Dear Friends,

I would like to direct your attention this month to a short passage in St. Luke's Gospel. The passage in chapter 5 and verses 33 to 39.

In these days we are encouraged by the wider church life to seek to affirm and co-operate with church life which is not like our own. There is pressure to get together for joint activities and dialogue. Any church which seems to hold back from this involvement finds itself under a certain amount of indirect criticism. I believe this passage has something very serious to say to us today in this situation. It seems to me that Jesus seriously warns us against this attitude.

The teaching of Jesus in this passage arises out of a question addressed to him about fasting. He is asked why he and his followers do not fast like the followers of John the Baptist and the followers of the Pharisees. Jesus reply is that it is unnatural for guests at a wedding to fast when the bridegroom is present. By this we are to understand that he, Jesus, is the bridegroom, and so his disciples have no need to fast when he is with them.

Jesus does say that his disciples will fast when he is taken away (v35). By this we understand the time when he was crucified, and then during the time the disciples waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit after the ascension. But fasting is inappropriate when he is present, and so inappropriate in the church because Jesus is present by and through the Holy Spirit.

Fasting is inappropriate in the Gospel church because it is an expression of people seeking to do good works in order to gain favour with God. Fasting is a religious activity by which people who promote it say that it is how they gain grace and holiness, and thereby grow more acceptable to God.

The Gospel Church does not fast because we are saved totally by the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. We can rejoice in 'no works' salvation. We know we are forgiven all our sins forever and rejoice in being members of God's family and heirs of eternal life, all on account of the gift of grace purchased by the perfect work of our Saviour Jesus Christ. We do not do religious observances to gain favour, instead we serve God out of love and gratitude.

This business of fasting illustrates the difference between Gospel Christianity and Christianity which adheres to natural religion. Natural Religion believes we have to merit our salvation in some way. Gospel Christianity, which comes from Jesus, receives salvation as a free and gracious gift from God. This difference is present all the time. It was present in Jesus time with the Jewish Church leaning to Natural Religion and Jesus introducing Gospel Religion.

From this question of fasting Jesus goes on to speak about the relationship between Natural Religion and Gospel Religion in the parable of patching cloth, and the parable of new wine.

The new garment in Luke 5:36 is Gospel Religion which Jesus has introduced by his saving work. The old garment needing repair is Natural Religion. The point Jesus is making is that you can't mix the two. If you cut a patch out of a new garment to mend and old garment, then you will have ruined the new garment, and not helped the old garment, because the new patch will tear away from the old.

This is what happens when we try to mix Gospel Christianity with Natural Religion. Gospel Christianity with its free grace in Salvation is ruined, and the old Natural Religion rejects the new Gospel Christianity. No good comes out of seeking to bring the two together.

Jesus makes the same point with the new wine. The new wine is again Gospel Christianity of free grace. If you try and put it into the old wine skins of Natural Religion, then the old wineskins will not be able to hold it. The wineskins will burst and the wine lost. Gospel Christianity is always lost and ruined when we seek to mix it with Natural Religion.

Jesus is plainly telling his true church not to join with any form of Natural Religion, because this is a recipe for disaster. I have certainly felt the pressure and criticism because St. Paul's has kept to themselves, and has not joined in the ecumenical adventure. St. Paul's is now being pressed into more involvement. The words of Jesus here plainly indicates that Gospel Christianity must preserve its unique and separate identity, so that the Gospel of saving grace may be kept pure.

This does not mean leaving the denomination we belong to. Nor does it mean isolation from the life of that denomination in its synods and chapters, and the like. But it does advise against joint ventures and amalgamations that make it necessary to compromise the Gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ.

This will always be a difficult furrow to plough as Jesus explains in the last verse of St. Luke chapter 5. The trouble is that people having been brought up in the old way of Natural Religion do not want to change. They say Natural Religion is best. However Gospel Christianity is the only one which saves, therefore we must not shirk the cross of keeping this testimony pure.

Your servant for Christ's sake,