Jan 12, 2024 "Faith, Obedience and the Miracle of Joy" (John 2:1-12)

 

Faith, Obedience, and the Miracle of Joy 

John 2:1-12 

 

In today's passage we see a clear example of how to respond to Jesus and His miracles. Before we explore this we need to understnad some of the cultural historical background on this passage.

 

Running out of wine at a wedding had many meanings both culturally and biblically. For the host family, running out of wine showed that they had lack , didn't plan sufficiently or both. It could also be a bad omen since wine represented joy and blessing. Running out of wine during the several day wedding might suggest the marriage would be limited in joy and blessing. 

 

When we pray, God might not answer our prayers immediately or the way we want. God might say, "wait!" This answer does not mean it is, "No." Just like Jesus' mother, we need to keep asking with the expectation that God will provide what we need. 

 

Jesus has a love for us, and thus love brought Jesus here to Earth. Jesus has good intentions for us. However, we need to obey Jesus commands.  

 

John 2:6-8 ESV 

[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.  

 

The water had not been turned to wine until after the servants had drawn it out. Before the servants were asked to do some heavy labor of lifting the 150 kg plus ceremonial jars of water and even then Jesus had not told them exactly what would happen. The servants had faith and obeyed Jesus first, then the miracle happened. 

 

Even today, God wants to perform miracles  through us, but we need to have faith and be obedient. God's good and perfect works happen after acts of faith and obedience. Even then, it is not us that performs the miracles, it is God giving us the chance to witness His miraculous greatness.

 

If you want to see joy in your life, you need to step forward with faith and obedience. Waiting to see to the miracles you expect might be bring frustration and disappointment whereas acting in faith will bring joy and awe when God fulfils His promises and exceeds your expectations.  

 

The joy for the guests, bride's family and groom's family were restored by Jesus miracle even though they did not know Jesus. The wine had run out which was shameful for the familes and dissapointing for the guests. A tragically short wedding was extended into a more meanigful celebration because some unnamed servants obeyed Jesus and Jesus mother had the faith that her son would solve the problem although she did not know how.

 

John 2:9 ESV 

[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  

 

The master of the feast did not know where the wine came from or the miracle associated with the miracle. The servants and his disciples knew what had happened. For his disciples this was the first of many signs showing Jesus was the messiah.  

 

John 2:11 ESV 

[11] This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 

 

 Let us look for ways to serve Jesus and allow for God to do great things. Let us continue to pray with the belief that Jesus will act in the best way while letting the Holy Spirit guide us in our prayers. Let us follow Jesus with the understanding that more signs and miracles will come our way.

• Holy Is The Lord
• We Want To See Jesus Lifted High
• How Great Is Our God

“The New Wine is Better”(John 2:1-11)

 

Sermon Outline

The Sufficiency of the New Wine

The Supremacy of the New Wine

The Significance of the New Wine

 

The beginning of Jesus's ministry starts with the miracle of turning water into wine. It is the third day of his ministry. This miracle only is recorded in the Gospel of John.

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.” John 2:2-3 ESV

A Jewish wedding is to last seven days and you would be a bad host if the wedding did not last seven days. 

The Sufficiency of the New Wine

Jesus used six jars because that is what he had. It was more than enough to supply wine to the wedding ceremony. The wine was enough. It did not matter how many jars or how much wine was made, the wine from Jesus was enough. It is the same with God, what we are given is enough. 

¹⁷ Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” Matthew 9:17 ESV
 

God uses what is available not what is desirable. Wine jugs should have been used but instead empty purification jars were used. Likewise we need to be empty if God is going to use us.

 

⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.^[a] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. John 2:6-7 ESV

The Supremacy of the New Wine

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.” John 2:10 ESV

The new wine that Jesus was made was better than the old wine. We need to allow Jesus to put new wine in us by emptying ourselves to be filled.

The Significance of the New Wine

¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John 2:11 ESV

This new wine was a display of the glory of God . 
 
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son^[d] from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 ESV
 
Jesus did this miracle to show the glory of God to others. The glory of God is the life of a man which is the identity of God with that man. The glory is the image or likeness of God. Where there is the glory and the image of God, there is victory over sin, sickness, devils.  

 
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 ESV

Sin takes away glory of God. This is why Jesus has removed sin. By removing sin, we are restored to God's likeness.
 
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” Exodus 33:18 ESV
 
Even Moses who had performed do many miracles and did such great things in God's name asked for glory.
Let’s pray for an encounter with a New Wine so that people can see the glory of God in our lives.

¹⁸ “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.
¹⁹ Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV

• One Way 오직 예수 (주 발 앞에 나 엎드려)
• How Great Is Our God 위대하신 주(빛나는 왕의 왕)
• With All My Heart 온 맘 다해
• 
  
• New Wine 날 빚으소서

Do Whatever He Says, and Understand Later (John 2:1-11)

 John 2:1-11

The mother of Jesus, Jesus and His disciples went to a wedding in Cana of Galilee. This wedding probably took months to prepare. Unfortunately not enough preparation was done and the wine runs out at the wedding. Mary asks Jesus to do something about this embarrassing predicament. Jesus responds to his mother that He has nothing to do with the wine. Still, Mary goes to the servants and tells them to do whatever her son tells them.  


Jesus tells the servants to fill six large ceremonial jugs with water. Then Jesus turns the water into wine, and not just any wine but the finest wine ever tasted. 

The main reason Jesus came to the wedding was to show His role in the world. Jesus illustrates this fact through the Revelation's wedding super of the Lamb. Jesus came to be the light of life. This earthly wedding is to symbolize the heavenly wedding banquet. 

Mary telling the servants to follow Jesus instructions is an example for us. Jesus is our Lord and we are to listen without questioning or understanding what Jesus tells us. 

 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God."
Revelation 19:7-9 ESV

Jesus made wine to show the abundance of life and blessing that will be experienced during the wedding supper.  We need to be excited in anticipation of the great banquet which comes when Jesus returns. Without the anticipation of the banquet, we become complacent and dull.

Jesus foreshadows the last banquet and He prepares us. Anyone who goes to a wedding wears fine clothes and prepares gifts.

it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Revelation 19:8 ESV

Jesus reveals himself as the light of men to show them what they need but do not know how to get what they cannot get. Jesus shows us how to get the eternal life that we desperately need. Jesus does this by giving instructions which they cannot understand. Jesus only expected them to follow the instructions and not to understand.

Some of the things the Lord asks us to do is beyond our understanding. Our main role is to commit to whatever he tells us even when we do not understand. He must commit even if it is painful or beyond our ability. The only thing to get into the banquet is to be committed to what Jesus us instructs us to do.

Jesus knew the end from the beginning. This is why Jesus did not taste the wine until all six jugs were filled. Jesus knew the end result. We can be confident that Jesus know what He asks us to do. Jesus knows the end of our lives from the beginning. For this reason we can put our trust in Him. Nothing happens by coincidence when Jesus is involved. We can trust Jesus and find courage. 


 Jesus also knows and has the means to get us to the end. It may seem illogical at times, but Jesus just wants us to have faith so we can do His works. For us that are growing into the Son ship of God, we have opportunities to put our faith in action. 


 We can put our trust in Him because He has put in place supporting aid to help us through. Mary was there to tell the servants to follow Jesus. Mary appears to be an insignificant woman, but God used her. God can use insignificant aids and people to show us what to do. Mary had had a personal revelation of who Jesus was.  Let us do the same through our testimony and obedience to Jesus.

Jesus, the Only Hope for Humanity (John 2:13-23)

 John 2:13-23

 One of the memories of the Israelites regarding their travels to the Promised Land is the Passover. Moses goes before Pharaoh to say that God wants the children of Israel to leave Egypt to the Promised Land and to serve their God. To commemorate this event God gave the Passover holiday. 

 Similar to the Israelites who had been passed over by the Angel of death, each one of us has been called to eternal life, so we can escape eternal death. Also we may serve our God and worship Him. As Christians we need to be conscious of the eternal life ahead of us and our purpose to serve God. These two goals need to be steering our lives.

The night of the Passover was a paradigm shift of life and death as well as serving God. God took on the responsibility to redeem His people. God knew that in order for the Israelites to live in the Promised Land, they had to serve God. God gave the Passover event to remind the Israelites of who God was and what God had done to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.

God gave several different events to the Israelites to help remind them about God's promises and to draw them closer to God. God asks the Israelites to repeatedly honour these events so that the Israelites would be close to God. 

 Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 12:28 ESV

When Jesus comes to Jerusalem to observe God’s instituted celebrations, He finds that they have been corrupted. Instead of ceremonies which would remind and strengthen the Jews until they reach Heaven, money and greed had replaced God's ceremony.

 Money traders came into the temples because Jews from all over the known world came to celebrate. The Jews had been told to bring something to worship God, but there were those who took advantage of this. In fact, the animal market had been brought to the temple to sell sacrifice. The merchants selling the animals would haggle prices and exchange currencies to make profit over worshiping God. Jesus could not take this trade where some wanted a bargain while others wanted to make profit.

Traditionally for seven days people needed to purify themselves. As part of the purification, God commanded the Israelites to eat unleavened food for seven days. The Israelites needed time to get back to God and remove all leavened products from their homes and bodies. What was in the temple was not purification but rather defilement. There were many people who wanted to worship God and experience God's mercy; however, there were many others who wanted to benefit themselves with earthly desires. Sadly the priests were not doing their job to protect the people from defilers. 

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

John 2:23 ESV

 After Jesus came into the temple and cleaned out the defilers, people saw the miracles which came with Jesus. Just like the miracles witnessed during the Israelites leaving Egypt, so Jesus did. Jesus is the new Passover.

Like the Israelites who yearned to go the Promised Land, we Christians have not yet come to Heaven. We need to celebrate the Sabbath, Bible Studies, Christian holidays and other God appointed times. We need to purposely put value on these times or else they become rituals.

 Jesus walked into the temple and brought hope. As we struggle to know Jesus and serve Him, Jesus will help us and never leave us. As we walk with Jesus, let us reflect on our walk with Jesus with intention. Seek to do what Jesus tells us and do it the way Jesus wants us to do.