God's Greatest Desires for Our Lives
The Gospel of John
John 2:1-11
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - May 4, 2016
(Revised June 23, 2019)
*Think about how many miracles Jesus performed. In John 20:30-31, the Apostle John tells us that:
30. . . truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
31. but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
*John 21:25 tells us that "there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."
*Jesus did an astounding number of miracles while He was here on earth. But counting the Lord's resurrection, there are only 39 separate miracles of Jesus mentioned in the four Gospels. John's Gospel includes only 11 of these miracles, and 8 of those are found only here in John. (1)
*Tonight, we will focus on the very first of the Lord's miracles. And it may seem like a strange miracle to us. It may even seem like a frivolous miracle to us. But Christ's first miracle shows us some of God's greatest desires for our lives.
1. FIRST: JESUS WANTS TO BE OUR CONSTANT COMPANION.
*Verses 1-2 remind us that God wants to have a close, personal relationship with us:
1. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
*Jesus went to a wedding. And one of the great lessons from this wedding is that the Lord wants to be close to us. We might think that with all of the important things Jesus had to do, He would be way too busy to take time out for a wedding. But Jesus took the time to go to this wedding because He truly cares for people. In fact, He wants to be our constant companion.
*Jesus wants to be close to us every moment of every day. It's a great thing to be here at church tonight, but this story reminds us that God doesn't just want to meet with us at church. Jesus wasn't at the Temple in these verses. He was at someone's home for a wedding.
*King Duncan told about a little boy who had a Sunday School lesson on this wedding miracle. After class that day, his daddy asked, "Well, what did you learn from that story?" The little boy thought for a moment and replied, "If you're having a wedding, make sure that Jesus is there." That was a great answer! Jesus Christ should be invited to every wedding. (2)
*And it's good to notice that this was a happy occasion. Talking about the miraculous signs in this Gospel, John Phillips noted that the first sign was at a wedding, one of life's gladdest hours. And in John 11, one of the Lord's last miracles was at Lazarus' grave, one of life's saddest hours. (3)
*This fact reminds us that in good times or bad, happy or sad, Jesus wants to be close to us. The Lord wants to be close to us on our Mondays, Tuesdays, and every day of our lives.
*Jesus doesn't just drop in for the special occasions. He has a personal interest in our day-to-day lives. He is a full-time God, so He wants to have a full-time relationship with us. And if Jesus is our Lord and Savior, He is always near, even living in our hearts.
2. JESUS CHRIST WANTS TO BE OUR CONSTANT COMPANION. HE ALSO WANTS TO BE OUR FINEST FRIEND.
*In vs. 2 Jesus was "invited" or "called" to the wedding. The Lord wasn't at this wedding as a preacher to perform the ceremony. He was there as a friend and invited guest.
*Friends are a wonderful gift from God, people we can trust, people who are there for us, stand by us, help us every way they can, and simply enjoy being with us. Thank God for the good friends He has given to us. But we also need to know that one reason why God gives us earthly friends is to help us understand the kind of relationship He wants to have with us.
*Friendship with God is a key part of Christian life. Proverbs 18:24 tells us that there is a Friend who sticks closer than a brother, and that is Jesus Christ! He wants to be our Best Friend! As Jesus said in John 15:13, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
*Back in 2002, controversy hit the graduation ceremony for the Hollidaysburg Area High School in central Pennsylvania. A young lady named Shannon Wray was chosen to give the salutatorian speech. The school asked Shannon to speak about the past, including how friendships helped her get through high school. Shannon is a committed Christian, and she felt that she could not give the speech without talking about her best friend, Jesus Christ.
*Unfortunately, the school administrators tried to censor that part of her speech. But Shannon had good legal backing from the Liberty Counsel, and she was able to talk about our Best Friend.
*Here is part of what Shannon said about the Lord: "He, even more so than the people I love, has been there every day, never forcing me to do anything, but always encouraging me to stretch my limits and strive for the best He has to offer. His name is Jesus; He is my greatest friend."
*Shannon went on to say, "It is because of Him that I have achieved and succeeded. And no matter how much knowledge Hollidaysburg High has bestowed upon me, I would know nothing if I didn't know Him." (4)
*Jesus Christ wants to be our best friend. But it's crucial to understand that the Lord comes into our lives through our invitation. Jesus Christ isn't a wedding crasher. In vs. 2 Jesus was "invited" or "called" to the wedding.
*And yes, Jesus should be invited to every wedding! But that's not all. Jesus should be invited to be in on every part of our lives. The Lord surely wants to have a close relationship with everyone, but He won't force His way in.
*Jesus put it this way in Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." In the New Living Translation, Jesus says, "I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends."
*Jesus wants to be our best friend, but we have to open the door and invite Him into our lives. We also have to draw closer to Him. Thank God we can get closer to God! James 4:8 gives this promise to us as Christians: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."
3. JESUS WANTS TO BE OUR FINEST FRIEND. HE ALSO WANTS US TO BE CONFIDENT IN HIS CARE.
*The Lord wants us to be fully confident that He loves us enough to meet all our needs in life. Verse 3 says: "And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, 'They have no wine.'''
*The wedding hosts ran out of wine, and that reminds us of one of our big problems: We run out. We are always running out of stuff. We run out of strength, or money, or health. We run out of ideas, patience and time.
*They ran out of wine at this wedding, but Jesus met their need, and He wants to meet our needs too! That's why in Philippians 4:19, Paul could say, "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
*Now sometimes it may seem like the Lord doesn't really care about us. At first glance, it doesn't seem like Jesus cared when they ran out of wine. Verses 3-4 say:
3. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine.''
4. Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.''
*One thing to understand here is that in those days, calling your mother "woman" was not at all disrespectful as it sometimes is today. Today's equivalent would be to call her "Lady." (5)
*On top of that, one of the Ten Commandments is "Honor thy father and thy mother," and nobody ever kept the Commandments better than Jesus Christ! In fact, Jesus is the only person who ever kept them all, so we know He wasn't being disrespectful to His mother.
*It must have been necessary for Jesus to say what He did. Maybe the Lord wanted His mother to understand that God is not a respecter of persons. God doesn't play favorites.
*Jesus also knew He was going to meet the need for wine at the right time, in the right way. And that's what the Lord always does. He always meets our needs at the right time, in the right way, and we can always trust in the Lord.
*Years ago, Billy Graham's wife Ruth had a very bad fall. The accident gave her a concussion that resulted in some major memory loss. And the hardest thing for Ruth was not being able to remember her favorite Bible verses. She had spent a life-time memorizing God's Word, and all of the verses that brought her comfort and strength were gone.
*Ruth prayed and begged God to restore her memory of the Bible, and as she prayed, she first recalled just a single verse. It was Jeremiah 31:3, where the LORD said: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." That one verse gave Ruth great comfort over the next months as she began the work to rebuild her memory: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." (6)
*God cared for Ruth Graham, and He surely cares for us! The Lord even cares about the small matters in life. Running out of refreshments at a wedding? Certainly embarrassing, and a lot more serious in Jesus' day. But it was definitely not a matter of life and death. Even so, Jesus cared. He turned water into wine. And we can always be confident in His care.
4. JESUS WANTS US TO BE CONFIDENT IN HIS CARE. HE ALSO WANTS US TO POINT OTHER PEOPLE TO HIM.
*God wants us to do exactly what the Lord's mother did in vs. 3-5:
3. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine.''
4. Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.''
5. His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it.''
*Mary urged those servants to obey the Lord. "Whatever He says to you, do it." That is the best advice anyone can ever give to anyone else! Whatever Jesus Christ tells you to do, DO IT!
*It's the best advice, because if Jesus tells us to do something, it is always the best thing to do, even when it doesn't seem to make sense. "What? -- Fill these pots up with water? How in the world is that going to get us more wine?" But even if it doesn't make sense to you at first, if you are sure that the Lord wants you to do something, then do it, because God will never steer us wrong.
*That's what we want other people to know, but how can we encourage more people to obey God? How can we point more people to Jesus?
[1] FIRST, WE HAVE TO TALK TO GOD ABOUT PEOPLE.
*That's what Mary did in vs. 3: "When they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, 'They have no wine.''' Before Mary talked to people about Jesus, she talked to Jesus about people.
*And at first, it didn't seem like Mary was getting too far in her prayers. Sometimes it may seem like that to us too. But Mary didn't give up, and neither should we!
[2] HOW CAN WE POINT MORE PEOPLE TO JESUS? FIRST, WE TALK TO GOD ABOUT PEOPLE. THEN WE TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT GOD.
*Again in vs. 5, Mary told the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it.'' Now we need to basically say the same thing. We need to tell people to turn to the Lord, listen to Him, put their trust in Him and follow Him fully.
*We need to tell people to trust in Jesus Christ, because He loves them more than we can measure. Jesus loves us so much that He was willing to die on the cross for all of our sins. We also need to tell them that Jesus rose again from the dead, so He can give us everlasting life. And we should give our total devotion to Him.
*Mary told those servants to go to Jesus for the help they needed, and it was a brave thing to do, because vs. 11 tells us this was the first miracle Jesus ever performed.
*It can still be hard to talk to other people about Jesus, especially people we know. In fact, they can be the hardest people to talk to, partly because they know us better than most. They've seen us warts and all, and sadly, we're not always as spiritual as we should be.
*It can be hard to talk to people we know, but at the right time in the right way, we surely must do it. We may be the only people able and willing to speak to them about Jesus. And God will give us all the courage we need.
5. JESUS WANTS US TO POINT OTHER PEOPLE TO HIM. AND HE WANTS US TO FOLLOW HIM TO THE FULLEST.
*This is the lesson for us in starting in vs. 6:
6. Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.
7. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water.'' And they filled them up to the brim.
8. And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.'' And they took it.
9. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
10. And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then that which is inferior; but you have kept the good wine until now.''
*Mary said: "Whatever Jesus tells you to do, do it." And yes, that's the greatest advice of all, but it doesn't do us any good if we don't follow it. Those servants heard what they needed to hear, but it wouldn't have done the wedding a bit of good if they hadn't followed the Lord's instructions.
*To their great credit, those servants did follow the Lord's instructions to the fullest. Again in vs. 7-8,
7. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water.'' And they filled them up to the brim.
8. And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.'' And they took it.
*Notice that they obeyed the Lord as much as they possibly could. Jesus told them to "fill the water pots with water,'' and they filled them up to the brim.
*They obeyed the Lord as much as possible, and as soon as possible. In vs. 8, Jesus told them to "draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they did it without delay. That's why they saw the Hand of God at work in a wonderful way, and so will we.
*When Jesus says, "Go," we need to go.
-When Jesus says, "Take up your cross," we need to take up our crosses.
-When He tells us to love, we need to love.
-When He says, "Trust me," we need to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.
*And when we follow the Lord to the fullest, we will see God's best for our lives. The miraculous wine Jesus gave here was the best wine. The new life He gives us is the best life. And the more we follow Him, the better our lives will be.
CONCLUSION:
*May God help us to do it. Let's ask for His help as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sources:
"The Bible Readers' Aids" edited by Charles H. H. Wright
http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=28
https://hopefaithprayer.com/scriptures/the-miracles-of-jesus-in-the-gospels/
(2) Adapted from Sermons.com illustration - Topic: Marriage
(3) EXPLORING THE GOSPELS: JOHN by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "The Triumphs of Jesus" - John 2:1-4:54
(4) Adapted from SermonCentral illustration - SOURCE: The Editors of Religion Today, Tuesday, June 11, 2002 - Citation: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Embassy/7954/ salutorian.html
(5) Sources:
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, 1690-1771 - John 2:4
-BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "The First Sign: Water Changed to Wine - John 2:1-11
(6) "What Will You Do When Disaster Comes?" by Billy Graham - "Decision" magazine - November 2000, p. 2 - Source: "Dynamic Illustrations" Apr/May/Jun 2002 - Topic: Bible
