Open—David Mearns
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Young people have had to listen to a couple of brothers, last few this past week quite a bit.
Umm, I'd like to address a few comments to.
Those particularly here.
Or young parents.
And those who are younger that perhaps at some time anticipate.
Being in that position.
I'd like to look at a little story.
Confine my comments entirely to that story and trust that we can all glean a little bit from it. John's Gospel, chapter 2.
I am no longer a parent with young children in the house.
Or any children in the house.
In a different season.
I remember that season.
And yes, we have grandchildren running in and out of the house.
But as I reflect on that season in my life, I have to own, and it's a humbling thing.
As the head of my home, I'm not sure that there's been any mistakes that I haven't made.
So I'm not standing here taking high ground.
But I trust that.
Anything we get here would be exclusively from the Word of God.
John's Gospel, chapter 2.
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.
And the mother of Jesus was there.
And Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage and when they wanted wine.
The mother of Jesus saith unto them, They have no wine.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.
And his mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there 6 water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins of peace. And Jesus said unto them, Fill the water pots with water, and they filled them to the brim.
And he saith unto them, Drive now, and bear unto the governor of the feast, and they bear it. And when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not once it was, but the servants withdrew the water, knew the governor of the peace called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning does set forth good wine, And when men have well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory, and his disciples believed on him. And after this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brethren, and his disciples, and they continued there not many days.
So in this very well known portion before us, we have some characters and the first one here that we read of is the mother of Jesus was there. There are a number of mothers here.
I'm not one.
I never will be one.
But we're not going to hear from 1 standing in this position. And so it's with. Thank you.
It's with great humility that I address you as mothers not having been one and never will be one.
But having said that, I have learned from many, many mothers and I'm very thankful for that. Interesting in John's gospel.
This one is never called Mary. Never once. She's always called the mother of Jesus.
And what can we learn from this dear mother? Oh, dear mother's here.
The very, very best instruction that I have ever got from any mother has been the instruction that this mother gave, and it's this.
His Mother Verse five His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Dear mothers, those little ones that you have in the house every day, there's no better instruction than you can give those little ones, as the instruction that was given here by this dear mother. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Oh, I would love to have that.
00:05:24
As a text in my home, I've got lots of them. I haven't done that one beautiful dear mothers, and those of you who perhaps anticipate being a mother and I will never be 10, that we could all give this advice. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. It's interesting.
And this is hard on me.
Because we have, we have a character here that's a mother. We also have one that's the head of the home.
And the head of the home is found.
At the end of the portion in verse nine, it says the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and you not once it was, but the servants which drew the water knew, and the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, he calls the head of the home.
And he says every man at the beginning does set forth good wine, and when men hath well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the good wine until now. There's a point here that's made, that's been made to my own soul.
That the responsibility of joy in the home lands on the shoulders of those of us who are heads of our homes.
That's where the responsibility is. That's why the ruler of the feast went to the bridegroom. That's who we went to. And I have to own has been so many times when there's been a lack of joy in my home, and it's had to been my wife.
That has kicked in and it's provide joy in the home. But the responsibility is here, dear young fathers and dear those of us who are my peers and myself included, oh that we would take on that responsibility of providing joy in the home.
Let's back up now.
In the sixth verse.
It's also interesting to realize that, and sometimes this is the case, who was who was it that realized there was number joy?
It was the mother.
Sometimes it's the mother.
That realizes there's no joy. I've been so thankful the times that my wife has come to me and pointed out that in my walk I've displayed a lack of joy or that there would be joy in our homes. Here in the sixth verse it says and there was 6 water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews contained two or three frickins of peace. And Jesus said unto them.
Fill the water pots with water.
And fill them up to the brim, you dear young parents, as you look at those little water pots around you.
Responsibility is ours.
To fill those water pots with water.
And it says here they filled them to the brim.
Don't leave a space so the world can come in and fill the rest of the space. Fill the water pots right to the brim. That's the responsibility those of us who are parents is to fill these little water pots. Fill them with water. And one thing we can't do.
We can't take that water and we can't turn it into wine. That is exclusively the work of God. That is exclusively the work of God. The work of a soul is the work of God, work of the work of my soul. The work of each soul here is a work of God.
And it's interesting, you know, as we go through John's gospel, there are a number of what we would call miracles. Mr. Darby calls them science, and I believe there's a reason why he would call them science.
As I traveled here, I went down the coast of Erie.
And on either side of the freeway there was these fields, these vineyards, field after field of them.
As I looked at those vineyards, I realized, you know, the water comes out of heaven, hits the ground.
Goes into those little roots, it travels up those roots up through the vine, goes into the grapes and it's turned the grape juice.
00:10:04
And it's every bit as much a miracle as what we have here. It's no different except the hero's done faster. And it's like that. If we were to go through all the miracles, they're the same eternity. 11Th chapter. And you see Lazarus raised to the dead. And we say, wow, we see that every spring. You look at the trees, they all look dead. You look at the ground, it all looks dead. And boom, you know, it's interesting.
This year.
Was working at a house and umm.
It was chilly.
And we set up some chairs and we sat out in the sun under this tree. We sat there under the sun, and a week later it was cold at lunchtime.
I've got that wrong. We sat under the sun because it was cold. A week later it was, it was quite warm. And we went and sat in those chairs and we sat in the shade because the leaves had all come out. And we take that for granted every day at the things that happen around us. And we think, Oh well, they're marvellous things. They are miracles. We look at the blind man in, in, in, in the 9th chapter of this, of this gospel and we think, wow, you received this site.
It's a miracle that you and I have sight. All these things are marvelous miracles. And so we look at this one. The water was changed. Wine and dear ones.
When God takes that water that's been poured into me by my parents, and he turns it into joy and he turns it into wine, it's a marvelous miracle, but it's a work of God. But that does not take away from the responsibility that is ours as parents to a do what Mary did here. What's the way He saith unto you? Do it, and as the bridegroom to provide.
Joy in the home.
I would say this too.
Mary picks up. There's no joy here.
It's not rocket science.
To look at any group of dear Saints of God.
And to look at couples.
And to say, you know, there's a lack of joy, I wonder if it was this way on the wedding day.
There was number joy. Oh that we would cry to the Lord that there would be joy. One more point before I sit down.
And this is for all of us.
Well, we'll see the 11 first. It says the beginning of miracles did Jesus and Canaan of Galilee and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him.
You know, if we were to go to the previous chapter, we'd see that those cycles did believe on him. So what's it speaking about here? You know, faith?
Grows where it's real, and let's expect it to grow in our own souls.
If the faith is real, the disciples here, they believed on him, it grew. But back here now the point that I want to make is in the seventh verse, Jesus said unto them, Fill the water pots with water, and they fill them to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now and bear until the government of the feast, and they bear it.
You know, this is for everyone of us. We have the privilege and responsibility of serving joy here, Mary, she said to the servants. Whatsoever he do, he says to you, do it. And they did it. And then they had the joy of taking that wine and serving it and all we do too. We have that same privilege and responsibility to share joy with each other, don't we? They served joy.
Isn't that a wonderful service that we can all be involved with?
I've seen so many things served, and some of them have not been joyful. Oh, that we might be those that were servants of joy. May the Lord bless this little portion teach of our hearts.