Jn 3:16 - NICODEMUS & ME

Sermon

4th August, 2008

John 3:1-21
LET’S PRAY…
God our Father, you have given us Your thoughts and Your heart and Your Word in the Bible. We pray that as we explore it today you will open our eyes to the very familiar, that you will help us in the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of Yours. Help me to speak clearly, to speak Your Truth clearly, and for us all to understand your good and perfect Word more clearly.

One of my little indulgences is a monthly magazine called “Wheels.” You will, I know, be very surprised that it is all about cars – almost all forms of new cars. From supercars made from unobtainium to cheap and cheerful lunchboxes on wheels, the magazine test-drives everything it can on the Australian market. But there’s one tiny column that appears every month, called “Trainer Wheels.” Famous drivers, designers and bosses of major car companies are asked about their first car – what it was, what they loved about it, and what happened to it.

And there is one common thread here… everyone falls madly in love with their first car. Even if it’s not a good car (and let’s face it, not very many first cars are much good, in the grand scheme of things), they almost universally speak luminously about the joy of their first car. The new freedom it gives them, how it opened up a whole new world for them. They remember that car with great fondness, even when they recall the way that it never started reliably, or very reliably stopped in rain, traffic, hills and for no reason whatsoever.

My first car didn’t last very long – it lasted three weeks before I went through a GIVE WAY sign and nearly straight through another car. Ouch. I suspect Brad Busch can remember that one, too. So my next car was the one that helped me discover the world. It was a Mitsubishi Colt, and it was… terrific! It hated hills, had the weirdest gearbox I’ve ever seen, but it took me places. It took me through the National Park at a speed I shouldn’t advertise, it took me down to my grandmother in Kiama, it took me to Canberra non-stop, and we discovered the magic of the Kings Highway, the road past Jindabyne and so many other great places.

But it also took me to work and back every day, and did the mundane things as well. Shopping. Picking up friends. Just… you know, the usual things. And after a while, it became… an appliance. It was unbelievably reliable and white, so after a while it only got washed when people got dirty leaning on it, and it only got maintained when weird noises happened. Eventually I just sold it, and there was very little sentiment when I did.

What happened there? Had the car deteriorated or let me down? No – it stayed pretty bulletproof right up to the end.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED…?

We can do this with our Bibles.

We can do this with Jesus.

We can, if we are not very careful, lose our great love and passion. We can live with Christianity for so long it’s like skin – but we don’t notice our skin at all unless there’s something wrong with it. Bible verses that rang like sonar in our hearts become… what do they become? We don’t disbelieve them all of a sudden, we don’t forget them… they just become part of the furniture; old, comfy, useful when needed but utterly unseen when we’re not looking at it? First-car syndrome? Is that it? How did that happen?

How did my favourite book become an appliance?

One thing about the Bible, and those phrases in it, is that they never ever lose their point, their effectiveness, their relevance, their wisdom or their God-breathed purpose. It’s the Word of God. But we humans can take the most amazing things and just... normalise them. What’s a novelty or a revelation one week is incorporated into normal life the next.

Sad, in a way.

Sadder when it happens to our Bibles. How many people were persecuted and burned, like Tyndale, for attempting to publish a version that anyone could read? How many people still die in the attempt to take it to all the corners of the map? A couple of months ago Michael Newman told us about people determined to bring the Gospel to North Korea... and they staged their operations out of communist China. China is very hostile to the Word – North Korea is mortally opposed to it. This extraordinary book drives people to do the most extaordinary things... and yet we are entirely capable of reading it all without hearing a thing.

We’re going to look at a verse that is instantly familiar to almost all of us, and we’re going to have a look a guy who knew his Bible inside-out, but still had trouble understanding the importance of what God was saying in the Scriptures that he knew so well.

Here it is. John 3:16. How does it go again?
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

It’s a diamond – it captures the Gospel of love and salvation so simply. If you wanted a simple summary of the whole of Jesus' purpose and God's intent, here it is. It sounds like something that would turn up in one of Paul’s letters, or possibly John’s.

But here’s the odd thing; it wasn’t written by someone looking though the life of Christ, needing to distill the essence of the Gospel message's simplicity.

Jesus said it, and he said it right at the beginning of His ministry.

Jesus had an extraordinary conversation with Nicodemus, and we’ve eavesdropped in on that conversation this morning already. I’m not going to dive into the whole conversation. It’s so rich and full of fresh wisdom that we could spend weeks in there. And if I take too long, I’ll be in trouble… babies need feeding, nappies need changing – and that’s just MY kids. But I would really encourage you to go into John Chapter 3 this week and spend more time eavesdropping in on this conversation again.

What I want us to consider for the next few minutes is what Nicodemus heard – and what it must have done to his head.

Before we do that, we probably need to be introduced to Nicodemus. We actually know very little about him – he only turns up in John’s gospel, we only see him very briefly on three occasions, and only hear his voice twice. We know that he was a Pharisee, and a ruler of the Jews… by that we can probably infer that he was a member of what we would term the Supreme Court in Jerusalem – the Sanhedrin.

Now we know about the Pharisees, right? They were the bad guys, weren’t they? My mum and dad spent four years all-up in Singapore, and they wrote in a letter once that going to the movies was quite an experience. The local audience would loudly cheer the hero, and really give the bad guys a big booo! And we get that same quick response when we hear the word “Pharisee” – booo! They’re bad!

It’s not quite that simple, though. Most people in Judea saw them as the good guys. They appeared about 200 years before, and they essentially opposed the corrupting influences of the outside world. Since the return to Judea from exile there were armed invasions in which terrible atrocities had been committed, the Temple had been defiled, and the territory was governed from overseas. But there were more subtle invasions – Greek society itself had arrived in Palestine, and the way people lived was changing dramatically. By the time Jesus began his ministry the language of the street was Greek, business was conducted in Greek fashion, entertainment had a very Greek flavor, and it was getting harder and harder to maintain Jewish customs, Jewish morality and Jewish thought.

The Pharisee’s job was essentially this – to remind God’s people, Israel, how to keep being God’s people. They reminded Jews how to stay Jewish. Much as Jewish people today will remember the Nazi atrocities for hundreds of years, the Jews of Jesus’ day had their own horror that they remembered – the Exile. They believed that they were dragged into exile as punishment for disobedience against the Lord God (and there is much in the Old Testament that confirms that this was the case). And they were determined to never ever place themselves in that position again. From the first reading in Nehemiah 8 (and I’m sorry for all of those names in there – that’s a hard reading) we see the people of Israel, returned from exile, re-opening God’s word, weeping as they understood it again, then being joyful, “because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.”

They were going to obey God, obey his Laws to the letter, and ensure that there was never a chance that they COULD disobey. A couple of hundred years later, the Jewish people were waiting anxiously for the Messiah to bring the Kingdom Of God, and the last thing that they wanted to be was disobedient. And, a couple of hundred years on, the Pharisee’s main task was to make sure that it stayed that way.

The Pharisees were like lawyers. The people made inquiries as to the Law, to everyday activity, to find out whether a particular act would be sinful where the written Law was unclear. And the Pharisee’s job was to advise how God’s law could be interpreted in the context of a modern, rapidly-changing society and culture.

One of the ways that they did this was to thoroughly immerse themselves in the Law; they had read it and found 613 commandments in the Books of the Law - 248 were positive laws (you shall do this) and 365 were negative laws (thou shalt not), Around these laws they made a “hedge” of restrictions – the idea being that if you didn't go over the hedge, you wouldn't be ABLE to break the Law itself.

In theory, it was a great idea – but by the time of Nicodemus, these hedge-laws had in themselves become so restrictive that the real intent of the Law was becoming lost. There were now 39 specified prohibited acts on the Sabbath. Keeping the Law was not just about an individual doing the right things – it was a matter of national security. The idea of being obedient to God as an act of love was disappearing.

And in stepped Jesus.

He had already made a stir for miraculous signs – as well as assaulting the business of the money-changers in the Temple. Nicodemus met Jesus at night. We don’t know why night – whether he was afraid to be seen in alliance with a potential trouble-maker, whether he had been sent by the Supreme Court to quietly see what this man was really about, or simply because night-time was the only opportunity to meet Jesus one-on-one.

Whatever the reason, Nicodemus came to Jesus.

“Rabbi,” he said, “we know you are a teacher that has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” A good way of introducing himself, and he probably waited a similar reply. Jesus doesn’t do this – his reply cuts straight to Nicodemus’ heart. For a man charged with helping Israel prepare for the coming of the Kingdom, Jesus’ opening words must have been shocking.

“No-one can see the Kingdom Of God unless he is born again.” Ouch. I can see Nicodemus in at least mental shock. Born again? What about observance? Obedience? What are you talking about? “How can a man be born again?” he asks. Nicodemus had dedicated his entire life to preparing people for the Kingdom of God, to be told that... maybe he was wrong? “How can a man be born again?”

The commonly-used Greek word for “again” is “Palin.” If I asked you to say something again, I would say “Legete Palin.” This isn’t the word that John records Jesus using. The Greek word used here is “athonen” – which also means “again,” but also carries the sense of “from above.” How can a man be born again – from above?

So Jesus explains something about birth – and while we’re here, we might just have a look at one of our other clichés for a second before we pass along. We all know the expression “Born-Again Christian”. Sometimes it’s a derogatory term, given to us by people who find Christianity a bit weird. Sometimes it’s a term we give ourselves, particularly if we have come to Christ and have had a great change in our lives. But Jesus explains exactly what he meant.

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit – you should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”

Do you remember when we were first born? Nicodemus should have remembered it well, and so should we. Right up the front end of the Bible, in Genesis – that book that Richard Dawkins and John Spong and so many others want us to ignore – back in Genesis, we read mankind’s birth notice.

God stooped low, scooped up the rich soil, and made Man. Then He breathed into the clay man’s nostrils, “He breathed the breath of life – and the man became a living being.” The Spirit of God gave birth to the spirit of Man. In either the Greek or Hebrew, the word spirit – p'neuma or ru'ach – has the same sense of dynamic, moving, living energy; breath, wind. “He breathed the breath of life – and the man became a living being.” “You must be born again.” “Spirit gives birth to spirit.” We could spend a long time here – but the nappies are waiting. Let’s move on.

Nicodemus was really under the pump, now; he looked at Jesus and said, “How can this be?” Jesus looked at him. “You are Israel’s teacher, and you do not understand these things?” And Jesus shows Nicodemus His authority to say what He is about to say next; I'd love to linger through here as Jesus throws down credential after credential, but we don't have time today – it is important, though, because what Jesus says next was so profound and so earth-moving that nobody without those credentials could have said this.

“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.”

Jesus just changed the orbit of the world.

What did Nicodemus hear? Let's stand by Nicodemus for a moment. Now there are several things that Nicodemus would have been familiar with – for a start, the value of sons. They were, in those times, the future of your family. An eldest son would not only provide for you in your dotage, but they would carry all that you had – and all that you were – into the future. Sons were your life into the future, they were your continued existence. Eldest sons were your treasury, your bank of wealth and knowledge. Only sons were doubly precious... they were irreplaceable; in many ways completely priceless. If an only son died, there would be precious little that would survive past your own life.

Nicodemus would also have a knowledge of sons in the Bible – particularly when sons were given to God. He would recall the story of Abraham taking Isaac up a hill with a knife and a rope. Remember that? He would know about Samuel's mother, Hannah, enduring barrenness for years, praying to the Lord in the bitterness of her soul, having her desperate prayer answered... and finally physically handing the toddler to God; “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over for the Lord,” said Hannah. The cost of giving God one’s only son is massive. These people loved God so much that they gave their one and only sons… This is something that Nicodemus could understand. And Nicodemus is the first to hear of the price God is prepared to pay for His world, His people. Can you imagine his shock? I think that idea would take some time to chew over.

I’m a father. I love my children, and I would do almost anything to protect them. If someone broke into my house and threatened my family, would I lay down my life for any one of them? I pray that I never have to find out, but I would.

If my youngest daughter, Maggie, develops a terrible condition that requires me to donate a kidney, I’d do it in a flash.

But what if she needs both of my kidneys? What if the cost of sustaining her life was my own possible death? I can’t imagine a more horrible choice – either choice would leave unendurable pain. Her or me.

One step closer...

What if the only possible donor was my little two-year old, Ben? My gorgeous little red-headed smiling tornado… could I make that choice? To save my daughter’s life, could I willingly give away my son?

One step closer...

But… would I be willing to give up one of them for someone who didn’t deserve it? If Osama or Amrozi or Adolf could be saved by a transplant that could only be obtained from my Benny? Would I even allow the thought? There is no way that I could possibly contemplate this.

And here is where we find grace. Another one of those words that we as Christians use over and over till we’ve almost lost touch with the meaning. Grace. Grace is expensive, horribly, horribly expensive. Grace is unutterably painful to God our Father. It is completely unnatural, it is an utter reversal of logic, and it IS the full love of God.

Back to Nicodemus. How is he doing? His shocks aren't over yet. Before his ears have recovered, the second one comes. “Whoever believes in him will... have everlasting life.” Jesus announces that God’s gift is not just for the salvation of the Jewish race alone – the people who knew that God had set them apart – but for everyone. “Whoever” must have been a terrifying word to Nicodemus. He would have spent his adult life protecting his people from the influences of the whoevers. God's Chosen people were set apart from the whoevers

What was Jesus saying? Where could Nicodemus go from here?

We know very little about Nicodemus. John's picture never tells us how Nicodemus reacted to this news. We don't see him as we see the young rich man walking away from Jesus with a sad heart. We don't see him outraged at the outrageous teaching. We don't see him casting everything aside to join His disciples. We only see him twice more. At the tail end of John 7, we see him with the chief priests and the Pharisees. They are all hostile towards Jesus, His message, and the mob that follows Him. Only Nicodemus' voice is raised in concern regarding their summary judgement of Jesus. And our final glimpse is of him accompanying the broken body of Jesus, wrapping the corpse and laying Him in an unused tomb.

There are quite a few similarities between Nicodemus and us. A lot of Nicodemus' thoughts and fears will be very familiar to us. Like him, we are mostly familiar with our Bibles. Like Nicodemus, we live in a world of corrupting influences. Like the Jewish people of his time, we wait anxiously for the Messiah to bring the Kingdom Of God, and the last thing that we want to be is disobedient. Nicodemus considered himself living in the Last Days. So do we. So many of Nicodemus' day-to-day concerns are dilemmas in 21st Century life in Australia – and even in the Shire. How do we remain obedient to God in a world which mocks our Lord, which discourages Christian ethics, which encourages greed and selfishness and immorality? We go to our Lord in prayer, and we look to our Bibles – just as Nicodemus would have done.

How, then, do we react to our Bibles, to these volatile and dangerous ideas that this strange man Jesus brings into the world? We can despise and reject them utterly, which some do. We can take little chunks that we agree with and discard the rest as irrelevant – window-shopping through the Bible for the nice bits without having to scare ourselves with the hard teachings. We can even study it so intently that we know the Bible backwards, understand its historical significance, wrestle with the ancient manuscripts, and study and learn it much like a scientist dissecting a new species of animal... and yet be completely untouched by anything of what we've read. We can look for all the rules, the do-and-do-not lists, assure ourselves that we are living a life in accordance with Scripture – and yet have a heart so cold and an attitude so bitter that nobody around us is even remotely interested in our religion in case they become the same.

We live very much in the world of Nicodemus' heart. So how do we deal with John 3:16? How do we deal with the hard bits? Because there are hard bits there for us to deal with, and we may well struggle with the same thoughts as Nicodemus.

“Whoever”is a big word. Do we really want the “whoevers” to be saved? How do we deal with the horrible and cruel people we regularly see on the news? The fraudsters, murderers, brutal dictators? Do we hear about them on the radio and join in the calls to condemn them? Do we laugh when we hear about the shamelessly stupid exploits of the Britney Spears' and Paris Hiltons of the world? Or do our hearts go out to them in the hope that somehow they, too, will not perish but have everlasting life? Is there anyone here who's prayed for Paris Hilton? I'll confess – I never did until I started writing this.

The “Whoevers” are the bosses that don't care for their employees if it gets in the way of a profit. The “whoevers” are the people behind counters who give us poor, shoddy service. The “whoevers” are the drunks wandering past our windows at three in the morning. Can we accept that God loved these “whoevers” so much that He gave His only Son? Can we accept that and praise God for his strange, unnatural and painful grace? Or do we find ourselves with a heart like the brother of the Prodigal Son, resentful that people who rightly should be condemned are also in the Lord's heart?

Here's the beauty of God's Word. It always challenges us – even the very familiar bits. So how do we stop the familiar bits becoming those cliches, those appliances like our first cars? My nature and my natural instinct is sometimes to hear it or read it, and just nod and go “uh-huh, I know that...” How do I overcome my proud, human nature?

I don’t think I can.

But I think God can.

I think that ONLY God can work against my nature and my natural instincts, and ONLY God can light up my eyeballs when I come across a verse that changes the world. Paul wrote to the Romans and said, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” Reading the Bible will often require our minds to be transformed, because it isn't an ordinary book.

We read so much for entertainment these days. Some of us want a good story with racy plots and blood all over the place. Some of us look for exquisite literature of the highest order, and we love to read authors of wit and erudition. Some of us crave inspirational books – books that show us how to live our lives to its fullest potential. And some of us just need a book to read before the light goes out at night. And you will find all of this and more here.

But if that's all we seek, if that's all we think we need, we're going to blind ourselves to so much of what God wants to say to us. Because this is how God has chosen to speak to us. He is a God of words, He is a God of His word, and a God of the Word. “In the beginning,” John tells us, “was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In the Greek, the emphasis is even more dramatic; The Word was with God, and God was the Word!

Reg and my father often give me exactly the same advice. “Read your Bible and say your prayers.” Dad still adds “brush your teeth,” which Reg has never seen a need to do yet. But it's our communication with God. Praying without reading the Bible is a one-way monologue. Reading the Bible without praying regularly is pretty much the same.

A German Bible translator called Martin Buber once wrote this about our Bibles; “Read the Bible as if it were something entirely unfamiliar, as though it had not been set before you ready-made. Face the book with a new attitude as something new. Let whatever may happen occur between yourself and it. You do not know which of its sayings and images will overwhelm and mould you.”

Over the last four weeks we've looked at four very familiar verses. Last week James took us through Matthew 11, the yoke being easy. Jai walked us through John 6, food that doesn't perish. James started the series with Matthew 5, “Blessed are the meek.” You know what? It doesn't matter how familiar we are with any of it – this book is so rich that a verse that you've read a thousand times can suddenly throw you a very great surprise.

Read it afresh every time. Take nothing for granted. And we need to let God renew our minds in this. Pray as you read it.

We need to let the Lord renew our minds every time we read...

“In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God... and God was the Word!”

We need to allow God to show us the potency of His Word all over again. For His sake. For our sake. Every day.
Amen.