"Mary's Great Sermon”

“Mary’s Great Sermon”

John 2:1-5

INTRODUCTION:

Happy Mother’s Day! I am glad to see all of you moms and grandmas who are here with us today, and we thank God for you.

If I were to ask you who the most famous mother in history was, who would you think?

• June Cleaver

• Marge Simpson

• Mother Theresa

Well, I believe that by far the most famous mother in history belongs to the most famous person in history, Jesus Christ.

His mother’s name was, of course, was Mary

What do we know about this extraordinary mother? We know that Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God, that she gave birth to Jesus in a stable, that she brought Him up and had a part in His ministry, and she was there at the foot of the cross when Jesus called to John, His apostle, and said, “Son behold your mother, mother behold your son”. She was present at Jesus’ resurrection and was in the upper room on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit fell as tongues of fire on the believers.

ILLUSTRATION:

“The Passion of the Christ” The many of you who have seen the ‘passion’ movie will probably agree that one of the most touching moments in the film came when Christ fell under the weight of His cross and Mary ran to His side. She lifted up His bloody face and remembered a part of His childhood. Though this scene is not found in scripture, it did remind us of a part of Christ’s life we often do not regard much – The relationship He shared with His mother.

Mary knew Jesus, probably better than anyone else. Remember He was thirty years old when His ministry began, and up until this time He was a carpenter like His earthly father, Joseph.

He had spent thirty years in an earthly family. Anyone who shares a good relationship with their mother knows that when you become an adult, the relationship is like a friendship. Mary was not only Jesus’ mother, but was also His friend.

In our text today, Mary gives us a short and powerful ‘sermon’ about Her Son Jesus.

*She went to the men working the wedding feast and said simply, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

We look back on this simple statement and can make one key observation – she was not just talking to the men at the feast – she was talking to you and to me…

“Whatever He says to you, do it.”

The statement is simple, yet powerfully profound – because to heed her words and ‘do what Christ says to do’, we have to know what Christ has told us to do.

What has Christ told us to do?

His very words can be found in the Gospels.

I. HE TOLD US TO BELIEVE IN HIM

a. Most of us can quote John 3:16 [Say together, “For God so loved…]

i. A little lower to John 3:18 we read:

ii. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

b. Now what does it mean to ‘believe’?

i. That word ‘believe’ in the Greek is “Pisteuo (pist-yoo’)”

ii. The literal definition of that word is “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in”

iii. I like the last example, because I believe that is what Christ wants us to do above all else: Place our confidence in Him

iv. “Believe” appears 99 times in the Gospel of John alone

v. To believe, ultimately, is to have faith

c. Some people say, “I have faith, just not in Jesus”

i. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

ii. Notice He did not say that He is ‘a way, a truth, a life’ but He stated He was ‘The Way, The Truth, The Life’

iii. JOKE: “Warnke and the believing atheist” Christian Comedian Mike Warnke once told a story of an atheist he met while serving in Vietnam. He said by the fourth week there the guy walked up to Warnke with a chain on his neck that had a cross, a Buddha, a star of David, a star in crescent, and an Indian arrow head. He looked at Warnke and said, “I believe!” Warnke said, “What do you believe in? I can’t tell from that chain” and the guy answered, “I don’t know, but in my position I can’t afford to make anybody mad!”

iv. ILLUSTRATION: ‘Going to Savannah’ Folks, if I said I was going to Savannah, and then went out on I-95 and headed south, I would not make it to Savannah. Why? Because Savannah is north of here. I would be headed the wrong ‘way’! I can have all the faith in the world I am going to Savannah, but I am going to end up in the Ocean before I reach Savannah, because South is not the way.