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Intro: When Taylor and I put together my bed frame verses the girls beds.
What we're going to look at today in the Bible is how we're supposed to, how we've been designed to, relate to Jesus Christ.
If you have your Bibles…hopefully you do...we're going to be in the book of John.
Once again, if you're filling out your little sheet, the book we're going to be in is the gospel of John.
The chapter is 3, and verses 1 through 8 is where we will park.
So, 8 verses in the next 20 minutes, and then we'll be set for the day.
I know you don’t believe me, but I am aiming for a short one!
I owe you that much.
Hahahahhaha!
I want to give you some time to turn there in your Bibles, and then we'll read this text and dive in.
I have three points today, and I'm eager to discuss them with you.
John 3:1-8 starting in verse 1.
It says, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
There are three things I want us to see in these 8 verses.
Jesus is more than a teacher; he's a Savior.
It's important to know that Nicodemus is a serious man.
He is a serious man with serious questions.
He's come to Jesus, and he's said a lot of right things about Jesus.
He called Jesus Rabbi.
That's true.
Jesus had followers who were following him, which is what made him a Rabbi.
He calls Jesus a teacher, which is true.
Jesus is a teacher.
We would do well to take seriously that Jesus as our teacher.
Jesus has much to say to us about life and about how life works for our joy and for God's glory.
So, Jesus is definitely a teacher who needs to be listened to, but he is more than just a teacher and wants us to relate to him in a way that is greater than, simply, his teaching.
If you are in school now, or you went to school growing up, you know there is a way that you relate to your teacher who is teaching you well.
What a beautiful vocation education is.
Yet the way you relate to your teacher at school is not the same way, and certainly not at the same level of intimacy, safety, and protection, as the way you would with those you are close to.
For instance, maybe the way we relate to a mother or a father or husband or a wife.
The way we relate is different, right?
Jesus here is confronting Nicodemus a bit because Nicodemus has about half of it right, but he's still relating to Jesus wrong.
If I could make it simple, it'd be like me.
December was crazy.
I've had to do so much more than usual, and when I got home many of those nights, my "Pampaw, Pampaw!
Give me a hug, give me a kiss," and "Missed you."
It'd be real weird if I came in late night, and they were like, "Teacher.
I have not known what to do without you.
Teach me how to…" That's a different way of relating.
Right?
To walk in the door and hear, "Pampaw!!!”, or “Dad!!!", is very different than to walk in the door and go, "Can I have help with math?"
Those things are different.
It's not wrong to want help for math (thank Jesus' name), but the way they’re going to relate to me is not as a teacher (although I am one).
They are going to relate to me as Pampaw, and Dad.
What if I walked into them exclaiming, "Pastor Derek…” How weird would that be, and how bad for our relationship?
If my relationship with my kids and grandkids has them calling me by vocation and not by the name, "Dad or Pampaw," then we're both operating out of step with God's good design.
So Jesus is confronting Nicodemus here about, "You got half of it right, but you're relating to me in a wrong way."
How are we meant to relate to Jesus, then?
Great question for us all to ask ourselves because that's my next point.
The first way we relate rightly to Jesus is…
1. _We must be born again, but not just of the flesh._
Okay, I have a trick question.
You ready?
How many of you have ever been born?
Just in case that's confusing… All of us.
When Jesus says, or he talks about, being born of the flesh, he's saying that you and I are human beings.
We are made in the image of God.
We are the crown jewel of creation.
How many of you have a pet?
A dog, a cat, a hamster?
Go ahead.
This is confession time for all of us.
How many of you have more than one?
More than two?
More than three?
More than four, and it's not a farm?
More than five?
Okay, phew.
Anybody more than five?
I have mad respect if that's you.
I ask the question to make a point.
We love all those little furry relationships, right?
We love them deeply, and we love to see them when we get home.
We love to have them on our laps and on our beds and all that jazz, but you know what kind of relationship that is, right?
It is a relationship of the flesh.
What Jesus is saying when he says we need to relate to him in a way that's different than just the flesh is because our flesh fails us and does not last.
I cannot relate to him in the way he wants to relate to me in things that I can do in my flesh.
I will not be able to be good enough.
I will not be able to follow the rules enough.
I will not be able to do all that I need to do in my own strength or by my own humanity in a way that helps me relate rightly to Jesus.
So he says, "If you want to relate right to me, you must not just be born of the flesh, but you need to be born of water and of Spirit."
So let me talk a little bit about that, briefly.
When Jesus talks about water, the first thing likely to pop into Nicodemus' mind is John the Baptist, who has been leading this massive revival in and around this part of the world.
A revival is when the Spirit of God is drawing large amounts of men and women to be more serious about their relationship with God.
There was a revival going on around this period, and people were being baptized.
John's baptism with water was a baptism of repentance.
It's a beautiful proclamation of faith, but Jesus wants more than just proclamation!
He wants a revival of the heart that leads to repentance.
Repentance is turning from sin to know, love, trust, and obey Jesus.
We're talking about turning away from sin.
We're going to turn away from something, but we're not just turning away from something, we're moving toward something, right?
What are we moving toward?
Loving Jesus, trusting Jesus, following Jesus, and obeying Jesus.
Look right at me.
You are going to repent for the rest of your life.
I want you to pay attention to this.
I want to help you grasp this.
How many here under the age of 18 know what's right but still sometimes do wrong?
Go ahead and raise your hand for me.
Okay, so there are kids with hands up and then there are liars the liars liars pants on fire, right?
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