Bryan Chapell Sermon- "The Life Of The Party"

[Music] i'm going to ask that you look in god's word with me at john the second chapter john the second chapter as we're going to look at the very first miracle of the lord jesus as we are getting to know who he is we talked about this sermon series being meeting jesus and what would it mean to meet jesus now john is explaining that in a context very different than the other gospels the other gospels were written soon after the death and resurrection of jesus but john isn't writing until decades later and as a consequence he's looking back and not only thinking about the facts but what they mean and so he's putting those facts together in such a way that we will seem the great see the great themes of the gospel and and just to prove that if you look at john chapter 2 and this verses 1 through 11 that's describing the miracle of the wedding at cana you see the very opening words are on the third day and then if you look at the end of this account which is verse 11 toward the end of verse 11 it says jesus did at cana in galilee this miracle and manifested his glory now once you put the pieces together last week we got john the baptist introduction to jesus and said he is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world there is the declaration that jesus will be the lamb sacrificed and three days later he manifests his glory what is john asking us to remember in this gospel he's revealed to be the lamb of god and three days later he manifests his glory what are you thinking of the crucifixion and the resurrection it's what john is doing he's putting together the themes so that we will understand what god is communicating and that's precisely what is happening here in the wedding feast at canaan where jesus turns the water into wine it's not just a miracle for aha it is a miracle to say you're now going to know who he is by what happens here let's stand for the reading of god's word as we honor the word given to us by the holy spirit john chapter 2 verses 1 through 11. on the third day there was a wedding at cana in galilee and the mother of jesus was there jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples when the wine ran out the mother of jesus said to him they have no wine and jesus said to her woman what does this have to do with me my hour has not yet come his mother said to the servants do whatever he tells you now there were six stone water jars there for the jewish rites of purification each holding 20 or 30 gallons jesus said to the servants fill the jars with water and they filled them up to the brim and he said to them now draw some now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast so they took it when the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine and did not know where it had come from though the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him everyone serves the good wine first and when people have drunk freely than the poor wine but you have kept the good wine until now this the first of his signs jesus did at cana in galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him let's pray together father for your blessing upon your word we now pray would you by the same holy spirit who gave this word open our hearts to receive it we pray in jesus name amen please be seated now you have to confess it is an unlikely beginning it's the son of god the creator of the universe and his first miracle to manifest his glory is helping his mom keep a wedding from getting embarrassing i mean it's not exactly what you expect i mean you're waiting for the lightning from heaven or the earthquake on cue i mean anything that says i am the great and powerful well you know that sort of thing i mean you at least want to say well you know can't you like you know turn a couple of fish into a meal for 5 000 you know something like that well all in good time but right now something else needing to be done last week we were introduced to who this jesus is by john the baptist and if you just kind of think of our normal business interchanges when you're introduced to someone there's kind of a next step and the next step is you exchange business cards the business card is going to say who you are your person and your product and your purpose but it's just writ small an indication of something much larger about who you are and what you do and what this first miracle is about this sign is actually a statement of who jesus is and what he will do rich small it's it's it's really the business card indicating in much larger terms what is going to happen later on now if you think about what this business card is indicating showing jesus business it's just first saying to us this jesus he's in the grace business after all what he is showing us here is that jesus provides for people what they cannot provide for themselves which is the very definition of grace he's providing what people cannot provide for themselves and you know all about the account remember the situation it's a big fat jewish wedding it's it's not what you and i think about you know the wedding that you know will last 20 minutes and the reception lasts a few hours i mean this is a big fat jewish wedding which means it's supposed to go on from three to six days and they've run out of wine which in a culture of hospitality means there is huge embarrassment that's occurring now that a family is going to feel like we have failed this is going to be remembered for the rest of our lives that we did not provide what was necessary for our guests as you think of the situation you of course know that we don't know the reason this situation has occurred why is there not enough wine did somebody miscalculate did uninvited guests come did the delivery truck take the wrong route i mean we we don't know the reasons for the problem all we know is the consequence somebody is guilty of miscalculation and a family is going to know shame forever because of what has occurred if you're facing guilt and shame what do you do ask jesus that's what they do i mean mary goes right to jesus and she says they're out of wine now the reason she would ask jesus is not wrong after all she knows who he is she heard the angels and the shepherds right peace on earth good will to men and mary and those responsible are thinking we need a little that goodwill in the form of some good wine right now and so she asks and as one whose business is grace jesus provides what people cannot provide for themselves now you already know the account what i have to address is what troubles us about the account i mean there are various concerns with how jesus handles the miracle verse 3 when the wine ran out the mother of jesus said to him they have no wine and jesus said to her woman what does this have to do with me now whether you've ever heard a sermon on this or just go to a commentary afterwards and look you will recognize that people are troubled by jesus insensitivity to his mother at this point he doesn't say mom or whatever the aramaic equivalent of abba for father is you know he doesn't address her tenderly he just says woman what does this have to do with me now you must know that this is not meant to be an insult i mean this is not insensitive language on itself it's formal but not insensitive the reason that we know that jesus is not being insensitive is first because of mary's reaction she is after all a jewish mother and when he addresses her as woman she does not say how dare you talk to your mother that way in fact jesus will address her that way another time in the gospel of john in great tenderness do you remember that account jesus will be on the cross and recognizing that he will not be with his mother to take care of her in her earthly state he looks at her and the same one who wrote this gospel john and says woman behold your son and to john behold your mother there's the tenderness but why does he address her so formally at this point and even at that point you you get some sense of it in the words that follow woman what has this to do with me now as we hear those it sounds like jesus is distancing himself from her need and and there is a sense in which he is distancing himself from her if i were to simply tell you the words in greek that are here it's it's an idiom in very kind of cryptic and short phrases the actual literal translation would be what to me and to you what is this to me and to you as though he's saying we live in separate realms this this is not something that you and i share at this point and that in itself is troubling to us if you ever see where that phrase is used again in the gospels it is a phrase that is used four or five times in its cryptic nature in the gospel but always it is put in the mouths of demons demons when they are addressing jesus as they are saying to jesus what have we to do with you saying we are in different realms we are in different spiritual orders we we are not in the same place and when jesus addresses his mother and says what has this to do with me he's not showing lack of concern for his mother he is showing greater concern for his father i am not to be controlled by earthly priorities i am about my father's business you see that even in the same passage in john chapter 2 if you'll go to verse 16. in verse 16 the the history has moved forward and jesus is no longer in canaan of galilee he is in jerusalem where he finds that there are those who are in the temple of god who are using their position for profit that is not right remember they are selling sacrifices and exchanging money in a way that is inappropriate for actually serving the people of god and jesus driving the money changers out of the temple ends with this statement verse 16 take these things away do not make my father's house a house of trade he addresses his mother as woman but his heavenly father he addresses as father it's not the first time he's done that either he in this place is saying you cannot make my father's house a house of trade you may remember there was another time when he was much younger that jesus was in his father's house and reminded his mother that he had to be about his father's business do you remember that the family has gone to jerusalem and for whatever reason i know it never happened in any of your families that you would leave it a child at the fairgrounds or the gas station but some reason the holy family goes away and jesus is back in jerusalem and you know they get somewhere down the road in the caravan and they discover he's not with them and they come back and they find jesus in the temple talking with the scribes about religious things and as the parents began to question him he says why are you surprised did you not know that i had to be about what my father's business actually the words again in aramaic that i had to be in my father's house i had to be in his realm doing his things as jesus is saying it's now the heavenly priorities that must motivate me not simply earthly ones and the heavenly priority is plain in the last verse in the last phrase of verse 4. jesus says what does this have to do with me my hour is not yet come now if you were to look through the various accounts of john you would recognize that that phrase is used repeatedly to indicate one thing i'm going to cite the passages because you may want to look at them later yourself if you were to look up john 7 30 or 8 20 or 12 23 and 27 or 13 1 every time jesus refers to my time or my hour he is referring to his crucifixion to his death and he says to mary my priorities are now the heavenly priorities i cannot do earthly things in such a way that it would prematurely cause my death if i were to create the earthquake if i were to bring the lightning down if i were to do that thing that was too obvious at this point i would challenge the governing spiritual authorities and they would seek me before i had fulfilled all righteousness doing all that i must do to be this perfect man living an obedient life before god and therefore the perfect lamb of god at the right hour mary i can't do this yet now you know what mary does it's first five right she speaks to the servants and she says to them do whatever he tells you now this really troubles us because we put this conversation in the context of our own family spats right we we kind of hear you know mary saying to jesus set the table help me out right and jesus says it's not my time and then mary says ignore what he says do what he tells you and then jesus says oh all right i'll do it it's the holy family he's the son of god this is not what's happening he has just said mary it's not my hour and mary gets it she doesn't argue with him she doesn't dispute with him she simply yields it all to him servants whatever he says do it what she is willing to do is ask anything and yield everything i ask you what i need but i yield to you lord what you know is best even the mother of jesus would do that the reason i say that to you is because i think what we do when we approach and meet the king of the universe the creator of our world and the savior of our souls is we say we better not bother him with the little stuff i mean it's just my family it's just my job it's just my disease it's just our kids who are messing up i i can't go bother jesus with this and what mary is teaching us is it's okay what the apostle paul would later say in everything not just the big things in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your request known to god because as you would ask anything but yield everything he will do what he knows is best it's precisely what jesus does in right timing and proportion he does precisely what is needed you recognize this miracle though it's recorded in scripture is at the time virtually a secret miracle if you look at verse 9 you'll recognize that when the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine and did not know where it came from though the servants who had drawn the water knew recognized what's being said only those who were most immediate to the task knew what was going on others don't know this this is not something ready to be broadcast yet so the only ones who kind of know about it are the servants and look at verse 11 who else knows about it the disciples so that they are ready to follow him but not the authorities not even apparently the other guests it is done in measure and proportion and time just exactly what is right according to the wisdom of god what what mary does is she asks anything but yields everything to jesus saying if i'm going to put it into his hand then i have to trust his hand to do what is right that's a hard thing to do isn't it just say lord i'm going to ask this thing big or small whatever it is but then i'm going to trust you to respond in proportion as the wise ruler king of the universe do as you know is best last weekend labor day weekend my family got a wonderful opportunity to experience this in a way that we were not expecting at all some of you know though my kids don't like being announced that my married kids were here in the service last week and we had a meal afterwards with some friends from a church that was part of our experience three decades ago and we were talking adults with my children around about our experiences and the wife in the relationship from three decades ago was talking about her experience what has it been like to be the mother of a child with mental illness she has been working with me from time to time in a book that she is writing on what it means to be a christian mother dealing with a child of mental illness and all the depression and the drugs and the alcohol that goes with some sort of self-medication that might go into such an experience and how hurt and hard has been life and at the same time what joy they have found through it by dependence upon god she was talking about part of trying to record that and said a few weeks ago she was with a little time in the morning typing away furiously expressing what she wanted to express all they had been through their pain their difficulty and and just typing furiously for hours getting it out she had so much down on paper and then somehow there was this computer crash and it all disappeared by the way not just that file but previous day's file of work as well she called her husband in absolute devastation and tears at work saying what can i do i've lost so much i worked so hard i was pouring out my heart what what what do i do and you know they called some friends who were computer experts they could not retrieve the files they could not get it back the husband said you know having heard the terrible pain and the tears on the phone he got home from work that night and his wife greeted him saying hello honey bright and sunny and he said what happened between boohoo who and hello honey and i wrote it down what she said she said the way that we have made it through and helped others is by yielding everything to the lord and being satisfied in him we know that god could heal our son and we have prayed for that but he has taught us to rest in him we have found deep happiness and contentment not in endlessly wrestling to change our circumstances but in trusting the one who loves us enough to send his son to die for us she said that morning when i was writing so furiously for others i actually was not writing about jesus she said it was all about me my pain my anger my struggle and then for those of you who were there with us she said there was this little voice of conscience on my shoulder saying this is not what you're supposed to be writing she kept brushing him away and then she said finally god just said enough of this and god hit the delete button between the boohoo and the hello honey i found rest in jesus again and i knew that he was sufficient the one who held me and would hold me forever he was sufficient and i yielded to him again as kathy and i sat with our guests including our children and their spouses around the table we could hardly look at each other for blinking back the tears because what we recognized is we could not have asked for better for our own children some of whom have struggled seriously with health issues and with infertility issues and have prayed and prayed and need to rest in jesus and here was one saying something so rich and deep of her own experience of the god that she would now trust not not wrestling to make it happen her way but willing to ask anything and at the same time yield everything to his wisdom and his power and his timing why would you do that why would you yield everything to jesus because he's not just in the grace business he's also in the joy business i mean that's his ultimate end even in this account you recognize it don't you even though he doesn't answer the way mary's expecting right off the bat he does answer to bring joy and and if you will in the parabolic nature of this count where he's signing in small letters what he's actually going to do in large script later on you recognize that what is being provided is joy of great quantity and also joy of great quality the the quantity is indicated in the fact that there's these six stone water jars the gospel writer takes care to say filled to the brim 20 or 30 gallons their size each of them and they are filled to the brim with water and jesus turns it all into wine now you know we're in an evangelical culture so we don't often perceive it from a jewish perspective but for a jew this abundance of wine is a signal of great blessing i mean i remember you know watching a cooking show one time and the the chef trying to justify his use of the wine saying this is actually given by god what because it says in the bible he said god gives us bread to make a strong oil to make our faces shine and whine to make our hearts glad i said that's not in the bible but it is now some of you are thinking right now no it's not and others of you are thinking what's he doing watching a cooking show the message of the account is that god is bringing great blessing to his people but it's not just quantity it's quality now part of that quality being expressed is of course the wine master saying that this was the best wine even though it came at the end of the feast where you expect the people who'd had too much to drink not to notice and yet the wine steward this master of the feast the emcee is saying this is the best stuff but that's not the quality that jesus is wanting us to see in the business card that's indicating so much more about what will happen the quality that's actually being expressed is being expressed not in the quality of the wine but in where it comes from remember they were ritual stone jars for what for purification rituals because in jewish custom even at these wedding ceremonies you had to go through all these purification rituals remember we talked about it last week what jesus sometimes got in trouble for not doing for washing his hands and his disciples hands before they ate or washing the pots and pans or quote-unquote baptizing the tables all that language of the scriptures they were not doing the ceremonial washings that was being expected but here at the wedding all the water is there for the ceremonial washings that were to externally purify and now jesus takes that water intended for external purification and he turns it into wine that is going to be taken internally and signify something far greater for you will remember that in a few more months he will say of the wine that he gives this cup is the new covenant in my blood that is shed for many for the remission of sins there is purification that will occur but the purification that will occur will be through his blood signified by this wine god is saying through his son in this account you are looking for external things to make you write your very external things to make things right between you and god but ultimately what god is calling for is that which is internal he is talking to people who know sin and shame and saying what you must trust is not the external things that you think will make you right before god it is your hearts that must be set right and that is done by something internal it is done by something that is through blood and it is done by this one who is able to take water and turn it into the wine that signifies what he will do to purify humanity forever we don't remember at times but if we would ask anything and at the same time yield everything we would recognize that what we're ultimately asking god to do is make us write on the inside not so much from the outside some of you will know that prayer from an unknown civil war soldier in which he expresses what it would mean to actually not trust the external but find the internal the prayer i ask god for strength that i might achieve i was made weak that i might learn humility i asked god for health that i might do greater things i was given infirmity that i might do better things i ask for power that i might know the praise of men i was given weakness that i might know the heart of god i ask for all things that i might enjoy life i was given his life that i might enjoy all things i got nothing that i asked for but everything that i hoped for despite myself my prayers were answered i'm among all men most blessed some of you know exactly what i'm talking about that that you sought the other things of the world you thought the thought of things externally that you thought would satisfy and even having received them found them empty and futile and vain and what god was doing was taking you to the end of yourself and saying it's not the external things it's what is inside of you that is going to make you know the happiness and the contentment and that is ultimately through a relationship with me not your relationship with the things of the world it's not the external things that are going to satisfy it is something inside you need his life his provision his blood that takes away guilt and shame and ultimately tells you that whatever comes because you're with him now you can take it you can face it isn't that true if you knew you were with jesus you could face anything if you were kenneth bae in prison if you were archbishop kate kidnapped right at this moment but you knew jesus were with you you could deal with it but what god is calling you to deal with at this moment sometimes is kids in terrible positions a marriage in terrible shape a career that's in shambles a future that's uncertain and to say but if you're with him if you're with him you can deal with this because he's not just in the grace business he is in the joy business and the way that he brings that ultimate fulfilling joy is by a relationship with him and the signification of that is in this this account in itself which is not just telling us that he is in the grace business and and not just in the joy business ultimately he's telling us he's in the wedding business it's it's that union that's being indicated here that is the ultimate fulfillment as christ is seeking to unite himself with us i mean in in all the orthodox wedding ceremonies we say that what jesus did is he sanctified marriage by his presence at the wedding of canaan at in cana of galilee but what i recognize and you should recognize he's doing he's not just sanctifying that wedding he is sanctifying his wedding saying what i ultimately desire on this business card with the little riding is is the mission in large scope which is to be united eternally with a people heart to heart life to life eternity with every i desire to be married to you it's what god says over and over again in the scriptures presenting the people as the bride and himself as the bridegroom who is working for a heart unity that enables us to face anything because we are united to him now you may not see that because we don't recognize all that is going on in the way that john is writing because it's not in in english western united states terms but but if you were a jew you would understand this was the first of the signs that jesus did to manifest his glory says john now the first of the signs what what what are this function of signs if i just tell you some of their sequence in the gospel john you'll get it immediately okay when when jesus took the five loaves to feed 5 000 it immediately preceded his teaching that he was the bread of life when he took the man born blind and gave him his sight it was immediately preceding the teaching i am the light of the world when jesus raised lazarus from the dead it was immediately preceding the teaching that i am the what the resurrection and the life the sign carries spiritual significance much broader and if you were a jew at the time of this writing of what happened at the wedding feast at cana what what you are not going to be doing is debating whether or not jesus should have made water into wine what you're going to be doing is saying i get it john is telling me who jesus really is because he is the fulfillment of prophecy and the foreshadowing of promise according to the scriptures if you want to think what a jew would be thinking about when he learned that jesus turned water into very fine wine you have to go back to isaiah 25 isaiah 25 if you're using the pocket bibles there in the pews 586 page 586 isaiah 25 isaiah 25 is describing the prophecy of the coming messiah to rescue a people who have been in rebellion and are suffering and now god is saying when i send the messiah there are certain things that are going to identify who he is verse 6 of isaiah 25. on this mountain that is in the holy city of god the lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food a feast of well-aged wine a rich food full of marrow of aged wine well refined here is the statement of when he comes he's going to provide feasts which include this this great wine we say well okay maybe i mean it's great that jesus provided wine in that way but but that's not all that isaiah says in anticipation of the messiah if you go on in verse 7 of isaiah 25 it says and he will swallow up on this mountain the covering now that actually is a word for a death shroud he is going to swallow up the death shroud that is cast over all peoples and he said well actually that's not in john 2. true but john isn't finished telling the story if you've got your bible still open go to john 4 and verse 46 because in john 4 and verse 46 john records that jesus goes back to cana the very place where the water was turned to wine very fine wine and you may remember in john 4 and verse 46 that we are told at that point that jesus came again to cana and galilee where he had made the water wine and you remember what happened there there was an official who came to him and said my son is dying and jesus said to him go home your son will be well and the official goes back home and on the way home he meets his servants who are coming to tell him that his son has actually been made well and when the official says at what hour when did he get well and the servants say the hour it was the exactly the same hour that jesus said your son will be saved from death oh but you say well wait a second okay now maybe he took away the death shroud but that's not all it says it says in isaiah 25 7 he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that has cast over all peoples i mean the swallowing up of death wasn't just supposed to be for jews anymore you know where i'm going don't you it was not a jewish official what kind of official came and asked jesus for help with his dying son a roman centurion as the death was being swallowed up not just for one but for all peoples oh but you say that's not all that isaiah says finally isaiah says this he this coming messiah will swallow up death forever and the lord god will wipe away tears from all faces oh john didn't say that in john 2 or john 4. but john hasn't finished telling the story there is another book in the bible that john wrote what is it revelation and in the book of revelation you may remember that what john tells us is there will be one more great wedding feast it will be the wedding feast of the lamb where this same jesus the one has been declared in this very book to be the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world will invite all peoples to the wedding feast of the lamb and what will happen then death will be swallowed up forever because john says i saw the holy city of god descending from heaven as adorned as a what a bride for her husband and at that point what will happen god will wipe away all tears from their eyes this jesus this lamb is going to wed his people forever and by changing their hearts their spirits their souls forever it will be an eternal swallowing up of death in our wedding ceremonies we say in sickness and in health in plenty and in want till death do us part but the wedding supper of the lamb says in sickness or in health in plenty or in want in sin or in shame and never shall death part us this is the promise of the wedding of this one who has presented his business card small so that we will know the plan large as profound as can be the joy of a man and a woman made one so is god saying is even more profound what happens when the soul of a man or woman is made one with jesus by the shedding of blood that takes away guilt and shame so that we are united to an eternal god forever and that is the plan because he is in the wedding business and when you know that when you know that despite health or sickness plenty or want sin or shame you can be one with this christ this jesus now and forever the promises of eternity begin to erode into the present and you say as hard as this may be i still can know joy because i know the future i know the plan and i know what is ahead god has made me one with himself by the work of his son that's the wedding that you're being invited to right now earlier in the service i actually asked that we sing blessed assurance written by fanny crosby america's most prolific hymn writer she wrote over 8 000 hymns though she was blind blinded at the age of six weeks due to a mistake from a doctor and lived to be 95 years old all that time blind and and writing of the grace and the goodness how could she do that because she said i have learned the depth and the wonder of his grace through my blindness late in her life she was asked if you could be given your sight how would that change your life and her response was simple if someone were to offer me my sight i would not accept it god has done me no harm by taking away my sight i have been taken away from the distractions of the pleasures of this world and god has shut me in with jesus and there i have known such joy of his grace that i would never part of it even for my sight i don't know the challenges you face the hurt or the pain but this i know if you could face it with jesus you could face anything and that's what he promises sin guilt shame gone whether in sickness and health plenty or want he is yours forever and you are his and when you know that you can face anything ask him what you need trust him to take care of it he will be with you and take you through it [Music] you

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Length: 44min 39sec (2679 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 19 2022