Sermon Tone Analysis

A Work of God

This morning we will be looking at a section of scripture that is pretty familiar for most of you.

For that very reason, I would ask you this morning to pray with me that God would help open our hearts to receive his word afresh in our hearts today.

Do not let familiarity breed contempt.

Prayer

 

There are three truths I would like to point out in Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus.

Three points Jesus makes that are crucial in our knowing who Jesus is and what he is all about.

However, before we look at Jesus’ points, I would like us to focus our attention on Nicodemus.

Nicodemus is a member of the Jewish ruling council.

He comes to Jesus at night, with a message for Jesus that I believe he thinks will impress Jesus.

Nicodemus wants Jesus to know that he thinks highly of Jesus.

Now Nicodemus was a preacher of preachers.

He is a scholar and absolutely diligent in his religious observances.

He is well respected and elite among a people and culture that revolves around God.

I like what Robert Bakke says about the Nicodemus when he says, “If you were to ask any person walking the street in Nicodemus’ day, if Nicodemus was going to heaven, they would in all likelihood say, If Nicodemus is not going to heaven, no one is going to heaven.

He is the crème of the crop, in a culture devoted to God.

Here he comes, to speak to Jesus and to give Jesus his seal of approval.

He declares, “Jesus, we have determined that you are a man sent from God, for no one can do the things you have been doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus’ response is startling.

“No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

Jesus stops Nicodemus dead in his tracks to reveal some truths to Nicodemus and us that I believe God has brought us together to learn.

 

3 Truths to Remember…

 

1.

Truth #1:  You must be born from above.

Born form above~/born again

Why?  Nicodemus, “We know…”  “How can a man…”

Nicodemus is focused below, on his works and abilities.

What we need is not more of our work, but a work of God.

You must be born from above.

On November 20, 1988, the Los Angeles Times reported:  A screaming woman, trapped in a car dangling from a freeway transition road in East Los Angeles was rescued Saturday morning.

The 19 year old woman apparently fell asleep behind the wheel at about 12:15 am.

The car, which plunged through a guard rail, was left dangling by its left rear wheel.

A half dozen passing motorists stopped, grabbed some ropes from one of their vehicles, tied the ropes to the back of the car, and hung on till fire units arrived.

The ladder was extended from below to help stabilize the car while firefighters tied the vehicle to tow trucks with cables and chains.

“Every time we would move the car,” said on of the rescuers, “she’d yell and scream.

She was in pain.”

It took almost 2 ½ hours for the passers-by, CHP officers, tow truck drivers, and firefighters – about 25 people in all – to secure the car and pull the woman to safety.

“It was kinda funny,” L.A. County Fire Capt.

Ross Marshall recalled later.

“She kept saying, “I’ll do it myself!”

Her car is dangling on the edge of destruction with her trapped and hurting inside, and she cries out, “I’ll do it myself.”

Isn’t that human nature?

Nicodemus approaches Jesus with his great learning, his prestige and his accomplishments to acknowledge him.

Jesus immediately tells him, “Nicodemus, you must start over.”

What you need Nicodemus, is not to add me to your group, not to grasp things intellectually, not to work it out in your mind or in your actions.

What you need, Nicodemus, is to be born from above.

What an affront to human pride.

Sometime when you’re feeling important,

Sometime when your ego’s way up;

Sometime when you take it for granted

That you are the prize winning “pup”;

Sometime when you feel that your absence

Would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow these simple instructions,

And see how it humbles your soul.

Take a bucket and fill it with water,

Put your hand in up to your wrist.

Now pull it out fast and the hole that remains

Is the measure of how you’ll be missed.

You may splash all you please as you enter,

And stir up the water galore,

But STOP and you’ll find in a minute,

It’s back where it was before.

-          A.

Duddley Dennison Jr., Windows, Ladders & Bridges

 

Our problem this morning, is not that we sin too much.

It’s not that we do not know the Word well enough.

It’s not that we do not go to church often enough.

I look a lot like my dad.

Friends of my dad will say, “Hey, are you Dennis’ boy?”  Pretty much the same height, build nose, etc.  we even have pretty much the same temperament and personality.

But you know, there are some things I have inherited from my dad that I am not all that proud of.

And the same with his dad before him and his dad before him going all the way back to Adam.

THE PROBLEM IS NOT WITH WHAT WE DO, BUT WHO WE ARE! 

 

Jesus looks at Nicodemus, as good of man as he was and as hard as he tried and declares to him, what you need is not more insight, or more effort.

What you need is a miracle.

You need a work of God.

You need to be born from above.

Nicodemus, not understanding what Jesus is talking about, trying to reason things out cries out in disbelief…How?

How can a man be born when he is old?

 

2.

Truth # 2:  You must be born of water and Spirit.

This new birth, this birth from above, Jesus declares is a Spiritual birth not physical!

It doesn’t come with pregnancy, it doesn’t come with intellect, it doesn’t come with effort.

It comes…like the wind.

You do not see it, and you cannot control it.

But it is as real as the breeze on your face and the air in your lungs.

You need a work of God.

You must be born of water and Spirit.

Some claim that this reference to “water” refers to amniotic fluid in the mother’s womb.

Saying in essence, you must be born physically and spiritually.

However, that is not the case.

First, we see that John is contrasting flesh with Spirit.

The water and Spirit are a conjunction that represent the same event.

We see after this that Jesus’ disciples are baptizing followers.

Nicodemus could have likely understood the implications of this.

But even more we must remember that John the Apostle has a purpose in writing this Gospel.

That men might believe and have life in Jesus’ name.

The first century reader could have drawn even more insight from this passage in what we see in Christian baptism.

Not that there is power in water, but the water of baptism represents admission into the church of Christ and a prayer of faith and submission to Christ.

You must be born of water and Spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh.

The finest acts of the flesh and the most noble still give birth to death.