Untitled Sermon (9)

The people involved

Nicodemus

A fairly common name in 1st Century Rome

A Pharisee, of the ruling class, a member of the Sanhedrin (v1)

Is he courageous, or is he fearful?

He could be speaking for a group of Pharisees

Jesus

He has been active in the community (v2)

He is caring in his tone to Nicodemus

ol.

What is Nicodemus looking for?

Nicodemus believes somethings about Jesus already

..k

He calls him “Rabbi” or teacher (v2)

He acknowledges a connection between Jesus and God (v2)

But yet Nicodemus missed the biggest part of who Jesus was.

How can this be? (v9)

Jesus’ answer is simple, but quite profound…you must be born again!

Born of water (v5)

Public confession of faith

Water Baptism like John the Baptist was doing

Connected to “Confess with your mouth”

Born of the Spirit

Belief in Jesus

Connected to “Believe in your heart”

Kyle Idleman, "Not a Fan" (p. 29)Nicodemus was ready to take his relationship with Jesus to another level, but it wasn’t that easy. It never is. There would be much to lose if he went public as a follower of Jesus. What would people think if they found out that Nicodemus was an admirer of this homeless-carpenter-turned-rabbi from a nothing town called Galilee? At the very least he would lose his position in the Sanhedrin and his reputation as a religious leader. Being a secret admirer of Jesus cost him nothing, but becoming a follower came with a high price tag. It always does.

Kyle Idleman, "Not a Fan" (p. 29)

This section of Scripture holds the most famous verse in the Bible- perhaps the most used quote of all time. However, belongs in the midst of a larger conversation between 2 people- Jesus and Nicodemus. Because of the importance of this passage we are going to spend the next 2 weeks studying this passage in a 2 part message called “Being Born Again” this week we will take a birds eyes view on this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, and next week we will dig into verses 16-18 specifically.

So, let’s talk about the context of this conversation. We know that Jesus is having a conversation with a man named Nicodemus. John tells us that Nicodemus was a Pharisee; so we know he knew the Scriptures, and was part of the Jewish people looking for the coming Messiah. John also tells us that he is a ruler of the Jews- in other words a member of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Jesus’ day. So we know that Nicodemus is powerful, wealthy, important, and intelligent.

The second person in this story is, of course, Jesus. Now, I will tell you that when I read this passage I choose to read Jesus as compassionate. I think that this was a caring conversation between Jesus and a person who was struggling with following him. I know some people choose to read this passage as some kind of debate or lecture, but that is not me.

And let’s remember the setting and time of this conversation....Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, and this seems to be an important detail, but why? Why did Nicodemus come at night? There are a few different schools of thought on this, I tend to belong to the school of thought that Nicodemus was trying to avoid being seen by many people. After all, what would people say if they say this Pharisee coming to hear the teaching of Jesus? What would Nicodemus be risking?

These are important questions, because they influence Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus. The things that Jesus says to Nicodemus are deep truths that we can learn from. After all, we all find ourselves in moments like Nicodemus- trying to figure out exactly who Jesus is, and how we can live like Jesus. We all have Nicodemus moments; Nicodemus had some things about Jesus right- called Jesus Rabbi- showing the kind of respect he had for Jesus and his teaching. Also, he recognized that Jesus had some kind of peculiar relationship with God, but he was not convinced what that relationship was…

Nicodemus never really asks Jesus a question, but Jesus perceives exactly what he wants to know- what does it mean to follow you, Jesus?

Jesus’ answer to him is simple, yet drastically complex, so we are going to break it up into 2 weeks. First, this week 5-8...

You must be born of water and of the Spirit. What in the world does that mean? Well, in order to understand this statement I would like to pair it to Paul’s words in because I think Jesus and Paul are getting at the same thing.

Born of water- When it comes to being born of water one can take this literally or metaphorically- I take it metaphorically. Born of water meaning public confession- traditionally related to baptism. Jesus is well aware of John’s water baptism in repentance of sins, and Jesus himself was baptized. Paul said in that one must confess with their mouth.

The problem for Nicodemus is that publically confessing Jesus is going to cost him something. In his book “Not a Fan” Kyle Idleman says “Nicodemus was ready to take his relationship with Jesus to another level, but it wasn’t that easy. It never is. There would be much to lose if he went public as a follower of Jesus. What would people think if they found out that Nicodemus was an admirer of this homeless-carpenter-turned-rabbi from a nothing town called Galilee? At the very least he would lose his position in the Sanhedrin and his reputation as a religious leader. Being a secret admirer of Jesus cost him nothing, but becoming a follower came with a high price tag. It always does.

Following Jesus will cost all of us something.

Born of the Spirit- Being born by the Spirit is confessing that Jesus is Lord and then being indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. Being born by the Spirit is when we allow the residency of the Holy Spirit to start being influential in our lives. You see, Jesus was talking about a lifestyle, not just superstitious belief. in order to grasp all of the things God has for you, you must be born of the Spirit of God.

Look at what Jesus says in 3:8 - He compares the Spirit of God to the wind. After all, you cannot see the wind, but you can see what the wind is doing, you can see the effects. The same is true of the Kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit, you do not have to have the HS within you to see what God does in this world, but

So how can one be born again? By believing in the Work and Person of Jesus Christ. However, it does not stop there....

Think of it this way, why are babies born? Just to lay there and look cute, right? Last week, when we dedicated Emma, we prayed that she would lay in her crib for the rest of her life and look cute right?

No, we dedicated her hoping she would grown, and learn, walk and talk. Jesus wants the same thing fori us, church. That we would grown and mature, but n order to do that we must be willing to open our lives to the H/S completely.

Tim Hansel in his book "When I Relax I feel Guilty," writes some insights of what most people want from God.

"I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3.00 worth of God, please."

So, what are you holding back?

Here’s the thing I love about this story, Nicodemus shows us that we do not have to have it all figured out. We are not told what Nicodemus did with this conversation with Jesus, but I want to share 2 other passages with you.

John 7:50-52

John 7:50–52 ESV

Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”