[00:00] My name is Goliall. I was born in Iran and my family and I immigrated to the states when
[00:16] I was 11 and I will be reading John 3, John chapter 3 verse 1 through 19 in Farsi. This
[00:23] is my son Griffin. He's going to do the English version for you first.
[00:29] Please rise for the reading. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member
[00:38] of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know you are
[00:44] a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the miraculous signs you are
[00:49] doing if God were not with him. In reply, Jesus declared, I tell you the truth. Unless
[00:56] a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. How can a man be born again when he
[01:02] is old, Nicodemus asked? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be
[01:07] born. Jesus answered, I tell you the truth. Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit,
[01:15] he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives
[01:22] birth to Spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again. The wind
[01:28] blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or
[01:33] where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. How can this be, Nicodemus
[01:39] asked? You are Israel's teacher, said Jesus, and you do not understand these things. I
[01:45] tell you the truth. We speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen.
[01:50] But still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly
[01:57] things, and you do not believe. How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly
[02:03] things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the
[02:08] Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man
[02:13] must be lifted up, and that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
[02:18] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes
[02:22] in him shall not perish and have eternal life. For God did not send his Son
[02:28] into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever
[02:33] believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not stands condemned
[02:38] already because he is not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
[02:43] This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but men love darkness
[02:47] instead of light, because their deeds were evil.
[02:54] Please try to follow along one more time. It'll make me less nervous if you're not
[02:58] looking at me.
[03:14] God has come into the world, but no one is able to believe in the name of God.
[03:18] No one is able to believe in the name of God, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:21] the Son of Man, the Son of Man.
[03:43] No one is able to believe in the name of God, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:45] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:47] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:49] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:51] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:53] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:55] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:57] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[03:59] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:01] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:03] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:05] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:07] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:09] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:11] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:13] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:15] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:17] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:19] the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:21] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:23] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:25] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:27] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:29] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:31] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:33] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:35] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:37] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:39] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:41] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:43] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:45] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:47] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:49] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:51] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:53] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:55] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:57] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[04:59] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:01] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:03] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:05] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:07] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:09] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:11] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:13] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:15] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:17] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:19] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:21] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:23] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:25] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:27] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:29] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:31] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:33] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:35] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:37] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:39] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:41] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:43] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:45] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:47] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:49] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:51] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:53] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:55] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:57] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[05:59] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:01] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:03] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:05] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:07] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:09] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:11] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:13] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:15] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:17] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:19] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:21] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:23] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:25] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:27] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:29] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:31] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:33] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:35] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:37] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:39] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:41] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:43] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:45] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:47] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:49] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:51] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:53] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:55] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:57] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[06:59] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:01] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:03] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:05] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:07] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:09] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:11] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:13] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:15] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:17] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:19] the Son of Man, the Son of Man,
[07:21] the Son of Man, God, and that is
[07:23] no small undertaking.
[07:25] So we have to remember just
[07:27] what it is that we're trying to
[07:29] touch with all of these teachings,
[07:31] and I wanna say,
[07:33] you, my friends, have been
[07:39] well done and I wanna say that we've
[07:41] gotta continue to tread with
[07:42] humility and love, remembering
[07:44] just the magnitude of the one
[07:46] that we're here to pursue.
[07:49] Demonstrating the Gospel
[07:50] that we've been in, and it's really come in three parts.
[07:53] Part one was a reintroduction to the person
[07:56] of the Holy Spirit through water, breath, and dove,
[08:00] these three metaphors that we see throughout Scripture.
[08:02] Part two has been an invitation into understanding
[08:05] and practicing the expressions of the Holy Spirit.
[08:10] We've talked about prophecy, healing,
[08:12] and this coming Wednesday, deliverance.
[08:14] And today marks the beginning of part three,
[08:16] which is an invitation into the life of the Spirit.
[08:19] Over the next couple of weeks,
[08:21] I'm gonna close out the practice with a couple of words
[08:23] that I believe that God has laid on my heart,
[08:25] particularly for Bridgetown Church at this time.
[08:29] And up for today is the subtle tragedy of Nicodemus.
[08:33] So we're going to retrace some of our steps.
[08:36] We're gonna return to a few key scenes
[08:37] and provocative metaphors where we've spent time already
[08:40] to take a close look at the most subtle
[08:43] of cautionary tales.
[08:45] Nicodemus is there looming on the fringes
[08:48] of the very places that we have been,
[08:50] but he did not come close enough to know
[08:53] the life of the Spirit.
[08:55] John's Gospel tells us the subtle tragedy of Nicodemus
[08:58] in three major scenes, which I'm going to retitle today,
[09:02] pulling an all-nighter, a view from the riverbank,
[09:06] and a proper burial.
[09:08] So turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter three.
[09:12] I'm going to begin where Goliath just read from
[09:16] with scene one pulling an all-nighter.
[09:20] Now one of my great loves is reading memoir.
[09:23] I fall asleep basically every night,
[09:26] reading the story of someone else
[09:27] told through their own two eyes.
[09:29] I cannot get enough of this.
[09:30] And over time, I've noticed a pattern,
[09:33] that there's a form that works
[09:35] if you're putting together a memoir.
[09:37] It goes something like this.
[09:38] Open with a climactic scene,
[09:40] some moment that in some way serves as the hinge point
[09:44] of the author's story, then reset to childhood.
[09:47] Build all the way back up to that climactic scene,
[09:49] and then the second half of the book
[09:51] is exploring the implications of that climactic scene.
[09:54] For example, the most recent memoir I've read
[09:56] is Philip Yancey's Where the Light Fell.
[09:59] And it opens with him in his childhood living room
[10:02] having returned from college to introduce
[10:04] his new girlfriend to his family of origin.
[10:07] And they're sitting there on his couch
[10:09] flipping through old photo albums,
[10:11] laughing at his childhood haircuts
[10:13] and all that sort of thing.
[10:14] We've all been there together, right?
[10:16] And they flip one page and a newspaper clipping
[10:19] just drifts out of one of the photo albums
[10:21] and lands on the ground.
[10:23] And so Yancey reaches down
[10:25] and he picks up this newspaper clipping
[10:27] and it's a photo of his parents
[10:29] that he's never seen of his father in the hospital
[10:33] and lying in bed and his mother
[10:35] standing there next to his father.
[10:37] And the article below details the fact
[10:39] that his dad, who was sick with polio,
[10:42] was removed from medical care very stubbornly
[10:45] because he believed that prayer and only prayer
[10:48] was going to miraculously heal him.
[10:50] That article was dated nine days before his father's death.
[10:55] So Yancey always knew that he grew up fatherless
[10:58] because polio had taken the life of his dad,
[11:00] but until that moment he did not know
[11:03] that he grew up fatherless at least in part
[11:06] to a dysfunctional view of faith healing
[11:08] that was within his family.
[11:11] All of a sudden that context came into his story
[11:14] at that moment as he was flipping through photo albums
[11:16] in college with his new girlfriend,
[11:18] chapter two, reset to childhood.
[11:22] Fill in the backstory, build back up to that moment.
[11:24] That's how it works.
[11:25] And it works, let me tell you.
[11:28] It works.
[11:30] So John tells Nicodemus's story much in the same way.
[11:32] He drops us into a climactic moment,
[11:34] maybe the climactic moment, the hinge point
[11:37] that everything built up to
[11:39] and then descends from, it goes like this.
[11:42] Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus
[11:44] who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
[11:47] He came to Jesus at night and said,
[11:48] rabbi, we know that you're a teacher sent from God
[11:51] for no one could perform the signs you were doing
[11:53] if God were not with him.
[11:55] Now two things are happening here that we need to notice.
[11:57] The first is that Nicodemus is sincerely seeking.
[12:00] He calls Jesus a teacher sent from God.
[12:04] That's a very Jewish way of saying
[12:06] Jesus might just be the Messiah.
[12:08] He might be the savior.
[12:10] Teachers sent from God could also be translated
[12:13] the teacher who would arise in the last days,
[12:15] the one the prophets talked about.
[12:18] The second thing that's going on is John,
[12:20] the author, is foreshadowing Nicodemus' rejection of Jesus.
[12:25] Because in John chapter one,
[12:27] there's this long poetic description of Jesus
[12:29] as the light who would come in to pierce the dark.
[12:32] That rousing introduction also includes
[12:34] the tragic admission that his own will reject him
[12:37] because they love the dark more than the light.
[12:39] Then, not a page later, Nicodemus comes to talk
[12:42] with Jesus in the dark.
[12:46] John is distinct among the gospel authors in many ways,
[12:48] but one of them is this, that he writes more cinematically.
[12:51] Matthew, Mark, and Luke are essentially
[12:53] documentary filmmakers.
[12:54] They are gathering all these true events together,
[12:57] interviewing so many different people,
[12:59] and the real task is editing all of that
[13:02] into a coherent story.
[13:04] But John wrote later, and he structured his narrative
[13:08] much more like a feature film.
[13:10] It's heavy with symbolism and imagery.
[13:12] He was Scorsese before they started handing out Oscars.
[13:16] He plays with the themes of light and dark
[13:19] all throughout his gospel.
[13:20] He's hinting from the beginning
[13:22] of where the scene is going,
[13:23] and what he hints at here in the beginning,
[13:25] he will drive a nail in at the very end.
[13:29] So beyond just the symbolism that John is using,
[13:31] why is Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night?
[13:36] All right.
[13:37] You know, again and again throughout this teaching series,
[13:49] we're just insisting that I use the Pentecostal mic,
[13:52] which is so, so fitting with the content.
[13:56] Anyway, beyond just the symbolism,
[14:00] why is Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night?
[14:02] Because as the text points out, Nicodemus was a Pharisee.
[14:05] He was a member of the most devout
[14:09] and elite Jewish sect at that time in history.
[14:12] He wasn't just a member of the Pharisees though.
[14:14] He was the Krem De La Krem.
[14:16] He was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
[14:20] So he's not just a pastor, he's a celebrity pastor.
[14:23] He is preachers and sneakers, but there were sandals.
[14:27] Nice sandals, probably Birkenstocks.
[14:30] And the Pharisees justifiably get a bad rep.
[14:34] But John presents Nicodemus not as some power seeker,
[14:37] but as an academic elite whose heart had remained pure,
[14:41] who was humble enough to keep his eyes open
[14:43] and who came to Jesus to say,
[14:45]" ""'Could you really be the one that it all points to?'"
[14:50]" ""'But also all that he'd gained,"
[14:51]" ""'all that he had become meant that he had so much to lose.'"""
[14:56] So he came at night so that nobody would know.
[15:00] Let's keep reading.
[15:02] Jesus replied,
[15:02]" ""'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God.'"""
[15:06] Now let's stop for a second.
[15:08] Jesus cuts past all the pleasantries.
[15:10] Nicodemus starts with the flattering introduction.
[15:12] Jesus does not return flattery with flattery.
[15:14] He cuts right to the heart of the issue.
[15:16] And Jesus' response reveals the secret discontent
[15:19] that lives within Nicodemus.
[15:21] Kingdom of God is important terminology
[15:24] because it is the very field in which
[15:26] Nicodemus is supposed to be an expert.
[15:29] So why on earth is an expert in the kingdom of God
[15:31] coming at midnight to ask an unproven,
[15:34] unqualified teacher about the kingdom of God?
[15:39] Well, because teachers who are looked up to,
[15:41] who are depended on to give answers
[15:43] also live with this internal disparity.
[15:47] That who I really am and who all these people think
[15:50] I am are two different people.
[15:52] That the better I get as a rabbi
[15:54] and the more my reputation grows,
[15:56] the more I also feel like a fraud
[15:58] because I know so much more than I live.
[16:02] And the longer I live and the more knowledge I acquire,
[16:04] the wider that gap gets between what I understand
[16:07] and what I express through my life.
[16:09] And so Jesus takes aim at the question
[16:12] that lies beneath the question,
[16:14] at the secret hidden distance that Nicodemus has
[16:17] between what I say I am and who I actually am.
[16:20] And that lives within me
[16:21] and maybe even within you,
[16:23] if you're willing to be honest with yourself as well.
[16:26] Jesus cuts right to the heart of Nicodemus's search.
[16:28] He targets his deepest desire.
[16:31] I'm supposed to be a participant
[16:33] in the inbreaking kingdom of God here and now,
[16:36] but my belief is far outweighing my experience.
[16:40] So I've come to ask you in secret
[16:41] in the middle of the night
[16:42] where no one else can see me,
[16:44] it really see me in my naked desire and longing
[16:48] just to ask you,
[16:50] is there more?
[16:52] Eugene Peterson writes,
[16:54] Nicodemus wasn't looking for theological information
[16:57] but for a way in.
[16:58] Not for anything more about the kingdom of God,
[17:01] but for a personal guide slash friend
[17:03] to show him the door and lead him in.
[17:05] How do I enter?
[17:08] He's seen something in Jesus
[17:09] that looks like what he's talking about.
[17:12] This Jesus seems to be living what I teach.
[17:16] So is there more than just really well explained theory?
[17:20] Is there life?
[17:21] And if there is,
[17:22] can you show me the way into that life?
[17:26] What if the mission of the church
[17:28] is not to get the Bible known
[17:30] or even to get the Bible spread but to get it lived?
[17:34] That's what Nicodemus's heart is beating fast over.
[17:37] That's what has him seeking out Jesus at midnight
[17:40] for a Q and A.
[17:42] You've come seeking life?
[17:43] Let me show you where to find it.
[17:45] Let's keep reading.
[17:46] Jesus replied,
[17:47] Very truly I tell you,
[17:48] no one can see the kingdom of God
[17:50] unless they are born again.
[17:52] How can someone be born when they are old, Nicodemus asks?
[17:56] Surely they cannot enter a second time
[17:58] into their mother's womb to be born.
[18:01] Very truly I tell you,
[18:02] no one can enter the kingdom of God
[18:04] unless they are born of water and of spirit.
[18:08] So Jesus describes entrance into the spirit filled life
[18:13] through two metaphors,
[18:14] rebirth and baptism.
[18:17] First, rebirth unless they are born again.
[18:22] Now you have to remember who he's speaking to
[18:24] when he says that.
[18:24] Non-Jewish converts to ancient Judaism
[18:27] were called children newly born
[18:30] in a lot of ancient rabbinical literature.
[18:32] So Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus in his own language.
[18:36] He's taking a term that's reserved for Gentiles
[18:38] who are trying to enter the ranks,
[18:40] the very lowest rank of the chosen people
[18:44] to say to a member of the ruling priesthood,
[18:46] the highest rank you went in on this life,
[18:50] then become like that, like the lowest one.
[18:54] And then there's baptism.
[18:55] Jesus doubles down on the same point
[18:57] with the second metaphor
[18:59] unless they were born of water and the spirit.
[19:01] Now there's a whole lot of confusion
[19:03] over that phrase water and the spirit
[19:05] but the scholarly consensus
[19:07] is that Jesus is using both to refer to baptism
[19:10] and not two different baptisms.
[19:12] One baptism symbolized through two different metaphors
[19:16] both pointing at the same thing.
[19:18] And at this time in history
[19:19] when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus,
[19:21] baptism wasn't a practice for Jews.
[19:25] Baptism was reserved exclusively
[19:27] for Gentiles converting to Judaism,
[19:30] symbolically dying to their national heritage
[19:33] and identity to come alive
[19:35] in that the lineage of the chosen people of God.
[19:38] It was a way for people who were not of chosen lineage
[19:41] to humbly enter into the story of God's redemption.
[19:44] In essence, Jesus is saying to Nicodemus,
[19:46] a priest of the ruling council,
[19:48] here's how you enter, become like a newborn infant,
[19:53] like the very lowest members of the temple
[19:55] that you oversee.
[19:57] I would say it this way,
[19:58] if you want to know the life of the spirit,
[20:02] you've got to take off those robes.
[20:06] Because Nicodemus wore the robes of a priest,
[20:08] he wore garments of prestige and status.
[20:11] He had become somebody and developed an identity
[20:14] that he was comfortable with, happy with, safe with,
[20:16] and the robes he wore meant that he knew who he was.
[20:20] And Jesus is saying to him,
[20:22] you've built an identity of your own making
[20:24] and you've done quite well for yourself, Nic.
[20:26] You've climbed the ladder, you've earned respect,
[20:28] you've established yourself, and after all of that,
[20:31] your heart's still burning for more.
[20:34] So here's the way to more, become nobody.
[20:37] Humble yourself to the lowest place,
[20:39] take off those robes you've gotten so comfortable with them
[20:42] because they're guarding you from the more
[20:45] that you're looking for.
[20:47] The prophets you revere and memorize and celebrate,
[20:49] the days that they all pointed to,
[20:50] you're living in them right now.
[20:53] It's here and now, it's all around you,
[20:55] but if you want in on this life,
[20:57] you're gonna have to become like a child again.
[21:00] You're gonna have to look and maybe even feel
[21:02] like a fool for a time.
[21:03] You're gonna have to lay down the identity
[21:05] that you've made for yourself and grown comfortable
[21:07] and you're gonna have to take off those robes.
[21:11] Now knowing that that would be a hard pill to swallow,
[21:14] Jesus brings the spirit-empowered life
[21:16] even further on to Nicodemus' turf
[21:19] using another metaphor that he can connect with.
[21:22] Continuing on in the passage with verse seven,
[21:24] you should not be surprised at my saying,
[21:26] you must be born again.
[21:28] The wind blows wherever it pleases.
[21:29] You hear it sound, but you cannot tell
[21:31] where it comes from or where it is going.
[21:33] So it is with everyone born of the spirit.
[21:37] Now the words wind and spirit used in this passage
[21:40] are the same word in the ancient language.
[21:43] In fact, wind, breath, and spirit are the same word
[21:47] in the ancient Greek that John wrote in
[21:50] and the Aramaic that Jesus likely spoke in.
[21:53] That should sound familiar to you, ruach, remember?
[21:57] Ezekiels, dry bones that get filled
[22:00] with the breath of life, the day of Pentecost
[22:02] when they all spoke together in one language.
[22:04] The Holy Spirit is the breath.
[22:07] The breath that formed you out of the dust at first
[22:10] is now refilling your lungs to bring you to life
[22:13] in this time and place.
[22:14] The Creator is recreating within you
[22:17] in the same way we created in the first place.
[22:18] Remember that?
[22:21] Only here Jesus uses that same familiar language
[22:24] to introduce a new, well, new to us at least,
[22:27] metaphor for the Holy Spirit and it's wind.
[22:31] And Jesus is talking to a high priest
[22:33] who teaches the Torah for a living.
[22:36] And in Genesis, it is the wind of the spirit
[22:40] that causes the floodwaters to recede in the days of Noah.
[22:43] And in Exodus, it is the wind of the spirit
[22:45] that blows on the Red Sea so that it parts
[22:47] so that Israel can walk through free.
[22:50] Nicodemus doesn't understand, how can I be born again?
[22:53] It's impossible.
[22:54] Jesus speaks his own language to say
[22:56] the spirit makes the impossible possible.
[23:01] He's the one who delivers from the flood.
[23:02] He's the one who parts the waters.
[23:04] Nicodemus, you know this stuff.
[23:06] How does he do it by the wind, by his spirit?
[23:10] And in the first century Mediterranean,
[23:12] they weren't just aware of the mystery of the wind.
[23:14] They relied on the mystery of the wind.
[23:18] You know, when Jesus uses that metaphor here,
[23:21] maybe you picture a tree who leaves rustle in the breeze
[23:25] and it's this great mystery,
[23:27] but almost certainly both Jesus and Nicodemus
[23:30] likely for them it brought to mind a different image,
[23:33] that of a boat raising its sails.
[23:37] Because wind was how they traveled.
[23:38] It's how they got from A to B.
[23:40] It's how they exported products.
[23:42] It's how they did everything.
[23:44] Remember what the disciples said on a boat
[23:47] after Jesus calmed the storm.
[23:49] Who is this?
[23:51] Even the wind and the waves obey him.
[23:55] And later Peter described the use
[23:56] of the New Testament gift of prophecy
[23:59] as those carried along by the spirit.
[24:02] It's all this metaphor of the spirit
[24:04] as wind connected to sailing, a boat on the water.
[24:08] That's likely what would have jumped
[24:09] to Nicodemus's mind when he was talking with Jesus.
[24:13] And John's gospel uses a word repeatedly
[24:15] for the Holy Spirit that you won't find
[24:17] in anywhere else in the New Testament
[24:19] outside of John's writings and it's paraclete.
[24:23] On Jesus' final night, John 14 through 16,
[24:26] he uses this word paraclete five separate times
[24:29] to refer to himself.
[24:31] The Jesus says that he is the paraclete
[24:34] and he is sending another paraclete.
[24:36] He has been dwelling with them
[24:38] but now he would dwell in them.
[24:41] He is not leaving them as orphans though he's going away.
[24:43] He's coming even closer,
[24:45] dwelling within them by his spirit.
[24:48] Paraclete's a very complex word in ancient Greek
[24:51] but the most straightforward translation
[24:53] that we've got into English is
[24:55] the one called alongside to help.
[24:58] The Holy Spirit is the one called alongside to help.
[25:01] In fact, this is a Greek word
[25:02] they still use in the Mediterranean today.
[25:04] So if you were to take a trip to the Greek islands
[25:07] and rent out a boat
[25:08] and then somewhere between Santorini and Mykonos,
[25:11] you got lost at sea and were freaking out.
[25:15] Your only hope would be the paraclete.
[25:18] That the Greek coast guard would send a smaller boat
[25:21] that would attach to your boat
[25:23] and it would tug you all the way back to the harbor.
[25:26] That smaller boat to this day
[25:27] in the meditating world is called the paraclete.
[25:31] So who is the Holy Spirit?
[25:33] He's the one called alongside to help.
[25:36] He's the one who comes to find you when you're lost
[25:38] and alone and pulls you back to the heart of the Father.
[25:43] A couple of weeks ago on the final night of a hugely fun
[25:46] and absolutely packed busy trip to England,
[25:51] I was in the final of,
[25:52] I think what was more than 10 worship gatherings
[25:55] and I got a repeated call from my wife.
[25:59] And so I eventually stepped out of the worship gatherings
[26:01] to take the call and she just said,
[26:03] there's something wrong with the baby's heart.
[26:09] And so I returned home
[26:10] and I immediately went with her to see a specialist
[26:13] and then another specialist.
[26:14] And many of you won't know our story
[26:17] but we're expecting our third child
[26:19] and we've recently gotten some really difficult news
[26:21] about that child's health
[26:23] that ultimately has just led to a whole bunch of uncertainty
[26:26] and a lot of waiting that exists in front of us.
[26:30] And so the very next day I'm sitting on my porch
[26:32] in the dark of the early morning
[26:35] and I've got no kids to play with
[26:38] and I've got no wife to comfort
[26:40] and I've got no people to pastor.
[26:43] It's just me alone with God
[26:45] and I'm just weeping alone.
[26:48] And the only prayer that would come out of me
[26:50] in that moment was holy spirit come and find me.
[26:55] Holy spirit come and find me.
[26:57] I'm lost, I'm alone, I'm drifting.
[26:59] I don't know where I am and I don't know where you are.
[27:01] I need the paraclete to come
[27:04] and pull me back to the heart of the Father.
[27:06] Holy spirit come and find me.
[27:09] And the reason that I share that
[27:10] is because I think there's some in here
[27:12] that that's where you're at.
[27:14] It's so great that all of you guys
[27:16] have gotten really wound up
[27:17] about the presence and power of the spirit
[27:20] but I'm alone and I thought
[27:22] maybe I knew where I was going
[27:24] but now I'm lost and I cannot find land
[27:26] and I'm pretty good at holding it together in public
[27:29] but internally I'm freaking out.
[27:31] Holy spirit come and find me.
[27:34] And you should know that he is the paraclete.
[27:37] He's the one called alongside to help
[27:40] and you should know that desperation
[27:41] does not disqualify you from the life of the spirit
[27:44] and makes you the perfect candidate.
[27:46] See Nicodemus thought that holiness
[27:48] was in the keeping of the law
[27:50] and Jesus shows us that holiness
[27:52] is the willingness to say I'm lost.
[27:54] Holy spirit come and find me.
[27:57] So here's the way into that life.
[27:59] Strip off everything you've dressed yourself up
[28:01] and everything that makes you feel okay
[28:03] and safe and secure on most days.
[28:05] Do you want this spirit filled life?
[28:08] Then you're gonna need to take off those robes.
[28:12] Verse nine, how can this be?
[28:15] Nicodemus asked.
[28:16] Now on the surface it seems like he's just confused
[28:19] that he's taking Jesus metaphors literally
[28:21] and he's saying I can't climb back in my mom's womb.
[28:24] I don't fit in there anymore.
[28:26] But the scholarly consensus is actually
[28:28] that he's responding very defensively here
[28:30] even cynically that he felt demeaned
[28:33] by Jesus' invitation so he retreated to his safe place.
[28:36] Jesus has exposed him for who he really is
[28:39] and so he retreats back inside his intellect,
[28:41] back inside his robes,
[28:43] back inside his status and position.
[28:45] The commentator Leon Morris says
[28:47] not liking the way the conversation is going,
[28:50] he chooses to misunderstand.
[28:53] Nicodemus' sincerity turns into defensiveness,
[28:55] he came for an explanation and Jesus gave it to him
[28:58] but the path to enter the kingdom
[29:00] it's the one that's going to cost him
[29:01] what he's unwilling to give up.
[29:04] You can see the kingdom,
[29:05] speak about the kingdom, even teach about the kingdom
[29:07] but if you want in,
[29:08] if you want the life of the kingdom
[29:10] then at some point you've gotta take
[29:11] the terrifying risk of experience,
[29:13] you've gotta take off the robes,
[29:15] you've gotten so comfortable wearing.
[29:19] Jesus says first to Nicodemus as an invitation
[29:22] what he would later repeat to the whole
[29:23] pharisaical priesthood as a condemnation or a rebuke.
[29:26] He says you study the scriptures diligently
[29:29] because you think that in them you have eternal life.
[29:31] These are the very scriptures that testify about me
[29:34] yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life
[29:36] and so John the cinematographer ends the scene
[29:40] with the camera panning out as the narrator says over,
[29:43] it's probably Morgan Freeman.
[29:44] As Morgan Freeman reads over it,
[29:46] this is the verdict.
[29:49] Light has come into the world
[29:51] but people love darkness instead of light
[29:53] because their deeds were evil.
[29:55] He makes obvious in the ending
[29:57] what he foreshadowed at the beginning.
[29:59] I told you, Scorsese baby.
[30:04] Turn ahead with me a few pages to John chapter seven.
[30:08] I'm gonna start reading from verse 37.
[30:10] This is scene two, a view from the riverbank.
[30:17] On the last and greatest day of the festival,
[30:20] Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,
[30:22] let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
[30:25] Now we've been here too, remember?
[30:28] The spirit is water, the river and Eden
[30:31] at the beginning of the story.
[30:32] Ezekiel's vision of a river deep enough to swim in.
[30:35] It's got trees lighting the sides
[30:36] whose leaves are for healing.
[30:38] Fish of every kind are swimming in its current
[30:40] and then spilling into the dead sea.
[30:42] Jesus interrupts the festival
[30:44] to invite people into that river
[30:46] and at the end of the story,
[30:47] that very river is cutting through the redeemed city
[30:49] that will last forever.
[30:50] Remember this?
[30:53] Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said,
[30:55] rivers of living water will flow from within them.
[30:58] By this he meant the spirit
[30:59] whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
[31:02] Remember, Jesus's invitation, it was an interruption.
[31:05] Sukkot or the feast of tabernacles,
[31:08] the procession that was performed every day.
[31:10] The priest would pour a cistern of water
[31:12] down the temple steps, reenacting Ezekiel's vision
[31:16] as the congregation or the whole nation
[31:19] gathered to sing the Psalms.
[31:21] They were enacting a prayer.
[31:23] And on the last and greatest day of the festival,
[31:25] the priest would pour that cistern seven times
[31:28] until there was so much water running down
[31:30] the temple steps, it looked something like a river
[31:32] flowing from the innermost room of the temple
[31:34] going east, bringing life wherever it goes.
[31:37] It was Ezekiel's vision
[31:38] and they were doing it as a way to pray together.
[31:41] Lord, now bring Ezekiel's vision to life now.
[31:46] And that, that holy moment is when Jesus jumped up
[31:50] and said, if anyone is thirsty, come to me.
[31:55] And the river you're praying for
[31:57] will flow from within you, not from this building
[31:59] but from within your body.
[32:02] Now Nicodemus was a priest.
[32:03] We know that he was there attending the festival.
[32:05] John makes that clear to us in the verses that follow.
[32:09] But Nicodemus is not just any priest.
[32:11] This guy is a member of the ruling council.
[32:14] Was he the one pouring the water down the temple steps?
[32:20] Could Nicodemus have been the one leading the worship
[32:23] that Jesus interrupted?
[32:26] It's quite possible.
[32:29] It's quite possible that Nicodemus
[32:31] was leading the worship service
[32:32] when Jesus jumped up on those temple steps.
[32:37] See, that interruption was an act offensive enough
[32:40] to call for an emergency meeting by the high priest later.
[32:43] Jump ahead to verse 45 in John seven.
[32:46] Finally, the temple guards went back
[32:48] to the chief priests and the Pharisees who asked them,
[32:50] why didn't you bring him in?
[32:52] No one ever spoke the way this man does.
[32:54] The guards replied, you mean he has deceived you
[32:56] also the Pharisees retorted?
[32:58] Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees
[33:00] or of the Pharisees believed in him?
[33:02] No, but this mob that knows nothing of the law,
[33:05] there's a curse on them.
[33:06] Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier
[33:09] and who was one of their own number asked,
[33:12] does our law condemn a man without first hearing him out
[33:15] to find out what he's been doing?
[33:17] They replied, are you from Galilee too?
[33:20] Look into it and you'll find that a prophet
[33:22] does not come out of Galilee.
[33:23] So Nicodemus speaks up at the meeting.
[33:26] He outs himself as the one who's intrigued by Jesus
[33:29] who still finds himself wondering, could he be the one?
[33:33] The one the prophets talked about.
[33:35] Could he really be the source of the living river
[33:37] that we're all praying for?
[33:40] And it's in between Jesus' holy interruption
[33:42] and this meeting of the minds
[33:44] that we discover the real issue
[33:46] that they're trying to sort out.
[33:47] So back to verse 40 now.
[33:49] On hearing his words, some of the people said,
[33:52] surely this man is the prophet.
[33:54] Others said, he is the messiah.
[33:56] Still others asked, how can the messiah come from Galilee?
[33:59] Does not scripture say that the messiah
[34:00] will come from David's descendants and from Bethlehem,
[34:03] the town where David lived?
[34:04] They should have looked closer at the birth certificate.
[34:06] Thus, the people were divided because of Jesus.
[34:10] So having experienced the power of Jesus,
[34:13] they're now asking about the identity of Jesus.
[34:16] Who is he?
[34:18] And this is important for us to notice
[34:20] that the way that people encounter Jesus in scripture
[34:22] is experience, then identity.
[34:26] People experience Jesus saving presence and power
[34:30] through healing or deliverance or forgiveness or freedom.
[34:33] They experience his presence and then they ask,
[34:38] who is that?
[34:41] That's the common experience we read again and again
[34:43] in scripture, someone shaking off a heart-rending encounter
[34:46] with the presence of God and then asking,
[34:49] who is this Jesus?
[34:52] Today we tend to want all of the answers
[34:54] to identity up front and then maybe, maybe,
[34:59] we're open to the experience of his saving power and presence.
[35:03] And in the gospels and even into the early church,
[35:05] it was experience leads to identity.
[35:08] So the temptation that we read on the pages of scripture
[35:11] is to become fanatical about experiences of power
[35:13] and presence and never actually discover identity,
[35:17] this personal God that welcomes them as his children
[35:19] and then forms them as his disciples.
[35:22] But in the modern church, it's typically identity
[35:25] leads to experience and experience sometimes, not always.
[35:31] Our temptations become obsessed with his welcome
[35:33] and his formation, but then never to experience
[35:36] his saving power and presence.
[35:39] Nicodemus is approaching Jesus like a modern disciple,
[35:42] not an ancient one.
[35:43] He was the first of many to demand identity
[35:46] before experience, but God does not reveal himself
[35:49] to the world in that order.
[35:52] Nicodemus, like us, wanted to reverse the equation.
[35:55] He wanted all of his questions answered up front
[35:57] and then maybe he would come to Jesus and drink,
[36:00] but if we want to know this king and his kingdom,
[36:03] it cannot happen from a safe distance.
[36:05] It cannot happen by spectating
[36:07] and it cannot happen without risk
[36:09] because God created all of us
[36:11] and he makes his appeal to all of us,
[36:13] to our mind, yes, of course,
[36:15] but also to our body and our emotions
[36:17] and the way that we are formed most deeply
[36:19] by our experiences.
[36:22] So if we try to figure out every last thing
[36:24] before opening ourselves up to experience,
[36:26] we are nothing more than a child at the beach
[36:28] trying to get the ocean into a hole
[36:30] that we've dug in the sand
[36:31] and we'll never reach the end of an income
[36:33] that we might drink.
[36:35] Nicodemus's life teaches us at least this much.
[36:38] You cannot know Jesus by spectating from a safe distance.
[36:41] Experience is part of his identity
[36:44] and the two are inseparable.
[36:47] Let anyone who's thirsty come to me and drink.
[36:52] Was Nicodemus pouring the sister
[36:54] and down the temple steps?
[36:57] There is heart leap when Jesus said it.
[36:59] Did he want to respond to that invitation?
[37:03] But coming that he might drink,
[37:07] that would have meant taking off his robe.
[37:10] It would have meant leaving his self-made identity
[37:12] and becoming like a child again
[37:14] and it's one thing to come to him
[37:15] in the dark of midnight
[37:16] when no one else knows.
[37:17] It's quite another thing to fall at his feet
[37:19] in the light of day
[37:20] on the very steps of the prestigious temple
[37:22] you've climbed to the top of
[37:24] and strip yourself of the robes of the identity
[37:26] that you've made for yourself.
[37:28] Nakedness is the prerequisite
[37:31] for being clothed in the Spirit's power.
[37:35] Luke chapter 24, after his resurrection,
[37:37] Jesus said to his disciples,
[37:38] I'm going to send you what my father promised,
[37:41] but stay in the city
[37:42] until you've been clothed with power from on high.
[37:46] The disciples that Jesus says this to
[37:48] are disrobing, have been disrobed through disappointment,
[37:53] disrobed through plans that they made
[37:54] and then surrendered careers and identities
[37:57] and preferred futures they had built
[37:58] and then laid down everything.
[38:01] That's what they'd left behind to follow Jesus.
[38:03] So what is the precondition
[38:05] for being clothed in the Spirit's power?
[38:08] It's nakedness, figuratively speaking.
[38:11] If anyone's thirsty, let them come to me and drink,
[38:18] but it'll mean you gotta take off those robes, Rabbi.
[38:22] So what about you?
[38:25] What have you cloaked yourself in
[38:27] that makes you feel safe and secure and okay
[38:29] and together and in control on most ordinary days?
[38:34] What have you clothed yourself in
[38:35] that might actually be guarding you
[38:37] from the very presence of the God
[38:39] that you've come to worship?
[38:42] You'll need to take off that robe.
[38:45] See the subtle tragedies that Nicodemus proves to us
[38:48] that there is a way to live always around Jesus
[38:50] but still thirsty, a way to get close enough to observe,
[38:54] to see and even admire this river of life
[38:56] but never to take off your robes that you might swim.
[39:01] So turn ahead with me now to John chapter 19.
[39:03] I'm gonna begin in verse 38
[39:05] and this brings us to the final scene, a proper burial.
[39:11] Later Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.
[39:24] Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus
[39:26] but secretly he feared the Jewish leaders.
[39:29] With Pilate's permission, he took the body away.
[39:31] He was accompanied by Nicodemus,
[39:35] the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night.
[39:38] So here we are after the cross
[39:41] but before the resurrection and there's Nicodemus again.
[39:45] He just cannot bring himself to come all the way in
[39:48] but he also can't stay away.
[39:50] He's on the periphery in the background
[39:52] of scene after scene.
[39:54] And the spirit anointed Jesus like a dove at his baptism.
[39:57] Remember, we've been there too.
[40:01] And Jesus began his ministry through the words of Isaiah.
[40:03] The spirit of the Lord is on me, rested on me
[40:07] like a dove.
[40:08] He's anointed me to preach good news for the poor,
[40:12] freedom for the prisoner and the oppressed,
[40:14] sight for the blind, a wave of God's favor.
[40:18] And when Jesus claimed that he was the fulfillment
[40:20] of Isaiah's prophecy, he was claiming
[40:22] in an unmistakable way to be the savior,
[40:25] to be the one filled with the very power of God
[40:27] and he was claiming in an unmistakable way
[40:30] to be the one who would restrain that power
[40:32] in the name of love.
[40:34] He is the king of the everlasting kingdom.
[40:37] He is the savior just like Isaiah promised
[40:39] that he would be and he's the suffering servant
[40:43] just like Isaiah promised that he would be.
[40:46] Isaiah 53, but he was pierced for our transgressions.
[40:50] He was crushed for our iniquities.
[40:52] The punishment that brought us peace was laid on him
[40:54] and by his wounds we are healed.
[40:58] Watching someone loved by power is amazing.
[41:02] It'll open your eyes wide and quick in your heart
[41:05] but watching someone loved by suffering,
[41:07] that's staggering.
[41:10] It'll stop you in your tracks and bring you to your knees.
[41:14] He was accompanied by Nicodemus,
[41:17] the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night.
[41:19] Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and allows
[41:22] about 75 pounds, hope that'll be enough.
[41:25] Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it
[41:27] with spices and strips of linen.
[41:29] This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
[41:32] So Nicodemus helped give Jesus
[41:33] a crucified criminal, a proper burial.
[41:36] And some speculate that Nicodemus became
[41:39] a disciple of Jesus at this point
[41:41] because this is such a courageous act of honor
[41:43] that at the very moment when association with Jesus
[41:46] is at its highest, when all of his more faithful disciples
[41:49] have fled, Nicodemus comes closer than he's ever come.
[41:53] Having beheld the beauty of God in his power,
[41:55] the power to heal, power to forgive, power to free,
[41:58] power to dignify, was he now in the end
[42:02] brought to his knees by a God who would withhold that power,
[42:05] willingly suffer all in the name of love.
[42:09] Frank Laubach, in a recently published
[42:12] collection of journal entries,
[42:13] writes about the beauty of God
[42:15] that is so lavishly painted in the mountain peaks
[42:18] and the sunsets and the ocean waves.
[42:21] But then he goes on to write this.
[42:23] There is in the universe a higher kind of beauty.
[42:26] It is the beauty of sacrifice,
[42:29] of giving up for others, of suffering for others.
[42:32] A woman has not reached her highest beauty
[42:34] until she lays down her ease and chooses pain
[42:37] for bearing and nursing a child.
[42:39] A man has not found his highest beauty
[42:41] until his brow is tinged with care for some cause
[42:44] he loves more than himself.
[42:45] The beauty of sacrifice is the final word in beauty.
[42:52] Did Nicodemus finally tear off his robes
[42:55] at the sight of the beauty of sacrifice?
[42:57] Some think so.
[42:59] But then again, John is careful to call Joseph
[43:02] a disciple in this passage, but not Nicodemus.
[43:05] And we never read of Nicodemus in the other three gospels
[43:08] or in Acts or in any of the New Testament letters.
[43:10] There's no way for us to know for sure.
[43:12] And I certainly hope he became a disciple at this point,
[43:14] but what we do know for sure,
[43:16] and what John is trying to show us
[43:17] is that Nicodemus lived alongside Jesus
[43:20] for his whole ministry,
[43:22] but he never experienced the life of God for himself.
[43:26] He remained forever on the fringes,
[43:27] always a spectator rather than a participant.
[43:30] Something was drawing his heart out of his chest,
[43:33] but he just could not bring himself
[43:34] to take off those robes that he might be healed.
[43:39] When I was leaving Brooklyn,
[43:41] saying goodbye to a church family that we had planted
[43:46] and walked with for many years,
[43:48] those that we were particularly close with
[43:50] gathered to pray over us during our final week there.
[43:53] And I'll never forget Gemma, one of our pastors,
[43:56] as she was praying for me.
[43:58] She said, Tyler, God's reminded me
[44:00] of this one scene from Michelle Obama's biography.
[44:04] And I think it's for you.
[44:05] What's coming next is not a political statement.
[44:07] Just relax, everyone.
[44:10] So there's this part where she talks
[44:12] about her first ever piano recital.
[44:14] And she had learned to play piano in her own house.
[44:17] And the piano was so old
[44:18] that there was a little bit of a grooved dug
[44:21] in the key for middle C.
[44:23] And that's where she learned to play and would always practice.
[44:25] And then she steps onto the stage in front of a crowd
[44:28] and she's in a new place.
[44:29] And she lays her hands on the keys to begin to play,
[44:32] but there's no groove for middle C.
[44:34] And she can't find where to start.
[44:37] And so she panics internally.
[44:39] And there's a moment,
[44:40] it felt like a couple of minutes to her,
[44:42] but who knows how long it was
[44:43] where she was just feeling over the keys,
[44:45] trying to figure out where to start.
[44:47] And then eventually she just pressed down on a key
[44:49] and began to play.
[44:50] And as she did, she found all the keys in the right place
[44:53] and got lost in the music and that new environment,
[44:56] just like she had back in her own living room
[45:01] on that old piano.
[45:04] And she said to me, Tyler,
[45:05] God is inviting you to lead his people in a new place.
[45:08] But if it's his spirit that's leading you,
[45:11] it's gonna feel like regressing before progressing.
[45:15] It's gonna feel more like a child
[45:16] at his first piano recital,
[45:18] panicked for a minute, trying to find middle C,
[45:20] but from that place of vulnerability,
[45:22] you'll get lost in the music again
[45:24] and find yourself right at home.
[45:27] See, God was trying to say to me through this picture,
[45:30] I've got more for you, man.
[45:32] I've got a next chapter,
[45:34] but it will not feel like a promotion.
[45:36] It'll feel like becoming a child again.
[45:39] His invitation to me was and is,
[45:42] will you say yes to that?
[45:47] And I share it because I don't think it's just for me.
[45:50] I think that as a church, to walk into the next chapter,
[45:52] to enter, to get this biblical story,
[45:55] not just known or even spread, but lived,
[45:57] some who are comfortable will have
[45:59] to experience vulnerability first,
[46:01] and then afterwards the melody will carry you.
[46:05] That was Jesus' invitation in Nicodemus.
[46:07] Discover what you already know in a new way,
[46:10] but before you feel alive,
[46:11] you're gonna have to feel lost.
[46:14] A man must become a child again.
[46:17] The subtle tragedy of Nicodemus is that in scene,
[46:20] after scene, Jesus is awakening something in his heart.
[46:22] He felt the breath of the Spirit on his face.
[46:25] He stood on the banks of the Spirit's river
[46:28] and observed the life.
[46:29] He was drawn again and again to Jesus,
[46:32] the one the Spirit rested on,
[46:33] but he did not drop his robes
[46:35] that he could know that life for himself.
[46:38] The very life he'd memorized on paper,
[46:40] sung in the Psalms, preached about in the temple,
[46:42] it was on offer right in front of him,
[46:44] but he kept his robes on, held himself together,
[46:47] and clung to his respectable self.
[46:49] Nicodemus is the first to construct a version of faith
[46:52] that stays on the periphery,
[46:54] turning what Paul called foolishness into the world
[46:57] into quite a respectable dance.
[46:59] He was the first, but he's not the last.
[47:03] There is a version of following Jesus
[47:05] that stays on the periphery,
[47:07] that delights in the claims,
[47:08] that studies the life and enjoys the view,
[47:10] but does not risk becoming like a child,
[47:13] does not risk foolishness,
[47:14] does not risk vulnerable nakedness,
[47:16] does not risk pulling off our robes,
[47:18] and tragically, then it stops short
[47:20] of the Spirit of the living God.
[47:25] So what do you miss out on?
[47:29] What did Nicodemus miss out on?
[47:31] What does it cost you to keep your robes on?
[47:34] It costs you faith, hope, and love.
[47:38] And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love,
[47:40] but the greatest of these is love.
[47:42] That's a famous line, it's wedged right in the middle
[47:45] of a bunch of instructions on the proper expression
[47:47] of the life of the Spirit in the local church.
[47:50] And then we're said, but these three will last,
[47:52] faith, hope, and love.
[47:53] That's what you miss out on.
[47:55] You miss out on faith.
[47:57] I mean, after promising the desperate naked disciples
[48:00] that he would clothe them in the power of the Spirit,
[48:02] as the final act before his ascension,
[48:04] Jesus leads them on a two mile walk
[48:06] from Jerusalem where they were staying out to Bethany.
[48:10] Luke 24.50, when he had led them
[48:12] to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands
[48:15] and he blessed them.
[48:17] See, we learned so much about the heart of God
[48:19] from the way that he chooses to use his limited number
[48:22] of days on this earth in a resurrected body.
[48:25] Bethany, that's where he wanted to take them.
[48:30] Why Bethany?
[48:32] Because place matters and moments matter.
[48:37] I spent the last 12 years of my life in New York City.
[48:40] It's the closest thing I've got to a hometown.
[48:42] It's the longest I've ever lived anywhere in particular.
[48:45] And so if you were to say to me,
[48:47] hey man, let's go get a New York slice.
[48:50] I'd say, I'd love to take you for a New York slice.
[48:52] And we could go to a piece of shoals right here in Portland.
[48:56] Because to be quite honest with you,
[48:58] they're doing it right.
[49:00] And they've got a slice there called the Polly G,
[49:03] which is pepperoni with Mike's hot honey,
[49:05] which is made right in Brooklyn.
[49:08] And it is legendary.
[49:12] We could go there and we'd have a great time.
[49:15] But we could also book a flight to New York.
[49:18] And we could take a cab from LaGuardia to Polly G Slice Shop.
[49:22] And we could sit down together
[49:23] in one of those little linoleum booths
[49:25] that you cram into in every famous New York pizza shop.
[49:28] And we could get the pepperoni and hot honey slice
[49:31] right there from the source.
[49:32] And if we did that, you'd probably remember it forever.
[49:37] Because place matters and moments matter.
[49:41] And that's what Jesus was doing with his disciples.
[49:43] He was making a moment that could mark them
[49:46] and lead them into the next chapter.
[49:48] And that's what Bethany was.
[49:49] It was a place that matters.
[49:51] Because Bethany is where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
[49:55] It's where Mary anointed him
[49:56] with a jar of costly perfume seven days ago.
[50:00] It's where the crowds chanted Hosanna earlier that week.
[50:04] It's where they stayed that whole week
[50:06] in the house of Simon the leper,
[50:08] who is no longer a leper because Jesus healed him.
[50:12] See Bethany is the place where their faith
[50:13] can be reawakened.
[50:14] It's where a band of scared, grieving, confused disciples
[50:17] can remember who it is that's guiding their journey.
[50:20] It's where the paraclete can come and find them
[50:22] and draw alongside to help.
[50:24] That's what Bethany was.
[50:26] It was a flight across the country
[50:27] just to go to a pizza shop
[50:28] and they've got the same slice of mild on the road.
[50:32] It was a moment that Jesus was creating
[50:34] to reawaken their faith that had shrunk back in fear
[50:37] and without the desperation to enter this life.
[50:40] The willingness to embrace the confusion,
[50:42] disappointment, fear and grief
[50:44] that so often comes with it.
[50:46] We also miss out on the faith that he fans into flame
[50:48] right in the midst of all of those conditions.
[50:52] And then there's hope.
[50:54] Later on in Acts five, Peter and John
[50:56] get drugged before the Sanhedrin.
[50:57] They are brought before the high priest
[50:59] and the ruling council.
[51:00] It's a very familiar scene.
[51:02] And they were warned to stop preaching about Jesus.
[51:04] And in response to the stern warning from those in power,
[51:07] they shared the gospel with the very people threatening them.
[51:11] The priests are defensive.
[51:13] Peter and John, they're free.
[51:15] They're free enough to invite the very people
[51:17] that are cuffing their hands behind their back
[51:20] to know real freedom.
[51:22] And then they get flogged for talking about Jesus
[51:24] and this was their response.
[51:26] The apostles left the Sanhedrin
[51:28] rejoicing because they had been counted worthy
[51:30] of suffering for the name.
[51:32] The priests are defensive, but Peter and John are free.
[51:35] They're free enough to dance with welts across their back
[51:38] because they're in the midst of an adventure.
[51:40] They're riding a thrilling wave.
[51:42] They're alive and unafraid and undefensive.
[51:45] So hope is not optimism.
[51:47] Hope is gritty.
[51:49] Hope is the freedom to sing at midnight in a jail cell
[51:52] or to dance like kids in the light of day.
[51:54] Hope is the freedom that cannot be won by a promotion
[51:57] or taken by a layoff.
[51:58] Hope is the freedom to wear robes and be adored with status
[52:02] or to take those very robes off
[52:03] because they never defined me anyway.
[52:06] But still wearing those robes, holding onto that status,
[52:09] that's what Nicodemus missed out on.
[52:12] And now these three remain faith, hope, and love,
[52:15] but the greatest of these is love.
[52:18] We started with a famous story from Augustine,
[52:22] a theologian with as much prestige as Nicodemus
[52:24] and a kid digging a hole in the sand,
[52:27] inviting him to take his robes off again,
[52:30] right there in between church services.
[52:33] And I want to close with another story
[52:34] from another more recent intellectual giant,
[52:38] the theologian Carl Bart.
[52:41] Bart retired in 1962 at the age of 76
[52:44] and as a farewell, he took a lecture tour through the US.
[52:47] And after speaking at the University of Chicago
[52:50] during a Q and A, a student asked Bart
[52:52] if he could summarize his entire life's work,
[52:54] all the volumes that he had written into a single sentence
[52:57] and Bart paused and then responded,
[53:00]" ""'Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.'"""
[53:06] And his point was that the starting point
[53:08] is also the destination,
[53:10] that we never stop waiting deeper and deeper
[53:12] into the revelation of Jesus's love for us,
[53:16] for you, for me.
[53:19] That's why the apostle John laid in his life
[53:21] long after he'd written his gospel,
[53:23] wrote a letter to the churches in which he said this
[53:25] in 1 John 4, 16.
[53:27] And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
[53:33] You see, the question is not,
[53:34] do you believe in the love of God?
[53:35] Nicodemus believed in a God of love.
[53:38] The work of the spirit is in those last three words.
[53:41] The question is, can you say with conviction
[53:44] alongside John, I've come to know
[53:46] and rely on the love God has for me.
[53:52] Those last three words, has for me,
[53:54] they turn a distant idea into a personal relationship.
[53:58] And the role of the Holy Spirit
[54:00] is to turn doctrinal statements into personal relationships
[54:03] and new foundations to live from.
[54:05] Please don't miss out on that.
[54:07] So here's what I wanna do to close today.
[54:09] I wanna name the thematic work
[54:11] that I believe that God is doing in us as a people
[54:14] and in many of you as individuals.
[54:18] Because language is freeing.
[54:20] When we have language for what God's doing within us,
[54:23] then we can interact with him about it in prayer,
[54:25] we can converse about it with one another,
[54:26] we can enter into the life of it more and more.
[54:29] Language frees us for more experience and more life.
[54:33] And I've found language for what I believe God
[54:35] is up to in this church in Jeremiah 31,
[54:37] which speaks of destruction and tearing down
[54:40] and building up and planting.
[54:43] There has been a time of destruction
[54:45] and tearing down in this church family
[54:47] and God has watched over it.
[54:49] God has protected this church family,
[54:52] guarded this family.
[54:55] And my sense is that right now,
[54:56] so many of us, the greatest thing we can imagine
[55:00] is some semblance of the recovery of what was.
[55:04] And yet what God has in mind is something even better.
[55:07] It's a season of building and planting.
[55:10] And I think many of you have the same sense
[55:13] that there's a season of building and planting
[55:15] that's beginning and it's right here
[55:16] on the same old foundation.
[55:18] But building and planting does not start with call
[55:21] or action or doing or joining in any way.
[55:24] It starts with receiving, with receiving his love afresh.
[55:28] It's why from that place of building and planting,
[55:31] we go on to read this in Jeremiah 31,
[55:33] the days are coming, declares the Lord,
[55:35] when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel
[55:37] and with the people of Judah.
[55:38] It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors
[55:41] when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt.
[55:43] It won't be like the last chapter
[55:46] because they broke my covenant,
[55:48] though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.
[55:51] He uses the language of marriage.
[55:53] This is the covenant I will make with my people of Israel.
[55:56] At that time declares the Lord,
[55:57] I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts.
[56:00] I will be their God and they will be my people.
[56:03] In the last chapter, I chiseled my law,
[56:05] who I am, onto stone tablets so they'd never forget it,
[56:09] but in the coming chapter,
[56:10] I'm gonna write it in their inner being
[56:12] so that they can live from it.
[56:14] See, it starts in individual hearts
[56:16] and he's a husband to us and this law,
[56:18] it's the wedding vows, the promises he makes
[56:22] and will never break and the days are coming
[56:24] and have come when those vows will not be chiseled
[56:27] onto stone tablets or written on a page
[56:29] but we've written on individual hearts in this family
[56:33] so that we can live from the experience of his love.
[56:38] I believe that God wants to romance you friends
[56:42] and that that's what he's been up to
[56:44] and romance is not primarily intellectual,
[56:47] it is experiential.
[56:48] I believe that he wants to woo your hearts
[56:50] that you might know his forgiveness, his grace,
[56:53] his favor, his affection, his love,
[56:55] that you might know that it's yours,
[56:56] that it's all yours, that you've ravished his heart
[56:59] with just a single glance
[57:01] and in response to these promises
[57:03] in the very next chapter, Jeremiah buys a field.
[57:07] It's one of my favorite moments in the whole of the Bible
[57:10] because Jeremiah's living in prison.
[57:14] Jerusalem is still occupied by Babylonian conquerors
[57:18] and he purchases land in enemy occupied territory
[57:23] meaning he goes to someone who has a deed for land
[57:26] under a government that doesn't exist anymore
[57:29] because it's been conquered
[57:31] and he says I'm interested in purchasing the family farm
[57:34] and that family farm currently has army barracks
[57:36] of an invading enemy living on it
[57:39] and while they do still have a deed of purchase
[57:41] it's worthless now and the guy says you want, sure.
[57:46] And Jeremiah purchases that land, what's he doing?
[57:48] He's acting in faith because God says
[57:50] there's a time of building and planting coming
[57:52] and it's gonna happen on the same foundation
[57:54] and so Jeremiah invests in a way that is wild
[57:57] and faith filled and courageous and free
[58:01] but what gives him the courage to do that?
[58:03] It's a new experience of the love of God
[58:06] right there before the work ever takes place.
[58:09] Romans chapter five says God's love
[58:10] has been poured into our hearts
[58:12] through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us love
[58:16] not our love but his the one who loved us first
[58:19] he pours that love into our hearts
[58:21] and his love gives us courage
[58:23] it awakens our souls, it enlivens our wildness
[58:27] it always starts with love
[58:29] faith and hope are coming
[58:30] but they're the product of love that's been received.