Sermon in Rockford 16.01.2011

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us join our hearts together in opening prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, You have again called us from our everyday endeavor to gather together with our brothers and sisters in faith around Your holy and precious Word. Dear Father, we come with many different feelings. Perhaps some come in childlike, happy feelings of faith. Others perhaps have come feeling the weight of the journey. Dear Father, we have a mutual prayer, though, that You would open Your Word, that we would find strength to travel for yet another day on the way which leads to heaven. So we simply say, dear Father, that open Your Word. Amen.

One of the texts for this Sunday, but for a different church year, is found in the second chapter of the Gospel of John, the first 11 verses. We hear these words in Jesus' name.

And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and His disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.

And there were set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it.

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the servants who stewed the water knew. The governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine. And when men have well drunk, then that which is worse. Thou hast kept the good wine until now.

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory. And his disciples believed on him. Amen.

Some parts of Scripture are interesting from this standpoint, that there is a story behind it. This particular part of God's Word is a, perhaps, even though short, a story in and of itself, of an event. This event was the first miracle of Jesus.

When we think of this story, or this miracle, it's one of the miracles which John records. John records, if I understand correctly, seven of them. Which, so many times in God's Word, seven is a complete or perfect number. So this being the beginning, or the first miracle, which Jesus did. It must have been that type of story, which caused John to consider putting into this gospel, perhaps, or more important than we could say that, God through His Spirit revealed it to him to use this as one of these seven stories.

With many of these happenings in Scriptures, so it's a, on one hand, it is a very temporal, everyday story. On the other hand, it has great meaning for us. Something for us to learn. And so it is with this one.

If we first consider the story at its most basic as simply a story, it was a wedding. A wedding in Cana where Jesus was in attendance. And it seems to, at least to me, that when we read this story, perhaps Jesus' mother was involved in some of this preparation and perhaps it was even one of Jesus' relatives. It does not say here, but if we consider the weddings of our day, isn't that normally the case where our relatives would be some of them that are planning the wedding?

And so in this case, the mother of Jesus was instrumental in the middle of the story in taking care of those things which were fed to those in attendance. And so it says that in the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. So it was a short distance from Nazareth where Jesus was from. His mother was there.

And when we recall from studying scriptures, these weddings were not simply a one-day event, but they were perhaps even a week long where they gathered together with friends and family and celebrated the marriage.

But when Jesus came to this wedding, this marriage, his mother came to him and told him that there was no wine left. It doesn't really explain here why there was no wine. Were there too many guests that were in attendance that they weren't aware of? It does not explain that here.

But so nevertheless, Mary, when she realized Jesus was there, told Jesus of this predicament that they had that there was no wine to be served to the guests. And Jesus replied with these words that he had not begun his public service, that it wasn't his time.

But Mary, in her understanding of faith simply tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says to do. And it leaves me with this understanding that she continued off somewhere to continue her work.

And then Jesus, when he saw this, he saw, set before them six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews. And it says, containing two or three firkins apiece.

So there were these six water pots, and when it speaks of this purifying of the Jews, it was the custom and a method of following the law that when entering a residence or building that they washed themselves, washed their feet.

And so with so many in attendance, they perhaps had more of these water pots. There were six of them.

And Jesus told the servants to fill the water pots with water and they simply poured more water into them all the way to the brim.

The story says that he then told them after he filled them with water to simply draw them out and bring it to the governor of the feast. And the servants did that and the governor when he tasted it didn't know where it came from because it wasn't the poor quality wine any longer. It was what he says was the best wine that should have been served at the beginning.

And as an aside here, it says the servants didn't know where the water or where the servants who drew the water knew where that wine had come from. They had watched it happen in front of them.

Quite an event even simply looking at it from an outward standpoint. They had run out of wine. And these six water pots which contain this water, it says it contains three firkins apiece.

A different translation of the Bible explains that this three firkins is like 20 to 30 gallons. So it says these big barrels of water contained at least 20 to 30 gallons apiece.

And so Jesus prepared with his miracle about 180 gallons of wine.

And then if you stop to consider when I read a little bit about the customs of the Jews and this wine, it was not any intention to drink to excess or for intoxication, but from what I've read of it, they would dilute it when they drank it, perhaps two to three cups of water per cup of wine.

A great miracle had happened outwardly. There was way more wine than was needed. And it was so good wine that it was better than what they had drank even at the beginning.

If we simply stopped at this point and wondered what we could learn from this, perhaps we could say that what we could learn is that Jesus was able to perform miracles. And simply out of water he was able to create wine.

So we have a, as if superhero person involved. And this is who we follow.

John, at the end of this little story, explains that this isn't the case. He says, this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory. And then it says, and his disciples believed on him.

So something else happened. It wasn't in the end a way to simply feed people. What those in attendance there learned was not this, that if they followed Jesus, they would have outward drink and food to eat. But what they received of this was faith.

Let's pause to consider this text a little more closely. There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, an everyday occurrence. We have weddings here quite frequently here in Rockford. It could be any type of occasion which we gather at.

But it was much more than that though. It says the mother of Jesus was there. Who is your mother, dear brothers and sisters, this evening? We know and understand it to be the congregation mother.

So if we pause to consider it from this perspective that we have an event where we gather together and it's in the midst of the congregation, the midst of the believers, we've called our brothers and sisters in faith together to celebrate some event, perhaps a wedding, perhaps a graduation, perhaps anything.

It says both Jesus was called and his disciples. Doesn't it make a special occasion dear brothers and sisters when, and no matter what it is, when we can pause around God's word, to hear what the Heavenly Father wishes to reveal to us at that moment, at that occasion, from his word, but more importantly, that we would ask and pray that the Lord of life himself would be present.

He is present when we gather in his name. The scriptures have testified that to us, that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there in the midst.

So it's not only those occasions where we gather with our brothers and sisters in faith, but we gather together in his name. Then he has promised to be there. And that is how we call him to our midst.

This story then continues speaking about wine and water. Water. My understanding seems to be weak, but this I understand from the scriptures though that wine is sometimes used as a metaphor for the blood of Jesus.

For instance, when we read from scriptures what Jesus himself says about the institution of communion, it says that when we drink of the wine, it is how does it even say it? I can find the spot where it says it.

In the 26th chapter of Matthew, it says this, that he took the cup, meaning the cup of wine, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

So this cup of wine was in Jesus' words, his blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

So it causes me to think then that perhaps water would signify the Old Testament promises or the works of the law.

And in this sense, we could say that it also fits, that it would explain that there were six water pots of stone.

If we consider the number seven to be perfect and complete, then this would give us this thought that the works of the law and following the law would not be complete.

When we look at it from this standpoint, when we look at this a little bit closer, and we see how the Old Testament rite of the purification was a washing of the feet in these water pots.

Sure, they washed themselves in that water, but what became of it? Where did that dirt and filth of the journey go? It stayed in the pot. It didn't remove them from our sight.

I'm sure it could have sunk to the bottom of those vessels, but imagine now, as in this story, it says Jesus had them fill them to the brim with water. He didn't tell them first to empty those pots, but they had been used for washing the feet of those people.

And then he pours water on top of that water and I'm sure if you have done that at all with a bucket of water and it has some dirt at the bottom, you pour more water and the dirt mingles back to the top water. It doesn't go anywhere.

Isn't it the case though that when we pause to consider our own works, if we attempt to follow the law, where can our sins go? How does it remove them from us? That it can't.

In fact, if we begin to try to follow the law, it's as if we begin to put more and more water in that pot to try to dilute it. And it simply brings them back to our minds again and again.

Consider this to your brothers and sisters when we read the works of the flesh that are written in Galatians. And it speaks of hate, variance, envy, and so on and so forth.

And we try our hardest to follow that. Every time we would begin to read that list, what would we find? We would be more and more guilty each time we read it. There's nowhere for them to go under the law.

But with Jesus in the picture, the whole story changes. With Jesus' command, he says, fill the water pots with water. He filled them up to the brim.

I simply understand this that Christ fulfilled the law. To the last letter, he was sinless.

Before Christ came, if we looked at those water pots and tried to fill them ourselves, it would simply dredge up the old sins. Cause us to recall them again and again.

But with the works of Jesus, when he filled those water pots with water, a miracle of miracles happened.

Think of that, dear brothers and sisters, if you were a servant at that wedding, water pots were meant for. They were meant to cleanse the dirty feet.

And someone came along and did not empty them, but simply pour more water in them and commanded you to take of that water and bring it to the governor of the feast, to have him drink it.

You knew where that came from. From our own mind and understanding, it's a difficult thing to think of.

If we try to follow our own works, but when God is able to reveal to us that it's not of us, and it's all the works of Jesus, a whole new viewpoint comes into play.

We don't see any more failures. Our sins disappear. It's good wine. It's easy for us to drink. Truly grace of grace.

It was a surprise to the governor who knew not where it came from.

It's no wonder the evangelist here says that the disciples believed on him. They came from everyday endeavors called by him.

Some were those coarse fishermen. They knew their faults and their errors. They knew the effects of the old Adam in their own minds and thoughts. They knew what they had done.

But they also saw this, what Jesus had done through them.

When God is able to instill faith, the things that are accomplished by God's kingdom, they're nothing short of miraculous.

This simple miracle which Jesus first performed at first glance seems so insignificant. Why would John spend any time writing this down as one of those miracles? Simply water into wine.

We can, as believers even this evening, still see that simple miracle of water into wine in our own lives, can't we? It's a daily miracle, isn't it?

In the last week I've found how with my own mind I've paused to consider even matters of faith.

When you begin to think about them with your own mind, the enemy has an easy task. I'm sure you'll find similarities as well with your brothers and sisters.

As I've found how first he tries to get me to stand on a chair and think about how good a Christian I've been. But he quickly kicks the feet out, shows me how bad I really am.

With our mind we simply stir the waters of our own sins. It doesn't get any better than that.

Simple miracle of water to wine is found in the gospel, isn't it? As Jesus said, it's the blood of his blood unto the remission of sins.

Miracles. It's the miracle of miracles that I'm in faith today. It's the miracle of miracles, dear brother and sister, that in spite of anything we've thought or done, that we are considered a child of God.

It's the simple things to think about, isn't it? It's no wonder that the disciples, they didn't stop any longer to see the outward miracles of Jesus. But they believed on him.

In the same way, dear brothers and sisters, the congregation of God does not leave us without a pilot. It doesn't show us the wrong direction.

Says the mother of Jesus, saw there was no wine and brought them to Jesus. Jesus asked her questions, but there was so much faith in God's kingdom those questions were irrelevant.

She says to the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

Do we have that much faith even tonight, dear brothers and sisters, to listen to the congregation mother and the exhortation to simply do what the heavenly father, what Jesus asked of us?

It isn't a big task that he's asked. It's simply to believe. It's the only task we've been given, but for myself, I have to say that I've been terrible at that task.

Can I believe my sins for you? If there are any other poor believers gathered together with me tonight, you can believe the same gospel, believe in the miracle of water and wine, that all of your sins and doubts perhaps even fears that will I make it to the destination, you can believe them all forgiven in the name and blood of Jesus.

It's a simple message. Carry it with you always. It's something which these believers brought to their wedding.

We can bring it to all of our lives to every occasion as simple as we find them whether it be baptisms, graduations, birthday parties, even at home, our daily tasks to find the simple miracles of believing.

Preaching. Preach the gospel freely. It is a power which is beyond our thoughts and ideas. It's powerful enough to bring peace to a guilt-ridden conscience. Power to help us take another step, but it's also a power that it will bring us all the way home to heaven's home.

So again, dear brother and sister, at the end of this service, be encouraged to believe all of your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious atonement blood, be of good comfort.

We have a good God. He has provided us a way to reach Him in spite of who we are.

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His glory and His disciples believed on Him.

That is the sole thing asked of us is belief, faith. May God give us strength to not only believe this, that our endeavor of yesterday has been covered by grace, but believe that He is faithful, that He will give us power to believe.

The most and of greatest importance is just that we can believe at this moment and leave tomorrow in His hands.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's join in benediction.

Amen. The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen.