Sermon Brief
Date Written: January 14, 2011
Date Preached: January 16, 2011
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Falling in Love With Jesus
Sermon Title: In What Manner Can I Love Jesus?
Sermon Text: John 2:1-11 [ESV]
Introduction:
If anyone ever had the right to be arrogant and cocky about their position and responsibility it was Jesus. Here was the Creator of the universe who had stepped out of heaven to wrap Himself in flesh… all knowing and all powerful, but had limited himself… to this fleshly body… but even with the limitation Jesus accepted, he was still a very powerful person.
He knew His capabilities and knew what He was going to have to do in His ministry, but at the time of this Scripture, His ministry was just getting under way. Jesus was still building His team… putting together a fellowship of disciples that He would train and disciple.
However, as powerful and all knowing as Jesus was, in this passage of Scripture we can see some principles that reveal His heart… principles that must guide us in our walk with Him! Let’s take a look at the heart of Jesus and what it takes for us to LOVE Him… READ PASSAGE HERE…
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you." 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11 This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.
Background/Intro:
Scripture tells us ‘on the third day…’ which represents a timeline that is established back in chapter 1. This was the 3rd day since John’s confession that he is NOT the Christ!
However, I don’t believe the 3rd day reference here is without symbolic meaning. The 3rd day reference is special to the Christ story because it is on the 3rd day when Jesus rose from the dead… the resurrection that brings eternal life!
Here in this story… on the 3rd day the water is turned into wine… the ordinary is turned extraordinary! Jesus is the ‘new wine’ … the best wine… held for a time such as this!
Jesus and His disciples arrive in town and are invited to a wedding his mother has been invited to… and right off the bat there is an issue… the wine is running low! Now this could be because of poor planning on the part of the groom’s family or it could also be that Jesus and his disciples were last minute guests and they had not prepared for them… but it seems as if Jesus’ mother has something to do with it because she goes directly to Him for help!
She goes to Jesus, and simply relates to him that the wine is running low… I want you to notice what she does NOT say…
She did NOT demand Jesus to do anything…
She did not give Jesus suggestions of what to do…
She did not beg Jesus in any form…
She did not presume what Jesus would do…
Mary’s openness to Jesus’ capability and then her humbleness in allow Jesus to do what He believed best, reveal a great deal.
1st Mary knew where to go for help… but
2nd Mary did not presume to know what that help would be or what shape it would take… she simply believed it would be there!
What can we learn from this approach by Mary?
1st – we must learn WHERE to go for our help! Go to God… turn to Jesus!
2nd - we cannot presume to know what God is going to do, but accept that His help will meet our need…
She had faith in Jesus, she simply came to Him with the problem and laid it at His feet… she did not tell Him what to do but trusted that He would do the right thing…
Another aspect of this we can learn from is that because Mary willingly submitted to how Jesus was going handle things… the focus here is NOT on Mary, as some may see it, but the focus is on the sovereignty of Jesus in His ministry!
On other aspect of this story that many overlook is the gracious outpouring of blessing from Jesus that it represents! The wine jars that were sitting empty, were going to be a disgrace and dishonor for the groom… but Jesus stepped in and provided over 100 gallons of what the master of the feast said was the GOOD STUFF! The groom went from nothing to an overabundance of blessing… NOW that is a great picture of the grace of God!
Today, we live our lives and we have NOTHING! Sin separates us from God and we are doomed to eternal disgrace and dishonor in the form of being cast into the great abyss and separated from God for all eternity!
However, out of the nothingness we have to offer… Jesus steps in and graciously pours out His love on us! In Jesus, we can go from dishonor and disgrace to being delivered and eternally saved!
The disciples can see what Jesus has done here and in v.11 we see that they believed in Him! This was an epiphany of sorts for them, a step toward their total enlightenment by the Holy Spirit! Here they saw a portion of the glory of God manifest itself through the person of Jesus!
Now we have to understand that this belief they had was a dim view… but things were beginning to take shape in their minds of who Jesus actually was… they had faith and believed.
To answer our initial question this morning of “In what manner can I love Jesus?” I believe we can look to the example of how Jesus loved the Father! When we look at our passage this morning we can see 3 things that reveals Jesus’ love for God!
First – Jesus was with the people – v.1-2
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. Jesus was involved with the community around Him! He was not cocooned up in His house… He was not focused on separating Himself from the community around Him! How does this apply to us? Well when we ask the question, “How can I love Jesus?”
We have to understand that WE must be willing to be IN the community where God has planted us! We must be willing to minister to the people of that community… regardless of who they are! We must be willing to reach out to those around us… God has placed us where we are and we have to be INTERACTIVE within that community of people!
What does this mean for us as a church? Well we must be open to the people of the community… in ways that we may never think are reaching people! Like the fact that we have a community blood drive every year (several times a year) this shows the community that we care about the community!
Like the fact that we open our doors to civic organizations to hold meetings in our church buildings… Walnut Bend Housing Assoc and the Algiers Development Council are just 2 examples. After Katrina we housed the police dept for a short time and we also have been housing thousands of volunteers who have come in to work and minister to our city.
This is being available... this is being involved! It is the first step to establishing relationships that are able to share Christ, and win souls for the kingdom. We have to be willing to be IN the community and live a life that reflects Jesus, before they will ever listen to us about Jesus!
Jesus was IN the community and His love for the Father was evident and because of that others listened to Him! So when we live out our Christian lives IN the community and reflect Jesus to others… this reveals our love for Christ!
Second – Jesus was a willing servant – v.4-5
4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."
Now there are many people who feel Jesus’ response is a little harsh toward His mother. However, the syntax of the Greek manuscript reveals that this was neither… the syntax reveals a neutral voice… what Jesus says here is simply stating fact… the phrase He uses ‘what does this have to do with me?’ was more one of context to His ministry and not an avoidance to her request.
Really when we view this statement by Jesus in its full context, it reveals that Jesus was setting the stage for His ministry… family relationships would not be the driving force of His ministry…but His ministry would be based solely out of His relationship with the Father! We see later that his brothers unsuccessfully tried to sway him in a direction not in accord with the Father.
However, the result of this situation is that Jesus reveals His servant’s heart, which is a picture of total humility and respect. Although this [action] was NOT what He had come for… He loved, respected and honored his mother. She had not brought any demands upon Him, but simply knew he was able, and He was willing!
You see we can learn a lot from Mary in this story. We see that Mary went to Jesus because she knew He was able…Jesus was all powerful and knew what His mission was to become… however Mary goes to Him with this request and then she leaves the results and the action to be taken, up to Jesus! She allowed Jesus to decide what to do… how to handle the situation.
What we see here is that Jesus was a willing servant! Even though the wine had nothing to do with Jesus, when He was asked, He stepped in and served. Scripture relays this attitude of the heart that Jesus had in Mark 10:45…
45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."
In our story this morning, Jesus was a guest at a wedding and He was asked to perform the duties of a servant… He reveals a willing servant’s heart. Jesus could have said, “Hey! I’m the guest here, it is their job to serve Me!” and He would have been WELL within His rights!
But what we find in this passage is that Jesus did not see this request as something that was NOT His responsibility… We see that He did not put up a roadblock for His service… We see that Jesus did not complain about the inconvenience of the matter… What we find is that when the situation presented itself, Jesus did not object but in fact was a willing servant!
So the question begs itself to you this morning: Are you willing to serve when you are called upon? How often do we find ourselves in a situation where we are asked to serve, but our heart tells us… Hey, that’s not my job… or Hey I’m not prepared for that… or trained for that… or that is not my strongsuit…
We cannot allow our personal desires to prevent us from serving God for His kingdom. We too must be willing servants in His kingdom! But it goes further than just being willing, and that is my 3rd point this morning…
Third – Jesus took action when action was needed – v.7-8
7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast."
In the same light as being a willing servant, Jesus took action when action was needed. Jesus’ action directly addressed the issue and moved forward… Now I want us to look at the action Jesus takes… He instructs the servants to fill the jars with water and then He instructs them to take it to the master of the feast…
Neither of these commands are earth shattering actions on Jesus’ part, 2 simple commands, but that is NOT the issue here! The issue was that Jesus was a willing vessel… a willing servant to take action when action needed to be taken. It didn’t matter to Him how simple the task may have been, He was willing to serve and He took action in His service…
How many times have you found yourself to be a willing vessel to what God has called you to do, but you just can’t seem to act when you should! Have you ever found yourself in the spiritual procrastinator’s club?
Have you ever put off till tomorrow what you know you should be doing today! I know I have found myself KNOWING what I should be doing, and in my heart I am willing to do it, but distractions and other barriers allow me to put it off to a better time… it can happen to us even in the simplest of tasks…
Jesus could have been distracted by the fact that he was a guest at a wedding and was being asked to serve…
Jesus could have been distracted by the fact he was there with his friends and disciples and did not want to be bothered…
Jesus could have seen this as an affront to his manhood by a woman ‘telling’ him what to do…
But what we see is that Jesus did NOT allow ANY distraction to sway His actions!
God has called us to serve Him, and you may be willing in your heart, but you must also be willing in that you TAKE action when that action NEEDS to be taken! It could be the simplest of tasks… doesn’t matter, the question is are you willing to act on whatever it is that God has called you to…
Conclusion:
Today in this room there are many of you who have accepted Christ in your life, and profess a relationship with Jesus, but the true question you must ask yourself is, “Do I truly love Jesus?” and if you say you love Him, in what manner do you show that love?
Are you willing to intermingle with the people God has placed you around? Jesus was willing to be with the people to reveal God to them… are you willing? I am telling you that YOU cannot be true lovers of Jesus if we are NOT willing to be around those He desires to be saved! His command tells us to GO… this is NOT a ‘yall come’ thing… We cannot say we love Jesus and be unwilling to be with the people!
Are you a willing servant? Are you willing to serve whoever for whatever reason at a moment’s notice? Regardless of how surprising or inconvenient it may seem to you… in spite that you think it is NOT your place! Are you willing to serve? Jesus was a willing servant, who did not see His position as some sort of barrier to serve others… What about you? How do you see yourself? As a servant, or are there barriers you allow to stop you from serving?
Finally this morning are you willing to ACT when action is required? Many of us will say we are willing to serve, but when the action is required, we may procrastinate… This has nothing to do with the complexity of the task, many times what God asks of us is very simple and straight-forward, we simply do not act on the matter! Jesus was not only willing, but Jesus took action when action was required! Are you willing to take action today?
This morning you have heard how we are called to love Jesus, but Scripture tells us that we can love Him only because He first loved US… Jesus loved us so much that He stepped away from glory, wrapped Himself in flesh and was willing to die on the Cross for our sin! He did this all… because He loved us!
Because of that love for us, we have the great opportunity to know Him as our Savior and Lord. Today… you can know Jesus personally… all because He has loved you! Today you can experience the forgiveness that Jesus made when He died on the Cross of Calvary! You can experience the Love of God in your life!
If you want this love in your life this morning I challenge you to step out of where you are seated… and come down to this altar and ask God to forgive you for living a self-centered life, and ask Him to come into your heart and save you!
There are no magic words… no special prayers… come down here with a heart that is truly repentant and God will forgive you and save you! Do you want that this morning? If you do, as Bro Steven comes to lead us in our hymn of invitation, I call on you to step out and come down to this altar… come as we begin to sing…
