John 3:1-17 NIV
3 Now there was a Pharisee,
a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He
came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a
teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are
doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very
truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born
again.”
4 “How can someone be born
when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time
into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very
truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of
water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh
gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should
not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind
blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it
comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this
be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said
Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly
I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen,
but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have
spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you
believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has
ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as
Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be
lifted up, 15 that
everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save
the world through him.
Nick at Night
As I read this passage of scripture, I witness a
conversation between two people and two people and all people throughout time.
Yes, Nicodemus, Jesus, you, me and all souls before and after, you and me and
Nicodemus.
First, let’s consider Nicodemus. Nicodemus may be condemned
for being a secret disciple of Jesus by many people of his day and many people
today. But, later, Nicodemus took up Jesus’ part in the midst of the religious
council, when they were considering the possibility of having Jesus killed for
his actions and ideas that Jesus was preaching and acting out with the people
of Jesus day. Later, Nicodemus teamed up with Joseph of Arimathea, another
member of the religious council, to bury Jesus.
John 19:39 NIV
39 He (Joseph of Arimathea)
was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at
night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five
pounds.
Both of these men secret faith was forming to openly share
the meaning of the cross for all God’s people. God changed Nicodemus and God
can change you and me as well, through this wonderful gift of faith. What
happened to Nicodemus after Jesus death and resurrection? What happens to us
after Jesus’ death and resurrection. For Nicodemus and for many of us; only God
knows the entire story. But, the gift of faith changes everything.
Just as this meeting of Nicodemus and Jesus moves from
darkness to Light; Nicodemus wanted to see Jesus’ face to face and see first
hand what this man, Jesus, meant for himself, and perhaps all people of the
day. Now, Nicodemus was with Jesus in the dark. Later, Nicodemus would stand as
Jesus’ friend, at Jesus burial. So, Nicodemus in life and in this conversation
with Jesus would move from Darkness to Light in Jesus.
Although Nicodemus and us as well, come to Jesus in the
darkness of our lives; God comes to us in Jesus. Yes, God comes to us with the
gift of new birth. God comes to us and plants His Spirit in our hearts, along
with Nicodemus, in the darkness of our lives, and impregnates us to New Life.
Romans 8:1-11 NIV
8 Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set
you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For
what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the
flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in
order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us,
who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according
to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who
live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit
desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is
death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The
mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s
law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm
of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in
the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of
Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But
if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death
because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And
if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he
who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
This is the New Life, the New Birth, the Spirit of God
given to us at baptism that lives within us as we grow in faith, love and
service to God and all of those God gives to us each and every day of our
lives. And within this darkness of night, Nicodemus and you and I, hear the
Word of Jesus declared. Here in the
darkness, Jesus presents to Nicodemus, you and I, and all people, a Kingdom.
This Kingdom is not political. No! Rather this Kingdom, that Jesus presents, is
personal and spiritual. This is a Kingdom with the cross as Jesus’ throne. In
this Kingdom of eternal life, new birth comes through, and by, death!
So, all of that to introduce this conversation between
Jesus, Nicodemus and you and I and all people looking on.
Nicodemus recognized God in Jesus by Jesus’ very own words,
acts and signs which Jesus was performing before all the people of the day.
Nicodemus, in my opinion, saw something new, and of God, taking place in Jesus.
Jesus confronts Nicodemus with the concept of New Life in a
Kingdom different from an earthly kingdom.
To live this New Life, there must be a New creature. A New
kind of man. Ezekiel saw this years ago, when God gave His Word to Ezekiel to
proclaim to the Israelites.
Ezekiel 36:25-29 NIV
25 I (God) will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will
cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from
you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And
I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be
careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in
the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your
God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness.
I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring
famine upon you.
Again, we see a plea from David to God, after Nathan came
to David and pointed out the sin of David’s murder of Uriah and adultery with
Bathsheba. David in his darkness of sin pleads to God…
Psalm 51:10 NIV
10 Create
in me a pure heart, O God,
and
renew a steadfast spirit within me.
In the darkness of our
sinful actions and our sinful selves; we can only be saved by a God that comes
to us. We cannot save ourselves by any action on our own. Yet, just as
Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark; really, it was Jesus that comes to
Nicodemus and you and me, in our darkness. Jesus comes to us with a Word.
In our darkness, Jesus
tells us and Nicodemus that we must be born anew. Better yet, begotten from
above. Born anew from the beginning. A mother bears a child and the father begets.
This is a new thing. A new thing for a new Kingdom. Not a kingdom of this
earth. This is a new kingdom that Jesus tells us that we must be born into. And
when we are born… it’s not something that we do. This is a birth that happens
to us, for us, from God the Father, through God the Holy Spirit and fulfilled
by God the Son… More confusing, yet totally awesome, is that it has been there,
from the beginning.
A new birth from and
before the beginning of time, yet a new birth we can choose to turn our backs
on and leave behind, if we choose. But, the choice by God of His love and New
Life, in a New Kingdom, is and always has been there for us and to us. God’s
choice IS love. Our choice may be something different. Being born Anew, is not
about my, or your, or Nicodemus’ choice. No, it is a spiritual rebirth. This
new birth is a gift from God. A gift we can accept, or a gift we can turn our
backs on and throw behind.
To see the Kingdom of God
is to enter the Kingdom of God. To see the Kingdom of God is to see eternal
life.
Jesus speaks to Nicodemus
and here to us on a different level. Jesus speaks on the level of belief in all
that God has done for his creation. In “our” flesh we tend to live in a world
of unbelief. We want the proof. We want the goods. We want to see in a way that
our earthly eyes behold in this earthly kingdom. Yet, here, Jesus speaks on a
different level. Jesus speaks from the Spirit. Jesus bids us to break away from
our flesh to a new level of understanding.
This new level of
understanding, which is really beyond ourselves; introduces the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit, like the wind, moves on It’s own. I can’t make arrangement and
plans for this rebirth. I can’t take actions to cause a result of the Holy
Spirit to move within and through me. No! This movement of the Holy Spirit in
my life is the action of the Holy Spirit.
The Wind or the Holy
Spirit, Jesus speaks of here; were does it come from? Where does this Holy
Spirit go? This work, in us and through us as we are born anew and this Kingdom
of God is the work of the Holy Spirit. Even more, it is God’s grace, given to
us. This movement of the Holy Spirit is new and unpredictable. It’s a
fascinating joy that God places in our lives that makes us alive. New Birth! This
movement, this Wind of the Spirit is always different. And it causes us to trust.
To trust that God will take us in and bring us to him Anew and a New Kingdom.
Jesus brings us earthly
understanding, clothed and fleshed out in a heavenly beginning. The key to
heaven IS Jesus. Heaven is where Jesus comes from and where he goes again. Jesus
introduces us men of flesh and spirit to heaven. Heaven, not a place, rather a
type of mode. Heaven is a way. The heaven that Jesus brings to us is Life. Eternal life.
Eternal life is not about
duration. It is a kind of Life. The eternal life that Jesus offers is past,
present and future all combined into one somehow. This eternal life is the
putting on or the wearing of Jesus Christ. Eternal life is New to us who live
in this earthly realm. Yet it is given to us by God the Father through the Holy
Spirit.
Jesus came from heaven and
has returned to heaven. If you search the Old Testament, you will see some, who
have ascended into heaven. For example, Enoch, Elijah and perhaps Moses, by the
grace of God, but there is a difference with Jesus. Jesus descended from
heaven. Why? Jesus has always been. Jesus was always present, always.
This gift of eternal life
come from the love of God. The love of God descended to us from heaven in
Jesus. Descended to make God’s love for His creation known to His creation.
This IS God’s love… that ALL may believe in the Love and believe in what God
has done and will always do… to call us to Himself… to grant a New Birth… and
New and Eternal Life.
God introduced His Love
for us in Jesus. This IS important! God’s love is universally expressed in
sacrifice. As Jesus died for us, we die ourselves, in this flesh. As Jesus
arose from the dead of his flesh; we too will rise to New Life. Jesus WILL come
again. We will be raised and united with Jesus in a New Creation of flesh and
spirit, in this Kingdom of God, and we live out eternal life in God. This
conversation with Nicodemus, with you, with me, is NOT about condemnation.
Rather, this conversation is about salvation. This conversation is about the Light
that attracts believers. Believers in what God has done, through Jesus and for
all creation.
This is something I will
always fail to understand. But, I guess, it’s not my place to understand God.
After all, I’m NOT God, thank God!
Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
8 “For my
(God) thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither
are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are
my ways higher than your ways
and my
thoughts than your thoughts.
This conversation with Nicodemus,
you and me, is about God’s Love for His creation. Believe it! Get behind your
thoughts and your works. Put that stuff behind you. Rather start with belief.
Then, think and work, to serve God and those God gives to you. Believe and see
God’s saving Love.
Go, ahead, stake you life
on God’s love revealed in Jesus.
Catch this infection of
Love…
1 John 4:19 NIV
19 We love because he first
loved us.
I don’t need to give my heart to God. No! God snatches my
heart right out of me and makes it His. And… I like it that way… today…
tomorrow… and forever. Thanks be to God!
I leave you, once again, with one of my favorite songs…
In Christ Alone My Hope is Found (click the link below)
In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found
May God bless you in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit… today and always.
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