Christian Living

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A Time for Change


The Central truth behind this study is simply:

"Whilst change can be difficult for some of us, change is good and for the better when God is in it."


Have you noticed how difficult it can be to change a habit, a tradition or just simply change the way you've always done something?


In the days before power steering was introduced, one had to navigate the steering wheel around a corner or bend in the road in a series of short, shuffled movements.


That's how I learned to drive, (Our friends across the pond excluded!).

But when power steering became the "In thing," the method used to negotiate bends changed in that one was required to allow the steering wheel to slide, as it were through your hands.

I found myself struggling for a while with this. I would still shuffle my way around difficult bends and justified my labours telling myself time and again that I was upholding to good driving principles.

That was until I finally decided to yield to the much less complicated way of allowing the steering wheel to gently glide through my hands. The truth was, the new way was not only less complicated, it was better!

The truth remains however, that, change is difficult to accept especially when we have been doing something a certain way for a while.

Old habits die hard!

I have found that the very same principle holds true even in regard to Spiritual matters.
Consider the following passage in the Bible as an example of this very thing:

Mt 9:14 - Mt 9:17 (NLT)


"One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” Jesus responded, “Should the wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Someday he will be taken from them, and then they will fast. And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the patch shrinks and pulls away from the old

cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved."


Here in this passage, Jesus is challenged on the question of fasting.


The scenario is put to Him along with a question.

"One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”

This was a new idea to them, which was seen to be more of a mistake!


Jesus was all too aware of how difficult it is to get a new idea into men's minds.

So He uses illustrations that they would be familiar with in order to introduce them to some new truths.

Men's hearts can be so entrenched in tradition that it can become well nigh impossible to change the way they think and the way they do things.

That spirit is by no means dead.

Very often in a church or gathering of God's people if any change is suggested, the objection is promptly raised, "We never did that before."
Just recently I came across a website that advocated the use of the King James Version of the Bible solely!

In fact to the degree where every other translation of the Bible was ostracized, and those using other versions were branded as heretics!

They even went to the extent where they named prolific Evangelical preachers of our day and branded these also as heretics.

But wait!

Before you scold and scorn, the sad truth is that no matter what tradition we hail from, throughout all its history the Church has clung to the old.

Please do not misunderstand me here, for there are what I would call "Good Traditions," that the Church for the most part has held to throughout its history.

The Celebration of the Lord's Supper, or the breaking of bread.

The centrality of Christ as its focus and object of worship.

Meeting together to mutually edify one-another through Biblical Fellowship.

The upholding of the truth that the Bible is our sole and supreme authority for all matters of faith and conduct.


These principles and traditions are what we would call; timeless and unchanging because according to Scripture, we are to hold these dear and not ever forsake them.

Having said that, there is a propensity in man to abuse and change the emphasis on certain traditions for his own gain.

Such is the case here in this passage.


Those who had come to Jesus with their question and inherent accusation regarding fasting had in fact lost sight of the fact that fasting according to the law, was only commanded for the Day of Atonement.

The traditions of the Elders and fathers had, like so many other laws and traditions, added to the practice and consequently obscured the true significance and meaning of true fasting!
Originally fasting was a deep sign of true penitence, but sadly it had become a pious act in which to draw attention to the one who was fasting.

It had become a self righteous act in which the motive was to show before others so called acts of righteousness.

Remember what Jesus said concerning the Pharisees on an earlier occasion:

Mt 6:16 - Mt 6:18 (NLT)

"And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I assure you that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will suspect you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in secret. And your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you."

Jesus had come to bring about a new form of worship completely opposed to the old ways practiced by the fathers.

Jesus was now calling men and women to worship in Spirit and in truth.


If we are not careful, we too can fall into this trap of self deception and think within ourselves that our efforts at mere church attendance and worship are in themselves true acts of righteousness!


What God seeks, is for His people to worship Him in spirit and in truth, in other words, the words we speak and sing and the deeds that we ought to be for the praise and glory of God.


I remember attending a church for quite some time, well over a year in fact.

I enjoyed the preaching, to say the least, the preaching was God glorifying and Christ-centered.
But, something was strangely missing!

There was no real friendliness in the place, there was no sense of true Biblical fellowship and the worship was more like a ritual as people sang at times in rote fashion without ever wondering or pondering the truths they were singing!


For many, attendance at the place of worship had become a mere formality and even worn as a badge of spirituality.

That's exactly the trap that the Pharisees had fallen into!

If we are not careful, we can fall into the very same trap by thinking that our efforts at church attendance and worship amount to righteous acts. We do well to remember that, "Man looks on the outward, but God looks on the heart."

If we are in true relationship with God and walking with Him, then, one of the first evidences of this walk will be seen in how we relate to and treat one-another.

John teaches this very thing in his first epistle when he states:

1Jn 1:7 (NLT)

"But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin."


In other words, the evidence that we are walking in fellowship with God will be reflected in the way we fellowship with one-another.


The application of this verse is most serious indeed, for while the evidence of a close walk with God will be seen in the quality of our fellowship with one another,

the lack of true fellowship then, surely highlights the fact that we are not walking with God, and indeed, in some cases is evidence that there is no walk at all. Tradition can deceive us!


I could often tell that in the minister's messages to the congregation that he was all too aware of the prevailing tradition, but the sad truth was that his efforts within his messages to both challenge and change this condition sadly fell upon deaf ears!


Which brings us aptly to the next consideration in this study, and that is:


To attempt to change such an entrenched position is, sometimes, well nigh impossible.
Jesus knew that all too well, and that's why He gave the illustration regarding the wine-skins.

Mt 9:16 - Mt 9:17 (NLT)


And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved.


What Jesus is saying here is, there comes a time when merely trying to patch something up is foolish.


The only sensible thing to do then is to start again!

I hear people say, "Well, if you want to change the institution or structure, then the place to begin that change is from within."

This can sometimes make sense, but Jesus knew that when it came to religious tradition, it was well nigh impossible to change the ways and mind of man.

Oh how these false traditions blind us to the real and the genuine!

No-one, said Jesus, “tries to put new wine into old wine skins.”

In the old days, men stored their wine in skins and not in bottles. When new wine was poured into a skin, the wine was still fermenting. The gases it produced exerted pressure on the skin.

In a new skin there was a certain elasticity, and there was no harm done because the new skin stretched and allowed the new wine to ferment thus saving the contents.

But in contradistinction, an old wine skin had become hard and had lost all of its elasticity, so if, new and fermenting wine was to be poured into it, it would surely burst!

Jesus knew that every new idea or prospect for change in the history of man had an inherent battle within the closed minds of man.

Unfortunately, even in the mind of so called modern man there is this resistance against change.

What people are really saying to you when they challenge you to reform from within is simply,
"Stay a little longer, then perhaps you will come to see things the way we have always seen them, then, maybe you will accept the status-Quo and settle down."

If that is what you are being asked to do in the face of challenging a pervasive and compromising situation, then I challenge you, don’t swim with the tide, swim against it and make your decision to honour both the Word of God and the conviction of the Holy-Spirit, you will be glad you did, no matter the cost!

Frank Viola in his book, "Reimagining Church," states,


"A revolution both in the theology and practice of the Church is upon us. Countless Christians including theologians, ministers and scholars, are seeking new ways to renew and reform the Church. Others have given up the traditional concept of church altogether.
They have come to the conviction that the institutional church as we know it today is not only ineffective, but it's also without Biblical merit. For this reason, they feel it would be a mistake to reform or renew the present church structure. Because the structure is the root problem."


I trust that the above illustration will suffice in making the point, that sometimes what is required is a complete change and not a patch-up job!


Thank God that Jesus had come to give the world something entirely new that was the opposite of human effort and self righteousness; He had come to bring the Gospel, the good news of Salvation which was brought by grace alone, based on faith alone through Christ alone!

Sadly, today in many churches, the true Biblical dynamic of genuine Fellowship is missing.


In some churches it would be easier to penetrate a three foot thick metal door than break into some of the churches cliques and groups.


Many like myself, have found to their peril that such warmness, loving Biblical fellowship and mutual care that ought to identify the body, just simply does not exist!


What an incitement to any such church that names the name of Christ yet does not even remotely reflect His love.

Jesus last command to the church was,

"A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one-another as I have loved you."


Why in heaven's name do we disregard this last and most important command?


How many people are lost to the Kingdom of God because of coldness and indifference?

This is the message that the church has lost, there is without question the sound of an alarm to the church in these days but, alas, she is sleeping and can't be bothered to heed the alarm.

Are the foundations of what we have come to know as the church, being shaken?

Or, is the Lord trying to get our attention and introduce us to the change that is required if the church is going to return to true Biblical fellowship and complete the task of world evangelism?

It is my firm conviction, after many years as a believer involved in full-time service, that the latter is the case.

Namely, Jesus Christ, I believe is bringing about the biggest change the world has witnessed since the reformation under Martin Luther.


What is that change?


That change is taking place in the way we perceive the church should be and in the way the church ought to function as the Bride and Body of Jesus-Christ.

The church is changing from an organised entity to become what Christ always intended and that is to be organic in nature.
That is to say, that man-made structures of organised religion and hierarchy are being replaced by the New Testament model of true Christian community.
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Many are leaving so called churches and are finding within the context of smaller gatherings and home groups a much more meaningful and Biblical form of church.


Here, they experience, meaningful community, true agape love, devotion of members toward one another because of their authentic relationship with Christ.

They experience a deep desire to worship Christ and also to share Him to a lost world.


Their zeal and enthusiasm knows no bounds, because, for the first time in their lives they are experiencing New Testament Christianity as it was originally designed to be!

In New Testament life and experience, whenever a home-group had outgrown its capacity to hold everyone, they simply opened up another home where fellowship and authentic worship could continue.

The home of course emphasised the fact that the born-again believers were the church and not the building.

The church of course is always a body and never a building; it is always a people and never a place!


The Home became a natural setting for true fellowship.


The home was best suited for mutual edification, the exercise of spiritual gifts, the building together of God's people into community and the place where agape love could be expressed.

The home was the place where the true fellowship and warmness of the Holy- Spirit could be expressed, add to that the fifty-eight one-another expressions of fellowship, and one can only arrive to the logical conclusion, that the Home church meeting is the most conducive place where God's ultimate purpose can be realised.

A purpose that is centered upon being built together as living stones to create a house for the Lord. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

Statistics are showing that more and more, thousands of believers are meeting in home-groups in order to encounter this authentic Biblical fellowship.

This would appear to be a new reformation and way in which Jesus - Christ is moving His church forward.

It was the practice of the early church, and now it seems that people are returning to this Biblical dynamic in their thousands.


And so to the central truth of this Bible study:

Change is usually difficult to accept for us, but when God is in it, it is always for the better.
But this move requires one quality from us, it demands that like the wine-skins that we are flexible and can adapt to change.


My response to that is simply: It's a small price to pay in order to experience a real move of God.

What do you think?

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