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“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what
I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that
nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to
do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want
to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what
I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does
it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in
the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making
me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched
man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—
through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s
law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (Rom. 7:15-25)

Wow! Does that say a mouthful or what? Paul…the guy that wrote half the New
Testament struggled with sin! So what makes us think we’re immune to the same
struggle? Have you ever stopped to realize that the people in the Bible were no
different from you and me? Noah had a tendency to tip a bottle now and then.
David had an eye (and more) for the ladies…whether they already had husbands
or not! Jacob was a swindler, Abraham was known to tell a tall tale or two now
and then…Peter denied Jesus as outright as one can deny another…

Some of em were married, some had kids…all of em struggled with sin. Just like
us. Without trying to make TOO light of it, sometimes you win, sometimes you
give in. Just like the “Bible” guys. Just like the (human) author of half the New
Testament. Just like everybody else who’s ever walked the face of the earth, with
one exception. Jesus. Without trying to condone or excuse sin, the fact of the
matter is, everyone does it…sometimes on purpose! Should we? Of course not!
Will we? Absolutely! (If you’re one of those that is convinced you don’t sin, I
hate to bust your bubble, but ya might check your pride and self-righteousness!)

Everybody sins…even Christians. We like to think we sin LESS than the world,
but we sin all the same. Some more than others, some less. As Christians, we
normally don’t want to sin, or like to sin…but we do. Sometimes, it’s not what
we do, but what we DON’T do that’s a sin…just like Paul says. Now the question
is…if we are new creatures in Christ, why do we keep sinning?

The answer is simple…to keep us dependent on Jesus, and to keep us fully
aware of the amazing, overwhelming, indescribable grace, mercy and love of
God….

We often quickly forget what God does and has done. Just read through the
Bible and you’ll find more examples than you can shake a stick at! But when
you’re faced with the reality, day in and day out, of situations that you and I,
alone, don’t have the power to face…then you have no choice but to rely on
Jesus, his grace, mercy and love…

The last thing I’d like to point out about this wedding Jesus attended involves
a couple of questions that must be reviewed first.

Q. Why did Jesus turn the water into wine?
A. Because the host ran out of wine.

Q. WHY did the host run out of wine?
A. Because everyone at the wedding drank all he had!

Now, then…if the folks at the wedding had finished off the wine, then they
must have had a fair amount to drink…at least as a group. Peter and Paul
both have strong words to say about drunkenness in what has become
known to us as God’s own Word. Yet God in the flesh…Jesus…stood in
the middle of the wedding party (surrounded by people that had consumed
enough wine to cause the host to run dry) and……

***this is the important thing, so listen closely***

….if Jesus rebuked or condemned even one of the party-goers, it was not
recorded anywhere in the Bible. Nowhere. Now, you and I know that he
does not condone drunkenness. It’s in his very own word. Yet standing
among the wedding guests, he not only didn’t rebuke anyone, he made
more wine.

I’m thinking this is the point of the matter…Jesus hung out with sinners,
tax collectors, prostitutes, drunks, thieves, adulterers…you name it, they
were there in his presence. CONSTANTLY in his presence, I might add.
Yet, he never condemned or rebuked them.

Now, Jesus told everyone…EVERYONE…more than once…that unless
one has been born again, one cannot see the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3).
He made it plain and simple. “Follow me, or don’t. Your choice. Heaven
or hell. Saved or lost.” He let everyone know in no uncertain terms that:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.” (John 14:6)

BUT he never rebuked or condemned the sinners he hung out with. He never
judged them for who they were or what they were, or what they did…instead
he accepted them. And he loved them. While they were still sinners….

(That’s a good thing for you and me, by the way!)

Think about that for a few minutes, will ya? Let that sink in a little bit. If
Jesus…God in the flesh…Creator of all…could hang out with sinners, day in
and day out without speaking harsh words of judgment and condemnation
against them…then what on his green earth makes US think it’s OUR place
to do so?

In fact, what gives us the RIGHT to do so, when we are nothing but sinners,
ourselves, redeemed by HIS blood? WE didn’t change our own path for the
future…HE did. It wasn’t by OUR actions that we’ve been redeemed and adopted,
but by HIS actions! HIS sacrifice, HIS mercy, HIS grace, HIS righteousness
and HIS love…

Remember, brothers and sisters, that at our very best, our righteousness is
still nothing more than filthy rags in God’s eyes. It’s HIS righteousness that HE
gave us…that he GAVE us….while we were yet sinners. Now, if he didn’t
rebuke…if he didn’t condemn…if he didn’t judge as he lived and walked in the
midst of sinners…you and me, included…then maybe we should be careful to
do the same, as imitators of Christ.

The self-righteous folks, on the other hand, were rebuked fairly often. The
“religious” people, if you will…with words like “you brood of vipers” and
“you sons of hell”….but that’s for another post…  

There are a couple more things I’d like to share with you on this topic.
One is this: When you recall all the pictures you’ve seen of Jesus, chances
are, they are very solemn and pious. Now, first of all, not a single one of
us has any clue what Jesus really looks like! But more importantly, I’m
curious why we so seldom see pictures of Jesus laughing, or smiling or
having a good time???

I’ll give you a few examples.

“People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on
them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant.
He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:12-14)

First of all, notice that Jesus was INDIGNANT when he caught the disciples
trying to keep the children away. He not only told them to let the kids come
to him, but he told them NOT TO HINDER them! Why? Because the kingdom
of God belongs to such as these.

Now think about this…and I know there are other ways of looking at this thing…
but humor me just for a second! 

Eternity: millions of years times millions of years, PLUS forever

Now, tell me…would YOU rather spend eternity with a bunch of self-righteous,
solemn, pious, religious, afraid-to-laugh-in-church kind of folks? Folks that look
like they’ve been sucking on sour lemons cuz they don’t want to disturb God or
rock His boat?

Or would you rather spend eternity with a bunch of children that are running around
laughing, playing, shouting children stuff, being kids…being THEMSELVES and
having a great time climbing all over a God that’s just beaming from ear to ear to have
His kids in His lap?

Now if YOU would rather spend YOUR eternity around people that are having a
good time and enjoying life, why would anyone think that JESUS would prefer the
sour lemon sucking folks? It doesn’t even make sense!

I see Jesus grinning from ear to ear when those kids run up…reaching out to take
in as many as he can…maybe even (gasp!) playing tag or running around the yard
a bit, laughing, shouting and smiling right along with those kids. I’d even be willing
to bet that HIS smile was the biggest one of all! (Heaven, forbid!)

How about this? John 5:8. “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

It’s hard for me, personally, to see Jesus all solemn and grave, when he just healed
a man that, in thirty-eight years, had not walked a single step! I can see Jesus maybe
even chuckling a bit, when that guy stood up, picked up his mat and walked! The look
on his face must have been priceless! For THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS, he had been
bed-ridden! Jesus healed him on the spot…and you want me to believe that Jesus
wasn’t grinning from ear to ear as he watched that fellow pick up his mat???

If ya do, no offense, but I’m thinking we must not be talking about the same Jesus!

If it bothered him to heal people, then why did he keep doing it? Why did he raise
the dead, if it was a burden to him? Why did he come at all?

John 10:10 says he came to give life more abundantly. More abundantly than what?
That what we had! We already had sour grapes and sour lemon-suckers long before
Jesus showed up…what he gave us was something to SMILE about…something to
REJOICE over…you can’t rejoice when you’re all puckered up and your lips clamped
together! You can’t REJOICE without grinning a little here and there!

I see Jesus as enjoying a good joke now and then. Why else do you suppose he
pulled a coin out of a fish’s mouth to pay the temple tax? He could have just as
easily pulled one out of the pouch that Judas carried around…the one that had
the money in it? But the expression on the tax collector’s face just wouldn’t have
been the same…

Geez, I know Christians that could make you pity the whole bunch of us if you
hung around em long enough. Love em to death, but BOY do they look sad. It’s
no wonder people avoid Christianity if it does THAT to ya! Most folks can be
miserable all by themselves, without any help from us.

The REALLY messed up thing is this: We are the ones that have a hope and a
future…we are the ones that have a Savior…we are the ones that have the victory,
the ones who have been redeemed.

So why, then, are we such sour looking lemon-suckers?

Alrighty, then. In the last post we began taking a look at Jesus as a
party animal type of guy. Now before anyone gets the wrong idea
here, I don’t believe Jesus was a rabble-rousing, hell-raising, tossing
back the booze, kind of guy….but I DO believe that he knew how
to have fun!

Think about it…who created laughter? Who created fun? Who created
humor? (I’m not trying to imply here, that the only way you can have
fun is by drinking…not at all! Just trying to share with you another
dimension of Jesus that many folks apparently fail to consider!)

Now, we all know that the Bible speaks against drunkeness. More
than once, even! You will never convince me that Jesus was ever on
the verge of being lit up by alcohol. At the same time, I think Jesus was
so high on life…so high on being God in the flesh…so high on the thrill of
living among his creation…that he didn’t need any artificial influences.
If you’ll allow me to continue…

Isn’t it interesting, that Jesus turned the water into wine at that wedding?
Why did he do that? Because they ran out of wine! Why did they run
out of wine? After all, the bridegroom and his beloved had prepared
the guest list. They had some kind of idea how many people to expect,
and had prepared for them. How, then, did they run out of wine?

Because the wedding guests had consumed it all! They had drunk up
every drop. Can you imagine the embarassment it would have caused
the host? To run out of wine at a wedding? The bridegroom and his
bride…the foremost memory of their wedding would be that THEIRS
was the wedding party that ran out of wine! And, you KNOW the
guests would never forget it…

Now look at this…this is the King James Version of what happened:

“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the
mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples,
to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith
unto him, “They have no wine.”"  (John 2:1-3) KJV

Wow! “When they wanted wine” Mary informed Jesus there was no
more. When? When they WANTED wine. Or when THEY wanted
wine. THEY who? Jesus and the disciples! The other wedding guests
wouldn’t have come to Mary for wine. They would have gone to the
servants to have their cups refilled. Mary wasn’t the hostess…she was
a guest, just like Jesus and the disciples.

“When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no
more wine.”  (John 2:2) NIV

It was Mary that first realized the situation…and she brought it to Jesus.
This was, perhaps, his first recorded act of compassion and mercy. It
didn’t involve salvation. It didn’t involve healing. It involved saving
someone from a whole heap of embarassment…and it involved a young
couple’s wedding memories. That’s it. Nothing earth-shattering.

But this is the important thing…even though it wouldn’t change the world…
even though it wasn’t going to heal anyone or bring anyone to salvation…
even though it wasn’t on his list of things to do once he hit earth…

He did it anyway. Because he’s Jesus…

Compassion. Mercy. Love. Using something as questionable as wine,
no less.

It’s Labor Day weekend, here in the USA…a time for many to gather
with friends and family and say goodbye to the summer with cook-outs,
get-togethers, parties and such. Seemed like a good time to talk about
one of the Bible’s most famous party animals! While he’s not so well-known
for his party life, he IS the most famous person mentioned in the Bible…

I wish I could take credit for this post, but the idea was actually established
in my mind by Max Lucado. I don’t recall which book I first read it in, but
the ideas he presented made a LOT of sense to me…so I thought I’d share
some of em with you!    

This guy was a “life of the party” type guy. There are those who see him as
an ol stick in the mud, but this is a guy that people enjoyed being around.
He wasn’t afraid to have a good time…in fact, there were times that
he was actually accused of having TOO good a time (Matt.11:19)! He was
often invited to dinners, parties and functions, and just as often, as it turned
out, he would end up the center of attention. I’m not sure that it was intentional;
more that people just naturally gravitated to him and thrust the “spotlight” in
his direction.

How does one get invited to so many parties? Because other people enjoy
being around a person like this. Why do people enjoy being around a person
like this? Because they’re FUN TO HANG OUT WITH! Same reason you
and I invite the people WE invite to our gatherings! Because we LIKE them!
They’re our kind of peeps! We have fun hanging out with our family and friends!
We ENJOY being around em! That’s all….

Anyway, this fella, I’m quite sure drank a little wine here and there, as wine
was a natural part of the times and the area in which he lived. In fact, Mark
14:24 states as much. At the same time, I don’t believe he over-indulged, as
many down through history have done. Some have argued that the wine served
in that day and in that culture was non-alcoholic. Maybe so, but I don’t buy it…
not even for a minute…and I’ll tell you why in a moment or two.

So who is this famous party animal? Jesus, of course!

Check out John 2: 1-10. Jesus and the disciples were INVITED to a wedding.
WHY were they invited? Go back and read the fourth paragraph again! It wasn’t
because they were socialites. Be real! We’re talking about a carpenter and fishermen.
A tax collector. Common people. It wasn’t their social status.

It wasn’t because they were celebrities, or because they were well known. This
wedding party would turn out to be where Jesus performed his first miracle. Nobody
knew these guys except for their own circle of friends. He was not yet known as
the Messiah, or the Son of God, or the great miracle worker…he was just plain
ol Jesus…Mary’s oldest kid…the son of Joseph, the carpenter!

It was because Jesus and the guys were fun to be around! That’s all…

Why do I believe the wine was fermented? Verse 10. The master of the banquet
took a taste, then complimented the bridegroom on it!

“Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the
guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

Now, if the wine, as some would argue, was non-alcoholic, why in the world
would it make any difference how much of it the guests have had to drink?

Holy cow! Jesus…the pious, righteous, stern-faced, stick-in-the-mud, Son
of God, religious guy…turned water into wine! The FERMENTED kind, on
top of THAT!

I don’t believe for a minute that the Son of God was a drunkard, or for that matter,
ever even got a buzz from the wine he drank, on that, or any other occasion. At
the same time, it was Jesus, himself, that turned water into wine that day. It was
also Jesus who proclaimed “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many,” (Mark 14:24) as he passed the cup of wine around the table at the last
supper. Wow…the blood of the Lamb, symbolized by wine?

Stick in the mud? I think not. Seems far more likely to me, that our Lord was a
fun guy to be around. Someone that was serious about his work, serious about
his purpose…serious about his Father…serious about saving his creation from
the clutches of evil…but at the same time, a guy that knew how to have fun and
enjoy life! A party animal. Taking the rest of life, not so seriously at all…

We still have a lot to learn….