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Apr 30, 2023

Do Whatever He Tells You to Do

Do Whatever He Tells You to Do

Passage: John 1:50-51

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Stand Alone Message

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: truth, love, church, worship, prayer, faith, jesus, god, disciple, christian, bible, christ, gospel, hope, life, holy spirit, believe, purpose, study, jesus christ, the bible, lord, christianity, powerful, savior, bible study, blessed, god's promise, trust god, bible verses, transformed life, obey god, follow god, christian motivation, jesus as savior, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, motivational video, inspirational video

The foundation of Christian discipleship is obedience, to do whatever Jesus tells us to do. It’s a tough, but powerful lesson we learn as we study scripture today. We aren’t called to do amazing things, but God will do extraordinary things through us because of our obedience. Jesus steps in when it seems like nothing else can help, starts with what we have to offer, and looks for our willingness to obey, even in the absurd. He adds extra to our ordinary and gives blessings that do more than just meet today’s needs. His blessings are long lasting. Jesus promises the best is never yet experienced until he shows up, and we can depend on his promises. Are you trusting Jesus and obeying him even in the absurd or tough times? Are you looking to his power and not your own? Are you trusting in him as Lord? As always, we’d love to connect with you, answer any questions you’ve got, and take time to pray with you today. You can always take the next step here – burnthickory.com/next.

I want to start the message a little differently this morning in a time of prayer. In 1952, it was President Harry Truman who first and I quote, proclaimed that the nation should have a day of prayer. That existed for years until Ronald Reagan became president. And then he solidified that day and actually proclaimed that that day should be the first Thursday in the month of May, every single year for our country. And Ronald Reagan asked all Americans and churches and homes and families all around would, he asked that all of us should give God a chance to move in our nation. He asked if we would ask God to give us wisdom, to know His ways, give us strength to follow His ways, and to give us the patience and understanding that we are to follow after the heartbeat of God. Every year since that day of Ronald Reagan, the first Thursday of the month of May has been declared the National Day of Prayer for Our Country. And that Thursday is coming up on this Thursday. And as a church, we want to be a church that is known as a house of prayer, a place that does lift up our nation, a place that does honor God and ask God to move in our nation.

And this morning, to start the week off of the National Day of Prayer. I just want us as a community of faith to pray and ask God to bless our country. And then I'm going to give you some instructions on how we want to see this through the rest of the week. Let's pray together, Lord. Today, as believers in you with a united voice, we come together and we ask you on behalf of our nation to move. To God, to show your power, to show your mercy. To show your grace. And God bless our nation. God, we're so thankful to be a people who get to express ourselves freely. A people who get to call upon your name publicly and God right now as a unified voice and as a church today, God, we come before your throne and beg of you to move in our nation. God, we pray for our leaders that you would give them wisdom and discernment. That you would show them how to live out your ways. God, we pray for our country. That God, that they would turn from the ways of satisfying self and turn towards the ways of honoring and loving you, the Messiah. God, we pray for our churches that we would stand in the gap for those who don't know you and those who do know you and that are struggling. God, we pray that God, revival would sweep across this nation in such a way that every unbeliever soul would see your mighty hand in mighty works. And God we pray, all of us, in your son's name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Over the years, we've done a ton of things as a church to point towards the National Day of Prayer. And we've done videos, we've done services, we've done breakfasts. But this year we're going to do something a little bit different because our desire is to have every single one of us on this Thursday carving out some time to pray for our nation. So this morning, in your worship guide on the app as well as on the website, you can even kind of take your smartphone out and pointed at the QR code on the screen and it will give you a chance this week to opt in on Thursday to three specific text messages that will be sent to your phone at certain times of the day. I think it's 9:00, noon and 3:00 that will remind you to pray for our country. This is not a spam text. This is not going to put you on some weird list the rest of your lives to buy Bitcoin. This is just asking you just to pray for our country this week and let me just kind of share my heart with you in this. If you're part of the Burnt Hickory family, we want you to be involved with this. I would love to be able to stand before us in the weeks coming up to say, man, 100% of people that were in church the week before and that got our communications were involved with praying for our country because here's why. I believe God moves when he hears our voices. And this week I'm just going to ask you to opt in to those prayer texts. They're going to be at convenient times. It's not 30 minutes every time, right? It is just some prayer moments for you to lift up before the king on behalf of our country this week. Do you have any troubles with it? Later on, call the offices. Get with a young person. They'll help you out. All right. Here we go.

If you have a copy of Scripture this morning, John, chapter three. I mean, no. John Chapter two. If we get to three, we'll be here all day. John Chapter two is where we're going to be today. I want you to go ahead and turn there. And as you are turning there, I'm going to tell you, we're going to watch one of the most incredible wedding scenes that has ever happened this week, we're going to get a glimpse into Jesus's character. We're also going to get a glimpse into what Jesus wants to do in us through seeing this wedding in Qana. Now, as you're finding it, let's talk about weddings for a minute, because I have a love-hate relationship with weddings. Amen. You know where I'm at as most of you are? Well, fortunately, we get to see a lot of weddings happen here, and we as a pastoral team get to be involved with a lot of weddings here. I started trying to count up this week how many weddings I've been involved with. I've only got to stand there and only say a few things at one that was mine. But then on a lot of others, I get to be a part of weddings. And I'm telling you that every wedding has its own personality. And you know what I'm talking about in this? Every wedding has so many people who are speaking into it, who are planning who, all the unknown stuff. There's so many personalities and weddings. The to-do list is a mile long. I love mother-in-laws in weddings. They're my favorites in them, because they're still trying to run the show and the sweet brides are trying their best to honor them. But tell them just to be quiet, right? You've got all the family dynamics and weddings. It is a pastor. I just kind of get to show up and watch it all happen and it's kind of cool. I tell brides all the time when in their final counseling, I like, listen, whatever happens on this day, however crazy it gets, if he doesn't run out on you, we're going to get you married today. That is my promise to you. And this wedding, no matter how crazy your mama is, that's what I tell them all the time. But this morning, we're going to see a wedding in scripture. But I thought it was kind of a cool, kind of complex moment because weddings in our day are complicated, but weddings in Jesus's day were even more complicated than ours. I mean, you take the fact that most couples were arranged in their marriage and they really didn't even know their bride to be until that moment. And the betrothal process, you take this whole process of being betrothed to someone and standing beside them and the Jewish synagogue and making your vows. You take this idea that your husband had to pay a dowry for you, which I think is a really cool thing. Right. Because I don't. I mean, I don't have a dog in the fight anymore. But how cool would it be if you had to give, like, 27 cows for your wife?

I mean, that's what happened during this day. But what we're looking at this morning is this wedding scene in Cana. That was incredibly tense. It was incredibly tense. And here's why. Because once you got betrothed to your bride to be as a groom, your job at that point will be to go back to your house. She went back to her family's house. And for the next months, almost a year of your life, you had a sole job. And that was to get ready for your bride to come and be with you so you would go and save money. You would go and build on your family's home because it was cheaper to build that way and cheaper to kind of just build three walls onto the parents house versus just living in their basement. Right now, that's kind of how they build onto the side of the house. You would save your money, you would get all the wedding preparations done. And then as a groom, when you finished all the preparations, then you would get your boys together in your wedding party and you would march usually at nighttime during this day out to go and get your bride. Torches were raised. You're going out there and would have been singing. It was a joyous deal. You would have showed up at your bride's house. You would have gotten your bride together. You would have brought her back to where you made all the preparations. Now, when you got her back to the house, the parents would have had everything set up. Everything would have been ready. They would have invited all the family in from all over the region, and they would have already been taking care of the guests, and it would have been an incredibly big party. Weddings were just a little bit different. These weddings went up to seven days sometimes. So take your little 30 minute deal, and 5 hours and take it times seven. I mean, all day long for seven days. But I also want to point out something about these weddings as the host of the party, which is the groom, the groom's parents, supreme hospitality was expected.

Now, I'm not talking about you. Just give them some mints and a little bit of punch and a wedding cake. I'm talking, for seven days. Your role was to be the host of the party. You fed people, you hosted people. You gave them somewhere to be and taking care of your guests was an ultimate sign of respect for the people who packed up all of that they had to make their travels to you. And if you did not host them well, if you ran out of something, it was the ultimate sign of disrespect. And you could be kind of cast out of the community. You could be actually thrown out and not looked upon right. So in today's text, we're jumping into this wedding celebration that's got a big problem. You can see the big problem in just a minute. But the reality is one of the people on the guest list is Jesus. And Jesus is about to save the day. Now, this event is so much more than just the event. Don't get so caught up in the event that you miss John's purpose of why he's writing this. This event is showing us who Jesus really is, and here's why that's important. It's because the more we understand who Jesus is, the more we understand what Jesus wants to do in our lives, the more we will begin to submit our hearts and lives into Jesus's Lordship and Jesus's care. The more we understand that, the more we will begin to invite Jesus into the tragedy, into our lives, invite Jesus into the success in our lives. Invite Jesus into our parties, into our singleness, into our marriage, and all of the things around us. And I love what John does now, John is the writer of the Gospel of John. Obviously, John is an elder disciple. He's the oldest disciple. When he's writing this, the rest of the disciples have passed away. And John's main goal in his whole gospel is to show us who Jesus is. So before we get to John, too, let me tell you about John one, because it points into why this miracle is such a big deal. John Chapter one We catch up with Jesus being declared as God. He's declared as God. Never let somebody look at you and say, He was just a good teacher. He was just a moral person. He never claimed to be God. We are about to watch him claim to be God, and since Jesus is God, what He can do is He can now see that all the rest of this stuff revolves around him. Jesus and John. Chapter one has been called the word and the Creator in light and the one and true only God. He's been called the Messiah and the King of Israel. And He's showing us in John chapter one through words pointing to who Jesus is. John Chapter one also shows us Jesus calling the first disciples. There's five of them in this kind of first batch, and when he's calling them, they're already hearing the word spoken about who Jesus is.

In fact, kind of go back with me just for a second to John one, verse 50, and Jesus is speaking to one of the disciples named Nathaniel, and listen to what Jesus says. And it's going to point us into chapter two. John 1:50 says this Jesus said, You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You see, you will see greater things than that. Then he added, Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. So what does Jesus do? Jesus in John chapter one refers to Himself as the son of man. Now Jesus uses this term a lot. Actually, you'll see it 83 times in the Gospels. You'll see it 13 times in the Gospel of John alone. In this term, Son of Man is a little bit unclear to us because we're not Jews. You see, when we see Jesus, we think of him as a son of God. We think of him as the son of Mary and Joseph. But when Jesus popped onto the scene the last thing is he describes himself as in chapter one, this whole chapter that is defining who he is. He describes himself as the son of man, the son of man. Now, if you are a Jew in this time period, as soon as you heard Jesus say this, you would have been locked in. You would have known exactly what he's saying and exactly what he's describing, and you would have been beside yourself. Because what Jesus is claiming with these words. You say Matt what is he claiming? I'm glad you asked. The Prophet Daniel says this in Daniel, chapter seven, Daniel seven, verse 13, and all the Jews would have known this, said this. Daniel said, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days, that would be the Father God, and was led into his presence.

Verse 14 He was given authority and glory and sovereign power of all nations. Check this out. He was given I'm going to read again. He was given authority, glory, sovereign power of all nations and peoples in every language, and worshiped him. His dominion, his everlasting dominion that will not pass away. His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. So for any Hebrew they would have heard him and at the end of chapter one say that I am the son of man. They would have been incredibly excited because of how messed up their culture was, their government was, how much oppression they were in, and they from the beginning of when Daniel said this, had been waiting on the son of man that would have all authority to step into their life. And now Jesus steps on to the scene or steps onto the scene and says, I am the son of man. I appear to be human. I am but I am God and I'm divine and I'm all powerful and my kingdom will last forever. So Jesus is referring to Himself as the Messiah, the Son of man. That is all man and all God. And then chapter one closes. Chapter one closes with Jesus claiming He is what you have been waiting for. Now there's something about chapter one that we kind of breeze through, and that is, it was all just words about Jesus, right? He was words about it was just describing him. But then we get to chapter two and Jesus after this whole chapter on Christology, right on who Christ is, says, hey, but now I'm going to prove it to you. I'm not just going to talk about it. I'm going to prove it to you. So we join chapter two after he says, I'm the son of man and we join it at a wedding. All right. At a wedding. Now, let me tell you what's happening there. A few days into this wedding already, that's when we see Jesus and him kind of rolling in. These weddings could have lasted up to seven days. People would have just kept coming and kept coming. And the groom's biggest fear is about to happen. All right, John, chapter two. Let's jump into the text. Here it is, verse one. Here's what it says. It says on the third day. Now, look, we've got to pause there just for a minute just to point this out, because, man, I need you to circle that highlight it. Do whatever you got to in your Bible, because watch this. As many times as I've read this text, I've never caught the fact that Jesus, right after he describes himself as the son of man, shows up somewhere on the third day. Isn't that incredible what he does there? Not only does he do that, he closes out chapter one by saying, hey, listen, you're going to kill me, but I'm going to rise on the third day.

Listen, this chapter starts and ends with the third day based on who the son of man is. You know what that tells me and you? It tells me that my hope is in a third day Jesus. My hope is not in a dead Jesus. My hope is not in a buddy Jesus. My hope is in a resurrected Jesus that wants to give me life, that wants to give me hope, and it wants to put His Spirit inside of me. He's the risen savior on the third day. Now, I promise you, I won't be that slow for the rest. But let's keep going alright? Here it is. On the third day, a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. So we got Mama Mary, we got Jesus, and we got the five new disciples all coming in to the wedding. All right, here it is. Verse three. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, They have no more wine. Woman. No chuckle on that one? I thought it was good. Woman: Why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come. Now, look, there's so much that has been written over these verses over the years, but when you read it, there just doesn't seem to be much endearment right in this conversation with Jesus and with Mary. I mean, after all, she is the lady that was on the statue of the mantle at everybody's house, right? No. Not really. But you know what I'm saying in that, right? But I need you to kind of feel something in this. When Jesus looked at her and said, Woman, which I'm not saying you need to do today, by the way, or, hey, the consequences are on you. Right? When he looked at her and said that it wasn't a sign of disrespect, it was just a Aramaic way of saying, Hey, my lady, or if you're in the South, it would be like saying, Hey, maam. Right? It wasn't the ultimate respect, because the ultimate respect would have been him going, Hey, yes, mother, what, what, what? What can I do? He was just going, maam, what's going on? And then Jesus pretty much just looked at Mary and said, Hey, what, what does this have to do with me? They are out of wine. What does that have to do with me? My time, he said, is not yet come now. This term my time is not yet come. Jesus uses this phrase all through the book of John that He's pointing to his supreme time of coming on the cross. Of when he would be fully glorified and fully on display. But Mary, in this moment she asks Jesus to help. She asks Jesus to help. Now, we don't really know all of the details around this, but it does point to Mary being some sort of host at the party, some sort of elder in the community that kind of felt responsible. You’ve got to remember in the agrarian society, especially in Cana here, this would have been such a small little village of about 10 to 14, maybe 15 families in the village. Everybody would have known each other. And Mary seems to step in and she doesn't want the groom to be humiliated. She doesn't want the party to be closed down or this family to be cut off from society. I did a little rabbit trail this week. I got on this deal about Middle Eastern hospitality. And did you know that during this time period, if you did not provide adequate hospitality to someone in your home, that you could actually be sued? You could actually be sued. In other words. If you invite me to your house and you don't have sweet tea, I could take you to court. That's basically what it says. But that's how important hospitality is. That's what's happening. That's why the tension is behind this. So this family that's about to call off the celebration, they're about to have to say, hey, we're not there. The groom's about to be humiliated. And I love how Mary comes to Jesus. Mary comes to Jesus and says, hey, listen, they need help. They need help. Now, Jesus doesn't automatically jump off the couch and go do what she says, does he? He doesn't do that. And it's not out of disrespect. It's out of Jesus living out who He's called to be.

Now, remember, every time Jesus does a miracle after this, there is an implied idea in it, or actually some of it actually says that Jesus does what the father tells him to do. He says that I don't know how many times in Scripture. So most scholars, most theologians believe that at some point in this he's not necessarily acting 100% off what Mary has asked him to do, although he's honoring her in that. But he would have gone to the father to hear that, yes, it is your time. It is your time to show them what has been proclaimed to you in the last couple of days. Now, what has happened in the last couple of days, Jesus has gone from being just an obscure person that is just kind of out there to now Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist. He's been verified by God, the Father and God the Spirit. And now Mary is in the scene asking him to step in and do something here and do something here. Now, look, we don't know if Mary's asking him for a miracle or if he's just asking him to do something, like to help out. You say, well, why would Jesus be the one to help out? Well, it's interesting, if you really think about their family dynamic, is that Jesus' dad Joseph, would have died sometime in his teenage years. Jesus is the eldest son, and Mary leaned on Jesus, as any lady would do on their eldest son, to kind of take care of things. So we don't really know if Mary kind of has a little smirk on her face, going "do something about this." Or if he's just sending them down to the store, we don't really know. But in the story is just Mary looking at Jesus going, Hey, Jesus, do something, do something. Alright. Let's jump back in the story because Jesus is about to show us who he is. Verse five. His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Man,

I'm telling you, that is one of the most powerful phrases in all the scriptures. You need to star that. You need to underline it. You need to write, you know. If you draw those little pictures in your Bible? That is it right there. Right? Because here's the principle. Write this principle down. The foundation of the Christian disciple's life is to do whatever Jesus tells you to do. That's it. If you don't hear anything else today from this whole message, that's what this miracle is showing us. This miracle showing us is that, hey, listen, it's not about a complicated walk spiritually. It's not about splitting all these crazy theological conversations. My role as a disciple in Jesus is to do what Jesus tells me to do. Mary, quite possibly, is teaching one of the most remarkable lessons that has ever been taught on this planet. And that is, it's not about my preference. It's not about my feelings. It's not about me weighing, in my opinion, my role, your role as believers in Jesus who say that God has saved us is to do what Jesus tells me to do. That's it. It's not complicated. You say, well Matt, how do I know what God's will for my life is? Do what He tells me to do. How do I know if I am walking in Christ? Do what He tells me to do. How do I experience his power? Do what he tells me to do? How do I know that? I know that my salvation is hanging on the balance of Jesus? Do I do what Jesus tells me to do? It's so easy. But let me ask you a question. As a believer in Jesus, does that recognize the banner over your life? That you just do what Jesus tells you to do or do you always have another opinion? Do you always have another comeback? You know, the toddler comeback, right? Did you have that one kid that could never do anything when you just told him to do it? They always had to say something about it. Maybe it's your middle schooler, right? Hit one there, didn't I, right? That's what Mary's telling him. Hey, just do what Jesus tells you to do. Walk it out. And I love this kind of a little bit of anticipation in Mary here.

Now, this is not in the Bible, but in my mind, Mary has a little bit of anticipation. Why? Because it's been 30 years since Mary has heard from the Angels, 30 plus years has seen the shepherds has hung out with the wise man. And Jesus has been an incredible son. But now she's heard of him being baptized. She's heard of him being verified by the father. And now possibly I'm saying possibly. I don't know for sure. Maybe it's mama just setting his son up to show them that you are the son of God and you're not just mine. I love this. Keep going in the story, though. Verse six. Nearby stood two stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, so they filled them to the brim. Verse 8. Then he told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. Now they did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned in the wine, but he did not realize where it had come from though the servants who drew, who drew the water they knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and he said, Hey, everybody else, they bring out the choice wine first and then they bring out the cheaper stuff after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. Now circle that phrase saved the best till now. But I want you to keep going in the story. Verse 11, What Jesus did here in Cana Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory, and his disciples believed in Him. Do you know why the disciples believed in Jesus? Two things. Number one, this is not in your notes. I want to show you this.

Number one, he told them who he was. But number two, what we're about to see, he showed them who he was. Listen. Believe he says the same thing in our lives. He has told us and he has shown us. He has given us his scriptures and he has given us our life experiences of how he has delivered us. I love this story. It is when those five disciples saw their minds blown. They had heard all the talk about who Jesus is and now they've seen who Jesus is. And this is exactly what John does through the rest of his gospel. You know out of the 39 miracles that Jesus performed that is recorded in the Gospels. John only records eight of them, and he records eight of them, not just to give us a great story to talk about, but to show us who Jesus is, to show us Jesus' character and how Jesus wants to step into our lives. And this one sets the mold for the rest of the miracles. And how you can read them through the lens of Jesus wants to step into my story. So here's what I want to do with the time we've got left. I want to give you some characteristics of Jesus that can absolutely set you free and move you into a trajectory of following Him with all of your life. I want to give you them. Here they are. Number one. Jesus, it's from the story. Jesus steps in when it seems like nothing else can help. Jesus steps in when it seems like nothing else can help. Here's what I mean by that. If we had time this morning, we could go around this room and share testimony of how our lives show this point, that Jesus steps in when it seems like nothing else is there. You know those moments where you have tried everything, you have organized all of your stuff, you have brought every tribe around you, you have purchased everything you can, but your life still seemed empty, still seemed out, still seemed like you were spiraling out of control.

That's what it's showing here. Jesus steps in after we've tried everything, after we've gone everything, after we've run every other direction. And he steps in. What's happening in the story? Jesus shows up to the party when it's about to end, when their ceremonies seem empty, when they're not joyful any more. Now, don't let it slide past you that Jesus is invited to the wedding party. You know what that means about Jesus. Jesus wasn't a hermit. Jesus wasn't in the middle of a cave somewhere with his head so far in his religious sand, that nobody liked him. No, everybody liked Jesus. People liked Jesus. They liked his personality. They liked who he was. He didn't walk around with a scroll yelling at people. If there was a party, he was invited.

Listen, if you're a believer and you're not invited to the party, it ain't because of Jesus. This is because you're a jerk. All right, that's what we're seeing right here. Jesus was like he was there. And when Jesus shows up to the party, the celebration is about to go from a joyful new beginning to a party ending irresponsibility. So what does Jesus do? Jesus steps in. He looks and sees the six stone water jars that were used to hold this ceremonial water, this cleaning water, this drinking water, but after they had to purify it. So the whole thing that we're seeing is this scene of when it seems like the joy is almost gone. Listen to this. Jesus says, don't panic. That's when I do my best work. Listen, I don't know if that's where you are this morning, but don't give up because Jesus a lot of times does his best work when we have nowhere else to turn. And sometimes he lets us get there so that he can show his power in our lives. And it's not from our pride. That's number one. So let me ask you, what seems hopeless in your life? What seems helpless in your life? What have you tried to get your way out of? You're just absolutely worn out. Maybe you need to invite Jesus to the party. Here's number two. Number two Many times Jesus starts with the little that we have to offer. Jesus just starts. He starts with a little we have to offer. Listen to me, though, no matter how insignificant it seems, all that Jesus is asking out of you, is to offer him what you have. To offer you what you have. And the reality is, most of the time, when we get the biggest blessings in our lives, it's when we feel like we really don't have much to offer.

But we give him all that we have and we allow him to step into it. Listen, in times of success is not when you grow spiritually. In times of plenty is not when you grow spiritually. In times when you feel like you have it under control it's not time that you have Jesus in the party, but what Jesus knows is that He's created us. He has designed us for a purpose. He has given us value. And he is now looking at us saying, Hey, you got to invite me in. You got to give me what you got. Let's talk about the party for a minute. If this party would have been a success, Jesus would have just been another guest. I have a feeling that's where some of your lives are. You got so much going on that is going for you that you're forgetting to invite Jesus to move in you. That's what He's saying right here. There was no need for a miracle until something happened in his life. They wouldn't have wanted Jesus to change anything. So let me ask you something. There's two sides to this coin. Are you so confident in yourself that you're not inviting Jesus to move in the party? Or are you so distraught in your life right now that you feel like he doesn't have the power to get you out? Both of those things drop Jesus out of the conversation. Both of those things leave us hanging. Are you offering Jesus your success? Are you offering him your struggles? Because if you do, he'll step in. All he wants is what you have. And he says, I'll step in. Let's keep moving, though. Number three, Jesus. Number three You see it in the story. Jesus looks for our willingness to obey, even in the absurd, even in the absurd. Think about the story for a minute. Right. The story is all about the absurd, totally. What does Jesus do? Right. So Jesus gets the servants together after Mary says, Hey, do what He tells you to do. And when Jesus gets the servants together, there's something I've really never recognized before until I studied this this week. We're not told in the story that anybody else knows what's going on. So here's how I want you to think about this. The bride, the groom, the mom, the dad, they don't know now. They probably knew later, but they don't know what's happening here. And even even the master of ceremonies, we just read it right when he tasted the wine, he was like, wait, where did this come from? I'm in charge of this. I have not seen this. Who knew what was going on? The servants, the disciples and Mary and Jesus, of course. Right. That's it. Here's the principle in that it's not your notes, but this is not a public miracle for people to fall all over and understand who Jesus says this miracle was for those who already knew Jesus and needed Jesus to verify what he had said the chapter before. This was a private miracle. What happened in the five disciples' lives in this story? Jesus is teaching them a massive lesson of obedience and here's what I'm hoping he's teaching us. You see, they knew the titles of Jesus and a lot of us in this room. We know the titles of Jesus. We've grown up studying the titles of Jesus.

But now, because what they're seeing Jesus do it is searing it into their souls. We're shown right here how Jesus grows us in our faith. And Jesus, listen to this, always grows us through radical obedience. If you want Jesus to step in, if you want Jesus to move in your life, if you want Jesus to grow you in your relationship. If you want Jesus to seem like He is walking fully with you, I promise you it always starts in radical obedience. It's where it always starts. You can't live how you want to for all the days of your life and then cruise in on a Sunday morning and expect him to all of a sudden blast to the joy of the Lord in your life. That's not what happens. Radical obedience is inviting Jesus into our lives to move. In fact, look at verse seven and watch what happens. Verse seven says, and Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. To the brim. Now, what did the service do that it shouldn't kind of go out and kind of halfway fill them. They didn't just go out and give it a little three quarter deal. Literally. The writer needs us to know that they filled them to the very top where no more water could fit in them. They are slammed full, almost overflowing, representing the radical and reckless obedience by these servants. These servants didn't do the miracle. They don't even have all the info. Do you realize they don't ask a question? It doesn't say they gave any pushback. It doesn't say they had a full understanding of what Jesus was doing. No, they just trusted when Jesus said move. And listen, church, that's the mentality of a disciple of Jesus. When He says Move, we move. When he says believe, we believe, and what did they do? They obeyed. Let me ask you that. Does this look like your relationship with Jesus? Do you obey even when it doesn't make sense? Because when you do, Jesus begins to move. In fact, write this one down. Number four, Jesus adds his extra to our ordinary, watch this, to make the extraordinary. You see how that works right there? You like that? No, you didn't like that. I like that right there. It's not mine. I read it this week. Here's what I want to point out about it. Jesus takes the nothingness of these water jars, and he transforms it. What did Jesus do? Jesus can pause the natural order. He can make something out of nothing. He knows the process. He designed the process, and he can make great things now. And catch this. He can take the ordinary water and make it into joyful celebration wine for these people. And here's what he can do in our lives. He can do the same for us. You see, because what did Jesus do here? Remember I told you it was interesting that they filled the pot all the way to the top, and there's a reason for that. Here's the reason. The reason was that Jesus didn't add anything to the pot. He transformed the water pot. He transformed it. And listen, that's what he wants to do. Jesus transformed the nature of the water into something else. And that's what He wants to do in you. That's what he wants to do in me. He wants to make our ordinary into extraordinary and offer all of his life to us. In the Bible, we call this transformation. He wants to transform you. He wants to transform me. He doesn't want to just pour a little extra on you. He doesn't want to just kind of give you a little extra. He wants to radically change your nature. But in order to do that, we need to offer him what we have. We have to bring to him what we have.

God says, I will transform you into what you are created to be. You know what Jesus is saying here? Jesus is saying that you are the water pot. You're the water pot. And all I ask is for you to come to me. That's it. And I'll make it good and not just good. Watch this, number five. Jesus gives blessings that do more than just meet today's needs. They are long lasting. Can I tell you that's what he wants for your life? Jesus doesn't want to just kind of get you by. Jesus just doesn't want to kind of get you to the end of the day. He wants to take your life, radically transform your life, pointing in a direction for him and help you realize that he is the everlasting God. He's not just the God of today. He's not just the God of tomorrow. He's the God of your future. In fact, look back at verse six. What does it say? It says, now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 to 30 gallons. Now, let's see what Jesus does here. Okay. If my math is correct, which I think it is, I want you to see what Jesus does and what He wants to do in our lives. There's six pots, right? 120 to 180 gallons each. I mean, all combined, that's 120 to 180 gallons of water. Now, go with me. Just a minute. Had to look this up. That means, that is 600 to 900 bottles of wine. That's what he just did right here. That means it is 3000 to 4500 glasses of wine that he is now bringing to a little society that might have had ten families in it. You're not getting what he's doing right here. Here's what Jesus is doing. Here's all he wants to do in our lives. He doesn't want to just bless for today. He wants to set us up for our future. That's what Jesus does for these people, you see. Here's why. Because these people now, we're not just set up for a wedding feast.

Now, they had in their possession a clean drinking source that would last forever. That could be used for joyful celebrations, that could be used for dirty water purification. They had plenty to share. They had a story to tell. They can host so many more events. And listen, church, that's what God does when we allow him to meet our needs. He doesn't just get us here for today. He gave them 3 to 4500 glasses of wine. They'll never use all that. Here's what Jesus tells us. When I step into your life, when I give you hope and when I give you promise, it is not just for today. It is for the rest of your life. In fact, listen to what he said in John ten. He said, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find the pasture. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I came, watch this, that they may have life and have it abundantly. Do you know that every time you submit all that you have to all that he has, you always walk away eternally blessed. You walk away. The question is, though, will you invite him to the party? Will you invite him to the moment? Will you say Jesus, I want your lasting joy and your lasting hope and your reckless love for me? Read verse nine with me, I want to say the last point. It says that the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

He did not realize where it had come from. Now the servants who had drawn the water knew. They 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, you've saved the best until now. Write this down. Number six, Jesus promises the best is never experienced till he shows up. Until he shows up. You know what that means? That means you can fill your life with the best of whatever you think it is, with the best of whatever our culture tells us it is. But until Jesus shows up in your life, until Jesus has authority in your life, until Jesus rules your life, until you have submitted all of you to all of Him, you will never taste the best. That's what he says. Jesus is saying I am the best, and I'm saving the best to last. You know what else this shows us? It shows while we may today walk in full joy and full promise, there will be another day that is even more full joy and full promise. And that's when he returns to take us with him. This whole wedding is a joyous occasion because of Jesus showing up, and there's going to be another wedding one day called the marriage supper of the lamb, that we will sit in eternity with Jesus at the table and we will feast with Him. We will party with him. We will be with him in our full glorified selves with him for eternity. That's the hope that is offered when I, the water jar, offer myself Jesus to touch me, to be mine, to give me hope. This miracle has nothing to do with wine, so don't send me 27 wine emails this week. It has all to do with what little we have been offered to all of him and him saying I am yours, I'm yours and you are mine. And when those two things intersect, there's full joy and full hope and full promise. And I will reign supreme. I am. What did he say? The son of man. Lord Jesus, today. God, walk with us. Jesus, show us today that you're the Son of man, full of hope, full of joy, and our role is to invite you to the party and to let you work.

Listen, I don't. I don't know where you're at in your faith journey today. I know some of you where you are, but not all of you. But here's what I want to say today. It's not too late. It's not too late. You're not too far gone for Jesus to step in to your scene, to step in to your disastrous wedding, disastrous marriage, disastrous life, career, social life. All he wants from us is for us to invite him to the party, to rule and to reign. Lord Jesus, today as we have our time of invitation today. I just pray that there are people today that need to surrender their hearts to you. That God, they would respond. They would step out from the seat that they're in and just walk down to the next steps banner, to the front and to their right and just say, Hey, I need Jesus today, would you walk with me? God I also pray for those people in this room that just today finally need to get to the end of their rope so you can begin to work in them. And if they'll just offer their hearts to you to restore them, to give them hope, show them that you are the best. Lord move in these next couple of minutes Jesus, bless your time in the word. It's in your name.

Amen. Amen.

Let's stand and sing. I'll be over here to the side. I've got counselors with us, if you need somebody to pray with you. We're here. You can give your life to Christ. We love to talk to you.

Follow Along with the Message

Do Whatever He Tells You to Do

April 30, 2023

John 1:50–51
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Daniel 7:13–14
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
John 2:1–4
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
John 2:5
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

PRINCIPLE: The foundation of the Christian disciple’s life is to do Jesus tells you to do.

John 2:6–10
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted 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 10 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.”
John 2:11
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Jesus…

1. Steps in when it seems like nothing else can .

2. Starts with the little that we have to .

3. Looks for our willingness to , even in the absurd.

John 2:7
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

4. Adds His extra to our ordinary to make the .

5. Gives blessings that do more than just meet today’s needs; they are long- .

John 2:6
Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
John 10:9–10 (ESV)
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 2:9–10
9 And the master of the banquet tasted 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 10 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.”

6. Promises the is never experienced until He shows up.

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