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(upbeat music) - Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. Looking at John chapter
two, day two of our look at that chapter. We began our look at this miracle that
Jesus worked at the beginning of John chapter two yesterday.

And today we're going to be looking at verses seven to 10. Verse seven, Jesus said
to the servants, fill the jars with water. And so they filled them to the brim.

Jesus is going to work a miracle. In just a few moments, we're going to see him turn
water to wine. But here at the beginning of this miracle, you see one of God's
first principles of miracle working.

One of God's first principles is God involves us in doing something ordinary. He
said to the servants, fill the jars with water. And so they filled them to the
brim.

He involved them in the miracle. We fill water jars. Only God can turn water to
wine.

We do the ordinary. Only God can touch it and bring it to life. But he calls us
to do what would seem ordinary.

That's part of the miracle. And their part is they filled them to the brim. I
like these guys.

When they filled the water jars, they filled them to the brim. Now remember,
this was work. If you've ever had to carry a heavy jar filled with water, you
know that if you fill it to the brim and you carry it, it's heavier.

They could have filled it 3/4 of the way or 1/2 of the way, but no, they did it
with all their heart. And the lesson here for me is, for you is, if God asks you
to do something that you think is ordinary, do it to the fullest. Fill it all
the way up.

That's the attitude I want to have, that I want you to have. When God asks me to
do something, even when it seems ordinary, I'll do the ordinary right to the
brim. What if they'd only filled it halfway?

Jesus would have only had half the water to work with to turn into wine, but
they filled it all the way. And then Jesus is going to work a miracle. Now as we
read about this miracle in just a moment in verses eight and nine, I want you to
notice how simply this miracle is done.

God is powerful, but God is not showy. There's no great show that he works with
this miracle. He certainly doesn't do it like some magician would.

There's no hocus pocus with Jesus. He just simply works a miracle. Doesn't call
the crowd to come over and taste it and see that it tastes like water and then
wave something over it and say, now that you've seen what I've done, it tastes
like wine.

Jesus was able to do this because of his great confidence in faith. He didn't
have any need for show because he was confident in his relationship with God.
I've noticed that those who have the greatest need for being showy are those who
are the least confident in their lives.

Jesus didn't even need to taste this at the end to make sure that it worked
because he was confident in his relationship with God. I also want to note as we
look at this miracle in just a moment that for those of us who don't have time
for celebrations, Jesus's first miracle was at a wedding party. A lot of people
look at this miracle that Jesus worked here and they call it a luxury miracle.

It was great, they say, for Jesus to heal people. That's a meaningful miracle.
It was great for Jesus to raise people from the dead.

That's a powerful miracle. But this, it was just a party. It's just an
embarrassed host.

Why in the world is Jesus taking time to turn water into wine at a party? For
those of us who are so intent on life that we can't take the time to celebrate,
Jesus took the time to do his first miracle at a celebration, at a wedding. And
he's showing us the balance of life.

If your life gets out of balance, your heart for the Lord gets out of balance.
He's also showing us that he wants to bring joy to every corner of every
person's life. So he goes where people are.

And he does this miracle. Verses eight and nine, here's what happened. 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.

I want you to get the feeling of these verses. In the language that's used, in
the Greek language, the idea is that as they dipped out the water, that's when
it became wine. This miracle, every time they dipped in and dipped out water
happened again and again.

When they dipped in, it was still water, but when it came out in their dipper,
it became wine. That's how this miracle happened. And the great thing is that
this miracle happened again and again and again, every time they took a dip.

Just as it was with Jesus' feeding of the 5,000, they broke the bread. And then
they broke it again and again and again. And with every time the bread was
broken, a miracle was worked.

I love it when God does things this way. It takes constant faith to see a
constant miracle. And Jesus turned water into wine.

Now, before we talk about that more, just an aside about this, 'cause I know
this bothers some of you. Jesus makes wine? Well, what about Christians
drinking?

Is Jesus saying this is a good idea? What about my son or my daughter or my
husband or my wife who struggles with alcohol, some friend that I have? What is
Jesus saying here?

This so bothers some people that they sort of reject the fact that Jesus ever
did this. They say, "Oh no, he didn't turn water into wine. "He just made really
good grape juice.

" Well, it's obvious in the Bible that Christians are not forbidden to drink
wine. You can look at John chapter two. You can look at 1 Timothy chapter five,
verse 23.

We are forbidden to become drunk, Ephesians 5:18, but we're not forbidden to
drink wine. There's two things to remember about the drinking of wine in the
Bible. First, remember that their drink was different.

It was usually one part wine to three or four parts of water. It wasn't as
alcoholic as our wine is, but remember even more importantly that their culture
was different. We happen to live in a culture in America where alcohol is a way
of escape for most people.

It's not something you drink along with a meal like you would drink milk or you
would drink iced tea for many people. For a few it is, but for the majority of
our country, wine and beer and alcohol have become ways of escape. And that is
why all the pastors at Saddleback have made a commitment not to drink any
alcohol, any wine or any other alcohol for three reasons.

One, we live in a country where alcohol is often used as a drug. Second, we want
to avoid any appearance of evil, people thinking that we're drunk when we're
not. And third, most importantly, we don't want to cause a new or growing
believer to stumble, somebody who's just started to come to celebrate recovery
and sees me or some other pastor drinking a glass of wine at a restaurant and
that causes them to think, well, maybe it's okay for me.

And then they stumble back into alcoholism. And when it comes to the idea of
turning water into wine, I've always liked what one person in a 12-step group
said, this story of believing that Jesus could turn water into wine. They said,
since I've stopped drinking, I've seen him turn wine into food and clothes for
my kids.

And that's what we want to protect people from. So that's the differences
between the cultures. That's how to understand what Jesus was doing here.

With that in mind, let's get back to the miracle. Think with me. Think with me
about who got to see this miracle.

That is one of the greatest things in this story. There was this huge crowd
there. There was this tremendous celebration and this miracle happened and who
was closest to it?

Who got to see this miracle like no one else got to see it? It was the servants.
The servants got to see the miracle.

The people who were dipping the water out as it was changing into wine. And
there's a simple lesson there for you and me. You want to see miracles?

Start serving. Still true today. It's the servants of God who get to see the
miracles.

The truth is, miracles are happening all around us. The miracle of changed
hearts have changed lives. There are miracles happening in the lives of people
that may not be servants of God.

They may just be beginning to trust God. They haven't started serving him yet,
but they don't see the miracle. They don't understand it like the servants of
God see the miracle.

When you start to serve him with all your heart, all your life, you get so close
to the miracle that you can't miss it. You see it like you've never seen it
before. Now listen to what the last part of verse nine to verse 10 says in John
chapter two.

Then he called the bridegroom aside. And he said, everyone brings out the choice
wine first and the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But
you, you saved the best until now.

You saved the best until now. There is a teaching in every miracle. And so what
is Jesus teaching us here?

He's teaching us that the world offers us the best first, and it's not even the
best. And once you get hooked on it, then things start to go downhill. Some
habit that you get involved in.

It looks very attractive at the beginning. It feels exciting at the beginning,
but then you get hooked and all you have is the fact that you're hooked. All you
have is the tired fact of doing the same thing day after day after day.

It could be food, it could be sex, it could be entertainment, it could be
gossip, it could be any of a hundred things. It looked exciting at first, but
then it's all downhill from there. Well, Jesus does exactly the opposite.

It starts wonderfully and it just gets better and better and better. That's what
it's all about, to serve the Lord. I would just remind you that life is not all
downhill.

It's not that we look forward to this life that's going to be less exciting with
more responsibilities and more physical ailments all the rest of my life, just a
gradual slide downhill. Jesus is saving the best until last. The poet Robert
Browning said the best is yet to be the last of life for which the first was
made.

Well, the spiritual side of that, the spiritual truth of that is only found in
Jesus Christ. There's true spirituality in this world and in that spiritual
relationship with God, that just deepens day after day, week after week, year
after year throughout the rest of your life. You get closer to God as you serve
him.

The best is yet to be in your relationship with him. But it's not only true in
this world, it's also true as we look forward to eternity. The best is yet to
be.

We get new bodies, we get new hope, we get new jobs, we get new relationship
with God that's deeper than we ever imagined. That's what we look forward to.
And this miracle is a reminder of the fact that Jesus is looking forward always
to the best that is yet to be that he wants to do in your life and in my life.

Let's take a moment and thank him for that right now. Jesus Christ, we thank
you. The working of this miracle is a teaching about joy.

At this party where people were celebrating, you taught them about joy, where
real joy comes from. It doesn't come from the party, it doesn't come from the
things in this world, it comes from you. And so Lord, when I try to find joy in
something else, bring me up short, help me to realize it's only in you.

That's where the best is to be found, the rest of my life in this world and then
in all of eternity. Jesus, thank you for the joy, the true deep fulfillment and
peace and strength, the joy that only you can bring, only you can give. Help me
to experience your joy today as I lean on you.

I pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to focus on verse 11
and what the meaning of this miracle, the further meaning of this miracle really
is.