Afterthought- A Question about Fasting

Matt 9. 14-17

So there are a few things that seem to be a fact of life....

1. is that people get old-Now don't get me wrong, I am the first to admit my lack of youthful gusto. But it seems to me that...something that defines adulthood is- stability By the time you have kids you have become who you are..change is harder. I notice that people in their 50’s don’t often like new things…they can teach others, and lead them into new things, but their preference would be to stay the same. That means to bring in young people into leadership, what we often do is tell them inadvertanly, 'well you gotta fit into our thing.'

This message today for all us oldies might seem hard. But I think the awesome thing that I see is that the motivation of the kingdom is to pursue new containers, not get rid of old ones. Old wine needs its container too. (I love that there are churches that play organ music. It affirms that even when I get old there will be a place for me)....but in seeing so many old churches full of resources and no people it makes me wonder.....how can we grow old better?

I think Jesus' words to us are....

Find a new container for the New wine.
A great example of this might be Tim Kellers mega church in the states. He has decided to retire and realizing there is no one to take his place he has said, you know what we are going to do is....CHANGE. We are going to find 4 young pastors and plant 4 new churches. You can choose where you want to go, but this thing is going to end.
This approach:
doesnt sacrifice a new piece of cloth (a young preacher) on a old cloth
it allows people to reevaluate and contextualize what God is doing now in 4 new and unique ways, and provides the stretch the new thing will need to contain the new wine.


how do you see this passage?