Giving Up Hope for Good

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Textual Introduction:  Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians seems to have been written, in part, as a defense of his ministry against false accusations by unnamed opponents.  Some of the statements are in the form of irony to underscore his commitment to the gospel and to the Corinthians.  That’s the only reason he offers the catalog of his troubles:  to refute the charges being made against him.  My concern is not with his defense but with the personal dynamic involved in an incident he shares.

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Back in the 1970’s Dr Hook and the Medicine Show sang a song called “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.”  You don’t hear it much anymore.  In fact, the last time I heard it was on a radio station devoted to comedy songs.  “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” is hardly comedy.

The song tells the story of a suburban homemaker who suddenly loses her grasp on reality, runs screaming through her neighborhood, and then climbs to her roof, where she must be rescued and taken to an institution.  The song’s memorable refrain goes:

At the age of thirty-seven

She realized she'd never ride

Through Paris in a sports car

With the warm wind in her hair.

 

Lucy Jordan lost her sanity because she wasn’t able to give up on a hope she had.   Or, as some might say, give up on a very specific dream.

In his letter to them, Paul tells the Corinthians of a time when he had to give up the hope of being free from a very troubling problem.

Let me be clear.  This was not the yearning of a man we would call a whiner.  In fact, in the previous chapter he lists some of the experiences he had had while sharing the gospel.  Listen to what he says:

I’ve … been jailed …often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. ²⁴I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, ²⁵beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and drifted in the open sea for a night and a day. ²⁶In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. ²⁷I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

All of this Paul endured to carry out his mission of sharing the gospel.  And though he wasn’t a complainer, he hoped one thing would change.  So, he prayed about it and he prayed about it and he prayed about it.  Paul knew the stories of individuals like Hannah who prayed and prayed for a child; finally, God said to her, “You can stop praying, it’s about to happen—you’re going to have a son.”  But in Paul’s case God spoke to him and said, “You can stop praying, it’s not going to happen.”

Paul had been praying about getting rid of what he called “a thorn in the flesh.”  He really doesn’t identify it, apart from the note that it was “a messenger from Satan, sent to keep him from being too proud or elated.”  However, that interpretation may reflect hindsight rather than his understanding at the time he was praying to escape.

Over the centuries, Bible students have debated what Paul was talking about.  The suggestions have usually involved one of the following.

·         The “thorn” was the persecution Paul faced for preaching the gospel, perhaps at the hands of an anonymous enemy who followed Paul on his journeys.

·         The “thorn” was an actual demon following Paul around.

·         The “thorn” was some physical ailment like poor vision, clubfeet, or even a hearing loss.

·         The “thorn” was a specific kind of temptation, particularly sexual temptation.

·         The “thorn” was some form of epilepsy.

Truth is, no one knows.  We just know that Paul asked for it to be removed and God did not allow that hope to become a reality.  As the story suggests, Paul seems to have stopped praying, he seems to have given up on that hope.  That was okay because he discovered he was better off without that particular hope.  I’ll talk about that later.  For now, let me talk about this whole matter of giving up hope.

In the minds of some people, preachers aren’t supposed to say things like this; but there are times when we should give up hope.  Holding onto hope past its sell-by date can be detrimental.

--that unfulfilled hope may seize our hearts, driving out all other thoughts, leaving us spiritually and emotionally unbalanced.

--that unfulfilled hope may make us laughing-stocks to those who watch us.

--that unfulfilled hope may cause us to doubt the promises of God.

I say this because we sometimes believe every hope comes from God.  We fail to see that some perfectly good hopes are the product of our own desires and wishes.  At the same time, we may have unhealthy hopes—hopes that would be harmful to us if they became reality.  Sometimes we also attribute such hopes to God.

I don’t know if you have some hope you need to give up.  I don’t know if year after year you’ve been harboring that hope, pouring more and more emotional energy into it, only to see it fail to materialize, but I do know if you hold onto a hope you should abandon, you aren’t doing your soul any favors.

Before I try to describe the kind of hope we should abandon, let me remind you of those hopes you should hang onto.

You should hang onto any Biblical hope that is clearly addressed to all believers. 

You should hang onto any hope where you see progress—however small—toward that hope becoming a reality.  (For most of us, this would include the hope of becoming better Christians.

You should hang on to hope—even in the face of failure—if that hope involves doing something significant for God.  Your failure may have more to do with you than the nature of the hope.  Moses hoped to save one Israelite and failed.  He had to learn to trust God so he could save 3,000,000 Israelites.   I recently heard this summary of Moses’ life:  Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody, then he spent forty years thinking he was nobody; finally, he spent forty years discovering what God can do with somebody who thinks he’s nobody.

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In a sense, Paul was lucky.  He gave up a hope he had held onto for a long time because God told him to.  Most of us don’t have that experience.  What then should we do?  What kinds of hope should be given up?  Since I don’t know what your individual hopeless hope may be, I am going to speak in generalities.

1)  Give up any hope the fulfillment of which would injure another person.

This kind of hope is often the offspring of jealousy and envy. 

It’s wrong to expend our energy hoping that our competition, in business or for the slot on the cheerleading squad break a leg or go bankrupt.  To harbor such a hope sickens our souls.

It’s okay to hope for marriage but it’s wrong to hope the object of your affection will leave his or her fiancé at the altar to come running to you.  It may make a great TV movie but in real life, it will only make you heartsick and uncertain since running out on a “true love” may be habit-forming.

2)  Give up any hope the fulfillment of which would require an injustice be done on our behalf.

You may want to be admitted to a school with high academic standards, but your grades are substandard.  To hope that God will somehow get you in would be to ask for God to overlook those who made the grade.

3)  Give up any hope the fulfillment of which would circumvent the need for talent, hard work, and commitment others have had to invest to achieve the same goal.

Have you ever watched the audition shows for American Idol?  That could be a painful experience, especially in the days of Simon Cowell.  One after another, talentless youngsters try to make it onto the show.  It’s clear they’ve never met someone like Simon honest enough to tell them that singing is not their strength.  That painful moment was even more painful when someone argued that Simon and the other the judges didn’t know talent when they heard it.  These youngsters seemed to think they should be given the recording contract and skip the whole contest.

My point is there are few overnight wonders.  If you hope to do something worthwhile without hard work, you probably need to give up that hope.

This is why so many of the old professions and a few of the modern demand that aspirants must begin as apprentices and move through stages of training before they can claim to have mastered a craft.  To put it another way, you have to learn how to cut carrots before you can wear the funny pants and chef’s hat.

If you hope to be an effective Bible teacher but don’t want to spend the time looking at the passage you want to teach to try to understand what the author was saying and why, and how what that author says should speak to your students, you’ll never be more than superficial. 

4)  Give up any hope the fulfillment of which can’t give you what you’re truly hoping for.

Some hopes can’t deliver on their promises.  This is a “false hope.”  It’s the hope which says my life would be better if I could be somewhere else, had something else, or were with someone else.  It is the hope which says a bigger bank account will make me happier, more content. 

Now, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying.  A bigger bank account might make you feel less anxious when the bills arrive, but a bigger bank account won’t make you feel greater value as a human being—if it does, you’re trapped in materialism.  If you hate Ohio summers, moving to Alaska might make you cooler, but if you hate yourself, it won’t matter where you move because you’ll always be there.

People who are susceptible to this kind of false hope sometimes fall prey to hucksters.  There the people who believe the agent who says, “These stocks will double your money in a year,” or “This business is recession proof.”  They’re the folks who grab their checkbook, an envelope, and a stamp when the TV evangelist says, “Send in that check and God will return it a hundredfold.”

Before you embrace any hope, make sure it merits your commitment.

Lewis Smedes writes about knowing when we should stop hoping.  His words help summarize some of what I’ve been saying.  He says, “There is a time to hope and a time not to hope.  It is not wise to hope for thing that cannot happen.  It is not right to hope for things that should not happen.”

We hope for the impossible when we hope God will violate the free will of others to force them to conform to what we feel they should do.  That’s true even if what we want them to do is wiser and healthier than the course they have set for themselves. 

Those of us who have been wounded by the actions of someone in days past, maybe even in our childhood, might fanaticize about thing having been different, hope for a different past.  But the past can’t be changed.  We can only accept what happened and set out to deal with its impact on us.

It’s here that we really need to remember what God told Paul.  God reminded Paul that his grace was enough to help him through the toughest times.  “My grace,” God said, “is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

What a great promise that is.  The ancient world was caught up with images of power:  the army with its shining armor, the commander on the powerful horse.  Now God is telling Paul that real power comes when we admit our weakness.  The more we acknowledge our weakness, the more God can work in and through us.  The kind of hopes we most need to abandon are born out of a sense that our lives are not all we want them to be and the notion that the solution lies somewhere other than our relationship with God.

God promises to be there for Paul.  For his part, Paul says, “Why didn’t I see this all along?  I’m stronger when I admit I’m weak and trust God than I am when I think I’m strong and trust myself.”  The thorn in the flesh—whatever it might have been—didn’t go away but its power to impair diminished before God’s power.

The important thing for you to remember is that even if you have to give up on some faulty hope, you don’t have to give up on God.  Paul’s hope of being rid of his “thorn” was trumped by his hope of a more vital relationship with God.

Conclusion

Lewis Smedes tells this story:

Tammy Kramer, one of the lovelier spirits who have blessed my world, was chief of the outpatient AIDS clinic at Los Angeles County Hospital.  She was watching a young man who had come in one morning for his regular dose of medicine.  He sat in tired silence on a high clinic stool while a new doctor at the clinic poked a needle into his arm and, without looking up at his face, asked, “You are aware, aren’t you, that you are not long for this world—a year at most?”

The patient stopped at Tammy’s desk on his way out, face distorted in pain, and hissed, “That jerk took away my hope.”

“I guess he did.  Maybe it’s time to find another one.”

 

There may be some hope you need to surrender.   If so, that doesn’t mean you should give up all hope.  You just need to look for a better hope.  That’s the kind of hope God will help you find.

 

 

 

The Grand Assumption Revisited

 

Several years ago I preached this sermon as part of  series on Genesis.  I've revised it in light of recent developments such as the so-called "new atheism."

Genesis 1:1

The Bible begins with a grand assumption:  God exists.

The truth is, the Bible nowhere goes to the trouble of trying to prove the existence of God.  From the opening verse God’s existence is taken for granted.  “In the beginning God…”

Of course, in time, well after the Bible’s story came to an end, Christians would meet those who denied the existence of God.  So, Christian philosophers began to develop arguments to support the belief in the existence of God.  Some of those arguments were better than others and those arguments can still get the attention of those who are willing to listen.  Even if a person remains unconvinced most go away with more respect for Christian thinkers. 

That is, unless they are some of the new atheists like Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion.  Fair play doesn’t seem to be in their rulebook.  This is why atheist Michael Ruse says, “The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist….”

If the Bible nowhere tries to prove God exists, it also nowhere tries to give a formal definition of God.   Instead it describes God through picturesque names and through a principle which is confirmed in every part of the Bible. The best way to understand the God of the Bible is to understand that God is like what he does. 

So, the opening statement of the Bible combines these two elements—the assumption of God’s existence and the affirmation that God is like what he does.  The lesson of that opening statement?  God is the Creator.

My goal this morning is to deal with some very basic truths revealed about God in the earliest verses of the Bible.  Unfortunately, I can’t do that without at least saying something about the conflict over creation and evolution.

Part of the conflict arises because we have combatants who are continually making assertions outside their area of expertise.  We have individuals who are trained in the sciences who make dogmatic statements about theology.  And we have individuals who are trained in theology who make dogmatic statements about science.

Since neither group is likely to shut-up, I might as well add my voice to the confusion.

I’ll begin my saying that for a significant number of Christians, the problem is not the mechanics or process of evolution, but what we might call the grand assumption of evolution.  Simply put, “evolution” is about change.  Most Christians look at dinosaur fossils when they visit a museum and say to themselves, “Well, these beasts aren’t around anymore, so things have changed.”  Christians differ about just how much change has taken place since God said “Let there be…” but most do believe change has taken place.  And they believe that change shows the handiwork of the Creator.

Here’s where most Christians differ from naturalistic evolutionists or Darwinian evolutionists.  These naturalistic evolutionists believe the whole thing started by chance, without direction or purpose.  The universe is the product of chance; that is the grand assumption of evolution.  Here are a couple examples of that thinking.

Douglas Futuyma, whose textbook is used several colleges, writes:  “Some shrink from the conclusion that the human species was not designed, has no purpose, and is the product of mere mechanical mechanisms--but this seem to be the message of evolution."^[1]

Harvard's George Simpson is a little more direct when he tells us that evolution forces us to conclude that "man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind."^[2]

As you know, I’m a fan of mystery fiction.  Detective after detective, from Navaho tribal police officer Joe Leaphorn to Oxford‘s DI Robbie Lewis, at one time or another has had occasion to say, “I don’t believe in coincidences.”   Yet when we look at the universe around us and wonder about its origin, we are supposed to believe in coincidence. 

So, when we look at the Bible’s grand assumption and the Darwinian grand assumption we make a remarkable discovery.

The simple truth of the matter is that the notion which says that everything around us is the work of a Creator is a matter of faith.

At the same time, the notion which says that everything around us is the product of chance is a matter of faith.

Now, in neither instance is “faith” blind faith.  It is faith based on evidence.  Of course, sometimes the Darwinist and the creationist look at the same evidence and come away with different conclusions. 

That’s about as close to making scientific pronouncements as I’m comfortable getting.  Still, I’m going say a few more things about the conflict; this time, I’ll wear my amateur theologian hat.  I’m doing so since I just used the term “creationist” and I want to be clear about what I mean—or don’t mean.

As we approach the issue of God as Creator, I should tell you some things I do not believe. I won’t go into detail but I’ll just say enough to clarify my perspective on the matter.

--I do not believe there was a pre-Adamic race of humans who lived and died before God went back to the drawing board to start over with us.  Some of our fellow Christians suggest this as an explanation for cave paintings and the ancient humanlike bones found by paleontologists.

--I do not believe God created the universe with the appearance of great age in order to test our faith.  Honest, there are people who believe God plays such games.

--I do not believe Satan created the fossils in order to cause Christians to doubt the Bible.  I heard this explanation from a Cree Indian woman from Oklahoma who had first heard it decades before from her pastor on the reservation.

--I do not believe holding to an “old earth” cosmology is incompatible with faithfulness to the Scripture.  Those who believe in an old earth have not sold out to Darwinism.

--I do not believe holding to a “young earth” cosmology means you have greater faith in the Scripture.

--I do not believe Genesis 1 must be taken as meaning creation took place in six literal 24-hour days.  Alternative explanations have been held by Jews and Christians for centuries, long before Charles Darwin.

Now, to put my preacher hat on.  In presenting the story of Creation, the Bible is saying something, not simply about our world, but about God. 

What, then, does this story tell us about God?

1.  This story tells us that God is distinct from and independent of the universe.

 Pantheism fails to see this.  The notion which says that God is in the trees, the rocks, the flowers is not a Biblical notion.  The Bible doesn’t let us confuse the Creator with his creation.

Perhaps you’ve heard the Veterans Administration has given permission for the hammer of the Norse god Thor to be placed on the markers of soldiers who are “heathen,” adherents of the revived “pagan” religion.  Thor is part of the Teutonic religious tradition.  The Teutonic religion teaches that the world was made out of two preexistent lands of ice and fire.

The biblical story tells us that God created the world out of nothing.  As someone has put it, in creating the universe God was like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.  Only there was no rabbit, and there was no hat.

  Naturalism, which posits the eternity of matter, even in the Big Bang, is incompatible with this notion. Cosmos host Carl Sagan began each episode by intoning the mantra of naturalism:  "The Cosmos is all there is all there ever will be."  Sagan had access to the biggest and best of the world’s telescopes but none of them was big enough or powerful enough to allow him to say that.  Somewhere the question must be faced: Why is there something rather than nothing?

The universe is dependent upon God.  God did not create the world and then withdraw to watch what happened.  He continues to care for and keep the world running.

2.  This story tells us that the whole of creation reflects the wisdom and power of God.

When most of the men and women we meet in the Bible looked up to the skies they were prompted to praise God (Ps 19:1 “The Heavens declare the glory of God.")   Even the final book of the Bible pictures envisions people giving praise to God because of the great work of creation.  (REV 4:11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”}

Of course not everyone sees it that way.   Charles Swindoll tells of two families which happened to be visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time.  As one of the families stood looking down into the canyon, the father bowed his head a moment then turned to his wife and children and said, “Isn’t God’s creation majestic?”

Close by, the other family also stood looking down into the natural wonder.  Suddenly, the father spit into the canyon, and then turning to his wife and children, he said, “That’s a record.  I’ve never spit a mile before.”

In his letter to the Romans Paul says there is enough information revealed in nature to let people know something about the greatness and glory of God.  If they don’t see it, there’s something wrong with their vision. 

3.  This story tells us that God does not want us to treat the gift of our physical world with either disdain or veneration.                                                                                                                                      

The whole of creation was declared to be "good".  Any system of thinking which says the spiritual world is good and the physical world is evil just doesn’t square with the Bible’s view of the world God created.  

In light of this, the story speaks of how God created humankind to have a special relationship with the earth.  It’s summed up in this command:  Fill the earth and govern it.  Just what does this mean?  Here’s an explanation from a specialist in Hebrew.

One might paraphrase it as follows: “harness [earth’s] potential and use its resources for your benefit.” In an ancient Israelite context this would suggest cultivating its fields, mining its mineral riches, using its trees for construction, and domesticating its animals.    [In so doing] they will serve as God’s vice-regents on earth. They together, the human race collectively, have the responsibility of seeing to the welfare of that which is put under them and the privilege of using it for their benefit.

 

We are stewards who should be thankful and respectful for the rest of the creation in which we are invited to take delight.  Still, there is no wrongdoing in using the resources of the physical world to preserve and protect humankind.

Christians who truly understand their role as stewards will neither abuse nature nor worship nature.

4.   This story tells us that creation was the purposeful choice of God.

He did not need to create us but he chose to create us.  Having made that choice, God created a world suitable for us.  Think about this:  If our physical world—the planet Earth—were very much different, we couldn’t live here.  Life as we know it would be impossible; if life existed, it would be very different.

*                      Bodies of water freeze from the top down rather from the bottom up.  If ice sank to the bottom of a pond or formed at the bottom of that pond, the plant life would die, then the fish would die.  As it is, plants continue to produce oxygen even if the pond is frozen over, so fish can live.   Keep something else in mind, water in its solid state—ice—expands whereas most materials as they cool contract.  Because water expands it floats instead of sinking.  Because of this fish and other aquatic life can live through the winter.[3]  God, you see, was thinking ahead when he designed water.

*                      Earth is tilted 23° from upright.  If the axis were not tilted the earth’s poles would be much colder and the equator would be much hotter.  We would have only about half as much livable land as we have now.

*                      If Earth were much smaller the atmosphere would be thinner and we would be exposed to hazards from the 20,000 meteorites which enter and burn up in our atmosphere daily. 

I could suggest a few more examples of how this planet is just right for life as we know it, just right for us.  According to the Bible God created the earth to be our special home.  The psalmist says,

PS 115:16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD,

    but the earth he has given to man.

 

Critics argue that there actually might be multiple universes and that we just hit the jackpot by getting the one where human life could evolve.  It’s just chance or coincidence (that word again).  That, of course, is just theoretical; there is no evidence for other universes. 

God gave us a home which was right for us because he wanted us to flourish and enjoy our home, to grow and exercise our creativity, to reach our potential.  That's pretty exciting when we think about it. 

It's also challenging; if God had a purpose in creating us, we should be concerned to find our part in that purpose.  That challenge involves living out whatever it means to be made in the image of God.  That’s a profound notion that implies a special relationship with God that no other creature enjoys.

5.  This story tells us that God—as the creator of the universe—including us humans—knows best how we can reach our potential as creatures made in the image of God. 

Some have a hard time handling that.  They like to feel they know best for themselves, at least in the arena of spirit.  They feel they don’t need any outside counsel or directions for living.

Yet few of these men and women would add a new piece of hardware to a computer system without checking what the manufacturer’s directions might be.

I’ve read this story many times but, truthfully, I don’t know if it’s true.  But even if it’s not, think of it as a kind of modern parable.

During the hard days of the mid-1930’s a young man from Michigan had somehow managed to save enough money to buy his first car, a used car.  Of course, all he could afford was an early Model T Ford.  While driving new purchase home along a country road the car simply stopped running.  No matter what the young man tried the car wouldn’t start.  The young man’s opened the hood as he’d seen others do but he really had no idea what to do next and anyway his only tool was a screwdriver.  But while he stood there a large black limousine pulled up and stopped.  A thin, well-dressed man got out and walked over to the stranded car.  He asked the young man to describe what the problem was; when he finished, the stranger took the screwdriver and made a few adjustments under the hood.  He then told the young man to try to start the car.  It started right away. 

The stranger closed the hood and headed back to his waiting limo.  The young man shouted his thanks and asked, “What’s your name?”  As he closed the limo door the stranger responded, “It’s Ford, Henry Ford.”

The point is that sometimes it takes the maker to get things going the way they’re supposed to be.  What happens if the Maker is ignored?  Maybe the headlines tell the story.

Conclusion

During this past week we’ve been hearing and reading the unfolding story of the death of Cory Monteith.  The thirty-one year old died last Saturday from an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol.  Monteith was one of the stars of Glee, the show about a show choir at an Ohio high school.  He was a talented actor and a gifted singer.  He had a major role on one to TV’s most successful programs.  He had a beautiful girlfriend and the respect of his colleagues.  Yet, it doesn’t seem to have been enough.  Since the time he was a teenager, he needed drugs to make up for what was missing.

As I thought about this, I remembered an episode of Glee that aired in 2010.  Monteith’s character Finn makes a toasted cheese sandwich on which he believes he seen the image of Jesus.  Finn even prays to the sandwich, making some self-centered requests.  Then he suggests the glee club sing some religious songs.

The rest of the show focused on his fellow choir member’s anger at the very idea of God.  Only one member, an African American girl had something positive to say.  One character suggested believing in God was akin to believing in a dwarf who reads romance novels and lives in a teapot on the dark side of the moon.  No one had much use for God.

As I thought of that I recalled another gifted and talented young man, a young man who also searched for something he felt was missing.  His name was Augustine; he lived in the fourth century.

You know he became a Christian after a great struggle.  Like the cast of Glee, he felt God was just a little too intrusive.  But finally he surrendered.  He told the story in his book The Confessions.  In that book, he comes to this conclusion:”Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

What a statement about the Creator.  God has made us in such a way that we find no lasting satisfaction apart from a relationship with him.  He has made us to know us.  That is why the Grand Assumption is so significant.

 

 

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^[1]   Quoted by Phillip E. Johnson, Reason in the Balance, p. 9.

^[2]   Ibid., p. 8-9.

 

[3]    I owe this insight to Verdie Abel of the Ohio Division of Wildlife. 

The Snake and the Cross

 

 

John 3:1-15

There were hundreds of Pharisees in Judea when Jesus lived there.  While we usually have trouble thinking of anything good to say about these super-committed Jews, the few Pharisees we know by name in the New Testament are intriguing characters.  The best-known, of course, is Paul, who probably needs no introduction.  Then there’s Joseph of Arimethea, the man who provided a tomb so Jesus could have a decent burial.  This text introduces us to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was curious about Jesus.  Curious, not simply because Jesus was interesting but because Nicodemus almost certainly felt something was missing spiritually.  That curiosity prompted him to go see Jesus late one night.

Jesus “cut to the chase,” as we say.  He did not give the Pharisee time to begin a formal theological discussion.  Instead, Jesus declared, “I tell you for certain that you must be born again before you can see God’s kingdom!”

Of course, Nicodemus didn’t understand, so Jesus had to explain further.  Being “born again” is God’s work.

Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’

The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

 

Still, Nicodemus struggled.  This was hard to take.  Jews reserved the term “reborn” for the Gentiles who chose to embrace Judaism.  Nicodemus would have heard Jesus saying, “You—a ruler of Israel and a proud Pharisee—must first regard yourself as one outside God’s Kingdom if you would enter God’s Kingdom.”

The thought of giving up his cherished beliefs—that he didn’t need to be reborn and that his good life would win God’s favor—was so difficult that Nicodemus is unable to grasp Jesus’ words.  So, Nicodemus again asks, "How can this be?"

 

This puzzles us too.  It troubles us.  We so very much want to believe that our going to heaven is about what we do.  Jesus says, No, it’s about what God does.

Once again Jesus pulls no punches to challenge Nicodemus to look beyond his limited understanding, but this time he uses a Biblical example to illustrate how the people poisoned by their own sinful rebellion had to depend upon God for rescue.  An ardent student of what we now call the Old Testament, Nicodemus would have been very familiar with this story. 

JN 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

 

As punishment for their sins, God sent snakes to bite the people of Israel.  In response to their cries for help, God told Moses to make a bronze snake which he was to place on a pole and hold it up where it could be seen.  God then promised that whoever looked at the snake would be healed.

Now, I admit that may seem like a strange story if you’re hearing if for the first time but it has three important points to keep in mind:

1. There was a God-appointed means of salvation—the Bronze Snake.

2.  There was a God-appointed means of accepting that salvation—looking at the Bronze Snake.

3.   The consequence of not accepting the God-appointed means of salvation was death.

Now, there is nothing particularly significant about a bronze sculpture of a snake to make it a life-saving remedy.  Yet, when the stricken Israelites looked at that bronze snake, they were cured.  Looking at that snake healed them, because God had said it would.

It’s far too early for Nicodemus to appreciate all that Jesus is saying but the words point ahead to the cross. 

For nearly two-thousand years Christian thinkers have tried to explain why the death of Jesus makes possible our salvation.  Some of the explanations see better than others, yet none of them seem to fully explain the significance of Jesus’ death.  The best we can say is, trusting the crucified Savior brings salvation because God says it does.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

The story of Nicodemus’ late-night encounter with Jesus ends at this point, ends with words which are some of the best-known in the Bible. 

"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.”

Scholars don’t know if those words were spoken by Jesus or were John’s comment on the episode.  It doesn’t matter.  The beautiful words of John 3:16 remind us of what was going on when Jesus died on the cross.  He was dying for us, dying to pay the penalty for our sins, dying to make it possible for us to live.

The beautiful words of John 3:16 explain why Jesus reminded Nicodemus of that Bronze Snake.

1.  There is a God-appointed means of salvation:  The cross.

2.   There is a God-appointed means of accepting that salvation:  Faith in Christ.

3.  The consequence of not accepting the God-appointed means of salvation is death.

Did you see how Jesus defined the consequences of faith in him; whoever believes in him will have ‘eternal life.’

That’s the possession of those who have been “born again”.   They possess eternal life.  And that fact has the greatest spiritual significance.

The thought that four out of ten people could regularly sit in our pews and be indifferent to the need to be born again is beyond sad, it is a spiritual tragedy.

Those words, “You must be born again,” echo down the centuries.

Jesus’ words reflect a heavenly imperative.  Jesus did not say to the man who would have been considered a spiritual giant among the Jews, “You should consider being born again.”  He said, “You must be born again.”  It was nonnegotiable.  In light of this we can’t say, “Six out of ten people who attend church will go to heaven because they have been born again, the other four will go to heaven some other way.”  We don’t have that option.  Whether they go to church or not, everyone who hopes for salvation must be born again.

Jesus’ words reflect a human impossibility.  Jesus was not speaking of some psychological game in which I “rebirth” myself.  The spiritual miracle known as being born again is accomplished by totally by the power of God.  Oh, if you sit in a church long enough, I suppose some of the church culture will rub off.  Your language may change.  You may begin to behave differently.  But the real question remains, Have you been born again?  Have you put your faith in the one who gives eternal life?

Jesus said, “You must be born again.”  Jesus said that yet four out of every ten churchgoers can’t say they are born again.

I’m not reminding you of what Jesus said because I’d like to be able to say, “In our church only three out of ten aren’t born again.” 

The statistics are only a reminder of how we can’t forget to echo the message of Jesus, “You must be born again.”

If only one of you has never put your faith in Christ, we want you to hear and heed the message of Jesus, “You must be born again.”

In a moment we will sing a song of invitation.  In less time than it takes to play the opening bars of that song, you can put your faith in Christ, you can be born again. 

I don’t know how it can happen so quickly except that it is a miracle linked to the very throne of God.

Stop trying to reform yourself, redeem yourself, renew yourself.

Put your faith in Christ; let him give you new life.

And, if you have put your faith in Christ for the first time, if you have accepted the new life he offers, then declare that new faith by coming forward during our final song. 

 

[If you're reading this sermon and have placed your faith in Christ--either after reading the sermon or at some other time--and have never told the pastor of the church you attend or a church in your neighborhood, please consider doing so.  It's important.]