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non angelus, sed anglus!

John 3 - teaching the teacher

On November 25th, 1953, there occurred an event which changed forever the way Englishmen thought about their national sport. On that day the Hungarian soccer team came to Wembley for a game that the press called “The Match of the Century”.

Up to that point England were undefeated at home. More than that, as the inventors of football they considered themselves unsurpassed in skill and ability and that evening would be an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that they were on top of the game.

Well, as you can imagine, it was a lesson in football. But the teacher became the student and, when referee Leo Horn from the Netherlands blew for full time, Hungary had won.

6-3.

Six months later England travelled to Hungary to settle the score. It got settled 7-1.

Again, in Hungary’s favour.

Sir Bobby Robson, who played in that game, went onto say: “That one game alone changed our thinking. We thought we would demolish this team - England at Wembley, we are the masters, they are the pupils. It was absolutely the other way.”

There was a new power in football, a new way that things were done that showed up the inadequacy of the old ways. More than that, Hungary’s devastation of England exposed the arrogance and pride of an establishment that thought it knew it all, but really didn’t have a clue.

And that same arrogance and pride is exactly what we see in our reading today as Nicodemus comes face to face with Jesus.

Now at first sight it appears that Nicodemus is none of those things. Am I being a little harsh on him? After all, John introduces him in verse 1 by saying:

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

It’s quite a neutral introduction, isn’t it? Well, I don’t think so, because John has already used those words in a certain way. Just come back with me a few verses and you’ll see what I mean.

Sturt spoke to us last week from the end of chapter 1 of John’s gospel, his account of the life of Jesus. In chapter 2 we see Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding and then going on into Jerusalem where he causes a scene in the middle of temple, overturning the moneylenders’ tables and challenging the religious authorities.

Let’s pick up the story at verse 23 of chapter 2…

John 2:23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. ²⁴ But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. ²⁵ He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

So there are people who appear to believe in Jesus, they trust him – because that’s what the word “believe” means in the bible. But it’s not really proper trust. We know that because Jesus doesn’t respond favourably. Ultimately, Jesus doesn’t trust those who claim to trust Him because he knows all men. He knows what is in a man.

The word man, here, obviously refers to both men and women.

So Jesus doesn’t trust himself to men because he knows all men and He knows what is in a man.

And then the very next thing that John writes is…

Now there was a man…

He wants to make sure that we understand who Nicodemus is. He is a man that Jesus knows but won’t entrust himself to. Jesus knows what is in Nicodemus, and – as we shall go on to see – it is not a good thing.
Then John tells us that Nicodemus was a leader amongst the Jews. Well, that doesn’t say much for him either. He’s already told us on a number of occasions that the Jews reject Jesus.

Finally, v2, we’re told that he comes to Jesus at night. Now light and darkness are big themes in John’s gospel. So, for example, see how he sets them up in the prologue, the opening 18 verses…

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
...
John 1:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own [that is, to the Jewish people], but his own did not receive him.

So when this man, this Jewish leader, comes at night – well, John wants us to understand him in a certain way. He is, almost, the personification of Jewish rejection of Jesus. Nicodemus could have come at noon but he would still have been in pitch darkness. And that’s really important for us because it shapes the way that we understand everything that happens next.

Nicodemus opens up by telling Jesus about Himself. Jesus’ answer almost cuts across him, it’s almost as though He’s not even heard what Nicodemus says.

Of course He has and He’s answering in His own way but also in a way that matches up with Nicodemus’ statement.
Nicodemus tells Jesus what “we” know, speaking not just for himself but for those that he represents. Jesus responds by telling Him, well, the truth.

Nicodemus tells Jesus that he must come from God because no-one could perform the miraculous signs that Jesus is doing if God were not with him.

Jesus responds by telling Nicodemus about what it really means to be from God. No-one can even see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.

I wonder what you make of that famous phrase “born again”? It wasn’t invented by zealous American evangelists, you see – they just took it from Jesus Himself. In the original language the words can mean either “born again” or “born from above”. Nicodemus obviously understands it in the first way and he asks how someone can get back into their mother’s womb. It’s an obvious problem if that’s all that Jesus is speaking about. But He’s not, and He tells Him more.

⁵ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Now these are slightly tricky verses and a lot’s been written about them. Some people want to suggest that Jesus is talking about water baptism when He speaks of water here. That’s a long stretch, I think, given that there’s nothing else in this dialogue to push us in that direction.

I used to think that being born of water and the Spirit referred to the 2 births that all Christians went through – the first is a “water” birth, a natural birth where the amniotic fluid is spilt. The second birth is a spiritual rebirth through the work of the Spirit. That seems to match up with the second things that Jesus says. Flesh gives birth to flesh , spirit gives birth to spirit. That is to say that we, as sinful people, give birth to sinful people – to people that reject God and Jesus. But the Spirit can give spiritual birth. So, in the same way we are born of water (which matches up to flesh) and Spirit.

Like I say, I used to think that but I now think it’s wrong for 2 reasons. First, because in the ancient world there’s no evidence that they ever spoke of natural birth as a “water” birth. That rather undermines the theory. But a stronger reason is that there is a place in the Bible where the language of water and spirit comes together to describe this new birth that Jesus is speaking about. And that place is Ezekiel 36, which some of you may remember from our sermon series a couple of years ago. Let’s have a quick look at it now.

Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Even though the word “flesh” is used there in a slightly different way, the combination of water and spirit are striking. And don’t forget who Jesus is speaking to – he’s speaking to a leading Jew, a supposed expert in the Old Testament, so it’s not surprise that he would use biblical pictures to make His point. The passage in Ezekiel, of course, speaks of the new life that God will bring to his people Israel, indeed to the whole world. It will be a spiritual rebirth, dead people brought to life, by nothing other than the power of God Himself. He will bring to life dead people who cannot save themselves.

If you want to see the Kingdom of God, there is no other way that to have God wash you clean and carry out a work of spiritual rebirth in your life.

Those of you who remember our Ezekiel sermon series may remember that the next chapter in Ezekiel is the famous valley of dry bones, where Ezekiel gives us a vision of the Spirit of God, the breath of God, the wind of God (because the word means the same thing in the original language) brings a whole army of skeletons to life again. It’s no surprise, then, that Jesus picks up the same language Himself as He continues teaching Nicodemus.

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.”

The word for Spirit here in the greek that John is using has the same range of meaning that the word has in the Hebrew of Ezekiel: spirit/wind/breath. It’s a play on words, but a really effective one. Having told Nicodemus that it is the Spirit of God that makes people born again, He then tells Nicodemus that he has no control over that Spirit – none of us do. He, the Spirit, is like the wind. We can see what He does but He blows where He pleases.

This is all too much for Nicodemus and he bursts out “how can this be?"

Jesus’ answer is striking,

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?

Nicodemus should understand all this. After all, it’s only what the Old Testament says. But it is hard to understand, it goes against the way that we think things should be. What Jesus is saying is that God the Holy Spirit is in charge of who gets born again and who doesn’t. He blows where he pleases.

It’s very challenging isn’t it? And it might be interesting to stop and dwell on it for a minute but Jesus doesn’t give us the chance – He pushes on, because He needs Nicodemus to understand what the real problem is here.
See what He says, vv11-12

¹¹ I tell you the truth, 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.

Jesus is the only one who can speak with authority about the things of heaven because he’s the only one that’s come from heaven. Who else has been there and come back? No-one! So if Nicodemus won’t accept what Jesus has to say then he has nowhere else to go.

This is the problem with Jesus, you see. He knows and we don’t. He is the only way to know about God. Remember what we were told in chapter 1? No-one has ever seen God but Jesus makes Him known to us. Jesus is God explaining Himself to us.

I wonder, as you sit here this morning, if you think that way about Jesus? If you really are convinced that there’s no other way to know about God? If you think you or other people might be able to look somewhere else? Well if you do, then listen up with Nicodemus, because there’s even more for you to hear because the next thing Jesus does is take this teacher of Israel back to another scene from Israel’s history, the scene that we had read for us in our first reading.

The setting is well over a thousand years before Jesus and Nicodemus. God has brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and into the desert. He’s about to take them into the Promised Land but, like children on a car journey from the dentist to the playground, the people forget how good God is being to them and complain that the journey isn’t comfortable enough. So God sends a plague of venomous snakes to punish them and many Israelites die.

But God doesn’t just punish, He is also merciful and so He sends a solution. And the solution, somewhat ironically looks just like the punishment. Moses is told to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole and those that were bitten could look at the bronze snake and live. It sounds a bit bizarre, doesn’t it? But, Jesus tells us, it’s exactly what’s going to happen to Him too. He too will be lifted up and by looking at Him those who need help will be saved. And what is the problem that we need saving from? Well, it’s what the Bible calls sin, the way that we’ve turned away from Jesus. The way that we think there’s other ways to know God or don’t even think we need to know God at all.

It’s our big problem and God will punish us for it. And yet, just like the bronze snake, God gives us a solution. He sends Jesus to, as the Bible says elsewhere, become sin for us. As Jesus is lifted up on that cross He takes our sins upon Himself. He becomes the very thing that is our problem, as though He sucks out the snake venom of sin and suffers it Himself.

It’s an incredible thing, isn’t it? I wonder if it’s new to you, this understanding of what Jesus did on the cross which He explains here to Nicodemus?

And why? Why would God do this?

Well, Jesus tells us in the words of one of the most famous phrases in the Bible.

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.

Why did God do it? Why did He send Jesus and why did Jesus go willingly?

Love. Pure and simple. And it’s an amazing sort of love because it’s love for the World. You see in John’s gospel the world is, time and time again, a world in rebellion against God and yet it is this world that God loves enough to give His only Son that they all reject . I can’t imagine giving my son in that way. Can you imagine sending your child into a room of people that hate him and will kill him, and doing it for those people? That is an amazing love and we should never stop reminding ourselves of it.

The sad fact, of course, is that the World instinctively rejects Jesus. Just look at v 19

¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

The world is not neutral. We love darkness and we hate light. When Jesus turns up he is like a strong torchlight shining into the darkness and mankind instinctively flees from it like cockroaches run for cover when you switch on the light.

The remarkable thing, then, is when someone actually steps into the light. Steps into the light and willingly has their sin exposed. Why would anyone do such a thing? Well – because they are looking at Jesus lifted up on the cross and all of a sudden the venomous snakebite of sin holds no fear for that sin is no longer their own to deal with but is dealt with by Jesus.

And every time someone does that it’s a miracle. Because what people normally do is run away from the light, find excuses not to deal with the light, pretend the light doesn’t exist. We would normally do anything but just stand in the light and let it expose us for who we are.

But, every so often someone does stand in the light and it’s an incredible thing. It shows that God has been at work. That’s the point of the last thing that Jesus says here,

²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Everytime someone steps confidently into the light, honest about their sin but confident that Jesus has dealt with it, it’s plainly seen that God did it. The wind, the Holy Spirit, blew where He wanted to blow and someone else was born again.

So what difference does knowing all this make to us?

Well, first, we must beware of sincere but useless religion. Nicodemus was an upstanding man, religious and sincere. But Jesus knocked him straight back. Nicodemus thought that he knew but Jesus told him what he really needed to know and what real religion was all about – true religion is trusting in Jesus raised up on the cross. True religion is listening to Jesus, the only one who has come from heaven to tell us about it. So let’s not be like Nicodemus who’s first words were “Rabbi, teacher, we know…”. Far better to stick to “Rabbi” and let the teacher teach us.

Second, if you do trust Jesus then spend some time this week thinking about how gracious God was in bringing that about. Thank him for loving this world enough to send His only Son to die. And more than that, thank him that not only did he send His Son to die but He blew the breath of His Spirit into you to bring you back to life so that you might walk from darkness into the light. Nicodemus came from a religion where it was all about what people did. Thank God that true religion is all about what God does.

Third, walk confidently in the light. It is a risky, risky thing to step into the light but the light of the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ means that we can lay everything bear. Every single thing that we are ashamed of, even those things that we will not tell our nearest and our dearest, they are dealt with in the light. The light exposes it, which is terrifying, but at the same time deals with it, which is exhilarating. I wonder if you still have something that you will not expose to that light, a dark recess of your heart where you dread the light going. Know this, it is already dealt with. You know that it is dealt with because Jesus hung there on the cross. Not only that you know that it is dealt with because God has committed to dealing with it by making you be born again. If God is on your side then why fear His light?

And finally, if you’re here today and this is all somewhat alien to you. In your own way you’re asking “how can this be” then there is a word for you too. A word of mercy and warning. For Nicodemus was not left in the dark. Jesus held out to Him the word of mercy but telling Him what the born-again life looked like. Jesus told Him that those that trusted Jesus would have eternal life, would walk in the light. And He also warned him that everyone that didn’t trust Jesus stood condemned by God because they had rejected His Son that He sent.

That warning was enough to change the course of Nicodemus’ life. We see him 2 more times in John’s gospel. The next time he appears he is open to hearing what Jesus has to say. His final appearance is at the foot of Jesus’ cross where he helps bury Jesus’ body. If you’re here today and you still don’t know Jesus the way that so many here do then can I urge you to consider what Jesus said to Nicodemus, and do what Nicodemus did – be open to hearing more. You may want to talk to me or someone else about that after the service but don’t leave without taking at least one more step.

“That one game alone changed our thinking” Bobby Robson said. Being shown how wrong they were led England to start all over again. And it made all the difference. Twelve years later they lifted the World Cup in the very same stadium where Hungary had humiliated them.

Far more importantly, three years after his bruising encounter with Jesus, Nicodemus was a committed follower – born again and walking in the light.

Let’s decide now to not leave it anywhere near as long before we commit to learning from the teacher, Jesus. Let’s pray.

Posted by on 01/24 at 10:45 AM

Excellent sermon. I wish I could hear more sermons like this here in Ireland. We get the usual mush - God is a god of love - do unto others, etc. . . . but nothing about the blood sacrifice of Christ.

Keep up the fine work and pray for the Anglican Communion that God will make use it for His glory. Amen.

Posted by �on� 01/24 �at� 06:02 PM

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