John Gunter: We started a a series last week that Heath alluded back to, and it is called Encounters with Christ, lives that are transformed. And each week, we're gonna deal with someone who who comes into contact with Jesus, and we're gonna talk about kinda what that contact looked like, and how do we how do we go away and be changed by that interaction? Because we believe that when you encounter Jesus, something has to change. Right? You you can't just take that and just walk away if you have a heart that desires to be close to God.
And so this week, the the name of the sermon is When Christ Meets the Curious. So curiosity about Jesus is not enough. Right? Just just wondering about Jesus, being curious about him. Encounter encountering Jesus requires, again, change.
It it counter encounter requires a transformation. And so we're gonna talk this morning about a man named Nicodemus. John does not introduce Nicodemus randomly. We talked last week about earlier in in John chapter, I believe it was two, but it it starts like this, John chapter two and verse 23. It says, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.
You remember this from last week? People were following Jesus because of the signs. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. Did you get all that? Jesus knows you, he knows what we're about, he knows you ever been introduced to someone and then in a short period of time, kinda know all about them because you've been around a lot of people?
Oh, they've got a personality like this. Imagine being Jesus, going, oh, I got you figured out. I don't know that I'd be comfortable with that, but that's what I'm saying. Jesus doesn't need anyone, he already knows about man. And chapter three begins, now there was a man.
That is not random. That is John saying, we already know what somebody like this is about. K? Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher coming from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Now, when it says, now there was a man, Nicodemus is that man, he represents this this group of people who is following Jesus because of the signs he has done. They are not actually pursuing Jesus in a I want to follow him and put trust in him. They are following him in a way that, oh, man, he can provide some physical things that I I need. If he can turn water into wine, if he can give us bread and and fish for enough people, I wanna follow that. And so, Nicodemus is showing us an example of these people that follow him for this.
But he also represents, being a Pharisee, he represents being very religious, being kinda having this religious seriousness that they are clinging to the law and following the law. And so he also represents the spiritual curiosity. You see that here. He said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher coming from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And so what we see in this is at least Nicodemus recognizes there's more to this.
This is not some trick. This is not anything like that. Nobody could really do this unless God was with him. And so you you see kind of the wheels in Nicodemus' mind turning. What does this mean if God is with this man?
And remember, Jesus and the Pharisees haven't exactly been best friends. Right? Not a lot of verses where Jesus and the Pharisees are holding hands and skipping down the road. Right? There's always a clash between what they're teaching or what they're doing, and what Jesus is teaching and doing.
And so, there is a seriousness, but there is a question here of what does all this mean? And so, Nicodemus is a Pharisee. He's also a ruler. They would have been seen as a ruler, a teacher. He's likely wealthy, influential, respected.
He he's not somebody you would call immoral in any way, necessarily. He's not spiritually lazy. He puts effort into his religion. Now, that might be part of the problem, is he's relying on his effort instead of a relationship with God. And so he he comes very respectfully.
He calls Jesus rabbi. That's a very respectful term that I wanna call you teacher. I wanna call you rabbi. And so he acknowledges Jesus is from God, but again, this recognition of this does not mean that Nicodemus is all in. In John three verse three, Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Now, what in the world does that have to do with anything that just happened? Alright? Here's the the question or here's the statement Nicodemus makes. Alright? How do you do this?
Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs you do unless God is with him. That's a statement. And then Jesus said, truly truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Why does he say this? Because Jesus already knows what's going on in the mind and heart of Nicodemus.
Nicodemus is trying to justify himself like he does every single day, trying to work out his salvation, and and and this is kind of clashing with what Jesus is doing right in front of him. Now, I wanna point out that when it says, unless one is born again, the word there for born again can mean, and probably should mean, born from above. Okay? Now, that's news to you, maybe hold hold up. What does that mean?
Born again could mean born from above, born from God. That's a that's a very important distinction because that eliminates what Nicodemus is trying to do, and that is work for his salvation. To provide enough works and do enough things and say, I'm a religious elite, and you guys should respect me, and I get all those points and give them to God, and then I am welcome. Well, Nicodemus hears again, I think, Jesus says or means from above, and so this is a kind of a new origin. This is a birth that you cannot do by yourself.
Now, I wanna at least point out we we use this verse a lot when we're talking about baptism, and that is just fine when we're about born again or born from above. Because unless God is in the baptism, what does it mean? Nothing. And so, nothing has changed with the importance of this verse, but what I want you to hear we're talking about being born again. This is a gift.
This is a work from God, not you, not the person dunking you. This is a gift or a work from God to be born from above. And so, Nicodemus would have assumed that being born a Jew secured entry into the kingdom. You'll see within scripture, you know, our fathers are so and so. My father is Abraham, and there was a security and even a a confidence built in our our lineage, in our family tree.
But what does that matter? Does it matter who your family is when you're coming into contact with God? Absolutely not. And so, what Nicodemus is doing is putting faith in all of these other things instead of actually having that faith in God. Back in John chapter one verses 12 through 13, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
This is not the first time John has said that. Right? And what we just read in John three. He said in John one, this is a work of God. You didn't do it.
You don't get credit for it. This is God working within us. Back to John three and verse five. Jesus answered, truly truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Jesus is changing the the focus of where Nicodemus is looking. You're you're just looking at at human effort and what can I do, and this, again, is this work of the spirit? That which is born of the spirit is spirit. And so, as he tries to change this, this is not about baptism debates or anything like this, this is just pointing out this is God working. The spirit is doing the spirit's work.
Now, Nicodemus, maybe not us necessarily, but Nicodemus, as one of Israel's teachers and religious people, should have, when Jesus said these words, kind of had his ears perk up. Because he would have known Ezekiel thirty thirty six, I believe it is. Yeah. And verse 25. This should have have come to his mind.
It says, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. And from all your idols, I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statute, and be careful to obey my rules. And so this should not have been new to Nicodemus. Jesus is pointing out something that has been said long time ago in Ezekiel, that this is God's will for us, that he is going to change us from the inside. That it's not, again, about this this just religious effort, but it is inviting God to transform us, to change our life.
Anybody work real hard to change your life in a certain way, or to get away from a certain temptation, and at some point you're going, I don't know if I can ever beat this thing. And a lot of times our issue is, it's been all about us. It's been all about what can I do, what can I accomplish, what can I stop doing or start doing? And I haven't fully surrendered that to God, and that's what is at stake this morning as we talk about this. Nicodemus should have recognized that God has said, I will give you a new heart.
I will give you a new spirit. I will do this work within you. And so the prophets here promised today when God would do all of this, when God would cleanse his people, when he would renew his people, and Jesus is saying, that day is now. That day is right I'm right in front of you. And so, challenges Nicodemus that only the spirit produces life, not all of the things you are working for and trying to put your confidence in.
In verse seven, it says, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again or from above. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes, so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. And so he says, the wind blows where it wishes, you hear it, you feel it, you cannot command it. And so it is with the spirit working within you. Right?
You don't you don't control that spirit. The spirit should be released to control you and change you from the inside. Yes? That should be what happens. So this is this is really probably devastating to Nicodemus because his life was built on law and precision and structure.
We know that because how Paul talks about himself. Right? I am I'm zealous beyond all my peers. Like, I've got it lined out, I've got the system in place, I am a religious person. Right?
I am following God to the best of my ability. Well, the problem with that is Jesus says, you can't control what the spirit does. Okay. You ever felt like you lost control or something got a little off kilter in your spiritual life? Something new happened, you go, that doesn't fit within my box I had built.
And so, was probably devastating to Nicodemus because the spirit is not managed by the religious system that he would have been in. The spirit is not concerned with your status, who your father, grandfather, great grandfather was. The spirit is not concerned with any of that. The spirit cannot be engineered, and this whole new birth is very mysterious because I can't fit it into what I've been trying to do and what I've been trying to struggle for. And so, in second Corinthians three, starting in verse five, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit.
For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. That's strong language. But you hear from Paul who was a Pharisee, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. God makes us complete, God makes us be able to do whatever we do, God makes us be able to stand before people and witness, to encourage all of those things. And so, this new life is not something that can be achieved, it's something that God does, and so it is it's something that is received, which might kind of fly in the face of those of us who want to control everything.
But God works the way God wants to work, and well, I left out a scripture there. It's alright. Nicodemus ends in verse nine asking, how can these things be? He said, how can this be? This powerful teacher kind of ends this encounter as being baffled.
He doesn't know what to do, he doesn't know how to respond, he he has no answer. All that's left is confusion, and so he stands kind of speechless before Jesus. And the point is is exactly that, that's how he should stand because he can't control it. He can't build a system around it, he has to submit himself to the will of God and the spirit of God. No one reasons their self into the kingdom of God.
No one earns their way in, no one inherits their way in because of who they were born as or to, it is given. From John first John one seven, But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. You don't need cleansing if you're already perfect. And so, I believe Nicodemus came to justify himself. He was certainly curious, but I believe he came to justify himself to to hear that, you're all good, my son, everything's hunky dory.
Anybody say that anymore? Everything's perfect. But what he finds is is something confusing. Jesus answers a question he didn't ask, and it speaks right to his very heart because he continues to struggle, he continues to put confidence in things that should not bring confidence, because our confidence should be in God. And so Jesus invited him into something far deeper than curiosity.
The question is not whether you're informed or whether you're moral or religious. The question is this morning, have you been born from above? Has God entered your life and begun transforming you from the inside? And those of us that have been raised in Church of Christ, I wanna challenge you this morning because sometimes our faith is not in God, our faith is in baptism. Yes.
And if I walk around just thinking I was baptized so all is good, I'm no different than Nicodemus who thought, well, I was born with my father being such and such, so I'm all good. My faith has to be in the working of God here. Thank God for his grace and mercy. The spirit of God still gives us life and Jesus invites us into that. And so I wanna encourage you this morning, if you need the prayers of this church, if you need to begin that walk with him, the invitation is not just this couple of minutes we're gonna sing a song.
The invitation is forever that Jesus wants you to turn to him, to submit yourself to him, allow him to begin begin working on you on the inside. Would you come as we stand and sing.