(John 2:11)
�This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his discipled believed on him.�
The text verse this week is sort of a bridge between the very early ministry of Jesus and His more well known public ministry. Notice that His disciples were already at least partly assembled. Also, He had already received the symbolic baptism of John in which Jesus identified Himself with the people who were attempting to live righteous lives in the area and time.
This was not the beginning of His ministry. This was the beginning of His miracles in that ministry. Not all Christians, and not all ministries, do great things for God - at least they do not as far as the world may judge success to be. The real value, and the real success of any Christian, or any ministry, is that faithfulness to God be at the heart of all that is done.
Great crowds, and great �press,� are not the marks of a great ministry. A ministry which God would call �great� would be one that was faithful to Him and exalted His glory over that of the ministry itself.
I can brag about the things I�ve done. It wouldn�t take me long to do so; but I could do so. So what? Even after putting the best �spin� possible on all that I have done, I am still left as simply a servant. My main glory ought to be that I have done that which my Master has asked that I do.
That is the most that any of us should hope for. That is also the least which any of us should accept! If there is any glory, it must be the glory of God. Any success I might imagine I have had is only built upon that which Jesus has already done. Had He not died in time so that I would have the opportunity to live in eternity, anything I might have done would be only so much meaningless clutter.
I am reminded of the story of a famous baseball player of years ago. One season, after he had been one of the league�s Most Valuable Players, he approached the team owners with a demand that his salary be increased because of his value to the team. The team owner noted that, yes this player had produced very well. But, the team had finished in last place. As to the player�s importance to the team, �We could have finished last without you.�
That is just how valuable we are to the work of God, in the natural sense. We are, the best - from the world�s standpoint - of us, as simply tools which God has condescended to use for His Own great work in the salvation of souls. D. L. Moody may have been a great soul winner and evangelist. But, the lowly shoe salesman who introduced Moody to the Lord was also important in the great works of God.
I�m not saying the above to down play the work of those in the public ministry; I am trying to say that those who work behind the scenes, as it were, are also just as valuable, sometimes even more so, to the work of the Lord.
You will notice, of course, that Jesus did attend this wedding feast with at least some of His disciples. This implies, more than simply implies - it illustrates, that Jesus prepared Himself and His followers for the work that lay ahead.
I remember a Catholic friend who once asked me, when I was a beginning Bible College student, what were the requirements to be a protestant minister. She was interested in what kind of schooling I might be entering. I told her, correctly, that the only requirement was that one have the call of God upon his life to enter into some sort of ministry.
This, of course, is true. But, one should find every possible avenue to prepare himself for that task. To do less is to fail the Lord by offering Him a slipshod, and often lazy, life as a sacrifice. Sometimes we are pushed into an endeavor, often before we feel ready to do so. The point is that if God is in the �pushing,� He has deemed us ready. We still, even in this case, must continue to prepare ourselves so that we can be of even more service to Him.
The day we stop preparing to be better vessels for Him is the day we tell Him that we have done enough. We�ve never �done enough.� We must continually seek to learn more of Him and prepare ourselves for further service.
Even Jesus prepared Himself.
Also, as to that baptism of John. John was right; Jesus did not need a baptism of repentance. Jesus had nothing about which to repent. But, Jesus fully identified Himself with those He sought to win.
Missionary sermons could be written on that point!
But, the point I want to emphasize is that Jesus was prepared to be a representative of all of us. He died in our place as an effective sacrifice because He was representative of us. He was not a phantom; He was an actual Person. He was representative. But, at the same time, Jesus is God. He had no taint of sin in His life and person. He had no sins that needed to be judged. Thus, when He went to the cross He was able to take our own sins upon His own body and die for our sins in our place.
That is a glorious and wonderful truth. Jesus died for our sins as only He could. No other �religious� leader could die for the sins of anyone else. Only Jesus had that capacity.
There is so much we need to learn of Him.
In today�s text we see the developing record. �This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee��
As I write this sermon we are close to coming upon the Christmas Season. We must remember that the saga of Jesus did not begin at Jerusalem. Isaiah 9:6 says this is the One Who was to come, �For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor; The mighty God, The everlasting Father; The Prince of Peace.�
Notice that these are not things which He is called. These are called as His name. Jesus is Wonderful. Jesus is Counsellor. Jesus is The Mighty God. Jesus is The Everlasting Father. Jesus is The Prince of Peace.
It is so easy at the Christmas season, while we focus on the fact of the Babe of Bethlehem, to overlook the fact that Jesus is Deity. Jesus is God, Who consented to take upon Himself the body of a human, to experience life as would a human, so that He might make Himself a sacrifice for the sins of the human race to all who would accept Him.
No; the ministry of Jesus did not begin on the day of the wedding feast at Cana!
Still, we should consider the miraculous birth of Jesus into this world in the form of a man.
We could find prophecy after prophecy in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah. Nearly all of those prophecies were fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ. The only prophecies which are yet to be fulfilled relate to His coming in the clouds at His second advent.
Folks, that Second Advent is as certain as was His first coming. Jesus is coming back, at an hour we do not know, to call His people out of this world. That day is drawing near; I firmly believe this to be the case. Soon, I believe, we shall hear the trump call and rise to be with Him in the clouds.
We need to be prepared for this event. May we also realize that when that time comes our work for the Lord in calling others to find the Lord, friend or foe, relative or stranger, workmate on the shop or sales person at a shop, acquaintance or those in the world at large, that time will be over. Those untold will be untold still. What a responsibility we have to work while the day is bright for the darkness of destruction will soon overtake the world.
Jesus came bodily into this world as a Virgin Born Son of humanity. His birth was like no other for He is like no other.
We must also consider the miraculous work which Jesus did on this earth. He performed mighty miracle in announcing Himself to the world at large. His ministry was not an �I believe;� His ministry was a calling for others to believe the message that He was the mighty Savior of the World. He was the mighty King of Glory.
Jesus performed some great miracles on this earth. He raised people from the dead. He healed all manner of sickness, including mental sickness, as He spread the one message of Hope. He spoke of God as a Loving Father rather than as a cruel taskmaster who lies in wait to pounce upon any who would offend Him.
How we need that message in the preaching of the churches of this day!
Jesus stilled the storm and immediately even the wind and wave ceased their flailing about.
But, the greatest miracle of Jesus was that He died on the Cross of Calvary to accept the punishment I deserved for my own sins. Jesus offers still, through the agony He experienced on that cross, salvation from sin and peace with God to all who would simply accept His offered gift of pardon. He does not ask great works from us because He has already done the work in the only manner it could have been performed.
We also must consider the miraculous resurrection of Jesus.
Three days He was in the tomb. His earthly body was dead. Cruel men had taunted Him. Cruel beatings have weakened that human body. Crucifixion had stilled His voice of love, hope, and authority. A spear had been thrust into that heart of love to seal those death agonies. A Roman guard was placed at the grave of His remains.
But, He didn�t remain in that grave. Out past the soldiers he walked, alive forevermore! The heart that had been pierced was filled with the same love to call sinners to repentance as had always been the case. His voice rallied His disciples to continue the work of seeking and calling to salvation those which were lost. His crucifixion, which the world had seen as a defeat, was revealed as His greatest victory. His body was gloried with the Glory that was His by right. He sought out those who hated them and loved them into grace. His body was alive, more alive than anyone could possibly imagine as He ascended from the earthy mountain to the heavenly throne. The empty grace was His symbol to humanity that God cared.
We also, as we look at the beginning of His miracles on the earth, to consider that His Deity was revealed. ��and manifested forth his glory��
When we begin to consider the glory of Jesus we must begin with the miracle of the Kenosis. The Kenosis is a specialized term that theologians use to impress others with their great knowledge. It�s sort of �professional language� term. The purpose which the term seeks to explain is so deep that there are few words in the English language which can possibly come close to expressing the wonder of the event.
The Bible says, �But made himself [Jesus] of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.� (Philippians 2:7) The meaning is that Jesus divested Himself of the outward glory of the Godhead when He came into human history.
Jesus was no less God during this divestiture. He was more fully human, however.
Note that this verse says that He was �made� into the likeness of men. This little phrase is just one more example of the truth that Jesus did not begin His existence in the stable in Bethlehem. He was in existence, in another form, prior to this manger birth. That form was as, and continued to be, as God.
There are those who dispute this truth. They argue that Jesus was a �created god,� or some such other fiction from poorly constructed theology. They argue that Jesus always spoke of Himself as the �Son,� and gave deference to the �Father.�
Those who make this error just do not consider the complete picture. Jesus came to this earth to be our Savior. Jesus also came to this earth to exist in a human body as a human being. This was necessary for Him to be our representative in the sacrifice of His Own body on Calvary.
While being in this human body Jesus was also our example of how we ought to live, and to interact with God, as human beings. Jesus, as our example of how to fully live the human life, was always deferential to the Father even as we should be.
He was never less than God because He was God. Part of His mission was to teach us how to live as humans.
When we consider the majesty of His kingdom we are struck that His kingdom has many components. He was, and is, The King of the Jews. He stands, from His humanity, in the direct lineage of King David. The true throne of Israel is His. Some day He will occupy this throne as the Sovereign King.
Jesus is also the King of the churches which He established. Since the Holy Spirit, also God, is in this earth among the Christians of those churches, Jesus needs no �vicar� to lord it over His church. No moderator, no denominations president, no elder, no board of apostles, no pope can be the head of the Church of Jesus because that is His office. It is He Who died for our sins, rose again and now sits at the Right Hand of the Father. It is to Him, and Him alone, that the true churches established by Jesus, owe their full and complete spiritual allegiance.
Jesus is not a story book myth that roamed the earth two thousand years ago and now has turned over the day to day mission to another. He never retired. He is the only True Head of the Churches as the King of those churches.
Jesus is also the King of the Universe and holds sway even over those who reject His righteous rule. At the day of judgment no one can say that they are not under His jurisdiction. All humanity must answer to Him. He offers to us the opportunity to be judged for our sins in this life and have them cleansed by the blood of His cross. If that opportunity is refused the judgment will come in the next life and there will be no more pardon available.
It is a wise decision to accept His Lordship and salvation while we may!
This is why we are charged with the duty of the making of His kindred. Jesus has decreed that we are to be witness to His glory and His salvation in this world. The message of salvation, which alone can give humanity true peace with God, is entrusted into our hands and mouths. We must witness of His grace or we, humanly speaking, are guilty of withholding that grace from others.
He gives us the assistance of the Holy Spirit as we fulfill our duties. This does not mean that we do not have that duty. When I was sent from one �firebase� to another while in the Vietnam War, I often rode a helicopter. Being in this airship meant that I would be taken to my next place of service. Not being in the helicopter meant that I was AWOL and derelict in my duties.
May we allow, enthusiastically allow, the Spirit to take us to our place of duty. Then may we do that duty as God has given it unto us to do!
The allusion to the army is a good illustration because we see that the twelve disciples were recruited. ��and his disciples believed on him.�
In considering the disciples, we are introduced to a microcosm of the church which Jesus founded. We are given, among these disciples who believed on Him, the blueprint for every Christian, of every age of the churches, which should follow.
First, these disciples were, themselves, evangelized. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the One Who would come after Him. Then Jesus worked to call the disciples unto Himself.
What a picture this is of Christian witnessing. We witness to show others the Master. We pray for their salvation. Then the Holy Spirit sends His Own conviction upon the souls of these people to whom we�ve witnessed. He calls them to the Master.
We may call ourselves �soul winners.� We are not. We are, at our best, merely the vessel used to point the way to the Master. We must decrease even as we see Jesus increase in the view of those we seek to disciple. To do otherwise is to lead them from Jesus rather than toward Him.
The disciples were then energized by the teaching of Jesus. They sat at His feet, as it were, and learned the doctrine which He preached. The followed Him and saw that He was, indeed, the One Who came into the world by the Word of the Father.
That is something we must also do. There is a great need in this day for preaching on the doctrinal truths of Scripture. We do not grow from hearing sweet stories and entertaining sermons. We grow in our spiritual lives when we learn the things of God and begin to see those truths worked out into that world as the Holy Spirit leads us into that world as witnesses for Him.
Finally we see the follower�s expressions of their own faith. They began to turn the world upside down for Jesus. They had experienced the risen Jesus and were energized to take the message of Him out into the entire world with which they would interact.
Those early disciples didn�t teach cultural change. Those early disciples didn�t have bake sales and clothing give aways. Those early disciples didn�t try to overtake the secular world around them. Those early disciples preached that Jesus Christ had died in time so that others could live in eternity.
So should we. We lack first century power because too many of us have grown beyond the need to fall on our knees in prayer for the lost. We lack first century power because too many of us have grown beyond the simple message of sin and salvation and have moved into lunches and bazaars. We lack first century power because we have shunned the need to learn the doctrines of Jesus. We lack first century power because too many of us have learned to trust in �programs� and have forgotten that the true power is of God.
If you�ve never experienced the saving power of Jesus Christ in your own life, you need to do so right now. Christianity is not simply a cultural way of life. Christianity is following Jesus, Who is The Way To Life.
Accept Him as your Savior. He really did come to this earth to die in time so that you could live in eternity.