"Patches and Wineskins" 2-19-26
Overview
Patches and Wineskins: Jesus Will Not Be an Add-On
When the disciples of John asked Jesus why His followers did not fast as they and the Pharisees did, Jesus answered first by pointing to Himself as the bridegroom whose presence is cause for joy Matthew 9:14-15. Then He told two small parables that cut to the heart of the question: no one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, or the patch tears away and makes the rip worse; and no one pours new wine into old wineskins, or the skins burst and both are lost Matthew 9:16-17. In the ancient world, fullers would pre-shrink cloth before patching a garment, and fresh, supple goatskins were needed to hold fermenting wine. The point is the same in both pictures: the new cannot simply be tacked onto the old.
For the Pharisees, fasting was a work that contributed to their righteousness before God. Jesus refuses to be added to that kind of system. He will not be stitched onto a life of self-justification, nor poured into the brittle container of works-righteousness. The new He brings demands something altogether new. We hear the tearing and see the spill whenever we try to make Him an accessory—when we say we are saved by faith in Christ and by being a basically good person; when we treat Him as copilot while we remain captain; when we cordon off areas of life where He is welcome and others where He is not Lord. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector exposes the difference: the Pharisee made God an add-on to his supposed goodness, while the tax collector cried, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," and went home justified Luke 18:9-14.
Lent is the church's appointed season to face this honestly. The forty-day walk to Easter is a time of repentance—of being turned around by God's grace and going the other way. The ash marked on the forehead testifies to the darkness of our sin, our frailty, and our mortality: dust we are, and to dust we shall return Genesis 3:19. Yet that ash is traced in the shape of the cross. We who tend toward tearing patches and bursting skins are clothed in the righteousness of Christ; we who keep trying to mix old and new are fed His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. Grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy. No more patches. No more new wine in old wineskins. No more Jesus as an add-on—because He is not an add-on. He is everything.
Transcript
Would you open your Bibles, please, with me this evening, to the ninth chapter of the gospel 2s
of Matthew, if you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, that you'll find in the Pew 8s
Rackin front of you or underneath you, you'll find that in the New Testament on page 8, the 13s
ninth chapter of the gospel of Matthew. 19s
When one reflects on one's childhood, it is interesting sometimes the memories that 24s
will come to mind. 35s
Recently I was thinking about a memory of my mother. 39s
She was at the ironing board, it was set up in the living room. 45s
And she was ironing away. 49s
My mother loved to iron. 54s
She loved it. 58s
And on the ironing board was a pair of my jeans. 61s
She wasn't putting a crease in it. 68s
She was ironing on a patch. 71s
Right on the knee. 77s
As I reflected upon that, I remembered going to Sears year after year with her. 82s
I can still see that in my mind's eye, that little clothing department with the section 90s
for the boys. 98s
And as we would go in and pick out the gene that I would wear for a bit, we would pick 101s
out that brand called the Tuftskins. 111s
It had a double knee to it. 116s
But invariably during the season, my mother would have to put a patch on that knee. 123s
She'd iron that patch on. 135s
And my knee could feel the roughness and the sturdiness of that new patch. 139s
Every year she would tell me, you can't buy that size. 152s
You have to get it larger because they always shrink those genes. 159s
But on the front of the patch, it said, pre-shrunk. 167s
The reason why it said pre-shrunk on that was because if it wasn't shrunk when you 180s
would go then into the washing machine, it would shrink. 194s
It would tear, right? 198s
We tear. 199s
So the patch had to be pretty shrunk to work. 201s
That process goes back a long way, a long way. 214s
In fact, in biblical time, they were called the fullers. 219s
What the fullers would do is they would take a piece of cloth and they would pre-shrunk 225s
it and then they would put it on the clothing as a patch because they knew. 233s
They knew that if they didn't pre-shrunk it, that then when it would shrink when that garment 240s
was washed, it would pull and it would tear. 248s
Look at what Jesus says in verse 16. 255s
No one soes a piece of un-shrunk cloth on an old cloak for the patch pulls away from the 260s
cloak and a worse tear is made. 271s
Now, why in this parable, in this story that Jesus tells, why is he talking about patches 277s
on a cloak? 287s
They're called boat-up bags, they're popular in Spain. 293s
They're little containers made out of animal hide, leather and they contain liquid. 298s
They could become quite brittle. 308s
Why, some places around the world, they still take goat skins and they use it as the 314s
container to hold liquid. 320s
That process goes a long way back too. 324s
Why back in the days of Jesus, they would take goat skin. 328s
It would become the container and they would put the wine inside of the goat skin container. 334s
When that skin was fresh and soft and supple, the fermentation process would occur. 344s
And the wine would expand. 350s
But if they took new wine and they put it in an old goat skin container that was brittle, 353s
why would just burst the skin? 364s
And the wine would just spill. 367s
Look at what Jesus says in verse 17. 371s
He says, neither is new wine put into old wine skins. 373s
Otherwise, the skins burst. 379s
And the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. 381s
But new wine is put into fresh wine skins and so both are preserved. 386s
So there's the second story. 394s
There's the second parable, earthly story with a heavenly meaning. 396s
So why is it? 399s
Why is it that Jesus is talking about patches? 401s
Why is it that Jesus is talking about wine skins? 404s
Well, let's look at the context of this. 415s
Look at verse 14 with me, please. 418s
Then the disciples of John came to him saying, 422s
Why do we and the Pharisees fast often? 425s
But your disciples do not fast. 429s
And Jesus said to them, the wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. 433s
Can they? 439s
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them. 441s
And then they will fast. 445s
Jesus is referring to himself here as the bridegroom. 446s
And so it's to joyful in his very presence to fast. 451s
The day will come. 457s
But then he gets it something else. 461s
16, no one so as a piece of unshruck cloth on an old cloak for the patch pulls away from the cloak and a worst tears made. 464s
Neither is new wine put into old wine skins. 474s
Otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. 477s
But new wine is put into fresh wine skins and so both are preserved. 482s
Remember the context here is the question about fasting. 491s
And so we must ask them, how did the Pharisees who were asking the question, 496s
how did they understand fasting? 500s
Fasting was very important for the Jews. 505s
They would do it often. 508s
In fact the Romans had a saying of fasting like the Jews. 511s
Because they noticed how often the Jew would fast. 516s
And for the Pharisee, for the Pharisee, they understood fasting as part of something that they do. 519s
They would work that they would do to make themselves righteous before God. 528s
Something that they would do so that they would, they'd be in good standing with God. 537s
What's point? 548s
What's the point? 550s
With Jesus comes the new. 553s
Jesus would not be an add-on. 561s
He would not be an add-on to the false beliefs or the experiences of the people. 566s
Jesus would not be an add-on to a mixing of works righteousness in himself. 572s
Jesus would not be an add-on. 582s
Because if Jesus is made to be an add-on, it's like taking an un-shrunk, new knee pad, 588s
an ironing on tough skin genes. 600s
It's like pouring new wine into a old boda. 603s
It's like a fuller taking a piece of cloth, 610s
an un-shrunk just plopping it on an old cloak. 616s
It's like someone taking the new wine and pouring it into an old wine skin. 621s
It would just burst and yet that is exactly what we're tempted to do. 627s
We're tempted to make Jesus an add-on in our lives. 636s
That we've gone our lives with a little bit of Jesus added on. 644s
White comes out. 653s
It comes out if we ever say or we ever think. 658s
I'm saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and me being a really, really, really good person. 664s
You'd be surprised in surveys. 679s
The number of people. 683s
Let's say that. 686s
Why Jesus becomes an add-on in our lives when we act out or when we think. 691s
I'm in charge of my life. 700s
I determine the destiny. 703s
I make the plans and if Jesus wants to come alongside that's great, 707s
but I'm in charge. 713s
We make him add-on. 718s
When we say, you know there's parts of my life that's just for me and there's other parts that Jesus can be Lord over. 722s
But Jesus has that and I have this and he needs to stay in his own lane and I need to stay in my lane. 730s
Because he's not getting all of me. 741s
I need to be Lord of what I'm going to be Lord over. 743s
And when we say that and when we live that out, Jesus becomes an add-on in our life. 746s
Or when we say or sing the ridiculous lyric that God is my copilot. 755s
Who then is the captain in that equation? 774s
Why will we make him an add-on instead of the focus of our lives instead of regarding him as Lord? 784s
We put the new with the old and do you hear the tearing? 792s
Do you see the spill? 799s
And what do we tempt to do? 802s
We're just tempted to take another un-shrunk knee pad and iron it on. 805s
Or we're just tempted to try and blot up the spill without dealing with the problem. 810s
And Jesus says, no one. 816s
So is a piece of un-shrunk cloth on an old cloak for the patch pulls away from the cloak and a worse tear is made. 819s
Neither is new wine put into old wine skins. 829s
Otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled. 833s
Jesus will not be an add-on. 838s
To our lives. 850s
He won't be. 854s
Think of the story. 859s
Look the 18th chapter. 862s
Two men go to the temple to pray. 866s
The Pharisee standing by himself was praying thus, 871s
God I thank you. 876s
But I'm not like other people. 878s
Thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this text collector. 881s
I fast, twice a week. 886s
I give a tenth of all my income. 889s
You see if Jesus was added to the equation of the Pharisee, 896s
Jesus would be an add-on. 900s
Jesus would just be a tag-along. 903s
Jesus would just be an add-on to his supposed goodness. 906s
But then it says, 912s
But the text collector standing far off would not even look up to heaven, 916s
but was beating his breast and saying, 922s
God be merciful to me a sinner. 925s
There. 931s
God is not an add-on. 934s
He's everything. 939s
Tonight we start the 40-day walk to Easter. 950s
You don't count Sundays in length. 955s
Because Sundays are always a little Easter. 957s
But the 40-day walk minus the Sundays until we get to Easter Sunday. 961s
The season of length is the time of refurbishment. 968s
It is a time of repentance where we live out by God's grace, 970s
the very meaning of repentance that we're going one way, 979s
and by God's grace we turn around and we go the other way, 982s
the color, the color is purple. 987s
Stains for sombroness and salinity. 992s
And it all starts on tonight on Ash Wednesday. 996s
When we are marked with the cross in black ash, 1003s
it's an ancient ritual in the church. 1011s
Ancient ritual that black ash, it is tremendous of the darkness of our sin. 1014s
That black ash is to remind us of our frailty. 1024s
That black ash is to remind us of our mortality. 1030s
Ash is to ashes and dust dust. 1037s
But that ash there that has that little bit of grit that you feel on the skin. 1043s
That ash is made in the sign of the cross. 1050s
For as we come acknowledging a new, our sinfulness that what we deserve is to be banished from God's presence forever. 1060s
As we come once again reflecting on that, we are greeted with the reminder of our sinfulness and our mortality. 1069s
And we are reminded of the graciousness and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1076s
who died for our darkness, who took it upon him, 1084s
who paid the sin that, who was raised out of the tomb, victorious. 1091s
We are reminded of the graciousness of our God. 1098s
We have a pension to experience tears. 1106s
And yet we are clothed in the righteous garment of Jesus. 1119s
We have a pension for putting new wine into old wine skins. 1130s
And yet we receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine for the forgiveness of sin. 1141s
Grace upon grace mercy upon mercy. 1154s
No more patches. 1167s
No more new wine in old wine skins. 1173s
No more Jesus is an addon to our life. 1184s
Because he is not an addon. 1193s
He is everything. 1200s
He is everything. 1201s