1/17/21 John 2:1-11 “Are You Out of Wine?”

1/17/21 John 2:1-11 “Are You Out of Wine?”

1/17/21    John 2:1-11                “Are You Out of Wine?”

I think that some of you may know that I spent many years without Christ.  Those were years of blindness.  Those were years of useless ambition.  Those were years of emptiness.  I never realized what joy was until I came to know Jesus Christ.  There are many of you who know exactly what I mean.  Since Christ has shown me what joy really is, I can enjoy joy.  I love to attend weddings, various dinners, sporting events and just about anything where we can have some fellowship.  I once attended a pastor’s conference in Aberdeen.  I would like you to know that I really don’t like attending these things and as far as meetings go, this one wasn’t all that great.  However, it brought me great joy just to be in the fellowship of other pastors.  Just visiting with some of these men and women was joyful.  And just as a little sidebar here, I would like to say that the tone of the meeting was that of basic Bible principles, which wasn’t always the case.  I didn’t hear one thing about any far-out theology.  Anyway, over the years I have taken part in many joyful events.  I like to take part in regular events that turn into joyful events.  So, it should be little wonder that today’s reading is one that I love so much.  It is about a wedding where there is lots of joy but then they run out of wine.  What do you do when you run out of wine?

One of the wonderful things that I get to do as a pastor is weddings.  I just love these events.  One of the first things that I will tell a couple when we get together is that something will go wrong on their wedding day.  And if that something happens during the ceremony, don’t panic, I will lead you through it.  So far, we haven’t had any insurmountable problems but this one that Martin Dale talks about would be close.

The bride to be had found what she thought to be the perfect Scripture from 1 John 4:18 which says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”  I think that this would be a great reading for a wedding.  The pastor however, asked the best man to read this and say that the pastor felt that this was a very apt verse for Sue, the bride, and that he would be preaching on it later.  Unfortunately, the best man was not a regular churchgoer.  He didn’t realize that there was a difference between the Gospel of John and the first letter of John.  So, he did as he was instructed and said that the pastor felt that this was a very good verse for Sue and then he proceeded to read from the Gospel of John 4:18 which said, “You have had 5 husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.”  I hope that this never happens to me. (water)

I’m going to begin by describing this wedding a little.  Ancient weddings were quite a bit different than those today.  They would usually last about a week.  There was no honeymoon as this would-be part of the week.  The bride was paraded to the groom’s house and this was where the ceremony took place.  Then the bride and groom would be paraded through town many times so that all could wish them well.  It was the responsibility of the groom’s parents to supply food and drink for the week.  And we thought we had it tough for just one meal.  I also read as I was researching this that even though there was always wine available, the people and guests did not over indulge.  It was against their Jewish tradition to drink to drunkenness.  This type of behavior just didn’t happen that much in those days during these events which is a lot different, in many cases, than today.

Now they have this big feast and celebration going on and they are about to run out of wine.  This is only day three of a weeklong celebration and they are out of beverage.  Experts infer here that Mary and Jesus were relatives or at least had some prominent standing with the family.  They say this because Mary kind of takes over the situation and tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.  Because of how this passage translates into English, it sounds like Jesus is being a bit disrespectful of his mother.  This is definitely not the case.

The first thing that happens is that they notice that they have run out of wine.  This would be a total embarrassment to the groom’s family.  I’m sure that panic would soon set in here.  But notice that Mary says, “Do whatever he tells you.”  She knows that Jesus has the power to solve this problem.  She doesn’t know how He will solve it, only that He can.  (drink water)

I think that in our world we sometimes stumble right here at the beginning.  We don’t even realize that we have run out of wine in our lives.  Some people don’t realize that their marriage is on the rocks until one of the parties leave.  Some don’t realize that they are addicted to alcohol or a drug until something really bad happens.  Sometimes churches don’t realize that there is a problem until people start to leave.  I’m still not convinced that our Congress realizes that we have any problems anywhere unless they make up the problem themselves.  Our country and our people are very good at ignoring signs that tell us there is danger ahead.  Often times we will do anything so that we don’t have to confront a problem.  Congress is great at this and I know that I am also guilty of this once in a while.

But it is very important that we do this.  There is a problem.  We are out of wine.  There is no joy in your life.  There is no love in your life.  These are signs that something is terribly wrong.  You are out of wine.  So, what should you do when you find that you have a problem or something bad is happening?

What is the first thing that Mary, the mother of Jesus, does?  She does not panic or get upset.  First, she goes to Jesus.  Then she says, “We have no more wine.”  Mary goes to the one person that she knows can take care of things.  Jesus will save the day.  Jesus can save your day.

I have said this many times.  Often times the last place we go for help is to Jesus.  I should really rephrase that because if we go to Jesus in the first place, it will be the last place that we need to go.  But what I’m trying to say here is we like to try to do things on our own.  We like to mess around doing things our way and really fowling things up.  I think that men have a tremendous problem here although women do also to a lesser degree.  Men like to fix things.  So, this is what we try.  Here is a little suggestion for you.  Go to Jesus first and ask Him how you fix something.  He will tell you.  He will help you help others.

There is something very important to notice here and in just about any place in the Bible.  We are to always go to Jesus and let Him help us.  However, we have to remember that we are not inactive in this process.  God through Jesus gives us the idea or inspiration on how to do something.  You come to Him in prayer and this is important.  But God doesn’t very often actually do the physical work.  You have to do that.  God does not do the things that you are capable of doing.  Often times this is what happens when you think that God hasn’t answered your prayers.  You haven’t done your part.  If you break an arm, you don’t just sit around with it broken, do you?  No!  You go to the doctor or emergency room.  God has already shown us through doctors, how the set that bone.  If you want your life to get better, then you have to read the Bible, pray and come to church.  You have to do the things that God has set out for you.  You are not passive in your relationship with God.

The important thing to do next is to do what Jesus tells you to do.  It may not seem like it is very important but it is very important.  The servants were told to fill the jars with water and they did.  These were ceremonial cleaning jars that would have stood near the entrance.  When the Jews entered the house, they would dip their hands into the water and they would be ceremonially clean.  According to the Law, they had to be clean on the outside.  And it is important for us to be clean on the outside, but this is not what Jesus is interested in.  He wants you to be clean on the inside.  Jesus came to this world so that you could be cleansed of your sin.  And you do this by asking. (Drink water)

Anyway, He tells the servants to fill these jars.  These jars held from between 20-30 gallons.  So, they would have had to fill these by taking pails and going to the well and coming back and dumping water into them.  This was no small task.  It would have taken a little time to do this.  At no time did the servants realize what was happening.

Now let’s fast forward a bit.  When was the last time that God told you to do something and you didn’t do it?  How often have you seen someone who is in need of help and you passed them by?  I think that as a world we are not good at doing what God tells us to do.  Part of the problem is pride.  And another part of the problem is that we don’t know how to listen or maybe we just don’t want to listen.

I remember I was at another meeting of pastors one time and I noticed something.  They were all pretty much cheery and fired up at 8 in the morning.  Many meetings that I have attended in my secular life had a hard time getting off the ground when they met that early.  I attribute the difference to time spent with God.  Most of these pastors had already spent good quality time in prayer.  And it showed in their attitude and enthusiasm.  This is one of the things that we are supposed to do and we love to do it.  This is one of our buckets of water that we bring to the jar.  When I put my water in God’s jar, I don’t have a clue how it will come out but I know for a fact that it will be good.  It will not only be good; it will be the best.

This is how God works.  You do the things that He tells you to do, like read the Bible, pray, come to church, and He will give you back the very best that He has.  This is not rocket science folks.  This is easy stuff.  I would like to dare you today to a better life.  I dare you to start to pray every morning, and read a little in your Bibles.  When you start to do these things, great things will follow.  You will have a better life.

I know this because of the last thing I want to point out from this passage today.  The servants bring a cup of this water to the master of ceremonies for the wedding.  He tastes it and he finds that it is wine.  It is not only wine, but it is the best wine that he has ever tasted.  So now this wedding party has about 150 gallons of the best wine in the world.  If you think about this for a moment you will realize that this would probably be enough wine for several weeks.  These people did not drink in excess but Jesus supplied them in excess.

This is how Jesus works.  He does everything in excess.  Look at our prairies, our farmland.  There isn’t just a little bit around here.  It extends from one end of the country to the other end, plus there are other places like this all over the world.  God didn’t just make one mountain.  He made the beautiful Rockies that extend from Canada to Mexico.  Plus, He made mountains all over the world.  We don’t just have a tiny little piece of ocean.  We have oceans all over the world that are beautiful and full of life.  God doesn’t do anything small.  He does it all in excess for you.

And this is like the grace that Jesus extends to you.  It is in excess.  There is nothing you can do that would be excluded from His grace.  I used to talk about this in confirmation all the time.  There is nothing that you can do that Jesus will not forgive.  He wants you to come to Him so He can flood you, not give you, but flood you with forgiveness.  And of course, just because you have been saved by His grace doesn’t mean that you stop all of your sinning.  You will sin until you die.  Therefore, you have to keep coming back to Jesus to ask for forgiveness.

So, if you don’t know Jesus yet, then ask Him into your life today.  Confess your sins to Him and ask Him into your life.  No matter who you are or what you have done He will accept you as you are.  Because Jesus has this great abundance of love and grace, He will accept you just as you are.  If your life is empty, if you have no joy, if there is nowhere to turn, if you have run out of wine, ask Jesus into your life.  It is only after doing this that He will fill you with the best wine there can be.  He will fill you to overflowing and then some.  I praise the Lord for His abundance in my life and in yours.  (Drink water)

One of the great things that God has given us is free will.  You are free to choose whether or not you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.  You are free to choose emptiness.  You are free to choose loneliness.  Or you can choose happiness and fulfillment.  It is your choice.  I once met a man who was totally disfigured in a car wreck that happened when he was a teen.  He lost both legs and one arm.  He was in the hospital for months.  Now I would guess that he is in his 40’s or early 50’s and he is one of the happiest people I have ever met.  He was happy because he chose to be happy.  But first he chose Jesus and Jesus in turn makes him happy, very happy.  This is what Jesus does.

My question to you today is this.  “Have you run out of wine?”  or “Are you running low on wine?”  If this is a problem, I am always willing to listen.  But also, I want you to remember what we talked about today.  First of all, you take your problem to Jesus.  He will listen to any and all problems.  Then do what He tells you to do.  Learn to be quiet and listen!  I dare you to be obedient.  If you are obedient, then watch Jesus fill you with abundance.  Don’t be afraid to drink of this new wine.  It will be the best that you will ever have and you will have lots of it.  (Drink the juice).  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.