Let's start off in prayer today. Lord, as we
come before you, I pray that our hearts are soft
and surrendered to you, that whatever's going
on in our world today, that we can kind of just
set that down, fix our gaze upon you and your
word, and just ask Holy Spirit that you do a
work inside of us. Help us to listen to what
you're saying to us this morning. Amen. Well,
grab those Bibles, hang on to them, get your
pens out. We got a lot of cool work. This is
an awesome section of Scripture and one of my
favorites. So I got to start off, though, before
we jump in, I want to ask you a question. And
when I ask you a question, I want you to respond.
So real loud so everybody can hear because my
head is, you can tell. I got a head cold today,
which means my ears are plugged. So on top of
the fact that I can't hear anymore, I've got
this. So you're going to have to be real loud.
So here's the question. When you think of a wedding,
what kind of emotions are going on in that wedding?
What are people feeling? Joy. What else? Huh?
Love. Love is in the air, right? What else? Huh?
Excitement. I'm coming down some closer. Huh?
Hope. What else? Celebration. Yeah. I mean, when
you think about a wedding, and these are our
weddings, they usually involve this ceremony
where people are coming together and they're
making a covenant with one another. And then
there's an after party where everybody's celebrating.
having stupid comments said, and a dance, and
a great food, and whatever it is, right? Celebration.
A big wedding is the setting for our story, but
it's bigger than anything you can imagine, okay?
So let's just jump in, not like our North American
weddings. This is different, and I'll explain
some of that, but let's start with verse one
and two. On the third... day, a wedding took
place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,
and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the
wedding as well. Pretty much that's the setting.
You see, in Jewish culture, the wedding celebration
was considered to be the most grand event in
your life. It was a massive, it was a big deal.
Now, we think it's a pretty big deal, but to
them, Many, because people lived in poverty or
whatever, everything was focused. Like this was
your day or your week. So it was a really big
deal. A typical wedding would last for an entire
week. Can you imagine that? Not an entire day.
Not starts at noon and ends up at 7 or 8. All
week long. And during this week, the bride and
the groom were considered to be king and queen.
And they actually wore crowns and dressed in
bridal robes. And their word was actually considered
to be law. Yeah, it was that serious. This event
was considered to be the most supreme occasion
of their life. And just like a side note, Jesus
and his disciples are part of this party. Now
Jesus had just gathered his disciples together.
And they go to a party. So I'm not sure what
your view of Jesus is. I think this is actually
a really important question. What is your view
of Jesus? Well, one of the things we discover
about Jesus in the Gospels is that he liked a
good party. He liked a good party. I don't know
what's happened many times with Christians, but
we kind of go the other direction. We're not
very good partiers. We're not very good celebrators,
like, oh, you don't got to be a good person.
No, Jesus was considered the opposite. Like,
not bad, but he liked a good party, and it's
evidence. In fact, people would get upset with
him because of who he, who and where he went
and who he hung out with. Jesus was without sin,
don't get that, don't miss that, but at the same
time, he hung out with sinners. And he hung out
where they hung out. And so Matthew chapter 11
verse 19 says, the son of man came eating and
drinking and they say, look, a glutton and a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.
People didn't like this about Jesus. Joby Martin
says this, he said, the people who weren't like
Jesus, liked Jesus. That's pretty significant.
It wasn't that Jesus was conforming to this world.
He was a light in this world. But because he
was a light in this world, people that were living
in darkness in a sense went, huh, I like that
about Jesus. But it started with Jesus going
to people that didn't know Jesus, that didn't
know him. He was a friend of sinners. So it's
not a surprise to see Jesus at a huge wedding
celebration. You remember John the Baptizer,
who we talked about earlier, kind of had a different
way of operating, right? He was out in the wilderness
and dressed really crazy and came as a prophet
and only ate weird things and didn't drink any
wine or anything. Jesus is the opposite. Jesus
shows up at a party and says in verse 3, look
at this, and when the wine ran out, Jesus' mother
told him, they don't have any wine. Now, before
we go any farther, I've got to say something
about this text. This text has been poorly used
throughout history. It's got two sides to it.
One side loves to use this to justify the fact
that they can drink. Right? They say, see, Jesus
drank. I can do whatever I want. And then others
will say, grossly miss it, by saying, he actually
wasn't wine. It was grape juice. It was diluted.
Guys, both of those are incorrect. That's not
what this is about. So in Jewish wedding feast,
wine, not juice, was essential. Not so that the
guests could get drunk or have a good time. It
was because of what it symbolized. See, it was
a symbol of exhilaration and celebration. In
the scriptures, wine is used. I hope you catch
this. This is really important for today. In
this Bible, the wine is used as a symbol for
joy. Here is just a few examples. Psalm 104 verse
15 says, wine gladdens the heart of man. Isaiah
51. 55 verse 1 says, come everyone who is thirsty,
come to the water and you without silver, come
buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without silver
and without cost. Judges 9 verse 13 says, should
I stop giving my wine that cheers both man and
God and man and rule over trees? Kind of a weird
statement. So to the Jew, wine represents, symbolizes
joy. And without wine, there is no joy. Keep
that in your mind as we go through this text.
Without wine, there's no joy. So in this wedding
celebration, something went wrong. The host,
who is the bridegroom, runs out of wine. Now,
this presents two massive problems. First of
all, See, in a high honor, high shame culture,
which is not really what ours is, this is a massive
embarrassment that would be marked the rest of
his life. He was the guy that ran out of wine.
Number two is that even worse, the groom could
actually face a lawsuit for this. That's how
serious a deal it was. And so, there's a serious
problem. Doesn't seem that serious to us. You're
not paying for it, right? We ran out of wine,
sorry. But the problem is big, and Jesus' mother
hears about this dilemma and is having compassion
on the bridegroom, and she immediately goes to
Jesus. It's important to understand that Jesus
has not yet done a miracle. He hasn't shown his
power. He hasn't done any of that yet. But unlike
the others, Mary, Jesus' mother, knows who Jesus
is. And she believes in Jesus. And she's been
waiting in anticipation. From the day that she
was told that she's carrying Jesus in her belly,
she's been waiting. And so, she comes to Jesus
and presents a problem. And basically says, do
something. Fix it, Jesus. They've run out of
joy. They've run out of joy. And Jesus responds,
look at verse 4. What has this concern of yours
to do with me, woman? Jesus asked, my hour has
not yet come. Now these, like I said before,
John is loaded with meaning. The whole way we
go through this. You've got to slow down, underline,
circle, because these things matter. See, this
response is a little strange. Especially for
our reader. Some of the versions start off with
woman. You're like, what? So it's a little strange.
But it could be translated this way. Dear woman,
why do you involve me? It sounds a little harsh
to our ears. But Jesus' remarks here are actually
very tender. Jesus addresses Mary the same way,
this way, when he hangs on the cross and tells
John to take care of Mary. The same one language.
It's great compassion. He turns to her. He says,
my hour has not yet come. Now this is really
significant. He's referring to the hour. He is
crucified. Whenever Jesus uses this language
of my hour has not yet come, he's talking about
the hour upon which he hangs on the cross and
he takes our sin upon himself. And he's telling
Mary, he says, my hour has not yet come. Why?
This man, the groom is going to be greatly shamed
if he runs out of this wine. So Mary comes to
Jesus and says, can you do something to fix his
shame? Can you do something to fix the joy problem,
his shame? And ultimately, Jesus is going to
do something about this sin and shame as he goes
to the cross. But he's saying to her, my hour
is not yet. It's not yet come. Look what he said.
Psalm 34, our verse that we get radiant church
from, Psalm 34 verse 5 says, those who look to
him are radiant, they're with joy. I love the
CSB version because it says they're radiant with
joy. Their faces will never be ashamed. If you're
gripped, church, if anyone in this room is gripped
with shame, where does shame come from? It comes
from sin. The sin in our life causes shame. Jesus
can take it from you and give you joy. Then he
says in verse 5, she says to those around Jesus,
Mary says this, do whatever he tells you, his
mother told the servants. Underline that, do
whatever he tells you. This is the best advice.
This is the best advice ever. Do whatever Jesus
tells you. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus,
you want to grow in your faith, do whatever he
tells you. Right? Jesus is telling you, if there
is sin and you need to repent, repent. Maybe
he's telling you that it's time to stand up and
actually step forward and get baptized. You've
been kind of hiding out in the corner. Do it.
Maybe he's telling you that it's time for you
to share your faith. Don't be a chicken. Get
out and tell somebody about the Jesus you love.
Maybe he's telling you it's time for you to step
up and stop being a spectator in the church and
be an active participant and belong here. I don't
know what he's telling you, but whatever Jesus
is telling you, it's going to line up with Scripture,
and you better do what he says. So Mary says,
Do whatever he tells you. Look at verse 8 or
6. Now there were six stone water jars had been
set there for Jewish purification, which contained
20 to 30 gallons. Fill the jars with water, Jesus
told them. So they filled them to the brim. Then
he said to them, now draw some out and take it
to the head waiter, and they did. Okay. First,
we need to unpack a couple things in this. We
need to unpack the crucial role that these stone
jars, not clay jars, stone jars, played into
what Jesus is doing. They symbolize a powerful
transition from the Old Testament covenant to
a new covenant. Why? These jars... We're there
for Jewish custom purification. Why? Because
of my sin, I'm dirty, right? I'm unpure. I'm
unholy. Because God is holy and we are not, we
cannot enter into the presence of a holy God,
so I need to be purified. And so they took this
ceremony very seriously because they realized
they're broken sinners and they need help. So
before a meal or a celebration, the guests would
pour water or dip their hands into these big
jars, symbolizing the removal of spiritual defilement.
When Jesus points at these jars and says, I want
you to use those jars, fill them. He's talking
about, I want you to fill them to the brim, totally
full. They're probably not empty. They probably
had their hands all... doused in them. So it's
not exactly maybe your cleanest, purest water.
When Jesus uses these jars and he says, fill
them, and he changes them to wine, he's testifying
that the old religious rituals were dead and
that he was filling these jars with new life.
A new age had come, a new and better joy. Jesus
is saying that That he is a better joy. And you'll
see how this plays out as we see what he does.
That Jesus is a greater and better joy. That
could be the statement that summarizes this whole
text. That Jesus is the greater joy. And the
joy he gives is abundant. and overflowing with
the best coming last. What Jesus is offering
is way better. Look at verse 9. So when the head
waiter tasted the water, after it had become
wine, he did not know where it had come from.
Though the servants who had drawn the water knew,
he called the groom and told them. Everyone sets
out the fine wine first. Then after people are
drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine
wine until now. What he's saying is, this cheap
stuff, the two buck chuck stuff, is what you
normally have at the end. The really good stuff
is what you start with. Why have you flipped
it? The joys of this world, church. will always
run out. They will not satisfy. And Jesus brings
the great joy. Jesus brings the greater joy.
And it's a simple metaphor. It's a simple illustration
to see that you can run after the things of this
world to find your joy, to find your blessing,
to find your hope, and it will never satisfy.
It will always run out. I think it's so cool
that Jesus says, see, I'm the greater joy. What
I have to offer is much fuller. And you will
experience blessing upon blessing with me. Verse
11. Jesus did this. The first of his signs in
Cana. He revealed his glory. And his disciples
believed in him. And after this, he went down
to Capernaum together with his mother and his
brothers and his disciples and they stayed there
only a few days. See, now John tells us his purpose
for all of this. This was Jesus' first sign or
miracle. Many of your Bibles, I think right in
there will say the first sign. And as John goes
through John, you're going to see that there's
multiple signs. The first sign, and then he...
group of signs that are there. What in the world
is going on with signs? Throughout John's, we
see this pattern. Jesus does a sign and that
sign shows us his glory that we would believe.
Remember I said that last Easter we talked about
how that sunrise was coming up and that it was
just a glimpse. And what John wants to do is
just bring it brighter and brighter and brighter.
He wants to bring Jesus front and center for
you. And every time there's a sign, he's saying,
I want you to see his glory. I want you to see
so that you would believe. Your belief goes deeper.
It's not just shallow. That your belief goes
deeper and deeper and deeper into who Jesus is.
So. The purpose of Jesus' miracles is not just
to show his power or just to help that person
or whatever. Although both are true. We see his
power and we see his compassion and his love
for people. But the main point is to show us
his redemptive purpose. That God is on something
greater and that his glory is massive. I want
to close. Our time by going back to John chapter
1. You can flip over there. And I want you to
look at these two verses together. Verse 14 and
verse 16. Look what it says. The word became
flesh. That's Jesus. Remember we talked about
this part of John is the prologue or the entry
or the foyer to John. Which means we need to
keep looking back to that first section. Because
what John does is blows up this massive view
of who Jesus is. And then he's going to bring
it down to everyday walks of life of Jesus. He
says this, the word became flesh and dwelt among
us. The creator of all things became flesh, dwelt
among us, walked among us, and we observed his
glory. The glory of the one and only son from
the father full of grace and truth. Now verse
16. Indeed, we have all received grace. Upon
grace from his fullness. Because of Jesus, we
have received grace. We talked about this the
first time. We've received grace upon grace upon
grace upon grace upon grace. It just goes like
that. That's you and me. Jesus is the greater
joy. So at the wedding in Cana, Jesus gives us
this first sign. He says, my hour has not yet
come. His first sign is pointing to a greater
joy that comes when Jesus goes to the cross and
becomes death and his burial for us and his resurrection
all happen. His death, burial, and resurrection.
He says, that's what I'm coming for and that's
what will bring greater joy in you. My hour has
not yet come. And then at the Last Supper, just
before Jesus goes to the cross, he's with his
disciples. And I think this is so cool. He took
the bread and the wine. And we're going to explain
something different here today. But he took the
bread and the wine. And he has it there with
his disciples. And he has this to say. As they,
Matthew 26, verse 26 through 28 says this. As
they were, Jesus took the bread, blessed it,
and broke it, and gave it to his disciples. He
says, take ye, this is my body. Then he took
the cup, the cup of wine, greater joy. He says,
this cup. And after giving thanks, he gave it
to them and said, drink from it, all of you,
for this is my blood of the covenant. which is
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus says, what I offer is the greater joy.
His body and his blood is poured out for you
that you might experience a greater joy. If you
are not yet a follower of Jesus, to you I want
to encourage you. This morning to put your trust
into Jesus. What Jesus did for you when he hung
on that cross, he paid for your sin. When he
rose on the third day, he proves that his new
life is found in him. Putting your faith in Jesus
means he is your savior and he's your Lord. And
if that's you and you're just sitting there,
man, I've never done that. Right today, when
we go into our time of response, let me just
encourage you to pray a simple prayer. Just talk
to God. Say, Father, I'm here. I admit that I'm
a sinner. I believe that when Christ died on
the cross, that it counted for me. And I confess
Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. When the
Bible says what you believe in your heart and
you confess with your mouth, you're saved. For
those of us who have a relationship with Jesus,
what is it that Jesus is asking of you? See,
what is he asking of you? We went through some
of those questions earlier. Maybe there's conviction
of your sin in your life. Every one of us in
this room struggles with sin, don't we? Are you
pushing it away like it doesn't exist? If that
sin is in front of you and you see it, the Bible
says repent. Turn from that. And Jesus is saying
to you, don't play around with it anymore. Then
I encourage you right where you sit today to
say, okay, here it is, Lord. I give it back to
you. I lay it down at your feet. Maybe it's time
for you to... Get off the edges. Whatever you're
doing. Maybe it's time for you to get baptized.
Maybe it's, what is it that Jesus is saying to
you? Do whatever he says. Like Mary says, do
whatever he says. Why? Because real joy is in
Jesus. Real joy. We're going to take a respond.
The band, you can come up here now. But take
this time of response. You guys have a moment.
In the next, we're going to do three songs. You
have a moment in your busy day just to pause
for a minute. You and Jesus have a conversation.
Take a time in this. Take a minute here just
to have that moment. And surrender to Jesus.
And then we're going to celebrate communion.
I want to talk about this really briefly. We're
doing it different. And I really apologize. Easter
Sunday, we ran out of communion. So we decided
this is a good reason to change it up. In the
back, there will be a cup like this somewhere.
And there's bread that has been broken. And so
when you go up, if you are following Jesus and
you're participating, you take one of these and
you dunk it in, and that's where you go. No little
cups anymore. We're going back to the old way
Radiant used to do it before COVID. And part
of this is that... It makes it simpler for us.
But I just wanted to be clear on that. But when
you celebrate communion, you're celebrating the
greater joy that you have in Jesus. So if you're
a follower of Jesus, you get to take communion.
You get to celebrate that greater joy of what
Christ did for you. And then as we respond, as
we take our time to respond to the Lord, like
we give our tithes and our offerings to Jesus,
not to this church, but back to him. And then
we sing. We sing with our voices loud. To a Jesus
who has greater joy for you. Let me pray for
us and then we'll do that. Lord Jesus, we come
before you. It's a real simple but really important
message that we understand that everything we
have comes from you. That you are the greater
joy. That we don't have to chase after the things
of this world to find our satisfaction or joy.
But that you provide that. So we run to you with
everything. I pray for those in this room that
are wrestling with whether or not they fully
surrender to you, Jesus. I pray today, right
where they sit, that they will surrender their
lives to you. For those that know that God has
been speaking to them, Jesus, you've been speaking
to them and they can hear it in their soul. They
will do what you say.