Gospel of John Sermon Series (week one) Water to Wine
John (week one) Water into Wine
John 2:1-12
· Intro to John series, Lent readings
· First hand account written by John disciple/apostle
· Who was John written for? Matthew - Jews, Mark - Romans, Luke - Greeks, John - everyone
· A lot happens in 1 chapter and first 12 verses chapter 2
· Acknowledgement of Jesus as Word, Son of God, John the Baptist, first disciples called
· Then in chapter two we shift gears to a party
· Read John 2:1-4 (explain setting)
· Read John 2:5-11
· Pray
· Ex. of never feeling quite good enough (soccer, disc golf, friendship, parenting, marriage)
· From the beginning in the book of John, you get a glimpse of Jesus caring very much for those that feel less than valuable.
· His first disciples had been rejected as rabbis. (all rejected)
· Then there was "the party"
· I have a couple of questions…
1) Why a party for his first miracle?
· If I were Jesus, I would pick a bigger issue to solve.
· Not Jesus. He introduced His power by turning water into wine.
· This did not solve a world crisis or a major human problem.
· Is it possible one of the lessons to be learned from this miracle is that God really cares about the small details in our life?
2) Why didn’t Jesus just fill the jars with wine in the first place?
· Why did he have them fill the jars with water?
· If he can turn water into wine, couldn’t he have filled the jars with water too?
· He certainly could have.
· However, God will always call/ask us to bring to Him what we have so that He can place His touch upon it.
· And then, He gives what it becomes, back to us.
· For the men, they had jars and they had water.
· God is not asking us to do something that we cannot do, or be something we can’t be, or begin something we can’t complete.
· He does not expect us to turn the water into wine.
· How many times do we feel that pressure to turn “water to wine”
· Every person has been entrusted with something to share.
· We are all responsible to:
- Serve by using our God-given talents.
- Give by sharing our God-given resources.
- Worship by honoring God in all that we do.
Where did this patience come from?
Where did this peace come from?
Where did this hope come from?
· Jesus told them to fill the jars with water… and then draw some out and take it to the master of the wedding.
· It is very possible that the ones who filled the jars had NO IDEA that Jesus had turned the water into wine.
· For all they knew they were taking water to a guy who never said he was thirsty.
· Somewhere between filling the jars with water and it reaching the master's lips, God turned the water into wine.
· We do not always know what God is going to do with what we have given back to him.
· Our Ideas
· Our Desires
· Our Talents
· Our Interests
· So we hold back… we don’t serve what God has placed in our care because we are fearful that we’re only serving water. Plain, average, boring water.
· But remember the master’s response?
· This Wine Is The Best!
· “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
· Jesus didn’t have to make it the best. He could have got by with just providing average wine.
· They were at a wedding and the wine was all gone. There was a reason the wine ran out, people were drinking it. People would not have noticed another cup of average wine.
· But, Jesus doesn’t do average.
· When God is finished with what has been given to Him it will be the best!
· So much so that others will want to know why? People will want to know where the wine came from.
· Where did this talent come from?
· God has given you and I water. He wants to turn it into wine.
· So, what has been given to you that can be taken back to God so that He can make it even better and then return to you so that you can serve it to others?
· May you will allow God to turn your water into wine.
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