GOD
DOES THE CHANGING
JOHN
3:1-17
FEBRUARY
17, 2008
WESLEY
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Douglas
Norris
I
believe people can change, do you? But, the Bible is quite
pessimistic about the ability of people to change. Most of us know
that we can't change other people. The sweet, young bride who thinks
she can change her new husband of his bad habits is in for a rude
awakening! In addition, the Bible is also sure that few of us can
change ourselves. Bookstores are full of self-help books, indicating
that people do want to change. But, even with self-help books, few
of us can change ourselves. Why? Because of sin. Sin was defined
last week based on the story of Adam and Eve, Everyman and
Everywoman. Sin is the distorted, broken relationship we humans have
with God. Sin is disobeying God. Sin is hiding from God—cover-up.
Sin is the refusal to take responsibility, blaming others. Sin is
self-centeredness.
Last
week, I wondered where we got the idea that the woman and man ate an
apple. The Bible says “fruit” After church, a visitor told me
that the Latin words for apple and evil are very similar; in fact are
identical in the plural. So, the Roman church began identifying the
fruit as an apple. Later, Renaissance painters, using Greek
mythology, used an apple in their Garden of Eden paintings.
When
faced with the reality and depths of sin, we can see why it is so
difficult to change. But, the Gospel lesson this morning gives us
hope because God does the changing. We are not left to our own
devices. God does the changing, and the change that God makes is so
profound that it is like being born all over again.
A
woman set out to discover the meaning of life. She read everything
she could get her hands on-- history, philosophy, psychology,
religion. While she became a very smart person, nothing she read gave
her the answer she was looking for. She found other smart people and
asked them about the meaning of life, but while their discussions
were long and lively, no two of them agreed on the same thing and
still she had no answer.
Finally,
she put all her belongings in storage and set off in search of the
meaning of life. She went to South America. She went to India.
Eventually, she learned of a wise man who could tell her the meaning
of life. Deep in the Himalayas, someone told her how to reach his
house-- a tiny little hut perched on the side of a mountain just
below the tree line.
She
climbed and climbed. When she finally got there, with knuckles so
cold they hardly worked, she knocked.
"Yes?"
said the kind-looking old man who opened the door. She thought she
would die of happiness.
Gasping
for breath, she said, "I have come halfway around the world to
ask you one question. What is the meaning of life?"
"Please
come in and have some tea," the old man said.
"No,"
she said. "I mean, no thank you. I didn’t come all this way
for tea. I came for an answer. Won’t you tell me, please, what is
the meaning of life?"
"We
shall have tea," the old man said, so she gave up and went
inside. While he was brewing the tea she caught her breath and began
telling him about all the books she had read, all the people she had
met, all the places she had been. The old man listened (which was
just as well, since his visitor did not leave any room for him to
reply), and as she talked he placed a fragile tea cup in her hand.
Then he began to pour the tea.
She
was so busy talking that she did not notice when the tea cup was
full, so the old man just kept pouring until the tea ran over the
sides of the cup and spilled to the floor in a steaming waterfall.
When
the tea burned her hand, she yelled, "What are you doing?! It’s
full, can’t you see that? Stop! There’s no more room!"
"Just
so," the old man said. "You come here wanting something
from me, but what am I to do? There is no more room in your cup.
There is no room in your life. Come back when you are empty and then
we will talk."
A
leader of the Jews named Nicodemus (shall we call him Nick?) came to
see Jesus in the dark. There is probably significance in John telling
us it was night time. Nick not only did not want to be seen, but he
was in the dark as well. Nick came to Jesus looking for answers.
Jesus told him “No
one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above,”
born of the spirit, and the wind blows where it wants to! That was
Jesus, clear as mud, talking about birth, spirit, and wind. What
Jesus was doing was pouring tea all over Nick’s hand, telling Nick
that he already had gallons of answers. What he needed was one drop
of experience-- one moment of new birth-- and he could leave all his
questions lying in puddles on the floor.
But,
poor Nick didn’t get it. He was too literal. "How can anyone
enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born again?"
"No, no," said Jesus. Not born again, but born from above,
born of the Spirit. You’ve had a physical birth. You were born of
water (the water broke when you were born). Now, you need a spiritual
birth. No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of the
Spirit.
I
suspect that there are many church members who also don't get it.
They don't know what Jesus is talking about. Many believe they are
living good lives. They feel they have no need of a conversion
experience. But, Jesus said, “Unless you are born from above you
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” That is a strong statement.
It is one thing to belong to a church, to work on committees, and
enjoy church dinners, but if that is all there is, there is something
missing.
Being
born, not over again physically, but being born of the Spirit is of
mystery and wonder. It’s like the wind, Jesus said. Can you see the
wind? Do you know where it comes from, or where it goes? No, the wind
blows where it chooses, beyond our comprehension and understanding.
So it is with God’s Spirit. You can’t bottle up God’s Spirit
and put it in a denomination or a church or a doctrine or a method,
and say, "Aha, now I’ve got you." There is no formula.
When you talk to some people about how to become a Christian, they
will pull out a card of steps or spiritual laws. You take those steps
and you will be a Christian, they say. Well, perhaps that method
works for some people, but not all. You can’t control God’s
Spirit, as you can’t control the wind.
Poor
Nick didn’t get it. He tried to understand Jesus, which was his
first mistake! He tried to put what Jesus was saying within his own
frame of reference, and what Jesus was saying didn’t fit. Oh, the
mystery and wonder is that God is far bigger than our pictures, far
bigger than our ideas, far bigger than formulas, far bigger than our
neat theological treatises, far bigger than our interpretation of the
Bible, far bigger than our church or any church, far bigger than
Christianity.
Jesus
told Nick to believe. John 3.16, “For God so loved the world that
he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life.” Eternal life (which is
synonymous with the kingdom of God in John’s Gospel) is a gift from
God, not necessarily to be understood, but experienced. Believe is an
experience. Empty your cup. Turn your cup upside down. Empty
yourself. Empty yourself of sin. Empty yourself of your
preconceived notions. Empty yourself of your neat little package of
beliefs. Believing in Christ is not an intellectual exercise.
Believing in Christ is emptying your cup, and receiving the Spirit.
Turn your cup upside down. Pour out your problems and troubles Pour
out your doubts and worries. Turn your mind inside out. Step into
the air. Ride the wind. Be born anew. Be born from above, from top to
bottom, inside out.
Martin
Luther believed and experienced faith. He wrote,
Faith
is a free surrender and a joyous wager on the unseen, untried and
unknown goodness of God. Faith unites the soul with the invisible,
ineffable, unutterable, eternal, unthinkable word of God. Faith alone
is able, under trial, to hear the deep, secret "Yes" of
God. That most sweet stirring of the heart, faith is a living
fountain springing up into life everlasting.
Nick’s
last recorded words to Jesus in this passage were, "How can
these things be?" Did Nick believe? Did Nick experience being
born anew, from above? Did Nick turn his cup upside down? How about
you? Will you do it now?
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