I’m going to take a step back for a moment, and return to Mark 2:15-17, where Jesus is sitting and enjoying meal fellowship with Levi and his sinner-friends. Some Pharisees (Teachers of Religious Law) noticed and asked why Jesus eats with such scum (no doubt they were also bitter about not being invited to the meal themselves…a pride-thing). Jesus responded that “It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The New Living Translation explains that a little more: “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners,” then begins to talk about patching up old wineskins.
The People Who Read, Studied, and Taught the Law
I think it needs to be understood that the Pharisees were the teachers of the Religious (or Mosaic) Law. These were the people who read, studied, and taught the Law to everybody. They often had high status’, earned a nice paycheck, and had huge egos. They had worked hard to be where they were, and belonged to an old organization of people just like them, with the honor of teaching everything they knew to everybody else. They thought they knew everything, that they should be honored, and that they deserved these honors. So when Jesus came in and challenged them, broke protocol, and basically let them know where they were wrong, when they should have accepted correction, as the Proverbs tell them to do, their pride kicked in, and instead became stubborn and offended.
“I have come to call not those who think they’re righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Today, one might point to some Pastors who could fit into the Pharisee category. I could agree, I’m sure, and not only us Pastors, but also Christians…or people who think they’re Christians. Let me explain:
Jesus and I Have an Agreement
I’ve actually found that it’s easier to advise and teach sinners, seekers, people who have not yet met Jesus, and those who just have, about Jesus, the Bible, and theology, than it is with people who think they know and follow Jesus, yet are in desperate need of correction. For example, I have a friend who insists that he’s solid with Jesus, going to Heaven when he dies, and is a Christian. Yet, he refuses to attend church, he’s drunk every time I see him (it’s not an addiction, but just something he likes to do), he’s living with his girlfriend and having sex outside of marriage, justifies his sins saying “Jesus and I have an agreement”, and believes that Jesus is not the only way to heaven. He thinks he’s righteous, and like the Pharisees, when I try to explain to him what needs correcting (Christians are to hold one another accountable), he argues his case, justifies his sins, and avoids further conversations about Jesus with me.
Liberal Christianity
This is actually a very common situation with the idolatrous religion today known as “Liberal Christianity”. Many (most?) Liberal Christians are people who may have accepted Jesus at one time as their savior, but never took Him on as their Lord. Or they accepted Jesus, but never received (or rejected) discipleship. So now they claim to know Jesus and to pray to Him every day, but it’s not the Jesus that the Bible talks of, for they either don’t read the Bible, or do read it and just choose what parts of it they want to believe and follow. They’re most recognized when they base their beliefs and images of Jesus upon the culture of the day. You’ll notice also their feelings or those of people, and own judgments of how they want to perceive God. But this isn’t Christianity, it’s idolatry, for they’ve created God in their own images, or in an image of how they would prefer Him to look. And if you try to correct them with the Truth, or try to point them in the right direction, they’ll in turn rebuke you for being closed-minded and claim their personal experiences as a higher authority than the Bible. Even if Jesus Himself was to tell them to their faces, they either wouldn’t accept His Truth, or would debate it with Him. Like the Pharisees, in my experience, Liberal Christians think they’re right, righteous, and even open- minded, though neither of them are willing to truly listen.
Jesus Didn’t Have Time for Such People
He talked to and hung out with those who would listen…those who knew they needed help, correction, advice, guidance, etc…not those who thought they had nothing to learn or change.
So now we read that Jesus is being asked why His disciples don’t fast, even though everybody else is. Jesus replies that they have no reason to fast, because He’s with them. When He’s gone, then they’ll have reason to fast and grieve, but now is not that time. Jesus was again giving a hint to those asking as to who He is. Then He explains about the patch. You don’t put a new patch onto an old coat, for the new patch will pull away from the coat and create a bigger hole that there was before. ‘If I try to explain these things to you, you won’t listen anyway. What I’m teaching you is not new, but the same thing you’ve been learning all this time. But you’ve worn out the Truth so much with your godless traditions and requirements that you’ve created a hole (or rip) in your own system. So there’s no use in trying to repair your void with something new, for it will just rip off and create a bigger hole.’
Can’t Put New Wine Into Old Wineshins
In the same way, you can’t put new wine into old wineskins, for its fermenting process will cause the pre-stretched skins to rip, causing both the skins and the wine to be useless. Instead, put new wine into new wineskins. Then, when the skin stretches from the new wine’s fermenting process, it will be able to withstand it, creating pure, good wine.
So as with Wineskins, Stretch Your Minds!
So as with wineskins, stretch your minds! Stop holding so tightly to what you think you know. Examine yourselves as according to God’s Truth, and accept rebuke as a means of stretching within the skins…go over in your mind what you know and with what you’ve heard…examine the evidence of God’s Truth versus your own practices and traditions. There’s something big happening, and much will happen soon. It’s best to be SURE, without a doubt, as one who’s done the research themselves, than to believe you’re fine without checking. You think your house is secure, but you didn’t realize that you actually left a window open. Check your faith. Examine yourself often. Be absolutely sure that you know Jesus as He reveals Himself in His Word, not as the world sees Him.
Remember, Jesus came to call not those who think they’re righteous, but to those who know they are sinners.
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