JESUS CHRIST: THE MIRACLE WORKER (#1)...."Marriage Problems"....(John 2:1-11)
Judges 6:13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. He performed his first miracle at a wedding celebration! By chosing a wedding to start his miracles shows us that God places great honor in right relationships! Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. (It's too easy to get a divorce, or to live in sin without srutiny....homosexuals are given a pat on the back by our leaders and society!)
What he did that day with WATER contrasts his ministry with that of Moses, because Moses also did miracles with WATER! Moses turned the waters of the Nile River to BLOOD...but Jesus turned the water into WINE! John 1:17-"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ".Turning water into blood represents judgement; but turning water into wine speaks of joy! John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Although it is impossible to actual count all the miracles God did through Jesus, the bible mentions 33 specific miracles that Christ performed. *Basically, the miracles he did can be broken down into these categories: (1)-His rule over nature, (2)-His restoring of health, (3)-His removal of Demons, and (4)-His raising of the dead. John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
A "miracle" is a supernatural act of God that supercedes the ordinary functions human life. Remember, the New Testament was written in Greek and later translated into English.
While translating it into what we could understand the translators ran into 4 Greek words used in describing the miracles of Christ: (1)-"dunamis"-meaning POWER! This is the Greek word that we derive our English word "dynamite" from. (2)-"semeion"-meaning PURPOSE (or signs)! (3)-"ergon"-means to PERFORM a work or deed! (4)-"teras"-speaks of PRAISE (or wonders)!
Why did the Messiah have to perform miracles anyway? One preacher put it this way; "GLORIFICATION of God, CONFIRMATION of who Jesus really was, DEMONSTRATION of his divine power, ALLEVIATION of the needs in the lives of humanity, and the SUBJUGATION of Satan's power, and finally, the EDUCATION needed about matters of faith".
Unlike many TV preachers that do gimmicks and tricks to entertain or gain crowds, Jesus did true miracles that had a purpose behind them...often telling people to not tell anyone what happened! 7 of the 33 miracles we are going to cover were performed on the Sabbath Day, causing criticism and fusses! (Anytime God does a miracle in the human heart the Devil gets upset!) Over half (17) of the 33 miracles were done inn Galilee, with 11 of them happening in Capernaum; That is why they were critisized by Jesus because of their special spiritual priviledges!
Verse 1 tells us that this miracle happened on the "third day"! (boy, did it ever!) Jesus called Nathanel in Cana while he was on the way to this wedding....Nathaniel being at the wedding, he would see soon after he was called that Jesus was the miracle worker; the other diciples would have to walk a little more with Jesus before they would truly realize it! He could have done this miracle in Jerusalem or Rome, but he let the "humble and obcure folks" know that God can do the greatest things in small places!!! Also, the kind of people present speak well of the unnamed couple who were getting married!-(Mary, Jesus, 6 disciples!). When I counsel couples I stress to importance of having Christ in their wedding!
(1)-THE REVEALNG OF THEIR PROBLEM..."They have no wine"
Basicly, they started out wih enough to get by...but soon ran out of resources! The number one ender of marriage is money problems (or, "fighting over material substances"). "Wine" represents JOY, and it's sad to say, but couples wrap up too much of their relationship in STUFF they have or don't have! In this story, the wine got down to ZERO!!!-(How many of you have painted your car with a paint brush?)
(2)-THE RELAVENCE OF THEIR PROBLEM
This problem occured with Jesus right there! Christianity doesn't exempt you from difficulties! If you are having trouble in your relationships that doesn't make you inferior...your are just COMMON! Some troubles cannot be prepared for. This problem started before tte reception was even over; but Jesus was the answer that day; and MARY KNEW IT for 30 YEARS! All those years she raise the messiah without witnessing him perform a single miracle!-(Gabriel, virgin, shepherds, wisemen, Simeon!)
(3)-THE REACTION TO THE PROBLEM...(Tell it to Jesus!)(v.3)
There's a song we sing: "Tell it to Jesus Tell it to Jesus...there's no other, sister friend or brother, Tell it to Jesus alone"! (When David faced Goliath he took it to God!-Hezekiah/Sennacarib, Moses/Murmurers, Paul/Thorn in the flesh!) The problem with folks today is that they tell EVERYBODY ELSE but Jesus their problems! The Psychiatrists offices are full of christians who wont pray! People turn to Liquor, Drugs, Cellphone conversations...but NOT to God! Mary was in "command of the servants"-(v.5), so she was very close to the couple getting married that day. The bible states in (v.1) that "the mother of Jesus was THERE" and that Jesus and the disciples were "called" (or just invited....Jesus doesn't come without an INVITATION!)
Mary tried to excercise "motherly authority" over Jesus by expecting him to do a miracle at HER bidding! But Jesus is a 30 year-old man no longer under parental authority...thatls why he refers to her a a "Woman" and not his mother. This was not in disrespect; for he called her "Woman" as he hung on the cross in seeing to her care by John. *She was not to look at Jesus anymore as her son, but as her saviour!!!
(4)-THE RESOLVING OF THE PROBLEM...(v.5-"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it")
The word "whatsoever" is an all-inclusive word! She didn't say "do SOME or PART of what he says, but WHATSOEVER"! People do WHATSOEVER to Devil and the world says....why not listen to Jesus? Mary din't have authority over the Saviour, just the Servants; so she was saying "YAW NEED TO LISTEN TO HIM"! *In this miracle, the six waterpots would equal 100-150 gallons total! Noe that Jesus involved the servants in his miracle. He did not do what they could do themselves! The means used were human, but the results were divine! (v.7) says "they filled them to the brim". They weren't SHORT on filling the pots; for their obiediance was "TO THE BRIM"!!!
(v.8-9)-*One man said "I would rather be a SERVANT and KNOW where the wine came from, than to be a GOVERNOR and NOT KNOW where it came from"! A Christian knows better about what could happen the next 100 years than anyone in CONGRESS or the UNITED NATIONS!!!
(5)-THE REJOICING AFTER THE PROBLEM...(v.9-10)
If you want to properly evaluate to miracles of Christ, you have to TASTE IT FOR YOURSELF!!! This Governor of the feast was simply sayin, "Things went from WORSE to GOOD miraculously!" TThatt is just what happens when a sinnergets saved...the change is instantanious! On Sunday mornings it is not my job to perform a miracle; I am just a servant who fills thewattepots with the WATER OF THE WORD....God then does the miracle of CHANGE in the human heart!
(v.11)-"BELIEF" is thegreatest thing about this story! Not just the disciples, but Mary, the Servants, and soon the WORLD would believe in him! (Have you got PROBLEMS? You can believe in Him!)
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