Grow Up and Act Your Age

John 2: 1-11 January 17, 2009

As we continue our journey through the season of epiphany, today we see Jesus performing his first miracle as he changes water into wine.

Now this is not my first rodeo, I’ve studied and preached on this scripture before… and there are many spiritual lessons that we can learn from this scripture…

This scripture has the tendency to really open up our minds this morning because we see things about Jesus that surprise us.

First of all MEN, we see that Jesus accompanied his mother to a wedding in Cana. Many of us men don’t even like to accompany our wife to a wedding – much less our mothers. We think weddings are for girls and we’re just too manly to attend weddings. But here we see a real man attending a wedding with his mother – so next time your wife asks you to go to a wedding with her - be a real man and go with her and invite your mother to join you…

But we also see Jesus doing what appears to be kind of talking down to his mother or being short with her… For she said to Jesus, “They have no wine,” and Jesus replies, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour (my time) has not yet come.”

That sounds kind of harsh doesn’t it? That’s not the reply that the sweet compassionate Jesus that we know would give to his mother… And that reply has confused many Biblical scholars and theologians and they get hung up on this…

Not that I’m smarter than anyone else, but I try not to get hung up on things that I don’t understand… But actually if you study 1^st Century Arabic, you would learn that “Woman” is the right and respectful way to address your wife or mother… so Jesus was actually being respectful to his mother… But I don’t advise the husbands and children to use that term with your wives and mothers today because you’ll probably be sleeping on the couch or having to spend some timeout all by yourself…

But not only was Jesus being respectful to his mother but he was being respectful to God the Father… because he says, “My hour has not yet come.” Jesus knew that sooner or later that he would begin his ministry of miracles disclosing himself as the Son of God, as the Messiah and Savior… but he knew that that time was to be determined by God and not by Mary’s desires…

But obviously, this was the time and the hour had come, and being encouraged by his mother, Jesus begins his ministry, performs his first miracle, and turns the water into wine…

And notice that the wine Jesus made was not just any wine – it’s wasn’t the cheap Morgan David wine or the cheap wine-coolers that we can buy today… The Bible says that the chief steward of the wedding tasted the wine and told the bridegroom that he had saved the best for last. In other words, the wine that Jesus made was better than the real wine… Jesus had saved the best for last…

And many of us ponder why Jesus would even concern himself with making wine… Why would he use his first miracle providing wine for a group of happy wedding guests?

Well, I think there is a collation between his first miracle and his last miracle and how he saves the best for last… Jesus begins his ministry by turning water into wine but he ends his ministry by turning wine into blood… Because the new covenant that Jesus makes with us is that the cup of wine represents his bloodshed on the Cross… And he saves the best for last – because after death comes the resurrection…

And then, the jars of water that he used were not there for drinking purpose, they were used for a Jewish ritual of purification… to be made clean and to be made whole… The water was Holy Water… And we who drink from the cup of Jesus shall be made pure, clean and whole.

We can learn so much from this scripture and this first miracle of Jesus… And I thought about opening up a bottle of wine and passing it around this morning so we could really enjoy the service this morning (that would be different wouldn’t it?) And you probably wouldn’t mind if I preached past 12:00… Boy, that would give the Baptist something to talk about!

But instead of focusing on the wine, I want us to focus on Spiritual Maturity – I want you to Grow Up and Act Your Age…

How many times have you heard that? Grow Up and Act Your Age! (Lori tells me that quite often, 3 or 4 times a day.) That’s what we see Jesus doing… He was baptized last week, filled with the Holy Spirit, and now it’s time for him to begin his ministry.

He is no longer the baby in the manger, he’s no longer the little 12-year old boy reading scripture in the temple… He is now 30-years old and has reached a level of Spiritual Maturity and begins his ministry proclaiming that he is Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior…

And over the next 3-1/2-years of his life we will see him being transformed by God as he teaches and preaches and performs miracle after miracle and touches the lives of so many people until he is ultimately transformed into our Savior, a ransom for our sins on the Cross of Calvary…

Through God’s Word, we see Jesus growing up and acting his age, we see him being transformed into what God would have him to be… BUT WHAT ABOUT US? Are we growing up? Are we growing Spiritually Mature? Are we being transformed into what God would have us to be?

Illus: This is one of those Sunday’s that I want to get real with you… The Lord put this on my heart and I want to honor Him and share it with you…

There are times when I question my ministry because the Bible says that we can see the results of who we are where we are in Christ Jesus by the fruits of the Spirit that our lives are producing… So as a Christian I look for the fruits of the Spirit that my life is producing… But not only do I look for the fruits of my Spirit – but as your pastor and the minister of this church, I look for the fruits of the Spirit that the church is producing… I’m looking for your fruits of the Spirit…

And some days I am so pleased and so proud of the fruits that we harvest in this church ----- but I’ve got to tell you… there are some days that my spirit and I believe in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, WE GRIEVE… And I’m disappointed and displeased with the fruits of our harvest… because I know we can do better than we’re doing…

Sometimes I feel like God wants us to be at this level (holding hands high) but for some reason we’re still down here (holding hands low). For some reason we’re not maturing in our Spiritual walk with Christ… and that bothers me – it grieves my spirit…

And I’m NOT talking about all of us – because some of us are Growing Up and Acting Our Age… Some of us are growing in our walk with Christ and maturing Spiritually… We’re learning to walk with Christ and to RUN with Christ… But some of us are slow learners – we’re still taking baby steps with Christ or we’re just satisfied crawling with Christ… and our lives aren’t producing the GOOD fruits of the Spirit… because we’re not maturing in our walk with Christ…

And it’s NOT God’s fault – It’s our fault! In Matthew 5: 6, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled…”

For our lives to be filled with the fruits of the Spirit we have to have a hunger and a thirst for righteousness… We’ve got to want it and have a desire for it and then God is going to give it to us…

In John 15, (turn with me in your Bible beginning at verse 5) Jesus says, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” (John 15: 5-8)

If we want to produce fruit, we’ve got to make sure that our lives are connected to the vine, Jesus… because a branch can’t produce any fruit without being connected to the vine of life…

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13: 11, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.” (1 Cor. 13: 11)

Illus: When I was a child I used a pacifier, I drank from a baby bottle, I had a blankie for security, I wore diapers, and I wore bibs so I didn’t get food all over me when I eat… And sometimes when I eat I could still use a bib… but I no longer have a need for a pacifier, a baby bottle, security blanket, or diapers… I’ve out grown those things… I have been transformed from a baby into a big-boy… a really big-boy…

But not only have I grown and matured physically, but thanks be to God, I have grown and matured Spiritually… And I’m NOT all of what God wants me to be but thanks be to God, I’m NOT what I used to be!

Church, if we’re ever going to be what God wants us to be, we’ve got to start now… The time has come, the hour is now for the church to stand up, to Grow Up and Act our Age…

I know I’ve shared a lot of scripture with you this morning, but that’s how we GROW! You see, when we become a Christian, God plants His seed inside of our heart… and in order for that seed to grow we have to water it with God’s Word… And as we study and receive God’s Word, the seed of God begins to grow in us… The more we study, the more it grows… and as it grows it begins to mature… and eventually that seed of God will begin to produce good mature fruits of the Spirit…

Well, I want you to grow a little more today so I’m going to share one more scripture with you… Turn with me to Romans 8, verse 29… Most of us know verse 28 by heart because that’s God’s promise that all things work to the good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose… (Rom. 8: 28) But we often stop right there and haven’t learned verse 29, but the promise of God we find in verse 28 is contingent upon verse 29 which tells us what our calling is and what purpose God has for us… For it says that we have been predestined (by God) to be conformed to the image of His Son (Jesus Christ.) (Rom. 8: 29)

Church, our destiny, our calling, is for us to be conformed (transformed) into the image of Jesus… That is God’s purpose for our life – that is His goal for each of us…

But we’re never going to get there on our own… We’ve got to want it and desire it… we’ve got to have a thirst and a hunger for righteousness… we’ve got to stay connected to the vine of life… we’ve got to water the seed of God by studying His Word… And we’ve got to be willing to be changed…

God is the Potter and we are the clay… We have to allow our lives to be in the hands of the Potter… We’ve have to be willing to let God mold us and shape us, bend us and make us and transform us into the image of Jesus…

Can God do that? Absolutely, if we will let Him… God is willing if we are…

If God can change an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly, just think what He can do with us…

If Jesus can change water into wine, just think what he can do with us…

Don’t be afraid to Grow Up and Act Your Age… That’s what God wants us to do!

Let me ask you something, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I want to grow up to be the image of Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray!