Different Discipleship

Have you ever seen what happens when four or five Mentos brand mints are dropped into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke? There is an extreme and volatile reaction. The bottle cannot hold the contents in. The liquid shoots out of the top of the bottle, spewing forth under pressure much like the eruption of a geyser in Yellowstone National Park. A world record was set on the television show Mythbusters. With the use of a nozzle it sent a jet stream into the air over 29 feet high! This reaction occurs when some different ingredients are introduced that causes a change in the nature of that which is inside the bottle. It could be described as a “change reaction” or a reaction to change. The setting for such a display would not be appropriate for us here today. It would create a very messy environment. The container could not contain the change.
The religious people who were critical of Jesus and His authority in the Gospel of Mark knew absolutely nothing about Diet Coke and Mentos. But they knew change when they saw it coming. They knew what happened when someone came along and tampered with their tradition. They knew what might happen when disciples acted differently. It made an absolute mess of their institution. It threatened their way of life because things happened outside of their control. Disciples of Jesus were different from what people had been used to seeing. They did not always act in the ways of the Pharisaical tradition. And this caused no small amount of conflict among the practicing religionists of the day. This is the first century setting for today’s message, Different Discipleship. Let’s read the text before us from Mark’s Gospel.
John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.”
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22)

Jesus brings new life that religious tradition cannot produce or keep contained.

I. FASTING OFTEN ACCOMPANIES ACTS OF REPENTANCE AND RELIGIOUS TRADITION. (18)
...John’s disciples were fasting…the Pharisees were fasting...
Fasting symbolized mourning and sorrow and over time it grew into man-centered activity. The origin of the fasting of God’s people has its roots in the Old Testament. As God's people progressively heard from Him, He commanded them to set aside one day a year that came to be known as the Day of Atonement where they were to “humble their souls” in repentance and seek God’s forgiveness. To humble the soul required self humiliation and self denial, expressing sorrow for the effect of sin. The practice of fasting became a practical act of self-denial, abstaining from the intake of food. Fasting was often a response that symbolized sorrow and grief. Consider someone who grieves the death of a loved one and their response is so sorrowful they do not eat for some time, often for days. People also fasted in biblical times while seeking God’s direction, answers to prayer, or desired a heightened awareness of God’s presence in their mission and ministry such as Moses and Elijah. God’s people often fasted in situations of loss such as in the Babylonian captivity, where the Jews had lost their home and some believed they had lost their heritage as well. In the aftermath of the exile, the Jewish people continued their practice of fasting even after they had returned to their land. At the close of the Old Testament era, a group called the Pharisees rose to power and called the people to return to the basics of their religious tradition. By the first century, in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees would demand that people fast as much as twice-weekly. They were on the lookout for those who fasted and those who weren’t. They wanted themselves to be plainly identified as observers of the fast. They thought it gave them the appearance of being super-spiritual. Fasting became a religious activity focused on the display of man’s religious standing before other men. Here is the reason for the question to Jesus. Why don’t we see your disciples fast? Implied in that question is … Why don’t we see your disciples fast… like everyone sees that we do?
Fasting as an act of repentance is motivated by godly sorrow. Another faction of religious practitioners was found in the desert community of Qumran. The Essenes were the real deal when it came to fasting. Their fasting was not a public display of religion on parade. There was no parade in the desert. They were seriously seeking Messiah. Have you ever longed so much for someone’s presence that you did not eat? John the Baptist was criticized for his ascetic lifestyle where he lived on wild locusts and honey. Fasting was a part of his routine. His disciples followed in his tradition that seems similar to that of the Essenes. John’s disciples practiced fasting as it represented a denial of basic human desires such as food or drink. This denial demonstrated a desire beyond their physical hunger. They desired God more than they desired food. They mourned over their present condition of sorrow for their sin. Their Messiah was near. This was what John’s whole life purpose was about. He was to announce the Messiah’s arrival. They were living out the message to Repent, for the kingdom of God is near. This message is still relevant today. Repent. The kingdom of God is near. The person who desires to get close to God will never get there without repentance. People will never truly repent unless they experience godly sorrow. We often see God as some unfeeling, cold, and judgmental deity who is far removed from our existence. But know that our sin affects God. He is a Person. Sin offends Him. Are you sorrowful that your sin has hurt the heart of God? Repent. Change your direction. Turn from your way to God’s way. Mourn and weep over your sin. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. If I did not know God as my Savior, I would not want to eat until I had that assurance. A real relationship with the Living God is more valuable to the soul than food is to the body. We cannot live long without it.
Christ fasted miraculously in the wilderness. The Gospel accounts say He was there in the desert fasting for forty days and forty nights. Was He sorrowful over His sin? No, because He knew no sin. His mission lay before Him and He was tempted by the devil. He who knew no sin was to become sin for us. He fasted to demonstrate that He would not succumb to demonic temptation and turn the stones into bread, although He could have. He came to do the will of His Father, not the will of the tempter. He came to give Himself and deny Himself. Christ shows us that fasting can clarify our priorities. God-centered priorities can be clearly seen when we deny ourselves our basic desires.
Fasting cannot manipulate God. When fasting is ritualistic and legalistic, it leads to an empty expression of worship. God is not obligated to move on our behalf because we fast. Fasting should be done with purpose. One great purpose is to hear from the Lord as to matters of great consequence. Fasting should be purposeful and private. Fasting should be done discreetly. The whole world should not know we are fasting. It is between us and God. Self exaltation does not move the heart of God.
Fasting can be helpful as we learn to direct our focus on the Lord concerning His will. To know His will, we can look in His word. Fasting does not always have to be food-related. Fasting from wasteful activities can be a great way to discover God’s way of living in these frightening times. We can turn off the TV and open up the Word. The God of the Bible is not represented favorably from Hollywood productions. Biblical principles to guide our lives are found in the Bible.

II. NEW LIFE WITH JESUS IS REASON TO CELEBRATE. (18-20)
...Your disciples do not fast...So long as they have the bridegroom with them...
Men either rejoice, tremble, or ignore God when He is in their midst. Historically, man was created for communion with God. And it was an enjoyable thing. Then the fall of man brought shame and fear and men trembled when God revealed Himself. The most dangerous stage of the God-and-man relationship is when people began to take God for granted and no longer trembled. People ignored God and His word and were deceived to think He did not matter to them and His word was irrelevant for them. Their dead and lifeless religion became a ritual and a burden to those dying in their sin. So the Word of God became flesh and began to dwell and eat and teach and work and love among them. This was a different thing to the ones who were mourning and the ones who were pretending. Christ came to bring the joy of living back to men who were created in His image.
The absence of joy in the non-Christian betrays a lack of contentment in the ways of God. Why are your disciples doing things differently? Jesus was asked. The “why” question is a prevailing one. These days people are asking for explanations rather than answers. God does not owe us explanations as to why He does what He does in the ways that He does. From a self-centered perspective they ask, “Why didn’t He perform the way we expected?” It’s because God does not act for man’s primary benefit. He acts to demonstrate His glory. If you haven’t noticed, humans that don’t get their way can become dissatisfied and discontent. Non-Christians can suffer great disappointment with a God who does not meet their expectations. They do not enjoy joy. Don’t miss the contrast of joy and sorrow in this passage. Jesus draws this out using an illustration of a wedding that portrays life within God’s community.
Christ is the Bridegroom that everyone has been waiting for. Traditional wedding ceremonies in our Western culture find all the invited guests, along with the bridegroom, anxiously awaiting the entrance of the bride. At the first chords of the Bridal March, the guests rise to honor the bride and all eyes are fixed upon her. You can hear the hushed whispers, Isn’t she beautiful? Isn’t her dress gorgeous? But in the first century Oriental culture the bridegroom was the center of attention. As a general rule, the bridegroom would travel to the bridegroom’s home under the cover of darkness. His attendants would travel with him and he would dress like a King coming to claim His queen. The attendants of the bridegroom would no doubt be infected with His contagious joy as he anticipated union with His bride. Bridesmaids were usually waiting with the bride for the arrival of the entourage, which was led by the bridegroom. I honestly think this is one reason we are a little confused about who we are as the church in our culture today. We are the Bride of Christ. But we seem to think that the wedding is all about us. We think it’s about how we are dressed, and how beautiful we are. It’s not about the Bride. It’s all about Christ. All eyes are to be looking out for the Bridegroom. We can eagerly anticipate the Bridegroom’s arrival, no matter how dark it is around us and within us. Behold the Bridegroom comes! His arrival triggers a great celebration. Christ is the Bridegroom everyone’s been waiting for.
The joy of being with Christ should be a defining mark of the disciple of Christ. In our text the disciples of Jesus are not called Christians. They were called disciples. Disciples were students or followers. Disciples were first called Christians in the early church at Antioch, a few years into their future. Today many people call themselves Christians because they aren’t Muslims. They call themselves Christians because their parents were Christians. They call themselves Christians but they don’t follow Christ. And they are not disciples. A follower of Christ has learned that they can consider it all joy when they encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of their faith produces endurance, according to James 1. Many people who call themselves Christians today are living in fear and despair. They are anxious and panicked, distraught and angry, bitter and unforgiving. A different disciple that has learned to trust God with their lives. One who has joy in the midst of sorrow. One who has joy because they are in Christ and they know Christ is with them. Joy is like a spiritual tattoo. It marks us for identification for those with eyes to see.
Hope in the Bridegroom’s return overshadows the sorrow of His absence. The disciples of Jesus would indeed fast. In the wake of His death there would be days when fasting would be appropriate. Almost two thousand years since the day that our Lord was hung on a cross the church has had ample opportunities to fast and mourn in this sinsick world. But even in these days between His resurrection and His return, there have been days filled with the glorious hope of Christ. Christ in us is the hope of glory. This day is one day closer to the Bridegroom’s arrival than it was yesterday. World events in the political realm are lining themselves up for the imminent Return of Christ. There are many technological advances that have set the stage for the day when according to Matthew 24, “…all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory…”. Take hope. God’s tribe, His church, His Bride will have hope on that Day. Behold, church, your King is coming! Hallelujah! There is a new day on our horizon. There is new life with Christ in our midst. We have reason to celebrate! Even when…and even though…

III. NEW LIFE CAN CONFLICT WITH OLD WAYS OF LIVING. (21)
...a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment...
God Himself has come to bring a new solution to an ancient problem. New life offered in Christ was a different picture than what people were used to seeing. This God was different than what the religious rituals had come to represent. Christ would not stay inside their boundaries. He did not fit their mold. Christ did not come to abolish the Law. He came to fulfill it. Men were in bondage to the religious tradition. Fasting in the manner of the Pharisees was not commanded. It had become like many commandments of God. Through additions and alterations, the law became a great burden. Jesus came to change men’s lives that were enslaved to sin and bound in ritualistic religious activity. Religious ritual is one of the greatest tools of the devil. It helps us do right things wrong.
People want to believe in quick fix solutions and painless problem solving. If you asked people today whose lives are eroding before their very eyes if they would like to see their lives get better, you would probably get an enthusiastic and affirmative response. But better would be a relative term. Better than what? Sometimes our desire for the amount of change we want is just enough so we can become comfortable with our lives once again. We want a fast solution for an enduring problem. We want a painless patch job but sin’s damage cannot be patched and plastered over.
Christ does not patch the worn and torn; He brings new garments with Him.
The change that Christ was bringing into the first century world is just as radical as it is to us in our time. He comes with change that is the great exchange. He wants to exchange our ragged life for His righteous one. He doesn’t come with part of Him for part of us. The change is total. He wants all of your life. The authority He brings is the authority of God. He has paid for this exchange with the currency of His blood on the cross. His garments of righteousness are offered to cover our sin-wrecked lives. Will you exchange your rags of ruin for His robes of righteousness? Tired of being torn and worn?
The Christian is in the midst of a complete foundational renovation and not just a surface remodeling. Why doesn’t Christ just patch up our lives? Because what He is trying to do requires that He use different building materials. The holy cannot be joined to the unholy. Our lives are corrupt. We are fallen beyond repair. We are in need of complete renovation. God wants to get to the foundation. He is building something holy. Therefore, the foundation must be solid. If your foundation is not the confession that Jesus is Lord, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you will need a new foundation. Your man-centered life must be renovated to a God-centered one. You and I are like a house being built for eternity. A new coat of paint or a power washing of the siding just will not do. Are you honestly seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?
As a church, we can expect that growth can bring change and change can bring conflict. A new patch on an old garment is not only incompatible; it can be detrimental. For us to survive as the Body of Christ in the days to come, we will have to be vulnerable to one another and transparent. When we bump up against one another, there will undoubtedly be conflict and some will be offended. We will have to be diligent to seek peace with Christ and one another. We have come to the place where we cannot afford to treat conflict as irreconcilable or ignore it as if it does not exist. We must learn to treat it biblically. Ignoring conflict, rationalizing people’s sinful responses to it, or adopting new programs for solutions to old problems will be like placing a new patch on an old garment. The new will pull away from the old and a worse tear results. And I, for one, am a little weary about the Body of Christ being torn apart, aren’t you?

IV. LIFE ON THE INSIDE SHOWS UP ON THE OUTSIDE. (22)
...the wine will burst the skins...
New wine communicated a Messianic message of dynamic spiritual change that cannot be contained. Prophetic messages such as Isaiah 25:6 and 55:1 claimed that the Living God would provide the best wine at a future banquet and without cost. Wine was an important part of Jewish culture and is significant in the first miracle of the Gospel of John. Remember the wine had run out at the wedding of Cana.. We are told intricate details about the water pots that held the water for ceremonial washing. When Jesus changed the water to wine He was demonstrating that man cannot make himself ceremonially clean before God. Only God can cleanse. The Messiah had come to the people. A new way of life was here. It was time to celebrate. New wine ferments with violent internal reaction. Change reactions in old wineskins cannot be hidden. Life on the inside spills over to the outside.
A problem that a non-Christian has in surrendering to Christ is that he is afraid Christ will change his life…and He will. Christ saves us to change us and He changes us to save us. The person who would rather have his self-centered sin-filled lifestyle is trading away the glory of God for the pleasures of sin. I talked to a man recently who has worked as an investment banker for years. Since the fall of last year it has been hard for him to make a living. He put it like this. Long term and short term thinking has changed. Long term is what will happen next week. Short term is what will happen before dark. For the person who does not know God today and the sign of the times, it’s going to be dark pretty soon. There is still time for Christ to change your life.
Christ is the ultimate change agent. Jesus came so that we may have abundant life. He came to change us to people who want that for themselves and their families. We will not be changed into these kinds of people without Him. We cannot change ourselves or kick our destructive habits. This is the gospel. Christ has come to do for us that which we are helpless to do for ourselves.
Disciples of Jesus Christ will often break the molds of religious institutions. Did you know that some of the most influential leaders in the church over the ages have been criticized by the religious establishment of their day? Peter, John, Stephen, Paul, Martin Luther, John and Charles Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Dwight Moody and Billy Graham are just a few. Will you be a disciple that breaks out of the mold of religious institution? Christ said that He will build His church. And the gates of hell will not stand against its assault. That’s a different kind of church from the one that withdraws into a fortress of institutional tradition. I want to be a different kind of disciple. Don't you?
Different Disciples will result in a different church. A church sign that I heard about this week reads “Looking For a Dead Church? Keep on Driving!” I would like to add something to that sign if it were on our sign. It would read, “Looking For a Dead Church? Keep on Driving! Looking For a Different Church? Come On In!” Some people are looking for churches that manifest life and are not monuments of death. Some people are looking to become different disciples. What are you looking for today? Christ in us makes us different disciples. Is He in you? Are you in Him?
So what is our so what today?
We will not enjoy Christ’s new way of living if we love our old ways of life too much.
The time of fasting is almost over for Disciples of Christ. The time of feasting is close at hand.
The Kingdom of God is near. Are you close to the King?
Repent and believe in the Gospel.
There is joy in the presence of the Lord. Do people see the joy of the Lord in you?