"Blind" Faith - Part 1 - Water to Wine

all right well good morning to everyone and welcome to the well here at STS a as we begin this brand new series called blind faith one things we always say here about the weld is we are an ordinary place where extraordinary stuff happens and I believe that is especially true for this series because this is one of those series like I got to let you know we plan out the entire year like the schedule for the entire year and this is the one that I've kind of had in my vision and kind of in my mind on the horizon for so long cuz I'm super duper excited about this series because we're gonna talk about when you boil Christianity down to its core we're gonna talk about one of the most fundamental elements in Christianity in Christianity is the most important thing in our lives we're talking about one of the most important things in Christianity which is faith and the question now I'm gonna ask here today and hopefully answer over the course of these next few minutes that we have together and then give you more examples over the coming weeks is what is faith like if I asked you do you have faith all of you would raise your hand for the most part if not you're probably in the wrong room okay today but that's okay okay so most of you say I have faith yeah I have faith you believe oh yeah I believe and then I asked you to define that what is faith how do I know if I have it how do I know what it looks like like I know what it looks like when I don't have it but how do I know if I'm doing it right where do I get more if I'm struggling like how many of us have ever said before honest probably all of us have said this at some point in time I wish I had more faith you ever said that I wish I just believed more I wish I had stronger faith I wish I didn't struggle so much with believing it with my faith well my question is and what does that mean what are you really asking for like what is faith is faith some magical feeling on the inside is faith just some like hocus pocus like I said earlier some magic fairy dust that allows us to believe and and get through hard times and just kind of some people got it and some people don't so these people have faith lucky then they can go through disasters and layoffs and troubles and they have like some kind of ability to get through that whereas the other people who don't have it stinks to be you is faith some does retreat like faith like science fiction like faith is this is this that I have that allows me to enter into new worlds and new galaxies of flying unicorns you know I mean and pots of gold the end of every rainbow is that what faith is or is faith I'm sure some of you have heard that some of you may even said this is faith something that just religious people made up to explain things that can't be explained we don't know the answer to that oh yeah that's because you don't have faith now we are know where that came from oh yeah but if you had faith you would it's faith something that we just made up consider the following statement in any area of life outside of the church okay we'll talk about what it means like in religion of it but outside of church consider the following statement if someone were to come to you and say I wish I had your faith I wish I believed like you believe what does that statement mean outside of church take it in any other context I wish I had your faith and flying reindeer I wish I had your faith in talking snowmen I wish I had your faith in that old guy who lives down the street who looks like Santa I wish I had your faith in that really is Santa Claus if someone saying to you I wish I had your faith is the nicest possible way of saying I think you're insane I think you believe in things that don't really exist but somehow it makes you feel good and it makes you kind of get through the hard days so I kinda adviye that is that what faith is an irrational illogical belief and things that don't really exist his faith a bridge from reality like here we are in reality and then there is this world of fiction and faith is this bridge so those who have faith can walk across this and live in la-la land okay and enjoy their time right here where everything is good and everything is happy and our baseball team wins and our football team is run properly they're like Ken people who have this thing called faith just always everything is good for them I think a lot of times when we say faith again outside of religion outside of Christianity what someone is saying there is that you have faith I wish I had that faith you have the capability to believe in things that are unreal and it makes you happy so I wish I had that same thing well my question to you is is that the faith that Jesus is talking about like Jesus says believe in me you believe in my father believe also in me is that what Jesus is talking about the hocus-pocus belief the science fiction the believing in flying unicorns st. Paul says that we walk by faith st. Paul says that for us that we don't walk by sight we walk by faith we read in our Christian tradition our history that people died for the faith but what was the faith that they died for just science fiction just wishful thinking just kind of optimism or is there something more to it unfortunately for many of us probably a lot of us grew up being taught and probably a lot of us have even said these things we were taught that if you don't believe that's a problem with you but you're doing something wrong and you just got to believe you just got to believe well I'm struggling to believe you just got to have faith you just got to take a step of faith you just got to believe and we're taught to believe that there's something wrong with us and most probably at some point in time if this is the way you grew up something bad happened and you were told that it's because you lacked faith that that happened something bad happened and then somebody said well if you had faith that wouldn't have happened or if you had faith you would ended up in that condition if you believed if you just believed man just believe is that what faith is the ability to believe in unreal things is that even let me ask you elephant is that even possible again take a side Christianity take any other aspect of take any other way to use the word faith in life is it possible to have more faith like either you believe or you don't believe I wish you had more faith in UFOs I wish I had more faith like I'm gonna pray that I can believe in them I wish I had more faith that Elvis truly is alive like is it even possible to manufacture faith like either you believe or you don't believe so I kind of believe the same thing is true when it comes to Church in Christianity I don't think that faith in life should be defined differently than faith here in the church I believe that in life you acquire faith base one or two things there's two reasons why if you believe in anything you believe in it because of one of two things you believe in UFOs you believe in Elvis you believe in reindeer you believe in Santa whatever it is for one of two reasons either experience or trust either experience or trust said it this way we believe based on what we experience or who we trust me explain that statement let's take science gravity for example you believe in gravity and the reason you believe in gravity there's two ways to believe the first way is you go to the top of a building and you say I believe I can fly I said I believe in gravity you jump and we will find out who's right and who's wrong you can experience gravity firsthand and therefore discover that you know what this gravity thing man that's the real deal like the Cape doesn't do me any good like no matter how high like gravity is real or there's a smarter way to believe in gravity when our fourth grade science teacher told us there's this thing called gravity we said okay miss Johnson said there's gravity there's gravity so you believe not because you experienced it but because you trusted in the person who was teaching you you went to math class they gave your times tables 12 times one is 12 12 once to 24 12 times 3 is 36 and they told you to memorize it how many people went home got a whole bunch of apples ok or oranges and took ok laughs really if I had four groups of 12 yeah it is 48 checks out no you took it based on the person that you trusted in front of you when you were taught how to drive taught have drive drivers Edie you know with mr. Schultz and in tenth grade still remember he said you push he was very much making sure that we didn't push the wrong button ok the gas and the brake that was like his big thing I guess I don't know whatever experiences he had in driver's ed but people push the wrong one so he said you pushed this one he kept telling you push this one you gonna drive through a wall you push this where you gonna drive they kept tell us that so I could say who told you I want to experience that myself and go to a wall and try it myself were say you know what mr. Schultz said the one on the right makes you go the one left makes you stop I took his word for it because I trusted in him I don't believe there should be any different inside the church we say another way faith is not the same thing as hope what is here between faith and hope we sometimes get it confused faith and hope are not the same thing faith let's say I would say just I'll say a sentence you tell me this faith versus hope I have faith that my husband will remember my birthdate hope is wishful thinking which is not bad I'm not I'm not against it being optimistic wishful thinking like hope is an important part of our Christian life but faith is different faith is based on evidence either by my own experience or someone that I trust I have faith that my husband will remember my birthday okay may I ask you a question do you remember your birthday last year no be here before no do you remember his own birthday there's no what he had for lunch is like but does your husband remember anything no okay that's great that's not faith that's hope that's blind optimism and again I'm not against them hope is an important part of our Christian walk I'm saying we do need to believe in things that we have no evidence for and we do need to see it that way I'm not against that but all I'm saying is that's not faith faith is I believe my husband remember my birthday because he remembered it last year and every year he plans something fun two years ago he planned a trip to Europe the year before he planned to cruise around or whatever the year before he plan tonight a binge-watching father Anthony sermons that was the best night of my life that's not hope that's not blind that's not you gotta believe you gotta believe that's evidence that's experience and I think that if you go to the Apostles go to people like Saint Peter first one to declare his faith and believe say hey Peter tell me the real deal why you believe do you think he'd say you just gotta believe man he just got to have faith man if you went to st. James so what's what you believe in Jesus you believe he's the son of God none of these other people do why do you you have some magical powers they don't have where can I get this magical power then look at you like you're crazy like you got three eyes I don't believe in magical power I believe and he would give you the reason why he believed Saint John the Beloved tells us why it is that he believed in his first epistle first John chapter 1 listen to the words that Saint John uses here to talk about why he believes and why we should believe to listen to the words I highlighted some of them listen carefully and try to understand what he's saying that which was from the beginning which we have which we have when we get to high letter words say with me which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life he's talking about something we saw something we heard something we looked at something we touch and he goes on the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which is with the father and was manifested to us that which we haven't he says it again that which we have seen that which we have heard we declared to you you're not saying just believe just take it by faith he's saying I'm telling you what I seen and I'm telling you what I heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our Fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ what st. John is saying right here is I'm not making stuff up I didn't come up with this stuff this isn't magic fairy dust this isn't science fiction I'm telling you that the Word was made flesh the low ghost that God became man and in his gospel he write the word became flesh and dwelt among us and dwelt among us you know what us is like you could take that in two ways the word dwelt among us meaning God dwelt among us as humanity God dwelt in our midst but he also means in a very personal way God dwelt among me and and James and Peter and he was among us and we we saw him we heard him we touched him we ate with him we walked with him we laughed with him we joked with him he's saying the Word was made flesh and he was in our midst and I'm telling you he's the real deal he is the only begotten of the Father he is the light of God who was made flesh there you understand what that means but I'm telling you I saw it I heard it and you should believe not just because you should believe but you should believe because of what I saw what I heard what I touched saying another way said this earlier for those were here during the liturgy Christianity is not beliefs Christianity is not faith in faith and faith Christianity is not just religion Christianity it's fact Christianity is reality and that reality is that God became man and God became man to save man that God at a point in time that's what John is saying that God entered open the books of history open the timeline of history and he stepped down inside history and he became man and dwelt among us and we know that he became an we'll talk about that in a second and people witnessed it and people saw it and people wrote about it and you should believe not just for beliefs sake but because of the people who witnessed it firsthand there's a Christian apologist one of these guys who is goes in like debates with atheists and things like that his name is Frank Turek you can find his videos on YouTube he says something very nice he says the reason people are so easily talked out of Christianity is because they were never talked into it in the first place you get what he's saying there the reason why so many kids go off to college the first professor who questions their faith they lose their faith is important for you parents who have kids the reason why people lose faith they're so easily talked out of it because they are ever talked into it what they were talked into was just believed man you got to take it you have to have faith no no you gotta believe you don't believe that what's wrong with you you you gotta believe you gotta believe and what he's saying I agree with a lot of people are talked out of it cuz never talked into it so here's we're gonna do in this series series called blind faith we're going to do in this series we're gonna take the Gospel according to st. John we are going to look specifically at six stories in that gospel okay there's seven of them but the six weeks in the series so we'll try to make it like that the Gospel according to st. John is not just a random accounts of Jesus's life the goal of Gospel of John is different than Matthew Mark and Luke Matthew Mark and Luke are written much earlier closer to the actual life of Christ and they were written to give an account of Jesus's life and those are great we need those are called the synoptic Gospels cuz they summarize the life of Christ John's Gospel is a little bit different John's Gospel is organized around seven signs not miracles signs I'll tell you I say that around seven signs that Jesus did and every one of those signs what's the difference between a miracle and a sign a miracle is a miracle some supernatural act but a sign would st. John says is pointing to something and Saint John when he wrote his gospel again different than the others st. John leaves out a lot of the details that Matthew Mark and Luke talked about like Saint John doesn't talk about the birth of Christ he didn't talk about they didn't talk about the baptism of Christ he doesn't talk about even the like the Last Supper isn't mentioned in John's account but John talked about things that the others didn't because by the time of John okay think of those guys writing in like the 40s 50s 60s 70s somewhere around there I think of John writing in the 90s okay Christ died in the 30s so John is writing after those Gospels have been in circulation everyone knew the stories people lived those stories John is writing in his old age at the very end to basically say y'all have heard about Jesus you all have heard about this man who Matthew Mark and Luke were telling you this man is not a man as a man is actually God well I want to fill in some of the blanks and he's writing his gospel to complete the story not to repeat this story and he gives us in the very end of his gospel you know how when you do like a science project you have to give like a what's it called like a thesis statement or a hypothesis statement or every like the purpose of my project is John what's the purpose of writing the gospel he says at this John chapter 20 verse 30 and 31 he says truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that I wrote about these seven why that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name he says it very clear up front I'm writing this gospel I'm gonna tell you about seven signs I'm not gonna tell you the whole story because Jesus did so many other things okay Last Supper is important I didn't talk about that cuz y'all know about that I didn't talk about so many different things but I'm gonna tell you these seven signs that Jesus did and I'm telling you for a purpose because each sign pointed that's what a sign is it says it's an arrow it's pointing it's pointing to something about who Jesus is about his identity as the Son of God as the Messiah remember the disciples including John didn't just Jesus didn't come down and just say I'm God and believe in me that's not how it happened if you read the story you will see that the disciples would believe and then kind of doubt and then they would kind of do well and then then they kind of struggle and Peter would say you're the Christ son of God and then he would say well I'm not really sure I don't know who the man is and and the disciples kind of went back and forth they struggled with it and what John is saying right here is saying if you struggle in your faith like I get it I struggle to I struggle to accept how God could be man and how man could be God like I get it but then I saw these signs and I want to share with you what I saw on each week we're gonna talk about one sign I saw what I saw and I know what I saw and when I saw this it changed everything and now I'm asking you to believe in what I wrote not just because I'm a good guy or smart guy but because I saw I touched I handled and that made all the difference in the whole wide world that's actually why if you noticed the Gospel of John how does John refer to himself in the gospel like he's part of a lot of the stories but he never refers to himself by name he refers to himself as who the disciple that Jesus loved the disciple that Jesus loved the disciple that Jesus loved why John never wrote his name like he would say like it would didn't say Peter and John ran to the tomb to see that it was empty it was Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved why our standard answer is because he was humble okay he's humble but then basically what you're saying is the other guys weren't humble okay arrogant whatever okay I think it's more than just humble I think what st. John was saying is he wanted the authority of his account not to be based on his position remember by this time John is like I said writing in the end of the 90s okay not the 1990s than just the 90s okay zero 90 okay he's writing at the end of the 90s Peter had been martyred by this time Paul he had been he'd been killed as well James is gone P all those guys are gone but all the original two characters those guys have all gone he's the last one standing so because of that you can imagine the clout that he had okay he was a bishop over the seven churches of Asia so he had a very high position so anything he said people will be like oh because you said it it must be true but he didn't want that to be the authority of his gospel he wanted the authority to be not who I am in my position but I'm the disciple who Jesus loved meaning I was the one who was close to him I saw it it was the eyewitness there's a Orthodox priest named Lord Father Lawrence Farley he's a Canadian priest who has written books written a book about the Gospel of John he's on ancient faith radio podcast and he says this about about this point he says when John says that Jesus loved him he's not boasting that he was somehow the lord's favorite rather he is presenting his credentials as one who was especially close to Jesus he was in a position to know things not known by others since he offered his gospel as a witness to the world he offers himself in his capacity as an eye witness insider John writes his gospel and says this isn't what I heard from others this is in second hand he stands in front of the judge and says this is what I saw with my own eyes I am the disciple who Jesus loved I was always next to him I heard stuff that other people didn't hear I saw stuff I was there and I want the testimony not to be of John the Apostle forget about John the Apostle I want you to know John the eyewitness who was there who Jesus knew intimately and who knew Jesus intimately as well sound good sound like a fun series let's jump in let's start with the first sign the first sign is the water turned into wine that kind of rhymes the first sign the water turned to wine let's go I have fun with this stuff hope you have fun with it too okay the water turned into wine the favorite story of every bartender every wedding planner and every college student across America favorite story in the Bible is when Jesus went to a party they were they running dry and Jesus made it a real party because he turned the water into wine everyone's favorite story it's a story again John wrote his gospel so late in the 90s after so many people had knew the story it's a story that maybe you never paid attention to this that when John tells the story of the wedding of Cana of Galilee and how Jesus turned water into wine it's a story that is so well known to his audience but if you pay attention Jesus sorry John actually never tells about the miracle he never tells like John like sets it up like this anticipation and this anxiety and OH another's problem and then he never gives the punchline because by then everyone knew exactly what had happened because it was so common information at that time let's jump into the story we'll go first by verse quickly and then we'll try to see what it means to each one of us in John chapter 2 starting in verse 1 on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding Saint Mary Mother of Jesus plays like a special role if you know the story like she we don't know exactly either she was like a friend of the family or she was part of like the the committee that did do the food or the drinks or whatever it may be she had some kind of special place where she knew information before others like she's the first one who found out when they ran out of wine we don't know exactly what her role was but we knew we know that she was somehow involved John mentioned now both Jesus and his disciples are invited to the wedding why he says were they were invited to the wedding why he makes that point because again I witness I'm not telling you a story that I heard did a grapevine or someone posted it onto Twitter or there was an article on Huffington Post I'm telling you about something that I was there with my own eyewitness verse 3 and when they ran out of wine the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine this is kind of a strange thing they ran out of wine well let's understand that the cultural context the Jewish culture at the time in the first century was all about social norms and how you appeared in public and everything okay you had to appear so there was there was rules and regulations governing everything and if you broke those social norms you would be ostracized from society and the way weddings work back then was not like today where it was like a one day or a one evening kind of an event it was a week-long event and the way it would work as you invited everybody and everyone would come and there was this expectation that the would be flowing freely because what fun is to put what fun is a wedding without any wine like it just makes no sense right like you couldn't have fun at one of those so the wine had to be running freely and if people went to the wedding and there was no wine that was a major major major societal faux pas one that would get you ostracized because what happens when they run out you think people are gonna stick around for a week if there's no wine heck no once the right wine runs out that's the cue to everyone get back to home because again what are you gonna do without the wine so people would leave when that happened and as they left that party what do you think they'd have to say about the family what do you think it'd say about the bride and the groom they would have nothing nice to say only negative and this would be like a cloud that would hang over both the family as well as the couple who was getting married so that makes this statement they ran out of wine catastrophic so here comes Virgin Mary Mother of God and her first request that we read about in the scripture to her son the son of God the Messiah the savior of the world is about why strange requests Jesus didn't come to save weddings she came to save the world so why Virgin Mary comes here and talks about wine sometimes we ask some people ask the question did st. Mary know that Jesus was God Saint Mary no like at this time it had not yet been revealed like none of the disciples knew yet this is in the beginning but did Saint Mary know that Jesus was gone absolutely remember absolutely I don't know how you could question it remember she's a virgin raising her child she's a virgin raising a child so therefore you don't have to think like this is not faith and faith this is not faith there's a virgin raising a baby she knew he was God and think about it in another way do you think that the more time no one spent more time with Jesus and st. Mary obviously do you think the more time you spend with God the more you'd believe in who he is or the less you believe you think the more time you spend with him those who struggle with the faith those who struggle to believe I get it I'm not not not judging you but do you think that the more time you spend with him in his presence you think that's gonna reveal more truth or less truth this is the first public sign that Jesus did but we would be foolish to think this is the first time that Jesus showed his divinity to his mother this is the first public sign but again his whole life was one big miracle visit from his room his very conception his birth okay his childhood was one big miracle so for sure she knew but the question then is like why the first time we read about in the gospel like she didn't say heal so-and-so like someone is sick heal him or there's a lost person let's preach to them like she came in with the wedding in the wine like the who cares kind of a thing while this story may not make much sense to us John as John is now like I said about to die writing at the end of his life end of the first century looking back John said you know what it was so clear Jesus's first sign was the perfect start better than a healing better than a preaching better than a casting out demons was the perfect sign for Jesus to begin his pub his ministry and reveal who he was let's read verse 4 jesus said to her she asked for the wine jesus says woman what does your concern I have to do with me my hour has not yet come woman husbands don't try this at home I don't want to hear anybody went home today said to their wife woman and say I was just quoting Jesus okay I don't want to hear that doesn't get me a lot of trouble when Jesus said to her woman I know in our context it sounds so rude but you can't judge ancient cultures by modern standards actually when Jesus said to her woman who's actually wasn't rude at all it was it was a little informal like it was a little formal so it wasn't like coat it wasn't like mom like it wasn't like that it was it was it was formal but you can translate better say madam that's what he said to her madam or somewhat translated my lady so it's formal for sure but it's not rude in fact where else did Jesus call his mother woman on the cross where he was doing what consoling her and he was comforting her and he said woman behold your son when he told okay her to stay with John and John to take care of her so he wasn't being rude what he was doing was being formal and and why you know maybe because he was maybe he was honoring her in public this was a public conversation so maybe he was giving her honor we don't exactly know why but we know that Saint Mary was not offended in the least because Jesus basically says what does your concern have to do with me woman my hour has not yet come and her response is she said to the servants whatever he says to you do it that's a strange thing to say when someone says no Jesus said no miracle and her response is whatever he says to you do now what happened here let's let's let's pause the story to see sometimes we look at this and we say this is an example of the power of intercessory prayer and the Virgin Mary and her power of intercession because she chains Jesus's mind you'll read different things that I'm not against that interpretation okay I'm not against you worried different compensation people say different things and for sure Saint Mary is the most powerful intercessor this is not against intercession anyway but I'm saying there might be something more to it than that again father Lawrence Farley writes it this way he says some suggest that this is an example of the powerful intercession of the mother of God though Jesus is reluctant to do the miracle yet he is persuaded to do so by his mother though the Theotokos is indeed a powerful intercessory that is not the meaning of the present story saying in another way she didn't change Jesus's mind it's not like Jesus was like no this is the wrong time this is the wrong thing of in st. Mary ah so he said okay Jesus was not saying it that way in fact Jesus did say no to what she asked she asked for a public miracle and Jesus said I'm not gonna do a public miracle I'm gonna do a private sign no one knew about this miracle as well read it as we kind of get to the end no one knew what had the guests didn't know what happened the bride and the groom didn't know what happened no one in the public knew what happened it was a sign it wasn't a miracle miracle signs different miracles are like random acts of kindness miracles are like just kind of showing off that I'm God this was not a miracle this is a sign and there's a big difference this was a sign to his disciples to point to the fact I am NOT a normal rabbi it was the first sign that Jesus is not just a regular person so why I like this I kind of like believing that this is not a power a example of intercession I kind of like maybe you you disagree with me I like it that Saint Mary came to Jesus and she said to him Jesus let's do this do you said no we're gonna do this I like knowing that I'm not the only one who gets no to my prayers I like knowing that even the mother of God came to Jesus and said let's do this and Jesus told her I have a different plan I have a better plan and that's what makes her statement so profound because when Jesus said to her I have a better plan what did she say whatever he says do it and I think when she's saying that she's not just saying it remember said that to the sermon she's not just saying it to those servants she's saying it to these servants as well to us who come to God and say God we have a great idea God says no we're actually gonna do this and then she says to us the servants of God as the mother of God she speaks with authority she says to us to every single one of us whatever he says to you do it trust that his plan is better than yours trust that it may not be exactly what you wanted may not be how you drew it up but trust that he's got a plan because he's not a normal rabbi he's somebody special father Lawrence Farley goes on prior to this listen to this prior to this Jesus was under her authority as any dutiful son was under the authority of his mother and surviving parent his mother first assumes that he will continue to be under her Authority as he always was as a child but the time for such submission is passed now he is under the authority of only the father and marry like everyone else in Israel is called to accept this and become his disciple in other words st. Mary his whole life mother child telling him yes mother and now all of a sudden is the time.they she is now becomes the disciple and as a disciple like I said she tells us what you need to know trust in His wisdom not your own trust in His goodness not your own even wasn't exactly what you were planning trust that he has something better and put a pin in that word better because we can come back to that let's continue the story verse 6 now they were set 6 set there six waterpots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece again notice the level of detail John is giving right here six pots twenty or thirty gallons of piece why such detail why because what is his whole account based on that he is in I witnessed only eyewitnesses tell you do you think I was there I saw it there were these six waterpots now the thing with these six waterpots they're more than just jars that contain water they were a symbol of something even says it right there they were according to the manner purification the Jews you knowing the Jewish and the Old Covenant the Old Testament the Jews had rules for everything they had to watch a certain way before meals and everything was like prescribed it to wash a certain way and these were the pots that were used for the washing so look not a miracle a sign look at the sign Jesus comes and his first public sorry his first sign is he takes something old something that represents the Old Covenant the old way and he replaces it with something new he takes the very thing that came to represent everything from Moses through the prophets and what does he do with those look at the next verse jesus said fill the waterpots with water and they filled them to the brim he didn't come to destroy the waterpots destroy the old he came to fulfill them he didn't come to destroy the law came to fulfill the law he didn't come to say those waterpots get those out of here throw away that we broke the old now we're on and on he comes the entire law he feels that he fulfills it every jot every tittle of the law not one thing was left undone Jesus fills it all and it's a beautiful sign that the old enter Jesus something new verse 8 and he said to them draw some out now and take it to the master the feast and they took it again if you don't know the story what are you thinking right now like say you've never read this story you're thinking like oh no they're gonna taste the water like gee there's no wine in the story so far as Jesus said take the pots fill them with water and now he says take it to the master so you're reading this you're like oh no they're gonna discover the roofs is up like oh no but notice John never tells us that the water is not water anymore he just assumes that everyone knew it why because everyone knew this story look at the next verse when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine but where's the punchline like he skipped the punchline he just kind of went to the end of the story and he just assumed that everybody knew when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from but the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom the master of the feast ok it would be like that like the head waiter so to speak kind of the one who's in charge of the of the kitchen the head butler and he said to him every man at the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk then the inferior you have kept the good wine until now what he says is did I get it like you usually start with the good wine and then you bring out the weak stuff because by then everyone's drunk no one can really taste anything so that's normal way but you you started with something you started with something that was good not bad the first was not bad the first was good you started with something good and then now you've given me something better verse 11 this beginning of signs not miracles this beginning of science Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him again the purpose was assigned to get to that point of belief after this he went down to Capernaum he his mother his brothers and his disciples and they did not stay there many days John tells us that the end result of the sign is that many people there's two things that John points to as a result of the sign one is clear one is not as clear but you it's in there the first thing is that because of the sign the many of his disciples believed why did they believe because of faith because just you got to take a step of faith you got to believe you got to take my word for it you just got to believe they didn't believe for the sake of believe they believed because they saw a sign there was evidence there was an experience that John now relates to us as an eyewitness what's the second result of this sign and this belief what's the second result verse twelve strange verse he his mother his brothers and his disciples he says they went down to Capernaum he his mother his brothers and his disciples obviously when it says brother's right here okay doesn't mean that Jesus had actual brothers okay we but we urge and Mary was ever virgin she never had any other children but Jesus had okay you can take the word brother either as cousins or more likely what it was this half-brothers because most likely Joseph okay had children from other marriages prior to Virgin Mary so when we say brothers it doesn't mean brothers brothers okay means like half brothers or cousins whatever it may be but who cares why is this why is this matter what is the result of believing in Jesus is not just a personal faith in him but is a communal faith and is an incorporation into the body of Christ into the family of God that you believe and the goal wasn't just believe and a run off the goal was believed and now when you believe you're part of the family that's why in another place when Jesus was asked about your mother and your brothers and your sister he's like who's my mother's my sister who's my family it's everyone who does the will of God is my mother my sister and my brothers so this new thing the sign pointed to Jesus coming to do a new thing it's something to do with me something to do my relationship with the family of God let's review John simple fisherman says to us look I'm not a smart guy and I don't know much theology or any of that stuff but I know what I saw and I know what I heard and I know what I witnessed and I'm gonna tell you about these seven signs and my hope is that just like you believe your science teacher when she told you about gravity just like you believe the driver's ed mr. Schultz guy when he told you about the gas just like you believe miss Johnson we told you about the timetables my hope is that when I tell you about what I saw I experienced and I believed and I hope that you would trust me because I was an eyewitness and then I hope that you would believe and then I hope that your belief leads you to your own experience as well I'll say it this way experience leads to faith faith leads to my faith which leads to my experience John experienced something your science teacher experienced something your mr. Schultz it's like you someone out there had some experience that led them to believe and now they come to us and say based on what you think of me I'm asking you to believe as well and my faith comes from their faith but if I do my faith the right way that will ultimately lead to my experience John saw something John shared something I believe John I have the faith and therefore that would lead me to my own experience as well that's the way it worked in math class that's where I worked in science class that's where it works and driver's ed that's the way it worked with the Samaritan woman but there's another story in John chapter 4 about Jesus came to a woman and she didn't believe in him but then she had this experience with him where he knew everything about her she believed she went back to her town and she said come see a man who taught me everything that I ever did they took her word and they said okay let's go because she said it so we believe her so let's go see and then they experienced Jesus and then all of a sudden they don't need her anymore because they had their own experience that works our goal here in this series is to look through the Gospel of John the seven signs and our goal back to what sorry wrong that's okay that's okay verse I'm sorry I'm at the wrong way if I can go back sorry can you get me back to the PowerPoint I'm sorry I think I pushed the wrong button I want to go forward back to the verse are the theme verse for this series which is John chapter 20 okay know if you can scroll this that's right I think that's the very beginning John chapter 20 where John said that these signs okay were there so that you might believe and believing yeah you'll have life in his new pic you from there thank you I got it thank you well just there with it I think I must not have put the verse in there my hope is that you will listen to the signs and that it through believing in these signs that you will find life in his name Revelation chapter 21 verse 5 this is the lesson of the wedding of Cana of Galilee that he came to make all things new then he who spoke then he who sat on the throne said behold I make all things new and he said to me write for these words are true and faithful I came to make all things new is what Jesus says he did it with the wine and his goal is to do that with every single one of us his goal with us is that we would take the word of John that we would believe and then we would experience and then all of a sudden we would see with the master remember with the master at the wedding said that you have saved the best to last that you started with something good but you ended with something better the hope is that we would have that same experience that whatever God did the Old Covenant was good but the New Covenant was better and whatever God has done in one's life has been good but God wants to do something new that's why Christ came into this world that he would give us life and life to the fullness see the Old Covenant taught us how to live but the New Covenant actually gives life to the difference the old one that's there between the water and the wine Jesus took the water the plain the ordinary the good and he gave wine the better the extraordinary the abundant and I think he wants to do the same with you but the question for you is do you believe do you believe a lot of us think like I said in the beginning that something's wrong with us because we don't have faith something's wrong with us because we don't believe it we don't believe enough but what I want to say to you is that God came to do something new in your life and he invites you today take a step of faith but not a step of faith the blind faith not a step of just believe because you know the people who believe seem happier than everyone else a step of faith based on the witness of someone who was there who touched who experienced and then take that step of faith and take that belief and you will see what you will experience as well and you will see what water God wants turn into wine in your life you'll see what new thing he can do inside you have a quote here from one of the church fathers st. Augustine who lived in the fourth and fifth century and he writes a commentary on this passage and he says let us not therefore wonder that God did it but love him because he did it in our mid speaking about this miracle it's not wonder why God did this miracle let's not try to understand why what water and why let's not but let us loved him because he did it in our midst for the very purpose of our restoration great restoration our recreation to make something new to fix something that was broken to redeem something that I've been corrupted let us knock that he may open to us and fill us with the invisible wine for we were water and he made us wine made us wise for he gave us the wisdom his faith well before we were foolish question I won't leave you with what new thing does God want to do in your life but you're struggling to believe what new thing does God want to do in your life but you're struggling to believe what new wine does God want to pour into your marriage what new wine is God water pour into your prayer life what new wine does God want to transform your mind and your thoughts what new thing does God want to do in your life that you're struggling to believe and you're struggling to say well I I just I don't have enough faith I don't know about I don't know about that father hey this is not me what look pay close attention this what this miracle this first sign not a miracle this first sign was done at a wedding a wedding is a symbol of what of union between two people and especially in the Old Testament a wedding was a symbol of God and his right Israel and this wedding took place in the city in Galilee okay and Cana at Galilee galley is not Jerusalem Galilee is up high Galilee is where the galilee of the gentiles were the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light so what he's saying is is I'm coming to be one I'm coming inviting myself into you and inviting you into me and doesn't matter how far then matter you're not the religious doesn't matter you're not that I believe I believe I believe and you struggle to believe I invite you I invite you to take a step of faith not based on faith alone not blind faith based on the experience of people who saw and touched and witness and hopefully when you do that you will have your own experience as well not because faith is blind but because faith is based on experience of others but to faith of others leads to my faith leads to my experience let's stand together and say a prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God amen Heavenly Father we thank you we thank you Lord that you haven't left us alone in this world and told us just to believe for the sake of believe but you've given us a witness Lord so many witnesses in the scriptures and in the history books we pray Lord that you'd help each one of us take a small step of faith and when we may struggle we may be difficult for us lord help us to take a small step of faith and experience that new wine that you want to pour into all of our lives you came in this world Lord to take old and make it new to take good and make it better to take things Lord that that are just living and existing and give fullness and abundance of life I pray Lord that would be true in all of our lives as well we ask these things in the name of your son the prayers of all of your saints here says we pray thankfully our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil one in Christ Jesus our Lord for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever

Channel: STSA Church

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Id: r8J7eQx8Zlo

Length: 48min 52sec (2932 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 20 2019