Inward

John 3:1-10

July 8, 2018 • Mount Pleasant UMC

Last year, when we were preparing to take the group to Israel, a friend of mine who was going with us discovered that her passport was expired. Well, no problem, she thought, she’d just get a new one. Unfortunately, she put it off and put it off until it had to be done or she’d never have her passport in time. And, as these things go, when she went to get out her birth certificate it was not where she thought it was. In fact, it was nowhere. Well, I suppose it wasn’t nowhere; it just wasn’t anywhere she could think of or a place she could find it. No birth certificate. So she took off work and made a trip to the city to get a new copy of her birth certificate, only to discover then that the way her name was spelled on the original birth certificate was not the way it was spelled on her driver’s license. I don’t know if you’ve dealt with the State Department lately, but they’re rather picky about those sorts of things. Long story short (though we may already be past that), it took a lot of time and a lot of paperwork but she got it all worked out and was able to go with us to Israel.

That little piece of paper called a “birth certificate” is rather important, more and more these days even than it used to be. Of course I don’t need that paper to prove that I was born—I mean, I’m standing here and obviously I came from somewhere—but I do need that little piece of paper to prove who I am and, maybe more importantly, where I came from. My birth certificate tells the world my heritage and where I belong. And it’s that document, so to speak, that Nicodemus thinks Jesus is referring to during their evening chat, the one we read about a few moments ago. But Jesus has another birth in mind.

This morning, we’re smack dab in the middle of our series called “The Wesley Challenge.” For the last week, we’ve been asking ourselves some questions—some that seem easy (on the surface) and some that are just difficult. These questions, you may remember, were the basis of the “Holy Club” that John Wesley and his brother Charles led when they were students at Oxford, and it’s amazing how probing and relevant these questions still are. Some of these questions, honesty, just meddle in my life! We’re going to put the questions from the past week on the screen and I want to invite you to take a moment, turn to someone near you, and share which of these questions challenged you the most this past week.

SHARING

So week one was all about developing the “upward” relationship, the critical connection we need with God our heavenly Father. This week, the seven questions we will ask are all about the “inward” relationship, the relationship we have with ourselves. Now, that sounds kind of weird to some of you, no doubt, but if we’re going to be authentic followers of Jesus, if we’re going to develop a deep faith, we must be people whose inner lives match our outer lives (Folmsbee, The Wesley Challenge, pg. 55). In other words, it’s not enough to just act the part of a Christian outwardly. Who we are inside must match the way we live. Our faith is not about “acting right” but about inward transformation. This week is all about honesty, not only with God but also with ourselves. And to see how that develops, we’re going to turn to the story of Nicodemus in John 3.

John actually tells us quite a bit about the man Nicodemus just in a couple of verses here. Nicodemus was a member of Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council (3:1), which was probably the closest thing in that time to our Supreme Court. So he’s an influential man, which makes him likely a wealthy and powerful man. He might have even been one of the richest men in Jerusalem. He is also a Pharisee, and for a lot of folks who have grown up in the church, “Pharisee” is a negative image, but we base that on what we know about a small group of Pharisees who dogged and pestered Jesus. The Pharisees were actually a very influential and respected group in first-century Judaism. They were sort of a “back-to-the-Bible” movement, a conservative group within the larger faith. They were people who loved God and loved the Bible passionately, and more than anything else they wanted people to be serious about their faith. After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the Pharisees were really the only surviving party in the Jewish faith and they were instrumental in preserving the faith after there was no more Temple (cf. Card, John: The Gospel of Wisdom, pg. 58). Nicodemus, then, is a devout man who wants to grow deeper in his faith. He’s heard Jesus speak or perhaps heard about Jesus, and he wants to know what Jesus is all about. So one evening, he comes to where Jesus is staying in order to ask him some questions.

Now, you’ve probably heard and I know that I’ve preached before that Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of darkness because he was afraid. He didn’t want anyone to see him with Jesus, to associate him with this radical rabbi. But I’ve come to realize that’s not exactly the case. For one, we don’t really know what time of year this was, and supposing it was summer, coming to Jesus in the evening, as we well know, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily dark! But remember that is the same man who goes to the Roman governor in John 19 and asks for the body of Jesus—who was, at that point, a condemned criminal—so he can bury it. Going to the most powerful man in the region and asking him to give up a political criminal is not the action of a timid or easily frightened man! No, what’s happening here is simply reflecting a custom of the time. Rabbis reserved the evening hours for theological and Biblical discussions. Daytime was when most people worked, so any sort of Bible study or deep discussion happened in the evening hours. Nicodemus is simply coming to Jesus at a time when they were both available to talk (cf. Card 58).

What’s interesting is that Nicodemus really doesn’t get a question out before Jesus starts teaching. Nicodemus comes, it seems, to talk about what Jesus has been doing; Jesus wants to talk about what God is doing (cf. Card 59), and so Jesus guides the conversation. What Jesus wants to talk about is birth. Not physical birth, though Nicodemus misunderstands this at first. When Jesus talks about being “born again,” Nicodemus tries to envision going through that process again—something neither he nor his mother would want to have happen! Nicodemus is stuck on what he knows and is having trouble opening his mind to what Jesus is speaking about. After all, for every moment of his life, being part of the faith community, being Jewish, has been about being born into the right family. His birth certificate, to be worth anything, had to have “child of Abraham” stamped on it—not literally, of course, but it mattered to be a descendant of the patriarch. It was of utmost importance; if you weren’t a “child of Abraham,” you weren’t part of the community. You were nobody. But Jesus is pushing Nicodemus to understand this: God is starting a new family, one in which your physical pedigree is of far less value than your spiritual ancestry. God is starting a new family and you have to be born into it—born again (cf. Wright, John for Everyone—Part One, pg. 29).

In my life, I’ve watched that term be co-opted for a lot of different causes. When I was a kid, in the 70’s, I remember hearing that term used in political circles; a big deal was made that President Jimmy Carter was a “born again Christian.” Christians began to exercise political muscle and that term, “born again,” became a litmus test for candidates. “Are you ‘born again’?” I even remember seeing such slogans on bumper stickers. But you know what I’ve come to realize? “Born again Christian” is a redundant phrase. Jesus says if you want to enter the kingdom of God, you “must” be born again (3:7). Everyone is born of the flesh, Jesus says, but those who want to follow him must also be born of the Spirit. Now, because Jesus wasn’t specific here as to what that looks like, there have been a lot of different interpretations. Some will tell you that unless you exhibit certain gifts of the Holy Spirit or certain abilities, you are not born again. Jesus doesn’t say that, neither does the rest of the New Testament. Others will tell you that unless you subscribe to a particular political agenda—and which side of the aisle is considered the “right” one varies depending on who you are talking to—then you’re not “born again.” But, again, neither Jesus nor the New Testament says we have to ally ourselves with the right or the left or anything in between. The only clear evidence of being born of the Spirit that is found in the New Testament are these things: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Inward attributes that result in outward action, but still inward characteristics that the Spirit grows in us when we are made new, when we are “born again.”

So, for instance, the question in the Wesley Challenge for today is this: “Am I proud?” Pride, throughout the ages, has been considered the deadliest of the sins, the root of all other sin. Now, I’m not talking about pride in terms of believing you did a good job, or taking pride in your work or an accomplishment. The pride that is deadly is a belief in our own goodness, an excessive belief in our own abilities. It’s thinking so much of ourselves that we cannot see any room or any need for God to work. And the antidote to pride is love—loving God, loving others, loving ourselves enough to know that we are broken and in need of help and grace. Am I proud? Am I trusting in my own abilities or am I loving God enough to rely on him?

Now, here’s the interesting thing: for a long time, we in the church has defined being “born again” so narrowly that we’ve really missed the point. We think of it as “saying a prayer,” asking Jesus to come into our hearts or lives or save us, or whatever language you use, and then we’re done. We’re saved. We’re safe. We don’t have to worry about going to hell. We can just show up at church occasionally, give lip service to Jesus and be all right. We can easily begin to center our lives on that moment, that important moment, and believe that all Jesus came to bring us was a wonderful, warm spiritual experience. We look back to that moment with a warm glow. As a kid, I remember visiting a church with a friend of mine that was outside my own tradition. They had a “testimony time” during their Sunday evening service, which some of you may have experienced but I had not at that point. And I heard story after story about how “Jesus saved me,” most of which had happened decades before. I heard nothing about what Jesus was doing in anyone’s life today. Remember, in the story in John 3, Nicodemus is interested in what Jesus had done and Jesus was interested in what God is doing. God is the God of right now, and he wants us not to just have been born again, but to be born again, to be changed from the inside out so that we can then change the world. You must be born again, Jesus says—today and every day (cf. Wright 28).

So let’s look briefly at this week’s “inward” questions, to give you a head start on your thinking, praying and reflecting. We’ve already talked about today’s question: “Am I proud?” That will lead you then, tomorrow, to think about this question: Am I defeated in any part of my life? This question is not about whether or not you’ve failed at anything recently. It is a question about our inner attitude toward any failure, defeats or mistakes we’ve encountered. We don’t become failures because we fail. We become failures if we fail to learn from our failures. I love the mindset of John Maxwell, who used to say that when you fall down, be sure to pick up something while you’re down there! Learn something from the defeats that will inevitably come in life. And perhaps the biggest thing we need to learn is not to go it alone. We will be defeated if we fail to realize we need God’s strength to accomplish anything of significance, and we need the help of the community. Get rid of this idea of the rugged individualist. We were made for community; even Nicodemus, in the passage this morning, wasn’t just coming alone to see Jesus. Notice that when he first addresses Jesus, he says, “Rabbi, we…” We. Nicodemus was coming on behalf of a community because he knew he was weak on his own. Am I defeated in any part of my life? If you’re going it alone, you either are or will be very quickly. We need a change in our inner attitudes.

On Wednesday, we’ll ask this question: Do I grumble or complain constantly? Do you like to be around people who grumble or complain all the time? Well, sure, those of us who are on social media are surrounded by negative attitudes, but we can choose to walk away, shut off the computer. A week or so ago, I found myself scrolling through such negative posts that I finally literally shook myself and said, out loud, “Why am I reading these? I don’t need this!” Current television comedy is usually a long strain of grumbling and complaining. But, again, there’s an off switch on that screen. But when we begin adopting those attitudes in our own lives, we are squashing the fruit of the spirit. It’s impossible to grumble and complain constantly while at the same time cultivating love, joy, peace, patience and the rest in our hearts and our lives. Do I grumble and complain constantly? Here’s a hint: if no one wants to be around you, the answer might be “yes.”

The question after that one is this: Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits? This is really about who or what owns us. It’s about our internal focus. What occupies your time? There are a lot of things that can become distractions today—sometimes even good things. Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that I love a good deal. I am always in pursuit of the free lunch, and honestly, friends, June (being my birthday month) was a glorious month. There are so many good freebies that come with just being born! I regularly post deals and freebies on my Facebook page because I believe in sharing the wealth—or sharing with those who don’t have a lot of wealth. But what if that became the way I filled every single moment of every single day? What if, instead of working on my sermons or visiting at the hospital or spending time with my wife and family or reading the Bible I was glued to the computer all the time, seeking out deals? What if I spent all my time trying to get the most likes and comments on social media? A hobby can all too easily become an obsession, a taskmaster, something that owns us or controls us to the point where the fruit of the spirit is sidelined. So the Wesley Challenge asks about the disposition of our hearts in regards to things: am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?

Then, the week wraps up with this question: Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying? This is a perfect way to end the week, because it’s easy for us to become so inwardly-focused that we lose sight of the others who are in our lives. This week, you’re going to be asked to look at yourself, look at your life, but that doesn’t excuse us from continuing to look at the world. It’s easy, when all we do is look inwardly, when all we hear is our own voice, to justify anything we do as right, or, on the other extreme, to feel sorry for ourselves all the time. I find it fascinating that, in the midst of this conversation with Nicodemus, when the teacher of Israel is concerned with his own salvation or what it means to be born again, Jesus takes his attention and points it beyond himself when he talks about “everyone who believes” (3:15). This good news, Nicodemus, is for more than just you. It’s for anyone who will come. John, in his mini-sermon after the story, puts it on a larger scale. In words that have become famous he says this: “God so loved the world…” (3:16). Not, “God so loved just Nicodemus…or Dennis…or…” but God so loved THE WORLD. There is more to God’s mission than saving you…or me. There is a whole world that is in need of salvation and hope and healing and light, and God calls us to see beyond ourselves so that the world can find and receive what it needs.

Now, if you’re keeping track or following along in the bulletin, you might notice I’ve skipped over two of this week’s questions. Tuesday, we’ll ask, “Do I go to bed on time and get up on time?” and on Friday, we’ll ask, “How do I spend my spare time?” Now, some folks might wonder what in the world those have to do with our spiritual life, especially the one about going to bed on time and getting up on time. We’ve heard that we need a certain amount of sleep; the average adult needs 7-9 hours a night while teenagers need 8-10 hours a night. Yes, parents, there is a reason your teenager sleeps more than you think they should! Those hours are necessary for our body to be healthy, but again, we tend to think of that in terms of physical health. Does sleep have anything to do with our spiritual life? Well, besides the fact that our bodies are a whole and that the physical impacts the spiritual and vice versa, the reason this question was included in Wesley’s list is because he knew, as we should, that in order to do God’s work in the best possible way, we need to be well rested (cf. Folmsbee 67). We can’t give our best if we’re not at our best. This question also has to do with our willingness and ability to live a disciplined life. The way we live our sleep habits says something about the rest of our life. I have found that the older I get, the more disciplined I’ve become about my sleep habits. My family can almost set their clocks by my routine. By 10:00 or 10:30 at the latest, I am headed to bed because I know that if I don’t get enough sleep, I’m groggy and lethargic and, honestly, downright cranky. I know when I lose sleep, no amount of caffeine in the world will make up for it, and when I sit down to work on my sermon, the thoughts don’t always make sense. So, some of you are wondering, did he not get enough sleep last night? But seriously, our sleep habits determine how much energy we have to do the work of God in the world.

As for our spare time, a similar principle is at play in that question. It speaks again of our discipline. God made the earth in six days and on the seventh, he rested—not because he needed rest. He’s God; he doesn’t need rest. He “rested” to set an example for us. When he gave the Hebrews the Law, he specified one day out of seven as a “sabbath,” a day of rest, a day when we acknowledge that the world can get along without us for a while, a day when we find ways to reconnect with God and re-create our souls. Some of us grew up with a long list of rules as to what you could and could not do on Sunday (which is not the Sabbath, but it is the Christian day of worship). Some folks remember with great fondness the days when stores and restaurants were closed on Sunday. But Sabbath was never about closed stores. It was never about rules. The Pharisees missed that, and so have we. Sabbath is a gift to us, Jesus said. It’s a gift of time, not a time to do nothing but a time to do something that re-creates us, makes us new, re-connects us with God our creator. For our church staff, generally, Friday is our Sabbath because a lot of Saturdays and, well, every Sunday gets filled up with what is, for us, work stuff. Now, there are things that come up and happen on Fridays from time to time, and that’s okay, but if I go too many weeks without a full sabbath rest, Cathy will affirm this, I get cranky. Just as I am disciplined with my bedtime, I have had to make myself be disciplined with my sabbath or I’m no good for God or for you as a congregation. But I don’t just sit around on my sabbath day. I go to exercise, and then I often enjoy an extended time with a chai tea latte at Starbucks and a good novel. I don’t read Christian or theological books on my day of rest because when I do, I start thinking how I can use that in a sermon. The idea is to unplug. So I’ll watch a movie, talk with a friend, go for a walk and maybe even nap. Occasionally, I’ll do a project around the house, but here’s the only requirement for sabbath activity: it must be something that re-creates and renews you. And to all of those of us who think we’re too busy to take a sabbath, I remind you of the words of Bishop Will Willimon, who said that if you believe the world can’t do without you for a day, then what you’re really saying is that you believe you’re more important than God, because even God took a day off. How do I spend my spare time?

So, there you have it: seven questions for inward transformation, the pondering that will frame your week this week in the Wesley Challenge. These are difficult questions and they are important questions, because Jesus reminded Nicodemus that without inward transformation, without a double birth of water (physical) and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You cannot be his disciple without this kind of change. In fact, the end of the passage we read this morning shows Jesus’ utter astonishment that these ideas were new to Nicodemus. “You are Israel’s teacher,” Jesus says, “and you do not understand these things?” (3:10). After all, the promise had been made all the way back in the Old Testament, through the words of the prophet Ezekiel: “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” (36:26). And that’s my prayer for you this week as you engage with this Challenge: may you find your heart softened, and may you find it beating more and more like God’s own heart. Let’s pray.