St Theodore's Sermon

	St Theodore's Wattle Park

Sermon of the Week

21/2/99

A Visitor by Night John 3:1-21

Judgment is an interesting concept. When Jaidyn Leskie was found murdered last year we all hoped that the perpetrator of that crime would be caught and judged. There's a trial on at the moment of a man accused of raping and murdering 2 girls from Bega last year and if he's found guilty we'll be glad that he's been brought to justice. On the other hand if we feel like someone is judging us or criticising our actions or lifestyle, we get upset. It's fine to judge criminals but no-one has a right to judge my lifestyle.

Of course judgement is also used in the sense of discernment. So those footballers and cricketers who have been in the news lately for poor conduct have shown a lack of judgement about how to behave. If you go to the races (??) you need to be a good judge of horse flesh. If you're employing an interior decorator it's important that they have good judgement about what's fashionable and what's not.

At a more serious level, if you want to understand what's going on in the world and where you fit into the scheme of things you need a level of judgement that allows you to see the world clearly, and that's where we come to today's passage.

The idea of judgement runs all the way through this passage from John 3. Here we discover what's necessary to judge the world clearly, how God's judgement is removed by the work of Christ, and how some people by their actions bring God's judgement on themselves.

   The passage begins with

   The Judgement of the Pharisees.

   We're told that there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews who came to Jesus by night. Now there's been lots of speculation about why he came by night. Some suggest he came at night to avoid the crowds. He didn't want to be associated with the common people who flocked around Jesus. Others suggest he came at night to benefit from the cloak of darkness, in case someone saw him. But to properly understand what John intends by this reference to night, we need to see how he uses the term in other parts of his gospel. eg in 9:4 Jesus says: "We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work." In 11:9&10 he says: "Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." And in 13:30 at the last supper we're told that Judas, after receiving the piece of bread from Jesus, immediately goes out. "And it was night." Do you see how 'night' in John's Gospel carries the idea of moral and spiritual darkness or blindness. So Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night isn't just an historical detail. It's meant to alert us to the fact that Nicodemus is spiritually lost. He's blind and that blindness is shown by his opening remark to Jesus and by Jesus response to him.

   He says "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Now do you remember how, last week, the Pharisees had asked Jesus for a sign to show he had the authority to cleanse the Temple? And I said that what they were doing was trying to impose their authority over his. To judge whether or not to listen to him. Well, exactly the same thing is happening here. Nicodemus and those he represents have judged that there must be something authentic about Jesus because of the things they've seen him do. But now comes

   The Judgement on the Pharisees.

   In reply Jesus makes this enigmatic switch: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." So how does that answer fit with what Nicodemus has just said? I think what Jesus is saying is this: You think that you can judge from my actions whether or not I'm authentic, whether or not I'm the one promised by God to bring in the new Kingdom, but in fact you can't, because you're blind. There's only one way to see whether what's happening is the coming of God's Kingdom. That's to first be born from above. Until you experience that new birth all you can see is the outward show. Until you experience that new birth, you'll never be able to see the Kingdom of God because the Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom.

   Well, it's not clear at this point whether Nicodemus is simply struggling to understand or if perhaps he's seeking to justify himself. Perhaps there's a little of each. In any case he answers in a way that throws scorn on Jesus' suggestion. How can someone my age be born again? Far too much water has passed under the bridge.

   But Jesus isn't deterred. He puts it in another way. This time he says (v5): "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' ⁸The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

   Now we need to be clear what's meant by this being born of water and spirit. Some people think the water refers to baptism and the Spirit to some later filling by the Holy Spirit, possibly, that is, to John's Baptism of repentance followed by belief in Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised. Others think it refers to physical birth followed by spiritual birth. But notice that this is a parallel statement to "You must be born from above." He's talking here about a single birth. In other words the water and spirit go together. So what is Jesus referring to?

   Well, there's a hint in what he says to Nicodemus in v10. There he berates Nicodemus for being a teacher of Israel and yet not understanding this saying about being born of water and spirit. As one who was steeped in the Scriptures he should have understood what Jesus was saying.

   So what was it that he should have understood? What he should have understood were all the Old Testament references to the giving of the Spirit and the cleansing that would go with that. Perhaps the most obvious of these is in Ezekiel36:25-27 (NRSV): "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances." You see, the water and the spirit go together to bring about the new life of the Kingdom of God. And as Jesus taught elsewhere, the coming of the Kingdom is something that happens in secret, without you being aware of it until you see its effects.

   But how is this to happen? How are we to be cleansed and made new. Here we come to the next idea of judgement. This time it's

   Judgement removed.

   What does Jesus say next? V12ff: "If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." You may remember an incident during the Exodus when the people had been travelling through the desert for some time and they were getting a bit sick of it. So they started to whinge about their lot. It's recorded in Numbers 21. There wasn't enough bread, there wasn't enough water and as for the manna that God had provided for them, well they hated that. It sounds a bit like a Kids' Club mealtime! Well their complaining against God and against Moses got so bad that God's judgement fell on them. He sent venomous snakes that bit the people and many of them died. But then when the people repented of their sin, God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole and everyone who looked at the snake would live. They deserved the judgement of death, but God in his mercy provided a way of escape so they could live.

   So can you see what Jesus is saying here. That bronze snake raised on that pole was meant as a precursor to Jesus, the Son of Man, who would be raised on a cross, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

   Everyone of us is like those people in the desert. Not necessarily because we've complained against God, though I wonder how many hands would go up if I asked how many of us have ever complained about our lot in life. No, it may not be for that specific sin, but every one of us is under the judgement of God. Everyone of us would prefer to run our own lives rather than let God do it. Everyone of us would like to think that we're the most important person in the universe. Let me give you an example of where that becomes obvious. Imagine that you're going through your photo album and you come across a photo of your old high school class. Who's the first person you look for? Most of us look for ourselves first. Why? Because we're the person we're most interested in. That, of course, is a trivial example, but it's a symptom of the disease that besets all of humanity. At the centre of our being we don't want God to rule, we want ourselves to rule. And so we're all under the judgement of God and there's no way out unless God provides one for us, just as he did for the people of Israel in the wilderness. But this time the way out isn't a bronze snake, it's the Son of Man, lifted up on the cross, crucified, dead and buried, to bear the sin of all who believe in him.

   Why does God do this? Why does he give up his only begotten Son so we might live? Well, John tells us in v16. He does it because he loves us so much. Let's think about that for a moment. What does it mean for God to love us? What does it mean for God to love me, or you? It's so easy to get this wrong. To think we understand but not really understand.

   You see, when you or I say "I love you" we usually mean something like "you have some characteristic that pleases me." Imagine Darryn and Jessica, sitting on board a dolphin cruise boat like we were on last night as the sun slowly sinks in the west and Darryn turns to Jessica and says "I love you!" What does he mean? Well, he means he loves the way she laughs. He loves the way her eyes light up when she smiles. He loves that crooked turn of her nose, the cowlick that keeps falling in her eyes. Her very presence brings him delight. She's fun to be with. What he doesn't mean is that her breath is awful from the garlic prawns she had for dinner, the dress she's wearing is completely the wrong colour, when he looks in her face he can't help but laugh because she looks so stupid, and he wonders when she last had a shower. No, our expressions of love are generally prompted by things we like in a person, even if our love may help us put up with things we don't like. But you see, when God looks at us and says he loves us, it's not because of anything that's attractive about us. Here's what he tells us about his love in Rom 5:8-10 ( NRSV) "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ... ¹⁰while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son." This is the measure of God's love for us. His love is given to those who are his enemies; to those who would rather not have him in control of their lives, in fact are fighting to maintain their own control. His love is given to those who deserve his judgement, his condemnation. And the result of his love is that through the death of Jesus on the cross, our sins are washed away. We're filled with his Spirit, who changes us so much that we welcome the rule of God in our lives; that we recognise our failings and long for God to take them away. Through the power of the resurrection, we receive that eternal life that he's promised to all who believe in Jesus Christ.

   But there's one final question about judgement that remains after all this. That is, if God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, does that mean that everyone is safe. Did he love the world so much that it doesn't matter how you live or what you think abut God? Well, no, we're told. There are those who remain under what you might class as a

   Self-imposed Judgement

   We're told: "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned;" (that's we're we've got to already, but then there's a but:) "but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God." The purpose of Jesus' coming into the world was to save people from the judgement they rightly deserved, but the other side to that is that his very coming provides a test for every person who comes near him. It's not that he passes judgement on anyone. Rather they pass judgment on themselves by their reaction to him. You see in the end, there are only two ways to respond to Jesus: by belief, or by unbelief. Taking up the image of light and darkness, John says, the verdict is clear: when light comes into the world, either you love the light and are drawn to it, or you hate the light because it shows up what you're really like and you flee from it. The end result is that those who flee from the light are left in the dark. That is, they're left without God and what do we call that place from which the presence of God is absent? We call it hell. It's almost as if God doesn't need to pronounce the judgement because those who do evil impose the judgement on themselves.

   So here is the question? Where do you stand? Do you stand in the light? Is your life exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you being changed by his Holy Spirit within you? Or are you avoiding the issue. To avoid the issue is to impose the judgment on yourself because it's to flee from the light of the world. On the other hand, if you are one who believes in Jesus Christ, have you fully understood the love God has for you? Have you understood that God loves you not for who you are or what you do, but rather he loves you despite your failings. Have you asked him to so fill you with his Spirit that the new birth that's yours might result in a whole new life, of changed behaviour, changed focus, with Christ at the centre rather than you. This is what God offers to those who believe in Jesus Christ. Lives washed clean through Jesus death and resurrection, lives changed through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, eternal life with Jesus Christ and the Father in heaven. Let's pray that we might be those who live in the light of Christ.


	Contact us	Preaching Program	Home		Last Week's Sermon

	Sermon of the Week
	21/2/99
	A Visitor by Night	John 3:1-21

	Judgment is an interesting concept. When Jaidyn Leskie was found murdered last year we all hoped that the perpetrator of that crime would be caught and judged. There's a trial on at the moment of a man accused of raping and murdering 2 girls from Bega last year and if he's found guilty we'll be glad that he's been brought to justice. On the other hand if we feel like someone is judging us or criticising our actions or lifestyle, we get upset. It's fine to judge criminals but no-one has a right to judge my lifestyle.
	Of course judgement is also used in the sense of discernment. So those footballers and cricketers who have been in the news lately for poor conduct have shown a lack of judgement about how to behave. If you go to the races (??) you need to be a good judge of horse flesh. If you're employing an interior decorator it's important that they have good judgement about what's fashionable and what's not.
	At a more serious level, if you want to understand what's going on in the world and where you fit into the scheme of things you need a level of judgement that allows you to see the world clearly, and that's where we come to today's passage.
	The idea of judgement runs all the way through this passage from John 3. Here we discover what's necessary to judge the world clearly, how God's judgement is removed by the work of Christ, and how some people by their actions bring God's judgement on themselves.
	The passage begins with
	The Judgement of the Pharisees.
	We're told that there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews who came to Jesus by night. Now there's been lots of speculation about why he came by night. Some suggest he came at night to avoid the crowds. He didn't want to be associated with the common people who flocked around Jesus. Others suggest he came at night to benefit from the cloak of darkness, in case someone saw him. But to properly understand what John intends by this reference to night, we need to see how he uses the term in other parts of his gospel. eg in 9:4 Jesus says: "We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work." In 11:9&10 he says: "Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." And in 13:30 at the last supper we're told that Judas, after receiving the piece of bread from Jesus, immediately goes out. "And it was night." Do you see how 'night' in John's Gospel carries the idea of moral and spiritual darkness or blindness. So Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night isn't just an historical detail. It's meant to alert us to the fact that Nicodemus is spiritually lost. He's blind and that blindness is shown by his opening remark to Jesus and by Jesus response to him.
	He says "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Now do you remember how, last week, the Pharisees had asked Jesus for a sign to show he had the authority to cleanse the Temple? And I said that what they were doing was trying to impose their authority over his. To judge whether or not to listen to him. Well, exactly the same thing is happening here. Nicodemus and those he represents have judged that there must be something authentic about Jesus because of the things they've seen him do. But now comes
	The Judgement on the Pharisees.
	In reply Jesus makes this enigmatic switch: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." So how does that answer fit with what Nicodemus has just said? I think what Jesus is saying is this: You think that you can judge from my actions whether or not I'm authentic, whether or not I'm the one promised by God to bring in the new Kingdom, but in fact you can't, because you're blind. There's only one way to see whether what's happening is the coming of God's Kingdom. That's to first be born from above. Until you experience that new birth all you can see is the outward show. Until you experience that new birth, you'll never be able to see the Kingdom of God because the Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom.
	Well, it's not clear at this point whether Nicodemus is simply struggling to understand or if perhaps he's seeking to justify himself. Perhaps there's a little of each. In any case he answers in a way that throws scorn on Jesus' suggestion. How can someone my age be born again? Far too much water has passed under the bridge.
	But Jesus isn't deterred. He puts it in another way. This time he says (v5): "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' ⁸The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
	Now we need to be clear what's meant by this being born of water and spirit. Some people think the water refers to baptism and the Spirit to some later filling by the Holy Spirit, possibly, that is, to John's Baptism of repentance followed by belief in Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised. Others think it refers to physical birth followed by spiritual birth. But notice that this is a parallel statement to "You must be born from above." He's talking here about a single birth. In other words the water and spirit go together. So what is Jesus referring to?
	Well, there's a hint in what he says to Nicodemus in v10. There he berates Nicodemus for being a teacher of Israel and yet not understanding this saying about being born of water and spirit. As one who was steeped in the Scriptures he should have understood what Jesus was saying.
	So what was it that he should have understood? What he should have understood were all the Old Testament references to the giving of the Spirit and the cleansing that would go with that. Perhaps the most obvious of these is in Ezekiel36:25-27 (NRSV): "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances." You see, the water and the spirit go together to bring about the new life of the Kingdom of God. And as Jesus taught elsewhere, the coming of the Kingdom is something that happens in secret, without you being aware of it until you see its effects.
	But how is this to happen? How are we to be cleansed and made new. Here we come to the next idea of judgement. This time it's
	Judgement removed.
	What does Jesus say next? V12ff: "If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." You may remember an incident during the Exodus when the people had been travelling through the desert for some time and they were getting a bit sick of it. So they started to whinge about their lot. It's recorded in Numbers 21. There wasn't enough bread, there wasn't enough water and as for the manna that God had provided for them, well they hated that. It sounds a bit like a Kids' Club mealtime! Well their complaining against God and against Moses got so bad that God's judgement fell on them. He sent venomous snakes that bit the people and many of them died. But then when the people repented of their sin, God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole and everyone who looked at the snake would live. They deserved the judgement of death, but God in his mercy provided a way of escape so they could live.
	So can you see what Jesus is saying here. That bronze snake raised on that pole was meant as a precursor to Jesus, the Son of Man, who would be raised on a cross, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
	Everyone of us is like those people in the desert. Not necessarily because we've complained against God, though I wonder how many hands would go up if I asked how many of us have ever complained about our lot in life. No, it may not be for that specific sin, but every one of us is under the judgement of God. Everyone of us would prefer to run our own lives rather than let God do it. Everyone of us would like to think that we're the most important person in the universe. Let me give you an example of where that becomes obvious. Imagine that you're going through your photo album and you come across a photo of your old high school class. Who's the first person you look for? Most of us look for ourselves first. Why? Because we're the person we're most interested in. That, of course, is a trivial example, but it's a symptom of the disease that besets all of humanity. At the centre of our being we don't want God to rule, we want ourselves to rule. And so we're all under the judgement of God and there's no way out unless God provides one for us, just as he did for the people of Israel in the wilderness. But this time the way out isn't a bronze snake, it's the Son of Man, lifted up on the cross, crucified, dead and buried, to bear the sin of all who believe in him.
	Why does God do this? Why does he give up his only begotten Son so we might live? Well, John tells us in v16. He does it because he loves us so much. Let's think about that for a moment. What does it mean for God to love us? What does it mean for God to love me, or you? It's so easy to get this wrong. To think we understand but not really understand.
	You see, when you or I say "I love you" we usually mean something like "you have some characteristic that pleases me." Imagine Darryn and Jessica, sitting on board a dolphin cruise boat like we were on last night as the sun slowly sinks in the west and Darryn turns to Jessica and says "I love you!" What does he mean? Well, he means he loves the way she laughs. He loves the way her eyes light up when she smiles. He loves that crooked turn of her nose, the cowlick that keeps falling in her eyes. Her very presence brings him delight. She's fun to be with. What he doesn't mean is that her breath is awful from the garlic prawns she had for dinner, the dress she's wearing is completely the wrong colour, when he looks in her face he can't help but laugh because she looks so stupid, and he wonders when she last had a shower. No, our expressions of love are generally prompted by things we like in a person, even if our love may help us put up with things we don't like. But you see, when God looks at us and says he loves us, it's not because of anything that's attractive about us. Here's what he tells us about his love in Rom 5:8-10 ( NRSV) "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ... ¹⁰while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son." This is the measure of God's love for us. His love is given to those who are his enemies; to those who would rather not have him in control of their lives, in fact are fighting to maintain their own control. His love is given to those who deserve his judgement, his condemnation. And the result of his love is that through the death of Jesus on the cross, our sins are washed away. We're filled with his Spirit, who changes us so much that we welcome the rule of God in our lives; that we recognise our failings and long for God to take them away. Through the power of the resurrection, we receive that eternal life that he's promised to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
	But there's one final question about judgement that remains after all this. That is, if God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, does that mean that everyone is safe. Did he love the world so much that it doesn't matter how you live or what you think abut God? Well, no, we're told. There are those who remain under what you might class as a
	Self-imposed Judgement
	We're told: "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned;" (that's we're we've got to already, but then there's a but:) "but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God." The purpose of Jesus' coming into the world was to save people from the judgement they rightly deserved, but the other side to that is that his very coming provides a test for every person who comes near him. It's not that he passes judgement on anyone. Rather they pass judgment on themselves by their reaction to him. You see in the end, there are only two ways to respond to Jesus: by belief, or by unbelief. Taking up the image of light and darkness, John says, the verdict is clear: when light comes into the world, either you love the light and are drawn to it, or you hate the light because it shows up what you're really like and you flee from it. The end result is that those who flee from the light are left in the dark. That is, they're left without God and what do we call that place from which the presence of God is absent? We call it hell. It's almost as if God doesn't need to pronounce the judgement because those who do evil impose the judgement on themselves.
	So here is the question? Where do you stand? Do you stand in the light? Is your life exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you being changed by his Holy Spirit within you? Or are you avoiding the issue. To avoid the issue is to impose the judgment on yourself because it's to flee from the light of the world. On the other hand, if you are one who believes in Jesus Christ, have you fully understood the love God has for you? Have you understood that God loves you not for who you are or what you do, but rather he loves you despite your failings. Have you asked him to so fill you with his Spirit that the new birth that's yours might result in a whole new life, of changed behaviour, changed focus, with Christ at the centre rather than you. This is what God offers to those who believe in Jesus Christ. Lives washed clean through Jesus death and resurrection, lives changed through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, eternal life with Jesus Christ and the Father in heaven. Let's pray that we might be those who live in the light of Christ.

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