7 Signs: Jesus is Better Than Old Religion

Scripture Reference

John 20:30-31

Mission and Vision

Sermon

So Glad to be back home. We got back from Kentucky. Had a week of class but I’m glad to be back and with my people

We are still soaking our sanctuary in scripture… please join in and read when you can

Today is the first Sunday of Lent

How many of you came to the Ash Wed service?

I didn’t make it to Ash Wed here but we did go in KY

Lent is the time in the Christian year that we enter into the suffering of Christ

We are able to sacrifice something in order to reflect on the sacrifice that Christ made for us. It’s not required, but when you fast through Lent… it puts something tangible in this season of preparation that culminates with Easter!

For this Lenten season we are going to be walking through the 7 signs or miracles that are presented to us in the book of John

Someone say 7 Signs

Now a Sign is not just a miracle. A sign is only something that points to something else.

You see an exit sign… the sign isn’t the exit but it lets you know about something else… the exit

Each sign that we see in the book of John is not something in and of itself for us to marvel at… it points to some aspect of who Jesus Christ is

We are going to see how Jesus chose to reveal himself to us in scripture in order to show us who he is

Today we are in the beginning of the book of John… does anyone know what Jesus’s first recorded sign or miracle is?

Water into wine! The wedding at Cana

Read

Pray

There are some really cool things in this passage so first lets get some context

Context

Cana was a backwoods village in Judea. Not too far from Nazareth

We see that Jesus and his mother are invited to a wedding

Jewish Weddings

More than a couple hours and some dancing

Usually a week long celebration of joining together of 2 families

There would be lots of people attending a wedding celebration.

Each one would be partaking in dancing and eating and drinking.

During the wedding celebration the family would provide a feast for those that came to celebrate. Including the wine

If a family couldn’t provide for the guests it was considered shameful. It would’ve been an insult to have to tell the guests to leave early because they didn’t have enough provision for the people

It’s in this context that we find Jesus

Mary, Jesus’ mom, sees the issue and she comes to Jesus knowing he can intervene

Jesus says Woman!

He was not being disrespectful to his mother. He was addressing her and letting her know that his hour/ or his time to reveal himself hadn’t come yet

yet She/mary knows Jesus’s character and trusts that he is going to do something

So Jesus out of his mercy and his desire to serve and his love decided to go ahead and begin his revelation. He performed his first sign miracle.

Jesus took the water jars and turned them into wine

So remember that this feast had been going on for a while and that there were plenty of guests there

All of these guests, we can assume since Jews didn’t eat with non-jews, were jewish.

This means that they all would have been practicing the cleaning rituals of washing their hands… that’s what these water jugs were

So this wasn’t gigantic empty water pots… these had been used. They were then filled to the brim with water and Jesus turned that water into wine

So what do we get from this miracle?

What does the water into wine miracle have to do with you in Plainville Kansas and your journey this lent to become more like Christ?

What is the sign pointing to?… I’m glad you asked!

I’m going to leave you with 2 points, this first is this

1 - Jesus is better than old religion

2 - Jesus wants to bring newness where you are

Jesus is Better Than Old Religion

Throughout scripture we see that wine is used to represent well-being, wealth, blessing, and peace

What Jesus did was he took the sign of the old religion… that is the old water pots

These pots that were used to ritually purify the outside of people

These were a sign of following the law and sticking to the rules

Jesus took those symbols of old religion… that were filled with impurity…and he transformed them into wine

Not just any wine, but the best wine.

In doing this Jesus was showing that what he was bringing was better than the old rule following stuff.

What Jesus had for the people was not just clean water… not just more of the same, but something completely new and worlds better than what they had before

And what he brought was life giving

What was filling those jugs was dirty and polluted, and of no use to anyone for the brining of life

What he gave feely brought honor joy, it brought abundance…

Remember it was days into the celebration… long enough to run out of wine and Jesus provided 180 gallons of wine

He wasn’t just showing that he could provide a little… he was showing that the newness that he brought was more than one would have expected and it was better than one could hope for!

Jesus wants to bring newness where you are

We see that Jesus performed his first miracle not in a palace or anything… but at a celebration for some people that we never even get the name of

This shows us that Jesus isn’t out there waiting for people to get really good or really important before he brings his newness to them

He was present with these people at a very intimate and important time in thier life. He was with them at a possible crisis moment in their life. He wasn’t hiding somewhere for them to find him… they didn’t have to beg Jesus to show up.

Jesus wants to bring the same life-giving transformation right where you are

This lent as we are seeking to know Jesus more and join into his suffering so that we can also join into his life… There is one thing I want to continue to drive home this series

Jesus is about transforming the broken and dirty life that we are living

lives filled with false religion, and self importance, self-righteousness, sin, shame, anger, strife, hatred, bitterness, fear, angst

he wants to take those lives and give you something better.

John tells us in ch 20:30-31

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Everything that we are going to experience this lenten season is not for you to feel shame or for you to mentally acknowledge and then move on… its for you so that you may believe… have faith… trust that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that you can have life in his name

Each of the signs that he performs that we have recorded point to the fact that he his better than the old stuff you are holdingonto and he is calling you to trust in him.

Time to respond

I don’t care how long you’ve gone to chuch or what you think a Christian is… I just want you to know that if you haven’t trusted in Jesus as the Christ. The only one that died for your sins and is now sitting at the right hand of the father and is calling you to follow him out of your darkness and into his marvelous light and be transformed… then by definition you are not a disciple of his