Barry Unwin, St James Church, Welland 12 March 2017
On the occasion of the baptism of Oliver.
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “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.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “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!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 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.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 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. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Sky and Andrew – I trust that Oliver’s baptism has been a special occasion so far…you’ve made some huge promises on his behalf, and we’re now going to explore something of what those promises mean by reading a bit of the Bible and spending some time thinking about it.
But , before we do, let’s pray.
Now there are all sorts of reasons people bring children for baptism.
- Some people think it’s a naming right
- Others its a good start in life
- Others that it’ll get them a good school
- Others – to please grandma.
I was one of those – My grandma was dying, and my family are Sunderland fans,and my dad used to stand near a vicar on the terraces at Roker Park, so he approaches the vicar and says,
I want to get the bairn done before my mum dies
and the vicar says,
Bring him along next Saturday, we’ll do him them.
Now those are social and family reasons. But there’s far more to baptism than that. Think of those promises you made
I turn to Christ, I repent of my sins
Baptism is all about relationship with God through Jesus, and the prospect of eternal life.
Now you should all have received a piece of paper when you came in with our Bible reading on it, and underneath it, there’s a question I’d like you to think about:
If God were to say to you “Why should I give you eternal life?” What would your answer be?
Have a moment to think, Chat to your neighbour about it if you want, But then write down an answer.
Okay, keep your answer handy, And let’s take a look at our Bible passage.
It’s set early in Jesus’ ministry. So far everything he’s done has been in Galilee, which is kind of Israel’s remote rural backwater where nothing ever happens..A bit like Shrophshire.
Anyway, Jesus caused quite a stir there, and when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem heard about him they sent people to check him out. Nicodemus might have been sent, or he might have just come because he’s curious.
And John tells us two things about Nicodemus. First he’s a Pharisee – which meant he was a very moral self-righteous person. If we’d asked Nicodemus to write an answer to our question he’d have said something like God should give me eternal life because “I obey all his laws”.
Nicodemus is also a member of the Jewish ruling council. So he’s a power player in Israel at the time.
So this influential religious man turns up on Jesus’ doorstep saying,
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. (John 3:2)
And Jesus replies,
Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3v3)
For Jesus that’s a blunt answer. .Normally when he meets someone he’s quite gentle. In the next chapter of John’s gospel, he meets a foreign woman at a well,and he’s incredibly gentle with her. But with religious establishment figures, the people everyone expects are already well on the road to Heaven, Jesus effectively says,
You aren’t going to Heaven unless you are born again.
Now people react in all sorts of ways to that “born again” phrase.
Some think there are two types of Christians – ordinary common or garden Christians, and the Born Again sort, who mainly live in Africa or America.
Others think ‘born again’ means you are weird: you smile all the time, clap at lively songs in church, and if you’re American, vote for Donald Trump.
Others will tell you it means you park your brain at the door and do whatever the preacher tells you. Personally I’m all for that, but the people here are way too smart to let me get away with it.
But in the Bible, born-again means none of those things. What Jesus is saying is that getting into Heaven is like being born all over again.
Let’s think about babies being born. I’ve got six kids, I’ve been at all their births, and I remember them quite clearly.
My first was Isobel– and I remember the shock of what birth did to my lovely wife Carol, and the overwhelming feeling of relief and joy when the baby came.
My latest was Peter – and I remember being totally shocked at how the NHS could forget to bring enough gas and air to the delivery. Annoying for me, painful for Carol.
I’ve seen six births and contributed in some small measure to each of them.
I was at a seventh birth too. My own. I don’t remember anything about it, and I contributed nothing to it. None us do, do we? We don’t contribute to our own birth. Did you choose your birthdate? Was your birth down to your skilful planning or hard work? No – we don’t contribute anything to our birth.
So when Jesus says getting into the Kingdom of God is like being born all over again – he’s saying we don’t contribute anything to it.
That’s actually the key thing Jesus wants Nicodemus and us to understand about being born again. We don’t contribute anything to it.
I asked you a question earlier – If God were to say to you “Why should I give you eternal life” what would your answer be? – Well often people answer that question with a list of things they’ve done. Things like:
- “I am a good person”,
- “I am kind”,
- “I give to charity”,
- “I’m not a murderer or a rapist”,
- “I’m spiritual”,
- “I go to church”,
- “I take communion”,
- “I’m on the church council”,
- and appropriately for today, “I’ve been baptised.”
Those are all good things, and they’re also exactly the sorts of things Nicodemus would have written. And yet Jesus is saying that none of these things can actually get you into Heaven. None of them. Any answer you give that talks about what you have done simply doesn’t work. You see, just like you didn’t contribute anything to your birth, you can’t contribute anything to your spiritual re-birth.
Now for some of you that will be a big shock because like Nicodemus you’ve been misled into believing that it’s good works or being spiritual that make all the difference to God. You think that if you do enough good stuff –go to church –give to charity – that God is obliged to let you into Heaven. He isn’t.
To others of you it will be a relief – because you know you’ve no chance of ever doing enough good works or being spiritual enough– to keep up with the Nicodemus’ in your life.
But whether it’s a shock or a relief, I want to suggest to you that actually it’s the most fantastic news ever. Because if eternal life isn’t earned by good works And it isn’t earned by being spiritual, then it means that anyone, no matter how messed up or lost or hopeless or guilty or ashamed, can be saved. The door is open to anyone. Me. You. Even a monster like Adolf Hitler.
That’s what v16 means. It says
For God so loved the world…
It doesn’t say God loved “nice people”. It says God so loved the world – that’s everyone
that he gave his one and only Son , that whoever [so not just nice people, but whoever!] believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
So God invites us all to receive eternal life. He’s an inclusive God, he loves all his children, and gives them all a chance to opt in.
I mentioned earlier I was baptised as a baby. As far as I can recall I didn’t attend a church again for most of the next 16 years, except for the odd school carol service. And some of them were really odd.
By the age of 16 I was a self-proclaimed atheist, and whilst not a bad person like Hitler, I wasn’t someone you’d have wanted to spend time with. Maybe some things haven’t changed.
But the amazing thing is – God wanted to spend time with me. He reached out to me through a Christian friend who explained to me that being a Christian wasn’t about keeping rules,it wasn’t about going to church, instead it was all about a relationship. A relationship with God, through his son Jesus. Which, as a self-proclaimed atheist was a tricky thing to get my head around.
And yet things kept happening to make me question my atheism. Little coincidences, articles I read and thoughts in my mind, and over a period of three months my atheism began to melt, until I reached a point where I thought – there’s only one thing a good scientist can do here – and that’s re-examine my hypothesis that there is no God.
So I started reading a few bits of the Bible, and soon after I felt God speaking to me through a Bible passage and I just knew he was there – and I had no choice but to say sorry to him for ignoring him and living life without him. That was the moment I was born again. Not by good works cos frankly I didn’t have any. Not by church attendance because I hadn’t been.I was born-again by God. And you can be too.
All you have to do is ask him. Start by saying sorry for ignoring him and living life without him. And then invite him to come and be your friend and your God. And then let him do the heavy lifting of coming into your life and walking through life with you.
That’s what Jesus is talking about in v5, where he says we are born of water and Spirit. Water is a reference to baptism and Spirit is all about God coming to live with you, helping you, healing you, transforming you, and enabling you to do things you never thought possible in your own strength. That’s why we call it being born-again. Because when God gets to work in you,it’s a completely new beginning.
So then, Jesus said,
No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.
Are you?
__________
- Tim Keller’s wonderful little book, Encounters with Jesus, was wonderfully helpful in preparing this talk.
- The question “If God were to say to” etc, is pinched from Christianity Explored.