Youth and the Awesomeness of God, Part 4 (Part 1 of 2)

God's Awesomeness as the Ultimate Standard

We're continuing in our study on the awesomeness of God, looking at the reality that in comparison to God, anything that we would see as non-God things, we would recognize as being non-awesome things. God is the highest form of awesome. It doesn't get any more awesome than God. That's the peak, the epitome, and there's even an infinitude behind his awesomeness. It's literally impossible to find something more awesome than God.

Because of the extremeness, extensiveness, and immensity of his awesomeness, when we compare things we understand to be awesome, we find that in comparison to God, they are not awesome. We look at our relationships, entertainment, sports, activities—none of those are awesome compared to God. Lounging by a swimming pool or on a beach is not awesome. Watching an action-packed movie or TV show is not awesome in comparison to the awesomeness of God.

So does that mean we throw everything out in relationship to the awesomeness of God? No. If we experience things like sports or relationships—friendship, marriage, dating—and attribute them to the awesomeness of God, participating as holy individuals the way God expects, then we experience the real awesomeness of God. Whatever is good or awesome in a circumstance is because God granted it, because God's awesomeness allowed it. All non-God things are non-awesome, but participating and experiencing as God wants makes it a God thing—and that's awesome.

The Three-Step Process: Beholding God

Last week, we looked at beholding God through a three-step process: who He really is, what He really does, and what He has actually said. We look to the Scriptures to find out who God is. We don't try to feel God or find Him in creation in a deep, relational sense. From Romans 1, we recognize God exists through creation, but when pursuing God, He's ultimately and specifically found in the Scriptures.

We need to see Him for who He really is and what He has really done in its entirety. It doesn't help if we only know John 3:16 or that God is love. We must recognize what God says about love, sin, right, and wrong—even uncomfortable parts, like God enabling an angel to slay sinful men, women, and children in Jerusalem who deserved judgment. We can't pick and choose pieces of God. We must have the entirety of God as revealed in Scripture. Willfully ignoring bits prevents us from believing in the God of the Bible.

As we behold who He is, what He does, and what He says, we see He says humanity is not awesome. Human existence is as nothing compared to God's. Our awesomeness is nothing, not awesome. He makes strong statements: humanity is dead in trespasses and sins, deserving eternal judgment, under His wrath. The only thing preventing judgment is His mere good pleasure and willingness to save us. He says nothing positive about us because of sin.

Then we look at the person and work of Jesus Christ. God makes declarations about Jesus fundamentally different from those about humanity: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." In John 17 and throughout the Gospels, Jesus and the Father have a loving relationship. John 1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"—pros God, intimately close, nothing hidden between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Salvation brings us into that fellowship. But we must be found in Christ, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, chosen in the Beloved (Ephesians 1). Everything pleasing in God's sight is the person and work of Jesus Christ.

God speaks wrath on us, love and pleasure on Christ. This makes us despair of ourselves—we offer nothing, extend an empty hand of faith. It makes us desperate for Christ and dead to sin, the hindrance to fellowship with God.

Jesus: Entirely God, Entirely Awesome

Tonight, focusing on the person and work of Jesus Christ: Jesus is entirely God, therefore entirely awesome. We'll see this in John 2:1-12, illustrating the awesomeness of Christ and the blessing of being in Christ, walking with Him. All non-Christ things are non-awesome—if it doesn't mirror or follow the life of Christ, it's not awesome.

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

This familiar story goes deeper than Jesus solving a wine shortage. It's an illustration of non-God things being non-awesome.

Non-God Things at the Wedding: Running Out of Joy

First-century weddings lasted a week, parading the bride and groom like kings and queens. It was spectacular, with parallels to salvation—like the bridegroom stealing the bride away at night, signaled by the best man. Wine symbolized joy at the feast.

Running out of wine was embarrassing—joy running out. Custom served good (fresh, best-tasting) wine first; later, poorer (fermented, vinegary) wine after guests were drunk. Without preservation techniques, wine degraded. But running out mid-celebration meant losing the joy symbol.

This is a non-God thing: no acknowledgment of God's awesomeness providing marriage to express love holily. Without God-centered celebration, giving thanks to Him, it's non-awesome. The wine runs out; even if not, the wedding ends. Without transcendent value, disappointment follows—life resumes normally, joy gone.

Weddings build anticipation but blur by and end quickly—a blip in life's breath (Psalm 39). Non-God things are like wood, hay, stubble (1 Corinthians 3)—burned up, no eternal value.

What Makes a Wedding Awesome?

For awesomeness: good-tasting wine that lasts (non-intoxicating joy), wedding that never ends. Or such quality that memories bring lasting joy. John 2:11 calls this Jesus' first sign (semeion)—a visible demonstration of transcendent reality.

Jesus uses purification jars (Old Testament rites), fills with water, turns to wine—symbolizing His blood, new covenant, ultimate purification. Holiness is first: without it, even transcendent awesomeness isn't grasped. Non-holy experiences run out like wine, end like weddings, leave embarrassment and baggage.

Like a bride fixating on wedding mishaps, non-God pursuits highlight failures. Romans 1 shows people chase more sin to suppress conscience.

The Transcendent Value of God's Provision

The wine runs out before the wedding ends, leaving nothing of transcendent value to sustain you through life's trials. Consider the events approaching 70 AD, when Rome overthrew the Jews, destroying the temple in a massacre far worse per capita than the Holocaust. If your wedding lacked quality wine, offering no lasting joy, how would you endure such devastation? Without something awesome and transcendent, you have nothing to carry you through.

Jesus takes the water pots, fills them with water, and transforms them into wine. This mirrors creation ex nihilo—God created everything from nothing, without primordial materials. Here, Christ creates wine from water alone, not multiplying existing wine as in another miracle. With Christ, who instantly produces the finest wine—the good wine served first, fully enjoyed—God never gives leftovers or scraps. He provides the best at every moment. If you focus on God's awesomeness, you'll recognize everything from Him as awesome.

Matthew 26:29: "I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom."

Jesus abstains from wine until the kingdom's fullness, when we enjoy Him forever. Then, we'll drink that good, joyful, transcendent wine continuously.

Revelation 19:6-9

Heaven's celebration is the wedding feast of the bridegroom and His bride—the church. No Scripture indicates this feast ends. Even if it did, its transcendent quality would leave a permanent, enduring memory for eternity. With Christ, it's a wedding of endless or eternally memorable awesomeness.

Proper Responses to God's Awesomeness

Don't respond by celebrating wine itself or planning the perfect wedding. The point isn't luxury that fails anyway.

Instead, recognize that sin stems from failing to grasp God's awesomeness, especially repetitive sin due to neglecting His sustaining wine. Experience this wine through holiness, symbolized by Christ's blood—forgiveness of sin. There were multiple Hebrew words for wine, only one intoxicating; most were delicious, non-alcoholic. Oinos in Greek encompasses these. Holiness and forgiveness unlock God's awesomeness; sin causes you to miss it.

Long for Christ, the sole source of God's awesomeness. Even reading Scripture's wonders yields no joy without being in Him. Pursue non-Christ things, and joy fades. Like the crowds chasing bread in John 6 or the woman at the well seeking satisfaction in broken relationships, temporal wells run dry. Jesus offers an eternal well springing up inside.

When tempted by fleeting pleasures—physical boundaries, drunkenness, substances—remember they run out and aren't worth it. Scripture's timeless, transcendent joys are found only in Christ and holiness. Repetitive sin happens because you're dry, sipping dixie cups in a desert when you need a constant well.

Anticipate that non-God things will run out, stripping life's awesomeness. Only Christ provides endless, superior wine.