MK040 Sermons
Nicodemus (Audio)
but nice to have a little bit of it melted down this week. Well, most people, as I talk to them and interact with them in life, most people fall into two categories as it relates to rules. There's the rule followers, and then there's the rule breakers. And you're either in one category or the other. Those who follow the rules, they want to know what the boundaries are. They know what to feel safe. They want to be under control. And they want to know exactly what they're supposed to do so they can follow the rules. Those who don't follow the rules, their kind of live life is-- it'll work out. They like to color outside the box. They like to push the boundaries. And that's the side that they like to be in. Now, we're going to take a moment of confession, all right? How many of you like the rules and like to know what the boundaries are? Let me see your hands, all right? How many of you like to color outside the lines? OK, all right, look at that. It's interesting to see the room divided up there. Let me ask you this. How many of you think I'm a rule follower? Let me see your hands. How many think I'm not a rule follower? Well, look at that. Half and half, I guess. But I'm really not much of a rule follower. I really do not like rules. I'm always one that was pushing the limits outside the box. I was the first born of five kids. And as a result of that, I was the science experiment for my parents. That's what every first born child is. The parents have no idea what they're doing. And they try everything on the first born kid to decide whether it works or not. And then they practice and figured out for the rest of the family. And so I was always pushing the rules. I was always pushing the rules. I was always trying to push outside the boundaries that my parents had established for me. And I remember one time when I was in high school, we'd gone over a friend's house. And we were going over this friend's house. We were watching some movies, of course, that I wasn't supposed to be watching Friday the 13th or Halloween or something like that. And my parents were very big on knowing where I was and what I was doing and who I was with. So they knew where I was and what I was doing who I was with. But my dad said, I'll be there to pick you up at this certain time. Well, right a little bit before the time, he was going to pick us up. As actually my friend's mother said, why don't we take a walk through the neighborhood? That would be kind of fun to do. And it was even more fun when we emptied out their bathroom of all the toilet paper and soap. It was in the bathroom as we left there and proceeded to wander through the neighborhood making use of those things in ways they weren't designed to be used. And so my father got there and I wasn't there. And that's another whole story. I was in serious, serious trouble. But I didn't care because I had a good time. And I'm still not sure he knows what happened and why I wasn't there. But we all kind of fall into one of those two categories. The rule-fours are the rule-breakers. And that's true in all different kinds of arenas of life. Some of you want to know that in relationships. What are the boundaries in this relationship? What am I supposed to do? You're going out, is this appropriate? Is this inappropriate in a date? And others are like, hey, let's just go out and have a good time and whatever happens happens. Some of you are like that. We see that show up in your work environment where you want to know what are the expectations? What are the requirements? What should I do to do a good job to receive a bonus or a raise or words of affirmation? And some of you are like, hey, I'll just figure it out as I go. And you'd much rather apologize than would ask for permission. That's true even in school. Some of you need to know what are the expectations of the teachers? What is this teacher like? What are the boundaries they set in their classroom? The others of you, you could care less. You're just going to figure it out along the way. Well, this morning, we're going to take a few minutes and talk about one individual in the Bible who was the ultimate rule follower. He was probably the best there was at following the rules. And this guy's name was Nicodemus. If you have a Bible with you, if you turn to John Chapter 3, if you don't have a Bible, you can follow along online using your phones or wireless device or our guys have some Bibles in the back. They're going to pass them out. We'd love to have you grab one of those and follow along with us this morning. The John Chapter 3 is where we're going to be. And if you don't have a Bible of your own, I encourage you to take this one that we give you home with you and maybe mark it and read back through these verses during the week. John Chapter 3, and in John Chapter 3, there's a story told of this man by the name of Nicodemus. And he's described as a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. So he was in two separate camps. The first camp he was in is a Pharisee. Pharisees were the rule keepers. There was over 600 rules in the Old Testament that the Jews were required to follow. And the Pharisees not only knew all the rules, but they kept all the rules. And then he was also a part of their ruling council. The ruling council was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees, two separate groups, and they were called the Sanhedrin. They were like the Jewish police is the best way you would describe them because they made sure that there was peace between the Jews and Rome. Because as long as there was peace between the Jews and Rome, then Rome would let them do whatever they wanted. And so it's very important for the Sanhedrin to make sure things didn't get too out of hand in Jerusalem and Galilee. Because if things got out of hand, then there was no way of knowing what the Romans would come and do to them. So the Sanhedrin had a very, very important role. And Nicodemus was a rule follower. And he was one of the best. He not only knew all the rules, but he followed all the rules. And in John chapter three, verse two, it says that he came to Jesus at night. He came to Jesus at night. And if you think about the significance of him coming to see Jesus at night, you do things at night that you don't want discovered, right? You do things in the darkness that you don't want anyone to know about. Things in most cultures, especially in a Middle Eastern culture of that day, where they didn't have lights like this. Everything shut down as soon as the sun went down. And the only thing that happened tonight is things that nobody wanted to know about. So there was a level of secrecy about Nicodemus' activities. There was a level of him not wanting to let anyone know what was going on. And John uses this metaphor of light and darkness all throughout his writings about Jesus. He talks about light and darkness, light and darkness, to illustrate not only what was happened physically, but what was happened in the hearts of people. And in verse three, he states, verse two, he states what he knows about Jesus. He says, "Rabbi, we know they're you're a teacher who came from God." The word "rabbi" was simply a Jewish teacher. They were individuals in that culture who would get followers. And these followers would read the Old Testament. They would read the law. They would say, this is what you now should do. And they would go and do it. So rabbis were interpreters of the law. That's who they were. They were revered. They were esteemed. They were looked up to-- they usually had the entire Old Testament memorized. And so Nicodemus came to Jesus and he said, we know that you're a teacher, and we know that you've come from God. And then look what he goes on to say, for no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. What does he mean the signs that they were doing? What's he talking about? Well, all throughout the book of John, John records a series of miracles. And the first miracle is in John chapter 2. And in this miracle, what happened was Jesus was at a wedding. And at the wedding, they ran out of wine. The worst thing-- it's like the caterer running out of food. It's like they're the worst-- it's like the nightmare that could happen. And it was the bridegroom's responsibility to make sure that was all provided. And so Jesus was told that this happened. And he told some of his followers. He said, I could take care of that. And he said, and he proceeded to turn water into wine. And the Jewish community found out about that. It was like, who can do this? Who can do this? We don't know anybody that can do this. The only person that could do this is someone that must have come from God. And so Nicodemus is coming to Jesus, acknowledging that he's a teacher, that he's a religious individual, that he comes from God. And he wants to understand these signs. Because you know what happens to teachers? Everybody comes to teachers and says, what? They say, explain this, right? That's what you do to a teacher. You go to the teacher and you say, can you explain this? And so Nicodemus is the teacher. He's the teacher of the teachers. He knows all the rules. He follows all the rules. He explains everything. And he knew that people were going to be coming to him. And he said, can you explain this to me? But Jesus says he often does knocks Nicodemus off his rocker. And look what he says to him in verse 3. He says, very truly, I tell you, no one could see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Now let me ask you a question. Did Nicodemus ask about the kingdom of God? I don't think so. Did Nicodemus ask about being born a second time? That wasn't even what his reign are. He wanted to know, can you explain these things that happened, these phenomenons? Jesus says, oh, by the way, he says, you can't see God's kingdom unless you're born again. Now why did this knock Nicodemus off his rocker? Knock Nicodemus off his rocker because the Jewish people believed that they were God's chosen people. And it's simply because of their birthright, because they were born into a Jewish family, that one day they would be a part of God's kingdom that God was going to establish on this earth. And so they simply believed because they were Jews and if they followed the rules, they were good Jews, that they were going to get in. And Jesus says, by the way, entrance into my kingdom that you thought you earned, you have to be born again. I can't imagine Nicodemus' disbelief, but he takes Jesus literally. It almost seems like, as a religious scholar, he got flustered, because he goes on in verse four, look what he says in verse four. He says, how can someone be born when they're old, surely they cannot enter a second time in their mother's womb to be born? He starts rambling about childbirth. And he understood the process, he understood it to the degree that he could, that a child comes from their mother's womb, they didn't understand the science of it in those day with a sperm and an egg and an embryo and life beginning and eventually birth happening. But all he could think about was this physical transformation that had to take place. And Jesus goes on and look what he says in verse five. He says, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom and God unless they're born of water and the spirit flesh gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to the spirit. You shouldn't be surprised by saying, you must be born again. Jesus says, you're talking about physical birth. I'm talking about something supernatural. We're not talking about the same things. Nicodemus didn't understand that. And Jesus says there in verse seven, he says, you must be born again, that you as a plural, meaning every one of you, all of the Jewish community, all of the Jewish people, all of the Jewish religious leaders, all of the Jewish ruling council, every Jew that exists, that is alive, needs to be born again. To us, that doesn't make a lot, well, okay. It doesn't really rock our world like it did for Nicodemus. It would be a little bit like after the election in the fall, there's a new secretary of education. And this new secretary of education said, we've decided to become like the rest of the world and adopt the metric system. And everyone who's graduated from high school, the only way your high school diploma will continue to be valid is if you go back to school and take another class on understanding the metric system, and then your high school diploma would be valid. Now imagine the uproar you would feel. Are you kidding me? What in the world who died left you boss, you know? I'll learn it on my own. I don't need to do that. I mean, are you running through your mind, all the things that you would say if that happened? And some of you, the rule, okay, I know, all right, I gotta fit in my schedule. When I had the rule followers, you'd just add one more thing. The rule breakers, you're like, are you kidding me? I'm not going to some stupid class. Who came up with that crazy rule, you know? I just go on and live my life. You know, my diploma counts in my eyes, even if it doesn't count in their eyes. Some of you can hear yourself saying those words, can't you? You know, I mean, this is how scandalous this statement was to the Jewish community, especially to the Jewish leaders that taught people everything they had to do. And he was learning, it's not enough. Rules do not produce a relationship with God. Rules and rule following do not produce a relationship with God and Nicodemus couldn't wrap his mind around this. Look at Jesus goes on to say in verse eight, the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. You can't harness the wind right now, but you can't really control it, can you? I wish I could say to the wind, please blow everything else in the neighborhood, except my recycling bucket down the street, eight houses down when the next storm comes through, you know? Every single time flips that thing over, blows it down the street, I try to put a brick in it, then I get the garbage man mad at me, you know, 'cause I can't flip it up and dump it, you know? You can't control the wind. And that's what Jesus says, he says, you can't control the wind, you can't tell it go here and not go here. And then he goes on and says, so it is with everyone born of the spirit. You see, people who are rule followers, they're about control, controlling their environment, controlling the circumstances, controlling the outcome. And control often comes out of fear. What drives often dogs control? And Jesus said, you cannot control the work of the spirit. There is something supernatural. There is something mystical. There is something indescribable that God needs to do in the heart of a man and the heart of a woman. Both the wind and the spirit are mysterious. Their effort, their effect is seen. You see the effects of the wind, don't you? Branches down, garbage cans blown across the street. You know, trees sometimes at the ground of soft trees uprooted depending on how fierce the winds. We saw the effect of wind down in the southern part of our county just a couple of days ago, didn't we? With roofs taken off. That tornado came through down in the gap area. We can see the effect of the wind, it's visible. We recognize it and so it is with the spirit. You can see the effect of the spirit. When God's spirit comes inside of a person's life and transforms that person and there's a relationship with the creator of the heavens and they've not just living their life about rules. There's something that changes about that person and it's evident and everyone knows it. Well, Nicodemus, I don't know if he just couldn't figure this out or felt like he needed to say something because his next words are like, how in the world does this happen? How in the world does this happen? I wonder if he's saying this because he just doesn't understand or he doesn't wanna grab onto and accept what Jesus is saying. Could be one, it could be other. But everything he knows and everything he believes and everything he is devoted his life to has just been challenged and turned upside down. His commitment to the Torah, to the Old Testament is commitment to prayer, to sacrifice, to Jewish privilege, to the rights of being a Jew. It's all been turned upside down by this statement from this rabbi that you must be born again. Jesus responds in verse 10 and he says, you are Israel's teacher acknowledging his role as a rabbi and it kind of gives us a glimpse into Nicodemus' role. He's a teacher of the whole nation of Israel. He says, and you don't understand these things? Jesus says, very truly, I will tell you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we've seen but still your people do not accept our testimony. You see, the problem was not a knowledge problem. It was not an information problem. That was not Nicodemus' struggle. That was not his problem. Look at verse 12, Jesus said, I've spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe. How then will you believe if I speak? Heavenly things. Jesus said, I told you what you need to know. But you haven't accepted it. You haven't accepted it. I was thinking about Nicodemus. I thought Nicodemus would fit in well in Lancaster County. I mean, he was a good guy, he's a religious guy. He did all the right things. He went to church and he gave some money to the church and he served in the community and he helped out when things were needed and people generally thought of him as a pretty good person. He would fit in really well in our community. It wasn't a lack of knowledge. He not need to know more information. He knew everything he needed to know. It was a matter of him willing to accept and believe. And that's what made all the difference. It's not enough just to know about Jesus to attend church, to be a good person, to follow all the rules. It's not enough to do that. It's not enough to listen to your parents and go to a youth group and try to do the right things. It's not enough just to do those things. And that's not what Jesus is talking about. Because it's not about rule filing. It's about a relationship. Rules only lead to religion. They don't read to a relationship with Jesus. Jesus then takes them back to a story in the Old Testament in the next couple of verses. It's in the book of Numbers where he takes them back to this story. It's a story that occurs when the people of Israel had left the land of Egypt and they were wandering for 40 years in this wilderness before they would get into what was known as the Promised Land. And as they were wandering through the wilderness for 40 years, they encountered a series of trials of difficulties. And one of the trials they encountered is they came upon somehow snakes that were everywhere, poisonous snakes. Now those of you that don't like snakes, you're getting creeped out already, but I didn't put one on the screen to creep you out even further, but they were poisonous snakes everywhere. And these snakes, if they would bite the people, they would die. And so what Moses was instructed to do by God, he said, get some, get some bronze, get some metals from the people, which they had these metals, even though they're the slaves, because when they left the land of Egypt, the Egyptians said, take all of our gold, take all of our treasure, just leave us, get out of here. You're causing too many problems. So they left with all this loot. So Moses gathered up some of this and the Bible goes on to tell us in Numbers chapter 21, what he did is he made a bronze snake and he lifted the snake up on a pole and he said, everyone who looks to this snake will be saved and will be delivered. And that's what happened to the people in the story. John grabs hold of that story. Or excuse me, Jesus grabs hold of that story and look what he says, starting in verse 14. He says, just as the son of man, or excuse me, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the son of man, Jesus referring to himself, must be lifted up. Jesus is talking about what's gonna happen to him. He's talking about the fact that there's coming a day when he's gonna be lifted up and hung on a cross. And verse 15, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. You see, eternal life, entrance into God's kingdom is not simply based on the family you were born into. It's not based on the church that you attend. It's not based on the rituals you participate in. It's not based on the rules that you follow. It's because of a personal belief of accepting and believing that Jesus Christ came to this earth to pay for my sins and your sins so that you could have a relationship with God forever. He sums all of that up in the next verse, a verse which all of us probably know. It's gonna come up on the screen. Let's read this verse together. 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. These are not probably the words of Jesus. These are likely John's summarized thoughts after having heard this interchange and then writing these many years later. And he said the reason for this opportunity, the reason for this relationship that God wants to have with us is one thing and one thing only it's God's love. It's not because God needs me. It's not because God needs you. It's not because God needs the human race. But God chooses to enter into a loving relationship and make that available to us. And the way that's possible is through his one and only son. And there's that same word, believe. Believes in him. I say John, but I believe, I believe. I was talking to someone earlier this week and we're talking about our beliefs and our actions, our beliefs and our actions. If you believe something, it affects the way that you live. If you talk about something, it doesn't affect the way that you live. If you believe something, it affects the way that you live. Jesus says whoever believes in him, and here's the result, they won't perish but they'll have life forever. Doesn't mean they won't die a physical death but it means that when they die a physical death that they will have a relationship with Jesus and they will spend eternity with him. He goes on in the next few verses to talk about that a little bit and just says God didn't send his son to condemn the world but to save the world. Light has come into the world but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. This Jewish rabbi couldn't figure it out. He couldn't figure it out. Couldn't make sense out of this because there was a way that he knew, a way that he had followed, a way that he lived his life and now all of a sudden he's being told there's something different than what you are currently believing and you need to put your trust not in yourself, not in your ability to keep the rules. You say why did God give them all those rules? Why didn't he give them to them? He gave them those rules because those rules helped them see that they couldn't figure life out on their own, they couldn't do it perfectly. They needed a savior. And he had to decide if he was going to choose to place his faith in Jesus. And so as you think about where you are at today, if you're someone who is a seeker, someone who came maybe this morning to support someone who's being baptized, someone who's not really into the God thing, I hope this morning you heard real clearly what matters to God and it's not people keeping the rules. That doesn't matter to God. God wants people who have a relationship with him. God wants people who acknowledge, I'm not able to keep the rules. I'm not able to make life work on my own. I need a savior. That's what God is looking for. And maybe this morning, if you sat in church for a long period of time or maybe you come 'cause your parents make you come or 'cause you have friends here, maybe this morning, you're for the first time starting to recognize there's something missing in my life. There's not a relationship with Jesus. Oh, I remember praying a prayer when I was little but that prayer didn't change anything in my life. Belief produces actions. Belief results in actions. And if you have placed your faith, if you believe in Jesus as your savior and your Lord, it will result in a change in the way that you live your life. And if there's no difference in your life, there's no difference between you and anyone else who doesn't choose to follow God. You really need to ask yourself, do I have a relationship with Jesus? You know, Nicodemus came at night because he didn't want anybody else to know. He's a little scared, maybe fearful. What will people think? What will they think? And maybe that's where you're at this morning. You know, in the second service, one of the stories that's gonna be read is about a young woman who actually grew up in our church was here for a number of years. What was baptized because her family was some family members and she thought it was the thing to do. But she came to realize she followed all the rules but she didn't have a relationship with Jesus. And she came to discover that she now had to bow her knee and humble her heart and choose to follow Jesus. You know, there's a real tension in this passage between someone who is religious and someone who has accepted and someone who has looked up to in the religious community and having a relationship with Jesus. And where would you be this morning? Where would you see yourself this morning? Because just like the wind can't be controlled when the spirit enters a person's life, when they place their faith in Jesus, when they believe, Bible says that God's spirit comes apart of them and they are changed. They are changed. Rules produce religion. They don't produce a relationship with Jesus. And so as you reflect on your life, as you reflect on your story, what does your story tell? In just a few moments, some individuals are gonna be baptized and you're gonna hear their story. But what is your story? Is your story someone who followed the rules, someone who did all the right things, someone who maybe was even baptized? 'Cause that was the thing you were supposed to do, but there was really little change in your life. Or has Jesus come into your life and transform your life and everyone around you knows that? Because there's evidence of the spirit in your life today. As we close, I wanna invite you to watch this video and listen to what might have been some thoughts going through Nicodemus' head as he encountered Jesus. (gentle music)