Who are We Becoming?

Good morning! Today we were supposed to be wrapping up our series on questions. But, we decided that we are going to continue for two more weeks after breakfast at the gathering next Sunday. And I am personally very excited about it because I had a whole point I wanted to make the other week that I didn’t get a chance to— and now it’s getting its own whole sermon in mid-September! It’s like a bonus track.

But anyway, I wanted you to be aware- since we told you to work on a question this month. Maybe you want to use today as a conclusion- or maybe you need to keep wrestling with that question for a few more weeks. But if you guys are okay with it- I’d love to give you a few minutes to just do a check in on your questions. How has it been this month? What changes have you seen as a result of this question? Take just a few minutes and share with someone next to you- you don’t have to share the question if you don’t want to.

(2 minute timer)

I don’t mind sharing mine with you. So when Justin asked us to write down a question, mine was

“What are you doing with the Church today?”

Now, you have to understand my tone- it was not contemplative. It definitely had a little side-eye going on. Because for me, sometimes I get really discouraged with the big-C Church, and how unlike the church of the New Testament it feels. And I know that the early church had a whole host of problems, but I can look at it with some distance and hindsight. But I’m in the thick of it with the 21st century American Church and it feels so heavy sometimes. So that was my question. And the question under the question was, you promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against it… but can it be destroyed from the inside?

And then I asked you to write down a question Jesus might be asking you in response to your question. Here’s mine:

“Who do you say that I am?”

I say that Jesus is the Christ, the king, and the Church is his Kingdom. And if I truly believe that- which I do- then the king knows what is happening in his kingdom. And as a kingdom citizen, maybe I don’t have to know all the plans.

Last week Justin challenged us to sit and listen. Which is probably the number one hardest thing for me to do. My head is a loud place. And that was probably the clearest thing God drew my attention to last week- I’m not listening very well. And I thought of a scenario that has happened regularly at our house with each of our kids when they were under age 7 or so.

It’s 5:30 pm. I’m in the kitchen cooking dinner. Our kitchen looks into our living room, so it’s not like I’m hidden away like a cave troll. Everyone can see me stirring and sautéing and who am I kidding, opening a bag and microwaving. But it never fails- As I’m doing this, I will hear little feet come in to the kitchen and say… “mooommy, I’m sooooo hungry! Can you make me a snack?”

And I’m like *gestures* Do you not see? Do you not hear? Do you not smell what I am doing???? But they can’t. In their finite sense of time, they are hungry right now and what I am cooking is not for right now. They would rather settle for a snack right now than a balanced meal later.

And then I saw myself as that child, with that finite sense of time and unable to look past the hunger I’m feeling in my soul right this second. I would sometimes rather see lightning bolts and quick fixes than the slow and beautiful things God is cooking up. It reminds me of God’s words to Israel in Isaiah 40:

New International Version (2011) Chapter 40

28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

And I think that’s where I’ve landed. I don’t have a direct answer to my question. But throughout this month of contemplating it, God had drawn my attention to this- I believe that Jesus is a faithful and good king. And I am an impatient citizen of his kingdom. And that is where my transformation needs to start. Because it’s not about hard and fast answers- it never has been.

Our questions are meant to lead to transformation.

That’s why Jesus didn’t directly answer 99% of the questions asked of him—because that wasn’t the point. The point was to teach, and challenge, and transform the questioner into a disciple. Today I want us to spend some time with a person who went through this process—and because his story is interwoven with some of the most famous passages in Scripture, the quiet transformation that occurs oftentimes gets missed. But his story is so worth a closer look. Let’s dive in to John chapter 3.

New International Version (2011) Chapter 3

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

You have probably heard this name before, we’ve talked about him several times. But just as a quick refresher, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a preeminent religious leader. Jesus calls him the teacher of Israel, meaning that he wasn’t a nobody— and he knew his Torah. He was a leading member of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish political council. And because of that, he was extremely wealthy. If you were to ask a first century Jewish person to name someone in least need of transformation- Nicodemus’ name would have been on the top of that list. And we definitely see that reflected in how he approaches Jesus.

New International Version (2011) Chapter 3

He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.

First, I’m gonna say something that might be a little controversial, but I did my research and it backs it up— We cannot infer that Nicodemus went to Jesus at night because he was afraid or embarrassed. There are lots of good reasons he could have come at night and we are going to give him the benefit of the doubt- and here is why. He says “we know you are a teacher who has come from God.” Did you ever catch that before? Not I know or we suspect… we know. Nicodemus is acting as a spokesman for the group of Pharisees who have witnessed the miracles he had performed— he is not going rogue. And the agreement among them is that Jesus is from God.

And listen, it could have just stopped there with Nicodemus confidently asserting that fact. But that’s not what happens. Notice something- He addresses Jesus as “Rabbi,” “teacher,” thus placing Jesus in the position of teacher and Nicodemus-the teacher of Israel- in the position of learner. There’s something else Nicodemus is looking for here. Jesus has said nothing to him, and yet the transformation has already started.

Our questions transform us from knowing more to becoming more.

Nicodemus knew the Scriptures better than anyone in this room ever will. It’s not like he needed to know more stuff. He didn’t approach Jesus and ask him for a list of all the prophecies that he fulfilled or ask him to recite his entire genealogy. His curiosity was about something deeper. And Jesus knows it.

He begins the dialogue talking about rebirth, and Nicodemus asks “how is it possible to be born again?” And Jesus shares of a different kind of birth- a spiritual birth through baptism. Nicodemus is even more curious, asking “how can this be?” Remember, he was very rooted in the physical- his bloodline, sacrifices, Scripture. And Jesus doesn’t say “ok, let me break it down for you- got your pocket Torah handy?” He actually says:

New International Version (2011) Chapter 3

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?

Nicodemus didn’t need to know more information- he already had it. He needed to become someone who recognized what God was already doing right there in front of him- and respond to it.

I think sometimes we believe that if we just read enough, study enough, listen to enough podcasts or enough sermon we will be able to figure everything out. I know I can be guilty of that. But the goal of our discipleship isn’t to know all facts about Jesus— it’s to know Jesus himself. To continually learn from him and let his teaching and his example change our relationship with God and each other. Nicodemus came to Jesus as an expert, but he quickly became a learner.

And that’s usually where the story of Nicodemus ends, right? He asks Jesus some questions, Jesus doesn’t really answer them, John 3:16 happens, and then we move on to the next chapter. But John 3 was only the beginning of his story… let’s pick back up in John 7.

By this point in Jesus’ ministry, he had become much more bold about who he was and what he meant to do. And the more he taught, and the more miracles they witnessed, the more divided the Pharisees and chief priests became over him. Some believed in him, calling him a prophet sent from God. Others said he was demon possessed and a deceiver of Israel. And in John 7, the division reaches a fever pitch and a mob forms- some to defend Jesus, and some to arrest Jesus. Eventually, the Sanhedrin convenes.

New International Version (2011) Chapter 7

45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.

47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

OK, just hang with me as we follow this through. Nicodemus was an expert in the law, right? And Jesus kind of called him out a little bit on that when he said “you’re the teacher of Israel and you don’t understand??” And now, Nicodemus is watching his fellow experts in the law accuse people of being ignorant of the law— while they themselves are breaking it. And Nicodemus speaks up in Jesus’ defense— warning his colleagues that they were about to be guilty of the thing they were accusing the mob. You can almost see the wheels turning in his mind: “Wait a minute… why does it seem like those of us who are supposed to have it all together keep falling flat when it counts?”

And honestly, it doesn’t go all that well when Nicodemus spoke. The Pharisees ridicule him, they accuse him of being backwards and ignorant, they tell him to go back and study the very law he was defending—and they were breaking.

Our questions transform us from certainty into humility.

In this confrontation we see a group of people who are certain… and one man who isn’t content to rest in his own certainty anymore. When we approach our conversations with Jesus with the goal of transformation rather than information, we’re going to have to confront the fact that we don’t know everything…and we might be wrong about some stuff.

And that is so hard to do when we live in a time where everyone is an expert and everybody has a loud opinion. When questions are weaponized to prove superiority, to tear down the opposition, to further dig in on a position—it takes a lot of courage to ask, “what if we don’t have it all figured out?” “What if we are wrong?” “What if God has a better plan than we do?” And just like Nicodemus, it might set us up for ridicule. The vitriol may get turned on us. But discipleship isn’t about proving we are right… it’s about following Jesus wherever his truth leads, even if its a path we never dreamed of walking.

And as we follow Nicodemus through John, we definitely see him walking a path he never expected to walk. It’s at the end of John 19. Jesus has been crucified. His followers are scattered. The crowds are silent. His death has been confirmed with a spear through his side. No one knows what to do next. But two unexpected men finally come out of the shadows.

New International Version (2011) Chapter 19

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Both were Pharisees, both were members of the Sanhedrin. They knew that none of Jesus’ other disciples would be allowed to bury him. Their questions this time may have been simple. “May I have the body of Jesus?” and “Can I help?” And in doing so, they were transformed from secret follower to public disciple. From leaders to servants. Nicodemus used the wealth he acquired as a defender of the word of God to bring the balms and spices used for the body of the one killed in ignorance of that very same word.

Joseph and Nicodemus laid him in the tomb, and they saw it empty on the third day.

And that is the last we hear of Nicodemus in Scripture… but if you’re like me, you want to know what happened next. I did a ton of digging this week, and can tell you this- the early church historians wrote and traditionally believed that Nicodemus did end up being born again when he was baptized by Peter and John. Some say that he lost not only his position among the Pharisees, but also his great wealth. Jewish historians who lived at that time have a Nicodemus listed as one of the rabbis who chose to follow Jesus— and all other evidence of his life and teachings are notably absent, which would make sense if he became a Christian.

Whether the later traditions are accurate or not, they all tell the same story. The early church remembered Nicodemus as someone who followed Jesus all the way. They remembered him as a man who lost status, lost influence, perhaps even lost wealth because he chose Christ.

The Nicodemus of John 19 was not the Nicodemus of John 3. Every question led him closer and closer to Jesus, until he was no longer a curious outsider, but a faithful servant.

And that’s the point of everything Justin and I have been talking about this month. Bring your questions to Jesus, approach him with curiosity and honesty— but don’t stop there. Don’t be content with just knowing more when God is calling you to become more. Don’t let the temptation of certainty steal the blessing of humility. Ask yourself “do I have to have the answer, or will I be faithful even if I don’t?”

2 Corinthians 3:18 was our Scripture reading this morning and it says:

New International Version (2011) Chapter 3

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

As we contemplate, as we question and learn, we are being transformed to look more and act more and love more like Jesus. And it is a glorious thing. Our questions are meant to lead to transformation, and that process is a gift from God. So never stop seeking and wrestling with your questions— not because every question will have an answer, but because every question is an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus.

So here is the question I want to challenge you to think about today:

“What have my questions revealed about who I am becoming because of Jesus?”