These are notes that support the proclamation -- not the actual text!
INTRO – Met a long ago friend, brought back all kinds of forgotten memories (blackmail). When we got to discussing our current lives, he asked me about the church I was pastoring, and asked. “Is your church one of those “born again” churches?” And again, just a flood of memories came back to mind about that expression – born again! I immediately thought of John 3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus that you must be born again. And then I thought of the whole Calvary Chapel movement here in Orange County, who had as their little cartoon mascot, Ben Bornagain! And how they emphasized that just being a church member didn’t “make” you a Christian, you needed a spiritual rebirth to have the excitement about the Lord that they had. Let’s hear an AMEN in church once in a while! And then I thought about my own pastor when I was a youth, RevT. Who became a little flustered with the new requirement to be a “born again Christian.” He would say, “That’s the most redundant thing you can say! Of course you have to be born again to be a Christian; but it’s like saying that you drive a Chevy Chevrolet – what’s that mean? Well let’s find out what that means by turning to John 3. Joh 3:2 - Rabbi (Rabbei). See on 1:38. Technically Jesus was not an acknowledged Rabbi of the schools, but Nicodemus does recognize him as such and calls him "My Master" just as Andrew and John did (1:38).Km= The John wants everyone to know that Jesus is the true Rabbi, even tho an establishment Jewish Ruler is before Jesus. Nic is curious about Jesus, keeping an open mind about someone he believes should not be dismissed out of hand simply because other “power brokers” feel threatened by him. Isn’t this a little unusual about those who are attempting to live their lives being sensitive to the spirit? Maybe that’s the point! They are not sensitive to the Spirit at all! They are adhering a to a tradition that mankind typically follows, a worship of our works, confidence in our own rule, earthly means to secure a hold on power. I have been reflecting lately about this additional passage of Scripture spoken by Jesus in Matthew 11:12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. When Jesus arrives, there is a definite power struggle between he and the religious leaders, because there is a power structure in the Jewish society – religious leaders make the decisions that impact the people. This is a fact of government that works, authorities make decisions and the underlings must comply or be disciplined. EVEN TODAY in our denominations, the supposed expression of Christ’s kingdom, there are cells of power trying to influence the church to embrace a particular view – all in the name of accomplishing something good for the church. There are battles between traditionalists and progressives, historicists and moderns, doctrine keepers and people pleasers – and here we see Nicodemus attempting to be sincere about with whom he should side. And from what I know about what happens in back rooms with leadership, and the kinds of conversations that are had there, I believe that Nicodemus is evaluating the attitudes and behaviors of his backroom, with the attitudes an behavior of Jesus, whom he is meeting in a “backroom” of sorts, privately, in the middle of the night. For Nicodemus, he at least has the character to sincerely interview a “tradition” breaker, rather than to dismiss him off the bat. Nicodemus is attempting to determine if Rabbi Jesus has the goals and purposes to truly honor God, or to advance some personal agenda. And like Nicodemus, we must all make this evaluation of the type of faith community we will reside. IS our little church trying to stuff down alternative views for the sake of protecting our position? Or is our little church authentically open to where the spirit directs? People especially of the Reformation movement must be careful about how and who they oppose new traditions because our very history reveals that we should not fight against a sincere teacher who can clearly articulate the truths of Scripture! Whether you know it or not, we are a type of Nicodemus church, willing to meet and visit with those who have been ostracized by certain authority structures because we want to make sure we are not becoming negatively “pharisaical.” We have actually, in our little church, bucked the common California traditions, and have begun a church that embraces ideas that are currently rejected in the modern church – we sing hymns, psalms, AND praise songs, we have classical and contemporary instruments, we read extended passages of scripture and have prayers that last several minutes, we observe the sacraments weekly because they also preach, we value intergenerational ministry, wanting our children to be a part of our service as soon as they are able to embrace it (or is as soon as they can endure it!!?) SOME would say that we are a traditional church, but I laugh at that because we seem to be breaking every modern standing tradition practiced in the church today - - while at the same time, willingly seeking to embrace any other tradition that simply wants to seek the honor of Christ and his kingdom, ESPECIALLY when contrasted against some ruling authority who demands unquestioned allegiance simply because they have been elevated to a seat of authority!! I think this was Nicodemus’ struggle as he meets with Jesus… It was a bold, courageous step for Nicodemus as a Pharisee to take, for the Pharisees were reluctant to accept John the Baptist, and now they are suspicious of Jesus. We know Thou art a teacher come from God (apo theou elêluthas didaskalos). "You have come from God as a teacher." How does an obscure Galilean peasant confound the educated religious class??God has to be with you! John 3:3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." The only way that any of us can have any sense of comprehending the Christian faith beyond the intellectual, comparative religion level – and get to the “I truly love God and His law with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength level – a true worshipper and follower of Christ, is if we are born from above which is a more literal rendering of the GK. I’m a born from above Christian! Which means that God must break out of heaven and birth in us an understanding and conviction that we were not born with naturally. Jesus calls it born from above, The Apostle Paul calls it being a new creation, or the new self, The apostle Peter calls it having a new conscience, and they are all different ways of saying the same thing – God must act upon us to birth into us something that will direct us toward our true purpose for life – to rightly glorify God and enjoy him forever. So if someone asks you if you’re born again – say, no, I’m born from above, or I’m a new creature Christian… Born again was so 70’s, I’m a new conscience Christian. The point is that how we are born naturally will not suffice with the Lord, the religious routines that come naturally to us are not sufficient for God. That which is flesh only produces flesh – and all flesh is like the flowers that fade and wither away – what we need is a spiritual movement to transform us so that we will begin to open our eyes to spiritual realities that we would have never considered without this activity of the Holy Spirit. After all, we read earlier in John that Jesus came to make us children of God -- born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Nicodemus focuses on the being born part and wonders how he can physically accomplish that. There is so much humor to his question in vs. 4 John 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Now that’s just plain sick! It also happens to be a favorite teaching tool of John the Apostle, to have people hear Jesus and to get it so mixed up about what Jesus is saying so that Jesus can teach the most profound truths of what his life and gospel would accomplish… we’ll see this as we go forward in the Gospel of John. I’m going to read Jesus’ reply here because I think he makes his case for what being born from above is all about using very earthly terms 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Here we learn that being born of the spirit is like having an additional influence in our life, like water is, like wind is. The flesh has one kind of influence upon us, a very powerful influence upon some more than others, but to be born of the spirit is to become aware of God’s cleansing action to our souls – so that we will always want to remain pure, AND, His audible direction, and His persuasive leading – we love hearing the word of God spoken to our minds and our spirits --- ALL OF THIS TO ACKNOWLEDGE a KEY POINT - - something outside of us, is working upon us – this is not the work of our hands, this isn’t reaching inside of us to pull out something better – it is a washing away of who we are, a blowing away of the self, and the restart from the top with Jesus as Lord! Nicodemus is still a little slow on the uptake:9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? There is some interesting in this reply from Jesus – a little rebuke. Our call to worship this morning was a reflection of just one OT passage that mentioned that God was going to send His spirit to His people – it was the prediction that God would bring about something new from heaven! In another gospel, John the Baptist is recorded as condemning the Jews for simply saying that Abraham was their father, they had no need to repent of their sins. John the Baptist says, God can make children of stone if He wanted, there must be change in our perspective if we are to truly comprehend The Rule of Christ in our world – it will be a spiritual reign, but it will have profound physical effects in our life – we will shed all kinds of natural thinking, and live a life that reflects the witness of Christ. To prove to his audience that John the Baptist understands Jesus, and to show that all of John 3 goes together, listen to what John the Baptist says about the work of the spirit and the testimony the spirit produces in us:27 John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. …(skipping) 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. Jesus will conclude his time with Nicodemus by eluding to an OT incident that even he will be able to understand, an incident that occurred while the Israelites were wondering in the wilderness. A time that the Jews were not to be too particularly proud of because they were often walking as unbelievers in the promises of God and the walking rebelliously against the leadership of God. Jesus references the famous story of the biting snakes and the brass serpent raised upon a pole in the book of Numbers. 13 No one has ascended into heaven except him who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Just as last week, Jesus told Nathaniel that He was Jacob’s ladder coming from heaven to impact the earth with God’s salvation, he again grabs an OT event to re-confirm that he is the eternal son of God who has come from heaven to save rebellious sinners in a way that they could not. All we like rebellious Israel are plagued with the disease of disobedience and the problem of persistent unbelief. It is like snake venom in our blood for which there is no antidote. But God in his Grace provides deliverance from above. He will send assistance to us, something entirely outside of us that we can look to for relief and salvation. Jesus would resemble a cursed snake and be lifted up upon a pole, and just as the Israelites looked upon the serpent that Moses lifted up, so all who look to Christ upon his cross, and recognize their desperate need of his forgiveness and healing, they like them, will be saved. Likewise, just as God loved Israel for the promises that He had made to them, even though they were under his judgment, he also provided a way of escape from that judgment. SO TOO, God loves the world, even though we are under His judgment, but he had promised to bring a light to the world, He had promised to establish a true family that would reflect his light and goodness. So just as we are condemned to perish by God for our rebellion and hatred of the light, God still sends his son to be lifted up upon a cross. All who look upon him will not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, -- The world is already under condemnation, dying from the snake bites of sin! But Jesus has been sent to be lifted up == in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe = as the unbelieving Israelites may have done in their snake biting episode, these are == condemned already, because they did not believe. And in a complete correspondence, everyone upon the earth who refuses to acknowledge this condemnation and repent will remain condemned because they will not believe in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God. Is this in anyway a commentary of how Nicodemus is meeting Jesus at night? As a result of this meeting, Nicodemus is out in the open, in the light of full disclosure as a believer and supporter of Jesus! >>> Another flood of Memories about being born again: Billboard, “Nobody is Born a Bigot!” What is a bigot? Someone who blindly follows a conviction without ever evaluating it from an alternative perspective. The person who says, “All People group X are criminals.” Is a bigoted statement, because you have not seen EVERY person from People Group X. Well Jesus would disagree with that billboard, everyone is born a bigot because we blindly do what we want to do, and hold convictions we want to hold, and even when alternative explanations are offered – we reject them straight out because that doesn’t fit with our prescribed positions. Nicodemus is trying not to be a bigot about Jesus, not simply accepting the party line – cuz he knows something about Jesus is different. So Jesus tells Nicodemus, if you really want to SEE what I am all about, you need to be born from above, otherwise you won’t SEE what God is really doing in his kingdom!
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Stephanie Moorlach
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