John 3:1-21
Colleen and John made a specific request of me when it came to the message presented today. They didn’t want a wedding sermon. They wanted a message that pointed to Jesus, God the Son, the One Who describes Himself as “the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
I like to think that all my sermons point to Jesus. But I understood what the two of them meant. They wanted a sermon that would unambiguously give you Jesus and His Gospel this afternoon.
That suits me just fine!
The passage from the Gospel of John which I just read recounts part of an incident that took place early in Jesus’ earthly ministry. A man named Nicodemus visits Jesus by night. The probable reason that Nicodemus, a major figure in the religious life of first-century Judea, chooses this time of day for his visit is that he doesn’t want to be seen with Jesus. Already, other religious leaders, people who would later call for Jesus’ execution, were alarmed by Jesus. It could be bad for Nicodemus’ reputation and authority if he publicly associated with Jesus.
Back when I was an atheist, I wasn’t always keen on being seen with my friends who were Christians. I thought that others I wanted to impress would think I was unintelligent, judgmental, or weak if I hung out with Christians.
Of course, we all prefer not to be seen when we know or suspect that what we’re doing is wrong. Maybe Nicodemus wonders whether seeing Jesus is actually wrong. Or, that Jesus will see his sin more clearly in the daylight.
In any case, Nicodemus preferrs darkness. In the course of their conversation which goes longer than the lesson I just read, Jesus tells Nicodemus why this teacher chose to visit Jesus by night. “Light has come into the world,” Jesus says, referring to Himself as God’s Light, “but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)
Now, as Colleen and John can tell you, there are two ways in which God speaks to us in His Word.
The passage from the Gospel of John which I just read recounts part of an incident that took place early in Jesus’ earthly ministry. A man named Nicodemus visits Jesus by night. The probable reason that Nicodemus, a major figure in the religious life of first-century Judea, chooses this time of day for his visit is that he doesn’t want to be seen with Jesus. Already, other religious leaders, people who would later call for Jesus’ execution, were alarmed by Jesus. It could be bad for Nicodemus’ reputation and authority if he publicly associated with Jesus.
Back when I was an atheist, I wasn’t always keen on being seen with my friends who were Christians. I thought that others I wanted to impress would think I was unintelligent, judgmental, or weak if I hung out with Christians.
Of course, we all prefer not to be seen when we know or suspect that what we’re doing is wrong. Maybe Nicodemus wonders whether seeing Jesus is actually wrong. Or, that Jesus will see his sin more clearly in the daylight.
In any case, Nicodemus preferrs darkness. In the course of their conversation which goes longer than the lesson I just read, Jesus tells Nicodemus why this teacher chose to visit Jesus by night. “Light has come into the world,” Jesus says, referring to Himself as God’s Light, “but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)
Now, as Colleen and John can tell you, there are two ways in which God speaks to us in His Word.
He can speak to us through His Law, the moral code He commands us all to obey and which none of us is capable of obeying.
God’s Law is summarized in the Ten Commandments. There, we’re told, for example, to worship no other God but the One now revealed to us in Jesus; but we give all sorts of things higher priority than we do to God. We’re to honor God’s Name and God’s Word; but we fail to do these things all the time. And we’re no more successful in doing God’s will in relation to other people, whether it’s in thought, word, or deed, when it comes to honoring parents or refraining from murder, theft, adultery, gossip, or enviously desiring what other people have.
All of these violations of God’s Law of which we are, to one extent or another, guilty every day, stem from our inborn alienation from God, a condition called sin that leads to committing individual sins.
I have a two year old granddaughter who is the most beautiful and perfect child in the world. But one of her favorite words, which she says when her parents or grandparents try to steer her from trouble is, “No!” Now, nobody taught her to sin. Like you and me, she was born knowing how to do it.
The Law brings bad news: “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) In other words, we all deserve punishment and eternal separation from God and we cannot save ourselves. We can’t be nice enough, moral enough, or good enough to avoid the death sentence for sin we deserve.
Our situation would be hopeless if it weren’t for the fact that God speaks another word to us.
Our situation would be hopeless if it weren’t for the fact that God speaks another word to us.
This Word is the Gospel, the good news that brings forgiveness for sin and eternal life with God to all it woos to faith in Jesus.
Jesus gives us the Gospel-in-a-nutshell in the words He speaks to Nicodemus in our lesson: “For God so loved the world [God so loved you] that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Faith in Jesus isn’t something we have to work ourselves up to. To have faith, there’s no decision for us to make. The Bible says that faith in Christ is a gift that God gives us.
The Word of the Law convicts of our sin, leaving us aware of our need of God to save us from sin and death.
But the Word of the Gospel gives us Jesus, Who, though He had no sin, took the death punishment for sin we deserve, then rose from the dead to open eternity to all who believe.
There are three ways this Gospel Word comes to us from outside of ourselves, from God Himself.
First, through His Word, heard, read, taught, or preached.
Second, through Holy Baptism, by which God drowns our old selves with all our sins and raises us to new life to become His own children and by which He sends the Holy Spirit to be our teacher even when we walk away from God. In Baptism, Jesus says, we are born of water and the Holy Spirit.
And third, through Holy Communion, by which Jesus gives His body and blood to us, in other words, His crucified and risen life, and also gives us the forgiveness of sins.
It’s by these three means that Jesus comes to you and loves you into faith and eternal life with Him.
When we receive these gifts with the assurance that through them, Jesus and His Gospel come to us, God gives us saving faith and everlasting life with God.
I had been an atheist for about ten years when, to get my wife off of my back for sleeping in on Sunday mornings, I started attending worship with her. There, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Columbus, this Gospel Word, speaking God’s love and forgiveness for me despite my sins and disloyalty to God, came to me as it first had as a baby, when I was baptized, and as a little boy who had gone to church and Sunday School. No one was more shocked than I was to realize that, after a few years of receiving this Gospel Word at my wife’s church, I could say, “I believe that Jesus is my God and my Savior.” When I realized that I believed in Jesus, I knew that I belonged to God, that He stood beside me always, and that one day, Jesus would raise me from the grave to live with Him forever.
With a heart broken by our sin, yet filled with love for us, God says through the prophet Ezekiel six-hundred years before Jesus’ birth, “I do not enjoy seeing sinners die.” (Ezekiel 33:11, GNT)
Faith in Jesus isn’t something we have to work ourselves up to. To have faith, there’s no decision for us to make. The Bible says that faith in Christ is a gift that God gives us.
The Word of the Law convicts of our sin, leaving us aware of our need of God to save us from sin and death.
But the Word of the Gospel gives us Jesus, Who, though He had no sin, took the death punishment for sin we deserve, then rose from the dead to open eternity to all who believe.
There are three ways this Gospel Word comes to us from outside of ourselves, from God Himself.
First, through His Word, heard, read, taught, or preached.
Second, through Holy Baptism, by which God drowns our old selves with all our sins and raises us to new life to become His own children and by which He sends the Holy Spirit to be our teacher even when we walk away from God. In Baptism, Jesus says, we are born of water and the Holy Spirit.
And third, through Holy Communion, by which Jesus gives His body and blood to us, in other words, His crucified and risen life, and also gives us the forgiveness of sins.
It’s by these three means that Jesus comes to you and loves you into faith and eternal life with Him.
When we receive these gifts with the assurance that through them, Jesus and His Gospel come to us, God gives us saving faith and everlasting life with God.
I had been an atheist for about ten years when, to get my wife off of my back for sleeping in on Sunday mornings, I started attending worship with her. There, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Columbus, this Gospel Word, speaking God’s love and forgiveness for me despite my sins and disloyalty to God, came to me as it first had as a baby, when I was baptized, and as a little boy who had gone to church and Sunday School. No one was more shocked than I was to realize that, after a few years of receiving this Gospel Word at my wife’s church, I could say, “I believe that Jesus is my God and my Savior.” When I realized that I believed in Jesus, I knew that I belonged to God, that He stood beside me always, and that one day, Jesus would raise me from the grave to live with Him forever.
With a heart broken by our sin, yet filled with love for us, God says through the prophet Ezekiel six-hundred years before Jesus’ birth, “I do not enjoy seeing sinners die.” (Ezekiel 33:11, GNT)
God wants us all to live eternally in a joy even greater than the joy we have for John and Colleen today, a joy that goes with living with God and with all who have trusted in Christ in a kingdom free of sin, death, darkness, and futility.
Life without Jesus is darkness, death, and condemnation.
Life with Jesus is light, life, and eternal freedom.
Jesus died on a cross and rose from a grave to make life with God possible for us all.
He’s done everything necessary for the Gospel promise to belong to you.
Your call is to daily turn from sin and to daily turn to Him for forgiveness and for life with God.
For these gifts and so much more, you can trust Jesus. Amen
[This painting of Jesus with Nicodemus is from the collection of the Smithsonian and is in the public domain.]
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