A Short Meditation on God's Word
“IF I TELL YOU THEN
…” John 3: 1-17, NRSV
Three
people were once arrested for trying to sell the secret formula for Coca Cola
(Coke) to the Pepsi Company. Even through we've been able to split the atom,
figure out the evolution of time, decode DNA, yet we're still baffled by the
secret ingredients in Coca Cola.
Well here
they are: cola nuts, water, seltzer, a ton of sugar, and a whole lot of
gullible Americans. Americans will buy anything they're told to. And don't get
me started on Starbucks. Their secret for success: coffee, milk, sugar, and the
same stupid, gullible Americans who pay 5 dollars for 20 cents worth of stuff!
"When
we become too sure of what we know about Jesus (or think we understand the
Trinity), when we believe that we have grasped him at last, that is when we can
perhaps expect to get challenged like Jesus did to Nicodemus."
"Imagine
studying all your life to be among the elite and powerful only to be told that
all of your theories are wrong. The unfortunate thing is that many of us do
experience this reality at some point in our life when we finally realize that
life is really not all about me, and that God could care less what I know
but instead wants to know who I loved!"
Now
there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and
said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for
no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered
him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being
born from above.’
Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born
after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and
be born?’ Jesus
answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without
being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is
born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born
from above.”
The wind blows where
it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes
from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to
him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel,
and yet you do not understand these things? ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what
we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not
receive our testimony.
If I have told
you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell
you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who
descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life.
‘For God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
may not perish but may have eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him.
John
Wesley said, "If any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity
may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two, -- the
doctrine of justification, and that of the new birth."
"To
be more clear. The logic of John is NOT that “if you believe, then God will love you and save you,” but
rather that God's salvation is not a reward for belief that we will ever earn.
Nor does God withhold God's love, forgiveness and salvation until we
believe. On the other hand, since love is not coercive, we do have to accept
the invitation in order to actually be part of the family."
"The
purpose of God and the purpose of Jesus and the purpose of Christians is to
save the world. That is, people and institutions around us that have fallen
away from the Lord God and the godly values of love, justice and goodness and
their consequence of peace."
Wesley
spoke in 200 year old prose to people smarter than we were. Wesley means that
becoming a Christian is a discovery process that is driven by God’s Love. The person doesn’t build their own truth or
faith but discovers that God has already done everything for us to learn faith
and trust and that He is waiting for us to simply ask for it.
Some
people never learn this. They often think there is some secret truth (why did
Nicodemus come to Jesus at night when he couldn’t be watched by his peers?)
that they must discover.
The same
truth holds for everyone and it is relatively simple one – you must die to your
own needs and wants and petty human desires and embrace Jesus. Literally the
old adage about “if I told you I’d have to kill you” is changed by the reality
of Jesus saying “when I tell you then you’ll have to kill your old self off to
be replaced by the new creature you become in me.”
No comments:
Post a Comment