I'm Working on Something (John 2.1-12)
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On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it.
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom
and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there a few days.
Intro:
The art of being transformational requires that we place our actions into God’s power!
How many of you want to be transformational? (raise hand, hit hashtag #Iwanttobetransformational
(pause)
Transform: To make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character
When I use this term I am discussing the extraordinary details of dramatically improving everything around us.....
This type of a person is NECESSARY!!
We need people who can dramatically INFLUENCE lived life powerfully for God.
......these are the type of people I need around me!
(pause and expound)
And what I want to emphasize is that the same thing that transforms us....
......trasnforms others
(ex: prayer life, spending time alone with God, reading our Word)
(pause)
In today’s text we find in this first miracle of Jesus at Cana several transformative actions that INFLUENCE there surroundings....
(slight pause)
Look at it now.....
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
According to the text....
The third day after Jesus has left Jordan......
......we find him here starting His ministry.
And so.....
The first thing I want to talk about is “TIMING!”
(slight pause)
The bible says...
That Jesus and the disciples were called to a wedding in the first week of his ministry.
....and it’s during this “time” that his mother brings him a problem to deal with.
Freedom....
I want to encourage some of you who may be thinking about a problematic scenario that is showing up at the wrong time.
(pause)
....Jesus says in verse 4 this very thing to His mother.
Look at it.......
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”
Jesus says...
“My hour has not come”
In other words...
.....It’s not time for me to deal with this problem.
(slight pause)
Notice though,
Jesus does NOT say,
“I don’t have the capacity or the power to do this.”
And so....
Jesus is NOT saying,
“I am UNABLE to do anything”
Jesus IS saying,
“It’s NOT time”
(slight pause)
And I need to pause right here long enough to tell somebody.....
Stop telling yourself that “You are NOT able”.......
(slight pause)
........if anything
.......you might want to say,
“It’s NOT time yet.....
......but stop confusing TIMING with CAPACITY and STRENGTH
(pause and expound)
Look at it now......because in verse 5 we find the first transformative actions in the text....
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Jesus’s mother shows up in the text acting boldly transformational in two dramatic ways.
(slight pause)
The first thing she does....
.....is she Dramatically Influences the servants
by saying,
“Whatever He tells you to do, Do it!”
And oddly enough,
....this is the last thing we hear from Mary’s voice biblically before her VOICE fades from our reading of Scripture.
......and that is extraordinarily transformative to me
Because.......
.......she left us standing here HEARING her VOICE pushing someone to do something GREAT!
(pause)
Freedom......
......what’s coming out of your VOICE?
Is what you’re saying pushing somebody else to be GREAT, or are you doing just the opposite?
(pause and optional expound)
Freedom......
......I don’t know about you but this is how I want my VOICE to be remembered.
I want the people I talk to....
.....and the people that hear me to say
“The Last thing I heard him say....
.....He was PUSHING me to be GREAT!”
(pause and expound)
And watch this.....
Mary’s VOICE is not found somewhere EXTRAVAGANT
......but where we find her is in some regular obscure VENUE where nobody is even mentioning her name.
The bible does not call her MARY.......
The bible says, “Jesus’s mother.....”
(pause)
What are you saying Pastor,
....You don’t have to be on a STAGE to have a POWERFUL VOICE
.....but if you talking right,
You can be in general conversation and your VOICE will SHIFT everything around you!
That’s how I want to TALK
(pause)
Not only does Mary dramatically influence the servants.....
But the second thing she does is......
.....she dramatically influences Jesus.
(pause)
Because even though Jesus’s initial response says,
“It’s NOT my time”
.....she still talks in a way to the servants that says,
“Jesus is going to fix this problem!”
(pause)
Now........
Jesus is not just HER son....
Jesus is the Son of God....
(pause)
And.....
Mary says to him in my spiritual imagination.....
“Jesus......
.......time does not get to dictate or determine outcomes of an Eternal God”
(slight pause)
Because.....
.....if God tells time to stop, time stops...
(slight pause)
And....
....if God tells time to speed up, time moves faster....
(pause)
And then I hear Mary saying,
“Son I know who I gave birth to!”
“Son you were BORN to SUCCEED”
(pause)
Freedom,
What if you were born to be TRANSFORMATIVE?
What if you were created to SUCCEED?
And what if your SUCCESS looked like improving the People and the Places around you?
(pause)
And when God allows us to participate in God’s plan......
.......we have to use our VOICE the way Mary does that says or suggests,
“Everything I touch will be BLESSED”
And......
“Everywhere I walk is MINE”
And watch this......
“EVERYTHING around me will IMPROVE!”
(pause)
And so......
the next time you feel like the problem showed up at the wrong time.....
Just say to yourself,
“Whatever Jesus tells me to do, I’m doing it!”
Because......
If if the problem came around me.......
.....I refuse to be intimidated
.....but instead I become TRANSFORMATIVE
.....until I turn ths PROBLEM into something different
who would of thought this problem that was brought to Jesus could have been transformed into a powerful PRESENT!
And Mary says,
All Jesus needs is some people that will,
“Do what he is saying, and watch how something was going wrong will turn into something SPECIAL”
(pause and expound)
Look at it now....
Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
John’s Gospel points to what God always does when we are ready to be TRANSFORMATIVE....
And....
the Gospel reveals the resources that are needed.
It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and says,
“Let me show you how to fix this”
(pause)
And in this verse John says,
There were 6 stone water pots over to the side that were ready to be used.
(slight pause)
And Freedom....
When the time comes to be transformative....
......you will never have to worry about whether or not God will show you your resources.
(pause)
The bible says there are 6 pots......
.....that equals 162 gallons of water (27 gallons of water for each pot)
(slight pause)
And the reason I am pointing out the Capacity of this resource is because.....
.....it was measured out to be exactly enough for all of the people who were attending the wedding.
(slight pause)
And so.....
......when Jesus notices these pots over to the side of the room, he is CHOOSING something with enough capacity to hold the correct amount.
(slight pause)
And just in case someone was wondering how to Calculate your “ENOUGH amount”
Ask Jesus,
......to show you what’s able to HOLD what you need
(pause and expound)
Now here it is......
because in order to be transformational, I see at least 3 transformative actions in the text being performed.....
(slight pause)
Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
Jesus says,
“Fill up the water pots with water”
And so....
the first transformative action is to “FILL UP”
....and I believe that this suggest that we need people who are willing to “Be people who FILL UP”
(pause)
And the bible says that they moved in excellence......
......because it says,
“they filled them to the BRIM”
meaning.....
.....all 162 gallons were poured into each sone jar all the way to the top!
(pause)
And if we are going to be transformative.....
.....we can’t afford to fill the jars to half capacity!
(pause)
Freedom.......
If they don’t fill these jars that Jesus has pointed out to the TOP....
.......they’re going to RUN OUT AGAIN
(pause)
And......
....when we don’t FILL what we’re supposed to all the way to the TOP
....WE RUN out of what was supposed to be a blessing before we were supposed to!
Look at somebody and say....
FILL it UP to the TOP!!
Don’t stop POURING until the container is FULL.
And if you STOPPED POURING before that moment, it was too soon.
Jesus didn’t say,
“POUR some water in the POTS”
Jesus said,
“FILL the POTS UP with water”
And if you are one of those people who have a gift of “FILLING UP”
.......this is not a frustrating action for you
.....but its almost as if you get excited about the POURING process
(pause and expound)
Look at it now....
He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it.
According to the text....
.....the second transformative action is to,
“Draw the water out that was just poured”
(pause)
And......
....this drawing out is seen figuratively as ENDURANCE or ENDURING. It comes from the idea of constantly drawing from a source.
(pause)
And so......
.....as important as the people who “FILL Up” are
.....those who are “DRAWING OUT” are just as important.
(slight pause)
Because....
these people who “Draw Out” show us what “ENDURING” is supposed to look like to get tto the miracle.
(pause)
And......
I believe that if we were to talk about these transformative functions from a purpose perspective that included gifting....
The “Fillers” would be those who have a gift of “Teaching, or Exhortation”
and.....
The “Drawers” would be those with a leadership gift
(pause)
And in my spiritual imagination.....
I don’t see the people FILLING these jars as the same ones who are DRAWING out of these jars because of the WORKLOAD that’s required.
(pause)
But I see.....
.....some of the servants POURING, and the other ones DRAWING out
(pause)
Because......
....when I started examining this miracle i discovered
The weight of water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon.
.....so each stone jar FULL weighs about 250 pounds of water
(slight pause)
And the people who are “FILLING them UP” had to carry these heavy 250 pound jars of water to position them in place.....
.......and the reason they had to position them is because most banquet rooms in Israel are located upstairs.....
(pause)
Not only that but......
.....they didn’t have a sink in the kitchen like we do at our venues and homes
.....but they had to physically go out and get the water that was going to be poured.
(pause)
So I see them going back and forth until they have retrieved enough water to pour into all of the jars.........
(pause)
Now......
.....if I am a “FILLER” I would wish I had somebody to come and “DRAW OUT” after all of this walking back and forth, and POURING OUT!
(slight pause)
And I know some of us thought that Jesus’s miracles just all of a sudden happened......
And while that is TRUE at times....
....there were times when Jesus was being TRANSFORMATIVE and said to those who were PARTNERING for the miracle
....to basically
PUT IN SOME WORK!
(pause)
And that means......
.....If you hung around Jesus long enough
....YES you would see a MIRACLE
But if you were BLESSED
.......you may get an OPPORTUNITY
........to PUT IN SOME WORK!
(pause)
And I know we live in a CULTURE now
........where NOBODY wants to DO any WORK
(pause)
But when I hear Jesus say “DO THIS”
I get excited about the opportunity to tell everything around me....
“I’m WORKING on SOMETHING!”
(pause and expound)
Watch this......
....because after Jesus tells the servants
....to FILL UP the jars, and after they DRAW OUT the water
Jesus says there’s one more transformative action......
(slight pause)
Because now we need to.......
“Take the Water to the Wedding Coordinator”
(slight pause)
And in my spiritual imagination......
I see this third Transformative action happening with people who have a passion and gifting in “EVANGELISM” and “FAITH”
(pause)
Because these are the ones.......
.....who are going to have enough faith to “CARRY WATER” and “CALL IT WINE”
(pause)
Now listen.....
(slight pause)
It takes FAITH.......
......in every TRANSFORMATIONAL ACTIONI
It takes FAITH to FILL UP
It takes FAITH to DRAW OUT
And at this point now.......
It’s going to take some MORE FAITH.....
Because now.......
.......we have to take this water over to the person in charge of this wedding and tell them,
“I’m NOT holding WATER........
I’m HOLDING what you ran out of EARLIER”
(pause and expound)
Here it Comes.......
The people who are “TAKING this water” over to the person in charge of the wedding.......
......have no idea when the water TURNS into WINE
(slight pause)
For all they know.......
.....this is still WATER that they are carrying
(pause)
Still looks like water.......
Still smells like water........
Because.....
.....we don’t know its wine in the text until the Governor of the feast takes a taste!
(pause)
The text says.....
The servants who drew the water out........
......just naturally knew or believed that it was wine
Because at the end of the day.......
.....when you have been working with JESUS
....when you’ve been apart of this!
(slight pause)
When you have been working on something with Jesus...........
When you’ve been performing transformative action after transformative action.......
(slight pause)
You just......
naturally believe that a MIRACLE is happening
You just......
naturally believe that God is INFLUENCING everything around you DRAMATICALLY
You just......
naturally believe that things are IMPROVING
(pause)
Pastor......
When did it happen?
It happened when we were FILLING UP the jars around us
It happened when we were DRAWING OUT of the jars around us
It happened when we were TAKING the water the those around us
(pause and expound)
Here it comes........
The governor of the feast tastes the wine and says......
“Wait a minute.........
.....the best wine is supposed to be given out FIRST!
.......but you SAVED the BEST wine until NOW!!
(pause)
Freedom......
The BEST didn’t show up until the servants started......
“WORKING on SOMETHING!”
(pause)
Look at somebody and holler....
“I’m WORKING on SOMETHING”
(pause and expound)
And i’m looking for somebody to look at everything around your life and say......
“I know you RAN OUT of what you needed earlier....”
(pause)
But God is calling some people who have a heart like DAVID that are ready to......
“FILL UP” the JARS
and.......
“DRAW OUT” what was just POURED in
and then.........
“TAKE it over” and share it with everybody
(pause)
And.....
Whenever Jesus can put his hands on some servants that are ready to do this.......
All I can see Jesus saying in my spiritual imagination is........
“I’m WORKING on SOMETHING”
I’m getting ready to BRING OUT the BEST!!!
...................................CLOSE and CONCLUSION.......................................