Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
Send forth Thy Spirit and the faithful shall be created.
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
The LORD told Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who was bitten could look at it and live. Moses made a bronze snake as instructed. The people who were bitten went to the snake, looked up to it, and lived. It was an instructive lesson about teaching faith to people, for to go to the snake was an act of faith in the LORD. If a person did not have faith in the LORD, he wouldn’t bother to go to the snake. Faith, you see, is trusting that someone will do something that has been promised. And this episode was recalled by Jesus many years later.
After Jesus began His ministry, he soon traveled to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival. This festival happened every spring in March or April, at a time governed by the phases of the moon. A hundred thousand or more people came to Jerusalem at this time, and swelled the population of the city. It was a common festival shared by three of the four major groups of Jews.
The Sadducees loved the festivals, for they controlled the Temple. Thousands of sacrifices were made at the Temple, not just lambs, but full-grown sheep, goats, cattle, pigeons, as well as much fruit and grain. The Temple priests lived off these sacrifices. The Sadducees were concerned with properly following the laws of worship that Moses had brought down from God – and they were concerned with not upsetting the Romans, for they understood the Romans could destroy the Temple at any time.
A second group were the Zealots, who desperately wanted the Romans to leave. They were more concerned with the country of Israel than with the worship of God. Their main concern was that Jerusalem was for the Jews – and they wanted the foreigners out. A smaller group of the Zealots, the Sicari, were called this after the thin knife they used on the Romans in the back alleys of Jerusalem.
The third group, who avoided the festivals, were the Essenes. They stayed down in the Jordan Valley at their training center of Qumran, and practiced getting close to God. They wrote most of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
And the fourth group are the Pharisees, the group who eventually evolved into the Orthodox Jews of today. The Pharisees were focused mostly upon the study of Scripture and the interpretation of the Law given to Moses to determine how a person should live and act. They were concerned with rules for living they found in the Law. They created entire encyclopedias from their discussions of the Law and how it should be applied. Today, these encyclopedias are called the Talmud. Every little detail of the Law is discussed and looked at from three or four different ways.
It was one of these Pharisees, a leader named Nicodemus, who came to visit Jesus one night after sunset. The man’s name means “Victory of the People”. His actions would tell us why he carried that name. For Nicodemus was not content to just listen to what other people said about Jesus. Nick wasn’t content to hear the sound bites and read the posters. No, the Victory of the People decided to find out what Jesus was teaching directly from Jesus.
So “Victory of the People” comes to find Jesus, but sneaks over after dark because he has his reputation to consider – he doesn’t want to be seen speaking with a possible revolutionary. But his first words explain why he had to go visit:
“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.”
Like many people, Nicodemus knows there is something special about Jesus. So he has to meet Jesus to see just what is going on. He’s heard about the healings, the curing of the blind, the making of wine from water. He knows there is something really special, so he throws caution to the wind and sneaks over to Jesus’ place that evening. He pays Jesus a complement:
“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.”
But Jesus does one of those things where He just completely flips the conversation around. It’s like we are talking about the weather and then suddenly Jesus is talking about the price of software.
“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
Apparently Jesus accepts the compliment from Nicodemus without comment, determines that the Victory of the People is worthy of further discussion, even an advanced concept. So Jesus tells Nick that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. But the Greek is a bit vague. It could be translated as “unless they are born from above”. Even today, people struggle with the idea. Nick tries to follow along, but this is a new idea, an odd concept.
“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!”
Nick is taking Jesus’ response literally and is confused. Now to understand Jesus’ next answer, we must remember that the Greeks used the same word, pneuma, to mean wind or breath or spirit. So let’s look at Jesus’ response in some detail:
“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” This could also be translated as “born of water and the breath”, which makes more sense to our 21st Century ears, for we realize people must be born of water through natural birth, and begin to breath, but this isn’t where Jesus is headed. “born of water and the Spirit” has been interpreted as water baptism and the receipt of the Holy Spirit. In other words, “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are baptized by water and receive the Holy Spirit.”
But Who is the Holy Spirit? The answer lies in the original Greek words. Pneuma to Hagion , literally wind/spirit/breath set apart. A way to think of the Holy Spirit – in older versions, the Holy Ghost, is that this is the breath of God which flows through the Universe, the third person of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus explains further:
"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."
This makes sense. The body gives birth to another body, but it is the spirit (or wind) that gives birth to spirit (or wind).
"You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
The Greek actually translates as “Ya’ll must be born again.”
"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.”
Now our translators assume the meaning of pneuma is “wind”. And this makes sense. The wind cannot be controlled. It blows wherever it wants to. We can hear it, but we can’t tell where it is coming from or going to other than “East to West” or “North to South”. And then Jesus says that everyone who is born of the Spirit is equally unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Natural people, people who have not received the Holy Spirit are fairly predictable. First and foremost, they follow selfish desires, just as cattle and sheep do. Food, sleep, water, sex, safety guide natural people. The desire for money and power are simply the modern version of desires for food and safety, for the more money and power you have, the more control you have over supplying your basic needs.
But those who listen to the Holy Spirit will do things that aren’t so predictable. Why should a Christian policeman defend a group of people he doesn’t know against an active shooter? Why should a Christian pastor travel into a disease-filled hospital to pray with someone there? Why should a Christian Sunday school teacher sacrifice time and money to teach a group of children unrelated to her? Why should a Christian couple donate thousands of dollars for mission work? It is only because they are listening to the Holy Spirit that they do these things.
I once had a graduate student from China ask me, “Why do Americans adopt Chinese girl babies, even those with disabilities?” It made no sense to him that people would do this because of compassion. It was culturally foreign to him. But that's what people with the Holy Spirit do. “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Now Nicodemus is really confused. “How can this be?”
Jesus rebukes The Victory of the People. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?” You can almost hear the disgust the Son of God feels for the poor teaching in Israel.
Throughout the Old Testament, a handful of people from time to time were possessed by the Holy Spirit – Samson, King Saul, King David – or listened to the Holy Spirit – Samuel, the various prophets, the elders of Israel once in the wilderness. But only a few, and never a large percentage of people. And so, it was assumed by the wisest of Israel that the Spirit just randomly talked to people or took possession of them. They did not know how the Spirit related to life or salvation or anything. Some people just “had it” and most people didn’t. But Jesus was telling Nicodemus that the Spirit was vital, life-giving, and necessary to see the kingdom of heaven.
And we are the same way today. We either assume that the Holy Spirit “just speaks” to some people and not to most people – or we make the other assumption that the Holy Spirit MUST come in extreme power, demonstrated by miracles and speaking in tongues in order for us to be saved, as in the Full Gospel churches. But Jesus is saying that the Spirit is necessary for salvation – but Jesus is using the imagery of a gentle breath or a wind blowing, not a gale, not a hurricane of the Spirit. Just a gentle whisper of the Spirit is enough. But you must be born of water AND the spirit.
Jesus continues talking to Nicodemus, the Victory of the People:
“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. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.” (here Jesus is referring to Himself). “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Here Jesus is referring to the episode in Numbers 21, where Moses was ordered to put the bronze snake on the pole. But now Jesus says that it is He who must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life. It is the faith in Jesus now that will grant eternal life just as the faith in the bronze snake would health the snakebite.
And now Jesus gives us the two most beautiful verses in the Bible, the two verses that explain God’s love and why Jesus came to earth.
“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.”
So many people have taken away the wrong message from their younger years in church. So many people have the wrong message that is wrongly shared in movies and television shows. So many people believe that Christianity is all about a series of rules about what to do and what not to do and that God will “get cha!” if you don’t walk the narrow line. And that is simply the wrong message. That message is almost exactly the opposite of the true message from Christ:
“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.”
Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was part of the group of Jews who believed that God insisted on 100% obedience to the law given to Moses. Nicodemus was a leader in the Pharisees. That meant he was careful in his sacrifices, he was careful how he spoke, what he ate, how he dressed, how he prayed. Nicodemus was very careful, for he was afraid that God was just looking for Nick to trip up in the minefield that was the law given to Moses.
But Jesus spoke directly to Nicodemus, the Victory of the People, the man who cared enough about the people to go to Jesus that night in Jerusalem. And he told Nick that accepting baptism and the Holy Spirit were necessary to see the kingdom of God. Jesus never mentions following the Law. Jesus tells Nick that Jesus must be lifted up and believed in – not the Law. And Jesus also never insists that speaking in tongues or performing miracles is necessary. Just receiving the water and the Spirit. And Jesus speaks to the Victory of the People, not the king, not the wealthiest man, not the Trampled of the People. Jesus tells the Victory of the People:
“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.”
Here was the word of God for the Victory of the People. We didn’t need to be successful to be loved and saved by God. We weren’t condemned by God for our sins. You see, there are enough people who are condemning the world and everyone in it. People condemn each other and themselves for their words, their actions, even for their friendships. Even today, people condemn people for using the wrong words, saying the wrong things – even for not saying certain things. People condemn people for how they dress, who they vote for, the songs they listen to, the food they eat, the cars they drive, the friends they have. People hate other people for all sorts of reasons. We are like a group of crabs in a bucket that are trying to climb out, but we pull each other back down into the bucket.
But God and Jesus are different. They lift us out of the bucket and expect Jesus’ followers to practice being different also. This is what the Victory of the People heard that night because he came to listen to Jesus instead of just listening to what other people said about Jesus.
“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.“
Jesus spent the three years of His adult ministry teaching people about God’s love, God’s second chances, God’s desire that people be lifted up rather than pushed down. Why?
“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.“
Jesus trained up a group of men and women who would go into the world and spread this different way of thinking about God. His disciple Paul spoke in Romans, Chapter 8 of how following the Spirit would lead to great freedom:
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”
Our Father God loves us. But few people listen to this, preferring, for some strange reason, to believe that God hates them. Are you one of those people? Or will you listen to what Jesus told the Victory of the People?
800 years before Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, God spoke to the prophet Isaiah.
God gave Isaiah a vision of God’s throne room, surrounded by flying angels with deep booming voices.
“Woe to me!” Isaiah cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
"Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
"And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
God took Isaiah, “a man of unclean lips”, a man who spoke poorly of God – purified Isaiah from his guilt, and gave him a second chance. God asked “Whom shall I send” and Isaiah said “Here am I. Send me!”
and God sent him forth to speak the truth of God. God took a man who spoke poorly of God and used Him to speak of His own Son.
Perhaps God will do the same for you, child of God! God has always preferred to send the willing more than God has worried about education or speaking ability or anything else except for a willingness to listen to the Holy Spirit and what God wants.
This morning, the Lord is still saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” God is awaiting your answer, child of the creator of the Universe. What do you say? God says, “Whom shall I send?” What do you say?!
Turn to the God who loves you. If you here in person, you might want to come to the altar rail to pray and ask forgiveness for what you’ve done wrong. You might want to come to the altar rail to pray for a friend, a neighbor, a relative. You might want to pray for all those people who have been frightened of God. You might pray that they would come to know God’s love. You may need baptized – let me know.
If you are listening on the radio or on Facebook, take this time to pray for yourself, your friends, family, and neighbors, for all the people you can see in the world. Pray that they will all come to know God’s love. You might also want to come and join us for this morning’s service at 10:30 at our building on Rt 47 just beyond WVU-Parkersburg, for what you are listening to is a delayed broadcast, delayed one week on the radio. Come and join us at Cedar Grove United Methodist.
While you pray, we’ll sing:
Closing Song: Here I Am, Lord 593
Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit fill you and guide you this week, that you may do the will of God. Be blessed!
Closing Song – Victory in Jesus 370
Go and Praise God all week long!
Now our translators assume the meaning of pneuma is “wind”. And this makes sense. The wind cannot be controlled. It blows wherever it wants to. We can hear it, but we can’t tell where it is coming from or going to other than “East to West” or “North to South”. And then Jesus says that everyone who is born of the Spirit is equally unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Natural people, people who have not received the Holy Spirit are fairly predictable. First and foremost, they follow selfish desires, just as cattle and sheep do. Food, sleep, water, sex, safety guide natural people. The desire for money and power are simply the modern version of desires for food and safety, for the more money and power you have, the more control you have over supplying your basic needs.
But those who listen to the Holy Spirit will do things that aren’t so predictable. Why should a Christian policeman defend a group of people he doesn’t know against an active shooter? Why should a Christian pastor travel into a disease-filled hospital to pray with someone there? Why should a Christian Sunday school teacher sacrifice time and money to teach a group of children unrelated to her? Why should a Christian couple donate thousands of dollars for mission work? It is only because they are listening to the Holy Spirit that they do these things.
I once had a graduate student from China ask me, “Why do Americans adopt Chinese girl babies, even those with disabilities?” It made no sense to him that people would do this because of compassion. It was culturally foreign to him. But that's what people with the Holy Spirit do. “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Now Nicodemus is really confused. “How can this be?”
Jesus rebukes The Victory of the People. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?” You can almost hear the disgust the Son of God feels for the poor teaching in Israel.
Throughout the Old Testament, a handful of people from time to time were possessed by the Holy Spirit – Samson, King Saul, King David – or listened to the Holy Spirit – Samuel, the various prophets, the elders of Israel once in the wilderness. But only a few, and never a large percentage of people. And so, it was assumed by the wisest of Israel that the Spirit just randomly talked to people or took possession of them. They did not know how the Spirit related to life or salvation or anything. Some people just “had it” and most people didn’t. But Jesus was telling Nicodemus that the Spirit was vital, life-giving, and necessary to see the kingdom of heaven.
And we are the same way today. We either assume that the Holy Spirit “just speaks” to some people and not to most people – or we make the other assumption that the Holy Spirit MUST come in extreme power, demonstrated by miracles and speaking in tongues in order for us to be saved, as in the Full Gospel churches. But Jesus is saying that the Spirit is necessary for salvation – but Jesus is using the imagery of a gentle breath or a wind blowing, not a gale, not a hurricane of the Spirit. Just a gentle whisper of the Spirit is enough. But you must be born of water AND the spirit.
Jesus continues talking to Nicodemus, the Victory of the People:
“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. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.” (here Jesus is referring to Himself). “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Here Jesus is referring to the episode in Numbers 21, where Moses was ordered to put the bronze snake on the pole. But now Jesus says that it is He who must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life. It is the faith in Jesus now that will grant eternal life just as the faith in the bronze snake would health the snakebite.
And now Jesus gives us the two most beautiful verses in the Bible, the two verses that explain God’s love and why Jesus came to earth.
“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.”
So many people have taken away the wrong message from their younger years in church. So many people have the wrong message that is wrongly shared in movies and television shows. So many people believe that Christianity is all about a series of rules about what to do and what not to do and that God will “get cha!” if you don’t walk the narrow line. And that is simply the wrong message. That message is almost exactly the opposite of the true message from Christ:
“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.”
Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was part of the group of Jews who believed that God insisted on 100% obedience to the law given to Moses. Nicodemus was a leader in the Pharisees. That meant he was careful in his sacrifices, he was careful how he spoke, what he ate, how he dressed, how he prayed. Nicodemus was very careful, for he was afraid that God was just looking for Nick to trip up in the minefield that was the law given to Moses.
But Jesus spoke directly to Nicodemus, the Victory of the People, the man who cared enough about the people to go to Jesus that night in Jerusalem. And he told Nick that accepting baptism and the Holy Spirit were necessary to see the kingdom of God. Jesus never mentions following the Law. Jesus tells Nick that Jesus must be lifted up and believed in – not the Law. And Jesus also never insists that speaking in tongues or performing miracles is necessary. Just receiving the water and the Spirit. And Jesus speaks to the Victory of the People, not the king, not the wealthiest man, not the Trampled of the People. Jesus tells the Victory of the People:
“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.”
Here was the word of God for the Victory of the People. We didn’t need to be successful to be loved and saved by God. We weren’t condemned by God for our sins. You see, there are enough people who are condemning the world and everyone in it. People condemn each other and themselves for their words, their actions, even for their friendships. Even today, people condemn people for using the wrong words, saying the wrong things – even for not saying certain things. People condemn people for how they dress, who they vote for, the songs they listen to, the food they eat, the cars they drive, the friends they have. People hate other people for all sorts of reasons. We are like a group of crabs in a bucket that are trying to climb out, but we pull each other back down into the bucket.
But God and Jesus are different. They lift us out of the bucket and expect Jesus’ followers to practice being different also. This is what the Victory of the People heard that night because he came to listen to Jesus instead of just listening to what other people said about Jesus.
“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.“
Jesus spent the three years of His adult ministry teaching people about God’s love, God’s second chances, God’s desire that people be lifted up rather than pushed down. Why?
“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.“
Jesus trained up a group of men and women who would go into the world and spread this different way of thinking about God. His disciple Paul spoke in Romans, Chapter 8 of how following the Spirit would lead to great freedom:
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”
Our Father God loves us. But few people listen to this, preferring, for some strange reason, to believe that God hates them. Are you one of those people? Or will you listen to what Jesus told the Victory of the People?
800 years before Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, God spoke to the prophet Isaiah.
God gave Isaiah a vision of God’s throne room, surrounded by flying angels with deep booming voices.
“Woe to me!” Isaiah cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
"Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
"And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
God took Isaiah, “a man of unclean lips”, a man who spoke poorly of God – purified Isaiah from his guilt, and gave him a second chance. God asked “Whom shall I send” and Isaiah said “Here am I. Send me!”
and God sent him forth to speak the truth of God. God took a man who spoke poorly of God and used Him to speak of His own Son.
Perhaps God will do the same for you, child of God! God has always preferred to send the willing more than God has worried about education or speaking ability or anything else except for a willingness to listen to the Holy Spirit and what God wants.
This morning, the Lord is still saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” God is awaiting your answer, child of the creator of the Universe. What do you say? God says, “Whom shall I send?” What do you say?!
Turn to the God who loves you. If you here in person, you might want to come to the altar rail to pray and ask forgiveness for what you’ve done wrong. You might want to come to the altar rail to pray for a friend, a neighbor, a relative. You might want to pray for all those people who have been frightened of God. You might pray that they would come to know God’s love. You may need baptized – let me know.
If you are listening on the radio or on Facebook, take this time to pray for yourself, your friends, family, and neighbors, for all the people you can see in the world. Pray that they will all come to know God’s love. You might also want to come and join us for this morning’s service at 10:30 at our building on Rt 47 just beyond WVU-Parkersburg, for what you are listening to is a delayed broadcast, delayed one week on the radio. Come and join us at Cedar Grove United Methodist.
While you pray, we’ll sing:
Closing Song: Here I Am, Lord 593
Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit fill you and guide you this week, that you may do the will of God. Be blessed!
Closing Song – Victory in Jesus 370
Go and Praise God all week long!
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