Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Today’s Reading: John 1-3

The Good Wine

Good morning. I hope this week has been a blessing and not a curse. This is a day that the Lord made: rejoice and be glad in it! I guess it depends on our attitude. Even the worst of times has no hold on us when we realize that in the end we get to see Jesus face to face in all His glory. The Good Wine is coming. John chapter 2, verses 1 through 11, give the account of Jesus’ first recorded miracle: turning the water into wine. What I want to focus on is what the governor of the feast said to the bridegroom: “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.”

“…and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse…”

Every man sets forth good wine, and later the bad. Are we really like that? Do we take a good, long, hard look in the mirror and notice the things we are doing? Or are we like the man in James chapter 1 who beheld his natural face in a glass, and then went on his way forgetting what manner of man he was. When someone tells me I’m getting old, I tell them I’m aging like fine wine: I’m kept in the dark, I get dusty, and eventually I’ll turn sour. And that is how we get if we forget what manner of men (and ladies) we were. Have you cracked an off-color joke lately, talked bad about someone, or did something that you did before you got saved? Have you hurt anybody lately with harsh words? Proverbs 25: 11 tells us that, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Are you angry at everybody because they will not be your friend? Proverbs 18:24 says that you must show yourself friendly. Have we become “that which is worse?” Who is your Bridegroom? He is the one that the governor of the feast went to. What do you want the governor to say: this is sour, or this is the best? Think of the governor being other believers. What are they telling the Bridegroom about you? Maybe it’s time to edify the brethren. Treat others with the kind of respect you would like (even if they do not return that respect). Also, in that vein, when somebody hurts you, be forgiving. Pray for that person. Do you really want to see God’s wrath come down on them. God hates what they did even more than you do. The good wine is coming; the question is, how worse will “that which is worse” get before the good wine is put forth? That choice is up to you.

Peace (John 14;27)