Just Do It

John 2:1–10 NKJV

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

Pray: Lord help us to hear your voice and respond in faith. Amen!

Hearing God and understanding what He is saying is essential to the Christian life. There is another step—a critical step—and that is how we respond to God’s voice. Mary’s counsel to the servants is the theme and inspiration for the title to today’s message, “Just Do It.”

Who has experienced dry or boring faith since you believed? Faith should be exciting and full of experiences where we hear God and see Him move as we act in faith.

Illustration: "Go buy bread.”

Faith can devolve into something dry, boring, and monotonous until we learn how to hear God and obediently respond to Him.

The danger is that we can experience a lame faith, lose out on God’s blessing, and fail to walk in our purpose if we do not learn this.

Think about it - the lame man at the pool of Bethesda would never had walked if he didn’t respond to Jesus command to take up his mat and walk (John 5:8).

Think about it - Jesus spoke to His disciples and modeled behavior to them telling them “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (cf. John 13:17) If they didn’t do them, they would not be blessed.

Think about it - if King Saul would have not have rejected the word of the LORD, he would not have been rejected from being king over Israel. Instead, God would have established his kingdom over Israel forever (1 Samuel 15:28, 1 Samuel 13:13).

The gospel message was given to us so that we might know the truth for obedience to the faith unto the glory of God (Romans 16:25, see also Romans 1:5, Acts 6:7).

Isaiah 1:19 NKJV

If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;

This verse illustrates a common “formula” when it comes to responding to God.

If condition, then result|blessing. God is a rewarder of our faith (Hebrews 11:6). The reward of faith is the result of our meeting the conditions of the promise.

The gifts and promises of God are given by grace, meaning that He chooses to bless us out of His goodness. But our enjoyment of those things are dependent upon our willingness and obedience to respond to the conditions He sets.

If we want to be blessed and see God move, we need to respond to His voice.

And when we do that, our faith will be living and active and exciting and powerful. When you move in faith and see God move in power you want to move in greater faith. When you pray for the sick and God heals them you look for more sick people to pray for. When you have a prophetic word for someone and you share it with them and they break down in awe, you want to prophesy more. When you go and share the good news with the person God sends you to and they give their life to Christ, you can’t help but want to share your faith. Hearing God and responding to His voice releases the kingdom of heaven into your life and makes your relationship with God exciting.

Overcoming the Substitutes

One major problem is that being busy but not obedient will produce a lame faith.

Substituting religious activity for obedient faith will not release miracles or bring the kingdom of God. Just because you go to church or serve in a ministry or give your tithes does not mean that you are going to experience a life of miracles.

You might be doing much for God, but not much of what God wants you to do!

Again, being busy is not a substitute for being obedient. Only by responding to God’s voice in obedience will your faith be exciting and powerful.

What if we stopped picking and choosing what we are willing to obey God in and just started obeying Him fully?

Think of how exciting your faith would be if you heard God and responded in faith.

Think of the blessings you would walk in.

Think of the encounters you would have with God.

The good news is that we can do this. We can hear God’s voice, understand what He is saying to us, and then do what He said we can do.

If it seems simple it is because you do this every day. Every day you listen to someone’s message, interpret their meaning, and respond to it.

This Is How We Do It

If you want to experience this kind of living faith, the following few steps will get you started.

Start With “Yes!”

2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT

For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

The first step to a living faith is to decide beforehand that you will obey whatever God says to you.

Illustration: I tend to start with “no” and work my way to “yes.” One way I am trying to change that is when my wife asks me something, internally I say “yes to whatever it is.” I’ve noticed that it is much easier to drop what I am doing and help, with a good attitude, when I start with yes.

With God we always want to start with yes. Even before He speaks.

Speak Your “Yes!”

Isaiah the prophet had a vision where he saw God high and lifted up. There were brilliant and burning angels with six wings declaring the glory of God. When Isaiah saw this he was convicted of his sin but an angel came from God and touched him with a coal from the altar of God and purged his sin.

Isaiah 6:8 NKJV

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

When God speaks, we need to speak.

This is the same advice that Eli the priest gave to the boy Samuel who would become one of the greatest prophets in Israel:

1 Samuel 3:8–9 NKJV

8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Speaking our “yes” to God is simply affirming to Him that we have heard Him and we are listening for His direction. We are speaking in faith because we believe what God has said will come to pass (2 Corinthians 4:13).

Show Your “Yes!”

James 2:14–20 ESV

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

If we only say yes to God but not act in obedient faith, our words are empty and our faith is dead. Faith is proven by action.

Study Your Yes

If God watches over His word to perform it, then when we act in response to His word we will see whatever He said would happen (cf. Jeremiah 1:12).

If we don’t see what we expect, we need to evaluate our yes. Did we do everything God said?

There was an unknown prophet from Judah who God sent to King Jeroboam (1 Kings 13). The king was sinning and the prophet declared the word of the LORD to him. He rejected the word and God immediately withered his hand and split the altar just as the prophet said. The prophet prayed for the king’s healing at his request and God healed him. When the king offered to feed him and bless him, the prophet said that he was told by God not to eat bread nor drink water or to go home the same way he came.

Later, an older prophet, lied to him and tricked him into eating and drinking and he was killed by a lion when he left.

He obeyed almost everything God told him to do. It was the rest that cost him dearly.

Study your yes—hold yourself accountable to what God has said—so that you can learn from mistakes or missteps and avoid them in the future.

Conclusion

It has never been more important to hear God’s voice, interpret what He is saying, and to do what He tells us. If we will take these simple steps and apply them to our lives our faith will be more effective and following God will be more exciting.

Because we choose to do these things we will see God move in our lives, we will walk in our calling, and we will bear much fruit to the glory of God.

Let’s listen to Mary’s advice and take it to heart - whatever God says to you, just do it!