You Have Peace

Why start with a party?

John 2:1-12 is a hard passage for us to understand.

Why would the first miracle Jesus performed be changing water into wine?

Why would John tell the story of Jesus going to a party?

Why would Jesus even go to a party like this?

There is the obvious concern about alcohol.

That isn’t the focus of this account. Jesus isn’t condoning drinking or permitting a “partying” as we think of it today.

The bible is clear on drunkenness and impropriety.

But Jesus is clearly at a party and His very first miracle is turning ceremonial purification water into wine to keep the party going.

Why include this in the story of Jesus’s life?

Once we get past the alcohol, and we have to get past the alcohol, the question that comes is “What’s the point?”

The other miracles make sense, healings, calming storms, feeding people, but whats the point of a party?

I think one the main reason we struggle with this passage is the same reason we struggle to stop working so hard, to stop worrying so much, or to stop wishing and wanting for things we think are going to make our lives so much better.

The idea of Jesus partying seems frivolous, pointless, a waste of time.

Shouldn’t He be out healing, preaching, teaching the disciples, serving people, and fighting with the Pharisees?

But instead, He is celebrating, singing, and maybe even dancing.

So why does John 2:1-12 exist?

John is pointing out something about Jesus’s life that reveals a deep down desire, A NEED, that each and everyone of us have.

We all desire PEACE.

Not peace as in the absence of fighting or war, but peace meaning wholeness, fullness, the lack of need, the absence of brokenness. The biblical concept of Shalom.

The reason we struggle with this passage is the same reason we are worn out, stressed out, and burnt out.

It is the reason we can’t turn off our brains at night, never feel like we have accomplished enough in our days, and are worried sick about our kids, our money, our own health, or the thousands of other things that overwhelm us.

WHO HAS TIME TO PARTY?!?

Jesus, He has time to party, and I believe He wants us embrace His invitation of Peace.

What does it mean to be chosen? — You have PEACE.

This is Paul’s message to the church in Philippi in one of the most profound passages in the Bible and one that we all have likely heard.

The central focus of the passage is PEACE, listen as I read:

Philippians 4:4–7 CSB

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

There are 4 imperatives (directives or commands) in this passage that are only possible for us to accomplish if the two indicative statements are true.

4 Commands

“Rejoice in the Lord always...”

“Let your graciousness be know...”

“Don’t worry about anything...”

“Present your requests to God”

These sound good, like the would flow neatly off the lips of a preacher or church lady right.

“Rejoice, be gracious, there is no need to worry, just pray...”

Knowing Paul is writing to a church that is poor and struggling, these commands seem cliche and artificial, maybe even insensitive.

But that is ALL Paul is saying, the two realities he points to are essential:

2 Indicative Statements

“The Lord is Near”

“The Peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”

When we understand the full context of Paul’s appeal, these words become weighty.

The Lord is Near, so...

This statement comes at the very center of this verse.

Right in the middle of two sets of commands that weary, worn, and worried people like you and I struggle to see how we could ever do these very important things that most of us really long to do, but just can’t figure out how we could ever do any of them, let alone all of them.

What makes the party in John 2 uniquely extraordinary isn’t the occasion, it isn’t the food or the drink, IT IS that Jesus was there.

The LORD is near.

HE is NEAR

WITH us, BESIDE us, IN us.

Our faith is not in a distant, unattached, unapproachable God, but a Lord who is NEAR.

He is near in that we can know Him as He has revealed Himself in the Word of God.

And He is near in that He lives inside of all who have trusted in Jesus as the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us.

And this nearness is what make it possible for us to do what Paul is calling us to do.

1) We can REJOICE ALWAYS.

We can rejoice in all things because the Lord is near.

“Joy,” unmitigated, untrammeled joy, is—or at least should be—the distinctive mark of the believer in Christ Jesus. — Gordon Fee

Christian joy is different than temporal happiness, which is dependent entirely on life circumstances being right.

The Lord’s nearness to us make it possible to have joy even in the most difficult and painful circumstances and seasons of life.

His presents reminds us that we are not alone, that He is walking with us, carrying us through.

Our joy flows not from the ever-changing circumstances of life, but the never-changing goodness of God.

2) We can be GRACIOUSLY CONTENT toward everyone.

The second imperative is challenging.

There isn’t a specific word that accurately translates from the Greek.

You might see gentleness, graciousness, reasonableness, or something else used here.

There is an obvious outward focus in the verse, concerned with how we relate to others.

In order to understand what Paul is saying, we need to go back to an earlier section in the same letter.

Philippians 2:3–5 CSB

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. 5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,

This is really the attitude Paul is calling them to again in 4:5.

Rather than fighting, arguing, grumbling, or complaining, be gracious, generous, gentle, caring, kind, and content.

This really is the manifestation, the living out, of a joyful life in Christ.

Unmitigated joy frees us from envy, jealousy, and discontentedness.

It is also extremely attractive, hence the words “Let it be known to everyone.”

3) We can be FREE from WORRY.

The nearness of the Lord frees us from worry.

1 Peter 5:7 NIV

7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Jesus cares about you, all of you and everything that you are dealing with.

Peter reminds us that we can give our anxieties over to Him BECAUSE HE CARES.

Jesus’s own words uncover the truth behind our worry:

Matthew 6:27 CSB

27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?

Deep down, our worry is rooted in the false belief that BY worrying about something we can some how fix it or prevent it from going haywire.

We give ourselves too much power and then carry too much wait.

Worry is what prompts us to work so hard to keep ourselves and others happy.

And worry robs us from Joy and peace. We don’t have time for joy and peace, because there is just TOO much to worry about.

Enter Jesus:

Matthew 6:34 CSB

34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Connected with this command is the next one...

4) We can enjoy UNHINDERED ACCESS.

The nearness of the Lord gives us unhindered access to God in prayer.

Whether we are asking, yelling, rejoicing, crying, questioning, thanking, or whatever, we are believers in Jesus have full and free access to the creator of the universe at ALL times for ANYTHING.

He is never too busy, never preoccupied, and never annoyed to hear from us.

Prayer is the cure for a anxious heart and someone struggling to find joy in the midst of difficulty.

Prayer really is the act of us giving our burdens over to Jesus.

It is an expression of trust in God, that He cares, that He is listening, that He is able to do something about what we are praying for, and that whatever He does or doesn’t do is right and best.

Thankfulness here isn’t thanking God in advance for the thing we are asking for, like a reverse psychology method.

It is an acknowledgement of God’s generosity.

It is a posture Christians take when we properly understand God and approach Him in prayer.

The PRESENCE of Christ is where PEACE is found.

The last imperative is an invitation and a promise.

It is an invitation to any who and all of us today who do not have peace.

For whatever reason we just can’t seem to find or maintain joy, we are discontent and searching, worried and weary, and really struggling to even know what to say or ask.

He invites us to stop, to put down all that we are carrying, to rest, and maybe even to dance.

I believe the reason John 2:1-12 exists is because we NEED to see Jesus party.

We need to see that Jesus cares about more than us just following rules, saying all the right things, and being present in a pew once a week.

He wants us to rejoice, to celebrate, to long for the kingdom of God and embrace the parts of it that are here and now.

The reason you don’t have peace is because you have either never received that invitation or you are just sitting in the corner of the party working too hard to keep things going or too worried about what others might think of you.

It is a promise that when we do receive this gloriously good invitation that we will find a peace that we will struggle to explain outside of saying “He is so good.”

It is a promise that in whatever struggle or trial we face, He is with us and in us, so we can rest, we can have peace, because He IS peace.