Do Whatever He Tells You

There was a young boy in his school class, and his teacher was telling them how foolish the Bible is and the stories written in the Bible. In particular, she pointed out the story where Jesus turned the water into wine. She asked the boy to stand up and said, "Surely you do not believe this nonsense of Jesus turning water into wine."

He told her, "I’m not sure if Jesus turned water into wine because I was not there, but I do know that at our house He turned beer into bread. My daddy got saved and quit drinking and now we have food on our table."

Atheist today are trying so hard to disprove the bible by saying that the miracles can not happen. As a believer, I truly believe every miracle that has and will happen that is in the bible. But as a believer, I tell atheist to stop trying to disprove the miracle, and look at the message Christ was saying in the miracle. Like in our text for today.

It is the proverbial I can not see the forest because of the trees.

Even Christians today try to explain off the drinking of wine by saying “Oh Christ made new wine, so it was really just grape juice.” No no Boo Boo! They drank wine back in biblical times. It was an important part of their culture.

Now that does not mean you can drink on the property of NEC. Again...no no boo boo.

Our culture does not know when to say stop. In fact, most make it a game on how much they can drink.

We are coming into the festival season here in south Louisiana, and it annoys me so much. Not because of the festivals. I actually love the rich and historic culture that we have in some of the festivals. It is because of the idiots that can not and will not limit how much they drink.

OK, let me get off my soapbox and get back to the text today. If you have your bible turn to John chapter 2 verses 1 thru 12.

John 2:1–12 CSB

On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.” “What has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” “Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants. Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons. “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.” And they did. When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. After this, he went down to Capernaum, together with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they stayed there only a few days.

Let’s pray.

Did you catch the message in these verses? Let’s look at verses 4-5 again.

John 2:4–5 CSB

“What has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” “Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants.

First let me say, Mary was not a Cajun momma. If she was, Jesus would have gotten a flip flop to the side of the head. “Call me woman! Boy, I spent 11 hundred days carrying you, and 83 hours in labor. You better respect me.”

In all actuality, by Mary’s simple statement, “Do whatever he tells you,” we can learn so much about the Christian character. We get an understanding of role, of obedience, and of preparedness.

Role

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is like everyone else, we must approach Christ as a sinner in need of a Savior.

Christ was not being disrespectful, he was addressing Mary as a disciple, not as his mother. Christ addresses this again later in his ministry.

Matthew 12:46–50 CSB

While he was still speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to the one who was speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

We learn it is about role. Mary, the mother of the Savior of the world, had to approach Christ in the correct mindset.

As a disciple and as a servant to the kingdom.

As parents, we love to show off our kids. My little Timmy is a neurosurgeon. My Jessica is a prima ballerina. My little Johnny is wanted in 12 states, he is really trying for all 50. I am so proud.

Mary had known in her heart that her little boy could do miracles. We do not know this for sure, but she probably had seen things as Jesus grew up. As a mom, she wanted to show her boy off, but Christ tells her, as a disciple, it is not the time to show off. My hour has not yet come.

We learn from Mary’s statement, that she understood her role and she also showed us the need for obedience.

Obedience

Mary, resigns herself to her role, but sets the presidency of obedience by telling the servants, do as he says. She knew that Jesus could do the miracle, but first the action of obedience must be done.

Obedience. This is a foreign word to today’s society.

“You ain’t gonna tell me what to do. I is a grown man.”

Earlier I had mentioned atheist. Their main issue with the bible is that they see it as a set of rules that they do not want to follow. Or be told what to follow.

Today’s Christian is no better. In fact it is probably worst. We are suppose to know what the bible says, yet we pick a choose what we want to follow.

Oh I do not murder, but the second someone makes you mad, you destroy them by putting all their business out in the street and try to cover it up by saying...Oh I am just speaking the truth. You are actually trying to murder their character and cover it by picking out a small truth from the bible to make yourself feel better.

Or we say, I will go to church, but I will not change for no one. So we hold onto anger, malice and strife, and we do not grow and change to what the Holy Spirit is convicting us of.

It is better to stop calling ourselves Christian, than to pick and choose what we want from the bible and not be obedient to his word.

If those servants had not understood their role and obeyed, there would not have been 6 jars filled with water, prepared to receive the miracle.

Preparedness

Our text tells us that what Christ did was make the finest wine. You saved the fine wine till now.

Are you prepared to receive His best for you?

Now this is not a prosperity message by no means, but the reason we do not receive his best is because we forget our role and do not obey his word.

Your 6 jars were not even filled ready for his finest.

Do whatever he tells you.

We stand and say, look what I have done, how I did this or that. And we forget our role as disciples and servants, and start to put ourselves in the position of a god. Our jars are left empty.

We ever excuse not to go to church, we fight and bicker and divide, we do not read his word because in our hearts we really do not want to obey what the Holy Spirit says. We pick out what makes us feel good in the bible and ignore the rest. We skip obedience in favor to do what we want and still want to call ourselves disciples of Jesus. Our jars are left empty.

Are you prepared to receive His best for you?

Jesus is not a puppet in our lives to be used as we see fit.

Mary prepares the servants for the miraculous. She prepares them for whatever Jesus see fit.

And because they knew their role as servants and they knew that it is best to obey, the jars were filled and the miracle took place.

His best, not our best!

Are you ready to do whatever He tells you? Are you prepared? Have you been obedient? Have you forgotten your role?

We pray and then get angry at God cause He did not answer the way we wanted, but yet our jars were not even filled ready for His answer.

We pray by what we want. We see a need and we pray for it. Which is exactly what we should be doing.

Church I beg of you, stop trying to use Christ as a puppet and only be in his presence when you are ready to pull his strings.

Be in his presence everyday. Know that you are a co heir to the kingdom , but most of all you are servant.

Be in his presence everyday. Know that obedience to his word is better than any sacrifice you can do.

Be in his presence everyday. Knowing that being there fills every jar everyday, ready to receive His finest.