Are we religious enough?
The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Porcelain is one of the most beautiful and enduring things that human beings can make. Even today much of what we know about ancient cultures comes from what they made from clay.Modern Archaeologist date the centuries by the ceramics, pottery and porcelain they find in their digs.As I was studying for this message I found a flower vase that was discovered that was painted with these letters: V D M I Ae. They stand for the Latin words, "Verbum Dei manet in Aeternum." "The Word of God endures forever." What a beautiful inscription for a flower vase! The flowers are constantly being removed and thrown away. Their beauty only lasts for a while, but the beauty and love of God in His word lasts forever. With this truth, Peter shows us what we need.
because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.
Peter says that we are "born again" by the imperishable, living, and abiding word of God. How? What does that really mean? The word of God is the truth. It is the truth about our sins and the truth about God's forgiving love. That word is the Gospel truth of Jesus Christ. When Jesus showed us the meaning of obedience and when He died innocently as no one had ever done before, He took the love-killing, death-dealing sin of this world away from us to give us a new life. When we repent of our sin and believe in God's word - there is a dramatic transformation that begins in us. It is so dramatic that it can only be called a "rebirth."
In today’s verses, we find out, it is not about our status here on earth, nor how religious we are while we are here. It only matters is if we are born again. If we have had that personal spiritual rebirth that only faith in Christ can give. Let’s read.
There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
“Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will 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.
Let’s pray!
Church, I want to ask you this question. And it may seem rhetorical, but I promise, it isn’t. It is a question that plagues the modern church.
Are we religious enough?
If someone comes into this church that has never had a relationship with Jesus Christ, would they say this is a religious church or a born again, sold out, bunch of people who love Jesus Christ with all their hearts?
Do we portray a religious arrogance that says we are holier than thou, or do we show that we a sinners in need of a Savior and a love for what Jesus did for us?
So I guess my question is not are we religious enough, but are we truly born again?
Today, we look at a new person in the Gospel of John, Nicodemus. It is my personal belief that the modern Christian has so much in common with Nicodemus then we really want to admit. Now today, it will be a bit different. There is no three point message. I want you to listen to who Nicodemus was and the parallels to the Christian of today and how this mystery Jesus brought flipped his religious world upside down.
Before we really get into studying our text, we must get some context here, so let’s go back a few verses.
While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.
Notice, Jesus is performing miracles, but he is not finding anyone worthy to entrust with the true mysteries of the kingdom of God. These very verses should scare everyone here, because it makes us ask the question...Is Christ finding us worthy to not just show us the signs, but to entrust us with the mysteries of His kingdom?
It is like my mom when we would go to the store… it was if you are good, I will get you a candy..compare that to baby, you have been so good these pass weeks, mom wants to get you something special.
One is to shut me up, there other was cause I was worthy.
In the next verse, Christ does finds someone worthy.
There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”
Jesus finds a Pharisee named Nicodemus.
Here is a picture of Nicodemus so we can have an idea of who we are talking about.
Something to know about the Pharisees was that they were very serious about religion and obeying God’s law. they were zealous about following all 613 commands found in the Old Testament, the 248 do’s and the 365 don’t do’s. They were so zealous that they came up with additional laws on top of the 613 to ensure they were following God’s law to a tee.
Now, when we read about the Pharisees in the bible, we think that there were a few of these guys around. In actuality, there were about 6,000 of them during this time in history. Not only that, Nicodemus was a Sanhedrin. The teacher amoungst teachers. There were only 70 of them out of the 6000 that was worthy to be called that.
It is here that we get our first parallel. Modern churches say you must follow the rules to come in here. You must dress a certain way, you must act a certain way, you must be a certain way… when Jesus is calling out come as you are, repent, be born again from above. He doesn’t care if you look like you just got out of bed. He is does not care how religious you are. He doesn’t care about the outward appearance of your legalistic religiosity, he cares about if you have allowed Him into your heart.
Here at NEC, we have rules. To call yourself a Christian, you must be born again and repent daily. Then you must prayer, worship, and study God’s word. There you go. Everything else like working for the Lord, paying tithes, having fellowship...all that stems from being born again, not a requirement to be born again.
Now our leaders in the church are held to a standard that the bible calls them too, but that is a different story for a different day.
Notice as we get back to our text, Nicodemus came to Christ at night and calls him Rabbi which means teacher.
Here is a man that is the teacher of other teachers of the law, calling Christ Rabbi. Seems like he is being respectful. Nicodemus is placing Christ down to his level. He is saying we are both teachers, but I don’t want anyone to know I am talking to you so I am coming at night. In the dark, so no one knows. In spite of all of his great learning, Nicodemus missed that he was speaking to God incarnate.
Church do you see the parallels here?
The bible is clear, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all understanding.
We don’t fear the Lord today. We don’t hold Him in reverent awe. We try our best to bring Him down to our level.
We say things like Jesus was a great man, a wonderful teacher, an outstanding example. Yet all of these statements fall short of the full truth. Jesus was and is God.
We also put Jesus in his place, by just living out His word on Sunday’s. We live it out here, so no one knows that I have given my life to Christ.
If you live with Christ on Sunday, and not the rest of the days...you are not a Christian and you are not born again.
Someone who is born again will show the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control will be synonymous with your life, not just a sacrifice on a Sunday.
Stop trying to bring Christ down to your level and live your life as He is Lord of your life.
Let’s continue with out text.
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
It is here we get into the meat of the conversation with Nicodemus.
It isn’t written, but I can almost see Nicodemus in the middle of trying to pay Christ what he thought was a compliment and Jesus is like let me turn everything you have learned on it head.
Let me take your legalistic religion and show you what it really means.
All those 613 commands, they were for you to see Me, and it was for worship, not legalism.
It was for you to be set apart and be spiritually reborn, but you missed it.
I can almost see the urgency in the way Christ calls out to Nicodemus.
Parallels?
He is calling out to you in that same urgency.
He is telling you and me, unless you are spiritually reborn...unless you allow my Spirit to enter into your heart and life...you will not see the kingdom of God.
He is telling you and me , don’t be confused by this...you are not confused by the wind, you just accept it as it comes.
There are many religions today that read these words and they either do not understand or they dismiss them completely. and they fall into the same state Nicodemus was in. let’s look at the rest of the verses to see what I mean.
“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
“Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will 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.
Jesus doesn’t pull any punches, especially on those that considered themselves as the spiritual leaders. He asks...are you a teacher and you don’t know these things?
Jesus is talking not only to a Pharisee but a Sanhedrin...someone who should know the Old Testament like the back of his hand yet he doesn’t understand this.
He would have known
until the Spirit from on high is poured out on us.
Then the desert will become an orchard,
and the orchard will seem like a forest.
He would have known
I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.
He would have known
After this
I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men will have dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
I will even pour out my Spirit
on the male and female slaves in those days.
Do you see the parallels?
It doesn’t matter your education level, your knowledge of biblical things, you could recite verses from memory...unless you are born again, unless you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ...Are you really a Christian?
Something more on Nicodemus and we will close with this.
It is believed that he did one day confess his trust in Christ and was born again. It is believed that he had to leave Jerusalem because of persecution due to his beliefs in Christ.
This is the last parallel before we close...when he came out of the dark and into the light, he may have lost friends, religious status, his home, but he gained the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
You may loose friends and family, you may loose your status of the party guy, but no matter what you loose here on earth...none of it compares to gaining the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
So church what parallel stuck out to you today?
