A 'come to Jesus' meeting

John 3:1-21New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 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.”

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?11 Very truly I tell you, 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.14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people 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 their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Friday evening Cheyanne and I dropped the kids off at Cheyanne’s mom’s house because they were staying the night so Cheyanne and I could play in the pitch tournament yesterday.  And yes, my team did get matched up against the “bad girls” (I am not sure how they got that nickname...) and they beat us two games to one.  Anyway, my kids know they can get away with just about anything with any of their grandparents.  We asked them not to nag while we were still there.  Griffin had already staked claim to the remote in their bedroom and was watching Monster Trucks or Rodeo.  We had already told them goodbye and then got to talking and hadn’t left yet but Griffin thought we did.  He comes running out to his grandma, wanting to nag her about something.  All of a sudden, he sees us and tried to act like he wasn’t going to nag her about anything.  She asked him what he was needing and he says “nothing” and walks back into the bedroom.  I compare it to speeding in your car when you’re running late somewhere and you try to slow down quickly when you see a cop pop the hill but we all know it’s too late at that point.  

Another comparison we could use is the scene from a movie or tv show where a shady character is trying to score their fix.  Jesus is the undercover cop and Nicodemus is the addict.  Nicodemus approaches Jesus and says, “Hey man, I know you got the good stuff.... How do I get it?”  In John 3, Nicodemus approaches Jesus in the cover of night and says, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”  In other words, “Jesus you got the good stuff, some of us know that so how do we get what you have?”  This encounter takes place shortly after Jesus has overturned the money changing tables in the Temple and the leaders in the Jewish community are not that happy with him anyway so Nicodemus uses the cover of night to approach Jesus.  

Jesus answers his comments by saying, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  Some translations say born again means to be born from above.  This is the central focus of our scripture for this morning.  What does it mean to be born again or born from above?  Nicodemus was kind of stumped by Jesus’ response.  It reminds me of Griffin running down the hallway only to say “nothing” when asked what he needed.  It reminds me of a typical response we might give the officer that pulled us over “I didn’t realize I was driving that fast.”  Nicodemus says, “How can someone be born (again or from above) when they are old?  Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”  It’s almost humorous that Nicodemus took this so literally.  

When I was a kid, my brother was told a few times that he and his mother were going to have “a come to Jesus meeting.”  I may have been told this myself, once, but I didn’t know what that meant.  As I look back on it, I think it was a way to try to get my brother and I to listen or else my parents were going to get Jesus involved and I think it was in my best interest to not get to that point.  Later in life, that phrase has a much different meaning.  I think we can all relate to Nicodemus.  We usually have that meeting with Jesus under the cover of darkness.  What I mean by this is that we often come to Christ after a realization of our own sin and shortcomings.  During the course of that meeting we might finally give ourselves to Christ.  I have this meeting quite a bit.  I see myself in Nicodemus coming to Christ in the darkness saying “Jesus, you got the good stuff and I want that.  I need that.”  We have a tendency to coerce with Christ under the cover of darkness so no one else knows our faults.  

That being said, here is where we can identify with Nicodemus.  Jesus asks him, “You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?”  The same question can apply to us... We are Christians and we may struggle to know what it means to be born from above.  As I listened to a podcast on this scripture, the same question was posed to me, what does that mean?  I wanted to come up with some deeply theological answer but it does not have to that complicated.  Being born from above means recognizing our dependence on God.  This recognition also requires action.  If we truly recognize our dependence on God we will not only confess that dependence but we will live like that dependence means something to us.  It means conquering fears and sin.  It means living out in daily life John 3:16-17 “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.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Bethel Music has a song called “No Longer Slaves” and the lyrics say “I am no longer a slave but a child of God.”  We become chained to our sin and that sin drives us away from God.  We feel unworthy to be loved in the way God loves us.  We come to Him under the cover of darkness.  Verse 20 “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” Verse 21 “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”  In other words, breaking the chains of our sin in the light will show others how merciful and loving God is.  It may bring us some worldly criticisms but God doesn’t care about that.  He would prefer we break free of our sin in the light of day so the world can see what He is capable of.  Man alive, it stinks that God wants this to go down in the town square of public opinion but we must.  God’s kingdom is best served when we are honest with ourselves and others about the nature of our sin.  The number of people struggling similar to how you are struggling will blow you away.  And they may not have a relationship with God like you do.  They may not have the support structure you do.  They may not have a family like we do here.  They need you to show them the love and grace of God.  

Can’t you hear Christ saying, “You are a believer of my Father’s eternal love and grace and yet do you not understand these things?”  That stings.  Maybe it’s time for that “come to Jesus meeting.”  We wouldn’t be here this morning if we didn’t know that the light has come into the world but we still cling to that little bit of darkness out of fear of criticism.  Like the only lyrics to the movie Frozen that Cora knows, “Let it go, let it go, the cold never really bothered me anyway.”  We need to let it go.  We are children of God we do not need to be slaves.  God is the super cool officer that gives you a warning after catching you going thirteen miles an hour over the speed limit.  He let’s it go and yet we still drive with a reckless abandon when it comes to sin.  We may think it’s not a big deal.  We may think it only something small.  We may think it is only something we deal with.  Let it go.  Give it to God and watch His kingdom grow.  Do not continue to deal with your sin under the cover of darkness.  Do it in the light of day.  Jesus was not sent here to condemn but to save.  Jesus was sent to help you conquer the darkness, not to condemn you for it.  I don’t know how else to say it.  God knows your sin.  He sees it.  He feels it.  There is no hiding it.  And I am sure you want freed from it.  Do it.  Let it go and have that come to Jesus meeting in the light of day.    Amen