Trinity
Sunday – John 3:1-17 – June 10th and 11th,
2017
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
All
sin, when it boils down to it, is nothing but idolatry – indeed,
it’s nothing but self idolatry. All sin is nothing but having your
eyes focused not upon the Triune God and His Will, but rather the
fleeting and vain whims and wishes of your own heart. This has been
the problem since the Garden when we listened to Satan and starting
thinking that things would be so much better if we were the ones who
were like God, if we were the ones who were in charge. So, what is
God to do? His creation has been tarnished, wrecked, bound for
destruction. His Adam, His Eve, His you, His me… lost and dying.
Shall He just shrug? Shall He just let us get the punishment we
deserve, shall He let us remain in our self-destructive
self-idolatrous ways? No. Because He loves you, the Father sends
His Son to win you salvation, sends His Spirit to turn your eyes off
of yourself and rather onto His salvation. With this Sunday, we are
entering the Trinity season, the season of teaching, the season where
week in and week out we will be shown God’s Truth and Love that
triumph over our sin and idolatry. God's not going to let you stay
stuck in sin – He will come to rescue you, and for the rest of the
Church year we will see the impact, the implications of what having
the Triune God get involved in our life means.
And we
begin this task with our Gospel lesson from John. “Now
there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we
know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do the
signs that you do unless God is with him.’”
At first blush, one might look at Nicodemus and say, “Eh, that’s
not bad. That’s a pretty good answer.” Jesus gives him no
praise. In fact, Jesus smacks him down hard. “Truly,
truly I say unto you, unless one is born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God.” That’s a smack
down. When Jesus begins by saying, “truly, truly I say unto you”
– that’s the way of saying, “buddy, you are wrong, and let me
tell you how.” And Nicodemus was off. Jesus knew that Nicodemus
was full of fluff, knew that Nicodemus was blind. Nicodemus’
approach to Christ was terrible. First, Nicodemus comes at night –
when it’s dark and no one can see. He says, “Oh, we know” –
but he slinks in at night, doesn’t want any of his good friends to
know that he’s daring to talk to this Jesus fellow. And what does
Nicodemus know – that Jesus is what? A Teacher? A teacher
Nicodemus is embarrassed to be seen with. And also, while being a
teacher is a highly respectable thing – teachers don’t do signs …
they don’t perform miracles. That is at least a “Prophet”
thing. But do you know what the difference in Jesus’ day would
have been between a teacher and a prophet? A teacher would have been
answerable to the rulers of the Jews… a prophet answers to God. So
what you have Nicodemus really saying is, “Okay, I don’t want
other folks to know I'm talking to you, and since You are just a
teacher, you should be working for me, because I should be the one in
charge… and if I get control of You first, it will be good for me.”
“Truly,
truly I say unto you, unless one is born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God.” You are blind,
Nicodemus. You are caught in self idolatry. You are stuck elevating
yourself – you try to elevate yourself over Me even as you hide
from your peers and fear their disdain. At best you think I might
give you some insight that you can use in your power-plays. No. You
don’t see who I am, Nicodemus. Unless you are born again, unless
you are born from on High by God, you will not recognize the Kingdom
of God, you will not see that it is no longer about you and your
petty desires – I am God, and I have come to establish My kingdom
of love and mercy and forgiveness. And without the Spirit, you won’t
be able to see it.
And
Jesus is right. “Nicodemus said to Him,
‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time
into his mother’s womb and be born?’”
That’s a swing and a miss. Nicodemus has no clue. Christ Jesus
has spoken to him of that which is wondrous and Spiritual… and
Nicodemus, I don’t want to even think where his head is at. Christ
alludes to the Kingdom of God – but Nicodemus isn’t interested in
that. No, tell mr about this born thing… does it involve women?
It’s utterly disgusting and self-serving. Of course, what we too
must admit, we who have been given eyes to see by God, that our sin,
even the things we try to brush off as small and minor are just as
disgusting and self-serving. All sin is disgusting and wicked…
even the sins we in our old sinful flesh enjoy.
But
Christ, in His wondrous love and patience, answers Nicodemus.
“Truly, truly I say unto you, unless one
is born of water and the Spirit, He cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Let’s look at this part first. Christ here points to Baptism,
where you were washed of water and the Spirit. Do you realize what
you were given at your baptism? You were brought into God’s
Kingdom, you were restored once again to His rule, to where His love
and mercy and forgiveness reigns over you. You are no longer bound
to Satan, but you are bound by Baptism to Christ. You are in His
kingdom. And this is a wonderful and radical thing. How radical?
“That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
You had been nothing but flesh – flesh is that word for creation
under the impact of sin, creation doomed to die. That’s all you
were – but you have been born again, called by God out of the
darkness of this fallen world and into His marvelous light. You have
been made a new creation in Christ – you are spirit. Again, it’s
a small part of the Nicene Creed that we often overlook – the Holy
Spirit is the Giver of Life. Spirit is always tied to life –
Spirit in both Greek and Hebrew refer to a movement of air, of
breath, of breathing, of life. Which is why Christ continues, “Do
not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The
Wind [or Spirit] blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but
you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with
everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The word there for Wind and Spirit – the exact same. The two ideas
are tied together – this is why in last week’s Epistle when the
Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles there is a sound like a mighty
wind. And the contrast is set up. It’s not about you being in
control, Nicodemus. You do not get to control God, you don’t get
to control God any more than you get to control the wind, the breeze.
God works when and where He wills. And here is the thing – those
who are born again, they realize that it is not about their will, not
about their wishes. The Spirit gives life and rescues from sin,
rescues from that self-idolatry. What does such baptizing with water
indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam (the flesh) in us should by
daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and
evil desires, and that a new man (who is spirit) should daily emerge
and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. So
it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
But
then Nicodemus asks the kicker. “Nicodemus
said to Him, ‘How can these things be?’”
How. How is a terrible question of doubt. It implies that what you
have heard is impossible. How is *that* supposed to happen? And
sinful man loves to doubt God. Just How is God supposed to do all
this, Jesus? “Jesus answered him, ‘Are
you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness
to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I
have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you
believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into
heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
How? How? Maybe because I’m the Son of God, brainiac. Do you
not confess that God is almighty, teacher of Israel? Then why do you
keep telling God what He can or cannot do? No, I have come from
heaven, come from the Father, come to bring the Kingdom of God to
this world, and by My Spirit working through My Word, to bring people
into that Kingdom. And what does this look like – let me give you
an example, a parallel that you should be familiar with, Nicodemus.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in Him may have eternal life.”
When the people rebelled and grumbled against God, the fiery
serpents came and bit them, and they got sick and were dying. But
when they looked at the bronze snake on a pole as God had commanded
them, they lived. This was all foreshadowing, Nicodemus. The
serpent has you – not the fiery one, but the old, evil serpent -
Satan. And to destroy the kingdom of Satan, I will be lifted up upon
the Cross, I will enter into death’s domain and I will rip it
asunder, and all who believe in Me will live forever.
That,
dear friends, is what the Kingdom of God looks like. It is Christ
crucified for your sake. As you suffer under sin, as you fight
against and deal with guilt and sorrow and pain and anger and hatred
and all the other consequences of sin, Christ calls your eyes to
behold Him crucified for you. See, your sin is no more, it is done
away with – now lift up your hearts and rejoice, for the Kingdom of
God has come, and you have been brought into it. Your sins are
forgiven, your eyes behold Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit
you have been given eyes to see and ears to hear, and you are now
restored to the Father, you now even may approach Him in prayer.
This is how God loves the world – not with petty baubles or riches
that fade, the Triune God loves the world in this way – the Father
sends the Son to the cross, and the Spirit makes us to behold the Son
so that we might not perish but have eternal life. And that is where
we live, that is who we are. That is whom God has made you to be –
for you are a new creation in Christ, born again by water and the
Spirit. Christ Jesus comes, and He blasts apart sin, blasts apart
your sin, and He draws you unto Himself, gives Himself to you, even
His very Body and Blood, so that you might have eternal life. This
is the Triune God’s love for you, this is how He rescues you from
sin and Satan and even from yourself. All thanks and praise be to
our God now and forever. In the Name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit +
No comments:
Post a Comment