Sermon John 3:1-17 “Born of the Spirit”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon John 3:1-17 “Born of the Spirit”
New Covenant Church
May 27, 2018

Listen to this sermon.

In 1980 Lee Strobel was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune covering legal issues.   When his wife joined a church, Lee decided to use all of his experience and training to prove that the resurrection of Jesus was just a myth.   After extensive research, Lee came to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a historical fact that he could not refute.   Convinced that the resurrection was real Lee joined his wife as a disciple of Jesus Christ.   Lee told this story in his book, The Case for Christ, published in 1998.   This book was turned into motion picture last year and is currently available for streaming.  I urge you to watch it.

Like Lee Strobel, there was a leading scholar in the first century who was skeptical of Jesus.   He had watched Jesus’ ministry carefully and had some questions to ask.  His name was Nicodemus.   We will get to all of this, but first, let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Jesus had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.   Passover was a festival where the Hebrews remembered the mighty acts of God freeing them from slavery in Egypt and leading them to the Promised Land.   Like Moses, centuries before, Jesus had come to Jerusalem to lead the people of God from slavery to sin to the promised land of grace and forgiveness.   Jesus had come to the Jerusalem to proclaim that God was doing something new.   And Jesus was performing miracles, which drew large crowds to hear him speak.

While at the temple, Jesus got angry and start overturning the tables of the money changers.   This was part of the sacrificial system of the Jewish religion.   People would bring the first fruits of their fields or the firstborn of their animals to the temple as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin.   Jesus knew that this system was to end very soon.   With the temple’s destruction in 70 AD by the Roman the Jewish sacrificial system came to an end and has never resumed.  So Jesus’ actions of overturning the tables were his way of telling everyone that the sacrificial system was coming to an end. 

All of this drew the attention of the temple leadership.   They wondered what Jesus was up to.  And so they asked him for a sign from God that would indicate that Jesus knew what he was talking about.    Jesus’ reply was that temple would be destroyed and then rebuilt in three days.    The religious leader considered this absurd.   So later that night the teacher of Israel, the chief rabbi went to have a conversation with Jesus.

In the beginning of the sixth century before Christ, the first Jerusalem temple was destroyed temporarily ending the sacrificial system.   With the temple destroyed and sacrifices impossible the Jewish religion became a teaching religion.   Each community of Jews would have a teacher or rabbi.   This rabbi would teach children to memorize the Torah, the first five books of our Old Testament.   The best students would become rabbis and would learn the rest of the Hebrew Bible and commentaries by leading rabbis.   This system continues today as Jews gather together in synagogues listening to teachers.  And it was the leading rabbi of the day who went to see Jesus to find out a little more from this rabbi from Galilee.   So Nicodemus secretly went to see to Jesus.   And here is what happened.

John 3:1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 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.”

So Nicodemus is curious about Jesus.   He has seen the signs, miracle that Jesus has performed.   But he not really sure what to make of all this.   So, secretly, that others wouldn’t know what he was doing, Nicodemus made his way to Jesus to ask some questions.  And here is Jesus’ response.

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

So according to Jesus, we can’t understand his miracles until we are born again.   And how in the world could we ever be born a second time?  Filled with questions like these Nicodemus responded to Jesus.

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

It sounds to me that the top scholar in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day has brought out the central problem with Jesus’ argument.   Being born a second time is impossible.   But Jesus was talking about a different kind of birth, spiritual birth.  Let’s listen.

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

So Jesus was talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit.   As we heard last week this is the birth of the New Covenant.   God uses the Spirit to write the law on our hearts and minds and to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ.

I hope all of you have has this experience.   I hope that the Holy Spirit has come upon you with the saving faith in Jesus Christ.   You may or may not see it coming.   But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you will know it.  You will have a strong desire to obey God’s law.   And you will have a strong desire to worship God every week.

The Holy Spirit used a tragedy in my life to turn me around.   I was just 27 when my mother died unexpectedly from a heart attack.    I was close to her and I knew when she died that my life was about to change.  The Sunday after she died I did something I hadn’t done in years.   I put a jacket and tie and went to church.   I wasn’t sure where to go so I drove over to the church where I had been in Youth Group.  I found there a sense of peace.   And I know now that it was the Holy Spirit leading me back to church.   All I did was to respond when the Holy Spirit called.  Since that day I have been in church every Sunday.
But Nicodemus had not yet experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit into his life.  All he had was his great knowledge of scripture and tradition.   So his response to what Jesus said was a simple question.

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked

Nicodemus is at a loss for words.   He can’t comprehend yet what Jesus is even talking about.  Jesus knows this and says the following.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Jesus knows that Nicodemus will never understand what he is talking about until the Holy Spirit comes into the world.   This will happen when Jesus dies on the cross, is resurrected and then ascends to heaven.  The Holy Spirit will then come into the world.   Nicodemus will experience this and then will finally understand what Jesus has been saying. 

A couple of years later, during another Passover celebration, Nicodemus will join with another secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea, to remove Jesus’ body from the cross and lay it in a tomb.  Through his participation in the exaltation of Christ, I have no doubt that Nicodemus was born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and finally understood what Jesus was talking about.

So too with us.   We, as faithful Christians, are filled with the Holy Spirit who guides us in the reading of scripture.   With the Holy Spirit’s help, we understand what Jesus told Nicodemus.   And here is what Jesus said to the great teacher of Jerusalem.

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Our salvation comes not through the sacrifice of animals.   It does not come from study and understanding scripture.  Our salvation does not even come from our obedience to the commandments.   Our salvation comes solely from God’s love for us as expressed by His Son on the cross which we believe by faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit.

God’s love is what brought Lee Strobel and Nicodemus to faith.   God’s love and Spirit bring us to faith in Jesus Christ.   And the benefit of faith in Jesus Christ is eternal life.  Let’s pray.
   
We thank you, God, for the gift of the Holy Spirit.   Through the Spirit, we receive faith in Jesus Christ and understanding of the scriptures.   Thank you, Lord, for this gift and wonderful benefit of eternal life.   Help us to share this saving grace with others by telling them about our relationship with Jesus Christ.  In whose name we pray.   Amen.