New Wine - Day 12

We need new wineskins because something happens with new wine. Gasses formed within the wineskin as the wine’s flavor, color, balance, and boutique grew. Because the new wineskin could expand and hold both the wine and the gasses.

If the new wine is the grace and power of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, then we should expect that the new wine will continue to grow, change, and expand. How do we create lives and churches to accommodate the kingdom's growth through the Holy Spirit’s work? 

It begins with your commitment to the kingdom's growth through your life, your willingness to serve, and your desire to lovewell. Without you, none of this works. We need to work together as a community, but that comes from your commitment to expand your life to the growing demands of the Holy Spirit. 

Luke 9 gives us a look into the cost of discipleship. We begin in Luke 9:57. As they were walking along, a voice comes to Jesus and we are told that the voice made a declaration; “I will follow you wherever you go. . .” (Luke 9:57)

The answer Jesus gives this voice is difficult: “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.” (58)

Was Jesus trying to dissuade this person from following him? Was he trying to scare the person off? Or was Jesus just trying to give a reality check to the person who was trying to commit their lives to Jesus? Why would Jesus say this? 

Jesus liked to deal in realities, not in dreams. He wanted the person to know that following him was not a simple thing nor a task to be taken lightly. Rather, it is a commitment to a life that doesn’t look like other’s lives, that is sometimes very nerve-wracking, and always forward-moving. It is a call to keep progressing the kingdom of God and expanding its influence in the world, and that means that when you take it on you will probably not stop moving. 

We don’t know if this dissuaded the person, but we do know that the interactions did not end there. Jesus doubles down on how hard it is to become a disciple in the next two interactions we will discuss tomorrow. 
 
JOURNAL

1. Have you felt the call to be a disciple of Jesus? 
2. How does one become a disciple? 
3. What does it mean to follow Jesus and learn from him?