Transformative Abundance: Inviting Jesus into Our Lives

Lord God, we give you thanks as we are drawn once again to your word. And we ask that by the power of your spirit, you fill us with all the promises you deliver to us in this word, that this first sign performed by your son is a reminder of all the incredible works he does in our lives and reminds us of the gifts and promises that he delivers wherever he is. [00:00:02]

And that was the first wedding I ever presided over, a wedding in which I thought I was just going to be a guest and it turned out to be so much more. And I share that story with you this morning because in our reading from John's gospel, we heard about another wedding, a wedding in which Jesus was expecting to be just a guest and yet his appearance and presence turned out to be a guest. And it turned out to be so much more. And there are so many lessons and truths that we can experience and receive from this story. But the one that I want to bring to your attention today is this. [00:03:37]

When we invite Jesus into our lives, we always receive more than we ask for. [00:04:10]

And I want to clarify here and just point out that it's not a big deal because they needed wine in order to be able to celebrate, but it was a big deal because not having wine would have been a sign that they weren't prepared for the celebration. And not being prepared would have been a sign of great embarrassment, not only upon the servants and the chief steward, but especially upon this, this family, right? You invited people from all around the community. You have high officials, people coming from all over, from the synagogue to the temple, from all over the place coming to your celebration and you weren't ready for them to be here? [00:06:38]

And this is one of those moments in scripture that I really love because it's such a humanizing moment in the interaction we see between Mary and Jesus. It is such a mother-son conversation because Mary comes to Jesus and she says to him, Jesus, we've run out of wine. And Jesus is like, so, like, what's that got to do with me, mom? I mean, that's not my problem. It's certainly not your problem. And he even says, my hour has not yet come, right? Already alluding to something greater. [00:08:18]

And so this, I mean, this beautiful moment between a mother and a son, it's again, it's such a beautiful part of the scripture here and then of course Jesus does it right. Jesus tells the servants to fill up these jugs full of water and then he tells them now take the water and take it to the chief steward and when they take it to the chief steward the steward has an experience that he's never had before he says that it's the best wine he's ever tasted and and he's in fact so shocked by this moment that he goes to the groom and he says I can't believe you did this. [00:08:58]

And for these families and instead of being embarrassed and filled with shame because they ran out of wine they received something so much better because it's not only that they didn't run out of wine but instead that they are honored because of what's been done that their guests and the chief steward that everyone around them lifts them up and says this is amazing you have shifted the culture in a whole new way you've changed the wedding experience for everyone here even if just for that moment everyone has been invited and to this miraculous thing and no one really knows who did it and yet they get to experience the goodness of it. [00:11:15]

And you see it here in this unique moment where no one really is aware of what Jesus did right only the servants and the disciples who were in the room watching this happen they're the only ones who are aware and yet everyone gets to experience this incredible sign and for these families and instead of being embarrassed and filled with shame because they ran out of wine they received something so much better because it's not only that they didn't run out of wine but instead that they are honored because of what's been done that their guests and the chief steward that everyone around them lifts them up and says this is amazing you have shifted the culture in a whole new way you've changed the wedding experience for everyone here even if just for that moment everyone has been invited and to this miraculous thing and no one really knows who did it and yet they get to experience the goodness of it. [00:11:15]

And when we do that it's almost like we're recalling the words of Paul in in Ephesians chapter three where where Paul says that God is able to do more than we can ask think or imagine that when we invite Jesus to be in worship with us he is going to do more than we can ask think or imagine that's what happens in this place because there is power and calling on the name of Jesus and when we invite him into our lives we always get more than we asked for. [00:17:55]

And because of what he gives to us then we experience it here and now you know there are so many times in my own life where I am blown away by how good God is but even more so of how Jesus has provided in ways I couldn't even imagine ways that I could have never asked for one of them is when I'm here with all of you in fact as I look out with all of you I think and I experience that reality every single day and I think that Jesus has provided in ways that I couldn't ever ask for in any single time. [00:20:10]

See this is a beautiful reminder of what happens when we invite Jesus into every part of our lives when you invite Jesus into your life get ready for things to be different than you expected and better than you can imagine because every time we invite Jesus to be with us whether it's in the biggest moments or the smallest ones we can be certain that when Jesus arrives he will provide that he will show up in a very big way and he will deliver his promises to us in ways that are more than we could ask for. [00:24:30]

His promise to me and to you is that as we continue to invite him into our lives he will always give us more than we ask for in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen. [00:26:00]