11/23/11 JESUS, MY BRIDEGROOM
11/23/11 JESUS, MY BRIDEGROOM
Luke 5:33-39 Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Key Verse: 5:38 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF
“No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”
Dear Lord heavenly Father, thank you for your grace in my life. Help me to provide for the needs of my family and at the same time grow spiritually as a servant of God’s word. I pray that I may have a focused heart and mind to seek after and know Jesus better. Please help us to manage all things well for the glory of God. Please fan into flames the desire to serve your flock and raise disciples among NIU students. I pray for the people involved in last nights shooting. Keep everyone safe. Find the perpetrator and help all parties involved to come to Jesus, their Lord and Savior. Please grant me one word of God through this passage. I thank you and I pray in Jesus’ holy and powerful name. Amen!
1. Jesus the Bridegroom (33-34).
Verses 33-34, “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. 34 Jesus answered, ‘Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?’”
The Pharisees had another complaint – the disciples did not fast and pray as was customary. The disciples probably did not have an answer to that. It was true that they just followed Jesus and ate when they could, even at a tax collector’s banquet, but Jesus answered saying that he is the Bridegroom and it was the time to celebrate and feast with him.
We can not get caught up in legalism. We need to have the joy of salvation, because Jesus is with us. He is our bridegroom. We are his bride and we are together through faith. When we are at a family reunion or a family wedding how can we get caught up in legalistic issues such as hand washing and etiquette. We are there to enjoy ourselves and celebrate the new family. Have a good time. (in a holy way, of course).
Jesus our Bridegroom gives us joy and true life. Times come when we fast and pray and cry out to God, but Jesus is always our source of joy. Life in Jesus is a source of Joy. As Christian our life in Christ is so joyful. Why do I not feel the joy of a wedding feast sometimes? Why do non believers seem a lot more happier than I am sometimes? When I become legalistic I loose my joy because I end up feeling inadequate or I end up judging others. When I get caught up in how much money I am making and how I am not maximizing my money making potential, and when I forget about getting to know Jesus and his word better, then I loose the joy of life. When my mind starts to wander and I loose focus on the word of God, then I loose the joy of life. I need to make Jesus my focus. If he is my bridegroom then I must focus on him as one who loves. He must be my everything. Then I will have a joyful testimony to share with the world, that life in Jesus is like life in a wedding feast.
2. New wine (35-39).
Verses 35-39 read, “But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” 36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
Christianity cannot be contained in old habits and ways of life. We must pray to be pliable like new wineskins and let Jesus transform us into his image. When we have the Bridegroom, joy and peace enter our hearts, yet we can easily fall into the rut of a habitual and legalistic life. We must expand our hearts and accept the new wine of Jesus’ life and teachings. As a church, we must be open to the work of the Holy Spirit.
How easy it is for me to become habitual, just muttering the same old prayers and going through the same old activities again and again with no heart. And when something new comes around I just grumble and complain about change even though it is for the better. I need to expand and grow. I need to be ready for change. I need to be flexible, dynamic, expansive and responsive as a disciple of Jesus. I pray that our whole fellowship and family may be like new wineskins and accept all things new from Jesus.
Prayer: Lord, you are my Bridegroom who gives me joy and peace. Forgive my unchanging life. Please change me more and more into your holy image. Make my church a place of spiritual growth.
One Word: Jesus, my Bridegroom and new wine
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