John 2:1–12 (NIV)

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. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “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.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Come and See

Introduction

Raising kids gives us parents some crazy perspective, doesn’t it?

I’d also say, that as a kids grow into adults, they also have a unique perspective.

For those of you who have not met my family yet, I have three boys - Jaden, who is 14. Jude, who is 10, and Jaxon is 8. I have my three little lions.

And recently my oldest son celebrated his birthday and it kind of took the wind out of me. When he turned 13 we initiated him into a journey of manhood. This was a big, and is a big moment for him and us. And celebrating his 14th birthday made me think, that was a fast year! Like that felt like it was 2-3 months, but it was a whole, entire year.

The saying goes like this, the days are long but the years are short.

When we’re in the moment it feels long, but when time has passed and as we look back at photos, our perspective changes and we find ourselves saying, “that went by fast!”

Same period of time. Two different perspectives.

Transition

And I want to talk to you about perspectives this morning as we embark on this new series that will carry us all the way into Easter. There is some perspective about the Gospel of John that you need in order to read John the right way as it relates to the other gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Text

So let’s talk about the author, John.

John was the self-proclaimed Beloved Disciple. No one called John that, but John called himself that. So we need to know that the man that we are working with had no shortage of self esteem. He let everyone know, I am Jesus’ favorite.

What makes that even more funny, is that no one else was alive to call cap.

John was the last of the 12 Apostles to die. So I guess, if you outlive your peers, you get to write the history books.

He who dies last gets to tell the stories.

But the reason I say all of that is because John’s gospel is in my belief the most powerful of the four gospels. Now, that’s just my belief, and you can pick your favorite, but let me tell you why John’s gospel is my favorite.

When Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified, John was the only disciple there at the cross. All of the other disciples left. Even Peter, who fashioned himself to be the bravest of the bunch. He sissied out and he was at a bonfire, rather than with Jesus after he was arrested.

John was the only one there to see Jesus on the cross.

The scriptures record that when Jesus was hanging on the cross, John was there as well as Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Jesus looks at John and tells him, “Behold, your mother,” which meant, “it’s your job to take care of my Mom now.”

Everyone else is gone… but not John.

Now, fast forward to when John is in exile for preaching about Jesus. John writes the Book of Revelation, the last book of your Bible.

John is on the Island of Patmos, which is in modern day Greece, serving out a prison sentence, and he is caught up in a vision of heaven. While he has this vision he gets a download of what the future, the apocalypse, and heaven looks like. That is the last book of our Bible, it is the book of Revelation, and it’s not meant to scare you, it is meant to inform you.

Now here’s the key. In that vision, John sees Jesus again.

Before I say what I am about to tell you, understand that all of the other disciples are dead and they do not get this vision. Only John gets this vision.

So John is the only one to see what happened to Jesus after he ascended back into Heaven.

The last time Peter, Andrew, Nathaniel, Philip, and the rest of the disciples, saw Jesus it was when Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection. That was it for them. They have no idea what happens after that.

But John does.

John sees Jesus enthroned in heaven. John sees that everything that Jesus said about his Kingdom not being of this world was right. John said, “I saw a throne and the one who sat on that throne and he was Jesus.”

So here’s why I say all of that, John is the only disciple to see Jesus on the cross and to see Jesus on the throne.

And that perspective changes everything.

So let’s read how John begins his gospel. Let’s read some of John’s highlights:

John 1:1 NIV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:2 NIV

He was with God in the beginning.

John 1:14 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Every other gospel begins with the physical birth of Jesus. But John’s gospel tells us that when God was creating the heavens and the earth, Jesus was there. Jesus didn’t begin at his physical birth.

Jesus was there when the God said let there be light.

Jesus was there when God spoke everything into existence.

Jesus was there when God formed Adam out of the dust that he created and he was witness to when God breathed his very breath into Adam.

Jesus was there for all of it. And when God’s creation project fell off the rails, there was only one person able to get things back on track, and that person is Jesus.

So John tells us that Jesus became flesh and he dwelled among us.

And we didn’t just behold a physical and lesser version of Jesus, but we beheld his glory.

All of it.

Jesus, the God man, fully God and also fully man.

And the rest of John’s gospel is written so that we see Jesus in this same way.

No other gospel is in written like this. None of them.

So we have to see the text with the perspective that the writer of the text had when he wrote it.

Come and See

Now before we can get to the wedding reception, John shows us something amazing in the text.

John records the first two men to follow Jesus. These two men were followers of Jesus’ cousin, and the one who prepared people for the announcement of the Messiah, John the Baptist, and when John announced that Jesus was the Lamb of God and the Messiah, these two men decided that they would try and follow him instead.

John 1:35–39 (NIV)

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

I want you to see the words of Jesus. What do you want?

No, not those words. Those are funny, but those aren’t the words I want you to pay attention to.

“Come, and you will see.” Those are the words I want you to pay attention to.

Those simple five words were how Jesus began to save the world.

Come, and you will see.

And in the next passages of scripture we see this play out once again.

John 1:43 (NIV)

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

John 1:45 (NIV)

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

John 1:46 (NIV)

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

To follow Jesus you need to first come and see.

The world in which Jesus stepped into was a world that was marked by finding your side and staying in it.

Jew or Gentile. Find your side, and stay there.

You followed the laws or you didn’t. If you didn’t, you don’t get to be in my life.

Are you free or a slave? If you’re a slave you have different rights. It’s the haves and the have nots.

There wasn’t a patriarchy, there was a pecking order, and if you were a woman you were on the wrong side of it.

Even within the separation, there was separation.

What kind of Jew are you? A pure blooded Jew or one of those mixed kind… a Samaritan.

This was a world divided.

And Jesus, King Jesus, steps into the world right at this cultural moment and he says to them, “Come, and you will see.”

Who did Jesus tell to come and see?

Jesus told the Jew, come and you will see.

Jesus told the tax collector, come and you will see.

Jesus told the fisherman, come and you will see.

Jesus told the social justice advocate, come and you will see.

Jesus said these five important words to people who were not all on the same side.

He would tell people to come and see, and it caused a divided world to unite in order to follow Jesus, who many were claiming was the Messiah.

Come and see is the foundation to having a personal relationship with Jesus.

To come and see is an invitation to experience Jesus.

And here is what happens next in the text. It shows us what happened to those two men who remained with Jesus for the day.

John 1:40–42 (NIV)

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

After Andrew had spent the day with Jesus it was clear to him that he needed to introduce his brother Simon Peter to Jesus.

What happened on that day? We don’t know, and that’s not the point. The point is, after you experience Jesus for yourself, the next thing that you should do is bring others to meet him too. Can I take it a layer deeper, you tell the people you love the most about Jesus.

That’s what Andrew did, and you need to know what this meant.

Peter, not Andrew, was the first leader of the Christian Church. Peter would become the very first Pastor of the Church in Jerusalem. But if there’s no Andrew, there’s no Peter.

Some of you here are an Andrew waiting to happen. Some of you were a Peter waiting for an invitation.

But it’s going to take you caring enough about the people that you love to tell them about Jesus.

The Jesus I Never Knew

Now I need to start connecting some of these thoughts together with you.

Why did I spend all that time at the beginning of my sermon talking about who Jesus is?

It’s because some of you talk about Jesus like he’s a church service.

Jesus is not a church service.

Jesus is not a thing you attend at the beginning of the week.

You attend a church service at the beginning of the week to gather with other people so that we can talk about Jesus, we can sing about Jesus, we can preach about Jesus, and we can invite people to experienceJesus.

We’ve got this whole thing about church backwards.

We don’t gather for people, we gather for Jesus.

We don’t create a place for people, we create a place for Jesus, and people are welcome to come and be a part of this place that we have prepared to encounter Jesus.

Now maybe you have never heard it said like this, but I want to be very clear about our intentions. This service isn’t about you. And listen, I love you. I love your kids. I love doing life with you.

But some of us have missed the point about why we gather. And do you want to know how it is evidenced? When we start saying things like, “Why don’t we sing this kind of song?”, “Why don’t you preach more like this?”, “Why don’t we do more of this?”

Now, if these questions are aimed at doing things that would bring us closer to Jesus, then they’re valid.

If these are questions that would allow us to grow deeper in relationship with Jesus, then they’re valid.

If these are questions we are asking so that we can introduce more people to Jesus, they’re valid.

But if these questions are only to make you feel better, then you’ve missed the reason why we gather.

If it’s the kind of preaching that makes you feel better about your sin.

If it’s the kind of singing that makes you feel nostalgia.

If it’s the kind of programmation that serves yours unique family dynamic.

We miss the point of it all.

But we’re hitting a reset button right now.

We gather for Jesus!

We gather to celebrate Him!

We gather to proclaim the goodness of God!

We come to feast on His word. Not my word. Not the “trendy word”. But we feast on the words of Jesus.

And then, if there is anyone who is asking, “Hey, I want more of this Jesus! What do I do next?” We rally together around this person and do everything we can to teach them about Jesus and plug them into the community of the church so that they too can experience the amazing life-giving experience of following Jesus.

See What Jesus Did

Now let me take you back to our Bible reading.

Jesus, his mother, and those five disciples of Jesus were invited to this wedding in Cana.

Very few people know who Jesus is at this point. His mother does. And these five disciples are starting to figure it out. But we are going to read about a moment. A moment where Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding.

But that moment doesn’t mean much if there is not anyone around to “come and see.”

And this miracle, in the big picture, seems kind of trivial.

We read that while at the wedding, the wine ran out. That’s not exactly a world crushing problem. And Mary, Jesus’ mother, tells Jesus to do something about it. Now at first Jesus is not inclined to do anything. Jesus probably wanted his first miracle to be of greater significance than this. I don’t know that, but that’s what I am reading into based on Jesus’ response.

But the miracle was less about the miracle, and more about who was in the room.

I’m not talking about the wedding party.

I’m not talking about the headwaiter.

I’m talking about the men who decided to come and see.

John 2:11 (NIV)

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

You can’t believe if you don’t come and see.

And you can’t come and see unless you are invited by someone.

Once these men came and saw, they then believed and left everything to follow Jesus.

Conclusion

I am going to close this message differently today. The first thing that I want to do is this…

I want to pray that you experience Jesus in a new a fresh way, right now. Some of you in this room need to reconsider how you’ve made much of yourself and little of Jesus, and you need to shift your priorities. We need to make much of Jesus. The author and finisher of our faith.

Let’s stop right now and just take a moment to sit in His presence.

[lead a prayer]

Now, before we go there’s one more very important thing that I want to do with you all. The Hosts are coming down the aisles now and they’re going to hand each of you an Impact Card. This Impact Card is a commitment to do three things, and begin praying for 3 people. Let’s read this together.

Now the next thing you are going to do is you are going to write down three people that you are praying for you. People that you love. People that are without Jesus. Over the next few weeks you are going to pray for these three people. Your prayer will be accompanied by a conversation, and eventually an invitation to “come and see”. My ask is that you invite these people to join you for Easter at Lighthouse in 4 weeks. And together, we are going to pray that everyone on this card would encounter Jesus, and surrender their lives to Him.