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Bible Passage John 2:5

John 2:5 From Strength to Strength: Do What He Says

  • Tony Raker
Date preached October 1, 2023

John 2:5 From Strength to Strength: Do What He Says

This series of ten messages is collectively titled, “From Strength to Strength” based upon Psalms 84:7: “They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.”  This third message deals with both our private and public obedience.

John 2:5: “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you’.”

  • Grammatical Usage: “do” or in the Greek, “poieó” meaning, “to act.”
  • Literal Interpretation: So his mother said to the servants, “Mind you act to fulfill whatever he tells you.”
  • Contextual/Comparison: God keeps His Word: God continually uses His Word. In our key verse we have the golden rule of a happy and useful Christian life. Do we want to know His joy, peace and blessing upon our service? Do we want our life to be well-pleasing to Him in all things? Do we want our prayers to be answered? Are we seeking fresh and enlarged fields of service – and do we need guidance? Then we must do what He says. If we can live in obedience to this golden rule we shall always be filled with the glory of His presence, power and blessing. In John 2:1-11, notice what a remarkable claim Mary makes for the Lord Jesus – “Whatever He says, however contrary it may seem to your ideas, do it!” How can she be so confident? Because He was, and is, unique. He is the LIVING Son of God, therefore:
  1. Consider the fact that He does speak to us today

He speaks to us just as He spoke to the servants 2000 years ago (vv. 7-8). But how does He speak?

  1. He speaks to us AUTHORITATIVELY (Luke 6:46). If He is Lord then it is His sovereign right to dictate in your life and mine, and what He says is the final word on any given matter. If we know Him as Lord, why do we question what He says? For what He says is invested with all the authority of what He is.
  2. He speaks to us PERSONALLY: “Whatever HE tells YOU, do it!” He spoke personally to the servants, and the guests did not know what He had said. He speaks in the same way today.
  3. He speaks to us COMPREHENSIVELY. Notice the word “whatever”. He speaks to us about the little details as well as about the big problems of life – about the wine that has run short, and other temporal things; in fact, there is no detail connected with our lives about which He does not speak to us.
  4. He speaks to us INSTRUMENTALLY. That is, He speaks through others. How often we hear the voice of the Lord through the wise and helpful counsel of our friends! While we must recognize the principle stated in Galatians 1:16, we must also recognize that the Lord often guides us through the counsel of other Christians.
  5. He speaks to us PROVIDENTIALLY. That is, through the daily happenings and circumstances of our life – by closing one door and opening another, and by saying to us (Revelation 3:8). He speaks to us through what we read, what we hear, what we see…and if we are listening we will not fail to hear His voice.
  6. He speaks to us THROUGH HIS WORD (John 6:63). This is the particular way in which He speaks to us today. There is no ‘spirit and life’ in the daily paper, the writings of our great poets or in the latest novel! The Lord supremely speaks to us in and through His Word (the Bible), and anything which we feel to be His voice to us which is contrary to His Word is certainly not His voice.
  7. He speaks to us BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. Notice in the Acts of the Apostles the constant and unerring directions that were given by the Holy Spirit to the servants of the Lord in the first century.

Yes, the Lord speaks to us today just as definitely as He did to the servants at the marriage feast of Cana in Galilee.

  1. Consider the fact that all that the Lord says to us has a three-fold relationship

In that it touches God, it is for His glory; in that it touches me, it is for my good; and in that it touches others, it is for their good.

  1. When the Lord Jesus said, “Fill…draw…take…” (vv. 7-8), it was for His glory. Verse 11 tells us this, and we can be sure that whenever He speaks to us about something in our life, something He wants us to be, to do or to say, it is always for His glory. In other words, to listen and to render Him full obedience will always glorify Him.
  2. When the Lord Jesus said, “Fill…draw…take…” it was for their (the servants’) good. How do we know? Because in v. 9 we are told that while the governor and the guests did not know about the miracle, the servants did. Is it not most likely that having seen the miracle they believed on Him? What a great spiritual blessing came to them when they heard the commandment of the Lord and obeyed Him! (Deuteronomy 10:12- 13). Everything the Lord says to us is always for our good; it is always for our profit that we should obey the Lord(1 John 5:3; Matthew 11:30).
  3. When the Lord Jesus said, “Fill…draw…take…” it was for the good of everybody else concerned. Everybody at the feast benefited from the miracle that resulted. When the Lord speaks to us it is not only for His glory and for our good, but it is for the good of everybody whom we touch, in the home, the office or wherever we may be.
  4. Consider, finally, how we should respond to what He says
  5. We should respond with PROMPT obedience. “Whatever…do it!” John Bunyan said, “The soul of religion is in the practice part”; that is, the doing of it.
  6. We should respond with COMPLETE obedience. The Lord’s command was, “Fill…” (v. 7). How did they obey? “They filled them to the brim” (v. 7). There is a danger of rendering to the Lord only partial obedience (Revelation 3:15).
  7. We should respond with UNQUESTIONING obedience. The word is “whatever”. That means we must obey Him without any questioning or dispute.
  • Conclusion: What are you doing with your life? What is the level of your obedience?