Jesus Launches His Public Ministry
Tom Shrader walks through the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-12, examining Jesus's first public miracle as a sign that the old covenant's empty ritual has been replaced by the new life He brings. He explores the significance of the stone purification jars, Mary's role, and what it means that Jesus manifested His glory to call people to faith. The teaching closes with an extended application from Galatians 5, contrasting the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, and calling believers to a Spirit-filled life marked by genuine joy, peace, and love.
“Apart from Him who is the source of life, who is Himself the life, religion is a cold, lifeless thing. Apart from the joy He brings, religion is joyless and hardens personalities.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: A Study Of The Life Of Jesus Christ (2003/2004)
Recorded: 2004 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 6 min
Themes: miracles, faith, joy, new life, obedience, glory, fruit of the spirit, transformation, new believer, struggling with legalism, seeking deeper faith, young adult, feeling spiritually dry, parent, searching for meaning, wrestling with sin
Scripture: John 2:1-12, John 1:29, John 7:30, John 8:20, John 12, John 17:1, John 20:30, Judges 11, 1 Samuel 16, Luke 2:51, Psalm 119:9, Proverbs 23:29-34, 2 Corinthians 4:7, Galatians 5:16-23
Theological Themes: new covenant, old covenant, signs in john, sanctification, works of the flesh, pneumatology, spirit-filled living, christology
Full Transcript
The Wedding at Cana
If you would open your Bibles to John chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. Jesus is launching His public ministry. At this point, Jesus has been about 30 years of age. This God-man has lived in essentially obscurity for about three decades, but all that is going to change. He becomes the focal point, intensely in the spotlight.
We look at the miracle at Cana today, where Jesus turns water into wine. This is the seventh of the significant events recorded in John's gospel, beginning back in John chapter 1, verse 29. That is where John is confronted by the Jewish leaders, who want to know: Who are you? Are you the Messiah? Are you Elijah? He said, I am nobody. I am just one who is saying, make clear the way of the Lord. Then he spots Jesus and says, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Andrew and John — and I want to note that we cannot say with certainty it was John — two disciples who were followers of John the Baptist become followers of Jesus. One of those men, Andrew, then introduces Peter to Jesus, saying, we have found the Messiah. Jesus calls Philip and says, follow Me. Jesus has this discussion with Nathanael, and then we arrive at the incident before us today.
Weddings Then and Now
Look at chapter 2, verse 1: "On the third day" — when Jesus and Nathanael were talking, they were in Galilee, probably about a two-to-two-and-a-half day journey, so this is probably early in the morning of the third day from that event — "there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee." We should spend a moment on weddings in that culture, because they are very different from weddings in ours.
In our culture, the bride is the prominent figure. She commands the attention. We were here for a wedding just yesterday afternoon — everybody is standing around, and then suddenly the music starts and everybody rises, because this is her special day. The bride is clearly the central figure in Western culture. I had spent yesterday morning studying here, since my wife was hosting a bridal shower and my function was to get out of the house.
I also happen to be preparing a talk for women's ministries in a couple of weeks on what a woman really needs, so I went to Borders and found myself in the magazine section. I noticed there were something like 20 brides' magazines — Brides World, Brides, Bride. I went on Google this morning and typed in "Bridegroom" — I found 294,000 references. I typed in "Bride" — I found 5,980,000. The message being conveyed to women in those magazines is genuinely alarming, and it has only grown more so.
I bought a few of the magazines, and as I brought them to the register I felt compelled to explain myself to the cashier. I said, interesting reading for a guy, right? She said, you know what, you guys all say that. I said, I really am doing research — and I was.
In the Eastern culture, it is exactly the opposite of what we see in the West. The groom is the prominent figure. These weddings would last two, three days, sometimes a full week, with relatives gathering together. And I will add something that has a certain appeal to me: the groom paid for the whole thing.
Mary's Role and Jesus' Arrival
So on the third day there is the wedding at Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus, Mary, is there. Mary plays a prominent role in this story. We cannot speak with absolute certainty — and this will be a little frustrating — about why she played such a central part. It may be that they were close family friends of either the bride or the groom or both. It may be that they were distant or close relatives. Some commentators suggest the groom may even have been a brother of Jesus, a son of Mary. We simply do not know.
What we do know is that they are there. Mary is there, and Jesus is invited. You get the sense that they are genuinely excited He is there. He arrived, of course, with his new companions — Andrew, John, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael.
Jesus at Home Among People
James Boyce makes an observation here that I want to apply directly to us. He said this: Have you ever thought how wonderful it is that Jesus was at home in such company? I am afraid if some Christians I know were the pattern, there would be very little to expect of true joy and happiness or good times in the Christian life. Some Christians go around with grim looks and long faces — and if they ever find themselves —
When People Feel Welcome Around You
Jesus was not like those who, whenever they find themselves in the company of someone else having a good time, immediately suspect the cause of the fun is either illegal, immoral, or fattening. He did not condemn those who were enjoying themselves. He was not jealous of them. As a result, He was welcomed at their gatherings, and those who invited Him listened to His teaching.
Boyce asked: are you like that? If you are, you may find that people are not only pleased with your company, they may also be willing to listen to your testimony. Is there something in you that is attracting people rather than pushing them away? It is likely that they will talk to you and, as God works, that they will listen to the testimony.
Years ago I had a client — my best client — and we were trying to put a deal together, trying to sell him something. He called and said he wanted to meet the next morning at seven. I told him I couldn't meet at seven, and he said he had to meet at seven, he couldn't meet later in the day. I told him again I couldn't make it, and he asked what the problem was. I said I was going to a Bible study. He said, "I'm buying and you're selling — I would think you should be here at seven." I said I couldn't be there; I had a Bible study. Then he started laughing and said, "I never thought that you were one of those."
Now there are two possibilities. Either I am this immoral, conniving, deceiving hypocrite and it never occurred to him that I could be a Christian — that is the wrong possibility, but a possibility. The other possibility is that this man simply had Christianity caricatured as a long, grim face. I think that is worth noting, and obviously it is not the prime emphasis here, but there is something to it, and I am sure it is a point we will make again and again as we move through these four Gospels.
There is something about Jesus that made people — children, prostitutes, tax collectors — feel comfortable in His presence. That does not mean Jesus did not take a stand. It does not mean He did not condemn immorality or that He was not hard. In fact, next week we are going to look at something that would be a good week to bring your friends who say Jesus was meek, mild, and only a God of love.
Marriage, Public Policy, and the Gospel
J.C. Ryle, writing almost 150 years ago, put it this way: "Society is never in a healthy condition and true religion never flourishes in that land where the marriage tie is lightly esteemed." In light of what we are seeing all around us — the activities in San Francisco, New York State, and other places, and the push for same-sex marriage — you need to understand this is a serious issue. It is far deeper than just a Bible issue, though it is certainly a significant Bible issue.
What is happening is that we are rewriting the dictionary. Here is how Webster defines marriage: "a state of being married, a relationship between a husband and a wife." That is not the Bible speaking — that is Webster defining the norm. Married: "living together as husband and wife, joined in wedlock, having a husband and a wife." And if that seems vague, the word marry — M-A-R-R-Y — is defined as "to join as husband and wife, unite in wedlock, to join a man to a woman as her husband or a woman to a man as his wife, and to take as husband or wife, to take in marriage."
This is what is happening. We are redefining a whole institution — an institution that is at the core and foundation of any healthy society. Going back to what Ryle said, no society can live in this condition; no society can survive it. This is a huge issue.
There is another issue that in my mind far exceeds and overshadows even that, and that is the issue of abortion. What I want you to understand is that both of these issues play themselves out in the political arena, not just in the spiritual or theological arena.
I am probably as political as anyone in this building, even if you might not sense that from attending church here. But I am deliberately and intentionally making certain that the gospel is never put behind a political agenda. There is a certain person I see every time I turn on the television — I know he is going to have a flag and do his thing — and though he would probably hold to fairly orthodox beliefs, that approach bothers me. Having said that, these are still real public policy issues, and you need to be involved.
They say there are somewhere between three and four million evangelicals in the state of Arizona who did not vote in the last election, and the new governor vetoed the parental consent bill. That is a significant matter. You will see around campus, pretty quickly, an opportunity for you to register to vote. I did not know this, but I watched my kids the other day — not prompted by me — registering to vote online. I have to assume that will be a mess, but this is serious, and I want you to take it seriously.
The Wedding at Cana: The Wine Runs Out
Back to the text. In verses one and two, it is the third day, they are gathered there, and Mary plays a prominent role. Verse three: the wine is gone. Remember, this event would last two, three, four, five, six, or seven days — and the wine is gone. Mary comes to Jesus and says, "They have no wine." Again, she plays a —
The Wedding Crisis and Mary's Request
There is a pretty significant role here, and there are all sorts of embarrassment attached to this. It may indicate that the planning was poor, or perhaps the event extended beyond what they thought it would. It may also be that it wasn't just Jesus who brought along five friends — all of a sudden there were other people, more people showed up. Mary says to Jesus, "The wine is gone." This is certainly a source of embarrassment to the groom. In fact, the rabbis had a saying: "Without wine, there is no joy."
So she comes and says, "They have no wine." What is she telling Jesus? What is she looking for? Calvin, in his commentary, suggests that what she is looking for Jesus to do is tell a story, give a message, do something to distract the guests. Others suggest that what she is saying is, "Get your guys and get out of here — they're out of wine, there's nothing left, the party's over." Probably, though, what she is doing is anticipating that Jesus would do something about it.
Has she seen Jesus do miracles? Not likely. Verse 11 says this is the beginning of the signs. We should set aside those stories about Jesus as a child making clay pigeons that would fly away, or healing a child's broken arm during play. Those are doubtful. What we do know — and should understand — is that Mary knew who Jesus was. Mary had been told by the angel that she as a virgin would give birth to this boy, this man, this God-man, the Son of God, the Messiah, who would take away the sin of the world. That was His purpose in coming.
She witnessed all those events. She saw the Magi. She saw how God protected her. Luke chapter 2, verse 51 says that after those early years, "his mother treasured these things in her heart." It may have been that she sensed something stirring. She heard of His baptism, she heard the Father say, "Behold my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Now she sees the disciples gathering around Him, one after another. Something is happening — it is a pregnant moment. Maybe He is about to launch His ministry, and what a great launching pad this would be. Others suggest that perhaps what she was trying to do was move things along on her own timetable and in her own way. All of those are possibilities.
Jesus' Response and the Question of His Hour
Regardless, Jesus answers in verse 4 and says, "Woman, what do I have to do with you?" We are taken back by that. It seems rude and abrupt. The term "woman" here would not be as abrupt as it sounds — it would be closer to "ma'am." But there is a distancing here. He is not necessarily rebuking her, although there is perhaps a mild reproach. In Judges 11 and 1 Samuel 16, you will find this same phrase — "What does your concern have to do with me?" or "What do I have to do with you?" — again conveying a sense of distance. The idea is that she is coming and perhaps pressing on her own timetable, and He says, "My hour has not yet come."
In John chapter 7, verse 30, they are seeking to seize Him, "but no man laid hand on him because his hour had not yet come." He spoke in the temple treasury in John 8:20, "but no one seized him because his hour had not yet come." In John 12, He said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. My soul is troubled. Father, save me from this hour — but this is the purpose that I came to this hour." John chapter 17, verse 1: "Father, the hour has come." When He is talking about the hour, He is talking about the crucifixion and the resurrection. So there seems to be a friction here — she is saying, "Do something," and He is saying, "My hour has not yet come."
Whatever He Says, Do It
In verse 5, she does not give up. She persists and says to the servants, "Whatever he says to you to do, do it." Let me pause there for a moment. While this is not the chief point of this passage, that is pretty good advice: whatever He tells you to do, do it. Notice the words — "whatever he says to do," not some of what He says, not the part that you like. It means everything He says to do — the difficult things, the hard things, the costly things. Whatever He says to do, do it. This is what Jesus wants from every one of us: obedience.
We have many conversations about the will of God. What is God's will for my life? Do I work here? Live here? These questions come in the most interesting packages. A man will come in and say to me, "God has told me to move to Dallas. What do you think?" And I think, why are you wasting time talking to me? If God has told you to move to Dallas, then you ought to be on Interstate 10 with a U-Haul heading to Dallas. But a lot of times people play that trump card — "God's told me to do this" — and then ask what they should do. I think you should do whatever God has told you to do. But I do not think there is any way to know with certainty whether He has told you to move to Dallas or not.
So we wrestle with these questions: Does He want me to live here or there? Flagstaff or Tucson? — though that one is easy enough to figure out, and I am not going to tell you to go to Tucson. Do I live in a red house or a blue house? Drive this car or that one? Marry this person? You simply cannot tell from those kinds of feelings alone. Here is how you know God's will: everything God wants you to do that you can know for certain is in this book. So you do those things. And when it comes to the other decisions — and not a lot of people can handle this part — when it comes to those other decisions, do whatever you want to do.
I had a man come to meet with me, and somehow his girlfriend found out he was coming, and she said, "I just want to tell you something, because I know what he's coming in for, and I want you to —"
Obedience Before Guidance
A young man came to me and said he wanted to know what God would have him do regarding his ministry. As he was talking, it became clear that he was living with and sleeping with a girlfriend — and, on top of that, was sleeping with another girl. I told him that what God would want is for him to be sexually pure. He said he was worried about that, and I said that was all I was worried about, because that was the only thing we could know clearly. He was coming in looking for direction about how God wanted him to work, what ministry God wanted him to have in the church, and all manner of other things — while not following God's clear teaching. If you are not following what God has plainly told you, you are not in a position to receive further direction. Whatever God tells you to do, do it.
The Stone Pots and the Miracle
There are six stone water pots at this wedding, and their presence is significant — especially for us as Gentiles seeking to understand the setting. They are there for the Jewish custom of purification, the ceremonial washings that would be kept in any Jewish home. Each pot holds somewhere between 20 and 30 gallons, which means there is somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of water in total.
Jesus instructs the servants to fill the water pots with water. The idea is that He emptied them first and then had them filled up — filled them up to the brim. Then the servants draw some out and take it to the head waiter. Verse 9 tells us: "When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom."
The head waiter tells the bridegroom that this is very different from how most hosts operate. Most serve the good wine first, desensitize the palate, and then bring out the inferior wine later. This host has done the opposite — and what has now been served is extraordinary. It is worth noting what the text does not tell us: it does not say Jesus touched the pots, put His finger in the water, or said anything over them. We cannot read any of that into the account. All we have are these facts — empty them, fill them, draw it out, have it tasted.
Wine, Warnings, and Wisdom
I want to emphasize something about the wine itself before moving on. When we in our culture think of a wedding reception and wine or alcohol, we tend to think of people throwing it back and then dancing the YMCA. That is not what was happening here. This is a sacred occasion — even the reception is part of a ceremony — and no one is getting drunk. The wine at that time was being diluted, perhaps three parts water to one part wine, or a similar ratio.
Having said that, there are serious warnings in Scripture about wine. Turn left out of John's Gospel, keep flipping, and you will land in the book of Proverbs — stop right there at Proverbs chapter 23. This is the largest contiguous passage in Scripture dealing with wine, and we can expand its application to drugs or anything else that alters the mind or thinking. It is the book of wisdom, and Solomon addresses this directly.
Solomon opens in verse 29 with six short questions: "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?" Emotional problems. Relational conflict. Physical consequences. His answer: "Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine." Then verse 31: "Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly."
The wine is red before it has been diluted — when it is at its most potent. Solomon is saying, be careful, because there is something alluring about it. It sparkles, it looks fresh, it looks enticing. We live in an advertising age where we see those products marketed to us constantly — the man sitting on the beach, two guys with a Corona, women playing volleyball in the background, and the message is, "This is really living, it doesn't get any better than this." Or the guys watching a ball game with a couple of drinks. This is serious.
A Police Officer's Testimony
I was teaching on this passage not long ago, and Les Taylor was present. Les had been a police officer in Tempe for 22 or 23 years. I had no idea what he was going to say — I simply asked him: in all of his experience being called out on domestic violence cases, how often was alcohol involved? He said, "I have never been called out on a case where alcohol wasn't involved."
Now, am I saying you cannot drink? No. I do not have a verse that says that. What Scripture is clear on is this: do not get drunk. And the safest guard I can think of against getting drunk is not having a drink in the first place. Beyond drunkenness itself, your entire reputation is on the line. We had a wedding here a couple of years ago with no alcohol — a good old Christian gathering where everyone present was a believer. At the reception there was an enormous amount of genuine fun, real joy, people enjoying one another. There was not a drop —
The Warning About Wine
Watch out — that is what he says. If you want sorrow, contentions, complaining, and a body that hurts, then just keep pounding it down. Here is a warning in verse 32: "At last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper, and your eyes will see strange things." Verse 34 adds that you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, just laying there, and you will say, "They struck me and I didn't become ill, they beat me" — not even knowing what happened. And then the sad thing is, they wake up and seek another drink.
So be careful here. Do not go launching out of this and say, "Well, Jesus made water into wine," or "Paul told Timothy to take a little wine, didn't he?" Yes, he did — but in context, it was medicinal. In this day and age you would say, take a little Tagamet. Playing with fire.
The Sign at Cana and What Follows
All this is done, and as Scripture records, this is the beginning of His signs that He did in Cana of Galilee. He manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capernaum — His mother, His brothers, and His disciples with Him — and they stayed there a few days. Practically speaking, that may even build a case that they went there to decompress after an event they had been highly involved in.
How to Read Miracles and Signs
Whenever we look at miracles or parables, this is dangerous business. There are all sorts of different applications we can draw. When we look at a parable or a miracle — most often a sign — we do not want to focus only on the event itself. We want to ask: what is it telling us, what is it communicating to us?
In a broad, general sense, all of these signs are communicating the deity of Christ and His mastery over nature. John makes this purpose explicit in John chapter 20, verse 30: "Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, they are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you will have life in His name." Jesus did other things, said other things, and performed other miracles — but these were selected by John for a specific reason: that you would look at Him and understand that He is the Christ, the Son of God.
What the Miracle Reveals: The Old Gives Way to the New
So what do we learn from this miracle? A.W. Pink spends a great deal of time arguing that what John is emphasizing here is that Jesus is the completion and fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies — that He is displacing the religion of the Jews, which is why those Jewish water pots are so significant.
You can make that point in a couple of different ways. Those water pots are emptied and then filled, and that old religion is gone. One gentleman came up after a previous service and made the case — and it is clearly a legitimate point — that this is actually the greatest of the miracles. What Jesus is doing here is showing that the old covenant, the old way, is gone, and now there is something new. There is a new system.
Pink puts it this way: Judaism still existed in its religious form, its purification, but it ministered no comfort to the heart. It had degenerated into a cold, mechanical routine, utterly destitute of the joy of God. And that, by the way, describes all religion — anything other than orthodox Christianity, anything that says salvation requires something in addition to Jesus. If there is something you must do, even if they say it is Jesus plus something, those systems are all empty. The old covenant has passed, and there is a new covenant. The cleansing water that was there is not adequate. It has been replaced by the blood of Jesus.
The Earthen Vessels and the Filling of the Spirit
It may also be that we look at these pots through the lens of 2 Corinthians 4:7: "We have this treasure in earthly vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not of ourselves." Here are these pots — and you can certainly make the case that they represent us, every person. We are emptied of pride and arrogance, self-will, selfishness, and worldliness. We are emptied of all of that.
We are then filled with water — and water in a spiritual sense always carries with it the idea of the Word of God. Psalm 119, verse 9 says: "How can a man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word." A wife is to be sanctified, washed in the water of the Word. The wine, then, represents joy. We are emptied of our sin and pride, filled with the Word, and joy becomes prominent in our life.
What He seems to be saying, taken all together, is that the old way is gone and something new has arrived. Jesus is saying: I am here.
The Joy of Christ Versus the Coldness of Religion
As Boyce writes, closing out his discussion of Pink's idea, Israel had lost all of their joy and become very ritual. Apart from Him who is the source of life, who is Himself the life, religion is a cold, lifeless thing. Apart from the joy He brings, religion is joyless and hardens personalities. Do you have religion? It will profit you nothing. Or do you have Christ? He alone can quench the hunger and thirst of your heart. He alone can put a song in your mouth which not even the angels can sing. He alone can give you true and everlasting joy. That should be present in our life.
Walking by the Spirit
Turn to the book of Galatians, chapter five. When I say Galatians chapter five, most of you immediately think of the fruit of the Spirit. And indeed, that is part of what we find there. But make sure we understand the broader context.
Galatians five, verse sixteen. Paul writes: "But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh." When we talk about walk here, we are not talking about putting one foot in front of the other to get from point A to point B. What Paul is talking about here is a continuous action, a habitual lifestyle. How am I supposed to live? I am supposed to live by the Spirit. When I do, I will not be living by or carrying out the desires of the flesh.
What are those desires? They are listed in verse nineteen: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and all these things. Now let me warn you as you read this list. It is not that you look at these and say, well, I have all of these. I have been with a man, read the list to him, and asked, "Does that describe you?" He said, "Absolutely not. I'm not into factions." That was not the point I was making. How about the immorality? How about the contentiousness? How about the outbursts of anger? If these are things present in your life, then you have to be concerned. You are not living by the Spirit. You are living by the flesh.
What a Spirit-Filled Life Actually Looks Like
There is so much conversation about the Spirit-filled life. What is it? A Spirit-filled life is not someone who prays in tongues, or prophesies, or is slain in the Spirit. That is not what Spirit-filled means. We are all commanded to be filled with the Spirit. The Spirit-filled life is what you find in Galatians 5:22. It is a life filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
If you want to say you are a Christian, and you want to say you are going to live the Spirit-filled life, this is not about praying in a tongue. This is not about the sign gifts. A Spirit-filled person is one who radiates those qualities in their life.
The Fruit of the Spirit Examined
Let us look at each one of them. I include them all because you will see what a prominent place joy plays among them.
Love is a willingness to sacrifice. It is a choice. It is setting your own preferences aside. It is not merely emotional or physical affection. It is an unconditional affection for others, and especially for the Lord and His Word.
Joy and peace in particular belong together. They result from a right relationship with Him. When I am in a right relationship with Him, there is a happiness, a contentment, a satisfaction in my heart in a spiritual sense. In a broad sense, I look at you, and I should not be able to tell whether the stock market is up and you are heavily invested or down and you are heavily invested.
Now I am not saying you are a robot. I am not saying that if you have pain and hurt and anguish in your life it does not affect you. I was talking to someone last week who had a daughter who died. We used all sorts of words about closure and completion. I do not think there is completion in that. I do not think there is closure in that, and I do not think you want it. To find closure or to have that pain go away is to say you never had that depth of love. That pain, in a sense, is a magnificent reminder of the love for that person. If something like that happens, I am not saying there is no genuine, real grief. There should be grief. But yet, there is a joy that comes so quickly. No matter what the circumstances are, there is an assurance: I am alright. And there is peace — a tranquility, an inner calmness, regardless of the circumstances.
A close companion to that is patience. Peace, if you will, is a contentment or calmness with our circumstances. Patience is a contentment, a calmness, a tolerance, a long-suffering with people. It is an endurance.
The Fruit of the Spirit: A Life Others Can See
It is not retaliating. It is not saying, "They don't get it and it's driving me crazy." Well, if they don't get it, you had better just love them a little bit longer and a little bit more. Yelling and screaming is not going to make them get it.
There is kindness. There is gentleness. There is tenderness. There is goodness — moral and spiritual excellence. There is faithfulness, loyalty, and meekness: strength under control. It is the exact opposite of the "I don't get mad, I get even" mentality.
Gentleness is marked by submission and teachability. That is a huge characteristic in a person's life — being teachable and looking out for others. Self-control means restraining passion, having control of yourself. You are not like a dog that runs from appetite to appetite, or like a lost person who simply does whatever they want to do, living by the rule "if it feels good, do it." A person who is walking in the Spirit has control of these desires.
When we talk about joy, I want to come back to it — it is not mere giddiness. What I am saying is that when somebody looks at you, they ought to see these characteristics. If instead they see that list from Galatians 5:19, then something is wrong. And I will tell you this: when you do see these characteristics in a person's life, there is something genuinely attractive about that person.
So we simply ask: is that you? I know how quickly you might move and say, "That seems a little wimpy, a little weak — does Jesus ever take a stand?" He is going to take a stand, and we will look at that next week when we get together in our study.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for this truth. Thank You for this word. Thank You for these people. I pray that we continue, individually and collectively, to model a Spirit-filled life that would be filled with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.
Father, this morning we started by even talking about the building. God, thank You for the provision. You have given us so much more than we have ever imagined or dreamed, and yet You continue to bless us. We want to be faithful stewards of that. We pray for wisdom, and again, our desire is not to be a step ahead of You or a step behind You.
Thank You for each and every person here, God. You know exactly what they need. You know what their life demands and requires right now. We thank You that You are willing to give that, to provide that, as we yield to You. We call You Lord, and we call You Master, we call You Savior. God, thank You for loving us. Let us be faithful slaves to You. In Jesus' name, amen.