Bishop Jerry is on travel
to Kenya with Executive Secretary Betty Hoffman and Rev Jack Arnold to welcome
the church their into the Anglican Orthodox Worldwide Communion. He thoughtfully left a sermon
originally written for Trinity Sunday 2012. It starts off with the collect, and like always, it will
give you a lot to consider in your heart.
Trinity
Sunday.
The
Collect.
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LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal
Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We
beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore
defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without
end. Amen.
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HERE was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a
ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi,
we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a
man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered
and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and
knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do
know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have
told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell
you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came
down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(John 3:1-16)
Today’s text is about the change of the
heart that we call regeneration.
Precisely what IS regeneration and how
does it occur?
Regeneration is not merely an IMPROVEMENT
of character brought about through effort and study of classical philosophy, or
even of the study of God’s Word.
Regeneration is that complete change of character that occurs through
the process of being born anew in Christ. Anything that is born is a new
creature. Anything that is born anew is also a new creature whose former
character and habits have disappeared. – or even died with the old self (which
was also dead before coming to Christ).
It is not an improvement of disposition, but a fundamental change in
nature.
There was once a drop of water that found
itself puddle in a dirty and unsavory gutter drain. It was constantly subject to being spat upon and frequented
by mosquitoes laying their larvae in the water. The little drop of water looked everyday up to the beautiful
blue skies above and yearend, for once, to be clean and pure, and separated
from the filth of the gutter. The yearning of its heart was heard in heaven,
and the warmth of the sun began to draw the small droplet up, up, and away from
the filth it had always known. Being drawn higher and higher, the air around
the droplet was no longer foul and smelly, but clear and pristine. Yet, it was
drawn still higher by the force of the sun to levels of colder and colder air.
The winds took up the droplet of water and carried it far away where it became
a beautiful, white snowflake. It was deposited on the heights of Mt. Everest
where its beauty could be seen, mingled with other snowflakes, for many miles
around. The droplet of water, transformed by the power of Heaven, had moved
from the lowest and dirtiest place, to the highest and most beautiful on earth.
That is regeneration, and that is the power of God to make new the soul of man.
1. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews: 2 The same
came to Jesus by night
We see a contrast being drawn in the text
between a man of great power, wealth, and learning; and the Lord Jesus Christ
who did not have a place to lay His head. Nicodemus was an influential member
of the ruling Sanhedrin. He was a Pharisee who truly sought more knowledge. But
Nicodemus was also keen to the politics of the day and did not wish to be
exposed as someone who would be an admirer of Chrsit – at least not until he
had come to know Him for the Lord that He was. So Nicodemus came under cover of
darkness.
Earlier in the day, Nicodemus had seen
Christ drive out the money changers and those who made merchandise of the House
of God. He had heard, that day, His strange but refreshing counsel: Take these things
hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. (John 2:16) He had heard the profound and beautiful
teachings of Christ and seen His miracles. His logical mind could not deny that
Jesus had strange powers that could only come from God, unlike those political
posers who sat with him of the Sanhedrin.
If we desire to know a man better, we must
find out where He is and talk with him. Nicodemus obviously had scouted out
Christ to know where He was sleeping in Jerusalem that first Passover of
Christ’s ministry.
……… and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come
from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with
him
Nicodemus has the least seed of
faith in his heart, but it was enough to drive him to Christ. He recognized the
power of God in Christ and he must settle the issue before the dawning of
another day. Though he comes here at night, he later publicly defends Christ in
the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-52) and even publicly goes with Joseph of Arimethaea
to claim the body of Christ for burial even under threat of retribution from
Rome and the Jewish rulers (John 19:39). The one who came by night later became
one who feared no one but God. John considers the change in Nicodemus so
significant that he always makes reference to Nicodemus in later references as
“he who came to Jesus by night.”
Jesus is frank in His approach to
Nicodemus. He knows the heart of Nicodemus, and He knows that complete
transparency and blunt truth is the very thing Nicodemus desires.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus tells Nicodemus what he desperately NEEDS to know,
not that which his ears would have been comforted to hear. Nicodemus is
considered himself to be a great teacher, yet he calls Christ RABBI., or
Teacher. Nicodemus is not too proud to accept the role of student before
superior knowledge of a better Teacher. But these words of Christ are simply
too amazing for Nicodemus to grasp.
4 Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb, and be born? This is not a frivolous
response by Nicodemus. He does not ask WHY,
but HOW. If Jesus were making
reference to the Gentiles, Nicodemus could have understood somewhat, but Jesus
is speaking to a ruler of the Jews – the presumed people of God! To Nicodemus,
it does not make sense, but he trusts in the superior wisdom of Christ to shed
light on the matter. Our first longings of faith must be satisfied through
deeper inquiry even if we risk ridicule by the world.
5. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel
not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again Nicodemus belonged to a religion that based salvation upon
a complete obedience to the Law written on Tables of Stone. It was a difficult
concept to to receive that his entire previous training had been lacking.
Christ points to a change that is alien to Nicodemus’ thinking. There is the
story of an owner of a clothing store that decided to clean his main display
window. He gathered his cleaning materials and went outside to clean. After working
diligently, the window appeared immaculate with the exception of a single
troubling blemish high up on the glass. Regardless the efforts and elbow grease
used to clean the spot, it remained a glaring flaw in an otherwise clear glass.
At last he discovered that the dirty blemish was not on the outside, but the
INSIDE of the glass. Regardless our efforts to dress and beautify our persons,
we cannot cleanse the heart by dressing the outward appearance with good works.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalms 51:7) God cleans us inside
first with the purgative of the Holy Spirit ere making our appearance clean on
the outside. If the heart is full of filth, it matters not the outward
APPEARANCE.
When we lay down this life, we lay down
the body of flesh before our parents who gave us our traits and hereditary and
features of flesh. We then are drawn in the spirit back to the Father who gave
us the Spirit of Life. Or ever the silver
cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the
fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust
return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
(Eccl 12:6-7)
8 The
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Does any man have the
key to the gate of the wind, to open and close as he deems fit? The Wind is no different
in certain aspects than the Holy Spirit. We do not know the source of the wind,
but we KNOW it has a source. We can hear the wind if we are quiet and
attentive. It literally whispers as that still, small voice of God. (1 Kings 19:12) We cannot say its direction or where it is going. The Wind is unseen just as the Holy
Spirit is unseen. We see its effects, but not its essence. Those who are born
of God have been touched by that Wind of the Holy Spirit. Their change is
complete and not prideful in display.
Can you imagine Nicodemus’
eyes squinting in effort to understand this strange new doctrine? . 9 Nicodemus answered and
said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things
Nicodemus
is very much like many who are educated in theology and who press a point of an
olive until it becomes a watermelon. He is well educated but, unfortunately, in
things that are not real. Jesus points out his ignorance to him. Many prominent
theologians of our day lack the simple wisdom of a poor farmer who knows the
Lord. This was Nicodemus’ problem, but he is open to amendment in
understanding. I wish we all were.
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do
know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If
I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I
tell you of heavenly things? Jesus places His evidence before the bar. He taught often
in parables so that the simple farmer or fisherman could grasp greater
spiritual truth when illustrated by earthly logic. But those educated too much
in ‘theological error’ may not be able to grasp the simplicity of the Gospel
which a child can easily grasp. It is not faith and knowledge that saves us,
but ‘faith in Christ’ and right knowledge of Him. We may know the print in a
thousand theological works, but if we lack the nature of a little child in
faith, we are lost.
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that
came down from heaven, even the
Son of man which is in heaven. Despite
the delusional dreams and copyrighted commercial works of many today, no one
has ascended to heaven or come down but Christ.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. God sent fiery serpents among the Children of Israel in the
Wilderness for their sins. When they pleaded for relief, God told Moses to
erect a brass serpent on a pole for all to look unto when bitten that they
might live. The serpent
represented our sins that are crucified on the cross with Christ. Looking to
the sacrifice of Christ, for our own sins, we are saved from eternal death.
(Numbers 21:6-9) We have the same symbolized in the medical kadusa today.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life Do
not be deceived by modern versions of the Bible such as the NIV. Jesus Christ
is the literal ISSUE of the Father. He is God because He is of the same
substance with God. Not a son or daughter through the adoption that we are, but
the true and issuing Son of the Father – the only Begotten, not One and Only!
