This is the Chapel Hour, today presenting a message by Dr. Sid Cates, Chairman of the Secondary Education Department at Bob Jones University. This message, based on events recorded in the second chapter of the Gospel of John, is titled, Nobodies Who Became Somebodies. Turn, if you would, please, your Bibles to John, chapter 2. John 2. Brings back old memories. I was principal of the academy here for 12 years, so to see The Academy students out there does my heart good. I love Academy. I love the young people in the Academy. And for about seven years, this is where we had chapel. When we had chapel, we had it once a week generally. And so I got the opportunity to preach in here. The pulpit has changed totally from what it was back then. It's much lower. I've grown a little bit. I'm not sure which one it is, but it's a privilege to be here. Also, it's good to have some teachers. I don't know if you Academy students know, we have a number of teachers and principals. that started classes this past Monday, and it's good to have them here as well. One of the things that I enjoy when I look at scripture, and particularly the Gospels, and those of you, and I know some of you here that in the academy were in junior high when I was there, I was there six years ago, had an opportunity to preach in junior high quite often. One of the things I would say a number of times was when I would look at, particularly I enjoy having my devotions, I almost have to force myself to go to other parts of the Bible because I enjoy the Gospels. I enjoy Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and reading about the life of Christ. And whenever I read a portion of the scriptures there, I always like to ask myself, no matter what portion of the Bible it is, I always ask myself, why was that put in there? It was put in there just for me. But what is it that the Lord, the Holy Spirit wants me to learn from this portion of scripture? I always read the scriptures that way. And many times, even when I'm reading genealogies, I think to myself, why is it that this was put in? Why? Why was that put in there? There's nothing. There's no wasted breath with the Holy Spirit. There's no wasted pen here. Why was it put in there? And so many times and sometimes I disagree with the commentaries as to what they would say and why they say something, a portion of scriptures in there. But I want to share with you one today of why it's in there. And nobody agrees with me as to why it's in there, but it sure blessed my heart. And it taught me a lesson that I'd like to share with you this morning. It's found in John chapter 2. Now, let me bring you up to speed on exactly what's happening. Then we'll read these 10 verses or so concerning an incident that happened early on in the life of Christ. Christ is young in his ministry now. As a matter of fact, he hasn't started his ministry. He has not healed anyone. He has not caused anyone to see. He was blind. He's not really made any major proclamations up to this time. He's just getting started. He's probably still living at home. Tradition has it his father, Joseph, is already dead. He's living with his mother. He has now already assembled his disciples. And now they're at a wedding. They have left their hometown, his mother and Christ and the disciples. They've left the hometown and gone to a city of Canaan, which is in a town or an area called Galilee. And there they've gone to a wedding. Now, I don't like to go to weddings. I don't know if the Lord liked this wedding or not, but he's at a wedding, probably because his mother insisted. Maybe it's a friend. of his mother who's given the wedding for her daughter or son, whatever. But he's at a wedding. It is hot. It is dusty. And back then, weddings last a long time. They last days, not hours, days. That would be, to me, totally miserable to stand around for days while somebody is getting married. I've only had one daughter getting married. That's it. And Christy. And I sat there and I kept thinking, this is really long. This is really long. It lasted maybe 10 minutes. I had two thoughts that ran through my mind. Number one, I can't believe she grew up that fast. And number two, I can't believe I paid that much for that dress. Those were the two things that went through my mind. Plus a couple of things that why this guy take her from me. He's only known her three years. I knew her 21 years and he takes her off. But here's the wedding. Nobody likes to go. Some people like to go to wedding. Girls do. I'm not sure the Lord did, but he's there. He's there because his mother insists. And at this particular time, people drank wine because they couldn't drink the water. The water was terrible. So they drank wine. Anyway, during the course of the event, during the course of the wedding, probably the lady who's in charge, who maybe is a good friend of Mary, would come to Mary, probably came to Mary and says, Mary, Mary, I just, I don't know what to do. I mean, oh, well, just calm down, calm down. What's the problem? Well, where would we go? We don't have any wine. There's nothing for the people to drink. There are more people. Just calm down, calm down. Look, I'll take care of it. Don't you worry about it. I'll take care of it. So Mary probably tells her that He'll she'll take care of it. And of course, what she really means, she's going to get her boy to take care of it, which is the way it was when I grew up. My mother always say she'd take care of something. She'd give me me to take care of. And so here we are at this wedding. They need some wine. They need something to drink. And Mary goes to her mother. And the important area that we're going to look at here is not so much what Christ does, though all the commentaries talk about this is his first miracle. All the commentaries talk about the way he answers his mother. Commentaries talk about his human nature, but there's another story in here that deals with some nobodies. Some nobodies who aren't even mentioned, who later become somebodies. I'll never forget, I was sitting in my office in Charlotte when I was principal of school in Charlotte, and we had a boy there who was a great basketball player. His name was Michael. And in the early years, when he was in junior high, he wanted to be a missionary. He wanted to go to a Christian college. And I remember it's now his senior year and he got a scholarship to a very prestigious college in North Carolina. And the coach and I sat down beside him and we asked him, well, why don't you go, why don't you do what God told you to do in the junior high? And he said, he said, well, I think God has given me this talent and I can glorify him on the basketball court. I remember the coach who didn't say a great deal. His name was John. John said to him, he said, how do you glorify God on the basketball court? I said, what did you just do? I mean, I mean, I've got some talents. And he was boasting about his talents and how other young people, even in our school, were looking for it. And he said, I want to use this. I want to glorify God. And he says, you know, you really think you're, John said, you really think you're somebody. But you realize this, in God's perspective, somebodies are really nobodies and nobodies in God's perspective are really somebodies. And I want you to notice this as we look at it here. There are some no-name nobodies who in reality in heaven today are really some somebodies. Chapter 2, verse 1, In the third day there was a marriage in Canaan of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the wedding or the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Thine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were there set six waterpots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. And Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them to the brim. And he said unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor. And they bear it. And when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor of the feast called the bridegroom and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine. And when men have well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou has kept the good wine until now. And the no name somebody's in this portion of scripture are the servants. We know Jesus, we know the disciples, we know the mother or his mother Mary, but we don't know the servants. But they're really somebody's. I want to share with you why I think they're somebody's. Then I want to share with you why I think God put this portion of scripture, allowed the Holy Spirit to put in the scripture for me. And I want you to notice these servants, I want you to notice what their responsibility was and I want you to notice what their response to the responsibility was. And then I want you to notice what their reward was, their responsibility, their response and their reward. Let's take a look at it. Mary comes up to her son, verse 3, and she says, when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said unto her, and people have said he's been disrespectful, but this is a timbre of endearment. It's like, mother, my time for performing miracles hasn't come yet. She must have known. I mean, she fed him when he was young, before he had solid food. He probably sat at her knee. They probably talked about the things of the Lord. He probably talked to her about what he was going to do. He knew even as a young child he was coming to die, seeking to save that which was lost. And she knew he was going to perform miracles. She knew she had a special child. And he probably said, Mama, that's not my time yet. But it was. His time was ready. And so she said to him, they have no wine. And then the Bible says this. And his mother then, she didn't even let Christ, she didn't even speak to Christ because she knew he'd do his job. He was obedient. She turned to some no-name servants. And here's what she said. Verse five, Whatsoever he, meaning Christ, saith unto you, do it. You know what a servant, a no name servant's responsibility is? It is to do whatsoever. A servant's responsibility is to do whatsoever. You know, that's a hard thing. It's a hard thing for somebody to come up to me and tell me to do something. And I just resist on the inside because I have this. I don't like to do whatsoever. But these no name servants here who later would become somebodies and are now nobodies were just simply asked to do what so ever. Do you like to do whatsoever? I don't. But they were asked to do whatsoever. What could have been their reaction? Look, woman, I don't know you. I mean, you might be a friend of my master's here, but I don't know you. I don't do wonders, woman. You know, I'm a union man. I don't do whatsoever certain things I don't do. That wasn't their reaction. They're ready to do what so ever there has to do whatsoever. That's our responsibility. Sometimes our reaction. In our heart to what people have to say really determines who's on the throne in our heart, the Holy Spirit or ourself, the way we react when somebody tells us to do whatsoever. Dr. Doink is my boss. If I understand the principle of being a servant, do you know Dr. Doink is also my servant? He's my boss, but he is my servant. You remember when the Lord was at the Last Supper and he was washing the feet of the disciples, and the disciples were talking about who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom, and the Lord said, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me tell you. The greatest in the kingdom is the one that's going to be the server. You see, in my perspective, God said, a server is the greatest. And those that think themselves great are servants. You see, Dr. Dewing is a servant of mine and I am a servant of his. It's called the circle of servantship. He serves me by providing all the tools that I need to do my job in the education department. Dr. Bob serves me. by providing a cool room with carpet and an overhead projector and a chalkboard. He serves me and I serve him back by doing the best job I can. It's called the circle of servanship. We're servants to one another. We do whatsoever we have to do to get the job done. Whatsoever. For 12 years, I was principal of the academy. It's an interesting thing that takes place twice a year in the state of South Carolina, and that is the clocks are always changed. In April, it springs forward an hour. In the fall, it falls back an hour. Well, in the academy, those of you who know the academy, you have these battery-operated clocks in every classroom. Not attached to the university system, but every clock is battery-operated. That means that twice a year, they have to be adjusted by an hour. For six or seven years, I never even thought about it. I never even thought about it. And then one Saturday, I'm over there at the academy, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm walking around, I see Mr. Kenty. Some of you don't even know Mr. Kenty. I see Mr. Kenty, and he's taking this cart with him. Mr. Kenty has a cane. He's walking with a cane. He's got a little cart with him. And on his cart, he's got this little ladder that folds. And he took it down to the first room there in the academy, the main building there. And he opened the door and he pulled his cart in there with his cane. He put it in there and he put his thing and he got his ladder. And I was talking to him. He got his ladder, put his cane, and very carefully and with a lot of pain, he got up on the first and then he got up on the second. He pulled that clock down and he changed the clock. It took him all day Saturday to change those clocks. I never thought about it. For seven years, I never thought, who did it? I didn't care. And so I asked him, I said, do you do these clocks every Saturday? He said, yeah, Mr. Penix. Years ago, he asked me to do it and I just do it every year. You know, here's the guy that nobody knows. You don't even know who he is. But in God's eyes, he's a somebody because he was willing to do whatsoever the dirty job. And so he did whatsoever he asked him to do whatsoever, she said, whatsoever he says you to do, do it. And so let's look at their response, these nobody's response. Verse six says, And there were there set six water pots of stone at the matter of purifying the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. And Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them. And the next verse says, and he said, in the draw out now and barren to the governor. And it says, and they buried. The response. You see, he went up to these guys and there were six water pots made of stone, actually weren't made of stone, they were made of clay. They weighed about 50 pounds apiece and they held 25 gallons of water. 50 pounds a piece, empty, 25 gallons of water. 25 gallons of water is 200 pounds. 250 pounds is what those containers weighed with the water in it. You multiply it times six, there were six water pots there. That's 1,500 pounds. That's three quarters of a ton. You know what he said to these disciples that don't even know him? He said, go down to the well or go down to the stream, wherever it was, down to the middle of town, go down there and fill these water pots with water. That's what he said. And then taking bare this three quarters of a ton to the governor of the feast. Sir, no offense, but we don't need water. We don't drink water. We drink wine. Number two, who are you to tell me what to do? And number three, I don't do water. I got other jobs. That was not their response. Their response was when he said, fill the pots with water, they filled them with water. And the second thing he says, bear it and they bear it. Their response was to do it immediately. You know, I looked at. And I read many times and I saw they did it immediately, then I discovered something else. Not only did they do their job immediately, but there's something else that just just makes you want to shout. The Bible says, look down in verse number 7 again, He said, Jesus said, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. All the way to the top. Now if somebody asked me to go down to the creek and fill them, we're talking about a lot of water. We're talking about 250 pounds, 25 gallons. That's 150 gallons of water. That's three 55-gallon barrels of water. That's a lot of water to draw up. I would have done this. I can't believe he's telling me to do that. I remember. Slop that water in there. If it gets full, I'll bring it back. It falls out, slops out. I don't care. Don't tell me what. The Bible says no one did do it immediately, but they filled it to the brim. They did the best job they could. They did whatsoever, and knowing that, they did it immediately and the best that they possibly could. How often do we get asked to do things we don't want to do and we do it immediately and the best that we possibly can? But that's called a servant. And we're nobody's on earth, I guess, to do it, but there's somebodies in heaven. When I first came to the university here, 1983, I worked at the press and I tell this and she doesn't like me telling it, but I've told it before and another at the Wiles one time. So like Mrs. Gladden, let me tell this. Mrs. Gladden, she had a no name, nobody job putting together the Algebra I book. Mrs. Gladden, Dr. Gladden's wife, she sat at this draftsman table back then. They do it on a computer now. Back then, she had a T-square and she was working on a big layout of about eight pages or so. And she was working on one page. I remember going back there and looking at it because I was part of the math program. I was kind of on the math committee to check the books there. And I looked at it and she was working on page 216 in the book. Check out two pages. It's there. And she worked on it. I remember going and getting me a candy bar to come back. She was still working. I said, what's the problem? She says, I want you to look at this, Sid. She said, there are two graphs on this page here, two graphs. And see, when I put them here, they look crooked, don't they? And I said, yeah, they're crooked. This one's crooked. She said, but if I put this T up to it, you can see it's not crooked. It's an optical illusion. And sure enough, it was. That's really funny. And that was during the afternoon. So I left at five o'clock. I went to eat at the dine and come, then I ate at the dine and come. Then I went home, went to a piano recital at the elementary school for my daughter. About, I don't know, about 8.30 or 9 o'clock, I came back to get something. And I went by and there she was working on page 216 again. She'd been working, I said, you've been working? She said, I've been working. I put a lot of time in this page writing on page 216. I looked at it, I said, well, I think you got it finally fixed now. And I thought about that later. I don't know how many thousands of Algebra 1 books have been printed. But you know what? Maybe a hundred thousand kids have looked at page 216 on the old Algebra 1 book and they looked at page 216. You know what they noticed? Nothing wrong with it. They didn't know anything. That if it had been crooked, they would have said, look at that, there's a fault right there. But they didn't. They just went on their way. Because a lady spent two or three hours to make sure it looked right. And you know what? Her name's not in the front of the book. As a matter of fact, if I hadn't told you, you wouldn't even know she had anything to do with the Algebra I book. Period. You wouldn't even know it. Kathy Pilber's name's in there. Some of the committee members names in there. These people got their name in there. But Miss Gladden, her name's not in there. But because of her willingness to do her best, all of a sudden we have a good testimony. So the servants, they were to do whatsoever. And number two, they were to do it, respond with immediately and to the best of their ability. But number three, I want you to look at their reward. Their reward. After they barred it to the ruler, verse nine says, And when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was now made wine, the brackish, ugly tasting water is now made wine. And knew not whence he was, but the servants which drew the water knew. And the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, he says, everybody serves the worst first, now you serve the best. Here again, in the midst of God's first miracle, these no name, no body servants, because they did their job right, they were in the midst of a miracle. Their reward was seeing God perform a miracle. Some of you academy students, In May of next year, you walk across the auditorium. And you walk up to the microphone and you give a testimony and you talk about how great your 12th grade Bible teacher was or your 11th grade English teacher, you know, nobody ever mentions their first grade teacher. Or their second grade teacher, nobody, nobody graduating ever mentions them, you know. And yet studies will show that they're just as important, sometimes more important to get you going to school, maybe than even your 12th grade teacher is. But that first grade teacher will sit back there, she'll be a nobody, she'll never be named. But she'll have this satisfaction, this reward of knowing that she had a small part in the miracle in which God took you. and made you into what you are today. She can remember times she probably had to wipe your nose for you. She remembers times she probably had to tell your mama to take baths because you stank or stunk. She remembers those days. You don't remember them. She does. But she was part of a miracle in which God perfected you. And the world only sees You know, Academy, you Academy kids are wanted to work in various organizations right here in this city, in Biola and places like that. You know why they want you? Because you're honest, because you look sharp, because you're obedient. That's why they want you. And they say, boy, didn't Bob Jones Academy do a great job? No, the Lord did a great job, but nobody recognizes it. You just have to recognize we're part of a miracle because God uses us as servants to do His miracles. And I could say, After reading this, you know why God gave this to me? God gave this to me, not to teach me about his first miracle, not to teach me about his humanity, not to teach me about he would answer his mother, but God gave me this to say, hey, you want to know who a somebody is in heaven? Then pattern your life after these nobody, no name servants who are now somebody's. By the way, the story's not over. I mean to tell you, just reading this here just blesses your soul, but then the next verse, I haven't even read yet, is even greater blessing. Because you see, in the next verse it says this, because of this miracle, because of what the servants did, the name, name, nobody's servants, because of what they did, the Bible says, verse 11, this beginning of the miracles that Jesus and Canaan and Galilee do, and manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him. You see, they were a part of the greatest group of individuals taking forth the gospel, his disciples. They were a part of the disciples being saved. What a blessing. They're in the Hall of Fame there. Maybe if they had not done their job, they had not done whatsoever to the best of their ability and immediately, maybe if they haven't done it, maybe these disciples may have never been saved. Maybe they'd never seen the miracles. I don't know. But what a blessing to know these people who are not named. Became part of the plan for a part of the glory. Of allowing the 12 or I don't know how many of these disciples. To be born again, what a blessing. I started off by saying. I wonder what the Lord has for me in these verses. And what he has for me is to show me How to be a servant. How to be a servant. A servant does whatsoever. And his response is to do it immediately. And the best of his ability and then to step back. And let God work through him. To perform the miracle, what a privilege we have to be servants of his father, we do thank you for the opportunity to have the gospel. The words, the thoughts of the Holy Spirit is penned by me and before us. And there's so many teaching points that you've made in your life. There's so many teaching points in the scriptures to teach us how to be Christ like examples for others, how to know that word, teach us the doctrines that we thank you for that. Most important, we thank you that you gave us this portion of scripture to teach me. The pattern of servanthood. Help us to be the kind of servant that you would want us to be. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Join us again tomorrow at this time for The Chapel Hour, sponsored by Bob Jones University.