Being Compelled by Light Enables us to See Clearly

Summary

In this 2nd Sunday of Lent sermon, the focus is on the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night in John 3. Using that encounter as a lens, the sermon unpacks the difference between belief and formation — that the goal of following Jesus isn't just right thinking, but being genuinely shaped into his image. Certainty, it turns out, can become an idol that keeps us stuck rather than moving forward in faith.

The sermon makes the case that there's a big gap between being a Christian and becoming one. Nicodemus was as devoted and respected as anyone could be, and yet Jesus called him to be born again — to unlearn, to trust, and to step into the light. By the end of John's gospel, that's exactly what Nicodemus does, quietly showing up to care for Jesus' body after the crucifixion. The invitation is the same for us today: not certainty, but trust in the kingdom of God that's already here and growing.

Transcript

Welcome & The Season of Lent

We today are in the season of Lent, and this is the 2nd Sunday in the season of Lent. And during the season of Lent, Christians for 100s of 1000s of years, have been putting a focus on fasting and prayer and repentance, fasting, prayer and repentance. And we are wise, if we take the wisdom from those who have gone before us and apply it to our lives.
C.S. Lewis has a term where he talks about chronological snobbery, and chronological snobbery is the idea that we think that we have evolved and gotten to a certain point, that we look back on previous generations, and find whatever they thought or believed, or how they lived, as primitive, and not necessarily impactful for us. But the church disagrees with any form of chronological snobbery and says that our traditions and histories of the past are part of the testament of God's action in the lives of people, and we do well to participate in them when possible.

And so, during the season of Lent, there is a journey. If you have chosen to fast, to pray, to focus time on repentance, we want to help you with a couple of additional resources for you. Number one is a handy guide that has the scripture readings for Sundays through the season of Lent, together, and one nice neat package for you. The other one is that if you need a little bit of check in or extra encouragement, that we can offer you a pastoral resource of care. We won't force it upon you, but if you sign up for it, you will receive it.

A Book Worth Adding to Your Routine

And then the other resource is this book called a diary of private prayer. That title, you know, I think they probably could have come up with a better title, because when I say a diary of private prayer, I think, I don't want to read this person's private prayers, it says it right there, they're private. But I think that he was intending that it's time for us to be formed into the image of Jesus with us and the Holy Spirit. I think that's the idea behind private there.

But I wanted to read you the day 6 morning prayer. This book is formatted to have a morning and an evening prayer for 31 days. And they're not dated. They don't have any rhyme or rhythm to them, so you can read them as you are able. But we have some of these books available. And if we run out and you would like a copy, please let me know and we'll arrange to get one for you.

But the reason why this book has become special for me — it's not often, I don't know if you know this or not, but I am a person who loves routine. And it's not often for me that I adjust my routine. Because I spend a lot of time considering it and valuing the routines that I have. This book I came across about a year ago, and in that, I have since added it to my routine. So you can take that for what it's worth. But this book, like few others, challenges me to think and pray in ways that otherwise I do not. And let me give you an example of that from the day 6 prayer.

It says, help me, Lord, to remember the blessed life that was once lived out on this common earth under these ordinary skies, may I take this memory into each task of duty today? Help me to remember Christ for his eagerness to help others rather than to be helped, his sympathy with suffering of every kind. His bravery in the face of his own suffering, his gentleness toward others so that when he was abused, he did not retaliate. His steadiness of purpose in keeping to his appointed task, his simplicity, his self discipline, his serenity of spirit, his complete reliance upon you, his heavenly Father. In each of these ways, give me the grace to follow in his footsteps.

I don't know if that's compelling enough for you to pick up a copy of this book, but if it isn't, there's probably nothing that could convince you to try it out. So that is a heavy prayer, but also a liberating one at the same time, which is often the sweet spot.

During the season of Lent, we have adopted this saying, which has been around here at our church for a while, but we've turned it into a prayer for all of us. If it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us.

Belief vs. Formation: The Goal of Following Jesus

In order to set the stage for what we are about to read today, I want to give us a little bit of context. This may sound like a strange statement to make in a church on a Sunday morning. However, we're going to make it. Belief is important. That's not the strange part, right? Belief is important. Belief is the foundation, or part of the foundation for how we interact with the world around us. What we believe to a certain extent influences how we behave and interact in the world around us. There's no denying that.

However, Formation is the goal of following the way of Jesus. Belief is important and provides a portion of the foundation that we need to follow the way of Jesus, but the goal of following Jesus is not right believing or right thinking, but formation into the image of Jesus, into the kingdom of heaven.

When Certainty Becomes an Idol

In our modern world, we don't do well with thoughts or phrases or ideas that aren't tied up with a nice neat bow at the end, right? If we can't have certainty, then we oftentimes struggle with whatever the idea is that we are considering. Certainty, though, can be, and oftentimes is an idol. Certainty is, and definitely can be an idol.

Trust does not result from certainty, right? Trust is linked to faith, not to certainty. Faith and trust compel us forward. Certainty can become an idol and cause us to stagnate in our journey of life and in our journey of faith. So something that the ancients have over us is that they often were compelled by, instead of stifled by it. They embraced the mystery of concepts like the Trinity, like, what does it mean to follow Jesus, and how does that apply to our lives?

And so as we consider, what does it mean for us to widen our circles as we seek to know and to be known by God, as we seek to know and be known by one another, as we seek to know and be known by our neighbors? What does it mean for us to widen our understanding and our practice when it comes to our trust and our faith? And what I believe to be true is that our trust in our faith needs to be expanded to the kingdom of God, which is in our midst today.

Reading John 3: Nicodemus Meets Jesus

So I want to read this passage of scripture, and this will help us to sort of get a little bit of context for those ideas. This is one of my favorite passages of all of the Bible. And because it is a very complex and mysterious passage, but it's also one that if we will trust, not be certain of, but trust the truth, then it has a great potential to compel us forward in the way of Jesus. So John 3 is where we'll be reading. I normally would invite you to stand at this point, but today I'm gonna, if you want to stand, that's fine. If not, be comfortable because we're gonna kind of work our way through this slowly.

But here is what this interaction that Nicodemus has with Jesus says. Now, there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who is a member of the Jewish ruling council. This is an important place for us to pause. Nicodemus was a leader in the faith. He was a person who anyone in the faith who knew him, would look up to, they would tell stories about, they would compare themselves to him, wanting to be more like him, and follow in his example, rather than settling wherever they are. He was a well respected person.

He came to Jesus at night — put that in your mind — 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. Nicodemus in this moment — remember where he is in the story of Jesus. This doesn't necessarily have bearing for the life of Jesus, but in John, the book of John, which is a biography of Jesus, we're in the 3rd chapter, right? So we're still at the beginning of the story. Nicodemus is hearing these teachings of Jesus. He's seeing the things that Jesus is doing, and he is interested to find out who Jesus is, and where he is coming from.

So, he makes an audacious statement by saying, No one could do what you are doing unless they are from God. Now that, to us, might not sound as extreme of a statement as it was when he was making it, but imagine today being compelled by a teacher or someone who was wise and beginning to feel a stirring within your body that this isn't just a person with intellect or wisdom or good counsel — this perhaps is God himself. That is an extraordinary place to find yourself in.

So Jesus replied to his question. Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. How can someone be born when they are old? Nicodemus asked. A great question, right? Surely they cannot enter a 2nd time into their mother's womb to be born. Jesus answered, very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at me saying, you 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.

How can this be? Nicodemus asked. You are Israel's teacher, said Jesus, and you do not understand these things. 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 for the one who came from heaven, the son of man, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the son of man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life in him.

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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Scripture as a Living Document

Typically, when we have a scripture or a Bible study, we will hope to enter into that study or that reading, gleaning a particular idea or a particular understanding from that idea. Right? We want to read the scripture and know the truth. Pretty common for us to approach scripture that way. But the thing that we will find, the more we study scripture and allow the word of God to become alive in us, is that most of the time, there's not just one particular meaning, or there's not just one particular understanding, or there's not just one particular way that you have to see this in order to capture the truth behind it.

Scripture is a living, breathing document. It's not static, it's not history, it's not science, it is a living, breathing document. Jesus is the word of God in the physical form of a human being. The scripture is the word of God in words, right? It tells us the story of God using words. And if we will be compelled by the words of scripture, they will expand, they will widen our understanding of God, our understanding of ourselves, our empathy and understanding for our neighbors, whether we agree with them or not, and our understanding of the world around us.

Nicodemus and the Trap of Self-Righteousness

And so, Nicodemus has this prompting, has this movement in his life that's not from the indigestion of the food he ate last night, but there is something that is going on inside of him that has made him uneasy and stirring, trying to figure out whether or not Jesus is God. Now, for Nicodemus, we know because of who he is — a Pharisee, a religious leader, a teacher in his day — we know that, see if this sounds familiar, his belief would be that you go through life doing the best that you can possibly do with the information that you have, and at the end of your life, upon your death, you will enter into the kingdom of God, providing that the good outweighs the bad.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Right? So, do the best you can. Be good more than you are not good, and upon your death, you will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus challenges this idea from the very beginning. And he says something that we've been focusing on this year, that the kingdom of heaven is not entered into upon your death. The kingdom of heaven is here and now and entered into upon your new birth. Upon your new birth. The kingdom is here and now. It's not fully here, but it is here, nonetheless.

And when we become born to the kingdom of heaven, now, it expands in our lives. It expands us to be able to identify the patterns of brokenness within us and begin to trust in the ways of the kingdom of heaven, more so than the kingdoms of the world in which we live. We are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, but we live in this earth. And so the key to the kingdom of heaven is always going to be trust, right? Trusting in what Jesus says and trusting in Jesus leading us forward.

Being a Christian vs. Becoming Christian

This is the difference in being a Christian, right? We have simplified being a Christian down to, as we say, any good evangelical will say, A, B, C. Right? It's as simple as A, B, C. You admit, believe, and confess. Right? And if you do that, then you become a Christian. But there is a drastic difference between being a Christian and becoming Christian. It is easy for us to be a Christian. It is something much more for us to become Christian. It is easy for us to believe in a truth. It is something much more for us to live as if that truth is the truest truth that there is.

Jesus calls us to love our enemies. He calls us to pray for those who persecute us. He calls us to use our resources to bless others, whether they deserve it or not. He calls us to disciplines like fasting and prayer and giving of ourselves. Jesus himself humbled himself to be a servant, to serve the world, not to be served. These concepts are not A, B, C, easy. These concepts do not develop in our lives because we agree that Jesus is God. These things take time — a lifetime — to play out in our lives, and we have to be compelled to trust the spirit as God leads us.

Jacob Nusner, who is a rabbi, wrote a book where from a Jewish perspective, he is wrestling with the truths that Jesus taught. And here is what he said. Only God can demand of me what Jesus asks. Now, for those of us who are Christians, that is like, yes, right? Jesus is God and asks me to do hard things. Therefore, I trust him. But for somebody who doesn't believe that Jesus is God, right? They're saying, what Jesus is asking is too much. He doesn't have the authority to do that if he is not God. Right? So the idea of being a Christian versus becoming Christian is a long way apart.

The danger that we all face in our faith is that we do not see our lives and the world around us with clarity. And we settle instead of clarity for self-righteousness, that we do what we can to earn our seat at the table, to prove our worth, to earn our keep, or we just ignore it and miss it completely.

Born Again: Unlearning to See Clearly

So Nicodemus comes to Jesus. Nicodemus is, if it is possible for a person by themselves, to live according to the ways of God, Nicodemus was that person. He was an elder, he was a respected teacher, by all accounts, he was as genuine and as true as he could possibly be. All of the skins that are required to be on the wall of someone who can save themselves, Nicodemus had them. But Nicodemus, as we know, cannot do this on his own. And there is an awareness of this within him. Because he comes to visit Jesus.

And what time of day did he visit Jesus? At night, right? Now, that can seem like a silly addition there. Why is it important that we understand that he visited Jesus at night? Well, in John, there is a strategy that John uses to tell the story of Jesus of light and darkness. Light is good, darkness, not good. Light is exposure, darkness is covering. Right? And so Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night because he doesn't want to be associated with him in the day. He's coming to Jesus at night because he doesn't want to be associated with him in the day. He saw something that compelled him to go and see Jesus. No one can do what you are doing if they are not God.

But this is challenging his certainty, and those 2 things — to trust Jesus and what he is certain of at this point — cannot go together. The chasm between believing someone has unique talent and insight and that they are God is huge. That is a big difference. And so, Nicodemus comes to Jesus to see if there is a chance that it is indeed true that Jesus is God. And Jesus calls him to what? Be born again. To be born again. Jesus is calling him to unlearn all that he has learned up until this point so that he can see clearly.

On Christmas Eve, I admitted that I am a fan of George Strait. I know that some people feel a type of way about that, but I'm not ashamed to admit it. I am also a fan of a Texas country artist by the name of Pat Green. If you know who Pat Green is, you know why I'm a fan of him, because he is awesome. Pat Green, when I was in my latter years of high school, early years of college, took over the Texas country music scene, and he has an album that I listened to this day. It's my lawnmowing music. Nothing like a good country song to help capture your attention while you're mowing your yard.

There's a song on that album that's called Texas On My Mind. And the song is about him traveling on the road, being in England, and wanting to be back in Texas with the love of his life that he has left behind to chase his dreams. And so there's this dichotomy here, present in the song. I wanna be in Texas, but I wanna be here. What do I do? The chorus says, I have half a mind to call her, a half of mind to go. So I have a half a mind to pick up the phone and call her, but I'm in conflict here because I also have half a mind to stop this chasing my dreams and go back to Texas, right? Leave England behind, and go back to Texas.

In the late 90s, early 2000s, you had to really go out of your way to read the actual lyrics of songs, right? You had to own a copy of the CD jacket or the tape, or you had to have some other way of figuring out what the actual lyrics were, because you couldn't just Google it. So oftentimes you would just sing it until it sounded like it was right. So for that time that I first heard that song, until recently, like as recent as the last 7 years living in my house that I currently live in, I have always sang those lyrics, half a mind to call her half a mind to go, as half a mile to call her, half a mile to go. And that doesn't make any sense, but I made it make sense to say, like, I'm on my way back, and I only have a half a mile till I see her, so I either need to call her and tell her I'm coming or just hope that she's there. I totally rewrote the narrative of this song.

And then, I was mowing my yard one day, and I thought, wait a second, that's not at all what he is saying. He is saying half a mind to call it half a mind to go. And it totally changed the meaning of that song. And I was like, oh, wow, now it makes sense. Pat Green is on my list of most played music. So I listen to this song pretty frequently. If you don't believe me, ask Evelyn. She gets irritated, very often about it. I can't help but sing along when that song comes on. And every single time the chorus strikes up, the words that come out of my mouth are back to the miles. Not the mind. I know. That is not the words of that song, but yet over and over and over again, I sing it.

We are on information overload these days. And regardless of how aware or talented or mindful you are, it is very likely that at some level you are being deceived. It just is the time in which we live. Myself certainly included in that. We are easily swayed to confusion and or misguided. We are singing along the words to a song that makes sense to us, but are not the actual words. Being born of the spirit is the way in which we stay grounded and rooted in the kingdom of heaven. And this is where we exercise our faith not simply as a set of truths, but to be formed into the way of Jesus to become Christian.

Nicodemus Steps into the Light

For Nicodemus, he's someone who most of us, if we've been around the church for a long time, we get really well. He's devoted, he's faithful, he's trustworthy, he's highly regarded. And while these traits earn him favor within his community, the chasm between him and the kingdom of heaven is great. So we have a chasm between a man teaching wise words and being God, and we have a chasm between a person of devotion and trustworthiness, with a chasm between him and the kingdom of God. One chasm, Jesus provides the way through. That's the chasm of us living into the kingdom of heaven. The other chasm, we have to trust and seek and be compelled through by the spirit, in other words, to be born again.

Now, this is not a good story as it stands in John 3 because there's no conclusion. Right? Nobody watches a movie and sits at the end of it, happy because there's no conclusion. We want to know what happened. But immediately following this interaction, it just stops. It moves on. Jesus leaves the conversation with Nicodemus and goes to the countryside. There is no conclusion here. Jesus ends his conversation with these words in John 3:19. He says, the verdict is this: light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil, hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that they may see plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
In John chapter 19, we read this. This is now following Jesus' death. Before his resurrection. Earlier, it talks about Joseph of Arimathea, who was the person who offered himself, offered his grave for Jesus. That's the he. So Joseph of Arimathea was accompanied by Nicodemus. What? The man who had earlier visited Jesus at night. Somewhere along the way, Nicodemus went from visiting Jesus in the darkness, to being one of the only people willing to step into the light, not of the resurrected Jesus, but the defeated, DEAD, dead Jesus.
Does the son of God face the death of a regular person? How could that possibly be? For Nicodemus, he had no doubt. He stepped into the light of the dead Son of God. And he was indeed born again into the kingdom of God here and now.

Closing Reflection & Prayer

The most compelling part of this story to me is that you and I have the same opportunity today to be born again in the kingdom of God, to live in the kingdom of God, not yet fully, but becoming more and more full within us, and within the world around us, to whatever influence we have, day by day by day.

Jesus. I know for myself, I love certainty. I want to be certain of anything that I'm gonna put my life into. But certainty can act like a prison for us. And so, Lord, expand our trust for you. Compel us into your kingdom, not because we are absolutely certain and have all questions answered, but because we trust. In your way and your kingdom, regardless of what is going on around us. We ask these things today in your name and for your sake. Amen.