Persuaded: Changing Water into Wine
CHANGING WATER INTO WINE
John 2:1-11 (ESV):
1 On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6Now, there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.[a]
7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9When 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 bride groom
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.
When he was about 19 years old, G. Campbell Morgan, the renowned pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, battled some serious doubts about his faith. At this age, he already had some success as a preacher, but the writings of various scientists and agnostics disturbed him (e.g., Charles Darwin, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, and Herbert Spencer). As he read their books and listened to debates, Morgan became more and more perplexed. What did he do? He canceled all his preaching engage ments, put all the books in a closet, and went to the bookstore and bought a new Bible. He said to him self, "I am no longer sure that this is what my father claims it to be--the Word of God. But of this, I am sure. If it is the Word of God, and if I come to it with an unprejudiced and open mind, it will bring assur ance to my soul of itself." The result? "That Bible found me!" said Morgan. The new assurance gave him the motivation for his preaching and teaching ministry till the end of his life.
We all go through times of doubts in our faith. That’s normal. But we have to make sure that when those times come, we don’t become complacent in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Just like G. Campbell Morgan, we have to diligently go back to His Word and find the reassurance that we need. I agree with the theologian Albert Cornelius Knudson, when he said:
“Better is a baffled faith than no faith at all.”
If you are one of those with baffled faith this morning, I pray that our new sermon series begin ning today will help in reassuring you. The title of this series is: “Persuaded.”
When the apostle John wrote his narrative on the life of Jesus Christ, his main purpose was to
provide his readers with sufficient pieces of evidence for the divinity of Jesus Christ, and that He is the true source of eternal life. John stated this purpose plainly in John 20:30-31 (ESV):
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Notice, John acknowledges that Jesus did many miraculous signs before His disciples, which were not included in this book. However, whatever was written is sufficient to prove that Jesus is the Son of God (divine), and the true source of eternal life. By the way, let me emphasize the word “signs” in verse 30. For this word, John used the Greek word “semeion,” which literally means, “miracle with a mes sage” or a “miracle with a meaning.” In other words, Jesus was not simply performing miracles random ly; He was giving instructions or messages to the people around Him when He performed those miracles. So, beginning this Sunday until resurrection Sunday, we will cover these miracles that John included in his book, and discover what they are teaching us about our Savior, Jesus Christ.
In our main text, we find the very first miracle that Jesus performed after He was baptized and was able to gather some disciples. If you jump to verse 11, this is plainly stated, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” So, this miracle in Cana, where He turned water into wine, was His first miracle. Sometimes we hear of some apocryphal writings about Jesus’ miracles while He was a child. Please don’t believe them. John was quite clear that this miracle in Cana was His first miracle. And as we examine it, let’s highlight at least four important lessons from it:
I DON’T LEAVE OUT JESUS FROM YOUR LIFE
As we begin to read our text, we should stop at verse 2, and emphasize the implications behind the words, “Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.” When Jesus was kicking off His earthly ministry, we would find Him taking the time to attend a wedding celebration. Some people think that it was odd that Jesus would take the time for such a mundane celebration. Instead of being in the Temple or in the Synagogue teaching people the Word of God, He was spending time with a couple who were getting married. It is true that He was there because probably the couple who was getting married was His relatives or friends. Obviously, they were important to Him. But a very important reason why He was there - He was there because He was invited to attend.
Would you agree with me that it was a wise decision on the part of the couple to invite Jesus Christ to their wedding? Let me remind you, that it is still a wise decision when you and I invite Jesus Christ to be a part of our marriage, family, work, or whatever part of our life that is important to us. Why? It is because, just like in this wedding, when things go south or down, we will have the help we need. One verse I want to highlight is Revelation 3:20:
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 eat with him, and he with me.
We often use this verse to an unbeliever who needs to open their heart or life
in order to make Jesus a part of it. But this is actually written to believers who need to make Jesus a significant part of their lives. I love the picture of Jesus standing by the door of our lives, knocking, or asking to come in. Remember, Jesus will never force Himself to be a part of our lives; we need to invite Him in.
When was the last time, you consciously invited Jesus to be a part of your life - your marriage, your family, your work, your schoolwork, your sports, or your leisure time? Of course, if you will invite Him in, make sure you are prepared to honor Him in all these areas of your life.
II DEPEND ON JESUS DURING CRISIS TIME
Going back to the text, verse 3 tells us about the crisis that surfaced during the wedding celebra tion. Since wedding celebrations during those times can last for seven days, they started running out of wine. Well, you might think, “No big deal, the party can still continue even if there was no wine.” But the reality is that this situation was really embarrassing, especially for the groom, for two reasons:
1. The wine was a staple part of their diet.
Just like in other cultures of the world, every time they eat a full meal, wine is regularly included. Of course, there was no thought of drunkenness connected with this meal or celebration. The Bible clearly condemns drunkenness (Romans 13:13; Galatians 5:21; Ephesians 5:18) but does not necessarily condemn drinking wine. Having established this truth, to run out of wine meant the meal would be in complete or imbalanced.
2. The groom was responsible for adequately providing for the wedding celebration.
The second reason is that it would make the groom look bad because he was responsible to take care of it; Not properly preparing for it was unacceptable.
For these reasons that could put the groom in trouble, Mary turned to Jesus and asked for His help (vs. 3-4) - When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Je sus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
Allow me to explain this passage. There is no question that Mary knew Jesus could perform a miracle in order to provide wine. It is also possible that Mary was also thinking, it was now time to re veal that He was the Son of God to everyone who was at that wedding celebration.
Let’s also explain the response of Jesus in verse 4. Some would interpret this as saying that Jesus was cold and disrespectful to His mother. This is absolutely false! The word “woman” here is a title of respect. Today, this is equivalent to us saying “ma’am.” If there is anything, the response of Jesus to Mary is clearly indicating that in carrying out His earthly mission, He was not subject to the instructions of His human mother, Mary. He was only conscious of obeying the will of His Father in heaven.
Nevertheless, it is worth emphasizing that when that difficult situation arose, Mary expressed her dependence on Jesus to meet the specific need. Let me ask you, “Do you still believe that Jesus is capable of doing a miracle in your life even today?” When we talk about miracles, we are referring to events that are supernatural; events that can’t be explained according to nature or normal occurrences. They can only be explained according to the power of the Sovereign God. Pastor Adrian Rogers once said in one of his sermons:
“It is impossible to believe in a sovereign God and not believe in miracles. Ignorance of God makes belief impossible, but knowledge of Him makes unbelief impossible.” Regardless of how tough your crisis is, you can depend on Him. King Solomon
reminds us in Proverbs 18:10:
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. We need to learn to run to the Lord, who is our strong tower, whenever we are in trouble. Often, we run to friends and loved ones, only to be disappointed. As believers, we have this access to the most powerful God of the universe. He should always be our number-one lifeline.
III DO WHAT JESUS SAYS After Mary makes an appeal to Jesus to help out the couple, she then turns to the servants in verse 5 and says, “Do whatever he tells you.” There is no doubt that these words bear the secret of any miracle. If Jesus tells you to do some thing, you must commit to doing it. Why? Let’s identify three reasons:
A. For our personal advantage
As you continue to read, Jesus would tell the servants to fill six waterpots up to the brim with water, then draw out some water and take it to the master of ceremonies at the wedding feast. These servants who obeyed had the firsthand privilege of seeing the miraculous work of God. They were the direct witnesses of what God did that day. If they had disobeyed, they could have missed the blessing of a miracle.
Often, there are people who want to experience God’s miracles in their lives, but they are not willing to obey God. One great story in the Old Testament was the story of Naaman. If you read 2 Kings 5, you will find a beautiful story about the healing of Naaman, the great commander of the army of Syr ia. Although Naaman was a great warrior, he had leprosy, an incurable disease during those times. To make the long story short, he was sent to Elisha to find a cure for his disease. When he arrived at Elisha’s house, the prophet just sent a messenger to him and told him to wash at the river Jordan seven times in order for him to receive his healing.
However, when Naaman heard these words, he was angry, He complained that Elisha did not even come out of his house to help him, and he felt that the Jordan River was not clean enough for him to dip into. He reasoned that there were better places to go instead of the Jordan River. But later, he changed his mind and obeyed the voice of God. Imagine, he needed to dip himself seven times, which means it was only after the seventh dip that he was healed. When he obeyed, he experienced the mira cle he needed. Again, the challenge for us is to obey to experience God’s miracles in our lives. B. For the joy of others.
We must obey Jesus not only for our personal advantage but for other people’s gladness. When the servants obeyed the Lord and filled the waterpots, everybody at the wedding feast was blessed by the wine Jesus had miraculously created.
Since we live within communities of people we love, we have to recognize that the blessings of our obedience will overflow with the people closest to us. We find this truth reflected in the life of Jo seph in Genesis 39:2-5:
2The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to suc ceed in his hands. 4So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5From the time that he made him overseer in his
4
house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field.
Since Joseph walked faithfully with the Lord in Egypt, his presence in the house of Potiphar became a source of blessing. I hope we don’t ignore this truth. Parents, God can bless your obedience so that your children will reap the blessings of it. Or children to their parents can experience the same. I pray that we don’t lose sight of the fact that God wants to use us as a channel of blessings to the people around us.
C. For the glory of God
If you read verse 11, says, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifest ed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” In other words, when the servants obeyed, perhaps what they were asked to do did not make sense to them, but when Jesus made the miracle of changing the water into wine, he was able to display His glory as the Son of God, and the disciples were led to be lieve even more to Him.
You know, it would always be an honor if God could use you and me for others to believe even more in Jesus. Instead of being a stumbling block to their faith; we can become stepping blocks to a high er or deeper faith in Him.
IV DELIGHT IN JESUS’ BEST TILL THE END Lastly, I wanted to emphasize the words of the master of the festivities in verse 10, “Everyone serves the good wine first, andwhen people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
I love these words because it perfectly describes the life that Jesus Christ wants all of us to experi ence. Just like in this wedding where the best wine came out last, the life in Jesus gets better as time goes on – “the longer you serve Him, the sweeter He goes.”
How opposite it is to what the world offers. The world will try to entice us with a life of pleasures at the beginning, but once you are hooked to the world, then life begins to deteriorate until you end up being miserable. You might be saying, “Pastor, our life on earth is getting harder and harder. How can you say, it’s going to get better?” I can fully understand your frustration because of everything that is go ing on around us. However, I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for us who believe in Jesus. Jesus promised to return again, so we believers would be able to enjoy everything that Jesus have pre pared for us in His Kingdom. Are you familiar of the words of 1 Corinthians 2:9:
9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Have you tried imagining what it would be like to be with God in His Kingdom forever and forever? God is saying, He can exceed your expectation. What He has prepared for us is indescribable, but it is defi nitely more than and above what you are imagining right now.
So, let me encourage you. If you a bit discourage because of everything that is happening around you, I pray that you and I would be able to believe that Jesus is worthy of our firm belief. He is the same yester day, today, and forever. He is the miracle worker then, and He can still give us the miracle we desperately need today in our lives.
There was a popular hymn we love to sing growing up entitled, “It Took a Miracle.” The chorus had these lyrics:
It took a miracle to put the stars in place;
It took a miracle to hang the world in space.
But when he saved my soul, Cleansed and made me whole,
It took a miracle of love and grace.
I just want to remind all of us that if we know Jesus Christ as our Savior, we already have experienced the greatest miracle from God. This miracle happened when we were saved by Jesus Christ. If He was able to do that, He would be able to continually give us the miracles we need today!
March 5, 2023/Bishop Jeremiah Lepasana