John 2:1-11
Welcome to the 3rd sermon in our Series called “Living with Joy” – in which we are digging deeply into this one aspect of the Christian life: JOY!
The dictionary defines joy as “exhilaration, delight, gladness, pleasure, enjoyment of life” and in Older English something like “merriment”.
As Benjamin reminded us two weeks ago, God-given JOY is not based on what happens to us … it’s way deeper than that.
And, as Chris helped us to see last week, true joy starts when we realise our identity as the beloved of the Lord. Our beloved-ness is the foundation of a life of true joy.
Today we’re spending time in the scene from John 2 where Jesus performs a miraculous transformation of water into wine. Through the sermon I hope to point us all to the ONE called Jesus who turned water into wine … and I pray that we will see together how Jesus can transform our lives into lives of true joy … just as He transformed water into wine.
Our title for today’s message is TRANSFORMED INTO JOY!
Before I even do this reading, allow me to explain how it connects to JOY. You see, while the wine in this account was actual wine … it ALSO had a symbolic meaning. Wine, in 1st century Jewish culture was a well-known symbol of JOY. For example, Psalm 4:7 prays: “YOU have filled me with greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.” Because of that, wine was always present at a wedding feast, because it symbolised how joyful the occasion was. For the bridegroom – who was responsible for providing the feast – wine was the way he communicated symbolically how joyful he was to be marrying his bride.
To have no wine at a wedding would have been the equivalent of saying, “I’m not happy to be marrying this woman. This is not a joyful occasion.”
So when Jesus and His disciples arrive at the wedding feast, and the wine is finished … it’s a massive social disaster for the groom.
But it also speaks to us in the context of our series on joy … because it presents to us symbolically a moment when ALL the JOY WAS GONE.
Let’s get into the Gospel and read John 2:1-11.
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’
4 ‘Woman,[a] why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come.’
5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from eighty to a hundred and twenty litres.
7 Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realise where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 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.’
11 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 him.
John 2:1-11 NIVUK
Where does true Christian joy come from?
We’ve already seen that it doesn’t come from good things happening to us.
We’ve already seen that it is born out of our identity as the beloved of the Lord.
Christian joy is a true and eternal joy which is available to disciples of Jesus because it is a product of the presence of the Holy Spirit who is poured into our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 lists certain qualities that are produced in the Christian by the presence of the Holy Spirit. That list starts like this: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy …” Joy is a fruit of the presence of the Holy Spirit in you and me.
That is why every Christian can expect that joy will be part of our Christian experience … because joy is ministered to us by the Holy Spirit. Joy is not something we produce for ourselves. Christian Joy is something we receive.
That is also the reason that true Christian endures even when pain and turmoil arise … it is a joy that can be experienced and lived even in the face of the death of someone we love … or a cancer diagnosis … or the next wave of a pandemic. Because it comes from the Holy Spirit. Notice that Psalm 4:7 again: “You have given me greater joy.”
There is a true and eternal joy which cannot be stolen from us even by the worst of circumstances … because it does not come from circumstances … instead it is ministered to us by the Holy Spirit. That’s why Nehemiah 8:10 can call it “the joy of the Lord” and Jesus can call it in John 15:11, “My joy” (Jesus’s joy) and why Paul in Galatians 5 can call it a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Where does true Christian joy come from? It comes from God working in our lives by the Holy Spirit.
How does the Holy Spirit minister God’s joy to us?
Well … given our passage for today … let’s start here: How is wine produced?
There is an ordinary way which is not all that surprising because we can understand it by the laws God has written into the natural world. That’s the ordinary way.
But there is also an extraordinary way – displayed by Jesus in today’s reading.
When Jesus uses an extraordinary method to create wine out of water … that is clearly the hand of God at work.
But the hand of God is no less at work when wine is created from grapes by the natural processes of fermentation. God wrote the laws of nature that lead the crushed up grapes to ferment in the right conditions, to produce wine.
When it comes to joy … the Holy Spirit ALSO ministers Christian joy to us in both ordinary ways AND extraordinary ways.
The one is not better than the other … because they both result in joy. The outcome is what matters … not whether joy came in ordinary or extraordinary ways.
The normal, ordinary ways God ministers joy are slow, steady and gradual … like the fermentation process … there is a slow work of God.
The extraordinary way is when JOY comes as a sudden impartation … a miracle … like water into wine.
The sudden, miraculous explosion of joy IS given by the Holy Spirit from time to time. I’ve certainly witnessed that more than once. I have lovely memories of a Family Camp when a lady who was experiencing real stress, anxiety and heaviness of spirit because of a work situation suddenly received the Holy Spirit’s ministry of joy and laughed out loud for a long, long time.
I remember once leading an Alpha weekend and my secretary at the time came forward … we prayed for her to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit in a new and beautiful way … and she felt nothing had happened. But the next morning at the church service she gave testimony of how she had woken herself and her husband up in the middle of the night laughing out loud with uncontrollable joy.
I just share those as examples of moments in my own experience when I have witnessed the Lord, the Holy Spirit, ministering joy in extraordinary ways. They are extraordinary ways, and they are clearly the hand of God at work.
But the hand of God is no less at work in the Christian joy that is produced within us by the slow fermentation (so to speak) of the Spirit’s presence.
I shared in the newsletter this week (subscribe to it on the website if you haven’t yet) the testimony of Richard Wurmbrand, who endured imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Communist regime in Romania because of his Christian faith. But he wrote THIS of his experience of joy: “Alone in my cell, cold, hungry and in rags, I danced for joy every night … sometimes I was so filled with joy that I felt I would burst if I didn’t give it expression.”
But according to Wurmbrand himself … on the same page of his book on which he wrote that sentence he also wrote this: “I discovered that joy can be acquired like a habit.”
Joy can be acquired slowly … like a habit. In other words, there is a natural way in which God gives the Christian joy. And it is a way in which we have a part to play.
What must I do to acquire Christian joy – whether by ordinary or extraordinary means?
Let’s turn to John 2 again and I will briefly suggest a few answers to that question on the basis of the reading:
1.Develop intimacy with Jesus:
No-one in this passage had as intimate a relationship with Jesus as Mary did. She had known Him and loved Him for the last 30 years. Although the Scriptures don’t give us much about Jesus’ childhood, He was clearly loved by His mom and she knew Him (at this moment) more deeply than anyone else did. She was intimately related to Jesus.
It stands to reason that because joy is a result of the ministry of the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ is key to us experiencing the joy OF THE LORD.
If we desire an increase of Christian joy … it is well within our power to increase our intimacy with Jesus.
How do you increase your intimacy with Jesus?
- Spend quality alone-time with Jesus.
- Learn to know Jesus better through reading the Bible – particularly the New Testament record of Jesus.
- Keep open communication with Jesus by praying and listening to His voice. Do that deliberately at various times … do it throughout the day as you drive … as you work in your garden or walk the dog. Keep talking to Jesus and keep listening.
- Go where Jesus goes. Jesus said, “Wherever two or three of you gather in my name, there I am in the midst of you.” Get into fellowship with other believers … because Jesus is to be found there in ways He is not found when we are alone.
Do whatever you can to maintain an intimate relationship with Jesus.
2.Be honest with Jesus
I love how frank and honest Mary is: “They have no more wine.”
She went on behalf of the bridegroom’s family and presented their problem to Jesus. Now, we don’t need a Mary because we have Jesus. The difference here is that Mary knew who Jesus was and they didn’t yet. But we know Jesus … and we know who Jesus is … and we know what Jesus is capable of. NOW, it is time to be honest with Jesus when we lack joy.
We CAN’T access the joy-transformation that Jesus CAN do for us UNLESS we honestly admit our lack.
Far too often believers feel that we cannot admit that we are struggling. Someone asks: “How are you?” “Fine!” we reply – even when we are anything but fine … even when we are distressed and depressed we say, “Fine”.
Don’t do that with Jesus. Go to Jesus in total honesty.
You can fool people … but you can’t fool Jesus … and you shouldn’t want to. If you feel that your joy has run out … the only place to start is to honestly bring that “lack” to Jesus!
3.Obey whatever Jesus tells you to do
5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from eighty to a hundred and twenty litres.
7 Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.
John 2:5-9
Too often we are far better at presenting problems to Jesus than we are at listening to His solution. Don’t just go to Jesus and tell Him the struggle. Tell Him how you’re feeling … but then ask Him what you can do to receive the joy He has for you. Listen for His response.
And then, when he speaks. Obey.
Now while that makes sense … to obey the one who has the solution … we mustn’t miss the fact that what Jesus told the servants to do made no logical sense at all.
Fortunately either the servants didn’t know why they were being told to fill the jars … or they were just absolutely committed to obedience. Either way, they are a brilliant example to us.
Jesus told them: “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim.
They didn’t just top them up a bit. They filled them to the brim! Their obedience was unquestioning .. and absolute. What an example.
What might Jesus command me to do?
Because there is an ordinary path to Jesus’ miraculous joy we should expect that most times, Jesus will give us an instruction that sounds fairly ordinary.
- He may command us to get rid of bitterness by forgiving someone who has wronged us.
- He may command us to repent of some sin that is separating us from Him (more about that next week).
- He may command us to stop distracting ourselves with so many Netflix series and spend time with Him instead so that he can minister His joy to us.
Those are ordinary instructions Jesus may give.
But He may give extraordinary and seemingly weird instructions too. Richard Wurmbrand’s experience of miraculous joy actually didn’t just come upon him out of nowhere. He writes … as I mentioned earlier:
“I discovered that joy can be acquired like a habit …”Be joyful,” is a command of God … The Communists believe that happiness comes from material satisfaction; but alone in my cell, cold, hungry and in rags, I danced for joy every night…
Later I learned that many others—Jews, Pentecostals, early Christians, people in the Bible like David and Miriam … also danced for God. Words alone have never been adequate to express what man feels in the nearness of divinity. Sometimes I was so filled with joy that I felt I would burst if I did not give vent to it.
I remembered the words of Jesus, “Blessed are you when men come to hate you … on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.” I told myself, “I’ve carried out only half this command. I’ve rejoiced, but that is not enough.”
When the guard next peered through the spyhole, he saw me springing about my cell. His orders must have been to distract anyone who showed signs of breakdown, for he padded off and returned with some food from the staffroom … As I took the food, I remembered the conclusion to the verse … :”Rejoice in that day and leap for joy—for behold your reward is great.” It was a very large piece of bread: more than a week’s ration.
Reading that story reminded me of how John Wesley wrote in his journal: “Immediately it struck into my mind, “Leave off preaching. How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?” I asked Bohler whether he thought I should leave it off or not. He answered, “By no means.” I asked, “But what can I preach?” He said, “Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.””
Could it be that the Lord may command us to rejoice in singing and dancing and whooping for joy until we experience the emotion of joy? Could it be? I think it could.
So in conclusion:
- There is a true and eternal joy which cannot be stolen from us even by the worst of circumstances … because it is ministered to us by the Holy Spirit.
- That joy may come by ordinary, slow processes of our relationship with Jesus, or miraculously, in an instant by the extraordinary ministry of Jesus.
- Either way … the part WE play is to deepen our intimacy with Jesus, communicate our needs honestly to Jesus, and walk in obedience to Jesus – in both ordinary and extraordinary ways.
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