What The Christian Life Is To Be Like.

Introduction.

In John 20:30-31 we discover why John picked seven particular miraculous signs out of the countless number

Jesus performed. These were picked that" you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son Of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name".

The purpose of this sermon is to examine the kind of Life those who believe Jesus is the Christ might enjoy

from the miracle of Jesus changing the water into wine.

I believe the answer to this question is given by the master of the banquet in verse 20. By saying "everyone

brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had to much to drink; but you have saved the best till now" he was really saying the christian life is the better life!

How many things in life promise greater times ahead but fail to deliver?

How many of us began something only to end up disappointed and cheated?

When I say the Christian life is the better life I mean our best days are after we are saved.

However we don’t always experience the Christian Life

as the better life. How many times have we desired to go back to our old life? How many times have we lost

our joy? How many people do we see begin right but then fall away?

If the Christian life is to be the better life then three things are necessary.

1. We must involve Jesus in our life.(v1-4)

Notice that inviting Jesus to the wedding did not make the wedding better rather it was when Jesus got involved that things got better.

How many people invite Jesus into their lives but never go on to involve him in the running of their lives?

We involve Jesus through prayer.Notice two things about Mary’s prayer.

1. It was simple.

"They have no more wine"(v3)

2. It was specific

"They have no more WINE"

Involving Jesus is not very hard. The rule is to pray simply and specifically. It worked for Mary and it works for you and I.

If we want to experience a better Christian Life we must pray.

2. We must serve.(v5-9)

We are so conditioned into believing that the better life is having someone serve us rather than us serve them. But this is not how the Christian life works.

There are a number of reasons why the Christian life is better if we serve.

1. Jesus only uses servants.(v5)

2. Jesus only talks to servants.(v7)

3. Jesus only reveals secrets to servants(v9)

Notice that the Master of the Banquet had no idea where the wine had come from although the servants knew. People who have no idea what Jesus is doing are never servants.

If you want a better Christian life you must serve.

3. We must empty ourselves.(v6-9)

The better Christian life is for those who empty themselves so God can fill them.

We must empty ourselves of everything that is bitter.

Things like sin and selfishness must go.

God wants to fill us with the better things like the fruit of the Spirit.

Notice that not every jar was the same size but different. We too are different sizes.

How do we know what we are full of? By what pours out of us.

What does everyone see when we interact with them.

When the disciples saw the glory they put their faith in him(v11) Do people see the glory of God in us? Do we cause people to put their faith in God? It all depends on what comes out of us.

If we want to be a better Christian we must empty ourselves.