GOD’S STRANGE ASSIGNMENTS
Text: John 2:1-11
"And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: (2) And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. (3) And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. (4) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. (5) His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. (6) And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (7) Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. (8) And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. (9) When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, (10) And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (11) This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him."
INTRODUCTION
When I was in school growing up, there were times that my teachers gave me some assignments that caused me to scratch my head
I’ll never forget in 10th grade my Biology teacher giving us an assignment where we had to go out and collect 25 different leaves, pick them, and name them
And I remember going through the woods trying to find 25 different leaves, and I’ve never understood to this day what the purpose of that assuagement was because I can’t tell one leaf from another today
Well, in the spiritual realm, in God’s dealing with our lives, and in the Word of God, God gave assignments that, to the natural, the carnal, the flesh, did not make sense
You’ll find over and over, God giving some STRANGE ASSIGNMENTS
For instance, in our text this morning, when confronted with the lack of wine, Jesus, asked the people to fill the pots with water
That was a strange assignment
After all, he could have turned the water into wine right in front of their faces
Or, at least, he could have said, “Go gather some grapes.”
But He didn’t – He said, “Fill the pots with water”
And the people I’m sure scratched their heads with wonder
But notice what Mary said
She said in John 2:5 "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."
And sure enough, when they fulfilled that strange assignment, the water was turned into wine
And the point is clear:
If we want to go from
--the ordinary, to the extraordinary
--the mundane, to the miraculous
--lack, to provision
--sickness, to health
--weakness, to power
Then we need to do whatever He tells us to do, and watch Him do what we cannot do, and follow Him though, at times, he gives us STRANGE ASSIGNMENTS
Let me tell you this morning that according to the prophet Isaiah, God let’s us know
Isaiah 55:9
"[That] as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [His] ways higher than [our] ways, and [His] thoughts than [our] thoughts."
Notice that this says that GOD’S THOUGHTS are higher than our thoughts
This tells me two things
First of all, He’s thinking of me
His eye is on the sparrow, and He watches over me
I’m not alone
I’m not an orphan, a forsaken child
I’m the very apple of His eye!
And then, secondly, It tells me that God’s ways are higher than our ways
This refers to PERSPECTIVE
Have you ever been caught in a traffic jam on an interstate?
In front, and in behind, and all around are cars, creeping along
You sink into despair because you don’t know what’s the hold up and how long is the hold up
But then you see a helicopter fly over – now they’ve got a different perspective
I remember one time getting caught up in a major traffic jam on the North Carolina, Virginia border
I took an alternate route, and it was jammed
You see, if I could have got a higher perspective, I could have seen exactly which way to get out of the mess I was in, but in the middle of it, I was hopeless
And that’s they way it is in life
There’s trouble in front, trouble behind
The Psalmist said in Psalms 91:7 "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee."
For there’s a God whose up there, and from His perspective, HE knows how to get me out of the mess I’m in
Whatever He tells you to do, do it, even if it’s a STRANGE ASSIGNMENT
The Bible says
Exodus 13:17-18
"And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: (18) But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea…"
Why did God do this? Because God’s perspective saw trouble and He diverted them
His ways are higher, and His thoughts are higher
And you may be going through the wilderness, but hold on, deliverance is coming, for our God will never let you out of His sight
Just do what He tells you to do
Let me give you some examples of some strange assignments in the Word of God
1. NAAMAN THE LEPER
That was a STRANGE ASSIGNMENT in the Old Testament when God told the dignified captain of the Syrian army to dip 7 times in the Jordan river for his healing of leprosy
Naaman was a captain in the Syrian army
He was a man of dignity, honor, and reputation
And when he got sick with leprosy, he heard about the miracle working prophet Elisha
And so he made arrangements to see the Prophet and with pomp and parade he sent for Elisha
Would you know it that Elisha didn’t even come to the door
That’s like the Chairman of the Joint’s Chief of Staff wanting prayer from me, the Pastor, and I don’t even come to the door
And Elisha sent a message
2 Kings 5:10
"And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean."
That was a strange assignment
But the Bible goes on to say that Naaman was wroth
And Naaman said
--first of all, he didn’t even come to see me
--secondly, he tells me to do something ridiculous
--thirdly, of all the rivers, he sends me to the muddiest river – Jordan
But some of his people said what Mary said – just do what God tells you to do
And Naaman went down, once, twice, three times, four times and on the seventh time, he came up healed
My friend, God knows what He’s doing
Sometimes God has to humble us, before He heals us
Pride will stop the move of God in your life
Pride cometh before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction (Proverbs 16:18)
And sometimes God has to mess up our hair or wrinkle our clothes
Sometimes we get to proud to worship
How many in here today are not ashamed to worship?
If we’ll just humble ourselves and do what he tells us to do, we’ll go from the mundane to the miraculous because God knows just what He’s doing!
2. ELIJAH THE PROPHET
God told the prophet in the days of drought
1 Kings 17:3-4
"Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. (4) And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there."
That was a strange assignment for God to tell Elijah the Prophet to hide out by a water brook in the days of drought
I mean, after all, you would have thought that if God was sending him to that church it would at least have a parsonage!
God said I’ve commanded for the ravens to feed thee there
My friend, there is a “there” for you
And “there” my not look all that
--impressive
--great to the natural
--appealing
But when you’re “there”, God will meet all of your needs
Then God gave another strange assignment
He said, get to the widow woman’s house
Sometimes God will lead you to a place that is small
Sometimes we get our eyes on big churches
But every Sunday School class, church, or ministry starts out small
Let me tell you that little is much when God is in it!
We need to obey God
He may send us to the widow woman, but the cruse of oil and the barrel of meal never stopped
Because God knows what He’s doing
John Maxwell is a preacher’s preacher
He sends out a monthly teaching tape and in his past Injoy Life Club lesson, he mentioned that He’s sent out over 180 tapes – that’s 15 years
He said that somebody asked Him how did he do that – ONE TAPE AT A TIME
Let me tell you that’s how we preach, teach our 5 children in Sunday School class, and win souls
We do it as unto the Lord because God may place us at the widow’s house, but small places can’t stop God’s big plans, if you’ll just do whatever He tells you to do
3. MOSES
That was a strange assignment when God told Moses at the Red Sea to stretch forth his hand
You would have rather head God say, “My children, turn left by 40 degrees, then proceed forward west and I’ll send you another way”
But that’s not what God said
He said, “Moses, what is in your hand?”
God wants us to use, at times, what is in our hand
My friend, we have the power, the word, the spirit, and the name of Jesus
We don’t have to call 911 or the preacher, we can stretch forth our hand and cause rivers to separate and mountains to be removed
If we’ll just do whatever He tells us to do
When Lazarus was in the grave, Jesus told them to roll away the stone
Sometimes you have to put your hand to work before God’s hand begins to move
God’s part
--is to give us the harvest, our part is to sow
--is to raise Lazarus, our part is to roll away the stone!
--is to heal, our part is to stretch forth our hand
Faith is an action word
It’s doing something God tells us to do, and leaving the results with God
4. THE BLIND MAN
John 9:6-7
"When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, (7) And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing."
It was a strange assignment when Jesus said wash in the pool of Siloam
He could have just spoken his eyesight into existence
He works in different ways
In fact, Jesus healed the blind men three different ways
One blind man, blind Bartemaius, in Mark 10:52, Jesus just SPOKE
There were two blind men in Matthew 9:29 and Jesus TOUCHED
And then we have this blind man in John 9 with this strange assignments
This is where the first church split came
One group could have said, "He heals by touching you." "No!" says the other group, "He heals by just speaking a word." Then lo and behold another one says, "You’re both wrong, He spits in the mud and rubs it in your eyes!"
My friend, it doesn’t matter how he delivers us, just so long that he does
Whatever he tells you to do, do it!
Let’s just have church and obey God and do whatever he tells us to do
We are so special, unique, that God knows the very things we need and how to give it to us
And through it all, we learn to trust in Jesus, we learn to trust in God
5. THE RICH YOUNG RULER
Luke 18:22
"Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me."
It was a strange assignment when Jesus said sell all that you have
This was not the request of all his disciples -- we won’t gain salvation only by liquidating our assetts -- but if that’s what’s holding us back, oh well
But God knew what was holding him back
What’s holding you back this morning?
It was a strange assignment when the Father said, "Son, I want you to become a human, be born in a little stable in Bethlehem, and be crucified and die for the sins of lost humanity."
And the Son said to the Father, "I’ll do it."
And forever we have salvation!
IN CLOSING
In order to live, we must die
In order to be sent, we must tarry
In order to love, we must suffer hatred
In God’s economy, things are much different
But in God’s economy, things are much better
God always saves the best for last
Do you want to go from the
--ordinary, to the extraordinary
--weakness, to strength
Know that God has the answer, for HE is the answer
And if you will seek, you will find
But don’t be surprised at God’s strange assignments
Do what ever He asks you to do!
At human birth the brain weighs, on average, 14 ounces
It usually reaches its maximum size at age 15 which proves that the size of the brain has nothing to do with intelligence level
At its maximum size, the brain weighs an average of 46 ounces, slightly less than three pounds
In liquid measurement, that’s about a big gulp from the soda machine at the local gas station
There is no way for medical professionals to prove this, but the old theory was that we only used about 10 percent of our brain capacity
If that were true and we only start out with a big gulp in the first place, we’re down to about a quarter-pounder with cheese by the time we’re done
And we think that with our quarter-pounder with cheese we’re going to comprehend the infinite, decipher the mysteries of the millenniums, we’re going to answer all the questions of life? Yeah, right!
The human brain weighs about 2 pounds
And there’s no way we can understand
But when we can’t trace His finger, we can trust His heart
He knows best for our lives
