5:1-39;

Key Verse: 5:38     “No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”

In this chapter there are 5 sermons: [1] The calling of Simon (1-11); [2] The leper’s faith (12-16); [3] Jesus’ power to forgive sins (17-26); [4] Jesus calls Levi the tax collector (27-32); [5] New wine into new wineskins (33-39). But today I would like to sum up these 5 sermons into one. First, let’s talk about the key verse. The key verse Luke 5:38 may not be so understandable. What is Jesus trying to teach in his parable about “new wine” & “new wineskins”? 1st, the literal meaning. New wine (liquid) is bubbly & explosive. New wineskins (container) are flexible & expandable. So, “new wine must be poured into new wineskins” (38). In contrast, Luke 5:37 says, “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.” The characteristic of “old wineskins” is that it’s rigid & inflexible, in sharp contrast to expandable “new wineskins.” Thus, Jesus is contrasting 2 different containers for the “new wine”: “old wineskins” & “new wineskins.” Literally, Jesus is stating the obvious—old wineskins cannot contain the new wine, & only new wineskins can! 2nd, the spiritual meaning. The “new wine” is the gospel, or Jesus’ teaching; “old wineskins” are those who cannot accept Jesus’ teaching because they are rigid & inflexible; & “new wineskins” are those who accept Jesus’ revolutionary teachings with great joy & excitement & enthusiasm. In Luke 5, we’ll see 4 kinds of “new wineskins” people who were blessed by Jesus, & one “old wineskin,” whom Jesus never blesses. This lecture has 5 parts:

1. Simon was a new wineskin because he simply obeyed Jesus’ command (1-11).2. a leper was a new wineskin because he believed that Jesus could heal him (12-16).3. some friends were new wineskins because they brought their friend to Jesus (17-26).4. Levi was a new wineskin because he followed Jesus immediately (27-32).5. old wineskins can never be blessed because they are fixed & inflexible (33-39).

1st, Simon was a new wineskin because he simply obeyed Jesus’ command (1-11). Read verse 1. “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God.” When Jesus taught the Bible, the people who came to him with all kinds of problems soon forgot their problems & they began “listening to the word of God.” People listened to Jesus because Jesus only spoke the word of God, not his own ideas & his own agenda. Though Jesus was speaking the word of God to the people, he paid special attention to 1 new wineskin person Simon & asked him a favor. Read verses 2,3. “…he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.” To initiate a connection & a friendship with Simon, Jesus asked his help to let him use his boat as an elevated platform on the lake so that he could teach the crowding people standing on land.

Read verse 4. “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”  How did Simon respond? Read verse 5. “Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Fishermen never let down their nets in the deep end in the morning to catch fish, because fish are caught at night in the shallow end. Yet when Jesus said, “Put out into deep water,” Simon didn’t protest but said, “because you say so, I will let down the nets.” This shows that Simon was a very flexible & adventurous new wineskin who was willing to try something he has never done before, & that he was not at all stubborn, rigid & fixed.

What was the result of his obedience to Jesus’ words? Read verses 6,7. “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.” If you are a new wineskin, expect great things from God. Jesus blessed Simon with such a great miraculous catch of fish because of Simon’s fresh new wineskin attitude toward the words of Jesus. We learn here how we can be the kind of person God blesses with a fantastic miracle. We must listen to Jesus’ words like Simon, until we know how to trust God with all our hearts. Most people trust themselves & their feelings. But Simon knew how to simply trust Jesus’ word (Jn 14:1).

What was Simon’s response to God’s miraculous blessing? Simon’s response to this great miraculous catch was even more remarkable than the great miracle itself. Read verses 8,9. “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken.” Most people respond to some unexpected blessing like those who won the lottery. They are consumed with the blessing they just received. But Simon didn’t go crazy because of his miraculous catch. Instead he only saw how great Jesus is, & he trembled & cried out, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (8) Why did Simon respond like this? It’s because he saw Jesus as he truly was – the Messiah, & he saw himself as he truly was—a sinful man before God. It’s this response that God is most pleased with. What was God’s true blessing upon Simon’s life? It was not to give him more earthly blessings. Instead, God’s blessing was to give Simon a high calling from God. Verse 10b, 11 say, “Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” Wow just like that, left everything and followed Jesus.  What does Jesus mean when he said, “from now on you will catch men”? In the book of Matthew and Mark, Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men.” Followers of Jesus are called to be fisher of men. Fishers are men are disciple makers, soul savers and shepherds of God’s flock.  God wants to raise each of us to be great spiritual leaders to lead others into a love relationship with God. When we help others into a love relationship with God, we will experience the best life on earth.   2nd, a leper was a new wineskin because he believed that Jesus could heal him (12-16). From Simon we learn that the kind of person God blesses is the one who doesn’t just see his blessing, but who sees how great & marvelous & magnificent & majestic Jesus is. What about this man with leprosy who came to Jesus? Let’s read verses 12, 13. “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him.” What is leprosy? Leprosy destroys one’s sensory nerves without affecting one’s motor nerves. Thus, a leper has no feeling because his sensory nerves are destroyed, but he has no loss of strength because his motor nerves are normal. So, a leper who accidentally puts his hands in boiling water will have no feeling of pain while his flesh is melted by the boiling water. In those days, most lepers live in isolation & seclusion with a victim’s mentality, while their flesh rots more & more. They are full of self-pity. But this leper who came to Jesus was different. He didn’t just see his rotting flesh & his incurable situation, but he fixed his eyes on the One who can heal him. In his heart, he knew God’s goodness, mercy, and God’s power to heal. According to his faith, Jesus cleansed him of his leprosy, & restored him to society (14). The problem of many people is their self-preoccupation & self-centeredness—their entire existence consists of “what I think,” & “how I feel,” & “what I want.” They have no other view of life other than self. They center their lives on how miserable they are because of their situation. Even if they have some vague hope of getting better, it’s rooted in fantasy, not in reality. But this leper was different. He faced the fact of how terrible he was. That’s why “he fell with his face to the ground and begged him (Jesus), ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean’” (12). Also, when he thought of Jesus, his self-centeredness went away, & he began to only see Jesus instead of himself. From the leper we learn that the kind of person God blesses is the one who only sees Jesus’ goodness, mercy and healing power.

3rd, some friends were new wineskins because they brought their friend to Jesus (17-26). Look at verse 17. “One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.” In this story, Jesus healed a powerless paralytic not because of the paralytic, who was helpless, but because of his friends who loved him enough to bring him to Jesus. In this part, we learn who a true friend is, & why true friends are the kind of persons God blesses. Read verses 18,19. “Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.” The crowd was surely greatly troubled by the disturbance & falling debris caused by these men lowering their smelly & complaining paralytic friend right in the middle of the crowd. To the crowd these men were rude & obnoxious, & very disrespectful toward Jesus who was teaching & healing the sick. But how did Jesus view them? Read verse 20. “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’” We learn here what a true friend is. These days friends are those who hang out together for mutual benefits, based on common interests & peer groups. And some just like to use their friends for something. Last week I read an article about bands that split up because they could not get along. One of the band was Van Halen. They said the only reason David Lee Roth got to be in the band and their front man was because he had a good PA system. But the David Lee and Eddie Van Halen could bear each other. But these friends of the paralytic won’t receive any benefit from their paralyzed friend. Yet they took a personal interest in his welfare. They believed that the best thing that they could do for him was to bring him to Jesus. Jesus was so pleased by their genuine friendship.

Where are new wineskin people, there are also old wineskin people. You can easily tell an old wineskin by their grumpy faces and complaints. Read verse 21. “The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” They were unhappy people because they couldn’t see Jesus’ heart of love for 1 paralyzed man. Instead, they only saw Jesus based on their own fixed legalism & tradition. They were unhappy because of their old wineskin mentality that never digests Jesus’ teachings of love & forgiveness, especially for those who don’t deserve it, like the complaining & smelly paralytic. Jesus could have just left them alone in their misery, for he knew their crooked thinking (23a). Instead, Jesus appealed to their hardened hearts. He asked them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” (23b,24). Then Jesus healed the paralytic to demonstrate the almighty power of God. Jesus’ point was that just as he had the power to heal the paralytic, he could also forgive the paralytic’s sins. Look at verse 24. “’But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’” What was the result of Jesus’ blessing? Read verses 25,26. “Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.’” Because of a few new wineskin friends who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus, many were filled with awe & amazement & gave praise to God.  Let’s bring 1,000 his friends to Jesus!

4th, Levi was a new wineskin because he followed Jesus immediately (27-32). The next new wineskin person Jesus met was Levi the tax collector. Read verses 27, 28. “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” Levi seemed like a most unlikely person to follow Jesus. The only way we you get a tax collector to follow you is through money. There response to the word, “follow me”, is, “yeah, how much money you’re gonna to give me?” They can even cheat their own mother to make a few bucks. No one would consider that a person like Levi would want to follow Jesus. But when Jesus saw him with eyes of faith & hope, a bright light kindled in his soul, & he immediately responded to Jesus’ invitation. Levi’s immediate decision to follow Jesus shows his sparkling, adventurous new wineskin attitude. One who has an immediate decision to follow Jesus is the very kind of person whom God can bless.

What happened next? Levi was so happy that he invited all his lying & cheating tax collector friends to his house to have dinner with Jesus (29). Then the unhappy people—the Pharisees & tax collectors—complained to Jesus disciples while others were so joyful, eating & drinking. They said, “Why do you eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (30) Old wineskin type people are always unhappy when others are happy. Jesus gave them a simple answer. Read verse 31. “Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’” Jesus’ answer teaches us that happy new wineskin people like Levi know that they’re sick because of their sins, while unhappy old wineskin people like the Pharisees think that they are good people who don’t need to repent.

5th, old wineskins can never be blessed because they are fixed & inflexible (33-39). Next, Jesus was asked a question by people who think that fasting & praying was better than eating & drinking. Read verse 33. “They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.’” To them, Jesus disciples were like pigs that just enjoyed life too much by eating & drinking. What was Jesus’ answer? Read verses 34, 35. “Jesus answered, ‘Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.’” In this parable, Jesus is the bridegroom & his disciples are his happy guests. Jesus is saying that the Christian life is the happiest life in the world, just as guests of the bridegroom are happy at a wedding celebration. To Jesus, there’s no such thing as an “unhappy Christian,” which is an oxymoron. Even if a Christian fasts & prays, he’s still as happy as one who attends a wedding banquet feast with the best food & wine. There will be times of sorrow for a Christian. At such times a Christian should fast. But even in fasting & denying himself, he has the great assurance of Jesus in his soul.

Finally, Jesus tells them 2 parables that have the same point: the parable of the patch & the garment (36), & the parable of the wine & the wineskin (37-39). Read verse 36. “He told them this parable: ‘No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.’” In this parable, Jesus is saying that stiff people like the “old garment” never like the revolutionary teachings of Jesus, which are like the “new garment.” Similarly, old wineskin people can never contain the new wine of the gospel (37, 38). It’s because they are so comfortable with the old ways, such as their traditions/methods/legalism, that they think that Jesus’ new way is bad because their old ways are good. Verse 39 reads, “And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.'” God can not bless old wineskin people, because they blindly reject Jesus’ teachings in favor of their old fixed traditions.

This Easter we will be having our Easter conference with the thyme John 3:16 which we all have memorized and studied many times. One can say, “I already what know what it means.” But the truth is, it will take us our life time to fully grasp the meaning of John 3:16.  We see St. Paul as the hardest working servant of God. It’s because of his new wineskin attitude towards the words of God. He said in Philippians 3:10-11, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Let’s accept John 3:16 with a new wineskin attitude this Easter.