The Newness of Christ

Matthew 9:14 - 17 (NIV): Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

These are John the Baptist's disciples questioning Jesus about fasting. Fasting means not eating to remind us to pray about something. We fast to show God we are serious and that we desperately need an answer. Jesus associated fasting with mourning in this passage. The time, then, for fasting and praying is now, while we await Jesus' return.
Jesus uses the illustrations of pouring new wine into an old wineskin, and sewing a new patch on an old garment to tell us that Christianity is not just a sect of Judaism, it is a whole new faith, open to all who believe. Jesus was saying that it was time for Judaism to morph into something completely new. He proved this by fulfilling some 350 Jewish prophecies. Remember, he said he didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.
These illustrations also tell us that Christianity is not just a band-aid when we need heart surgery. God is not interested in patching up your life - he wants to give you a whole new one!
C. S. Lewis tells a wonderful story of a man who calls a carpenter because the eaves of his house need fixing. The carpenter comes and takes a look, then takes a wrecking ball and smashes the house to the ground and builds a completely new one in its place. That's what Jesus does. He doesn't come along and try to fix up your life, he crucifies your old self and makes you a new person. Anything short of that doesn't work.
You can't pour un-fermented wine into a skin that has already been stretched out. It will burst it as the gases expand during fermentation. And an unshrunk cloth will shrink when you wash it, and tear away from an already-shrunk garment, and ruin it. So, trying everything else and throwing a little praying into the mix will leave you unsatisfied. Being partly committed to God will leave you unfulfilled. Give yourself completely to God and see if you don't discover a joy you never knew before. Pray believing and don't look back.
Paul says we are new creatures when we are in Christ. Jesus says we are born again. You might think of us as butterflies instead of caterpillars.