Time to Change Wineskins?

Thoughts on innovation and our changing culture.

(In addition to Mobilize the Church, I also serve as the Next Ventures Director for Exponential Next. CLICK HERE for other articles I’ve written on the topic of innovation.)

The rabbis of old had a saying, “Without wine, there is no joy”.¹ This was especially true at a wedding. In the 1st century, weddings were a big deal and often accompanied by multiple days of gift giving and speechmaking. Plates were kept full, and the wine kept flowing.

Perhaps this explains why Mary turned to Jesus after the third day of a wedding celebration to say, “They have no more wine”.

Wine was the equivalent of wedding cake and running out was a major faux pas. What would Jesus do?

John would later record the story and the miracle that followed in John 2:6. He writes, “Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to His servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.”

A few verses later Jesus turned all 180 gallons of water into new wine. I did the math and that’s the equivalent of 908 bottles of wine. Perhaps a few guests started singing, “908 bottles of wine on the wall, 908 bottles of wine. Take one down, pass it around, 907 bottles of wine on the wall.”

Jesus offers new wine. But there is more to the story.

The Problem of Wineskins

Most weddings would begin with the choice wine. The Mad Dog 20/20 was held in reserve. But in this story Jesus transforms the water into the finest of wines, perhaps a French Bordeaux valued at $500 a bottle.

The master of the banquet had one taste and cried out, “you have saved the best until now!” The symbolism is clear. Not only does Jesus offer new wine. He offers the best wine. He is the best wine. The arrival of the Messiah meant the new wine of the gospel.

You have saved the best until now.

In Luke 5, a group of religious people express their frustration with Jesus. They resent his grace-filled approach as he is partying with Matthew and his sinful friends, and so they attack him and accuse him of all sorts of things.

Why isn't he following the rules and regulations of their laws? Why isn't he obeying the man-made systems they have put into place? Why is he associating with sinners?

Jesus responds by saying,

“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. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”

The chemical reaction from fermenting grapes produces a gas that expands and turns the juice into wine. Jesus reminded his listeners that if new wine was poured into old wineskins, the gas would burst the old, stiff containers. The new wine is eternal and comes from God.

New wineskins are temporary and created by us.

In his book The Problem of Wineskins, Howard Snyder writes,

“As time passes wineskins must be replaced, not because the gospel changes, but because the gospel itself demands and produces change. New wine must be put into new wineskins, not once-for-all, but repeatedly, periodically.”²

This has everything to do with innovation.

To hold the new wine, we must be willing to create new wineskins by innovating and adapting. The old wineskins are often those traditions, stiff structures, unwritten rules, and nostalgia of the past that pressure us to maintain the status quo.

But we need to take a hard look at innovating and creating new wineskins for ourselves and the church.

Church Structure

In the first century, when the Spirit ignited the Church, a different structure was needed to house the new wine. Peter’s first sermon at Pentecost resulted in 3,000 being baptized and the early church decided to gather house to house and in the temple courts.

They needed to innovate.

The Asbury revival of 2023 was a more recent example of how new wine was spilled into the wider community forcing colleges, churches, and other networks to pivot by creating new wineskins.

What might God be calling you to do differently in response to the opportunities and challenges in your community?

One possible example of changing wineskins is the emerging microchurch movement. I sat down recently to interview Rob Wegner, founder of the Kansas City Underground, a network of microchurches that are experimenting with new wineskins.

(The full interview can be found by CLICKING HERE but a WARNING…you will need to suffer through some Chiefs/Niners banter at the beginning!)

This emerging movement is catching fire across the country as everyday missionaries are pioneering new expressions of the church.

But this is only one of the ways God is using innovation and new wineskins to reach new groups of people with the gospel. The examples are many.

Of course there will always be those resistant to the new wine and the wineskins that emerge. In Luke 5:39 Jesus reaffirms this idea by telling the Pharisees, "And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better".

There are plenty of people that simply long for the old wine, the familiar taste of the way things used to be.

Human nature often desires what is comfortable and predictable. “The old is better”, people say.

The new wine may not be as smooth to the tongue and as finely aged as the old. It may be a bit sharp and unrefined. But it is alive. It is active. It is the new thing God is doing and it can't be contained it in old structures.

New wineskins must be formed to contain all God wants to do.

Personal Wineskins

Finally, this concept has a personal dimension for pastors and leaders. There is a popular worship song titled New Wine that expresses this idea in its lyrics,

In the crushing,

In the pressing,

You are making new wine

In the soil I now surrender,

You are breaking new ground

So I yield to You into Your careful hand

When I trust You I don't need to understand

So make me Your vessel,

Make me an offering

Make me whatever You want me to be

I came here with nothing

But all You have given me

Jesus, bring new wine out of me.

This should be the cry of every man or woman willing to do whatever it takes to allow God’s new wine to flow. God is looking for hearts willing to yield and trust and fashion themselves into the vessels God wants them to be.

On a personal level, we need to wrestle with the way our lives are structured and ordered.

Perhaps we need to change a few habits, spiritual disciplines, or attitudes and reorder our wineskins to be more receptive.

I’ve recently been convicted to wake up earlier, spend more time with God, regularly walk my neighborhood in prayer, and intentionally live with greater boldness in my faith. I'm searching my heart and my mind to see what thoughts and desires need challenged or adjusted.

I don’t want to miss the new wine. I want God to fashion me in his image, no matter the cost. I want His new wine to flow in my life. The final lyrics to the worship song reflect that outpouring,

Cause where there is new wine,

There is new power

There is new freedom

And the Kingdom is here

I lay down my old flames

To carry Your new fire today.³

No one pours new wine into old wineskins. May God grant us the courage to innovate both personally and corporately to contain all he wants to do.

1. "There is no joy without wine, since 'wine gladdens the heart of humanity' "(B.T. Pessahim 109a). 

2. Snyder, Howard. The Problem of Wineskins: Church Structure in a Technological Age. (2017). Seedbed Publishing. Franklin, TN.

3. “New Wine” Hillsong Worship. (2018).