Title: Miracles happen only when it's full.
Contents
John 2:1-11 Miracles happen only when it reaches Agu.
This is a story from the Talmud. A Jew sneaked into the airport with high-quality Western liquor and was caught. Airport staff asked. "What is this?" Then the Jew spoke calmly. “It is water.” “Is it water? It's a fine wine..." said the Jew. “I must have brought water, but on the plane, Jesus performed another miracle by turning water into wine.”
Ladies and gentlemen, today's sermon is the story of the first miracle that Jesus performed on this earth. The fact that Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding is significant. Adam and Eve's first family, created by God, was broken because of sin. However, the Savior Jesus blessed the family by resolving the urgent problems of a family who had a wedding ceremony and started their life. In other words, God is the One who solves problems in our family and makes us happy.
In today's text, Jesus was invited to a wedding feast in a house. And before that, Jesus' mother went to the wedding banquet house and helped with the kitchen work. However, there was not enough wine during the feast. I don't know in detail why there was a shortage of wine. However, one thing is that human expectations and calculations can deviate. Usually the person preparing the wedding feast knows the number of guests and prepares enough food. However, if you look at the shortage of wine today, you can see that the calculation is not right.
Anyway, I invited people and ran out of wine, so I got annoyed. At this time, Jesus' mother, who was helping with the kitchen, comes to Jesus and tells him with a worried expression that the wine is running out. Perhaps this banquet house was a close relative or a neighbor of Jesus' mother. Then Jesus says. “Woman. What does it have to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (verse 4).
It's strange. Where in the world is there anyone who sees his mother and calls her 'woman'? If you misunderstand these words, you may be tempted to think, “Jesus is a rude man that even his mother doesn’t know!” But the meaning of this word is not impolite. If you look at the original Greek, the word for ‘woman’ is ‘gina’, which is a very polite word and means ‘lady’. In other words, it is the language used to address a noble woman. It just happened because we couldn't overcome this difference when it was translated into Korean.
Jesus immediately rejected him, but his mother speaks to the servants. “Whatever he says to you, do it” (verse 5). Ladies and gentlemen, these words have a deep meaning. When her husband Joseph passed away first, Mary must have discussed everything about the family with her eldest son, Jesus. And each time, Jesus must have handled things wisely. Therefore, Mary knew well that even though Jesus was her son, the problem could be easily solved by listening to him. Therefore, he asked the servants to listen to Jesus and obey Him.
And Mary knew better than anyone that Jesus was born in a supernatural way, not by human means. In other words, he was the first to know that Jesus was the savior, just as the angel taught him when he was conceived. Therefore, Mary believed that Jesus could do anything. So Mary said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
Fortunately, Jesus was present at the feast. After Jesus finished eating with his disciples, he saw six stone jars in front of the door of the house. Then he calls the servants and finally speaks. “Fill the jar with water.” Hearing this, the servants may have felt bad inside. “No, why do you come to someone else’s house and bother doing errands? I feel badly Siri…”
But the servants remembered Mary's request, "Do whatever he tells you." Then Jesus said. “Now, float it and bring it to the banquet hall.” No, the biggest man at the feast asks you to bring wine, but what if the servant brings fresh water? But the servant remembers Mary's words, "Do whatever he tells you."
Then, the fresh water turned into wine. And the guests who tasted the wine consistently praised it and said: “When people have a feast, they serve good wine first, and after they are drunk they serve low things, but you have kept good wine until now” (verse 10). . It is none other than “full of self” (verse 7). Ladies and gentlemen, miracles happen only when you fill your mouth. If you give up halfway, miracles don't happen. But what do you need to fill?
1. Efforts must also be filled to the brim.
If you have worked hard on a task and have not yet been able to achieve it, check if it has not been fulfilled. In the Old Testament times, there was a strong nation called Syria among the nations next to Israel. A man named Naaman, the minister of defense of that country, was a very honorable man. The king was also a very mossy god. But he had a problem that he couldn't talk about. It was none other than leprosy.
However, there was a girl among the captives that Naaman had captured and attacked Israel. The child was taking care of General Naaman's wife, and one day he said to Naaman's wife. “If our master goes to the prophet Elisha, who lives in Samaria, Israel, he can be healed.”
Hearing this, General Naaman went to Elisha with his servants and many gifts. But Elisha did not receive him into the household.
Send a servant to say “Go and wash yourself in the Jordan River seven times. You will still be four years old, and you will be clean.”
When Naaman heard this, he was very angry. He thought that Elisha would come to meet him at the door, welcome him as if he were picking himself, call on the name of the Lord God, and wave his hand over the place to heal him of leprosy. But Elisha was very angry when he told him to go to the Jordan River and wash seven times without taking him into the house because he was unclean.
And he said, “No, in our country of Syria, there is a river that is cleaner than the Jordan, so why am I going into this dirty Jordan?” He turned and tried to return to his country. Then the servant who accompanied him said: “My Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do great things, would you not have done it? How much more would he say to you, Wash and be clean?”
Hearing this, Naaman humbled himself again and, as Elisha had said, immersed himself in the Jordan River seven times. Then, to his astonishment, his leprosy was completely healed, and his skin became like the flesh of a child. The miracle happened because he had entered the Jordan River up to seven times. In the sixth, no miracle happened. After completing all the efforts called No. 7, a miracle happened.
The same goes for the battle of Jericho. God commanded Joshua to go around Jericho once a day. The Israelites went around Jericho once a day. Then, the wall of Jericho did not begin to fall by one-seventh every day. Until the sixth day, the castle remained still. However, on the last day, when all the numbers that God asked for were filled, the wall of Jericho fell down. Miracles happen only when our efforts are exhausted.
2. Miracles happen only when you are in high difficulty.
Is there anyone who continues to suffer? “When will my suffering end?” Does anyone have a sigh like this? It may sound a bit cruel, but it will be over only when the high difficulty is full. When the Israelites were taken captive by Babylon, God said: “This is what the LORD says: When the seventy years are completed in Babylon, I will counsel you and do my good words to you, and bring you back to this place. I know the thoughts I have toward you, says the LORD, not to be calamity, but peace, to give you hope for your future. You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you; and if you seek and seek me with all your heart, you will find me” (Jeremiah 29:10-13).
According to this word of God, the Israelites will be freed from captivity after 70 years. Not in 69. There is a period set by God. You who are being tried and suffering! Be patient until the time set by God is over. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for 430 years. It is a period ordained by God. No matter how hard they tried, the Israelites could not come out of Egypt after living in Egypt for 300 years. God has ordained 430 years.
Sometimes I get frustrated with problems, but sometimes the problems are not easily solved. Because there is a period of suffering set by God. The suffering seems difficult right now, but there are things that God trains us during that time of suffering. When you go to the army, there is a training period for training officers and there is a period for training privates. And just as a soldier is assigned to a soldier only when that period is fulfilled, so he can be used by God only when the period of suffering is fully fulfilled. We must wait for that period of suffering to come to an end. Miracles happen only when the high difficulty Agu is full.
3. There are miracles only when prayers reach the end
There is a certain amount of prayer that God requires of us. There is an answer only when the amount of prayer is full. Jesus also fasted and prayed for 40 days in the wilderness.
You did. Did Jesus, the Son of God, need to fast for 40 days? However, in order for Jesus to do the ministry of his public life, he had to fill the amount of prayer.
So was King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah fell ill. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed. Then finally came the wailing. Hezekiah prayed until God saw his tears and heard their cries. As I prayed until I cried like that, God said that he saw Hezekiah's tears and received a promise to extend his life for 15 years. In other words, miracles happen only when prayers are filled up to the amount that God desires. If your prayers are not answered yet, it is because your prayers are not yet full. When you boil water, it doesn't boil up to 99 degrees and it stays still. Then, when it reaches 100 degrees, it starts to boil.
Conclusion. No matter what happens, miracles happen only when it reaches Agu. We live in a foreign land with our efforts, devotion, and prayer according to the will of God. And just as we receive the promised amount when the savings account is fully filled, God's promised good things happen when our devotion, service, and prayers are all full. And although our life on this earth is sometimes a little difficult, when the life span that God has told us to live is exhausted, the day will come when we will ascend to heaven and the sufferings of this earth will cease.
We, like servants, are people who live to the fullest. Of course, filling it to the brim is sometimes cumbersome and difficult, but when we do, we experience God's miracles and receive God's promises. And if I do my best and faithfully fill my eyes, God will fill me with the blessings I need. I pray in the name of the Lord that God's blessings will come to you in this foreign land.