Dear Faithful, Fearless and Fantastic Seed-Sowers,

Grace and peace to you all.  I pray that the Lord watches over you and keeps you from all harm.  We have so much to be praying for in our families, schools, churches,nation, and world.  Praying for all those who are struggling with Covid-19.  Praying for those who have lost loved-ones.  Praying for firefighters, police-officers, all medical teams, and all of our military personnel who stand in the gap and defend our lives and our freedom.

Open your bible to John 2:1-11.  This is one of those famous stories of Jesus’ life and His miracles. This is the first miracle that Jesus performs. We could spend a lot of time looking at the miracle and what it means in light of Jesus.  Have you ever stopped to think about those servants at the wedding?  They get advice from Jesus’ mom.  Do you notice that they didn’t ask for it but they got it anyway? And I am so glad they did. Because it really is the best advice any mother ever gave.

In the NASB translation it is seven little words, “WHATEVER HE SAYS TO YOU DO IT!”  In our reading today from the NIV, it is five words, “DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.”  In the original Greek it is six words and when translated literally, it is “WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.”

I would like to take a few moments and take a look at these words, the best advice any mother could give:
“Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you.”

WHATEVER
Think of the word “whatever.” I know many have used that as a slang when asked to do something … whatever and shrug their shoulders and walk away.  Mary tells the servants “WHATEVER” Jesus tells you to do — do it!
Have you ever thought of the scope, the scale, the possibilities, the potentials, the prospect, the options, and opportunities of “WHATEVER”?

In the Greek,  “whatever” is actually three words translated into one word.  It is a relative pronoun that means, “anyone, anything, who, what, whoever, whichever, and whatever.”  This is an all-inclusive word that says — “whatever, whenever, whoever, anyone or anything.”

This is the same word used when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in the middle of the night in John 3. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16  Same word Jesus spoke to the woman at the well in John 4 — “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  John 4:14

Maybe a good “so what?” for us right now is “WHATEVER” –whatever is Jesus asking you to do? I mean it, stop and ask yourself this important question.

Did you notice that the servants did exactly what Mary told them to do?  They did not hesitate, or make excuses, or look for someone else to do the work.  They did not ask why me? They did not say you sound like a crazy mom.

We need to remember that there have been no miracles done by Jesus yet.  The blind have not been given their sight back. The lame and paralyzed have not been healed. The lepers have not been made clean. There has been no multiplication of fish and bread to feed thousands. No walking on water and no storms stilled.  No demon possession and deliverance. These people have not seen any resurrections from the dead.

But here we are at a family wedding celebration.

And mama says, “DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU TO DO.”

These humble servants were asked to simply obey. But what a strange request. There is no wine but go and fill these 6 stone water jars that hold twenty to thirty gallons up to the brim with water.  Do you know that one gallon of water is 8.34 pounds?  Let us do a little math: 20 gallons of water would weigh 166.8 lbs. — roughly 167 pounds.  If they were 30 gallons, they would have weighed 250lbs. that means they were asked to carry up to 1500 lbs. of water?  Can you imagine what these servants were being asked to do? Enter the story.  Jesus has just asked YOU to go carry 1,500 pounds of not wine but water!

This is not the first time God had given unusual instructions.

Go back to Moses who tells the people to put the blood of a Lamb over your doorway. Naaman, was told by Elisha to go dip 7 times in the Jordan. Joshua told the Priests to take up the ark of the covenant and step into the Jordan at flood stage. Joshua was instructed to march around the walls of Jericho for six days without shouting or making a sound. Then on the seventh day walk around the city seven times and on the last time around– shout and blow the trumpets. Rahab was asked to hang a scarlet rope out of her window so that she and her household would be saved.

To be honest with you, none of those things would have made sense to anyone. Truly it is the same way today. We are called to obey whatever Jesus tells us, no matter how unusual it seems.

HE TELLS
DO WHATEVER “He tells” is one of the verbs in this sentence. Of course, it is a present active verb, meaning that that action is continuous and never ending.

Jesus has not stopped speaking. Have we stopped listening?

Notice that HE is Jesus!  Jesus is the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

Jesus is our Savior and we called to trust Him for forgiveness and eternal life.

Why do we not trust and obey our Savior?

SO WHAT?
Sometimes men and women who never stand in a pulpit preach the greatest sermons simply through living out the living Word in their daily lives. 

Jesus’ mother said, ‘’Whatever He says to you, do it!” What a power sermon of seven words!

Drop the mic. Turn off the TV. Stop the train. Let go of your electronics.

“Whatever He says to you, do it.”

‘WHATEVER!” This means YOU….do and keep doing…whatever Jesus asks you to do.

Remember the sheriff in Groom, Texas. He was sitting at the cafe wondering what he would say to 3 little children whose mama had just died. Jac and I were leaving the big, white cross display when I felt a total nudge to go eat lunch in Groom, Texas. I ignored it. I got on the highway. “Turn around and go eat lunch in Groom.” I turned around. We went in. We stuck out like sore thumbs in our flip flops and tee shirts. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch. The sheriff paid and went outside. Jac went outside and made mention of the Sheriffs tee shirt. He asked what I did for a living. And then he waited for me to pay. For the next 60 minutes the sheriff and I talked about Jesus and heaven. He needed help in knowing how to tell 3 little children sad, sad news. We talked, we prayed and he left–encouraged. For 100% sure whatever HE tells you to do…do it.

See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com