11/26/06 Son Of God Pt. 2
For the past several weeks
we have been moving into a study
of the first 21 verses of John chapter 3.
We began our study of this passage
by looking at a contrast set up by John,
a contrast between, on one side,
the masses in Jerusalem
who trotted after Jesus for what they could get out of Him,
and on the other hand,
a man named Nicodemus,
a man who, from a purely human point of view,
lost far more than he ever gained
as a result of his allegiance to Jesus.
And last week we spent the whole morning
on the first few verses
of this remarkable interview we have recorded for us,
an interview that took just over two minutes,
and yet an interview that altered Nicodemus’ life forever.
Nicodemus began his audience with the King by saying,
"Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
And we saw last week
the strong words of affirmation that Jesus gave in response
when He replied,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
They were words that were intended to introduce Nicodemus
to one of those few, central, crucial concepts
that separates true union with God
from every religious system in the world.
God has no interest in teaching us a system of beliefs.
He is not concerned with simply educating us in the importance of moral behavior
and then urging us to be more diligent
in our efforts to improve our performance in that area.
What He seeks for us
is a recreative work
that is every bit as significant,
every bit as real
as the creative work that took place at the instant of physical conception.
And He tells Nicodemus
that one of the ways we will know
that this recreative work has taken place within us
is that we will then begin to see the Kingdom of God.
Being with my granddaughter, Anabelle, during the first few days following her birth
was such a fascinating experience.
In an instant she entered into a physical world
about which she understood nothing whatsoever.
The only thing she knew for sure
was that she wanted food
and had to figure out how to get it.
But, apart from that,
absolutely everything around her
was a meaningless blur of lights, and sounds, and smells, and feelings,
none of which made any sense to her whatsoever.
Now, each day she begins to learn,
to understand,
to make a little more sense out of this swirl of meaningless input around her.
We go through the same kind process
when we enter Kingdom of God,
only we don’t begin with a blank slate like Anabelle,
we begin with a profoundly flawed but highly refined mental blueprint
of what we think that world is like.
It is a blueprint etched into our minds
by whatever religious training or experiences we’ve had
prior to, or following our entrance into the Kingdom.
And with all of us
trying to distinguish between the real Kingdom of God
and the religious blueprint imbedded in our minds
simply slows down the whole process of discovering the real thing.
But we will begin by sensing a world that co-exists with this physical world in which we live,
a world that constantly interacts with this physical world,
a world that, though we would never believe it at first,
is even more real than the one we communicate with through our 5 senses.
Sounds like science fiction, doesn’t it -
an unseen world that co-exists with this one we see around us.
The best our human minds can come up with
is some vague concept of what we call the spirit world.
And even then our assumption of that spirit world
is that it is in some way less “real” than this physical world in which we live,
a world that we may believe is populated by ghosts and spirit guides who brush up against our world
in only the vaguest sort of contacts.
Did you know that the term “spirit world” is never used in Scripture?
Oh, The Bible very definitely talks about an unseen world,
and it talks with us about powers, and authorities, and forces of wickedness
that populate that unseen world.
But it never suggests that this unseen world around us
is in any way less real than ours.
In fact the terms used to describe that world
and the events that take place between the seen and unseen worlds around us
are more often than not
words that describe an intense and very real warfare.
This will take us just a little bit off track
but I want to read a passage from the tenth chapter of Daniel
to show you what I mean.
In Daniel 10:4-14 Daniel writes,
And on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold... his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult. Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength. But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.
Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future."
I like that passage for so many reasons.
I like it, of course,
because of the vivid way in which it gives us just a tiny glimpse
into the reality of the unseen world around us.
That being from the unseen world
who chose to make himself visible to Daniel
describes for us a highly refined governmental system in that unseen world,
a governmental system with designated rulers over specific regions of this physical world,
and an intense warfare raging between those forces aligned with God
and those fighting against Him.
Paul said it differently in his letter to the Ephesians,
but the same meaning is there.
In Ephesians 6:12 he told them,
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
It’s real warfare,
against real forces committed to our destruction.
This is not Casper, the friendly ghost.
It’s not some benevolent spirit-guide stupidity.
It’s real,
and it matters more than we will ever fully realize.
But there’s something else I like very much in that passage of Daniel.
I like being reminded of the quality of that man’s life.
Did you notice those words with which Daniel’s visitor addressed him?
And he said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem...”.
We live in such a tacky,
petty,
junky little world,
a world filled with men and women who,
when faced with choices between being popular or being good,
or between being rich or being good,
or between feeling good or being good
will always choose the popularity,
or the wealth,
or the thrill.
Not only is strong moral character
no longer upheld as a great and worthy goal,
but in our society today
it is actually viewed as a major handicap to success.
Reading the account of this event in Daniel’s life
helps me remember the way things really are.
It helps me remember that no society every has or ever will
have the power to rewrite the rules of life.
It helps me remember that everyone of us
have been granted by our God
the right and the ability to write our own legacy,
and that it is a legacy that is written one day at a time
on the basis of the moral choices we make each day.
And it helps me remember
that God’s scales are always ultimately balanced,
and that no right choice ever goes unnoticed by Him.
"O Daniel, man of high esteem...”
Could you imagine what it would be like
to have a messenger from God Himself
address you with those words?
And if you know anything about Daniel’s situation,
you know that this was not a man who lived out his life
in some protected and isolated religious community.
When Daniel was still in his teens
Israel was invaded and defeated by a pagan nation
and he was taken into captivity, carried away to that nation,
and then subjected to an intense program designed to re-educate him
in the pagan ways of the Chaldeans.
He lived nearly his whole life surrounded by that pagan culture.
And yet his commitment to his God remained unshaken.
It’s no wonder that God’s messenger
began that conversation by saying, "O Daniel, man of high esteem...”.
But, to be honest,
it helps to be reminded
that God always knows,
that there is no such thing to Him as an insignificant life or an unnoticed choice,
and that He both can and will honor every right decision we ever make.
I like the way Paul said it in his letter to the Corinthians.
There were some in that church
who were poking at him,
trying to undermine his credibility.
And in the 4th chapter of First Corinthians he says,
1CO 4:5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.
...and then each man's praise will come to him from God...
"O Daniel, man of high esteem...”
Now doesn’t that help?
Doesn’t it help to know
that He knows,
and He cares,
and it really does matter?
But let me get us back to Nicodemus
and that two minute interview between him and his God.
Nicodemus began the interview
by affirming the one truth from which all others come.
JOH 3:2 ...we know that You have come from God ...
And Jesus responded to that affirmation
with an affirmation of His own.
JOH 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
To which Nicodemus then responds,
“Huh???”
Well, that’s the short translation,
but it captures his meaning.
Nicodemus asked for a little more information
because this being born again stuff
simply didn’t make sense to him.
And so Jesus responds,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
OK, there’s several things happening in Jesus’ response
that we want to be sure we understand.
First of all, let me just once again emphasize the obvious -
Jesus is not talking with Nicodemus
about his need to commit himself to any group,
or any doctrinal system,
or any belief system,
or any organization of any kind.
He’s telling Nicodemus in the clearest possible terms
that entrance into the Kingdom of God
is in every way as real and unique a creative work of God
as was the creative work of bringing us into physical existence in the first place.
And if we’re honest with ourselves
this should come as wonderful news
because that is what our spirits hunger for most of all.
When my daughter was still in high school
I remember driving home one afternoon
with one of her good friends in the car with us.
She was a neat girl,
but I knew enough about her home situation
to know that she was not a Christian,
and that she was going through a tremendous amount of turmoil in her life.
We live up on the top of Skyline,
and as we started up the hill
Joni’s friend said,
“I love this hill because when I start up it
I look at the top of it and think to myself,
‘What if, when I got to the top of this hill,
I would suddenly become a totally different person in a totally different world.”
With the kind of transparent honesty that only the young possess,
she put into words
what every human spirit longs for -
not a better system of beliefs,
or another chance to try again,
but a whole new life.
And how about that! Look what our God is offering us!
Not a second chance, but a second birth into a whole new world.
I know your concerns, of course.
They’re my concerns, too.
If what God is offering us
is a whole new birth,
an entrance into a whole new world,
then I must have missed something somewhere
because what I’m living each day
looks and feels a whole lot like the same life I’ve been living since the day I was born.
And right here is where it is essential
that we listen very carefully to what Jesus is saying.
When He told Nicodemus,
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit...”,
he was telling him that what God is offering us
is not a second physical birth,
but rather the rebirth of our spirit.
But here’s the sticky part
once that birth of the spirit takes place,
as long as we remain on this earth
the two distinct creations of God co-exist -
our physical bodies and our reborn spirits.
And unfortunately
the new spirit must live within that existing body
and constantly deal with all of the lies,
and the memories,
and the impulses,
and the emotional responses that have already been built into it.
But all of that junk
can never undo that rebirth
or corrupt that new spirit
because... well, because that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
It does, however, frequently create
a tremendous tension within us between the two.
And then, just a word of explanation before we move on.
The contrast Jesus is setting up in this whole dialogue
is a contrast between physical birth and the birth of our spirits.
And when He talks with Nicodemus about being “born of water”
He is simply referring to the physical process of birth.
What is the event that signals the irreversible progression of the physical birth process?
The mother’s water breaks.
I mention this simply because I have heard people say
that when Jesus said unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God...
the use of the word “water” is really a veiled reference to being baptized.
And I have to tell you
that I really do hate it when people do that type of thing to God’s communication with us.
God is not playing games with us.
He loves us way too much ever to do that.
He never ever slips in tricky little hidden meanings in what He says,
and especially not when it comes to what’s involved in our entrance into His Kingdom.
If He’d been talking about being baptized,
He would have told us He was talking about being baptized.
I know for certain that being baptized is frequently
an extremely significant event in a person’s relationship with their Lord,
and I in no way mean to minimize that.
But what I object to so strongly
is even the suggestion that God is in the business
of obscuring vital truth from us.
Which brings me to one other observation that I want to share with you
about this interview between Jesus and Nicodemus.
And it is one that I have honestly sort of been avoiding
ever since I realized it
because it makes me uncomfortable.
But I couldn’t be honest with you
without doing so.
And before I put it into words,
let me take another few minutes
and read the remainder of this exchange
that took place between Jesus and Nicodemus.
Following Jesus’ statement
that our entrance into the Kingdom of God
requires our being born of the Spirit,
Nicodemus responds by saying, "How can these things be?"
And then Jesus goes on to say this.
"Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and you do not receive our witness. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life.
Now that isn’t all He says,
and we’ll look at His concluding comments next week,
but in that section right there
Jesus gives Nicodemus several additional vital pieces of information about Himself.
First, He tells Nicodemus that He “descended from heaven”.
And in that phrase He is strongly suggesting
that He is claiming for Himself a life with God prior to His appearance on this earth,
and that He was specifically sent by God from heaven to “tell you heavenly things”.
Second, He then goes on to tell Nicodemus
that He is going to have to be “lifted up” before the nation of Israel
in the same way as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
We won’t take time to read that historical reference this morning,
but if you want to read it on your own
you can find it in Numbers 21:4-9.
It tells about how the Israelites grumbled against God and against Moses
and how God responded to their grumbling
by bringing poisonous snakes into the camp.
But then He had Moses make an image of the snake
and place it on a standard in the middle of the camp,
and if anyone was bitten,
all they had to do is to look at the standard and they would live.
And that parallel, by the way,
is truly remarkable, and tremendously powerful.
You see, logically it makes no sense.
Why would just looking at a metal snake stuck on the end of a pole
cause a person to be given physical life following a deadly snake bit?
Why?
Because the act of looking
was the Israelite’s way of saying to God,
“I believe you’re telling me the truth.”
And why in the world
would our believing in Jesus when He is “lifted up”
result in our being granted eternal life?
You see, from the very beginning
that is all our God has been seeking from us -
that we would trust Him and His love for us enough
so that we would simply believe what He’s said.
And when it comes to Christ,
what He’s said is that “...the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
Now, I hate to do this,
because I really am stopping in the middle of a thought,
but rather than trying to race through the rest of what I want us to see here,
I’m going to stop for the morning
and finish this up next week.