Seeing Spiritual Realities

Prayer

Don’t You Get It?

Jesus’ Conversation with Nicodemus

Fascinating conversation Jesus has with a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus - part of what makes it so interesting is that it’s a real conversation, Nicodemus is the rare Pharisee who sees something more, something true in Jesus. He recognizes that Jesus could never do the miracles he does except through the power of God. So he knows Jesus must have been sent by God - but Nicodemus can’t figure Jesus out.

Now Nicodemus is not just a Pharisee, he’s an important one, part of the Jewish Ruling Council, the Sanhedrin - so he is a man of influence and power. And that puts him in an awkward spot, because he’s open to Jesus, who the Pharisees and religious leaders have already rejected. So he comes to speak with Jesus alone, at night, in secret.

Nicodemus affirms to Jesus that he believes that Jesus comes from God. Jesus responds by saying, this is John 3:3, Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Notice that Jesus begins emphatically (as he often does), very truly I tell you. I’m telling you the absolute truth here, listen to me.

Then Jesus brings up the Kingdom of God - because he wants Nicodemus to repent and enter in, to come under God’s reign, so he tells him bluntly, you cannot see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again. Jesus is telling him that his life, as whole, has to fundamentally change.

But Nicodemus can’t see it, he doesn’t understand what Jesus is talking about. “How can someone be born then they are old? How in the world can someone go back into the womb a second time in order to be born again?! Here’s the thing - Nicodemus was only seeing the world in material, physical terms. He was blind to spiritual realities.

Jesus then reveals more truth to him, vs. 5-7, Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”

Jesus is talking about repentance, transformation, a complete change of mind (as we’ve been talking about, being red-pilled). That’s what he means by being born again, being born of the Spirit - he’s trying to convey how dramatic a change this requires, a complete rebirth.

Again, Nicodemus doesn’t understand - but, at least he’s asking questions. There’s an openness there - which is why he was willing to have conversation with Jesus, even if it was in secret. And so he presses, “How can this be?” Jesus makes clear that his religious instruction has been sorely lacking - “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?”

Story is fascinating because it reveals how those who were supposed to be teaching the Israelites, the religious leaders, they couldn’t see the truth. It’s a great example of the need for repentance and in particular, repentance of the mind.

Which is what we’ve been talking about in our sermon series, The Magnificent Kingdom - Jesus’ big announcement, his primary message, his invitation. It’s here, the Kingdom of God, the reign of God is right now in your midst. And the appropriate response is repentance. The Greek word is metanoia, transformation, complete change - or, as Jesus calls it in John 3, being born again.

Last week we talked about the fact that this is all begins with embracing Jesus as our King, and doing so wholeheartedly. With our complete being, from the very center of who we are, professing Jesus as Lord.

Today, we want to start our breakdown of repentance, of wholehearted embracing of Jesus, coming under his rule. That wholehearted repentance involves repentance of our minds - our focus today. Over the next two weeks, we’ll look at the repentance of our souls and our wills (the parts of us that make up our hearts).

What do we mean when we say, the repentance, transformation of our minds?

Jesus comes and announces, the Kingdom of God is at hand, right here among us. And what we’re thinking is - where?We don’t see it. We don’t have eyes for it. Repentance of mind is all about what needs to change about our minds, about the way we think, what we believe is fundamentally true so we will have a vision for Jesus’ Magnificent Kingdom, we’ll get it, and embrace it.

And we can get an idea of what this is all about from 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 - These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

So what you see here is the recognition that the material world is only part of the world, the universe. And that there is also, as Paul says here, spiritual realities: “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.”

Paul’s main point here is that unless you have the mind of Christ (which requires repentance, complete change of mind), you cannot see spiritual realities. You will miss them. Why you must be born again, born of the Spirit, as Jesus tells Nicodemus - so you can discern spiritual things. Because they are revealed to us by the Spirit of God. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to us the mind of Christ, who gives us the mind of Christ. The Spirit enables us to understand what God has freely given us.

Here’s critical question: what the heck are spiritual realities? It is simply a recognition that we do not live in just a material world. We are not just material beings - we are spiritual beings as well. There is a spiritual realm. God is spirit. The angelic beings, the heavenly beings, are spiritual beings. There is the spirit of the world. There are evil spirits.

And we miss what is real and true if we only look at the world materially. If we do not recognize, live in recognition of spiritual realities. Central spiritual reality is the existence of God. And that God, as a spiritual being, is the source of all reality - he is the one who created the heavens and the earth. He rules over all (which is why we should respond in willing obedience that the Kingdom of God, his reign, is in our midst). To pray, to worship, is to recognize spiritual realities. To engage in spiritual disciplines is to recognize myself as a spiritual being that needs to be connected to God, to abide in Jesus. To be ready to fight temptation because we know there are evil spiritual forces working against us, against God’s kingdom.

These are just some of the spiritual realities that the Spirit of God helps us to see and understand. And if you don’t have the Spirit, you cannot discern them. It is only through Jesus, through his Spirit, that we can know the Kingdom of God. Why it’s so essential that we have the mind of Christ, that we learn to see all of reality, both material and spiritual, through his eyes. Because is what is True. Real. What is. This requires repentance, a complete change of view.

Jesus tells us how. Through one of the many parables he taught about the Kingdom of God, in order to give us a sense of what it’s like, its nature. This parable comes from Matthew 13:1-10, That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

So, in this parable, Jesus tells the story of a farmer who sows his seed, and the seed falls on four very different types of soils, with four very different results. There’s the seed that falls on the path, which gets eaten up by the birds, it never begins to sprout. Other seed falls on rocky places, which had little soil - these plants grow quickly, but because they had no roots, they wither away when the heat hits. The seed that falls among the weeds and thorns, and they get choked out. Finally, the seed that falls on good soil, and it produces an amazingly abundant crop.

Now even the disciples don’t understand the story (their minds still need repentance, still need to see spiritual realities. So they ask Jesus about the parable. Jesus explains, Matthew 13:18-23, “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Jesus, as he so often does, uses material things to teach about spiritual realities (he did it with Nicodemus, he did it with the woman at the well, over and over). Soil represents the conditions of our hearts, our responsiveness to the message about the kingdom, how receptive we are to God’s word (which is the seed). It’s all about our willingness and ability to repent, to have our minds changed, to grow in truth.

Hardened path are those whose hearts are hardened. The seed, the good news of the Kingdom of God, never breaks the soil. The message is immediately rejected - the evil one, Satan (represented by the bird), then comes and snatches it away so it can’t begin to take root.

Second type of heart is represented by the rocky places, the shallow soil. Here, the message of the Kingdom, of God’s reign, the great reality that God is present in power and glory, does not go every deep. It’s never truly embraced - some other belief is held more deeply. So when persecution comes, hope in the Kingdom, in God, is abandoned, they fall away.

And this brings us to the soil that I think is really instructive for us to look at - the soil infested by thorns, by weeds. It’s so crowded out that the reality of Kingdom of God, these great spiritual realities, do not produce much fruit. As Jesus tells us that it’s the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth that choke the word, that keep the reality of the Kingdom of God producing fruit in our lives.

Let’s take a moment to consider why these soils are so unproductive - what is it about us, our hearts, minds, that hinder the Kingdom of God in us. That keep us from repenting, from transforming. What’s preventing God’s word, the teachings about spiritual realities, from taking deep root in us, so that informs how we see all of reality. Jesus is telling us here that it’s our tendency to focus on just material reality. That we, as some have stated, live as practical atheists.

Rocky soil, enduring pains, difficulties in life - and doing so without a deep conviction of the presence and power of God. So, you get excited about God, about Jesus in your life. But then things get hard. You begin to experience the challenges of following Jesus, living in his way - in a world that isn’t particularly friendly to it. And because reality of God, who he is, isn’t deeply ingrained, you give it up. Hard to trust his presence when it seems hidden. That he can bring good out of evil, redeem suffering.

Then you have the weed infested soil. And note what Jesus describes as crowding out the soil, infesting it - worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth. Jesus is pointing to material things, our minds are so locked in on material reality that we aren’t open to spiritual realities.

This is exactly what Jesus teaches about in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, when he exhorts his listeners not to worry about the food that they eat or the clothes they wear (pointing to the flowers of the field and the birds, and how well God takes care of them). And this is his point - if we only take material reality - I need food (or whatever physical need it may be) or I really want nice clothes (I can’t figure out what to wear!) - if that’s what we fill our minds with, and we miss spiritual reality, that we have a heavenly Father watching over us who knows what we need and provides for us, then we will worry. We will be unproductive in regards to the Kingdom. So Jesus teaches us, seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness (see this reality).

Exact same premise with the deceitfulness of wealth. Our minds are focused, distracted by wealth, money. Because we’re thinking purely in material terms, what Jesus describes in Matthew 6, as earthly treasures. Because we think these are the things that will make us feel secure. Buy things that will make me happy, provide pleasure, make me look attractive, keep me comfortable. But a repentant mind recognizes spiritual realities, that it is the heavenly treasures that can never been taken away, never stolen, will never rust or spoil. That true joy, security, sense of significance, come from God. That life is found in sacrificial love for others, a servant’s heart. That’s the kingdom mindset.

It’s this repentant mind that Jesus finishes with in his parable. It is the rich soil, the good soil that hears the word and understands it. It is the soil that demonstrates what theologians describe as “fides quaerens intellectum”, faith seeking understand. I trust, I believe in Jesus as King, the reality of the Kingdom of God - Lord, help me understand it! Help me to get it - by your Spirit, Lord, help me to see spiritual realities. Give me the mind of Christ.

Requires willingness to unlearn in order to learn. To see the whole of reality differently (there’s so much more than material reality!). Because I trust that all truth comes from Jesus, who is the source of all truth. What we call orthodoxy, or right teaching - what is true about God, about his purpose for us.

Challenge here is to embrace spiritual realities - they are hard to discern, hard to see. Can we cultivate within us an openness to them, an openness to the Spirit within us, helping us to recognize them? Helping us to recognize that Jesus is truly here with us, right now, his power and presence? That there even is a Holy Spirit who lives inside of us, guiding us, teaching us, leading us into righteousness?

This is where the Spiritual Disciplines are so essential - this is where we practice, we train our minds to be attentive to God himself, to spiritual realities, to see the Kingdom of God.

Discipline of Silence - be still before God, be in his presence, practice being attentive to spiritual realities (God is present, hear his voice, fill me with his love, power).

Discipline of Meditation, contemplation. Idea that we just don’t read and study the Bible for information, but we ponder it, reflect on it. As Psalm 1 says, the blessed one is the one who meditates on God’s word day and night.

Let me offer an example of how this might work. This is a verse I recite and pray every morning: Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I life in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. This verse is training me to see my life different, spiritual reality that I have died to sin, and life is Jesus living in me (I don’t have a life by myself, it is only with and through Jesus).

Communion - material things pointing us to spiritual realities