This Changes Everything [PART 7] | Mike de Vetter | Sunday 10th May

[00:00:03] You've been going through this journey, through the Book of John, since the start of the year with this thought that this changes everything. [00:00:14] The introduction of Christ to humanity changed everything the Israelite people knew about God. [00:00:23] Last time we saw how Jesus called his first disciples, he invited them not into a religious institution, but into a journey of walking daily with Jesus, into life, to love, into hardship and trial. This journey of walking alongside the Savior. Now today we step into the second chapter. It's taken us a little while to get to chapter two, but that's okay. [00:00:52] Sometimes a slow journey is much more profitable than racing fast. [00:00:57] So we're here where Jesus steps out effectively with his first miracle that is recorded in scripture. So if you've got your Bibles, please open it up. Whether it's paper, digital, or if you'd like, you can follow along on the screen behind me. [00:01:16] John, Chapter two. On the third day, a wedding took place in Canaan in Galilee. Jesus mother was there. And Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, they have no more wine. [00:01:33] Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come. [00:01:39] His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. [00:01:43] Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, and each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. [00:01:57] Then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the wine that had been the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after. The guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now. [00:02:26] What Jesus did here in Cana was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. [00:02:35] Let's pray one more time. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you. It is a lamp to our feet. It's a light to our path. I thank you. When we surrender our lives to your word and we obey the things that you ask us to do that, Lord, you invite us into the miraculous. You invite us into places where your glory is revealed and your story and our testimonies collide. [00:03:00] Father, I pray that for each one of us we would hear your voice about the things that you are Asking or have asked us to do. [00:03:09] Lord, would we be obedient to you? [00:03:12] Enjoy that incredible relationship we can have with you. Of excitement, a little bit of terror. [00:03:19] Step out of faith, trusting you to bring the miraculous into the world that we live in. In Jesus name, Amen. [00:03:28] It's interesting that Jesus could have healed the sick. He could have opened some blind eyes. He could have even done the Lazarus miracle early on and just raised someone from the dead. But his first miracle that's recorded is turning water into. [00:03:42] Into wine. [00:03:44] Now, how many people are aware of the issues in society around drunkenness and overindulgence in wine and drink? [00:03:53] Why did Jesus choose this miracle as his first that was recorded? [00:04:01] Now, you gotta understand, Jesus was opposed to drunkenness. [00:04:06] That wasn't what he was saying here. This is what he was communicating when. When this miracle took place. [00:04:15] See, drunkenness is wrong. We read that in scripture. It's very clear. [00:04:23] But joy is celebrated. [00:04:25] This is a wedding supper of the Lamb. This is a party. This is a celebration of the one who has overcome death and the grave. And we celebrate being a part of the Lamb, his bride. We are his bride. [00:04:43] Where the Lamb finally gets his church. [00:04:48] In the Old Testament, the first public sign that God performed through Moses was what? Turning the water into blood. [00:05:00] So when the Nile river was turned into blood, it was a sign of God's judgment on humanity because of the sin on the Egyptian people. [00:05:13] God was declaring judgment. [00:05:17] Jesus first miracle, on the other hand, was speaking of celebration because the Bible is filled with stories and descriptions of wine as celebration and blessing, joy, a commitment to a covenant life, the wine for communion. Speaking of that relationship with Jesus. [00:05:40] See, where water once became blood in the Nile, Jesus turns water into wine. [00:05:46] Where the law revealed guilt and condemnation, Jesus brings grace and joy. [00:05:55] The law was and is still necessary. [00:05:59] How are we to know what's right and wrong if we don't have the law? But the law doesn't save us. [00:06:05] The law doesn't heal us. The law doesn't set us free because we are incapable in our own strength of fulfilling the law. [00:06:13] And if you've ever tried to be perfect, you know that it doesn't work very well. [00:06:20] I was perfect for about four seconds. And then I got out of bed and I started my day. [00:06:27] Anyone testify to that? [00:06:30] But Jesus perfects us. [00:06:33] And what this miracle is doing is bringing joy to a people who have been desperately longing for their Messiah to come. [00:06:42] Can you imagine 400 years? You go back 400 years. I can't go back 400 years. In my generations and really know and understand. [00:06:51] Could you imagine generation after generation after generation saying, the Messiah is coming, but he's not here yet, but maybe he'll be with your children, but it wasn't in your children. [00:07:03] Generation after generation, disappointment. [00:07:07] When will the Messiah finally come? [00:07:10] And even the disciples, as they're walking with Jesus, they said, we'll follow you. [00:07:17] But they hadn't yet seen what Jesus was capable of and what Jesus could do. [00:07:23] And here, Jesus turns water into wine. [00:07:28] And right from the beginning of his ministry, he is pointing towards his future church, his bride. [00:07:36] So this morning I want to focus on three things that I read within this text. [00:07:43] And they're quite simple. I hope that's okay, because the simplicity of the Word of God. It's really important to understand there are complexities of Scripture that we dive in and we're to go after. But sometimes it's written so clearly that we completely miss it. [00:08:01] So I'm just praying it would just hit us like that today. [00:08:07] But more than that, I'd rather hit it here, that something would shift. [00:08:13] How deep do you want me to go today? How about a couple of inches? Like, deep into our hearts would we be changed and transformed. [00:08:21] Let's read this first couple of verses again. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus mother was there. And Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, they have no more wine. [00:08:37] The first thing I see in this is that Jesus was at a party. [00:08:41] Why was Jesus at a party? Somebody tell me, why was he at a party? [00:08:47] Someone invited him. [00:08:49] Like, this is the simplicity of it. [00:08:53] Jesus was invited. [00:08:55] Have you invited Jesus into your life? [00:09:01] Invite Jesus. [00:09:03] Invite Jesus into your workplace. You're saying, I'm struggling with my boss, I'm struggling with my employees. I'm struggling in my relationships. Have you invited Jesus into that space? [00:09:15] Have you actually given him full access? [00:09:18] What about the darkness, the hurt, the disappointment, the offense? [00:09:26] Have you invited Jesus into that place? It's like, oh, I don't want to invite him in there, because I know what he'll do. [00:09:33] He'll mess around with the stuff that I want to keep a hold of, because it's just that little bit something that I enjoy holding on to, that Jesus is saying, if you invite me, I'll come. [00:09:45] Now. I love the fact that Jesus had no problem interrupting busy lives. [00:09:50] So he's walking crowds around him. He looks up in a tree. There's Zacchaeus sitting in a tree. He says, zacchaeus, I'm going to come to your place. We're going to have a meal together. [00:10:00] He just barged right in, invited himself over for dinner. I love that. [00:10:06] How about the disciples? He's walking along the Lake of Galilee. He sees two brothers are mending the nets. Another two brothers are casting their nets. [00:10:15] And Jesus says, come, follow me. I'm going to make you fishers of men. [00:10:19] They just drop everything and follow him. [00:10:22] So it's not uncommon for Jesus just to barge in and interrupt people's lives and make an invitation. But he also waits for our invitation into his life. [00:10:38] Because there's no miracle without Jesus. And if we don't give him permission, he doesn't always just move in. [00:10:45] He allows us, through free will and choice to say, jesus, come and be a part of this miracle. [00:10:54] So then Jesus mother hears the dilemma. They've run out of wine. [00:11:00] Now, I don't know what Mary knew at that stage. I don't know what God had revealed to her. [00:11:07] But a host who could no longer show hospitality, that was one of the greatest shames and embarrassments you could experience in that culture. [00:11:17] To run out of wine would have been a severe disappointment for the host. [00:11:24] Mary knew that. Maybe Mary felt that maybe there was an empathy, a compassion towards the host, saying, I don't want this to be their experience, but I know someone who might be able to help Jesus. Response is interesting, I suppose. Depends how you read it in the tone, don't you? Woman why do you involve me? [00:11:47] But I don't think that was the tone. [00:11:50] Woman. [00:11:53] Why do you involve me? [00:11:55] Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come. [00:11:59] Let's just say I would have loved to have tried that with my mother. [00:12:03] Michael James Devetta, you clean your room right now, woman. [00:12:12] I wouldn't have got past woman. Right. [00:12:14] How many people have got that? Bubba, My time to clean my room has not yet come. [00:12:24] Good luck trying that one, kids. Right? [00:12:29] But Jesus hadn't performed any miracles that were recorded, right? Maybe he had. [00:12:34] But what we see is this. As it says in the end of this passage, this was the first recorded miracle of Jesus. [00:12:42] But then his mother just says, do whatever he tells you. [00:12:46] So he just said, this is not my time. [00:12:49] And like, like a good mum ignores their child when they know best. [00:12:56] This is a fascinating interaction because I wonder, just wonder, whether Jesus, who was a fulfillment of the law, was also prepared to sit in the law and under the law. [00:13:10] Because you know what the fifth commandment that links loving God and loving people first four, talk about Our relationship with God. [00:13:16] The next six, talk about our relationship with people. The one in the middle, the fifth one is, honour your mother and father so that you may live long in the land with a promise. [00:13:27] I wonder if Jesus just said, you know what? [00:13:32] And this is the complexity of knowing that God knows everything, right? [00:13:36] So you can read into this text and go, did Jesus. Was he not prepared for this? Did he not plan for this? Of course he did. He sits outside of time. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. He's there, right? [00:13:49] But in this, he says, I will honor my mother. [00:13:53] I just think there's something in that that we could take away. [00:13:56] Come on, young man. [00:13:58] Do we still honour our mothers still today? [00:14:01] Do we show honour and respect to our parents still in this moment? [00:14:06] Never grow beyond honoring your mother and father. Please take that in. [00:14:13] Receive that as a word for someone today. [00:14:16] But I think these words from Mary could be almost the clearest command ever given to us as disciples of Jesus. [00:14:23] Do what Jesus tells you to do. [00:14:26] That's my second really simple point directly from the text. [00:14:30] Invite Jesus. [00:14:32] Do what Jesus tells us to do. [00:14:36] I know it's pretty complicated, right? [00:14:42] How do I deal with a struggle with one of my workmates? [00:14:47] Do what Jesus told me to do. [00:14:51] Where would I find that? [00:14:54] Maybe in the Word. [00:14:57] How do I deal with the issues in my relationship? Struggling with my wife or my husband? [00:15:02] What do I do? [00:15:04] Do what Jesus asked me to do. [00:15:11] Feeling stuck? [00:15:13] Not sure about your future? [00:15:16] I know we've got a number of students that are this time of year going, what do I do now? I'm hitting the end of my third year. I'm deciding whether I go into a master's. Do I do more study? Do I step into the career that I've studied for? Or is there something else, God, that you're asking me to do? [00:15:32] Do what Jesus tells you to do. [00:15:35] But then the biggest question we have is, how do I know? [00:15:39] Here's what I've learned. And as I read Scripture, it's most often incredibly simple. [00:15:48] What Jesus asks us to do is often really difficult because his is the miracle, mine is the obedience. [00:15:56] Moses, you've got a rod in your hand. [00:16:00] Throw it on the ground now. Moses response could have been, this is kind of like a sign of authority. [00:16:10] If I throw that down on the ground, do I look less powerful in front of Pharaoh? [00:16:15] But he responded and he threw it on the ground. [00:16:21] I've thrown sticks on the ground before. Didn't turn into snakes. [00:16:26] But God didn't Tell me to throw a stick on the ground to turn into a stake, right? [00:16:32] Naaman, he's got leprosy, Goes to the man of God expecting an amazing ceremony of cleansing. And the man of God says, just go dip in the dirty old river. [00:16:59] How embarrassing. [00:17:01] This is Naaman, he's a high powered person dipping in a river, and yet he got healed. [00:17:10] Peter? [00:17:12] Jesus, is that you? [00:17:14] If it is, tell me to come. She says, okay, I'll take you on your word. Come. [00:17:20] Ah, hold on. [00:17:23] Oh, one step. [00:17:29] Simple, right? [00:17:30] Do what Jesus tells us to do. [00:17:35] We don't have enough food for the crowd. [00:17:38] Send them home so they can get some food. All we've got is five loaves and two fishes. Bring them to me. Jesus says, can you see where I'm going with this? There is a simplicity often in what God asks us to do. [00:17:54] And I wonder sometimes whether we're not stuck on what's my next step? [00:17:59] We're actually stuck on the what was my last step? [00:18:04] Nine words that'll set you free, I promise. Do the last thing God told you to do. [00:18:11] And even as I say that, you know your assignment. [00:18:17] For some it's forgiving, letting go. [00:18:22] For some it's that conversation you knew you have to have and you haven't. [00:18:30] For some it's to step out in faith. Jesus is asking you to walk on the water and you say it will cost me too much. He says, but step, invite Jesus, do what he asks you to do. [00:18:49] Verse 6, it says, Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used for the Jews for ceremonial washing. Each holding from 20 to 30 gallons, 75 to 115 liters. [00:18:59] That's a lot of water per jar. [00:19:04] I think it would have felt really foolish for the servants to go and fill up these jars used for purifying when there's a wine problem. [00:19:14] We're told that in 1 Corinthians 1:27 that God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. [00:19:21] If we want to see people saved, healed, set free, delivered, it's going to take a little bit of obedience from us. [00:19:31] Now let me just restate again. We don't do the miracle, but often God will precede the miracle with an act of obedience from us. [00:19:41] Mary had it right. Do whatever he asks you to do. [00:19:45] Do what Jesus asks you to do. [00:19:48] Now, every time we read a number in Scripture, it's there for a reason. [00:19:53] It could have been. And there were some water pots, but no, it mentions six. [00:19:59] Now when you look at the number six in the Bible, it speaks of man. It speaks of humanity, sometimes in a positive light, sometimes in a negative. [00:20:08] Obviously, seven is the number of completion. But there were six examples of humanity, if you want to call it. There were six ordinary water jars. [00:20:19] And Jesus says, I want you to go fill those up. [00:20:24] I'm about to perform a miracle, but I need those jars full. [00:20:32] Remember these people waiting for a messiah. [00:20:36] They hadn't experienced joy for some time. And Jesus says, I'm about to bring joy back into this nation of Israel. I'm about to bring joy back into a people who have lost all hope. But before that happens, I need these water jars full. [00:20:55] Could it be the water jars represented that people who'd lost their joy? [00:21:00] And Jesus was saying, we're going to get joy back in the house. [00:21:05] The law hadn't saved them. Their good works had fallen short. [00:21:09] And these jars used for external cleansing couldn't do the internal cleansing of the sin problem in our life. Jesus was offering fullness where there was emptiness. [00:21:23] He was offering joy where there had been disappointment. [00:21:27] Who's offering wine which would bring joy to the people? [00:21:31] And the prophetic picture that we see is that God wants to use normal everyday people clay pots. [00:21:42] 1 Corinthians. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. [00:21:50] We're clay pots. [00:21:52] For there is a treasure inside of us that the world wants to and needs to see. [00:22:00] Love this verse 7. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. [00:22:05] And I love this next bit. So they filled them to the brim. [00:22:11] You know, we spoke last week about when King Joash was told to strike the ground with the arrows. [00:22:20] Strike it did it three times. [00:22:24] It'd be kind of like saying that. So they went and filled the water jars to half full. [00:22:30] Right? That's enough. Right? [00:22:32] Like 60 liters per jar. That would be enough. Surely. There's six of them. We don't even know what's going to happen yet. So why do we want to go the whole way? [00:22:44] But I love that they filled them to the brim. [00:22:46] You ever carried a cup of tea that's filled to the brim? It's sploshing over, right? Unless you've got a really good steady hand. When it's to the brim. It's going over. [00:22:56] They filled it right to the top. [00:22:58] Come on. No tide out there. This was like full cup. [00:23:04] Do what Jesus tells us to do. [00:23:07] There's a process that needed to take place before the miracle could be drawn out of these clay pots. [00:23:15] Do you see the picture? [00:23:17] Any clay pots here today? [00:23:20] Any humans flawed and yet containing treasures? [00:23:27] Come on. Jesus is saying, I want you to be filled up. [00:23:32] Because when I draw out the miracle, it's going to come from something that's already full. [00:23:38] I can't feed somebody if my wallet's empty, my fridge is empty. I can't feed someone. [00:23:46] Come on. I can't produce something out of nothing. [00:23:50] And we see that Jesus, he doesn't need much, but he needs what he asks us to bring. [00:23:57] Fill the jars and they fill them to the brim. [00:24:01] What does the water represent? [00:24:04] Well, we see within the Word of God, the water. [00:24:08] It's the Word, it's the Spirit of God. [00:24:11] That if we would be filled with the Spirit of God, if we be filled with the Word of God. Ephesians, it says, husbands, love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church, gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word. [00:24:25] Jesus isn't saying, go and get a cup of water and splash it over your wife. That's not what he's saying. [00:24:30] He's saying cleansing comes when we read the Word of God. [00:24:36] The woman at the well, what was she longing for? She was longing for a water that would satisfy her. [00:24:43] Jesus says, I'm going to give you living water. That living water will satisfy you beyond what you could find in the natural. [00:24:51] If we have the Word of God and the Spirit of God in us and we're filled to the brim, what happens next becomes miraculous. [00:25:04] The more and more I've realized when Jesus is asking me to do something, if I just simply obey, if there's something inside of me, if I've got the word of God inside of me, if I've received the fullness of His Spirit and being baptized in the Holy Spirit when I was 11 years old, first time I encountered God. But I have been baptized in the Holy Spirit multiple times since. [00:25:30] It's not just a one time. [00:25:32] Yes, there's a one time moment where you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, you receive the Holy Spirit in your life. But the baptism of the Spirit is a continual process. [00:25:43] I got filled with the Spirit as I was worshiping this morning. Anyone else? [00:25:47] Anyone else felt a little bit empty. It was like you're trying to get the drinks even coming into church this morning. That was my feeling a little bit today. [00:25:56] But I worshiped. I felt the Spirit of God begin to fill me up again. [00:26:03] I'm standing here because God did a little work in my heart about 25 minutes ago. [00:26:10] I'm carrying something now that I just needed God to fill me up, to be able to come and do what I'm doing now. [00:26:17] Come on. When we wake up and we head to work, are we filled with the spirit of God so that we are ready to go, ready to move when God says he is the Word, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God is God. [00:26:35] He was with God from the beginning. Jesus is the Word. [00:26:40] Every time we read the Word, we are engaging with the Christ, the Messiah. [00:26:48] And I know you might even look at people as they preach and say, yeah, but maybe you've got an insight to God on things of the Scripture. [00:26:57] Can I tell you I've had some really boring Bible reads over my lifetime. [00:27:04] Can I be honest? [00:27:06] I hope that's okay. [00:27:08] I've read scripture and it was just like, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Just like bounced in and out. [00:27:18] That's the reality of it. [00:27:19] Every time we read the Word, it doesn't always give us this incredible revelation. But I can't tell you every meal I've eaten either over my lifetime. But each one of them was good, was needed, the nourishment I needed. And the more we feast from the Word of God, the more that revelation comes, the more we ask Jesus. I mean, maybe part of what we need to do is say Jesus. As I read this today, what do you want me to do with what I read? [00:27:52] Am I just reading it to tick a box on the Bible plan? I hope not. [00:27:56] Because if we are, we probably won't have that word really do anything in us. [00:28:02] But can I encourage us to pray as we read the Word, as we receive his spirit? [00:28:09] Then comes the cool part of the story, because there's not much at the stage. There's no blockbuster movie out of this one. Jesus said, fill up some clay pots with water. It's like, okay, I can do that, right? So far. I could do all of that. Anyone else could fill it up with some jars. Great. Amazing. We've done our part. [00:28:30] Then comes the hero. [00:28:32] Jesus, our hero. [00:28:34] He comes. [00:28:36] Next part. Invite Jesus, do what Jesus tells us to do. And then Jesus does what we can't do. [00:28:43] This is it. This is the simplicity of my message today. Invite Jesus, do what he asks us to do, and then see him do what we can't do. [00:28:54] Then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so. And the master of the banquet tasted the water and that had been turned into Wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. [00:29:07] What I love about this part of the story is that Jesus gives the responsibility to the servants. [00:29:14] Now, Jesus could have gone in, grabbed the cup. [00:29:18] There you go. Look what I did right. [00:29:22] He gives the task to the servants who just filled up their water jars. [00:29:28] This is the power of the church of Jesus Christ. As he says, come on the journey, be a part of the miracles in other people's lives. [00:29:38] I want to know when it changed. Anyone else? I'm reading the story going, at what point did it change? [00:29:45] Like, did they dip the cup in and it's still water and they're going to. [00:29:54] That would be me. I don't know. I look into this text and I go, when did the miracle take place? Was it at the point they dipped? Do they. Do they have a little taste? They go, wow, this is good. [00:30:05] But I love that Jesus invited the servants to be a part of the miracle, don't you? [00:30:14] Do you get the prophetic picture here that Jesus is inviting clay pots, servants of the most high God, to draw out what God has already put in our hearts to go and serve something to the world that needs hope, joy. [00:30:35] Any clay pots out there? [00:30:39] Anyone feeling inspired to go fill that clay pot up again? [00:30:45] Little bit more of the word, not out of obligation, but out of what would happen if I was so filled with the word of God and his spirit that as I walked and Jesus could just draw out of me whatever needed to come out to see the miraculous? [00:31:04] Wonder if the team could come. [00:31:09] Verse 9 goes on to verse 10. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. [00:31:23] What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glories and his disciples believed in him. [00:31:32] This was the moment when the disciples went, oh, wow, you truly are the Messiah.