Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
102520
Theandric Action Reveals: How To Grow Spiritually Strong As A Christian And Closer To God Sermon.
In our study of the first miracle by our Lord, we have arrived at one of the most important lessons that our Lord revealed which is the fact that the six waterpots or vessels in this passage is represented by our Lord’s new followers who signify that the empty waterpots or vessels, which are made of stone, are about to be changed.
There is a very beautiful illustration of the principles that our Lord Jesus Christ could take a waterpot or a stone vessel that’s empty but clean, and have it filled with clean water and then that He will turn that water into the wine that represents the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s begin with the context in JOH 2:3 And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
JOH 2:4 And Jesus *said to her, "Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come."
“My hour” refers to His time when He will go to the cross and fulfill what He came for which is “His cross when He will die for the sins of the whole world.”
In JOH 2:5 His mother *said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."
JOH 2:6 Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.
In this verse, JOH 2:6, the Lord will teach His disciples how they can grow spiritually when He performs a miracle that reveals how His disciples can be changed by the power of the Spirit.
They will be filled with the wine of the Holy Spirit which will give them all the spiritual strength that they would need to handle any problem that would come their way.
No longer were the Jews to be cleansed by obeying the ceremony of pouring clean water into the six vessels also known as the waterpots, they will be prepared by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who will cleanse them and prepare them for the work of God.
JOH 2:6 Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.
JOH 2:7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
JOH 2:8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the headwaiter." And they took it to him.
JOH 2:9 And when the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom,
JOH 2:10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then that which is poorer; you have kept the good wine until now."
JOH 2:11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory to the disciples and those who also became changed by the miracle He is about to perform.
Now, as we noted this past week, the Lord desires to take the hardness of man’s heart and transform it to the gentleness of the divine nature by what we call “Theandric Action – or God alive in man.”
You say, what is Theandric Action?
The word "theandric" comes from two Greek words, theos—which means God, and anthropos which means man.
Therefore, Theandric Action is the fullness of God’s divine nature overflowing in a human vessel which has surrendered to the plan of God.
The point is that *** Every believer, including you, is a vessel who has the potential of being just like our Lord because the hardness of man’s heart can be transformed into the gentleness of the divine nature by the power of the Holy Spirit who trains His disciples us through Theandric Action.
And so, this past week we noted in 2Ti 2 that there are some believers who will become vessels unto honor and other believers who will remain vessels unto dishonor.
Some believers are prepared to live in the power of Theandric Action which means that they are advancing through the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God and they can have a great impact in their life.
Believers who reject this power of the Spirit have negative volition are becoming vessels unto dishonor.
Sadly, most believers can’t understand why these types of people that have been given so many blessings by the Lord seem to forget all that He has done for them and think negative thought over positive thoughts.
Therefore, if you make positive decisions through perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine, you will add the mind of Christ to your empty vessel.
But that is just the beginning, because our Lord wants us to become just like Him without manipulating us to do so.
You must always remember that God the Father is at work in us as the apostle Paul said in ROM 8:29 For whom He [God the Father] foreknew, He also predestined {to become} conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first‑born among many brethren;
And this leads us to what I believe this first miracle was really all about which is:
- The Hypostatic Union
- Theandric Action.
Most of you are familiar with the Hypostatic Union which refers to God living in man, as undiminished deity and true humanity, in one person forever, namely the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, Theandric Action means that God is living in every believer who is becoming like God by means of Theandric Action which is “God alive” in man.
In fact, the process of Theandric Action is the only provision whereby Christians are able to manifest the true nature of God in their mortal bodies within the Body of Christ and to a lost and dying world.
This is why I gave you an illustration of this principle of Theandric Action as it is related to changing all of us by the nature of God within us.
Look at 2CO 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond‑servants for Jesus' sake.
2CO 4:6 For God
This refers to God the Holy Spirit who restored the earth after Jesus Christ had created the world and then punished the inhabitants of the earth, the fallen angels, who had become rebellious and rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what forced the Lord to put Satan and all of those fallen angels in complete darkness as the earth became a prison of darkness for all the fallen angels.
Remember that angels cannot function without light.
Therefore, our Lord imprisoned the fallen angels in complete darkness on the earth.
2CO 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2CO 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;
Theandric Action is the treasure in earthen vessels.
Theandric Action means that the divine nature is alive in man.
2CO 4:7 But we have this treasure [the divine nature of God living within us through Theandric Action] in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power [God’s life] may be of God and not from ourselves;
2CO 4:8 {we are} afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
The Lord knows how much we all can handle.
2CO 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
2CO 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
2CO 4:11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
This life of Jesus is the life that comes from Theandric Action.
2CO 4:12 So death works in us, but life in you.
Most believers never experience Theandric Action, because they ignorantly live in the effects of the Fall of man, expressing the character of the old adamic nature in the mentality, fulfilling selfish and vain pursuits.
Theandric Action is operational in the believer's life, through the filling of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, which is the mind of Christ, the possibilities of experiencing Christ's victory are limitless.