A gospel for everyone

Introduction

Church can be a very welcoming but weird place, can’t it?

I mean, if you were to visit me at Watsons Bay Anglican on a regular Sunday, these are some of regulars you’d probably get to meet.

You’ll probably meet Scott, our Senior minister, who is a very kind-hearted and loving man—a bit of a geek and ridiculously smart.

And then you’ll probably meet Caitlin, one of our Assistants, who is very bubble and very loud and very friendly.

And then, depending on who you are, I might introduce you to one of our older gentlemen, who loves talking about history, politics, and philosophy, but once he gets started he gets very passionate and serious—and because he’s very tall, he can be a bit intimidating.

And then, you might also meet one of our ladies who a bit superstitous, very blunt about her opinions, and she makes people uncomfortable sometimes.

And as I say all of this, I wonder whether you can relate to this picture of church yourself? If your experience is like mine, then there are some people you find easier to get along with, and then there are people in church who seem to belong to different plantets.

So within CABC, I’m sure that there are introverts and extroverts.

Some who are more culturally Asian—and you love certain things, you eat certain things, and you value certain things that are very different to some of you who are more culturally Western.

And then there will be the stronger personalities and more timid personalities.

And not to mention that churches are communities where its members range across the entire human lifespan.

And so, when you think about it—if you have never been to a church before, churches are these weird communities with too much diversity. On the outside looking in, it just doesn’t make any sense! What on earth is bringing these people together? Why are they so weirdly friendly? And are they not out of their minds to ask you—if it’s your first time at church—to keep coming back?

And so the question I want us to think about today is: why do we want to be part of this community

Today, we are going to think about one of the values of CABC that Rob told me about—embracing all people. And—really—I just want us to think about, “Why?”

Why “all people”?

And so, as we think about one of the values of CABC today—embracing all people—I want us to be very clear on what we embracing people into.

Why would anyone want to join such a community?

Why not limit the kind of people you welcome?

Why would we want to embrace all people?

And what is it that we are embracing people into?

And what is it that we are embracing people into?

And the question I want us to think about today is: why do we want to welcome anyone into this kind of a community? Isn’t it just too diverse?

why would we want welcome “all people” into this kind of community? Isn’t there too much diversity already? Why don’t we limit the kind of people we welcome? Wouldn’t that make church easier?

And I want to convince you that it is only and exclusively the good news—or “the gospel”—of the person and work of Jesus Christ that gives a sufficient answer for these questions.

Repeat: Only Jesus gives a sufficient answer.

But more importantly, I want us to see that there is something really exciting about embracing all people through the gospel. And if I can move us to being just a bit more excited about the gospel than when you first walked in—that’ll be great.

What we’ll see from God’s word this morning in are three key ideas of the gospel:

No one can live God’s way (v1–8)

Truth has come down from above (v9–13)

Genuine and personal acceptance (v14–15)

Pause.

So the first thing to notice is Jesus’ insistence that we are all born dead.

And it would be a really great help if you were to have that passage open in front of you, because I’ll keep referring back to it.

So the first thing to notice is Jesus’ insistence that no one has life in themselves. And especially his insistence in the face of a Pharisee (or a teacher of Israel), whose whole enterprise is to teach people how to have life in the world to come.

No one can live God’s way (v1–8)

So the first thing to notice is Jesus’ insistence that no one can live God’s way. And—in particular—his insistence in the face of a Pharisee (or a teacher of Israel). So, verse 1:

So the first thing to notice is Jesus’ insistence that no one has life in themselves.

But anyhow, Jesus here insists that no one can live God’s way. And—in particular—I want us to notice that he insists this in the face of a Pharisee (or a teacher of Israel). So, if we read from verse 1:

And—in particular— in the face of a Pharisee (or a teacher of Israel). So, from verse 1:

And—in particular—his insistence of this in the face of a Pharisee (or a teacher of Israel).

From verse 1.

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

And if we had been reading the

The fact that Jesus is talking to a Pharisee is significant because their whole enterprise was to teach people not only how to live, but also how to have life in the world to come.

Life according to the Pharisees

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Now, why is it so significant that we are supposed to know that Jesus is talking to a Pharisee? If we just took out Nicodemus, we would still have the same message, won’t we?

Well no, because the whole enterprise of the Pharisees was to teach Israel—the people of God—how to live God’s way. And they were very respected in society, because they taught from God’s very own words in the Old Testament Scriptures—the same Old Testament that we have in our Bibles. And so, notice that Nicodemus is “a ruler of the Jews.”

And they were very respected and authoritative in their society, because they taught it from the Old Testament Scriptures themselves—the same Old Testament that we have in our Bibles.

And they taught these things according to the Old Testament Scriptures—

And so, they were very respected in their society. Especially because And their authority for teaching these things were the very words of God—the Old Testament Scriptures, the same Old Testament we have in our Bibles. And so they were

But Jesus has come to say that the Pharisees have gotten it all wrong—they’ve missed the point of the Scriptures. Rather than emphasising God, and his character, and how he is jealous for a genuine relationship with his own people, the Pharisees turned all of that into a bunch of rules. Rather than a relationship, it was about purity or sacrifices.

Because rather than teaching about how God loves and wants to have a genuine relationship with his people, the Pharisees turned all of that into a bunch of rules.

And so, what went wrong?

They taught the things of God, from the Old Testament Scriptures—the same Old Testament in our Bibles—and so, they were very respected in society.

Well, the Pharisees were an elite group of religious teachers. They taught the things of God, from the Old Testament Scriptures—the same Old Testament in our Bibles—and so, they were very respected in society.

So, if we were moving through John’s gospel

And therefore we considered very important to society.

They taught the things of God from the Old Testament Scriptures—the same Old Testament in your Bibles. And so,

But by the time of Jesus,

And Jesus has come to say that the Pharisees gotten it all wrong. Rather than focusing on

And that sounds really awesome, doesn’t it? So why do they get such a bad reputation?

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

But by the time of Jesus, they’ve turned Judaism into a bunch of rules.

2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is actually being quite rude. He’s basically saying that no one can actually see or understand how God rules or reign—unless they’ve been given birth again (whatever that means).

And remember, he’s talking to a Pharisee.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

It’s like telling a chef no one can actually cook a good meal unless they are born again.

Knowing the seen and the unseen

Now, these concepts can be very unfamiliar to us in the 21st Century West—we don’t tell people how to live their lives, do we? And why not? Why is it that how we live our lives such a personal matter in this day and age?

Put your hand up if you feel

See, what does it mean for us to “have life”? Is it simply that our hearts are beating and our blood is bumping?

And, in short, the reason why we think the way we do is because of our overwhelming success to control so much of what we can see, and to explain so much of what we can see.

But the revolutionary claim was that we started saying that what we cannot see is not there.

Seen and unseen

These questions were just as important in Jesus’ day.

See, what does it mean for us to have life? Is it simply that our hearts are beating and our blood is bumping?

But

Now, what does it mean to have life?

See, what does it mean for us to “have life”? Is it simply that our hearts are beating and our blood is bumping?

Is it simply that our hearts are beating and our blood is bumping?

The Pharisees were an elite group of religious leaders who taught.

“Born again” and “born from above”

But there was a time when what it meant to live

Nicodemust

Our flesh may have life, but on the inside, we are all dead. There is no life.

What Jesus is saying is that only God can give you access into his kingdom—only God, by his Spirit, can re-make you, re-generate you, and give you a new birth for his kingdom.

In Guyra, which is a little town about 7 hours away from here, there are people who have lived there for 60–70 years, but they weren’t considered a local.

So I asked them, “How do you become a local?”

nly God can give you access into his kingdom, because only God can re-make you, re-generate you for his kingdom.

And they said, “You have to be born here to be a local. Otherwise, you’re always from Sydney or Narrabri or Armidale.”

The point I’m trying to make here is that if there is anything worth marvelling at—a miracle that should absolutely blow your mind—it’s that anyone would receive this new life and become and child of God.

Truth has come down from above (v9–13)

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Now, these concepts can be very unfamiliar to us in the 21st Century West—we don’t tell people how to live their lives, do we? And why not? Why is it that how we live our lives such a personal matter in this day and age?

And, in short, the reason why we think the way we do is because of our overwhelming success to control so much of what we can see, and to explain so much of what we can see.

So I’m not saying that we all need to be good at sharing the gospel. But I am saying that when we do share the gospel, there is something really exciting happening.

Genuine and personal acceptance (v14–15)

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Conclusion

I love Watsons Bay Anglican. And as I think back to my time here at CABC, I love CABC too.

But it is not entirely because of the people at Watsons Bay and it’s not entirely because of you guys—I’m sorry!

But it’s because wherever the gospel is preached, there are my brothers and sisters in Christ—children of God, whom God uses to bear witness to Jesus that more might enter the kingdom. And the benefit that I have at Watsons Bay and CABC is that I know your faces. And you know mine. And for some of you, we know some of the best and the worst of each other—just like family.

Whenever I think about coming home to CABC, it’s like coming home to family. Some of you have seen the best and the worst of me as I grew up here, but I love CABC. Because as long as the gospel is faithfully preached

But more than that, whether it’s at Watsons Bay or here at CABC, we are all waiting to go home. And because we have such a great Father, we want all people to come home with us.

So can I encourage you all to devote yourselves to the gospel that is for all people? And to remind you that as you love all people with the gospel, and this weirdly diverse community grows, this diversity is truly and magnificently and phenomenally glorious for the name of Jesus.