He Gave to Save

The Holy trinity

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

John 3:1-17

1 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. (NIV)

You don’t attend an art gallery displaying the art of world-famous artists in order to consider how you might improve upon such works of art with perhaps a different shade here or another stroke there, or visit the Eiffel Tower intent on giving thought to how one of the most recognized landmarks in the entire world could have been made better.  You don’t observe a brilliantly cut gem expecting that there would be something you could do to make it appear even more spectacular, or finish up a five-course meal prepared by Wolfgang Puck with a few suggestions as to how he might possibly enhance the flavor of several of the courses.

So the preacher feels about expounding on a text that includes the words of John 3:16.  How does one possibly say anything that could in any way improve on the beautiful simplicity of the grace of salvation as it is laid out for us in this most prominent passage of Scripture?  It hardly deserves to be spoiled by the baggage of extra commentary, but rather deserves to be left alone to breathe on its own, like a fine glass of wine.  We would hardly do it injustice if we were simply to spend the next fifteen minutes contemplating and pondering this verse alone on our hearts and minds. 

So let us not seek to improve upon it or somehow force it to fit into some prefabricated form or mold in order to try to make it say what we would like it to.  Let us instead attempt to present it in such a way as to draw even more attention to it, to see John 3:16 through the eyes of Nicodemus, that we might have a greater and deeper appreciation of it than we had before.  May we this morning merely provide a worthy frame for this work of art, an appropriate setting for this gem, that it might shine in our hearts with all its natural splendor.

Jesus’ words and works were not going unnoticed.  Though we sometimes accuse those who opposed Jesus of being stubborn and close-minded to his message, this morning’s verses serve to encourage us in showing that Jesus’ message, even among those who aggressively spoke out and acted against Jesus, did not always fall on deaf ears. It would in fact be quite difficult to imagine anyone being more diametrically opposed to Christ and his gospel of grace than a representative of the Pharisees, the standard-bearers of the law – especially one who was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council.

Yet here was Nicodemus, approaching Jesus after the sun had set for the day and given way to the night.  Perhaps he came to Jesus at night to avoid being seen by his fellow Pharisees; perhaps it was because he knew at night he’d be able to speak at length with Jesus, who at that time wouldn’t be busy tending to the needs of so many others who longed for his attention during daytime.  Whatever his reason, we can commend Nicodemus, for he sought to give Jesus the benefit of the doubt and afforded him the opportunity to explain his teachings in greater depth, something the associates of Nicodemus were unwilling to do.  He didn’t just tow the company line or take the official position of the Pharisees.  No, Nicodemus did what so many today are unwilling to do – he did the work of searching for answers and forming his own conclusion about Jesus and his teachings instead of lazily taking someone else’s thoughts or opinions as his own. He certainly could have just reposted someone else’s tweet or status update on Facebook as his own, but instead he desired to use the mind God gave him to explore and think critically about Jesus’ teachings.  In so doing, he opened himself up to the power of the Holy Spirit to work on his heart.

We don’t know if we have the entire conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus or just a portion of it, but what we have is more than sufficient.  “[Nicodemus] came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him’” (v.2).  With his statement, Nicodemus was really posing a question, as if to say, “Your miracles and your authoritative teaching – they are clear indicators that you are from God, yet how can your message and your way be so different from ours, when we are supposed to be the religious authorities?”  Nicodemus wasn’t skeptically questioning Jesus the way his colleagues on the council had, but rather innocently asking for some clarification and help in understanding the significant differences between the teachings of Jesus and the ones in which he himself had been trained.  Nicodemus had been taught that he had the proper understanding of how to please God – that he knew and kept the necessary requirements, had the proper ancestral ties, and had even been born into the right family.  Now Jesus sought to unravel that tangled mess of misunderstanding on which Nicodemus had been staking his eternal welfare.

First things first, Nicodemus had to be reborn.  Jesus told him, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (v.3).  Ancestry and family name don’t seem to play as big a role in our culture as they did – and still do – to other cultures, namely those of Jewish descent.  Born Jewish, Nicodemus had been raised with the understanding that his heritage was his source of pride, and that it meant everything.  But Jesus was now saying that it meant nothing.  For Jesus to tell Nicodemus that it was necessary to be born again was to shatter any assurance he had based on genealogy or family name.  The family into which he was born physically was of no importance at all; all that mattered was being born again. 

Unable to wrap his mind around the concept of being born again, Jesus clarified for Nicodemus that he was not making a physical, but a spiritual reference.  The kingdom of God was open only to those born spiritually, and that spiritual birth could only come about through the Holy Spirit, for “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (v.6), as Jesus stated.  Being born again wasn’t about labor and delivery, but water and the Word; it was about baptism.   Through baptism the Holy Spirit brings about a birth in a way that no earthly mother ever could, for he brings about spiritual birth.  Finally, even if Nicodemus didn’t understand the whole process, it didn’t matter, for he couldn’t deny the clear evidence of it (“The wind blows wherever it pleases…” [v.8]).  In fact, it was the evidence he had witnessed – the effects of Jesus’ words and works on the lives of others – which brought Nicodemus to Jesus this evening in the first place.  He didn’t need to understand or explain how Jesus was able to do what he had done, but only to believe it based on the evidence of what he had seen.  Jesus would again bring up the need for believing shortly in his discourse with Nicodemus.

But before he did, Nicodemus needed to be reminded why Jesus was the authority in these matters.  After all, if Nicodemus, supposedly a reputed teacher among the Israelites, wasn’t able to teach or understand such things, how was Jesus qualified to do so?  From where did his credibility come?  Jesus explained, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came for heaven—the Son of Man” (v.13).  Jesus was more than qualified to speak of things of a heavenly nature because he had come from heaven!  Was there any Pharisee who could claim as much?  Was there anyone at all who could?  No.  Jesus had come from the Father, from heaven, and so Jesus knew full well what it took for anyone else to get there.  This he would now make clear to Nicodemus.

He began by referencing what would have been for Nicodemus a familiar event in Israel’s history.  “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (v.14,15).  Jesus was saying, “Nicodemus, you recall how the multitudes were delivered from deadly snakebites because they looked up to a bronze snake lifted up on a pole in the desert, right?  Tell me, was there any physical explanation for the medical benefit offered by that bronze snake?  Absolutely not!  The people were delivered by looking at the snake only because they believed the Lord when he promised they’d be delivered.  See – they believed, and they were delivered.  They did nothing, nor could they do anything to rescue themselves from death.  They believed and they were saved.”

Jesus had already alluded to the need to leave reason at the door when trying to understand the Spirit’s work; all that was necessary was to believe in his work.  Remember why there was a need for Jesus to firmly establish this concept for Nicodemus, this notion of simple trust or belief, or what we often refer to as “faith alone.”  It was because belief was a foreign concept to the Jewish way of thinking, and even more so to the Pharisees.  Belief had no place in a work-based religion.  Faith was a foreign concept, overshadowed by action and effort.  So Jesus was establishing for Nicodemus that salvation was based on faith.  Having pointed to the bronze snake in the desert to introduce this truth, Jesus now took it up a notch.

“Now, Nicodemus, let me explain to you that same concept on the grandest scale of all – the scale of salvation.  Are you ready?”  “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” (v.16,17).  With that, Nicodemus’s whole world was turned upside down by grace.  His whole way of life was a lie.  The burden of guilt that tirelessly drove him to slavish obedience to the law was uncalled for; because of Christ, he wasn’t enslaved by the law, but freed from it.  Eternal life was to be his not by doing, but by believing, and only by believing.  Jesus had not come in the flesh to judge and condemn, as the Pharisees were so inclined to do, but to save the world, to save all people, to save Nicodemus.

Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, dear friends, are recorded in the Scriptures so that you also might hear him speak them to you, for you need to hear them every bit as much as Nicodemus.  God knows your sin, even when you pretend you can hide it or that it somehow doesn’t exist, and that is completely terrifying, isn’t it?  But God’s grace is this: Your Father didn’t send his Son to be your Savior to come into the world to accuse, but to acquit.  Believe it and live.  Believe it and be free.  Believe it and be assured of your eternal life. Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)