Holy Trinity Sunday June 11, 2006

“The Holy Trinity is Hard at Work”

John 3:1-17

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.

3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is 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 I tell you the truth, 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 desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 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.

If you had a no-distractions, one-on-one audience with Jesus, what would you ask him? Think of all the options out there. There are plenty of things you could ask. “Jesus, why’d you make the sky blue and not green? Jesus, what is a can’t-miss cure for cancer? Jesus, could you fully explain to me how Father, Son and Holy Spirit could be three persons and yet one God?”

You and I most likely will never get that face-to-face meeting with Jesus, not until we get to heaven. But today we get to look at a man who had that chance that we all covet. His name was Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee and he came to see Jesus one night. Perhaps he came at night because he was afraid his fellow Pharisees would find out he was talking to the enemy. Perhaps he came at night because that was the only possible time he could get Jesus alone and bend his ear. In any case, he came to Jesus at night and he had the chance to ask Jesus anything he wanted. And he made the most of his opportunity. He didn’t ask about something silly. He went straight to the divine. He asked, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. In other words, he asked, “Jesus, we know you are different; we know you’re from God; and, well, who are you?” Nicodemus was asking an honest question. He didn’t know it, but he was actually giving the Holy Trinity a platform to go to work on his heart.

Jesus answered Nicodemus’ question. He always has time for the soul who has something on his heart. And when Jesus answered Nicodemus’ question, look at the first words out of his mouth. He said, “I tell you the truth.” Jesus answered his question with the truth. Jesus always tells us the truth. And then he went on to say, “Nobody knows who I am, that is, nobody can see the kingdom of God, unless he is born again.” You, Mr. Nicodemus, are no exception. You don’t know who I am because you have not been born again. And Nicodemus got a chance to ask a second question, “How can a man enter into his mother’s womb and be born for a second time?”

Jesus once again started his answer by saying, “I tell you the truth.” Isn’t it something that he always tells us the truth? And he started to tell Nicodemus the truth about baptism – being born again of water and the Spirit. First, he explained the need to be born again. Jesus taught that flesh gives birth to flesh; in other words, sinners give birth to sinners. Sinful parents have no choice but to give birth to sinful children. I know that little infants look pure and innocent, and they sure are sweethearts, but don’t forget - the source from where they come is polluted. Jesus tells the truth and the truth is that flesh gives birth to flesh…but the Spirit gives birth to the spirit.

Our spiritual life begins – you could say we are re-born - when the Holy Spirit enters our hearts through water and the Word. We used to be sinners, but now we are forgiven. We used to be outside the kingdom of God, but now we have been brought into the family. We used to not know who Jesus was, but after we are born again we know exactly who he is and we praise him for it. We are able to live in the Spirit – he convinces us to serve and worship and honor and praise and thank the Father for sending the Son. See how the Holy Trinity works together?

Jesus then compared the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s work to the wind. We can understand the Holy Spirit’s work about as well as we can predict the wind. Even with new and improved meteorological equipment, we can’t be certain which way the wind is coming from, or how hard it will be blowing, or when it is going to start and stop. But we know that it comes because we feel it on our face and enjoy the summer breeze. The same is true with the Holy Spirit. We can’t predict when and where he is going to work. We can speculate all we want how many souls he is going to bring into our midst next year, but we have no idea. We have no idea which hearts out there are being softened by him. But we know he comes because that is his promise and because we can see the results of his work.

After Jesus explained being re-born and the work of the Holy Spirit, Nicodemus still was confused. And so, for the third time, he did what we would love to do just once. He asked another question. “How can this be?” he declared.

This time Jesus said, “You are Israel’s teacher, and you do not understand this?” In other words, “You are a spiritual leader, a Pharisee, a person to whom others go with their religious questions, and you don’t even know the basics? Well then, let me tell you the basics.” And look what Jesus said in John 3:14-17. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 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.

In four short verses, Jesus declared the truth about who he is and why he had come from heaven not once, not twice but three times. The Son of Man must be lifted up – there was no other way - on a torture chamber called a cross so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life. God gave up his only Son so that he wouldn’t have to give up you. When you believe in the one and only Son you will not perish but have eternal life. This was the plan of the Holy Trinity all along. God did not send his Son to the world to condemn you, but to save you.

The Bible is a big book. It contains many details about who God is and what he has done. But if the entire Bible were lost, and John 3:14-17 were all we had left, we would still have enough to know the very basics about who God is and what God has done to save us.

Jesus tells us the truth, and the truth is that we are sinners, and our sins had driven a wedge between us and Him. Sins of apathy, sins of lying, sins of not caring about others, sins of knowing what you need to do and not doing it, sins of not listening to the truth because you didn’t like what it said. The more we listen to the Word of God and to the truth, the more we realize how miserably sinful we are. We are real sinners with real sins, and our real sins deserve real punishment. Let’s not sugarcoat things - we have driven the wedge between us and God. We have pushed him away and have separated our hearts from him.

God faced a choice. Let things stand as they are or do something to reconcile? Turn my back on these sinners or turn my back on my Son? Should I push them away or push Him away? Should I punish them for their sins or punish Him? The choice was made as God sent his one and only son out of heavenly glory into the world.

Now, don’t just take it for granted that God sent his Son in the world to save. He could have sent his Son to the world to condemn it. What if God had sent his son into the world to say, “I just came from heaven and God is angry with you for our sins - very soon you will be smashed for them and there is no way out?” If God had done that he would not have been wrong. It would not have been a sin for God to send Jesus into the world to tell everyone about the inevitable, impending doom that was on the way because of our personal rebellion.

But look at verse 17. God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world through him. God loved the world with a ferocious love, a deep compassion that moved him to give up his one and only Son so that he wouldn’t have to give up you. God turned his back on Jesus and he will never turn his back to those who trust in him. God pushed Jesus away to the cross so that he is able to welcome you into the arms of eternal life.

When Nicodemus came to see Jesus that first time, he had some questions on his heart. The answers to his questions were answers that surprised him. They were more wonderful than he could have ever dreamed. And Nicodemus was listening to what Jesus told him. He truly believed that Jesus was not there to condemn him but to save him.

Would you like to know the rest of the story about Nicodemus? As Jesus was suffering and dying, many deserted and abandoned him. However, in the wake of all the denial and abandonment, two men bravely stood up to peer pressure and were unafraid to be associated with their crucified Lord. John reports to us at the end of chapter 19 that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus asked permission to take the Lord’s body down from the cross, to wrap it and place it in a new tomb. Nicodemus maybe came to first ask Jesus under the cover of darkness, but three years later he was unafraid to let his faith shine for all to see, even his fellow Pharisees. He didn’t care if anyone found out that he loved Jesus.

The Holy Trinity had gone to work on his heart and had caused him to be reborn. The Holy Trinity had gone to work and convinced Nicodemus that Jesus really had come not to condemn him but to save him. And the Holy Trinity will go to work on you too, as you ponder that very same thing. Don’t ever let the truth that Jesus has come to save and not condemn grow stale. Amen.