[0:00] Now this evening can we turn together to the second chapter of John. I want us to really look at the whole of this chapter tonight, but perhaps if we want to select verses, it's difficult to select one text.
[0:19] But perhaps can we take just a couple of verses from the beginning of each section. We'll read verses 1 and 2, and then verse 13. On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.
[0:37] Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. Then in verse 13, when it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
[0:52] And so on. Now I'm just selecting these verses because they give us a hint of different aspects, different parts of the life of Jesus Christ.
[1:09] And what I want us to do is to take as the teaching of this passage, I don't know what you'd say if you were looking at this chapter on your own, what you'd say was the main teaching.
[1:22] But I want to take as the teaching of this passage, and as the main theme of this chapter, living a balanced life. We see Jesus in quite different situations, but the same Jesus relating in different ways, but in what I would call a balanced way to these different situations.
[1:46] Here we see the balance of what I call Jesus' social life, attending a wedding in Galilee, and Jesus' religious life, when he went up to the temple, to Jerusalem, to the Passover feast.
[2:04] Now I'm not attempting to compartmentalize the life of Jesus. That's the danger that we all have, that we say, well, this is my religious life, and I'll keep that corner all by itself on its own, and it'll have nothing to do with the rest of my life.
[2:26] And so on. I'm not trying to do that. As Christians, we must recognize that there are different parts of life, and yet they're not to be disconnected, they're not to be extreme, but they're to be one carefully balanced life.
[2:46] Now we have a minister in the free church in Aberdeen, I hope he doesn't mind me quoting him, or maybe misquoting him, but back in the early days when Reverend Alec MacDonald, before he was a reverend at all, he used to go around playing a guitar, and his hair was even longer then than it is now.
[3:06] But he used to sing, one of his wee ditties that he sung was about his teacher. Now I don't know what you kids think about your teachers, I'm not going to ask you in case you tell me. And it's nothing necessarily personally against any teachers here present, or in the profession in general, but there was a wee ditty that said something like, we're teachers a strange teacher.
[3:29] He goes to church on Sundays. He says his prayers to ask for strength to belt the boys on Mondays. Now this is part of the problem, maybe not the exact representation, but it's part of the problem, that people can have their religious life, but it doesn't necessarily have a bearing on the rest of their everyday life.
[3:52] Or the two are kept quite separate. I think what Christ is concerned to form in us, is what he had in himself, a balanced life.
[4:05] Now it is important in this respect to see Christ as our example. We are, I think, called to look very frankly, very honestly, at the Gospels as they open to us.
[4:23] To see the life of Jesus, not simply to learn the personal history, the biography of one man. But to see this man as our own saviour, to discover him as our saviour, to follow him as our master, but also to copy him as our example.
[4:45] Jesus is our example, and we are to study his behaviour. We are to copy the balance of his life. Now I want us to look first of all here at the balance in Jesus' social life, as we call it.
[5:02] Looking at the first half of the chapter, we find Jesus at a wedding. Now I was asking this morning, how many of you have been to weddings? Or if you enjoy going to weddings.
[5:14] We find Jesus at a wedding. And there are three things, I think, that we learn from this particular episode, and the miracle that was performed at his wedding in Cana, in Galilee.
[5:28] The first is this, that Jesus supports God's moral order of marriage. Now that may not sound strange to our ears, but there are some ears that it would sound particularly strange, perhaps even obnoxious to.
[5:48] That this figure of Jesus simply supports what they regard an outdated kind of status quo. And yet as God, Jesus had originated a marriage.
[6:02] He had ordained marriage in the beginning, when he made man male and female. And now by his presence at this wedding in Cana, he is giving his seal of approval to marriage.
[6:19] He is saying, this is God's way. This is how it should be. He supports God's moral order.
[6:31] It's a moral order that was there, given for man's good to create and to maintain family life. Now the reason I come to this is very, well to my mind it's fairly clear and it's fairly necessary.
[6:47] There are many people who think that marriage is some outdated kind of custom. That we can do it or we may not do it according to how people feel in themselves.
[7:00] Now Jesus does not think that marriage is outdated. Then or now. Jesus does not sanction some kind of free for all.
[7:11] And yet we are living in a society that in a sense is clamoring for this sort of approach, this everybody do their own thing philosophy.
[7:22] In our society marriage may be either avoided, it may be for the purposes of tax or social security. Or maybe for some other convenience of life.
[7:36] It may be avoided. People will live together without being married necessarily. Marriage may be attacked. As something that is harmful, they would say, for society and unnecessarily.
[7:48] We look around and we see the number of divorces increasing from year to year. The proportion going up all the time. We have advocated in our society unnatural partners.
[8:04] A man can virtually live with a man and consider themselves as much a couple as any man and wife properly married. We read the strange news about a judge in America saying that a brother may now marry his sister.
[8:21] Now I do not know the particular case. But even the suggestion is against the natural law. And it's against the biblical law as well. We see all around us family life decaying.
[8:37] Because God's institutions are being attacked. They are being undermined. And what we see in this episode of Jesus attending a wedding is not simply something by the way.
[8:49] This is Jesus sanctioning God's way. He is supporting God's moral order in marriage. He is supporting the ideal of the family life around which society is structured and upheld.
[9:07] You take away family life. You knock down its place and its value. And you are knocking down society. You are demolishing society. Now if we are following Jesus.
[9:21] If we are saying he is our example. He is calling us to be morally upright. In the way that he was. To follow God's order of things. He is asking us to support marriage.
[9:35] Not necessarily to get married. It's not a Christian necessity to be married. It's not a Christian necessity to applaud every kind of marriage. It is a Christian necessity only to support marriage as God's normal way of things.
[9:52] If we are going to have an adult relationship of body, mind and spirit. He is asking us to support family life.
[10:04] As a normal channel through which God works and which God blesses people. We were saying that last Lord's Day evening. The importance that God places on the family structure and on family life.
[10:16] And as a means of his blessing. Not only the individuals in the family. But blessing society. This is God's gift to us.
[10:30] This is Christ's pattern to us. When he supports God's moral order of things. Now there is a second stage as it were.
[10:41] When we look at this wedding. That Jesus as well as supporting God's moral order. It's not simply there just to keep the rules. Jesus went to this wedding.
[10:52] Why? While he was invited. But he went to enjoy himself. He went to enjoy himself. He demonstrates.
[11:03] In attending this wedding. He demonstrates freedom of conscience and behaviour. Now I want to try and get this across. Jesus had the right to enjoy God's gifts.
[11:18] And not only did he have the right to enjoy God's gifts. He exercised. He used that right. Jesus wasn't inhibited. There may have been some people perhaps in his own family circle.
[11:33] Or perhaps back home in Nazareth. Or perhaps in Galilee. Or perhaps some of the Jewish leaders. Who thought of this. This fellow is out of order. He's going over the top. He shouldn't be allowed to do these things.
[11:44] Jesus was not inhibited. He was not inhibited. By rules that were outside God's rules. He was not cramped. By the traditions of the Pharisees.
[11:56] Now I don't know whose wedding this was. Nobody does. There are speculative suggestions. Some say it was the apostle who wrote this. This let this say gospel.
[12:07] John himself. We don't know. And it doesn't matter. We may guess it was some family connection of Jesus. Of Jesus. And his mother was invited. And because she was going. Jesus and his disciples were also asked to come along.
[12:22] But we may guess this. And with more certainty. That Jesus was not only just there. He enjoyed himself. When he was there.
[12:33] Do we ever picture Jesus. Enjoying himself. We were talking this afternoon. With friends. About this very thing. About Jesus having a sense of humor. Jesus being able to have a laugh.
[12:45] Jesus being able to see the bright side of life. And enjoy clean. Balanced humor. That he knew that laughter was a medicine.
[12:56] Because he himself prescribed it as such. Within his own words in the Old Testament. These are not separate characters. Jesus said there is a time to laugh.
[13:08] As much as there is a time to weep. Now if we understand the pattern of a wedding. In Israel.
[13:18] In Jesus' day. They were fairly lengthy. Festive occasions. People were there to enjoy themselves. Not just for an afternoon. Or an evening.
[13:29] They were there for maybe a week at a time. You still get this. In some of the North Islands. With people enjoying themselves. Over extended celebrations. Well that's what it was like. And that is if you like.
[13:41] Why the wine ran out. There wasn't enough. For the amount of festivities that were going on. Now Jesus went there. He knew what was involved. But Jesus didn't boycott this wedding.
[13:53] He didn't say to his mother. Look I simply can't go. Do you not know who I am? What would the world say. If the son of God was at a wedding. And there's drink there. He didn't boycott it.
[14:05] He didn't stand back. He didn't protest. And say this is wrong. I'll only go if you don't have any drink like that. He didn't make any protest. And he didn't simply go under sufferance.
[14:17] To endure the experience. He went to enjoy it. He wasn't only present there.
[14:29] He was the one who provided the wine. The very best of the wine. And now you can do your own calculation. That's your homework for this week. You can work out just how much wine Jesus produced.
[14:39] But there were six large tanks. Six storage jars. That would hold between 20 and 30 gallons. And they were filled to the brim of water.
[14:50] Jesus turned them all into wine. The very best wine. I work out something around the region of perhaps 500 litres. Imagine. Of the very choicest wine that you would get anywhere.
[15:04] Jesus was there. He didn't only see it being drunk. He provided it. Now I am not advocating drunkenness. And nor is Jesus advocating drunkenness.
[15:18] He is the same Jesus who says that wine is bad. Can be bad for us. That strong drink may be a mocker to us. That he may lead us astray. Jesus was very well aware of that.
[15:31] But he also said it was a place for wine. Wine was given as a gift of God. To make the heart of man happy. And Jesus was taking a balanced approach to life.
[15:42] To the enjoyment of life. He wasn't advocating drunkenness. But what he was doing was this. He was saying to us as our example. That we have a right to be involved in this world socially.
[15:56] Now that doesn't mean to say that all Christians suddenly go out on a spree and on a round of parties here and there. And live it up and let their hair down and forget their Christian responsibility.
[16:10] It simply means that we are not tied in. That we see that we can have a place in this world. Where we can be relaxed and feel at home. And where we can enjoy ourselves. Because it's God's world.
[16:22] And everything that is in it is God's. The earth and all that it contains belong unto the Lord. And if it's God's world he has given it first of all.
[16:34] I say to his own children. And they shall eventually inherit the earth. It's ours to enjoy. God gives us that right.
[16:45] Jesus shows we have that right. And so he demonstrates the freedom. That we are to follow. We are to follow our Christ. And we are to follow our conscience.
[16:57] In enjoying the freedom. And demonstrating the freedom. In our conscience and our behaviour. Perhaps if I can give you my quote for this week.
[17:11] It would be this. We have talked about. Jesus suggesting to us. Showing to us. That we must. Support God's moral order of things.
[17:21] Well. This is my quote. That being moral. Doesn't mean being a killjoy. Have we got that?
[17:33] You see there are a lot of people. Who are going by God's rules. But they feel so inhibited. So bound in. That they are not relaxed. That they are not open. That they are not able to enjoy life.
[17:43] They are not even able to smile. They are to dress in a certain way. And they can't crack a joke. Or listen to a joke. In case somebody would be offended. But being moral.
[17:55] Doesn't mean to say that we are killjoys. It doesn't mean being a killjoy. It means that. That we can be. We can follow God's rules. But at the same time.
[18:06] We can enjoy ourselves. That's a balance in life. There is one third. One last thing that we discovered. About this wedding. And Jesus tells us very clearly.
[18:18] Why he was there. Tells us in verse 11. After he had performed this miracle. John records this. The first of his miraculous signs.
[18:30] Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory. And his disciples put their faith in him. Now.
[18:41] Jesus. As part of his balanced life. Reveals. His glory. What does that mean? What does that mean?
[18:53] It means that he is showing. Who he is. He is showing. He is demonstrating. That he is in fact. The son of God. How did he show he was the son of God? He was able to change.
[19:05] Water. Into wine. The very best wine. Now that's quite a normal process. Except it takes yonks to do. What is wine.
[19:16] But it is the water. That is within the grape. Eventually coming through the process. Well what Jesus did. Was to speed up that process. Of the normal natural process.
[19:26] Of nature. And he showed his control. Over nature. And in so do he. He showed that he was not any ordinary man. But that he was indeed.
[19:37] The son of God. He revealed his glory. He showed that he had a command. Over the forces of nature. He showed that he had a care for folks.
[19:49] That people mattered to Jesus. Right from day one. He wasn't somebody who said. Oh they've run out of wine. Tough. I couldn't care less.
[20:02] He cared for the situation. He cared for the embarrassment. Of the host. And the problem of the bridegroom. And the disturbance. And the festivities. He cared for people.
[20:12] Now remember. That Jesus performed this miracle. Not if you like. In a church. Or in a synagogue. Or in a religious situation.
[20:24] He showed his glory. He revealed his glory. In an ordinary. Social context. Now Jesus asks us to be.
[20:41] His followers. He is our example. What does he ask of us here? He asks this. That we are to show. And I say this. Carefully.
[20:51] We are to show. Our glory. As Christians. The great privilege. That is ours. The position. That is ours. Has been also. The sons of God.
[21:02] By adoption. We are to show. The world. Whose we are. And whom we serve. By our involvement. Socially. In this world.
[21:13] Do you get it? That's what Jesus. Was telling us here. He was not only saying. He was there. At a wedding. And he did something. Within this. Within that situation. He performed a miracle.
[21:24] And that was the beginning. And the end of it. He's saying. This is something. You can follow. I revealed my glory. You also show the world. Whose you are. And show it not just by.
[21:35] By going along to church on Sunday. That's great. Yeah. Come every Sunday. Bring other people with me. That's terrific. But show the world. The glory of being a Christian. Who you're working.
[21:46] From Monday to Friday. Or Monday to Saturday. As the case may be. Show them at home. Show them amongst your neighbours. Show them that you belong to Christ. The glory of being a Christian.
[21:56] The balance I think. In Jesus. Life. In his social life. Was this.
[22:07] That he was on the one hand. Morally upright. He was at the same time. Free to enjoy life. And he was at the same time. Responsibly.
[22:18] And caringly involved. In society. Now that's a balance. That not only Jesus had. But he says we should follow. Now can we turn.
[22:31] To what is. In effect. The second half. Of this chapter. More or less. To see the balance. In Jesus. Religious life. And. Can I say again. I'm not trying to divorce.
[22:41] These two. As if they were two separate. Lives. They are not. We see Jesus. At the temple. And this is the same Jesus.
[22:51] The Jesus that we. A couple of weeks ago. Were talking of. As the light. John tells us. That he is the light. Who has come into the world.
[23:03] Now Jesus is shining his light. On another area of life. He is showing. What. How we should be.
[23:15] Within our religious life. Let's say. Now some people. In reading this part. Of John chapter 2. Of Jesus in the temple. Say that. Oh this man.
[23:25] Is very extreme. This man. Is really going over the top. This is not somebody. We can follow. Now no doubt. There is a contrast.
[23:37] And that's the striking thing. About John chapter 2. That's why I want to take it together. There is a contrast. In the behavior of Jesus. At the wedding. And Jesus in the temple. But it's the same Jesus.
[23:51] And what we see. Is still a balanced life. Now let's see that. More clearly. How do I say. That his life. Is a balanced religious life. People would say. He was imbalanced. Well.
[24:05] The first thing is this. The balanced religious life. Is that he loves. God's house. Can we get that? He loves God's house. Jesus. Jesus.
[24:17] Loved Jerusalem. I don't know of any. How many of you love Edinburgh. Maybe their hearts. A fortress. You're more likely to. Some people love Glasgow better. They maybe belong there. Or they love somewhere else. Maybe their hearts.
[24:28] And the humans. Well Jesus. Though he was born in Bethlehem. And he grew up in Nazareth. He loved Jerusalem. It was God's city. And he loved the temple.
[24:38] And he loved the Passover. And that's why he wanted to be there. Because God his father had asked his people. To go and observe the Passover. Annually in Jerusalem.
[24:50] And he went. He loved God's house. Now this is a very vivid scene. That we read here in John chapter 2. Perhaps we didn't read it vividly enough.
[25:00] And it's a very strong reaction. That we see here from Jesus. Indeed. But this strong reaction.
[25:13] Was by a man who was in love. Can we get that? People think he's just a crank. He's just a fanatic. Just one of these religious freaks.
[25:25] But this was a man who was in love. In love. In love that was with God his father. And in love with all that his father created and gave to this nation.
[25:38] In love with God's house. Because he loved God. He did not want his father's house. To be turned into a marketplace. Can we understand how Jesus felt?
[25:52] I think it must bring some cord of sympathy and understanding. In every born again Christian heart. That we have something of the mind of Christ.
[26:04] That we understand why. He went and he got these cords. And he bound them together and made a whip. And lashed out. And overturned these tables. And chased these money changers out of the place.
[26:18] Some people think it's wrong to be angry at all. God never said it's wrong to be angry. God is angry with a sinner every day. God is angry with a sinner. There is an anger that is wrong.
[26:32] There is an anger that is sinful. There is an anger that is over the top. But that is not what Jesus was doing here. He was showing his love. First of all. His love for God.
[26:43] For his father's house. You see he had a zeal. That is where John. And the other disciples recognized.
[26:55] What was written way back in the book of Psalms. That the zeal of your house will consume me. He had a zeal. He had a passion. I think often.
[27:05] That as Christians. We somehow lose our passion. If we ever had it. We try and hide it. We try and keep it in. We were afraid to show it. The strong feelings.
[27:15] The emotions. Christ showed us. He had a passion. He had a zeal. For his father's house. He had a passion. That God's name.
[27:27] And God's house. Would be honored. And not desecrated. Desecrated. But can I ask you this question. Do we love God's house?
[27:38] Do we? When we sang Psalm 84. How lovely is your dwelling place. O Lord of hosts to me. That's how Jesus was feeling. That's exactly what it was in his heart and mind.
[27:52] Do we love God's house? How do we feel about the church? Oh we like coming to it. It's a nice building. The folks who come are quite a decent bunch of people. And well we put up with the sermons.
[28:05] And otherwise it's okay. And a cup of tea is good afterwards. But I mean do we love God's house? Do we? Do we feel for God and for God's glory?
[28:17] Do we care for the well-being of the church? And I don't mean just the fabric of buildings. Though there is something in that as well. It's not just the buildings.
[28:28] Do we care for the people who are God's church? His own chosen people. Do we care for the worship of the church? Are we bothered about how we sing ourselves?
[28:39] Are we bothered if we are not praising God when we come together? Do we care? Are we concerned for the advancement of the gospel? Are we concerned that other people will hear the good news?
[28:54] Are we bothered about the church enough? Or is it just somewhere we go on a Sunday? And that's it.
[29:07] Do we get hurt in our own spirits? Do we get angry when God's name and God's honour is despised and spoken badly of?
[29:17] Do we? Does that hurt us? It hurt Christ. You see it's not extreme. It's not extreme.
[29:29] Jesus was not some Jack Glass figure of his day. He was not some kind of megalomaniac who thought of himself in some fantastic outrageous sense far above his place.
[29:43] Jesus was a balanced person. And as such he was taking a stand for what was good and for what was right and for what was true. Not for all this terrible carry on of people just making a fortune at the expense of others by selling animals overpriced for sacrifice and getting far more than their share of interest when they exchange the money rates.
[30:11] It's not extreme. It's not extreme but it's balanced to stand for the defence of what is true and right. as long as long as we are not promoting our own self our own ego and our own opinion but that our concern is for the glory of God.
[30:33] Jesus loved God's house. Jesus loved God's name and he wants us to do the same. Part of his balanced religious life.
[30:45] And Jesus also looked forward to the resurrection. Now I say that because that is what we have here. You see the Jews came up with tacitur.
[30:57] They came rushing at you. What right have you got to be doing that? Who gave you the authority to come in here and upset all this place and all these people? Show us a sign that you have any right to be here at all.
[31:13] And Jesus said well my sign is this that you will destroy this body this temple I should say and I will raise it up in three days. And they said and they looked around the magnificence and the solidness of that temple that had taken 46 years to build and they said rubbish.
[31:29] In their minds they said rubbish. And they didn't understand nor did the disciples then that Jesus was referring to the temple of his body. He knew that one day these same people who were objecting to him then would object to him more.
[31:44] They would take him. They would try him. They would condemn him. They would kill him. But that was not the end. Jesus was going to rise again and he was looking forward to rising again from the dead.
[32:00] He was looking forward to the resurrection. But what do we make of that? As Christians. I would say this. that this man who was so involved in the world so much at home if you like in the wedding of Cana of Galilee so much at home in the religious structures of this world happy to worship God in his temple in Jerusalem the man who was so much at home in this world and involved in this world still saw beyond it.
[32:32] You know what I mean? You see the Christian is always in this kind of of tension and almost dilemma. Where do we really belong? The fact is we belong two places at once.
[32:45] We are citizens on earth. We have a responsibility and a function and a place here. But we also have another life to look forward to.
[32:56] And it's vitally important if we're maintaining a balanced Christian life that we keep both in mind. Both. We cannot be so otherworldly that we forget our responsibilities here.
[33:10] And we dare not get so bogged down in this world that we forget that there is another life to come. Understand? We have two lives. Two worlds alike.
[33:20] And we must be involved here. But we must look beyond this world. Beyond this life. Beyond the resurrection.
[33:34] A balanced life is one that takes the next life into account. And not only so. But we live our lives in the certainty of the resurrection.
[33:46] You know, if you've ever stood beside an open grave and you lay perhaps a loved one to rest within their grave. And perhaps the preacher, the minister, whoever will say in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection and everlasting life to all who believe in Jesus.
[34:09] And it almost becomes a kind of religious wording for the occasion. And we then we go back and we go about our normal way of life and we forget the sure and the certain hope of the resurrection.
[34:27] We forget that this life is only this life and it is short at best. We forget that there's another life to come. And we have to live this life in the light of the life to come.
[34:41] In the light of the resurrection. That's not a dreary thought, is it? It wasn't for the apostle Paul and it wasn't for Jesus. It's not that Jesus was in a hurry to escape the world nor Paul except that they had a longing to go beyond the grave.
[35:00] And that's quite normal. That's quite balanced. That's not absurd. That's not extreme. That's what Christ expects of us that we look forward to the resurrection because he did.
[35:13] Are you with me? A normal balanced Christian outlook. Is it yours? Is it yours? One last thing.
[35:27] When Jesus in his balanced religious life loves God's house and looks forward to the resurrection he also elevates the importance of the inner life.
[35:42] Now can I just explain that? Can we read verse 23? While he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.
[36:00] And what do we say to that? Pretend the chapter ended there. Pretend verses 24 and 25 weren't there. What do we say? Hallelujah! Great! All these people recognize Jesus.
[36:11] All these people want to believe in his name. Isn't it great? Revival! You know Jesus wasn't taken in by that.
[36:21] What do we read? But Jesus would not entrust himself to them. Why not? Why not? Why did Jesus not believe this profession of faith?
[36:34] it's because he knew the inside reality. He knew what was in a man. And he knew the inside reality not just the outward profession.
[36:50] Now that is important. I think it's a reminder of us. You know the story of how King David came to be king. Do you have the children know that? The young people know that?
[37:02] Who was it that anointed David to be king of Israel? Samuel. Was it? Why did he choose David? David was the youngest.
[37:13] He wasn't necessarily the best looking of the bunch. He had other brothers who were bigger and seemed better even to Samuel, even to God's man. But God had to tell Samuel when he was choosing King David he says that God doesn't just look on the outward appearance.
[37:33] Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. And that is always God's way. And that is what Jesus is saying here.
[37:45] What is important is not the outward appearance. What is important is the inner life. That's what we were saying this morning. Is our heart right with God's?
[37:58] You know you can dress up to go to church on Sunday. And you can sing your psalms as well as anybody else. Or if you go to another church you can sing hymns as well.
[38:08] And if you go to certain churches you can clap your hands and do all sorts of things. And you can be part of a church and you may seem a very decent person on the surface.
[38:20] The awkward appearance may be great but God is concerned about the inner life. Jesus is concerned about the inner life.
[38:32] What are we on the inside? How is our heart before God? That's really the question. It's not just addressing that.
[38:43] It's not just a sounding religious that matters. We can all do that. God knows we can all do that. but God also knows the reality of our heart.
[38:58] And he wants our heart to be true. He wants our heart to be right. He wants our inner life to be connected to God, to be in line with God, to be going God's way.
[39:10] Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Not simply the respectively religious on the outside. part of the balanced Christian life.
[39:26] See, the balanced life is not just the outward shoe. The balanced life is the inner reality. And this Jesus calls us to follow him.
[39:38] Plain and simple. To follow him with balanced Christian lives. That we are on the one hand morally upright. That we are at the same time enjoying the freedom that God allows us.
[39:54] Enjoying life. That we are responsibly involved in society. That we love God's house. That we are looking forward to the resurrection.
[40:07] And that we have a heart, an inner life that is true to God. Now, you have to take all of these together to get the balance.
[40:19] of what God wants us to be. If we are going to follow Christ. Indeed, if we are going to be like Christ. He wants us to be well balanced Christians.
[40:32] And can I say tonight, if there is anybody here who has not come to this Christ, what Jesus is really saying, what Jesus knows about you, well, perhaps I dare not say, I do not know, except he knows everything about you.
[40:47] He not only knows your circumstances, he knows your life, he knows your heart, he knows your feelings, he knows if you are running away from him.
[40:59] He knows that you couldn't care less, he knows whatever it is. But he also knows this, that if you turn with all your sin and all your misgivings and all your misunderstandings and all your confusion and all your questions and all your doubts, if you come to Christ in your sin, he will give you a new heart and a new life and he'll do it tonight and this Jesus will make of you eventually a balanced person, a balanced Christian, someone who will be like himself, like him, with him for all eternity.
[41:42] that is if you come to him and come to him now. Now may God bless his truth to every one of us. Can we just bow our heads as we pray together?
[41:55] Our gracious Lord and our God, we bless your name for the wonder of your truth, for the way that you show us and teach us things. Lord, we thank you if there's many of these things that we have heard and known before.
[42:10] But Lord, we thank you for every refreshment of understanding and for every new insight. And Lord, we thank you for Jesus, for his perfect life, his balanced life.
[42:23] And we thank you Lord that he is calling us, he is inviting us to come to him, to know him, to follow him, so that we also may be balanced and may be better Christians, that we may be his and that we may be like him forever.
[42:41] Draw us each this night to Jesus and may we walk with him always. Amen.