Water into Wine and beyond | Experiencing Miracles

TRANSCRIPT

Really excited about sharing today. I love the topic of miracles and for today, I am I'm actually going to be exploring a miracle that I think pretty much all of you will be familiar with. Whether you've probably read the Bible or not, I reckon you've probably heard of this miracle. And as I was scrolling through Instagram this week, as I occasionally do. This meme came up on my feed, if we can pop it up on the screen, because it might just give you a hint as to what miracle we indeed are exploring.

That is a sign for water filled with wine. Jesus was here. Yes, today we are going to be unpacking the miracle where Jesus turns water to wine. And it was recorded by the apostle John. And John was basically an eyewitness to everything that was happening in Jesus ministry. And he gets to the end of his life and he records down his account of what happened and what he had seen and what he had experienced.

But before we turn to John chapter two, where this story is found, I thought I would start by sharing with you a miracle that I experienced way back when I was at university. Have you ever prayed for a miracle of provision? Hands up. I'm pretty much sure most of us would have. I have prayed that prayer many a times and and it's been answered many times.

But in this one instance, it was answered in a miraculous way. And I haven't actually ever shared this miracle other than with my family. So it was pretty cool. I was a uni student and uni students, even back then when petrol was cheaper still lived on tight budgets. And I was living in uni, living in Eleanora and going to uni up in Southport.

And I was driving this clunker of a car and, you know, it was tight. Life was tight as a full time uni student, part time worker. Now, there are two kinds of people in this world, and I've got a little graphic to demonstrate. There are the people who get to half empty and decide that it is time to get straight to the petrol station.

And then there are others who hit empty and the little light comes on and you just start singing, This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. And you know that you've got another spot. solid trip to work and back and you've got till the next day, right? Who's with me? Yeah, there's a few of you. Okay.

So on this particular occasion, it's one o'clock in the morning. I'd had a big night. doing an assignment. No, I promise. Legit. This was my life. I was at the library. Uni Ruth is a figment of your imagination. I was in the library finishing off an assignment. It was one o'clock. I had to make the journey back to Eleanora, glance down the few lights on.

I'm like, It's okay. We've got this. I know my car. About halfway home, starts to shudder. That was unfamiliar. And it just stops. And I like, I'm on the M1. I pull over. I'm on the shoulder. And I'm like, okay, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I didn't have a mobile phone at that point. And I was like, okay, I need some help.

turning it over, nothing. And so I love that Phil shared last week, the kind of prayers that we should pray. They're just honest. They're not flowery. So my prayer legit was just God. I'm out of fuel. I stated the obvious. I'm out of fuel. I need help. And I figured that that help could come in a variety of different ways.

There were multiple things that could happen. I did not expect the help to come in the form that it did in front of my eyes. I looked down. My car, at this point, was off, so the fuel gauge is empty. In front of my eyes, the gauge shifts. Quarter, half, three quarters, full tank of gas. The car is off. It shouldn't even be able to indicate, right, how much fuel you have.

And I turn the key, And it started and I just, I'm pretty simple. I just thanked God and I drove home. It was a miracle of provision, one that I've never experienced anything like that again in that kind of way. And certainly one that I have never forgotten. I was in need of provision that day. And I've discovered since then that, Every provision starts with a decision.

Now, in this particular instance, my need for provision started with a very poor decision to leave the car. You know, not fill it up in time. And I would like to say that I've learnt my lesson, but like, he's done it before. But also, also I know don't put the Lord your God to the test. So now when the light comes on, I go straight to the fuel station and I fill up just like I did on Thursday when the light came on.

Sometimes we're in need of a miracle because of a decision that we've made. Sometimes we are in need of a miracle through no fault of our own. But because we're impacted by the decision that somebody else has made. Somebody else's poor decision is now affecting us. And sometimes we're in need of a miracle, not even because it was the result of any decision making.

It's just that we live in the world that we live in and the world is broken. And so it's just life. And so, you know, maybe, I don't know, everyone's scenario is slightly different. And I don't know the miracle that you are looking to God for right now, but we all in that, in that moment, we face a decision.

And so this was the first miracle that I really distinctly remember in my walk of faith. And it was so out of the box and it was such a only God moment. kind of moment. And I've, I've never forgotten it. And it surely does lift your faith. But I want to ask you this morning, have you seen God show up for you?

Because he does time and time again, he answers prayers with the provision of a job. He answers prayers because an invoice that's been overdue has just been paid into your account just at the right time. He answers prayers for miracles with an opening at a specialist appointment that comes up earlier.

than you were expecting it to come up. He answers miraculous prayers by providing a house, you know, to rent in an insane rental market. And Phil shared with us last week that every single day there are miracles that are happening. There are provisions, there are gifts from God that are available to us.

And so often we just miss seeing them because we're not looking for them. And even though This story of turning water to wine happened over 2, 000 years ago. The reason I'm excited to explore it this morning is that I think that there are some keys and some lessons in there that we can apply to our faith and our lives even today.

And in this story we're going to actually see that every provision starts with a decision. So where we pick up the story today Jesus has not really started his public ministry. Like he's gone around and he's gathered his disciples and he's been baptized by John the Baptist and he's been preaching.

But where we pick up the story, this is actually the first recorded miracle that he does. And so we're in chapter two, and It's just 11 verses this morning. But what I want to do is literally go through it sort of sentence by sentence and unpack what it means to us. Now I could literally camp here all week because there's so much in it, but I'm just going to trust that the things that God wants us to do.

to hear this morning are the things that he's going to pull out. So let's kick it off. John chapter two, and it is verse one. And it says on the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. So the first thing I think that it's interesting that his first miracle occurs at a wedding.

When you think about the fact that The church is often referred to as the bride of Christ and Jesus as the bridegroom. But anyway, in this particular setting, weddings looked very different to how they do today. Weddings were feasts that went on for two or three days, sometimes even up to a week. And people were invited from all over.

Family and friends traveled often days to come and to celebrate. And it was all paid for. by the groom and his family. Now, I'm sure that the fathers of the bride here are going, maybe that's a good lesson that we could reintroduce to our culture. But that was what happened. And they weren't private events.

They were these beautiful pictures of community and celebration. And I love that that's where we find Jesus. And I think that there's a lesson for us even right in that, that Jesus and his disciples were invited. No, it's good. Yeah. To be a part of celebrations and it's good to be a part of the community and as Christ followers That's where we should lean in so into moments like that.

We should be a part of community and hospitality But we'll continue verse 3 says that when the wine was gone Jesus's mother said to him They have no more wine. It was kind of like a, I have no fuel moment. She was just stating the obvious. They are out now. They can't just go down to the bottle and restock enough wine to feed their guests and drink for their guests to drink for the next couple of days.

And running out of wine was actually a pretty big problem back then. Like, Big in terms of like your social standing, it would have been really, really embarrassing for the groom and his family. Maybe the bride's family would look at them and think, Oh my goodness, what's my daughter married into? How is he going to provide for her kind of thing?

Like it's an embarrassing moment, but it's not a life or death scenario, is it? I used to always read this miracle and think. It's not that big a deal. Like, so, what? They run out of wine. Maybe the wedding has to finish a little bit early. Maybe the guests are a little bit annoyed. Maybe the groom's a little bit embarrassed, but this is no like, life or death scenario.

It's, it's not an opening of blind eyes or a raising of Lazarus from the dead. Like it's just wine. So many of the other miracles that we read about in the Bible are answers to really big things. But Mary still decides to go to Jesus. And I love that, because that tells me something about Jesus. Tells me that He is compassionate, and He is kind, and that He cares, and that He's moved by love.

And it tells me something about you and I as well. It tells me that we can go to God. We can go to God with our everyday circumstances, our daily joys and our daily challenges, the things that affect our families, the things that affect our communities. And maybe even this morning, right now, you're thinking about a situation that is currently affecting you.

Maybe it's a shortage. In an area that you have a relationship that needs to be restored A healing for your body. Maybe it is a financial need a personal struggle You know life doesn't always go as we plan and sometimes challenges arrive even in the midst of a joyous Celebration like a wedding but we Can go to him trusting that he will want to intervene because nothing is ever too insignificant You about.

What does it say? That we can cast all our cares on him because he cares for us. So whatever it is that you're facing, big or small, you can take it to God in prayer. You know what else I noticed here? It said, that Mary said they have no more wine. She didn't use a whole lot of words telling Jesus how she thought he should fix the situation.

She didn't share with Jesus. I think this is what you should do. She just said, here's my need. Let's continue. Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come. Now you might think like me that that actually sounds a little bit rude. Who calls their mother woman? But in this context and in this culture, the term that he used, it sounds a little bit rough when we translate it, but it was, It was actually a term of respect and honor and courtesy.

And so basically he's saying in a really honoring way, Hey mom, why are you coming to me? My time is not yet. Like, I don't know. Maybe he felt like it was a little bit too early in his ministry to draw, draw attention to himself. But yeah, he wasn't being disrespectful. He was actually showing honor. And so then what does his mom do?

Mary says to the servants,

She just turns around from Jesus and says to the servants, get ready. I don't know what he's going to do, but just get ready to do whatever he says. She knew, didn't she, that the miracles that seem so supernatural to us are just natural for our God. I mean, she was the mother of Jesus. She knew who He was.

She knew that He was the Son of God. She'd grown up with Him for the last 30 years, and we don't know, nothing in Scripture tells us that But do you ever wonder about what Jesus was like as a kid? And like, maybe Mary had had some kind of inside view to that. Like she's cooking up the muffins and she's out of almond meal.

And instead of having to go to the store, she's just like, Hey, Jesus, help your mother out. Like, we don't know. We don't know what that looked like, but we do know that she knows who he is. He is Jesus. He is the Son of God. And so she is bold in her belief. And did you know that we can approach Him with the same boldness?

Because we know who He is. And there's that beautiful scripture that tells us that we can confidently approach the throne of God with, with confidence because of who He is. And we will find mercy and grace. in our time of need. The source of our confidence in approaching God is Jesus himself. All right, continuing on, it says nearby stood six stone water jars.

So these are not the little jugs that the women would go to the well with. These were massive big stone jars that were probably close to a meter high, and they could hold like 30. well, yeah, 30 gallons of water. So we're talking like 100 litres of water. Like these are big and they were used in that time for ceremonial cleansing.

It was dusty and it was dirty. And so people would arrive and there would be this ceremonial washing that would take place. And so Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. And so they filled them to the brim. And then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.

And they did. So how simple have you ever thought about that? Like there was no, he didn't even touch the water that we're aware of. Like this just says that he tells them. go and do it. There's no slight of hand. There's no smoke and mirrors. There's no even massive proclamation. He just says with such dignity and quiet sort of strength, just this really simple direction, just fill, fill it up.

And so they did so. And it says then that the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. And he did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. And then he called the bridegroom aside, and what did he say? He said, everyone brings out the choice wine first, and we know why they do that, don't we?

Well, you can still enjoy it. And then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. John doesn't actually tell us when the miracle occurred. Did it occur as the water was being poured into the jars? Did it occur while it was in the jars or did it happen as they were drawing it out to go and present it to the bridegroom the master of the banquet?

We don't actually know. All we know is that miraculously by the power of God, water was transformed, transformed into wine. That tells me that, His power is down to an atomic level. He was able to change the molecular structure of something. And he created wine and this is not just good wine. This is the best wine.

You know, you can almost picture the master of the banquet. tasting it, can't you? Back when I was an event manager, we used to have wineries come in and do wine tastings for us because they wanted us to select their wine to serve with our meals at the events. And I was terrible at it. I, I couldn't, but I think the master of the banquet reminds me of someone like Cam, like he would have poured the glass and he would have swirled it.

a little bit. He would have maybe held it up and drunk in the aroma, the fruit, the whatever else it was, it was flavored with. He would have, you know, noted the color, the depth of that beautiful red wine, and he would have tasted it, and he would have tasted the, the notes and the flavor within the wine.

And then he declared basically that this was no cheap bottom shelf two for one wine. This was the highest quality bottle of wine that you could get. It's the best. And then there was the abundance of it. I did the maths. I'm that person. I have to go there. Six jars, each holding 30 gallons, is how many gallons?

180 gallons of water. How many litres is that? Don't worry, I had a calculator. 680 litres of water. If you were to pour that, of wine, if you were to pour that into water, into wine bottles, you're talking about 900 litres. bottles of wine. There was an abundance. There wasn't just enough. It's a big party.

Absolutely. Do you know what I love? There wasn't just enough for the bride and the groom. There was enough for the entire community. It brought joy to everybody that was gathered there. This miracle, when you actually unpack it like that and you think about the power of God at a molecular level, is no less impressive than all of those other miracles.

After all, if God can command molecule, molecules to reconfigure, can he not command Lazarus? to come out of the grave. If our God can command atoms to change, can he not heal your body? Can he not meet your need? He is all powerful and he is omnipotent. His majesty and his mastery and his authority are demonstrated when he turns water into wine.

He can supply your need. There is nothing that is too big and there is nothing that is too small for him to take to. He is not a distant God. He is present. in our celebrations and he is present in our challenges. He meets us in our everyday lives and he can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

And continue this, this whole story wraps up in verse 11. And it says what Jesus did here was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory. And his disciples, what? They believed. in him. This first recorded miracle points to Jesus. It points to who he is. It displayed his glory and it increased the faith of his disciples.

They believed in him as Jesus Christ, the son of God. And it points us. See, Jesus in this miracle actually started turning religious customs upside down. There's some powerful symbolism and foreshadowing. And we talk a little bit about foreshadowing. And foreshadowing just means like to tell of what is not here yet, to point and to allude to something that is to come.

And when you think about that in the context of this miracle, right, he used water jars that were used for ceremonial cleaning, you know, the cleaning that you had to do yourself, the purifying of themselves and the water that was turned to wine. Like you think about the significance of the wine and how it was Only three and a half years later, Jesus was explaining in the Last Supper, the significance of the wine and what that meant, that it was going to be His blood that was shed for you and for I, to make a way, once and for all, the perfect offering for So that we could be in relationship with Christ with God in it with a loving and holy God, you know in the Old Testament People lived under the law and the blood of animals was offered as a sacrifice But when Jesus died on the cross He became the sacrifice and that's where grace was introduced to us and that's what made grace possible.

So this miracle, the, the turning of water into wine at a wedding, kind of points to the transition where the old was going to become new by his death on the cross. A whole new covenant, a covenant of love that would be available to each and every one of us. For God so loved. the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

And that is the greatest miracle of all. And Kev alluded to that this morning as he shared about Ann's story that, you know, you, we at Village actually on this week, I think Ree said something about discovering again the beauty of that miracle that we live in. We're living in this. Ongoing miracle and as followers of Jesus Christ.

We get to live that every single day and Jesus used pots right of clay or stone in that first miracle But now he uses earthen vessels He uses us and we get to contain the wine the beautiful Holy Spirit that he is left with us To be constant and present. He never leaves or forsakes us like Kev said before and so in the midst of our challenges We have Him with us in the midst of the consequences of our decisions, in the midst of the impact of other people's decisions, and in the midst of a broken world where we are hurt just because life happens, He is with us, and we have His constant presence, we have His peace, we have His hope, and we have His joy.

Jesus said, In this world, we will have trouble. And it's true, life can be really hard sometimes. And there are a bunch of you, I'm sure, who are waiting for your miracle. And there are prayers that you have prayed and maybe they're not being answered the way that you had hoped and prayed that they would.

My encouragement to you this morning is that we would lift our eyes off the circumstance. And we would look to the winemaker, the one who has all authority and all power, and that we would know in the midst of the wait and the disappointment, the goodness of his presence and the hope that he gives and the peace that is beyond comprehension, knowing that he will never leave and never forsake us.

A few years ago I went to the doctor because I had spotted a little freckle on the top of my foot that had gotten really, really dark. And so I went along to the doctor and they did a biopsy and it came back that it was melanoma. And so it was only tiny though, so they said, come back and we'll take another biopsy and maybe in this second biopsy we'll have gotten everything that we need to get and that will be it.

So we went back and that wasn't the case. And so I went and I had surgery. They did like a skin flap thing and removed it all. And all was well. 12 months later in the same spot, the freckle reappeared. And so we were like, Oh dear, what are we going to do? So I went to the doctor, had another biopsy and I was praying, God, answer my prayer the way that I want you to answer it.

Please let the biopsy come back. clean. And it didn't. The melanoma was back. And so we thought, okay, that's all right. What's next? Next part of the journey, you have to go have surgery again. Only this time, because we had to go a little bit deeper and they'd already had a surgery there. There was not enough skin left, you know, to cover it up.

So this time it was a skin graft. And so my prayer this time was, God, please just let this surgery be uneventful. Let it just be simple and easy and that will be the miracle. And that didn't happen. I had a reaction to the anesthetic that resulted in seizures. And so I came to, I remember coming to down in the recovery room.

just unable to control my body. Just my whole body was just in racked with these seizures. But I had my, I was very present and I could see about eight doctors gathered at the end of my bed and they were talking about taking me to ICU because they weren't sure what was happening. And I remember in that moment in a very similar prayer to back when I was in the car, I just said, God help me.

And I would like to tell you that the seizures just stopped, but they didn't. But in that moment, I experienced the greatest peace that I have ever experienced in my life. It literally flooded my mind and my soul. And I sat there, Lay there with these seizures knowing that this is the peace that Jesus gives that passes Understanding that your mind cannot comprehend that the world can't give and the world can't take away This is the come.

This is the peace that comes from being in the presence of God and that is the miracle. That is the miracle. About three hours later, the seizures started to slow down. They were administering different drugs and I eventually ended up on a ward and by the next morning the seizures had completely stopped.

But I still got my miracle. The miracle was that in the midst of everything happening, even though my prayers weren't being answered the way that I had hoped and maybe even told God that he should answer them, I had his peace. a peace that passes all understanding. We often pray for a miracle hoping that our trial will just disappear.

Sometimes it does. Sometimes God shows up in a miraculous way and that happens. Other times it doesn't. But we still have the miracle in that moment of his constant presence with us. He never, ever leaves us. God is faithful. And He is good. And as we lift our eyes from whatever circumstance, whatever lack that we have at the moment, and we place them on the winemaker, on Jesus, the provider who has all authority and all power, then that is the miracle.

We are never alone. His presence is with us and his peace is in us, even as we walk through fire or the storm and the world seems really shaky. You make a decision. That's the decision that brings the provision. that you would trust, that you would believe in him. You know, the four gospels we were reading from John this morning, but the four gospels in total record about 37 miracles that Jesus did.

Miracles like healing people and calming storms and walking on water and feeding of thousands of people and the raising of the dead and countless other miracles as well that weren't recorded. But all of these miracles occurred not to entertain, but to point people to Jesus, that they would recognize who he was and the power behind him.

And at the end of John, after John has gone through and recorded. are the seven signs in John. We often refer to them too. He says this, he says that Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. So there's the ones that we read about, but then there's more, but it goes on to say, but these ones are written that you may Believe that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the son of God, and that by believing you will have life.

You will have life in his name, regardless of what goes on here on earth. We have life in his name. We have life eternal with him forever, but in the midst of the storm, in the midst of the fire, we have life eternal. Even then, we have his presence with us. A new covenant and new wine. What circumstance do you find yourself in today?

Maybe your circumstance is the result of a poor decision that you made. Maybe it's not. Maybe you're just feeling the effects of somebody else's decision. And maybe it's just life. Life in a broken world. Sometimes there's no one to blame. May you be encouraged this morning that the miracles that we find in the word of God point us to him.

And in the same way, when we share miracles with one another, the way Kev shared Annie's miracle with us, that points us to him. To God and you know what else when you start looking for the miracles in your life when you look back and you start Realizing all of the different ways that God has provided for you small or large It raises your faith and you realize that all of these things are pointing you to Jesus Why?

So that you would perhaps believe for the first time, perhaps believe again, that he is good and that he is faithful and that he never leaves us and that he never forsakes us. He is the Messiah, the Son of God. And by believing in him, you have life in his name. Can you imagine a community like that? Can you imagine a community where no one was casting blame for the things that had happened, but they simply took their circumstance and they lifted their eyes to Jesus.

And miracles were happening because people were choosing to focus on him. As you choose to believe and you bring your circumstance to him, remember that nothing is too big and nothing is too small. Mary went with him, went to him with a shortage of wine. He can turn water into wine. He can make the ordinary into something extraordinary and he does it in his way and in his time he makes everything beautiful.

Would you pray with me this morning? God, I thank you for the greatest miracle. And that is that we get to be in relationship with you. God, we are forgiven and we are walking in freedom and we have life and life abundant here and now because of your great love and your mercy and your grace. And I thank you, God, for your goodness and your faithfulness to us.

And I pray, Lord God, that we would be A group of people who invite you to every part of our worlds. God, that every circumstance we would present to you. I thank you that you're interested in not only the big, massive, huge things that we're facing, but also our daily struggles. And I thank you for the way that you have moved in the past.

Remind us of those times, God, and help us to believe for that again. God, I know that everyone in this room this morning or listening online is believing for something. And I thank you that beyond this life, regardless of the outcome of our prayers, that our security and our eternity is secure in you. But God, here and now, as we choose to believe and to trust you, I pray that we would know in such a real way, your hope and your joy and your peace that passes all understanding and the fact that you are present with us, that you never ever leave us or forsake us.

God, as we lift our eyes from our circumstances in this moment, even right now, we think about those things that we're believing you for. I pray collectively God that we would continue to believe that you can do that thing. God that you will do that thing. But even if our prayer is not answered the way that we thought it would, that we would still believe in you because you are Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, and that we have life here and now.

and for all of eternity in you. And we thank you for that in Jesus name. We're just going to sing a song this morning that has been on my heart this last couple of weeks and just reinforces to me what this means as we step it out. That even though life sometimes feels chaotic and hard, and even in the midst of whatever it is you're facing, you can believe that God.

Can do something because he is good and he is faithful and he is with you and he will never fail you. Thanks team