2023-05-24 New Wine (John 2 Part 2)

The speaker discusses the passage from John chapter 2, focusing on the idea that our attempts to be good people cannot get us to heaven. Jesus came to establish a relationship with us and cleanse us spiritually. The speaker highlights the use of ceremonial washing jars in the passage and explains that these jars were used for spiritual cleansing, not physical hygiene. The speaker emphasizes that our attempts to be spiritually clean through good deeds are important but cannot make us spiritually clean on their own. Only through a relationship with Jesus can we be purified and have a closer relationship with God. The speaker also discusses the importance of understanding what a relationship with Jesus means and how it goes beyond just reading the Bible. The speaker challenges the audience to consider whether they would be satisfied with heaven if Jesus were not there, emphasizing the importance of having a relationship with Him. The speaker concludes by inviting the audience to stop tryi We're going to be actually reading the exact same passage. We read last week. We're just going to be Looking into their aspect of it. So that is well, let's see if anybody remembers. Oh, wow A lot of people remember I don't even need to do this. I'm going home you guys got this John chapter 2, that's right 1 to 12. That's right. And what I want us to get out of this tonight What I want us to learn is basically that our attempts to be good people Can't get us to heaven and that Jesus was about establishing a relationship with us and that Jesus relationship is a Cleansing one if that doesn't make total sense right now it will later So don't worry if it doesn't you can call me out on it say Chris I didn't make any sense and I'll try and explain it better later. So John Chapter 2 verse 1 to 12 on the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee Jesus's mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding When the wine was gone Jesus mother said to him they have no more wine Woman, why do you involve me Jesus replied? My hour has not yet come and like we said last time that I just it doesn't read as well in English here Some Bible translations actually should say that as dear woman. Why do you involve me because the one-to-one does it doesn't you? Read that in English out loud. It just sounds like he's a woman. How is that my problem? Right? It's just like okay Calm down Jesus. No, he's he's being respectful here Right. His mother said to the servants do whatever He tells you nearby stood six stone water jars the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing Each holding from 20 to 30 gallons Jesus said to the servants fill the jars with water So they filled them to the brim then he told them now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet They did so and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine He did not realize where it had come from Though the servants who had drawn the water knew Then he called the bridegroom aside and said everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine After the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples there they stayed for a few days so the first thing that I want to Pull out of here For us is the fact that Jesus used Ceremonial washing jars right that's Interesting why well, first of all, what were they that's a Sarah because I don't know about you But I don't have any ceremonial washing jars in my house. So we have to think about what it what is that first of all? well These were washing jars for washing for washing hands washing things like that, but not for Physical hygiene reasons these were for spiritual Cleansing and Basically under the Jewish law. There was a lot of things throughout the course of a day that could make one be considered Unclean in spiritual standards that they weren't Right with God it was sin and that kind of thing And so the idea was that they would wash with these jars and then be considered clean But they had but the the weddings like this one was not like the weddings we have here These were days two weeks long. They weren't just like a day or something like that And so the jars were ready the jars were ready because you had to be cleaned on the regular, right? Doesn't that just sound tedious? Honestly, it sounds really it has really tedious to have to do that You know because of any any range of things you accidentally stepped on a dead squirrel some roadkill over the chariot went over it And like oh no, I'm unclean now gotta go to the jars that kind of thing there's so many things that could have come like us and I think though even though we don't have ceremonial washing jars per se we do Many things ourselves to try to be spiritually clean and we probably don't use those words I don't know about you, but I don't walk around saying I'm trying to be spiritually clean, you know but maybe we think of it in terms of feeling good about ourselves or doing the right thing and so we do certain things to To try and feel good and clean and all that kind of thing, right? So we do things like being kind to others Giving to charity maybe or we give up our time to others to benefit them. Just just doing good things the thing is though that It's hard as we try These things won't make us spiritually clean. They're good to do. Don't don't get me wrong. I'm not saying like, okay It's not gonna make it spiritually clean So I guess I'm just never going to do anything nice to anybody anymore. Good message Chris. So they're there they matter They're good, but they're not going to get us spiritually clean. They won't get us a closer relationship to God in and of themselves Right, and it may sound strange, right? Like isn't that the whole point after all the Bible says that in the book of James that faith without works or faith without doing good things essentially is dead and says that in James 2 17 without a Relationship Good things that we do for someone kind of lose their Meaning, let me give you an example So if I was doing kind things for my wife Hannah, right? But every time she wanted to talk to me, I didn't listen to anything. She says I just was like, okay, whatever, right? And then I just went out I did some of the household chores and did some of these kinds of things, you know make food for her or whatever it did errands, but I never was willing to let sit and listen and and talk with her I May be doing good things, but I don't really have a relationship With her at that point, right? So why did Jesus use? What so so first of all, that's it that's the first part I want to highlight for you he used the ceremonial jars and we're going to put all these things together in a minute, but I wanted to call that out because I Think it's easy to gloss over Details in the Bible, right? The Bible says that everything in the Bible is there for a reason It's useful for teaching and all of these things. So that's there for a reason, right? I'm still figuring out what some of the numbers book of Numbers is there for but it's there for a reason and so Everything that's in there. So there's a lot of details that we gloss over, right? But if it's a detail it's there for a reason. So why would he because here's the thing Jesus Performed what a miracle so he did something that couldn't be naturally done, but only supernaturally done So it was supernaturally done. Did he need these jars to house the wine? No, he could have made Containers he could have made wine glasses appear for people to drink from he could have made the wine appear in their mouths if he Wanted to or just float over to them. It's a miracle. He can do whatever he wants, right? So he chose to use the ceremonial jars for a reason And here's another question. Why did Jesus use water? Instead of changing another substance or just like I said making it appear out of thin air. He didn't need to use water Why did he need to transform one thing into another? He chose that for a reason every miracle does Jesus does like I say teaches something He was the living water Jesus says elsewhere and so he was the living water that was poured into some old stale religious cleansing jars That could never permanently Purify someone like we said, they were there for days and days and days and they had to keep washing keep washing keep washing We'll keep washing. So how much good was it doing them? I wasn't really purifying them, right? Not in a not in an eternal sense So he performed his miracle there showing he would be the new wine That purifies them. So where else do we see this? Well in in the last supper when Jesus breaks the bread and the wine He describes that wine as his blood for the forgiveness of sins, right a sacrifice to make us spiritually Clean and it's through accepting the fact that he is the one who saves us from the consequences of our sins Being that is being separated from God and unable to go to heaven and he alone is the only one who did that for us so He was showing that through having a literal relationship with him where we listen to him talk to us and we talk to him That we can have that Cleansing not through this ritual that had to be done over and over and over again, right? And that's why he wanted to highlight this to us he this was the first miracle, right? It's like I said last week. It's kind of a curious miracle, right? It's kind of a curious miracle, right? No one was going to die if he didn't do this miracle Right at at worst Somebody was going to be embarrassed that they didn't provide enough wine at this wedding. Like that's the worst thing that could happen But that's it So it seems like an unusual miracle to do in a way, right? But he wanted to signal as soon as he started off his ministry I am What is going to cleanse you not these rituals not these systems I am the one And i've come and I've fulfilled This law and I am now the one that's going to fulfill you through a relationship with me So I talk about this a lot and a lot of christians talk about like this a lot But I think we have to talk about what is a relationship For jesus, what does that even mean? right Because I think sometimes like in the church world we say often a lot like it's not a religion It's a relationship and then we just basically just do a religion anyways, but we're calling it a relationship now So what does it mean to have? a relationship with jesus And I think it's important to understand like I just said it's I take this quite literally right I Have conversations with hannah. I can have a conversation with god when i'm praying he can he can impress things upon my heart maybe to You know an idea or prayer and all these things and we authentic what I would say, uh, authenticate Those thoughts and things through scripture Meaning that if I got a thought in my head and then I went and read the bible that and that thought clearly Contradicted something in here. Well, that wasn't god right So we authenticate it through this, but I think sometimes if I may and this is going to sound strange especially if you've if you've grown up in the church, it's going to sound strange, but If I may I think sometimes You're gonna think I guarantee you're gonna think i'm crazy. Sometimes this is an idol Don't throw tomatoes yet, so i'm okay. Um what I mean by this sometimes There are people who can spend so much time reading this without doing any of it That they think they have a relationship with god because they read a book That's an important book And to to be clear here. I'm not saying that a relationship with god is less than Reading this i'm saying that it is more than reading this. I'm not saying that this is unimportant Please don't misunderstand what i'm trying to say here, but i'll give you it i'll explain this in a very clear way This is a book by an author named francis chan It has zero to do with what i'm talking about other than i've read read a lot of books by this particular person And a lot of his books particularly one called crazy love Really affected my life changed the way that I looked and and even some of the ways that I behave in my life But I have never met francis chan I have never had a conversation with him. He doesn't know that I exist right And so just because I have read his book doesn't mean we have a relationship Now if I met him in person and he started saying a whole bunch of things, you know this person if I met francis chan in person Claiming to be francis chan and he said a whole bunch of things that clearly contradicted with things i've read Him say in his book. Well, i'll be like i'm a little suspicious that this is not the same guy Right, so please don't misunderstand me to say that this has no value. It is vital But it's not enough To constitute a relationship Any more than me reading the quran would make me a muslim Right, it's more than that There needs to be a communication a relationship And not just prayer for my requests but taking time to actually listen to god And again, that's where it's a cycle thing. It's a cycle, right? The bible says jesus said my sheep will know my voice Right voice and so that means he can speak to you. However, how do you know it is his voice? By reading right? So it's a cycle. It's a cycle. They're not Really able to be separate but there is two Components. There's more than one component to it is what i'm trying to say here And it's so it's so precious because something that i've been i've been convicted with is thinking about a lot Is that it's it's very easy in one sense for me to come up here and say you should really consider Being a christian you should really consider having a relationship With jesus and all this kind of stuff, but unless i'm showing you like I can give you convincing proofs perhaps Right convincing compelling reasons in the realm of science or Religious ideas and all these kinds of things as to why? You should choose christianity as your flavor But ultimately that's going to fall flat compared to a relationship with jesus And you're never really going to know how amazing that is until you experience it yourself I could tell you all about my wife hannah and how amazing she is but until you meet her yourself And get to know her a bit yourself. You're not really going to know those things right And I think another reason why it's so important to understand this this relationship with jesus is It kind of brings us to the thought of like Heaven, you know, we talk about heaven as a kind of this ethereal a good idea, right? But you know, maybe a place to see loved ones who have gone on before or you know a place that we like to go because there's no Racism or death or selfishness or greed or any of these kinds of things? but in a way That's not really the point That's not really the point of it all that's not really the point of what heaven is because That's just talking about what we're getting away from Right But but here's the thing if I told you that I like to go to tim hortons and you say well chris What do you like about tim hortons? Well, I like tim hortons because I hate starbucks well that It's not really a reason to like tim hortons That's just a reason to not go to starbucks if that's the case, right? So what are we it's not about just what we're going away from it's what we're going to I really like this quote from pastor and author john piper He said that the critical question for our generation is if you could have heaven With no sickness and with all the friends you ever had on earth and all the food you ever liked and all the leisure Activities you ever enjoyed and all the natural beauties you ever saw and all the physical pleasures you ever tasted and no human conflict Or any natural disasters? Could you be satisfied with heaven if christ were not there? It's a good question Because I think for a lot of us If we're if we're honest A lot of us would say yeah, I I would be fine with that and I think that's because sometimes we haven't Tasted and seen how good god is because even ultimately when we talk about things like Hell which is honestly not a topic that we talk about a lot. We usually shy away from that But here's the thing the reason that hell is so horrible is not because of uh the reason it's so horrible is not really because of eternal torment And fire and all of these things That's not really the reason that is horrible. The reason it's horrible is it's because they play it's a place of eternal separation from god That's what makes it horrible Um And this isn't just because again I have to ask the question then well, well, why do why do I care about that? If god's if I don't really feel a relationship with god, why do I even care if i've been separated from him? But you have to understand this god loves you. He knows you He knew you before you were ever born. He he put Unique traits inside of you and he cares for you Heaven is not a place Of beauty and wonder because loved ones who passed on before us are there and there's no more sickness But because we get to spend eternity in the presence of the most loving and caring being ever Existence jesus christ our lord And savior I saw this great quote From tim keller who Some of you may know literally just passed on days ago uh, he was a prolific writer pastor author and in my opinion one of the Most articulate Apologists of our day and if you're not familiar with that term an apologist is basically somebody who not apologizes a somebody who explains our christian faith Through and they explain how it fits with re through reason through logic through all of these kinds of things Not that's not taking away from the spiritual power of it But showing how it fits rationally and kind of like debating even in academics and that kind of thing in my opinion one of the Best of our day. I really encourage you to look up his talks later on called questioning Christianity very good tim keller, but he wrote I saw this quote from him the other day after he passed on It said religious people find god youthful Christians find god beautiful And I think that's such amazing an amazing quote because I hear it so often people say You know, i'm, you know People ask somebody who's who are not believers in god, maybe of any god any kind atheists agnostics and maybe they say Oh, you know, what do you think about god? What do you think about christianity? They'll say well I think I think he's useful for certain people, you know to get them through times of grief to get them through Um, you know things like that. It just it helps them in that manner But that's not what we're about in christianity We find him beautiful. We find him compelling because at the end of the day like I can Make these fancy notes and I can research them and put up a slide and that kind of thing and maybe try and present things in an engaging manner and talk with my hands enough to land a plane, but That's not going to change anything for you guys What is is having a relationship? with jesus and I hope that if you Never remember anything I ever say up here That Somehow in some conversation Or something that I said that you could see somebody who loves Jesus, I hope that that can be seen in and above all else And then I hope that as you see me as you see other people Around here who love jesus that something there will compel you something there will pique your interest And maybe you already love jesus and that's fantastic but maybe you'll see something in somebody you're like man, like I I don't I don't feel it that way You know, I love jesus like that uncle who's who's kind of nice but not like like deep that deep love right And that's not like a comparison thing like oh look They're a level 27 christian and i'm only a level 13 or something like it's not like that at all It's just we're all growing at at different Rates, it's not a better or worse thing But I want to invite you to take this opportunity to stop trying to wash your soul over and over again with a watering jar and an attempt at doing Good things that don't give lasting change but to drink the new wine that lasts forever jesus I want to invite you to have a relationship with jesus not a relationship With a church institution or the bible even though both of those things will help you in your relationship with god Don't misunderstand, but I want you to be able to go further than that into a relationship with the person of jesus christ Let's pray Heavenly father we thank you that Not only are you a good father not only are you a good god But you're not a good god that just kind of set things in motion and walked away You're here personally with us Or for the believers in this room or for those who have committed their life to follow you lord you live Within us now and we have a personal relationship with you lord And we praise you and we thank you for this this Beautiful mystery of the fact that god became a man and and died for us Died for our sins and rose again and now is seated at the right hand of the father But then we are filled with your holy spirit. This is it's so complex, but so beautiful And we thank you lord that you chose to do things this way you chose to you don't need to speak to us You're god. You don't need to have a relationship with us. You're god But we thank you that you do We thank you that you chose to connect with us in this manner and lord for those in this room that Either have never Encountered you in this way have never Started a relationship with you where they follow you and and and there's that sweetness of communion in you lord god Or maybe they have they're not so sure or that kind of thing But I just want to pray for all of us right now And anyone who wants to pray with me is it's welcome to do so you don't have to do it You know big and loud you can do it in your heart. You can do it quietly to yourself it's not about the Specific way that you do it. It's about the heart Intent to to start to follow jesus. So let's let's just pray together heavenly father We recognize that we We've sinned in our life. We're not perfect. We recognize That we need you Lord, not only do we need you. We want you We want you in our life. We don't want to just tediously go through this cycle of Of sinning and then washing with the you know Religious manner of doing things over and over and over and over like the ceremonial water jar lord. We want you in our life Lord, please come into our life Change us and help us to live out that change not just for ourselves But as a witness to each person around us of the goodness of god We thank you lord for your love for us We thank you lord in jesus name amen