Encountering Jesus - In Darkness [1] by Neil Ryan
July 6th, 2008 by sound
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Sermon
We begin a series through Gospel of John that focuses on the encounters Jesus had with various people.
This morning: Encountering Jesus - in Darkness
We meet a man named Nicodemus.
The first thing that comes to mind when you read from
John 3 is that it contains the most well known verse in the Bible.
Type ‘John 3:16’ into Google you get nearly 20 million web pages to wade through. Although that loses some of its aura when I typed in ‘Neil’ and it came up with 120 million web pages!!
But it wasn’t just the NUMBER of John 3:16 web pages that interested me, it was the CONTENT.
Vast number use this verse as the lynch pin for explaining the gospel or as the foundation stone of their organization.
But it is also become very marketable!
For $11.95 you can buy a God Loves You – John 3:16 Smiley Hat from Zazzle.com
For $25 you can buy a silk tie with the whole verse emblazoned down it.
You can buy John 3:16 jewelry, coffee mugs, T Shirts and just about anything!
Scripture mints – John 3:16 inside
But my favourite was a set of three ‘John 3:16’ golf balls for only $6.95!
Caption: offers a unique witness opportunity on the green
One Christian writer talking about all this stuff said ….
“…..recently, I had to make an agonizing choice - the “John 3:16 golf balls” or the genuine “Armor of God Pajamas,”
So many are familiar with the verse; so few are interested in the context. We don’t have a set of Nicodemus golf balls that I’m aware of!!
In fact John 3:16 has such an aura about it that most people think it doesn’t need a context – it just stands alone!
It has such a good feel about it - Don’t mess with it!
Context is DARKNESS
Opens with Nicodemus coming to Jesus under the cover of darkness and it ends with Jesus unsettling reminder that our human preference is for darkness rather than light!
That’s why you can look at a child with chocolate around their mouth and ask,
“Did you take some chocolate out of the cupboard? With that adorable innocence they can shake their head and say “No!”
Darkness is bound up in our humanity!
We much prefer to keep a whole lot of stuff hidden away in dark places – fears, failures, questions, doubts, our unrealized dreams, what ifs and maybes – sometimes it so hard to bring them out into the light!
The first thing that strikes me about this passage is how ridiculous it is. The contrast between Nicodemus and Jesus.
Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a member of the Ruling council – Sanhedrin. Jesus, the son of a carpenter from Nazareth.
So what does a sophisticated man like Nicodemus hope to gain from a thirty-year old peasant with sawdust in his hair, who comes from a one-horse town like Nazareth.
What does he hope to gain by meeting with someone who has just had a major run in with religious leaders at the temple – tipping over all the chairs; making up a whip and clearing the place etc!!
What’s going on?
Nicodemus knew something no one else knew.
That is – just how dark it was INSIDE!
No one would have thought it
Just like we think that comedians are always happy,
lawyers are always smart and pastors are always spiritual; people thought the likes of Nicodemus always lived in rarefied light.
Nicodemus sneaks out in the middle of the night to tell this peasant from Nazareth that it’s not true!
Read v2
Nicodemus is struggling but he can’t help himself.
He still speaks with a Pharisaical air.
His opening is about establishing the pecking order.
…. we know
Those of us who are in the right places
Those of us who are in charge of deciding these things
Those of us who have the right qualifications
…. we know
Nicodemus doesn’t come asking questions. He begins by delivering a verdict and Jesus response is quite confrontational.
I tell you the truth no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.
Make no mistake: Jesus is taking a theological pin and bursting Nicodemus ego right up front!
Before we go on – there is something I want you to understand here.
Jesus didn’t speak to everybody the same way.
He speaks to the woman at the well about her need for living water – John 4
He speaks to hungry crowd of 5000 people about the bread of life – John 6
He speaks to blind man about being the light of the
world – John 9
A royal official who is used to clear sharp orders, comes to Jesus on behalf of his sick son and Jesus says,
You may go, your son will live
The man took Jesus at his word and departed [John 4:50]
Jesus didn’t talk to the woman at the well about being born again or the royal official about the bread of life.
Nicodemus was a Theologian and Jesus spoke to him at that level!
Never been particularly happy with people being referred to as ‘born again’ Christians because that is just one way that Jesus sought to confront a person with the reality of our gaping need for Salvation!
Gospel – not a clichéd statement like that message you hear every time you stop at a station in the London Underground
Mind the step
Gospel = is that Jesus KNOWS the way into your heart. Gospel = is that Jesus UNDERSTANDS what our darkness looks like.
Gospel = is that Jesus OFFERS to redeem, salvage, save people like us who are dead… thirsty…. hungry…. blind…. proud whatever way you chose to describe the human condition!
Nicodemus, sophisticated, highly credentialed theologian and member of the Sanhedrin is drawn out into the darkness, compelled by his own inner darkness BECAUSE in Jesus he saw someone who could meet him right there!
Read v4-10
Don’t think Nicodemus is something of a fool here.
He is not taking Jesus literally.
He is saying,
…..this doesn’t make any sense at all
It’s like Jesus is saying
Now you’re getting somewhere.
It’s like the wind – no one understand that
No one can tell the wind where to come and go.
Nicodemus you have spent your life trying to make sense of religion and you’ve missed the heart of it.
You’ve mastered the science of it you just haven’t experienced it!
You need the wind of God’s Spirit to blow through your life and into those dark places.
Some people build their faith from propositional statements and logical arguments so that one logical argument stacks neatly on top of another. They are like someone building a brick wall, brick by brick, laid in mortar, never to be removed. And finally, they build their faith like a solid wall, and there is no way for the wind to blow through it.
Dr. Mickey Anders South Elkhorn Christian ChurchLexington, Kentucky
Hear that!
We can build something that looks every bit like the Kingdom of God that Jesus talked about but there’s one thing missing – the wind! The Spirit!
Where there is no Spirit there is no life, no light….Just a solid brick wall that can’t be moved!!
v9-10 How can this be? Nicodemus answered. You are Israel’s teacher and you do not understand these things….Jesus said
Jesus goes back to something Nicodemus knew very well.
Moses lifted up the bronze serpent [Numbers 21] and that cured them from deadly snake bites.
So would Jesus be lifted up on Cross and all who look to him will live!
The question that confronts Nicodemus and every single one of us –
Where are you looking for a cure?
To whom are you looking for a cure?
Read v16-18
You might say,
I don’t understand how it works
Let the wind blow!!
You might say
It sounds too simplistic
Let the wind blow!!
You know, this message presents us with something of a paraodoxical problem.
It defies rationale
And yet if we don’t rationalize it, people complain that it lacks substance.
So, the more we try and explain the gospel the more we complicate it.
Remember when your Dad asked you to do something
You said, ‘Why?’
He said, ‘Because!’
Sometimes the more you try and explain to a child, the more irrational it becomes.
That’s our problem!
God has left the gospel infuriatingly irrational.
He says,
“Trust me”
‘Why’
‘Because’
Then Jesus delivers the verdict in v19
We prefer darkness!
Light reveals who we really are.
Can you hear what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus?
You are a great man in the eyes of the people but here we are in the dark.
Will you let the rest of the world see your darkness?
Will you tell them what’s really in your heart?
Will you come out from hiding behind your religious security and your privileged position?
Will you stop kidding yourself that you can work it all out and will you look to God for your Salvation.
Will you step out into the light of this truth and let the wind of the Spirit blow into your life?
We are not sure exactly what happened to the first person who ever heard John 3:16 preached!
We find him again in John 7:50
Pharisees were angry with the Temple guards for not bringing Jesus in. They said, ‘No one ever spoke like this?
Nicodemus spoke up….
‘Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing? [John 7:51]
Then lastly we find him in John 19
After Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus body. He was accompanied by Nicodemus who brought spices and linen to wrap around Jesus body before it was laid in the tomb.
Maybe then Nicodemus reflected on his conversation with Jesus about being born again.
Maybe then he though of the quirky story of the bronze serpent being lifted up.
Maybe 3 days later when Nicodemus heard that Jesus had risen…..he found himself inexplicably weeping - crying and carrying on like ……. a newborn baby!
Discussion Questions
1. Whenever you read John 3 you are acutely aware that it contains the most well known verse in the Bible.
Why do you think v16 is so well known?
Is it helpful to single verses out like this?
It has also proved popular for merchandising….
Eg
You can buy a set of three ‘John 3:16’ golf balls for only $6.95!
Caption: offers a unique witness opportunity on the green
One Christian writer talking about all this stuff said ….
“…..recently, I had to make an agonizing choice - the “John 3:16 golf balls” or the genuine “Armor of God Pajamas,”
What do you think of all this?
What about the modern tendency to market Christianity and all the merchandise that comes with it?
2. The context of this story is darkness.
Nicodemus knew something no one else knew.
That is – just how dark it was INSIDE!
No one would have thought it
Just like we think that comedians are always happy,
lawyers are always smart and pastors are always spiritual; people thought the likes of Nicodemus always lived in rarefied light.
Nicodemus sneaks out in the middle of the night to tell this peasant from Nazareth that it’s not true!
We still get a surprise when we find out that some public figure has a ‘hidden’ problem, or their marriage breaks down or they don’t handle life like we think they should.
Why is this?
In a world dominated by media, do we expect too much from others?
Can we live under the kind of scrutiny that picks up on every mistake, every failure, every problem?
In a culture that thrives on spontaneity and immediacy is it any wonder we have so many things hidden away that never see the ‘light of day’. Why?
3. Read v3-4
Jesus didn’t speak to everybody the same way.
He speaks to the woman at the well about her need for living water – John 4
He speaks to hungry crowd of 5000 people about the bread of life – John 6
He speaks to blind man about being the light of the
world – John 9
A royal official who is used to clear sharp orders, comes to Jesus on behalf of his sick son and Jesus says,
You may go, your son will live
The man took Jesus at his word and departed [John 4:50]
Jesus didn’t talk to the woman at the well about being born again or the royal official about the bread of life.
Nicodemus was a Theologian and Jesus spoke to him at that level!
Discuss
Why have we tried to reduce the gospel to a ‘one message covers all’?
Does that have a place?
What is your experience in sharing your faith?
What life experiences give us opportunity to share our faith?
4. Read v5-10
Jesus now has Nicodemus in an area where he is out of his depth. Just like us when it comes to knowing about the wind.
Some people build their faith from propositional statements and logical arguments so that one logical argument stacks neatly on top of another. They are like someone building a brick wall, brick by brick, laid in mortar, never to be removed. And finally, they build their faith like a solid wall, and there is no way for the wind to blow through it.
Discuss.
This is a picture of a rock solid Christian who believes all the right things and is orthodox in every sense of the word.
The problem is, this person is often more harm to the Kingdom than a help.
Why?
What difference does the Spirit make to our lives?
5. Read v16-21
You know, this gospel presents us with something of a paradoxical problem.
It defies rationale…and yet if we don’t rationalize it, people complain that it lacks substance.
So, the more we try and explain the gospel the more we complicate it.
The more we try and make sense of it, the more we rob it of its mystery and power.
How do we handle this dilemma?
How rational and simple should we make the gospel?
How reasonable is it?
What do we make of the miraculous and mystery of a changed life?