The First Sign

What is the last thing God told you to do? How do you know you didnt tell yourself? Hard to quantify?

2 Corinthians 4:18 “as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

John 2:1–12 ESV

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 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), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

The Evangelist writes his gospel with ‘the hour’ as the umbrella theme over the sub-themes of knowing, light, etc.

I guess before we go any further we need to deal with Jesus’ response to His mom: Woman, what does this have to do with me? Would you mind looking at another part of His story with me? John 19:26 will give us some understanding to the phrasing of Jesus’ words. In the most vulnerable, tender moment of His life He used the same term for her: Woman, behold, your son! For today’s text the NIV preferred the language ‘dear woman, why do you involve me?’ which softens the understanding for us in our language structure.

The wedding celebration seems to have been organized by Mary. She was absolutely concerned with the family running out of wine. Socially embarrassing at the very least. Many scholars believe Mary saw a perfect opportunity for Jesus to first reveal Himself as Messiah. His statement ‘my hour has not yet come’ reminds her Jesus is on a divine timetable and the revelation of His purpose would not happen today.

Did you know you are on a divine timetable as well? Even more than ‘there is a time to laugh and a time to cry, plant pull up, live die’ as Ecclesiastes puts it. Even more than ‘all the days of my life, before a one of them began, are written in your book’. We are absolutely bookended, beginning and end of our days on this earth, which are numbered btw. We are built, created for ETERNITY. And the divine timetable includes eternity. I know, time will be no more, but there is a PLAN for eternity. And we operate on God’s plan.

SO when I get in a hurry and wish away my ____… Or when I get in a hurry and push ahead of God’s plan, His timetable...

Some of your are needing me to say ‘when I get stuck or fall behind God’s timetable’ because EITHER that’s your struggle (you often find yourself there) OR its your pet peeve when the people around you just wont move fast enough.

Two things: When the miscarriage, cancer diagnosis or unexpected death makes time stand still, you are still on God’s timetable. It may well feel like you are stuck, you are unable to untrack or the world is passing you by. Sit still. Remember it was God’s timetable for Jesus to wait 2 days after He heard of Lazarus’ death before going to raise him up again. Let God come to you in your stillness.

When you are antsy and want to push forward. “Dont just sit there, do something!” Is often terrible advice. Henry Blackaby taught thousands of people “Don’t just do something, sit there!” Because just doing something is often doing the wrong thing. Wait. Sit still. Until God reveals what is next, keep doing what is last and KNOW you are on God’s timetable.

What it the last thing God told you to do? Last week, thru the message your pastor brought you, God told you to be in the Word. Did you take this advice? Did you abide in the word?

Did you know God wrote sin into the book we referred to earlier? The scripture it comes from is Psalm 139 btw. For some of you He wrote on April 22, 2023 she will get angry at her husband. She will say things she regrets. But the repentance she lives thru this day will remind her of my grace. It will teach her how to better show grace. I will take all her circumstances and use them for good because she loves me and is called according to my purposes.

Back on track. The other thing to deal with today is faith. v.11 contains the sentence And his disciples believed in him. They believed him in because of the combination of his words and his deeds. The first sign created faith in them. What has created faith in you?

Faith to the point of salvation. Whosoever believes in Him… People need to see deeds match up with words in SOMEONE for this kind of faith. Imagine if someone read the Bible but only had access to Christians in the form of Mark Driscoll in the first decade of this century, Joel Osteen in the second decade of this century and Michael Todd in the current decade. Mark Driscoll started Mars Hill church and became so arrogant his leadership team kicked him out of the church. He somewhat imploded as a result. Not a great set of deeds to match what I’m reading in scripture. Joel Osteen was given many opportunities to affirm the truth of scripture on a national platform and refused to again and again. Actions LOUDLY contradicting scripture. Michael Todd stood in his own pulpit a few weeks ago and, unprompted, made the statement “I really wish God had made a third option. Male, Female, Box C we could check. It would have made things so much easier. What to do with non-binary? I dont know.” His actions in the pulpit wishing against the truth of scripture.

Do people who are being drawn to salvation see matching words and deeds from you?

Then there is faith past the point of salvation. The fleece was a great place for Gideon to start but by the time the army was whittled down to 300, God was talking to him and Gideon didnt need external proof. He wants our faith to grow like this. What has God used, past the point of salvation, to grow your faith?

Because for us to operate on His timetable, we need to trust Him.