The Christian's New Wine — Sandeep Poonen

I wanted to share something. There are a few more visitors than normally are. I wanted to share with you a verse from Romans chapter 12, verse 6. Start from Romans chapter 12, verse 6. Romans chapter 12, verse 6.

Biblical Prophecy and Sharing Faith

We are different from most other churches. Probably all of us have grown up in other churches. And in the sense that we give an opportunity for other people to also speak. It's not because we believe everybody has a gift to speak publicly.

It's not because we believe that everybody, it's an equal opportunity establishment. Everybody gets equal opportunity to speak. Not at all. We believe in the body of Christ. And there's a word that the Bible uses called prophecy.

And it's a weird word because the culture understands prophecy as talking about the future. Prophecy in the new agreement in the Bible. We always go to the Bible to get our definitions of biblical words, not the dictionary.

To get the understanding of biblical words. We could get in trouble if we look at the dictionary for words like humility and joy and prophecy. Because humility could be defined very differently by the world than the way the Bible defines it.

Jesus, for example, says, learn humility from me. And then he goes and chases out the people from the temple. I don't know any human being or any dictionary definition of a journalist who would say, there was Jesus being humble when he took the straws and chased out the temple.

But the definition of humility is not the dictionary, it's Jesus. He said, learn from me humility. So humility has got nothing to do with how we act based on a definition from the dictionary but from Jesus' life.

And so Jesus was standing up against sin and didn't care what people thought or whether he was humble or not. The same way prophecy as it relates to this is, what we are desiring from people who get up and speak is this.

Not that they'll give me more information. That in this verse, in verse 6, it would say that we would speak in such a way according to our faith. That's the key word. I am starting to see more and more in my own Christian life that every problem in this world that has come by me can be solved by faith.

In God's word. God's word has the solution. That is enough. Now the challenge is for me to grow in that faith. So that I can more simply believe that God said it, so it is. And the challenge is that I use a lot of other things that make me rich as we heard.

Money can make me rich at the expense of trusting God's word. Lots of intellectual understanding can make me rich to the point of not going to God and his word. And his word is sufficient and so sometimes God allows, and many times, God allows all these situations to come in to attack us to where we are not rich.

Not because he's trying, he's a mean God, but he's trying to build in us faith which is me and my word is enough. And so praise God for opportunities for that. Now as it comes to sharing, we also are given words with which we should be sharing words.

And what people ought to get out of me speaking is not solutions. Is not here is the theology on it, here is the explanation of it. That's teaching. And teaching is for folks who are the elders in the church to teach.

What sharing when we ask people to come up to share is because we want the church to grab a hold of people's faith. Faith is not belief in your mind. Faith is not belief in your mind. Faith is belief in one's heart.

Big difference. I could believe in my mind that exercise and a low sugar diet and all kinds of other things is good for me. It's the right way to live. You all probably will check those statements. If I asked a quiz, how many believe that lots of sugar is bad for you?

All of us will put our hands down. Put our hands up saying sugar is bad for you. But let's go to the restaurant and put your tantalizing chocolate cake or Indian desserts and then we'll find out whether you believe it.

I know what you said in your mind but do you believe it? I'll apply that to the Christian life. We say God you are enough. God you're my everything. Prostrate before you, I'll worship you. We can say a lot of words.

Now it's not whether they're technically correct or wrong. I can have every one of us get up and speak nutritional facts and I have a feeling most of us will get it right. Nobody is going to get up and say sugar is great for you.

Come on, keep on eating sugar. Eat as much butter and everything else you want to eat. It doesn't really matter. Don't think even if non-nutritionalists among us have not read a thing about it. I think we'll have enough sense to say well I've got to do things in moderation and things like that.

So it's not very difficult to get a group of people to get up who are Christians. Who study this book. Like English majors study literature and Shakespeare to come up and say here's what the book says.

We should live like that. There's no virtue in that. What we're trying to build is a group of people who have faith. And it's hard to testify in a moment that these people have faith. Only the Holy Spirit can testify.

The Holy Spirit has to speak to your heart based on what the people are getting up and speaking. If there's faith, that's coupling what is being said. All of us need to judge ourselves whether we are doing that.

Not only when we're speaking up in stage but whenever we're trying to help other people in the Christian life. It's not about giving advice. It's not about saying cutting and pasting, searching for refuge and searching for fear.

Finding the right verse and sending it to our friends saying, I know you're afraid, here's the verse. No. What's going to convince them is if we have faith about it. Like a person who truly believes that sugar is bad for you.

I'm not there yet. I tried. I tried to believe that sugar is bad for me. And I've struggled. I'm not there yet. So I'll talk about it if we have a conversation about nutrition afterwards. I'll tell you how bad sugar is.

But if you come and hang around with me long enough. Enough weeks. You'll see how my eyes go wide when the dessert is coming around. I'm applying it obviously to the Christian life. It's very easy to make bold big claims because we believe in a very big God.

But we won't fool God. We won't fool the devil. And folks will not buy into what we're saying because they don't see faith. Their hearts are based on my heart. I know some people who are really committed to be communists.

And it absorbs them. It overwhelms them. It's grabbed a hold of them that has changed their lifestyle. That's how it must be with us as Christians. First, before we try to tell other people. Other people must live their life.

We must be so grabbed a hold of. This is faith. This is the faith. Brothers and sisters who are members of our church. This is what we desperately need. And the light turns on. The proof of the light turning on is.

I'll be able to say, watch me. It's going to be different. Watch me. Maybe if we can't say, watch me. We'll say, let's first give it three weeks. Whatever I'm planning to say in church. Let me give it at least one month to see if I can do it.

Before I'm quick to say, this is going to happen and that's going to happen. Let me see if I really am serious. I can't tell you the number of things the Lord has shown me. That he has told me, don't get up and talk about it.

Because I want to see that you really believe it. If you have the faith for it, that you're going to change your life according to it. And so it's very important, family, that we impart faith. Not when we're standing in the pulpit only, but at all times.

That we don't become hypocrites. We share beyond what which God has given us faith for. Faith is very simple. You're going to live your life according to that. Come up and tell me how much sugar is going to be really bad for me.

And bad for us. Let me come and see that that life is grabbing a hold of you. That it's changing your life. Your priorities are changing. And it's in that context that I also wanted to follow up with something I shared about last week.

New Wine and the Life of Christ

Let's turn there for those of you who weren't here. So that I can talk about what I was referring to. Luke chapter 5. In Luke chapter 5 it says something about new wine in new wineskins. Verse 37. Luke chapter 5 verse 37.

No one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the new wine will be burst and the skins and it will not be... It will be spilled out and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

And then in verse 39 it says,. And no one after drinking old wine wishes for new for he says the old is good enough. No one... and I talked about this last week. The new wine. So it's a very interesting analogy and it may be difficult for us to understand.

I definitely didn't understand it until I was explained to this. What the new wine and the new wineskin was. Very simply. Jesus was coming into a Jewish system that had rules and regulations given by God.

Written by the finger of God the ten commandments. But Jesus was saying that's wine but it's old wine. And I'm coming and I'm going to give you new wine. And the new wine is the life of Christ. My life.

It says in John chapter 1 verse 4 that his life was the light that shone. It was the light of men. I'm the light of the world. That his life is the new wine. It's not doing the right thing. It's not obeying the commandments.

It's the life of Jesus. Full of grace and truth. Our goal as we've talked about is to be like Jesus. Not to stop sinning. That's part of it. That's not everything though. It's the fullness of the life of Jesus.

In all of his goodness. In all of his purity. In all of his love. This is the new wine that Jesus was saying. I'm throwing away a list of rules and commandments and I'm saying now it's my life. That is the new wine.

But you can't put this new wine, the life of Jesus, into the new wineskin which was traditions and Jewish practices. And you must tithe. And you must go to Fiskitha Sabbath. And you must go to Jerusalem once a year.

And you must give this grain and the sacrifice and all these bulls offerings. You can't fit the life of Jesus in this whole form of the old wineskin. This new wine, Jesus, if you pour it into that, it will just tear the whole thing apart.

This new wine, the life of Jesus, needs to be put into a new wineskin which is a different kind of gathering together. Not where you've got the priests completely separate doing all the sacrifices and all the rest of the people of Israel just watching it.

Now to where everybody's a priest. It's not a temple in Jerusalem. You are God's temple. God's living in you. Many, many differences in the new wineskin. In which why we also believe that it's not just one person who's a paid pastor who gets to speak.

Of course there's a gift of teaching that some people have and God gives different gifts. But everybody can have faith. And I said everybody can share little, little words. Share little things that if they have faith for it, can speak to my heart.

That's the new wineskin. But I also, I wanted to concentrate today on verse 39. Where it said, the danger also is that some people may not have the old wines, may want the old wineskins. So they want a life of traditions and keeping rules and just keeping the commandments.

I read my Bible, I prayed, so I'm good. I go to church every Sunday, I give 10 .5%, so I'm giving a little extra, everything's great. That's, Jesus was saying, be careful. That's not, that's old wineskins.

But then he also says in verse 39, that there's another danger. That people, if you keep drinking the old wine, will stop wanting the new. This is how I understand the old wine. Now, we don't follow the Jewish traditions, we don't go to Jerusalem, things like that.

But for us, our interaction with Jesus is a wine that must be constantly being made new. The old vintage must give way to the new vintage, more and more. That as we taste of the life of Jesus today, compared to last year.

I can say, Lord Jesus, your life and who you are to me as I think about you. I'm in rapture of who you are, more this year than last year. That's the new wine not becoming old. That's the old wine being replaced by the new wine.

There's a story in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine. And that new wine was taken to the groom and the best man. And the groom said, this is so much better than the old wine I had. And that's the picture.

You're tasting of the life of Jesus. Say 3 months ago, say 6 months ago, say 6 years ago, say 26 years ago. And you tasted of Jesus and how He forgave you. And you were enraptured by the love of Jesus that could save a wretch like you.

And it grabbed a hold of you. And it was new wine. And you drank it and you said, God this is wonderful, this kind of love. How is it now compared to then? Is it richer? Is Jesus sweeter, more tastier than it was 26 years ago, 6 months ago?

Keeping the First Love

That's the danger, isn't it? As we saw in the church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2. They can be doing a lot of good things. They can be helping the poor. They can be persevering against tribulation.

They can be good in their doctrine. But they've lost their first love. They lost that wine. It's old and they're comfortable with it. They're comfortable with the Jesus who's forgiven them of their sins.

Who's planning to take them to heaven. Who's just telling you don't do something crazy. Don't cheat on your wife. Don't steal people's money. Pay your taxes. Be good to your neighbors. Try to raise good children who know Jesus.

Who know all the Bible stories. Let's go to a decent church. Danger is the wine which is not how good you are and what sins aren't you doing. But the life of Jesus. The fullness of God. Which is the life of Christ.

It's getting old. It's not as new as it was six months ago. And he's warning us that if you keep drinking the old wine. If you don't constantly keep fighting. And keep reminding myself that the only metric of success.

Is that the life of Christ be increasingly lived out in my life. You'll get satisfied with the old life. You'll build tents at the foothills of the Himalayas. Because the base camp. Oxygen is going to get a little harder.

As we heard. If the narrow way is the eye of the needle. We're going to have trouble saying that's a little too difficult. I sized down from a camel all the way to a dog. I mean that's a lot of trimming I did.

But I have to go all the way to the point of becoming like an amoeba. That's way too much. No, no, no, no, no. Lord just remember I was a camel now I'm a dog. Let's just stop now. New wine. You started well.

New wine skin. New wines. It was great. The camel said I'm going to lose weight. I was losing weight and became smaller and smaller. But then at the dog level you're like. That's too hard. Lord isn't it enough?

You see the size of the camel and now to a dog. Isn't that good enough? The Lord says be careful. This old wine used to be new. But you weren't gripped with it all the way. It's the new wine that is what God is interested in.

And the call that is. Different churches maybe have different focuses. One of the focuses of this church is absolutely must be that your wine remain new. That the life of Jesus be increasing. Be fresh and fresher and fresher.

That if you never saw me again. And God took you to Malaysia for five years. And then you came back and saw me. That you taste a fresher love for Jesus in my speaking. In the way I interacted with you.

In the way I interacted with my wife and children. You would be able to notice. There's a marked difference in your love for Jesus. I can just tell. You're more rooted and grounded in your love for him and his love for you.

Saints of God you've been brought here for a reason. You're committed to this church for a reason. Don't let the devil defraud you and cheat you of what the goal of Christ is. Is that the wine remain new.

And it is a searching question that we will come back. I don't mean this to scare you. I mean this to sober me and to sober us. It will come back to our remembrance on the day of Christ. The day of Christ when all the secrets and thoughts and motives of our hearts will be laid bare.

For the God who must be absolutely just. And it says about the cities that saw all the miracles. And heard all of Jesus' preaching. It will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. Because you heard these things.

You saw all these things but you didn't repent. You know me well enough to know that. I'm not trying to scare you. But there's a seriousness. We can't act like civilians when we're in a war. I heard a message at Clinton when he was running for president.

He said, his slogan was, it's the economy, stupid. And this person was challenging us Christians to know, it's a war, stupid. Christians, it's a war. The enemy trying to attack you every day. It's a war.

The Call to Make Disciples

Just like we get caught up with all the different things. We as Christians can be lulled into thinking it's just a walk in the park. Not realize it's a war. With that in mind, I want to go to Luke chapter 14 verse 26.

And just use the next few minutes to share with you what this new wine kind of life looks like. Luke chapter 14. Jesus told us when He was leaving this earth to preach the gospel. Mark 16. He tells us to preach the gospel.

But in the parallel passage in Matthew chapter 28, He says, make disciples. So you can't separate the two. You can't focus on one and not the other. You got to do both. Preach the gospel, the good news, and make disciples.

There's no in-between route. There's no halfway route to where you just make converts. There's no such thing. The Christian world is full of people who are saying, all I got to do is convert you so that you don't go to hell.

Jesus never told you to go out and make converts. He said, go and make disciples, Matthew 28. And Luke 14, 25, all the way to the end of the passage, tells me what are the requirements for discipleship.

Now remember, that's what God's calling you for. God's not calling us to make converts. God's calling us to be disciples. And when we settle for converts going to heaven, when we settle for converts who are living good lives, who haven't cheated on our spouses, and have raised decent children, and who've got a retirement plan, and that's all the goals we have for our life as we're young and we're raising our children who are young.

If that's the only goal for our life, that's not discipleship. Because, again, the definition of discipleship is not from the dictionary, it's from the Bible. Luke 14, 25, it says, large crowds were traveling with him, and Jesus said, wow, I've got an incredible mega church in the making.

And he said, I need to find out who among here want to be disciples. I'm not going to be so excited that all these large crowds are following me. And he says, I've got to make sure I've got disciples here.

Discipleship's First Cost: Family Allegiance

And Luke 14, 26 -33, give me legitimate, legitimate, earthly reasons why I will not be a disciple. These are not evil reasons. These are not sinful reasons. They are legitimate from an earthly standpoint, but they will stop me from being a disciple who has a wartime mentality.

Number one, verse 26, family, family. If I were to write what are the reasons why Christians are not going to be disciples, I would not put family as number one. But Jesus does, so I put family as number one.

First of all, he says, anyone who comes after me must hate his father and his mother and his brothers and his sisters and his own life. And there is something about our family, especially if they are close to us, that can create in us an unhealthy allegiance away from Christ.

This is something I picked up from my dad. My dad said, don't you think it's interesting that in all the wisdom of God, Jesus used that one as the very first thing. He said, I have found that to be true in years and years of building disciples.

That so many sincere Christians mean so well and I have such great hopes for them, but something happens in their family. It's a father or a mother or the wife or the husband or a brother or the sister that dampens their love and devotion to Jesus.

I found this also in some of my experiences with some Christians. That the idol, that there is an idol of raising a good family, that can be a detriment to being a godly person. There is an honor in this world, in the Christian world, that I can get out of saying, I'm going to make my family a priority.

I'm not going to make my work a priority, I'm going to make a family a priority. But it's disgraceful if my family is a priority for Christ. And some of us may not interact with that quite the same way.

That is why we as a church fundamentally disagree with people who come to us and say, we'd like you to have a great Sunday school program. Then we will come to your church. I'm more interested in the adults than the children.

The parents, who are not disciples. If parents are not disciples, it's going to be much harder for the children to become disciples. Yes, we're interested in our children. I've got children, three of them.

I'm most interested in them being disciples. But the solution is not to create a great Sunday school program. The solution is, I as a parent, my wife as a parent, have to become disciples. That is why I'm so glad I choose not to go to a church based on the quality of a Sunday school program.

Dear brothers and sisters, if you have children, be committed to this church. Are you being a disciple? Is that the number one evangelistic tool that you're going to use in your children's life? That beauty is going to be defined by how the Bible defines beauty.

You've heard me share this before. I've told my kids already, the eldest one, already numerous times, you know what's pretty? I know you told me that dress is pretty and that princess is pretty. You know what's pretty?

You're kind. And you fear God. Because that's Proverbs 31 .30. And it's ugly, no matter what you look like. If you're not respectful to your parents and you don't obey your parents. I'm teaching her the definition of beauty.

Because I want to be a disciple. And I have to tell myself that when I'm interacting with these pretty co-workers. And when I'm interacting with the pretty women on the movies and all of that. Lord Jesus, I have such a problem defining beauty the way the world does.

I need to change my way of thinking. Beauty is the one who fears the Lord. Like a pig with a jewel on its nose. It's like a woman without discretion. Somebody told me, your daughter is going to have a very hard time in your family.

I said, no, I hope she'll be holy. I hope she'll be holy because I'll teach her God's word. And it's not her external beauty that makes her pretty. It's a ring on a pig's nose. You don't have discretion.

Discipleship's Second Cost: Carrying the Cross

You don't fear God. Be on family. Be very careful about raising your own family. Making that an idol. You're being devoted to Jesus. Point number one. Point number two. In verse 27 through 30 it talks about the second requirement is.

Anyone who doesn't carry his cross and follow me cannot be his disciple. And then he uses an analogy. He says, suppose someone wants to build a tower. Won't he sit down first and count the cost? Then he will see whether he has enough money to finish it.

Otherwise people will laugh at him. They will say, this fellow started to build but he wasn't able to finish it. What is this? Somebody who starts down the road of discipleship. Counts the cost but is not able to finish it.

For me, this talks about, and it's in the context of taking up your cross. Dear family of God. A soldier is one who is committed to the life of being in the war for the rest of your life. This is no, discipleship is not for people who are going to quit.

And we have to get it into our heads. That it's laughable in the world's eyes when we say we're going to start a building. But, it says in verse 30. They laugh and say this fellow started to build but he wasn't able to finish it.

And we are interested in having this new wine of being a disciple. We can say to God, God there are going to be trials. There are going to be difficulties. There are going to be all kinds of situations.

But I'm not going to give up. And I'm going to keep on coming back to you. So that the wine that I have this year in 2014 is better than the wine that I produced in 2013. It has to be that way. Lord, because otherwise this new wine will become old.

And I'll get satisfied with it. But I'm not going to be somebody who is not a disciple. Who is not willing to carry his cross everyday. Camel to a dog, thank you Lord very much. But I got to go all the way to become an amoeba.

So that I can fly through the eye of a needle. Dogs can't fit, camels can't fit through an eye of a needle. What's the use of glorying the fact that I'm a dog. Compared to when I used to be a camel. You're still not fitting through the eye of a needle.

Lord, I got still a long ways to go in terms of being broken and being empty. And being like an amoeba that can fly through the eye of a needle. Lord, I've started a good work. I started to build a building but I'm not giving up.

You're committed to this church. I hope that this call of discipleship is a continuous call to take up your cross everyday. And I'm speaking from personal experience. It is so easy. After years and years of being faithful to take up your cross.

To suddenly say, Lord maybe I can take a break for a month. Maybe I can be excused. Maybe I can take it a little easy. And I can get disillusioned with the daily cross of self-denial that God asks me to take on.

And I come to church every Sunday and again and again we're talking about denying ourselves. And taking up our cross and we say, God this is too hard, this is too boring. This is relentless. Trying to build a building.

It's laughable. If you commit on the journey of taking up your cross. And suffer after two years, after five years, after you have your first child. After your children go to school. After your children all graduated.

No matter what happens. Sometime along the way you say, okay God now I'm checking out. And maybe families or something else is. But the call to discipleship is a relentless call to take up your cross everyday.

There's no stopping it for the rest of our lives. You must take up your cross daily, everyday. That's the only way to preserve the new wine. Point number three is verse 31 through 33. It says, suppose there was a king who was going to war.

Discipleship's Third Cost: Surrendering Possessions

And he had 10 ,000 people and was fighting against 20 ,000. Won't he first count the cost to see whether he can win or not. And won't he just create a peace treaty. When he says I got 10 ,000 that guy's got 20 ,000.

Let's just have peace. How do we figure out how to make a compromise. In the same way you must give up everything you have. And here's what I got from that. If we do not have a persistent attitude of saying Lord Jesus.

I want nothing in this life to possess me. You don't have a chance. Because you're fighting a war. Where it's you with 10 ,000. Or maybe I should say you with 10. Against the devil who's got millions.

You don't have a chance. You don't have a chance. And the things that possess us is what gives the devil a foothold. Count the cost. If you want to keep the things that possess you. Make a peace treaty with the devil.

That's what the Bible is saying here. Just kind of make peace. Don't go on the soldier war. If you want to fight against the devil. If you want to attack the gates of hell. And it doesn't prevail against us.

We have to know that what the devil will find as a foothold is our possessions. The thing that possess us. Not what are the things that we have like our home and our car. But our home and our car can be it if they possess us.

If they have a hold over us. Our career. If our reputation before people have a hold over us. It says you can't be my disciple. Because you're playing chess with the devil. And the devil is wiser than Daniel.

You know that the Bible tells you that the devil is wiser than Daniel? Ezekiel 28 verse 3. Look it up. The devil is wiser than Daniel. You're playing chess with the smartest being outside of God. What chance do you have?

Count the cost. You and your sharp brain. And your desire to follow God in its brokenness against the devil. Scheming. But you want to hold on to your possessions. Answer you don't have a chance. There's so many things of this world.

Okay Lord after I get that promotion. Or after I get married. Lord if you'll just answer this one prayer of mine. Then I'll kind of serve you with everything you got. And these things have a possessing nature on us.

There is no half-hearted way to follow Christ. I've shared this testimony about my own Christian life. I was like on a plane ride that desired to go into the heavens. And I kept pointing up and I would take off.

But I was a plane that had a destination in this world. So I would reach cruising altitude. I didn't really want to go to heaven. I fooled myself into thinking that when I was taking off. Look God we're pointing at the heavens.

I'm heading straight to you. But I knew sooner or later, a few weeks, a few months. I would taper off. And I'd cruise. Because there was some attraction in the world that I really didn't want to give up.

Because I still had a possession over me. And then it came to the point where I finally got to the end of myself. And I said Lord 99 of you and 1 of me does not cut it. You cannot be my disciple if you're not willing to give up everything you have.

All of your possessions. And I said Lord if this life is going to make sense. It has to be all. All that I have. Everything you have. All of my ambitions. All of my biases. All of my plans. All of my preferences.

All of the praise of man. All the criticisms of man. It doesn't matter. I have to die to honor you. And seek to be approved only by God in the loser. And seek to only look at his face. To see if he's happy with me.

I told myself this morning when I was praying. Lord Jesus I don't want to pray wondering what anybody in this room thinks about what I'm saying. I want to have eyes purely looking at you. Talking to you who are my savior.

Prostrate and asking you for favor on our church meeting today. It doesn't really matter what anybody else thinks. Family when we pray. Are you talking to God when you pray? Are you talking so that everybody else may know.

Hey look you spoke a pretty good prayer. Threw in five verses in there. Didn't even use the references. But wow that's a pretty good prayer all put together. Done to man. Done to impress man. God says what is this?