Hinsdale Covenant Church
11.10.24 - "Nicodemus: Out of the Shadows" - Lars Stromberg
Amen. Let's pray as we turn to God's Word this morning. Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord our rock and our Redeemer. Well very excited to begin a new series on a new character we're on a string of biblical characters here for many months and this is one in the New Testament new character Nicodemus. So I'll have you stand for our scripture reading this morning it comes from John chapter three starting at verse one and going through verse twenty one. Here God's Word. Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus a leader of the Jews he came to Jesus by night and he said to him Rabbi we know that you are a teacher who has come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person and Jesus answered him. Very truly I tell you no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. Nicodemus said to him how can anyone be born after having grown old can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born and Jesus answered very truly I tell you no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I have said this to you. You must be born from above. The wind blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it but you don't know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. I have said to him how can these things be and Jesus answered him are you the teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? Very truly I tell you we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don't believe how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things no one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven the son of man and just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone believes in him may not perish but have eternal life indeed God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him those who believe in him are not condemned but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only son of God and this here is the judgment that light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for all who do evil hate the light and do not come to light because their deeds will be exposed but those who do what is true come to the light so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God the word of the Lord thanks be to God you can be seated I'd like to introduce you to Henry Asua Tanner a brilliant albeit unheralded American painter that was working around the turn of the 20th century I'm I'm smitten with Tanner as a painter not only because of his palette and his his deft color fields but because of the uniqueness of his story Tanner is really the first African American painter to receive international acclaim he was born to Benjamin Tucker Tanner and Sarah Elizabeth Tanner in Pittsburgh in 1859 and his ascent is a pretty unlikely one his mother Sarah was born into slavery in the south before traveling north via the underground railroad where she met Benjamin who was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh Benjamin his father desperately wanted his oldest son Henry to follow his footsteps into the ministry but Henry showed this giftedness from an early age in his artistic skills he was the first ever black student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts studying under the portraiture superhero Thomas Ekins and he was also alongside as a classmate the venerable Robert Henri Henry Asua Tanner would make his way eventually to Rome and then settle in Paris where he would spend the bulk of his most productive years as a painter in an apparent concession to disappointing his father's desire to have him be a minister Tanner's most common subject was biblical paintings of which his father very much approved one such painting is Nicodemus visits Jesus it's from 1899 this was Tanner's submission into the Paris salon the biggest art show in the world and it now resides in Pennsylvania in in Philadelphia Tanner painted this piece on site in Jerusalem it was his second trip to the holy city he later wrote that he tried to paint on plein air for this painting outside but the Middle East daylight was so harsh that he waited until there was a fuller moon and he hired two Middle Eastern models to sit for him and he painted this at night in the middle of the night art critic Helen Cole later wrote quote moonlit scene only two figures enveloped in cold blue light the effect of night and remoteness and loneliness was exceedingly well rendered she's correct we see light flood the darkness on the rooftop you can sort of see that the light comes from both behind Jesus flooding the foreground here of where they're sitting but you also see a light that's coming up from the stairs on the inside of the house and that light is illuminating Jesus face and his chest beautifully deftly done work here by a master painter so I knew that I was going to use this painting for this series months ago when I was considering going through Nicodemus I knew this was the painting I wanted to go through because I love Tanner and I love his story but as I was studying this painting I actually came across a study piece for that painting here it is and I think I might have fallen in love with this one even more especially for our purposes here you can see it's it's much cruder it's more abstract it's a rough painting just to kind of give him a sense of where the people would sit and what it would look like but you can see here which I love the the full moon is rising behind Jesus' head and it almost makes sort of a halo illuminating the space that they're in Nicodemus sits in darkness we only see Nicodemus backside here in this painting he is shrouded in darkness but Jesus is shrouded in light in fact if you look at this doesn't it sort of look as if Jesus is the source of the light that's coming into this Jesus as a light source this school year we're focusing on the theme of renewal which we've defined as the refreshment release and advancement that individuals groups churches and cultures experience when they are realigned with God's presence the source of light Nicodemus is a renewal story for sure no question about that but his story also highlights a vital renewal principle that I want to talk about today and that's this renewal isn't possible without intentional encounters with Jesus you want to experience renewal we have to have intentional encounters with Jesus when we encounter Jesus of our own volition we come away changed because he is the source of light the light of Christ changes us and the process of renewal begins in us this is true of Nicodemus in his story now be preaching through the entirety of his story for the next three weeks encouraging all of us to seek out genuine encounters with Jesus as well so as to experience renewal and experience transformation so let's start shall we five things that I want to point out from this text some observations that are important for our understanding first is this Nicodemus was a great teacher who is Nicodemus we got to do some introductions here verse one does introduce him it says he is a Pharisee a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council this tells us two things first of all Nicodemus was a Pharisee we hear about Pharisees quite a bit in the New Testament Pharisees were a group within the Jewish population who observed strict adherence to the law of Moses for a couple of centuries up until the time of Jesus their rabbis had built a massive body of oral tradition which interpreted expanded and safeguarded the original laws of Moses by the first century 80 the time of Jesus there were likely around six thousand Pharisees who were in the the land of Israel at that time so it was a small percentage of the population but they held a ton of influence over what was considered right and wrong to the people of Israel to the Hebrew people second thing this tells us is that Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council another term for that is Sanhedrin if you read your new testament you'll come across that numerous times Sanhedrin that is a 70 member council which served sort of as the Jewish supreme court if you will most of the members of the Sanhedrin the vast majority were were Sadducees not Pharisees but Sadducees Sadducees were typically aristocrats they collaborated with the Romans in the overseeing of the temple but a minority member of that the minority members of that supreme court were the Pharisees and this is what Nicodemus was so not only was he an upright law follower we know that about him not only was he a Pharisee we know that about him but he was a Sanhedrin member so this is the elite of the elite teachers of Judaism in the land don't take it from me just listen to Jesus when Nicodemus comes to Jesus to find out or about him Jesus calls him Israel's teacher Israel's teacher which suggests the level of esteem that his fellow Jews would have had for him second thing Nicodemus doesn't understand Jesus this might be obvious to some of us but it's worth saying as an authoritative religious figure Nicodemus came to Jesus in John 3 to check him out to determine where Jesus stood sort of on the theological and biblical map who is this Jesus is he really teaching truth is he really a messenger from God or is he a false teacher now some have taken this to mean that Nicodemus did was coming to Jesus with less than noble intentions that he wanted to trap Jesus I don't really read it that way as I read through John chapter three this conversation took place early in Jesus ministry we know that before the religious leaders were we're already seeking to condemn him as a blasphemer and do away with him I think Nicodemus actually is admirable in approaching Jesus and probing deeper into the honest questions that he has yet when Nicodemus meets Jesus the conversation went far different than he had envisioned I think Nicodemus had planned to frame the conversation and and guided the questions along the way and yet from the very first sentence that Jesus spoke Jesus seizes the agenda and was introducing concepts that that had Nicodemus scratching his head throughout the conversation the great teacher Israel's teacher was stooped he didn't understand how Jesus could be doing the things that he was doing he doesn't understand Jesus' requirement of being born again Jesus seems almost exasperated when he says your Israel's teacher and you don't understand these things he doesn't understand Jesus third thing don't miss the fact that Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night when Nicodemus comes to see Jesus John chapter three he comes under the cover of darkness in the gospel of John things often have many layers of meaning at least to a literal level and a spiritual level often more and this is true of darkness in the story as well in the literal sense as a respected leader it's likely that Nicodemus didn't want everyone in the Sanhedrin or other people to know that he was going to see a man who was perceived as a dangerous troublemaker at least potentially so Nicodemus probably thought it's safer for me to meet with him under cover of darkness but the darkness also has a figurative or a spiritual meaning as well John uses light and dark imagery throughout his gospel light symbolizes the presence of God and those who are in the dark don't know the presence of God they don't know God so the fact that Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the dark is a signal to us from the author that Nicodemus though he is open-minded he still doesn't understand Jesus and is not somebody who is walking in the light of Christ we should not disparage Nicodemus for seeking Jesus at night I want to be clear about that he didn't have to take the risks that he took to go and see Jesus he came in the dark but at least he came to Jesus at least he pursued Jesus fourth thing about this text John develops the symbol of water as well and that's maybe whereas I was reading it you were starting to get a little confused Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again being born of water and spirit what does that mean some have tied this to the waters of baptism especially as an early church practice and rightly so others say that there's a way to really to understand this as a natural birth referring to amniotic fluid in the womb so he's talking about an earthly birth and a spiritual birth the symbol of water has already been developed in the first two chapters of this gospel and will continue to be developed throughout water becomes for John primarily a symbol of newness of renewal of life so Jesus communicates to Nicodemus that he desires for him to not just understand things but to be renewed to be purified to be refreshed to experience something new and all of those things are only available through relationship with Jesus this symbolism leads Jesus to communicate to Nicodemus that is what is really most important to him that he understand the invitation to a relationship with God through him which produces the most quoted Bible verse of the New Testament ever anywhere right John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life that's ultimately what it means to be born of both water and spirit fifth and last thing that I want you to know about this text everybody's still with me all right we got to point five here we go both Jesus and Nicodemus represents something bigger this is the main point that I want to make it's pretty fascinating I've been reading John 3 since I was a little kid in adulthood I've translated the entire thing from the original language I picked it apart but here's the amazing thing I was reminded this week that God's word does not return void because I read something totally new it's incredibly obvious I don't know how I've missed it over the years but it really spoke to me if you look through this passage you will note that Nicodemus comes right away speaking to Jesus in the third person rabbi we know that you are a teacher who's come from God not I we that's a little curious isn't it's a strange way to start a conversation instead of speaking for himself he's speaking on behalf of others so who is the we here Craig Kester in his awesome book symbolism in the fourth gospel makes the case that again John is working on several different layers here as he likes to do and that there are three layers of groups that Nicodemus is representing as he comes to Jesus. First he's representing his fellow Pharisees who are on the Sanhedrin we've heard these things about you he's speaking on their behalf rather than just himself that much is clear that whole group had heard things about what Jesus was doing the power of his teachings they are curious but then there's a second layer at work too he says Nicodemus also represents all of those people who see evidence of Jesus work but they have not put their trust and faith in him and come with questions not just in his time but I think in our time as well so if that's something that describes you Nicodemus is representing you in many ways but Kester goes even further to say that there's a third layer here and that is Nicodemus represents everyone who experiences spiritual darkness who journeys by night who just doesn't seem to get it save for the light of Jesus himself which friends is you and it's me even at our best efforts we come to Jesus in darkness that's our invitation I think to enter this text first and foremost but here's the cool thing Nicodemus is not the only one who is representative in this passage Jesus does something pretty remarkable he switches his person mid-conversation in verse 11 Jesus says very truly I tell you we speak of what we know and testify and what and testify to what we have seen yet you don't receive our testimony who's he talking about well this abrupt change has layers as well we refers to Jesus followers the disciples the crowds around him certainly but we also represents God himself Jesus is identifying himself as God's own son his unique representative to the world the one who is God's word made flesh it's as if Jesus is saying oh so you want to speak on behalf of others well two can play at that game I'm representing God I think that's fascinating so with these things in mind friends as we begin our journey with Nicodemus and we consider this important passage which sets the stage for his story what wisdom is there for you and what wisdom is there for me what questions should we be asking ourselves I want to just give you three questions that I'll encourage us to ask ourselves in closing first question that I want you to ask is this am I pursuing Jesus it took some effort for Nicodemus to risk going out and seeing Jesus as I said he came to darkness proud and current came in darkness probably for his protection but at least he came he pursued Jesus are you pursuing Jesus now of course it would be nice to be in the same time and space as Jesus as he was walking here on earth we're like Nicodemus we could just sort of set up a meeting we can seek him out we can look him in the eyes that would be wonderful we can't pursue him in the same way that Nicodemus did but friends the scripture tells us that Jesus left us his very spirit through the gift of the Holy Spirit which means that we can pursue Jesus anytime and anywhere we can seek out his presence wherever it is that we are for us I think this looks like pursuing him in prayer in stillness listening for his voice in other people in nature in scripture it means listening to sermons like you are right now being in conversation with faithful people reading the greatest Christian thinkers all of these are forms of pursuing Jesus another way to think about it is if we sat down and audited the last week of our lives every minute would we walk away from that audit report saying that person pursued Jesus this week there was evidence that they pursued Jesus it did it is that demonstrable in your life does your heart want to experience the presence of Jesus and I recognize that maybe you're here today and you're someone who has deep questions about Jesus maybe you're not sold on this whole thing maybe you've got circumstances in your life going on that make you question this whole faith in Jesus thing maybe you don't feel safe bringing those things out into the light okay then do it in the way that you can do it under cover of darkness if you have to just start pursuing him which brings me to the next question that I think we should be asking am I encountering Jesus genuinely or am I doing it on behalf of somebody else when Nicodemus meets Jesus he begins immediately speaking on behalf of his Pharisaic colleagues on behalf of those who haven't crossed the threshold of faith on behalf of all people who live in darkness I think we all bring layers to Jesus too maybe it's layers of church baggage political theological or social ideologies advocacy for other people a lean towards legalism or maybe the pain of a loved one who doesn't believe in Jesus and what that means for you I've seen all of those layers at people here in this church and they can be major barriers to us pursuing Jesus my hope for all of us is that we would be able to drop the plural drop the layers of protection that we might have and come to Jesus with eye statements Jesus I have these questions Jesus I have these emotions going on right now Jesus I don't understand how you're at work in the world and in my life it's confusing to me if there's any encouragement I can give you it's to pursue Jesus as genuinely as you can muster bring your full self to him I promise you he can handle it third question last one am I coming to Jesus for knowledge or for transformation Nicodemus came to Jesus with questions but he left with more questions than answers didn't he when we come to Jesus for knowledge we might receive some God does give us knowledge but we will likely also leave somewhat frustrated with more questions what is the deeper longing that you have I don't think Nicodemus wasn't touch with his deeper longings he wanted to understand and comprehend the Messiah more than experience and enjoy the Messiah that was standing right in front of him a strong Coleman puts in his game-changing book Beholding he says this if you want to build a ship don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks or work but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea do you long for Jesus or are you sort of approaching him as your concierge your butler your Siri or your Alexa your therapist I want to tell you if you are that's not going to work it's graciously I can as I can say that's not going to work because Jesus isn't interested in being those things for us he wants to transform us he doesn't want to download information to you or proof text or offer secondary commentary on your life he wants to transform your heart when we pursue Jesus bringing our genuine self and desiring then desiring transformation more than information we are on the pathway of renewal just like Nicodemus was as we will see in the next couple of weeks so I want you to ask yourself those questions today am I pursuing Jesus am I doing it genuinely am I seeking transformation more than information friends I think this is a great place where renewal can begin one last thing back to Henry Asua Tanner as I noted his father did forgive him for not joining the ministry because of all the beautiful biblical paintings that he did of which there are many well Henry painted that Nicodemus and Jesus painting in homage to his father because that passage was one of Benjamin's most beloved passages and stories in scripture you see Benjamin Tanner was a generation removed from slavery in America and he loved this passage because he saw it as a biblical precedent for the worship habits of African American slaves who held their worship services in the dark at night and he said those worship services in the dark were the seeds of our liberation do you want to experience renewal then come to Jesus come to him in darkness we all come to him in darkness the darkness of our minds and hearts because we're sinful and because we don't understand we're human but let's come to him genuinely honestly because it is in that darkness that he saw seeds of spiritual liberation it's in darkness that we can hear some really good news that has the opportunity to change our lives that God so loved the world that he gave us his only son Jesus so that all even us who might believe in him might not perish but might know eternal life would you pray with me Lord we recognize that you are the light of the world would you give us courage to come to you with our full selves just as Nicodemus did on that rooftop years ago Lord when we come for information would you give us transformation would you sow the seeds of renewal of spiritual liberation in us that only you can do and Lord would you set us on a path of renewal just as you did for this man Nicodemus we're thankful Lord that you are one who desires to be pursued by us and to be found by us and to offer us the living water of life we pray these things in your name amen would you stand for our closing hymn it is one of my all-time favorite hymns i might choose it every single sunday in this sermon series just so you know hymn number 367 i want to walk as a child of the life let's sing it together as a prayer as we close
From John 3:1-21