A Sign to His Glory part 1

We'll take your Bible this morning and let's go to the book of John. We're in John chapter 2 having finished up John chapter 1 last week and we are in our series Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. We've really seen John, the heart of John, the goal of John, we've seen John express that in that first chapter. We know that he exalted a proper Christology. He was about establishing who Christ really was to dispel the lives of the day, those who were attacking proper Christology. And then we also have seen his evangelistic heart because it was his desire that men would believe in Christ, know Christ and love Christ.

We've really seen John's heart already in the first chapter that we've been in and we're going to see that as we continue to venture through this book, this gospel of John. This morning we're going to be in the second chapter, we're going to be in verses 1 through 5 and we've been seeing in our study, we've been seeing a transition into the public ministry of Christ. Now I said last week as we were ending the first chapter that Jesus is transitioning and coming onto the scene in his public ministry. Now at the end of chapter 1 we saw Jesus call 5 of his 12 disciples.

Now I don't know if you know it, it's interesting to know that John does not record the calling of the other disciples. If you're interested in that, I would encourage you to go to the other gospels, go to Matthew, go to Mark, go to Luke and see how he calls the different disciples. But John does not record the other disciples being called. But we know that they were because the other gospels give us those accounts. Now if you notice at the end of chapter 1 and verse 11 of chapter 2, this is really a semi-public appearance of Christ. Let me explain what I mean.

We know that he is beginning his public ministry, but it's really a semi-public ministry because he doesn't come fully on the scene until verse 13 of chapter 2 when he steps out there at the Passover and when he has that great event of cleansing the temple. So it's kind of this gradual transition. Jesus is coming on the scene. It's kind of a semi-public appearance, especially this morning. And then we're going to see him really burst on the scene at a very wonderful time in the Jewish calendar in the Passover.

But as we venture into chapter 2, we see Jesus make more public appearances and we're seeing him make a public appearance at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Now not only does he make more public appearances, but he performs in this scripture this morning, he performs the first sign or the first miracle which is recorded in John's Gospel. Now I'm going to ask you an important question. What is the purpose in Jesus performing miracles and signs? There's a lot of confusion with that. Matter of fact, if you really ask that question, you'll get a lot of different answers. But biblically, scripturally, the miracles were given as proofs of his deity.

And John, led by the Holy Spirit in his Gospel, gives eight examples of many different miracles. John's not exhaustive in giving his miracles. He performed miracle after miracle. But John gives us eight of these miracles and all of these miracles were performed to exalt and to underscore and to prove the deity of Christ. That's all they were given for. To exalt Christ, prove Christ, to underscore the deity and the true person of Christ. And you must understand that. That's the purpose of the miracles. And that's what we're going to see as John begins to give us these miracles. Now, that leads me to the title of the message this morning.

We're really going to have a part one and a part two as we get into these verses, verses 1 through 11. And we're seeing on the screen the title of the message is "A Sign to His Glory, Part One." A sign to his glory, part one. Now, this event, the wedding there in Cana, it is recorded in verses 1 through 11. But this morning we're going to be in verses 1 through 5. It's a rather lengthy passage and it warrants us dividing it so we can get what the Lord wants us to get. So let's look at the verses, verses 1 through 5. And let's see what John gives us.

Verse 1, "And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus..." Now, we know her name is Mary. "Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there, and Jesus also was invited in his disciples to the wedding. And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.'" And then verse 5, "His mother said to the servants, those who were attending this wedding celebration, 'Whatever he says to you, do it.'" And then it goes on down from verses 6 through 11 to give us this miracle.

And we know that he changes the water into wine. Now, I wanted us to take some time and I want to encourage you and warn you. If you're not careful, you will miss what we get this morning. Therefore, when we get into the second portion, it won't all come together. So I want to encourage you, when we have a part 1 and a part 2, make sure you hang on to what the Lord teaches us in this part 1 message, because part 1 really eases right into and prepares us for what we're going to learn in the remaining verses. Now, you see on the screen the main truths that we're going to look at and explore in these verses.

We're going to look at the setting, we're going to look at the crisis, and then we're going to look at the interaction. Now, the setting is a little more informational. The crisis is somewhat informational, but it really begins to get to be very applicable for us as we proceed into the verses. So let's look at the verses. Let's look at the setting. We see that in verses 1 through 2. And it's obvious that the setting is a wedding. Look at the verses again. And on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and Mary, that's the mother of Jesus. He was there. Jesus was there. The disciples were there.

The Scripture says they were invited. In verse 3, and when the wine gave out, what does it say? The mother of Jesus came to Jesus and said, "We have no wine." But what I want you to see is the setting. They're at a wedding. Now, this might seem strange, but Christ begins his public ministry. More of a semi-public ministry, but he begins this at a wedding. Now, I'm going to ask us two questions that will help us with the setting. First, the question, what was a wedding like in that day? What was a wedding like in that day?

A wedding and a wedding celebration was a big social event in first century Israel with lots of food, lots of wine, lots of people, and lots of presents. Unlike our tradition, the groom was responsible for all of the expenses of the wedding celebration, which could last from a week to two weeks. In their day, a couple, a wedding couple, they would be betrothed, which meant the couple were legally married and could only be separated by a legal divorce. Now, this betrothal period would usually last for several months.

Although they were legally bound, the couple would not live together and the marriage would not be consummated until after the ceremony, and the ceremony would come after the wedding celebration. So, we need to understand that. Their wedding traditions were a lot different than ours, and we need to understand that. Those of you who are familiar with the story of Mary and Joseph, Mary being the mother of Jesus, the earthly father that Jesus had was Joseph, the spirit came and Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit when they were in this betrothal period. So, what do I want you to see? I want you to see what a wedding was like in that day.

But the second question was, or is, who was invited to the wedding? Verses 1 and 2 clearly state that Jesus, his mother, and the disciples, they all were invited to the wedding. Now, there is no evidence as to who the wedding was for. It was no evidence in the scripture as to their connection to those who were having the wedding. The text simply says that they were invited to a wedding. Now, what do we need to see? We need to see that Jesus, his mother, his disciples, they were in attendance at a wedding. This was a common event, a special event in their day.

There is nothing out of the ordinary with them being at a wedding, but notice the timing of the passage in the wedding event. John records that Jesus, Mary, his mother, and the disciples, they were at the celebration portion of the wedding which came before the ceremony. Now, for you, for me, really, this is purely informational. This just helps us get the background. Background and context is very important because sometimes if we don't know the background and the context, we will miss some of what we can learn. But Jesus, his mother, his disciples, they were at a wedding and they were at a wedding celebration.

A common and a special event in their day. Now, the second thing I want you to see, it is the crisis. This is the crisis. This is found in verse 3. Notice, "And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.'" They have no wine. Now, at this special yet common event, there was a crisis that was bigger than one today would realize. Many of you might not realize just how bad the situation is. Now, to explore the crisis, we're going to ask three questions. First, what is or what was the significance of the wine? In first century Israel, wine was a very common dream.

Clean, healthy drinking water was at times difficult to come by and to store. Therefore, fermented drinks such as wine was the common drink. Because wine was so often consumed, there were steps taken to avoid drunkenness. Wine was mixed with water between one-third and one-tenth of its strength to give you an idea of the strength. It would have been weaker than a can of American beer that we have today. Undeluted wine was called strong drink in the Scriptures. But in that day, there was undeluted wine, strong drink, and then there was common wine, which is what we are dealing with here today. Now, I want you to really notice something.

Because a lot of people will take verses like this, and they will use these verses as an excuse for their sin. I want you to note that the Bible does not forbid drinking wine, but the Bible definitely commands against drunkenness. Genesis 9, 23-27, Proverbs 20, verse 1, Proverbs 23, 9-35, Romans 13, 13, 1 Corinthians 5, 11, Chapter 6, verse 10, Galatians 5, 21, Ephesians 5, 18, 1 Timothy 3, verse 3, and verse 8, Titus 1, 7, Chapter 2, and verse 3, 1 Peter 4, verse 3. Why do I give you all these verses, chapters, and books? These all condemn drunkenness, but we must see the significance of the wine. It was a staple beverage in that day.

Now, the next question. What was the crisis? What was the crisis? This was a social and possible legal crisis. For the groom, for the groom's family not to fulfill their responsibility for the food and the drink at the marriage celebration would have been a terrible embarrassment socially. There would have been possible legal ramifications as well. There is some evidence given that the groom could have been held to an open lawsuit for not fulfilling his obligations within the marriage celebration. So simplistically, this was a terrible, terrible embarrassment to the groom and to the groom's family. The third question.

What does Jesus' mother have to do with this crisis? Go back to the verse. Verse 3, "And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.'" Now, what does his mother have to do with this? We know that she was invited to the wedding celebration. The text is clear that she was invited. Now, some writers, biblical writers, Bible commentators, have suggested that because Mary, Jesus, and the disciples were all invited to the wedding, that they would have been involved with some relatives or friends that have been getting married.

Now, from Mary's bold interjection into the problem, it seems safe to say that she had some part in the celebration services. Let me give you some evidence. She was aware of the crisis before the crisis was public and even before the head waiter knew. Because if you go on down to verses 9 and 10, when the water was changed to the wine, you see that wine to the head waiter and he didn't even know there was a problem. So what am I showing you? We don't know if there was a connection between those who were getting married and Mary and Jesus and the disciples. But we can very logically deduct that Mary had some role within the celebration.

So what do we see? We see the significance of the wine, but we see why there was a terrible crisis, we see what Jesus' mother has to do with the crisis. Now, what we need to see is that there was a real social crisis, possibly a legal crisis. This was a real problem and it seems that Mary and Jesus were in the middle of this crisis, not that they were at fault, but there they were in the middle of a wedding celebration when a crisis came to light or a crisis broke out. Now, what can we learn from this? This is informational, but yet we can learn some truths from this one verse, and that is crises are a part of life.

At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he finds himself in the middle of a crisis, no fault of his own. And we know through our study of James that trial and temptation and crisis do come. And even Mary and Jesus found themselves in the middle of a crisis. Now, what is the goal that we must have? What was the goal that they needed to have in the middle of a crisis? When we're in a crisis, the goal is to find out how the Lord wants to use the crisis. Jesus had a purpose and a plan in the midst of this crisis, and we're going to see this unfold.

So if Jesus had a purpose and a plan for a crisis in that day, he has a purpose and a plan for every crisis that we find ourselves in. And those of us who remember what God taught us in our study of James, we know that trials come, crisis come, problems come for a purpose. So this is the crisis. They've run out of wine. This is a terrible social and possible legal problem. And Jesus and Mary are there in the middle, but yet the Lord Jesus has a purpose for this crisis. The third thing I want us to see is the interaction. Look at verses 3 through 5.

"And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.' And his mother, this is Mary, said to the service, 'Whatever he says to you, do it.'" This is an interaction between Mary and Jesus. Mary comes to Jesus. This crisis is at hand. And Mary approached Jesus with the problem. So again, I want us to explore these verses with three questions. First question, what was Mary's approach to Jesus? What was her approach to Jesus? What does it say?

She said to him, "They have no wine." It seems that Mary boldly told Jesus that they were out of wine, maybe thinking he could do something about the problem. Some suggest that because Joseph is absent, and Mary approached Jesus that Joseph had passed away, and that Jesus was responsible for his mother, being responsible for the household as the oldest child. Was she expecting Jesus to perform a miracle? One might ask that question. Now, she knew fully well who he was. Now think about what she had observed. She had observed a perfect child. She had observed him grow up. She knew what the Holy Spirit had done in her body.

She had heard the voice of God come to her and tell her how she would give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. So she knew fully well who he was. So was she expecting Jesus to perform a miracle? There's really no way to know. But there is no way that we can know what was in her mind, in her heart, but we do know that Mary approached Jesus boldly. Now the second question, what was Jesus' response to Mary? Now I want you to notice it almost seems strange. Jesus said to her, "Woman, what do I have to do with you?" I want you to notice two things about Jesus' response.

Notice that Jesus calls her "woman." Now, you know my habit is to always refer to the different translations that we study. All of the translations, the New American Standard, the English Standard Version, the King James, even the some of the more modern or loose translations, use the word "woman." Now this term is not necessarily rude. This was a polite, but it was not a personal response. It was polite, but yet not personal. This would be very similar to the word we would use today, "ma'am." As a matter of fact, one of the Bible commentators that I read likened it to how we in the South use the word "ma'am" to refer to women.

So that is very similar to what Jesus is saying. He's saying, "Ma'am, what does this have to do with me?" "Woman, what does this have to do with me?" Jesus is not being rude, but he is not being personal. Notice also, Jesus tells her that this is not his time, or his time has not yet come. Go back to verse 4, "Woman, what do I have to do with you?" "My hour has not yet come." Now the phrase "my hour has not yet come" is used in all of the translations that we look at. The King James is similar, but it says the very same thing. Jesus is simply saying that his appointed time of fulfilling his purpose had not come. Now what was his purpose?

His purpose was the cross. His purpose was Calvary. His purpose was that substitutionary death. His purpose was to be buried, and on the third day come to life again. His purpose was to ascend back to heaven, ascend to the right hand of the Father, and take his rightful place, being that substitutionary death. So what Jesus is saying is, he's looking down the tunnel of time, and he's saying, "Woman, ma'am, my time has not yet come." But what about the third question? We've seen what Mary's approach was. We've seen Jesus' response. But the third question, what was Mary's expectation? Go back to the verse, verse 5.

"His mother said to the servants..." See, there was a head servant who was in charge of the celebration, and there were many servants that would have been taking care of the food and the drink and the presents and the celebration. But verse 5 says, "His mother said to the servants, 'Whatever he says to you, do it.'" So what was her expectations? She told the servants to do exactly what Jesus said. By this statement, and she, this is Mary, clearly demonstrated that she expected Jesus to intervene. This is a demonstration, now listen, of a certain amount of faith. What she expected him to do, we do not know.

But she demonstrated faith in him and an expectation that he would do something. Now, what we need to see here, now notice close, is a change in their relationship. Now, we do not know how, we do not know, we do not know how, when Mary approached Jesus, we do not know what exactly was in our mind. Did she approach him as a son to help her fix the problem that was before her and them and the guests? Or did she approach him as the Messiah wanting a miracle? We don't know what's in her mind. But we see a change in their relationship. We see a change in Jesus' interaction with Mary. Let me show you.

He did not interact with her in a personal way as a son, but as the Messiah, the Son of God. That's why the language. That's why him saying, "My hour has not yet come." So what we must see is, we must see that Jesus left behind any personal relationship on earth for total obedience to the relationship that he had to his father. He has stepped out into that public arena, into his public ministry. His eye was always on that day when he would die on the cross. So when Mary comes, he would not let her approach him as a mother to a son. He says, "My hour has not yet come.

Ma'am, woman, what do you want?" And what we see is a change in their relationship. So for you, for me, for us, what we must learn is, we can only approach Christ. Now listen, as the Messiah, as we have learned in Chapter 1, the Apostle John, how did he present him? He was the Word who became flesh. He is God in the flesh. To repeat what Jesus said to one of the disciples, if you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." And John presents him as the Word who has become flesh, God. What about John the Baptist? John the Baptist presented him as the Son of God, the Lamb of God.

And we approach him, that's Jesus, as he is spelled out in the Scripture in no other way. And if Mary could not approach Jesus in an earthly manner, how in the world do we think we must approach Jesus ourselves? But, just like Mary, we can approach Jesus by faith. So what I want you to see, I want you to see three main truths this morning. The setting, Jesus is at a wedding. Jesus is disciples and his mother, yes, they are at a wedding. And then I want you to see that a crisis comes on the scene. A crisis is there in their midst. And Mary is a part of it somehow, some way. And in that, there is an interaction.

She comes to Jesus and Jesus relates to her only as the Son of God, the promised Messiah. But yet she comes and she demonstrates faith. Now what do I want you to see? We are going to see Jesus perform the first of eight miracles in the book of John. In the miracles, if you will look at the title of the message, the miracles are to be a sign to his glory, we see later on in verse 11. But if we're going to understand the miracles, if we're going to understand what the Lord wants us to teach in the miracle, we must understand, now get this, that we must have proper interaction with Christ.

That's why it's important for us to take our time here and to look at these truths found in verses 1 through 5, because they set up what we will learn when we dive in the actual miracle starting in verse 6. So what do I want you to see? Crisis will come. Those of us who are born again and we walk with the Lord and we serve God, I've already said this before, some of us come to know the Lord and it's several years before we find ourself in crisis. Some of us are born again right in the middle of crisis. God ordains the timing of these things.

But when we find ourselves in crisis, we must understand that we must approach Christ properly and accurately and biblically, just like Mary. So I want you to see, as we begin to conclude, a rather short message, but this is preparatory for what we will see. And I want you to get this. We must approach Christ correctly. Now I want to talk about this for a minute. Because I'm afraid there are a lot of people, now listen close, they approach Christ incorrectly. They approach Christ for what they can get. They approach Christ maybe simply for a healer or simply a provider. But what Jesus says is this.

Jesus says, "You come and you come to me on my terms." That's what he said to Mary. Did you notice Mary couldn't really just pull his strings? So we must approach Christ correctly. The second thing I want you to see is we must approach Christ saying exactly what Mary said. Do whatever you say. What did she say to those servants? Listen, you do whatever he says. So when we approach Christ, we approach Christ like Mary saying, "Do whatever you want to do, Lord. Do whatever you want to do in me. Do whatever you want to do to me. Do whatever you want to do in this crisis, in this time." You see the faith that she demonstrated?

It is an open-ended faith. She says, "Do whatever he says to do." So when we approach Christ correctly, we approach him as Messiah, the Son of God, deity. We understand that because we've been taught that. And when we approach Christ, we have no preconceived notions as to who he is or what he's going to do. Only what we've learned in the Scripture, and we come to the Lord and we say, "Lord, do whatever you're going to do." And in that, that is a demonstration of faith. Now listen, in who he is. But the third thing I want you to see is that we must approach Christ in faith, and our faith has substance. You hear me?

A lot of people misunderstand what faith is. Faith is not a hope-so. Faith is not a good idea. Faith is not something that we just yearn for in our mind and our heart. Faith has substance. Mary's faith was in Christ because what did she do? She came to Jesus, said, "There is no wine." And what did he do? He distanced himself from her, and he would only relate to her as the Messiah, not her son. But yet she still demonstrated faith in him by looking at the servants and saying, "You do what he says to do." So when we approach Christ in faith, we approach Christ demonstrating faith in him. I hope you see this. We approach Christ correctly.

We approach Christ saying, "Do whatever you want to do. It's open-ended. You are Lord. You are the captain of my ship." And we approach Christ in faith. Now as I begin to conclude, what I really want to show you is this. Many of us are in crisis in our lives, and we are needing miracles. And what I mean by miracles, we are needing God to do things that are bigger than we are. That's exactly what was going on. They're at a wedding. There's no wine. There's social embarrassment, possible legal ramifications. And it is a perfect opportunity for Christ to demonstrate his glory, for Christ to demonstrate a sign that points to his deity.

And many of us are in crisis. We're in crisis that we can't get out of. We have tremendous prayer needs before us. Maybe it's a lost loved one. Maybe it is a struggling marriage. Maybe there are financial problems. Maybe there are children that have gone awry, and we find ourselves in crisis. And we can learn how to approach the crisis and Christ by what we see in the miracle. Because listen, we cannot learn properly about the miracle, starting in verse 6 all the way down to verse 11, until we learn how to approach Christ.

And so when we find ourselves in a situation where we need God to work and to act, we must see that we must approach Christ correctly. We must come to him and say, "Lord, do whatever you so choose to do." And we must approach Christ, demonstrating a faith and a trust in him. And listen, we must desire for him to get glory. I believe that there are two reasons why many times people do not see God work in crisis in their life immediately. First of all, God's timing. You need to remember this. We are in crisis, and we want it fixed now. Many times we do not see God work in the crisis immediately because it's not his timing.

Sometimes God's timing is different than my timing and your timing and our timing, and we must see that. But the other reason why I believe many times we do not see God work in the crisis is that we are approaching Christ incorrectly. We are approaching Christ because we know that if he fixes this, this will make us feel better. And we're not saying, "Lord, do whatever you want to do." We're approaching Christ because we want our problem fixed. We're not saying, "Lord, do this for your glory and for your honor." We're approaching Christ selfishly without even knowing it at times.

And we're wanting God to act on our behalf, for our feelings, and for our circumstances when actually we should come to Christ and we demonstrate faith in him, and we say, "Lord, whatever you want to do for your glory and for your honor, no matter how it makes me feel." And so I believe many times Christians do not see Jesus working in their crisis because first timing and because second there is those selfish motivations involved. And you see, Jesus would not let Mary do that. He came to her and he made her come as Messiah. He demonstrated himself as Messiah. There was a change in that relationship. So what do I want us to see this morning?

Really preparing us for the miracle. We see this as a sign to his glory and we see the setting. It is a wedding. We see the crisis. They've run out of wine. And we see the interaction, the interaction between Jesus and Mary. And this interaction really prepares the way for what God wants to do, what Jesus wants to do. And then when we get to the end of the miracle, we see what the Lord does in Mary and the disciples. So I want to close by asking you a question. If you notice, as we divided the verses, it was all about questions, questions, questions, questions. I want to close the message this morning by asking you a question.

In the crisis that is before you, are you approaching Christ incorrectly? And are you having a hard time understanding how Christ is relating back to you? Mary had to hear him relate to her, not as a son, but as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. Do you hear me? Are you having a hard time in your approach to Christ in your crisis? I think that that could meet many of you right where you are and teach you and help you to be as right with God in the crisis that is before you and that will be before you in the days to come. Let's pray.

I want to ask you to take whatever crisis that you've been praying for and take it to the Lord this morning. And in your mind and your heart, just put it at his feet. And I want to ask you to ask the Lord Jesus to examine your approach.