Wind

Second Sunday of Lent

Sunday, March 16, 2014

John 3:1-17

Nicodemus believed Religion was enough.

            Nicodemus believed religion, a life dedicated to right living, was enough.

            It’s now wonder then, in John 3, Jesus arrives to his night time rendezvous with Nicodemus with a bit of skepticism. 

His skepticism was valid.  Jesus came into contact with many people who believed religion was enough every day.  At the end of John 2, Jesus is in the middle of one of the great Jewish religious festivals – Passover in Jerusalem.  During this festival many Jews from around the world witnessed Jesus perform signs (as John calls them), miracles.  When these religious folks saw these signs – “Many believed in his name,” John tells us.  For a leader who is trying to change the world, this should be a good thing.

            Except - Jesus looks past our words and into our heart.  “Jesus knew what was in everyone,” John says.  While their words proclaimed one thing – their actions and their belief in religion was another.  Jesus cannot trust himself who only want more signs.  There is no change in their lives.

            When Jesus meets Nicodemus, he finds a religious leader cut from the same cloth as those he has just left in Jerusalem.  If the folks in chapter 2 are church folk, Nicodemus is the Old Testament professor at the standard bearer denominational seminary. 

            John paints us a picture of the Nicodemus who met Jesus that night.  First, Nicodemus was a Pharisee.  The Pharisees as a religious party developed as a grassroots movement a couple of hundred years before Jesus.  They formed to renew and restore Judaism and Israel to its national glory.   

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus was the most religious of a very religious community.  He sought purity and holiness in all the ways of his life.  He spent his life learning the laws of Judaism and submitting his life to these laws.  The Pharisees prided themselves as being the best of the best Jews.  Nicodemus spent his life making sure his behavior matched the boundaries of his religion. 

            Nicodemus was not just a Pharisee, though.  John tells us he was a leader of the Pharisees.  Nicodemus ruled Israel along with 69 others on the Sanhedrin Council.  The Romans established the Sanhedrin Council in order to squash the undercurrent of rebellion rising in the conquered country of Israel.  While Rome’s leaders were ultimately in charge, the Sanhedrin provided a semblance of home rule in the country. 

            If being religious was enough, Nicodemus was just the kind of person Jesus needed in his corner.  Jesus could have simply acknowledged the piety and religiosity of Nicodemus and commissioned him as a leader of the new movement. 

Instead, when Nicodemus opens his mouth, we realize he is no different from the religious folks in Jerusalem.  “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.”

            Nicodemus believed religion was enough and wanted to fit this new rabbi’s teaching into his way of life.  Jesus had other ideas – you can’t put new wine into old wine skins. 

We believe Religion is enough

We are not that far removed from the folks in John 2 and Nicodemus.  Most of us have also grown up in very religious communities where right religious living defined a good and bad citizen.  Coming to church, supporting charities, saying the right words were enough to be an upright citizen and church member.  We equated right religious living with following Jesus.  Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus challenges our belief in religion to save us. 

2 weeks ago, Danny Almond shared his faith story at our Lenten Luncheon.  He story revolves moving from religious living to following Jesus and I wanted you all to hear it.  I’ve asked him to give a brief version of his story today.  Danny – please, come share. 

[When this sermon gets uploaded, I'll place the link here.  Danny's testimony is powerful]

Jesus shows Nicodemus a better way

            Thank you Danny. 

When Jesus meets Nicodemus in the deep of the night – away from the prying eyes of the other religious and political leaders, Jesus shows him a better way.

After Nicodemus awkwardly acknowledges Jesus’ role as teacher and performer of miracles – Jesus expertly confronts Nicodemus’ belief in religion. 

“You’re absolutely right about who I am,” Jesus says in v. 3 of the Message.  “Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

The Greek word here that we often translate as “again,” has two meanings rolled up in one word.  Jesus invites Nicodemus to be born both again … and from above.  Living a life of religion does not equal a life of the Spirit – God wants our whole lives.  And giving our whole lives to God requires us to point our lives above. 

Nicodemus misses this completely.  Jesus speaks in metaphorical terms about being born into God’s kingdom and Nicodemus focuses on the literal meaning – ““How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up?”

This is not unusual for a religious person.  When we judge our lives by what we do and don’t do – and Pharisees were the best at this – it is difficult to see life in God’s kingdom as anything else.  Rules and the status quo make seeing new things difficult.

Jesus shakes his head at Nicodemus.  Maybe he was expecting something more from someone so distinguished and learned. 

“Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again (maybe more slowly this time). Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.” 

Jesus invites Nicodemus to get in touch with the Spirit behind the religion he has so faithfully followed.  God’s kingdom is more than just laws and rules and right living – it is the living spirit that consumes and leads this. 

This life Jesus offers is best represented by the wind.  ” So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

Who controls the wind?  No one.  Submitting our lives to Jesus means moving from control boundaries of what we know to chasing after the Wind to see where God will take us next.  This is the better way Jesus shows Nicodemus – chase the wind of God’s Spirit. 

This is a Kingdom life.  This is life that is born from above and again. 

Jesus offers us a better way

            Today, Danny confessed to us the fact that he went through much of his life being religious while not submitting his life to Jesus.  He knew the right words.  He did the right actions, but he had never submitted himself fully to a life with Jesus – he missed the better way Jesus offers us.  He missed being born again and from above by just religious enough. 

            I wanted Danny to have a chance to give this testimony because I think that one of the great challenges of living our community being conformable with religion while missing God’s invitation to the Kingdom of God.  Many of us know the right words to say – we can spout them light dogma.  We have equated being a good citizen being a good Christian.

            Jesus offers us a better way:  A life submitted to the Spirit of God – chawsing the wind - rather than controlling our lives for ourselves; A life following after Jesus rather than doing what we want and finding a biblical passage to support it; a life of listening for the movement of God’s spirit blowing in the world and seeking to hoist our sails to see where the Spirit takes us. 

            Today – I want all of us to consider the ramifications of Jesus’ word to Nicodemus and the faith story of Danny. 

• Have we settled for being a good churchman rather than the wild, uncontrollable life of following after the spirit.
• Have we allowed doing things for the church to distract us from listening to God’s calling in our life?
• Have we closed off our lives to the Wind – living in the old world and forget that the wind still blows offering us new opportunities for life?
• Even more direct – have we settled for being a church member and failed to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior!  

 Mary Etta Perry was over 80 when she began to get her poems published.  Living in Western North Carolina she challenges all of us to chase after the wind wherever we are in life: 

For the songs I’ve never heard,

 I shall listen more and again.

For the poems I’ve yet to write,

I shall pick up my pen.

 But…how shall I dance

How now, shall I dance?

I have not danced enough, and so

 I must find new ways, more gentle,

 body friendly ways for dancing!

…Now that splitting firewood

 is definitely out…

as is hammer and chisel,

 shovel and hoe…how now,

 shall I learn to dance?

No more with needle

 and pretty threads….

That dance is too precisely fine

 For fingers

As stiffened as mine!

No longer with tent camping

 Sleeping out on cold rocky

 Forest knoll…that one is

too

 demanding

for my unmalleable body

But

 I have not danced nearly enough

 And so…I must find new ways

 For dancing!

Today – I want to issue an invitation to all of us to dance with the wind.  To look at your life to see where the better way of Jesus can be invited in.  If God is tugging at your heart, I hope respond.  Maybe – like Danny – you need to get beyond the delusion that you have it all together. 

• Maybe you need to truly submit to Jesus in your life – accept his love and grace and follow him. 
• Maybe you need to be baptized.  You have been holding out.  Following Jesus, but never fully commitment to him – waiting to see if there’s a better offer. 
• Maybe you need to be more direct with members of your family about it means to follow Jesus – talking to them about faith and love.
• Maybe you identify with Nicodemus – you are proud of your religious duty, but you have failed to chase the wind - you need to confess and offer your life in a new way.
• Maybe you are feeling God leading you to this church and you are ready to make a commitment to follow and participate in the full life of the church. 
• Maybe you just need to offer your life to God and say – teach me to dance. 

I want us to invite the instrumentalist to play through the hymn for one verse as we reflect and pray on our commitment and life.  Then, Bobby will come lead.  If you need to make a decision today.  Confess to God today.  Lay your life bare to God today – I want you to be able to come to these steps and allow the spirit of God to blow.

            As we become a church whose lives point others to Jesus – we will experience a miraculous ordaining by the Spirit of God.

            Let’s pray …

When God Showed Up

By Martha Reabold

[Today, I welcome a guest blogger - Mrs. Martha Reabold.  Martha is a member of my church, First Baptist Cornelia, Georgia.  I intended to blog about our Holy experience at FBCC last week.  Unfortunately, life grew too busy to slow down long enough to get my thoughts together.  Then, Martha shared this with me.  I knew I didn't need to write the story - she had.  I am grateful she noticed God showing up as much as I did.  Thanks Martha for articulating this moment in the current of God's Spirit so well!]

When the forecast warned of freezing temperatures in the North Georgia mountains, the community got busy.  Some stocked up on groceries.  Others put extra blankets on the beds and winterized their cars.  In the still of the night, inside a warm comfortable home, an idea began to form.  It was entrusted, not to the government, the media or an agency, but to a child of God who was not too busy to listen.

The idea was quickly shared with a pastor and his church, and it began to take shape.  The church would open its doors to provide shelter to anyone who needed it.  This time the congregation got busy, not preparing their own homes, but bringing blankets, setting up beds, and gathering food.  The pastor, eager to lead his congregation further into the journey of faith, said, "We'll see what happens when God shows up."

As the wind swirled and temperatures dropped, a church gym was transformed into a shelter.  Folks began to show up, seeking hot food and a warm bed.  One of the guests, a wanderer, had seen better days.  He was long on dreams but down on luck.  Amidst the cots, coats and coffee, the wanderer found hospitality, acceptance and love.

The next Sunday, the wanderer came back to the church.  He was still seeking shelter, but not from the cold.  As the organ chimed and the church gathered for worship, the wanderer sat at the grand piano underneath the majestic chandeliers.  And he gave the church the only gift he had......his music.

Most people in the congregation that day couldn't believe what they were hearing.  This music was like nothing they had ever experienced in their sanctuary.  It was bigger than the grand piano, filling the walls and floating beyond the ceilings.  Surely this was a gift from Heaven.  [Click here to hear John's music from Sunday.  Go to minute 2.30]

That day the wanderer met the church.  The pastor and his congregation can't describe what happened and could never duplicate it, but they know they were changed.  And as the story is shared through the years, there will only be one way to explain it.   God showed up.

Hope Filled Gratitude

Sermon 4 in “HOPE:  Studies in the Prophets” Series

Preached on November 24, 2013

 Scripture:  Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord.² Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. ³ Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴ I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.

⁵ The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Sermon

            Americans are infatuated with royalty.  You may ask how I know this.  Because on April 29, 2011 at 5:00 am – I was shamed and tormented to get out of bed and join my wife, 2 daughters and my in-laws to watch a wedding broadcast from England.  I rebelled in my own way – making fun of the many different hats, speaking when I shouldn't.  No matter the noise I made – I was only shushed – this was too important.  A handsome, future king was getting married to a beautiful new princess. 

            By all accounts – this is not just a Spivey addiction to royalty.  For weeks this summer, the American media – along with a worldwide contingent - camped outside a plain, brick hospital in London awaiting the birth of the newest British Royal - the 3^rd in line to the throne.  The pictures of young George with his radiant mom and handsome dad sold magazines and newspapers throughout the world.  Maybe even some of us – broke down and bought one.  We love royals. 

            On my one visit to England, I got a taste of royalty.  I walked through Parliament and saw the Queen’s throne in the House of Lords:  A beautiful, regal throne for the special days when the queen makes her appearance.  Then, we visited the tower of London.  We saw the old castle that the original William the Conquer built in 1080, the Tudor additions where Henry 8^th kept Anne Bolin before executing her, and most spectacularly, the crown jewels of England.  There is something about Royalty that fascinates us as Americans – the history, the tradition, the wealth, maybe.

            For a country who spent years under the thumb of a ruthless king and who gave their lives to overthrow that king in order to gain their independence, we could call this fascination ironic.  We don’t want a king, but the riches and the power and the allure of royalty intrigue us and draw us in.  How many little girls dream of being a princess or marry a prince.  Kings represent the epitome of earthly power.   Our fascination with kings, queens, princesses and all things royal echoes the fascination of people throughout history.

Movement 1:  False hopes of a king

            Unfortunately, though, false hopes surround kings.  The people of Israel after centuries of living in the Promised Land as a loose federation of tribes desired the centralized power and leadership a king provided.  In spite of God’s warnings, they begged God to give them a king.  By demanding in 1 Samuel 9 for God to “appoint for us a king to govern us, like other nations,” they rejected God as their king

Israel envied the visible sign of power a king provided the other nations.  So, God provided Israel Saul – a handsome, strong and imperfect man.  The people’s hopes for a great nation rose as they looked to this man to provide them security and wealth.  It didn't take long for the hopes to be dashed.   Moody, dangerous and unstable, Saul let power go to his head.  In the end, what started with great fanfare and hope – ended in jealously, chaos, and war. 

            The earthly power of kings has led people throughout history to establish false hopes of what the kings will provide. Pharaohs and Caesars, kings and sultans have ruled with absolute authority over the people in their kingdom.  When people began to question this power, kings had to be seen as more than human.  Humans are weak.  Kings are strong and powerful.  It’s no coincidence that many ancient cultures imagined their kings as gods to help booster the king’s power in the people’s minds.  In Egypt the Pharaoh was the sun god.  In Rome, worshiping the Caesar was built into the fiber of everything Roman –from government to business.  The English word sovereign, used for royalty gets this god-like authority of kings.  It comes from the Latin word for super meaning above, higher than any others. 

            Yet, as much hope as individuals and lords and serfs and nations placed on their kings – they were still human and most failed their people.  The progress of history shows the failed hope of placing ultimate power in the hands of one human being. 

Movement 2:  The danger with kings

            These false hopes demonstrate the danger with kings.  More times than not, the ego and absolute power of kings lead to destruction and peril rather than safety and care for God’s People.  This is what Jeremiah preaches in chapter 23:  “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.2 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.”

            Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem during the death of the kings of Judah.  He knew of a king dedicated to righteousness and justice, one who was deeply concerned with the poor.  This king was Josiah who died an absurd death in 609 B.C .  When he died, his two sons began kings.  The first was a puppet to the powerful Babylon Empire.  The second was a wretched example of Israelite kingship who Jeremiah sarcastically says would rather "compete in cedar," – build grand buildings - than "do justice and righteousness," as his father had done (Jer 22:15).   

Jeremiah watches these kings up close – preaching passionately for the people to turn from their sinful ways and demand more from their kings.  This is the danger of kings.  The kings claim to lead their people, yet what most of them do is scatter them and destroy them.  The history of Israel monarchy from Saul to Zedekiah which lasted almost 500 years is a history of how dangerous kings can be.  In fact, within 30 years of good King Josiah’s death, the monarchy and the nation of Israel had been destroyed and the exiles taken to Babylon.

Movement 3:  The death of a king

            The Good News is this:  the death of a king will establish God’s true kingdom.  This goes against our common logic, but listen to Jeremiah’s vision:  “v.5 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

            The Lord through Jeremiah says that our hopes for a king have not been wrong – simply misplaced.  Recalling other messianic passages, Jeremiah says, “The day will come when God’s true king will rule.”  This rule will be as a king:  this messiah will act in ways we have always hoped kings would act:  executing justice and righteousness in the land and in our lives.  This king will save us and we will live in safety.  The wars which ravage the land and the people, the uncertainty of life – will be distant memories.  We will call this new king – the Lord is our righteousness. 

            The amazing part of this vision of the messiah is how much Jesus will both be our vision of a king and shatter our vision of what a king is and should do. 

In Revelation 5, John the Revealer builds on Jeremiah’s vision of the Messiah as King.  John describes a beautiful throne room in heaven with a terrible dilemma.  A scroll exists in heaven which no one can unseal.  John actually weeps at this fact.  Then, the angels say halt – there is someone who can open this:  “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”  The Branch of King David which Jeremiah envisioned is the great king who can open this seal. 

            You can imagine the hope this provides John and the reader.  We expect this awesome, powerful lion of king to come roaring out of this scene with great power – this is our earthly vision of kingly power.  We expect this almighty, cosmic king to be the answer.  Yet, who shows up – John says it is the “the lamb who was slain.”  The most powerful king on heaven and on earth shows up and he is a gentle lamb who has been killed.

            This vision of Jesus shatters our view of kingship.   With the vision of the king as the lamb that was slain, John connects takes this beautiful picture of the divine throne room and juxtaposes it with Calvary.  We go from heavenly symbol of the most power place of earth – a throne room full of thrones, and jewels, beauty and slender – read Revelation 4 to see how magnificent this place is – to the dark, ugly, patch of ground outside of Jerusalem beside the town’s garbage dump.  The most powerful, kingly act of all of history which has transformed the trajectory of all of history happened when Jesus died on the cross.   Do you remember what was written on the piece of wooden, Pilate absentmindedly placed above Jesus’ head as he died on the cross:  “This is the King of the Jews.” 

            The death of one king becomes the one act in all of history which allows all of humanity to experience the true hope for all kings whom Jeremiah announces:  “justice and righteousness in reign in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.”

Movement 4:  The power of THE king

            The death of Jesus on the cross is the power of the one, true king.  This is the irony of John’s vision in Revelation.  In order for us to understand the majesty and true power of Jesus, John sets his vision in the world’s most powerful place – a king’s throne room.  There was no more powerful place on earth in the last decade of the first century than the Roman Emperor’s throne room.   In the throne room, the Emperor ruled with absolute authority from England to Person from North Africa to the North Sea. 

            Into this world of power and false hopes, fears and dangers – John pulls back the curtain between our world and Gods for those in the first century and now to see where the true power lies.  Kings, sultans, prime ministers and presidents may think they wield magnificent forms of power – but they do not hold the ultimate power.  The ultimate power is found in the one, true king who weaves all of life and history towards a final resolution found Rev. 11:  “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
            When this happens, the 24 elders, who surround the heavenly being on the throne of heaven, break out in worship.  Here is what they say in Rev. 11:17:  “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.” 

           

Conclusion

            We can give thanks today because our ultimate hope has already been determined.  Because Jesus died on the cross, our future has already been determined.  Our hope is built on a pre-determined fact:  Jesus wins. 

Hope filled gratitude means that we don’t just thank God for what God has done in the past – we thank God for what God will do in the future.  Jesus is the one is, who was, and who is to come.  This means that our gratitude is no limited to what we experienced yesterday or today.  We don’t just have to look around to say thanks – we can look forward.

Imagine what hope filled gratitude looks like. 

·         Thank you, Lord, for delivering me through these trials in the coming year. 

·         Thank you, Lord, for revealing your will to me over the next year so I may follow you. 

·         Thank you, Lord, for transforming our church in the coming years to be more of the church you want us to be. 

I know today – many of us will bring our gifts of gratitude to the church alter giving thanks for the ways God has blessed us in the past year.  The Good News of Jeremiah and the Gospels and the entire Bible is this:  We can also give thanks for the blessings that will come our way in the coming year too.  Our task is to pay attention, notice these blessings as they occur – as God acts.

      In a few moments, we will take up our Thanksgiving offering.  Before we do – I want to invite us to reflect on the many gifts and blessings Christ our true King has provided, is providing and will provide in the coming year.  If you need to repond to God before we take this offering – I will be down front.  Let us sing this song of commitment – so that we will live with hope filled gratitude!  Amen.