John 3:1-17<\/p>\n\n\n\n
February 24, 2002<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last Wednesday when I started this sermon, Michelle Kwan was leading her Russian rival, Irina Slutskaya while American teenager Sasha Cohen was in third place after the women\u2019s short program. The Russian was faster and more athletic than Kwan receiving higher technical scores but when the artistic presentation marks were posted, Kwan made a clean sweep of 5.9s out of a possible 6.0. Kwan was beaming! By now, we all know that the fourth-place finisher on Wednesday, Sarah Hughes of Great Neck, New York skated flawlessly on Thursday to capture the Gold Medal. The 16-year old skated a clean long program and got marks higher than any of her competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the hundreds of boxes that Joy and I moved from Pennsylvania to California, there\u2019s a box labeled, \u201cDon\u2019s Old Things.\u201d In that box is all my report cards from first-grade up. When I looked at these report cards again, I wondered why I didn\u2019t get higher marks. I should have earned better grades! A \u201cS\u201d for Satisfactory in penmanship was not good enough. Some of you have seen my writing in your birthday cards. Do you think that\u2019s an honest grade? Before I taped up this box of old things, I wasn\u2019t beaming like Sarah Hughes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of our young people are preparing for their college years anxiously waiting to hear back from admission committees. You probably wished that you got higher marks on the SATs\u2014over 1500 at least! Some of you are getting ready for work but you are wondering if you have had enough past working experience to compete for a good paying job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of us travel through life competing for the necessary technical or presentation marks to earn our rightful places on the podium. We want resumes that stand out from the rest of the crowd with our earned achievements and recognitions. Even for us adults, we have this idea that if we can just get through the preliminary rounds, the quarterfinals, and get to the medal rounds, we would have made it! We all want to know a clear path of getting higher marks to capture the gold!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a Pharisee, Nicodemus believed that there were certain rules and regulations that a person must follow to enter God\u2019s kingdom. The big question for pious Jews was \u201cWhat must I do to enter the Kingdom of God?\u201d There were certain actions and rituals that one could check off, and thus be assured of moving in the right direction\u2014righteous direction. For most of his life, Nicodemus was getting good marks but he still wanted to be assured that he was on the right path to getting the highest marks he could earn to enter the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cautiously and secretly, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Many of his colleagues have already dismissed Jesus as a fake prophet. But Nicodemus, sincere and thoughtful about his faith, has watched Jesus and listened to Jesus. He had heard about the miracle in Cana, when Jesus changed water to wine at a wedding. And he himself had witnessed several healings that Jesus had performed. All things considered, since Nicodemus wanted to go for the gold\u2014to enter the kingdom of God, he wondered if Jesus might be just the wise teacher sent from God to advise him on what he still needs to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before Nicodemus could even ask his question, Jesus knew what was on his heart. Jesus answered, \u201cNo one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.\u201d Unless Nicodemus is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicodemus was taken back. Here he came to get some inside advice to get higher marks and what Nicodemus heard was an impossible feat. How can an old man like him be born again? It\u2019s like doing a triple Lutz-double toe loop combination, followed up with a triple flip and later a double Axel and a triple flip. It\u2019s like getting better than a \u201cS\u201d on my penmanship!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicodemus, you see, was something of a literalist. He was seeking for a list of things that he might accomplish to assure himself a place in God\u2019s kingdom. He thought he had to enter his mother\u2019s womb and be born a second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus assured him that that was not what he meant. Jesus was talking about being born anew of God\u2019s Spirit\u2014an event as mysterious as the coming and going of the wind. The wind blows where it chooses. We can hear the sound. But we don\u2019t know where it comes from or where it goes. New birth of the Spirit is like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poor Nicodemus! In the middle of the night, he took the risk of talking with Coach Jesus so that he can get some inside advice to achieve higher marks to enter God\u2019s kingdom. And what he got was total bafflement. \u201cHow,\u201d he asked, \u201ccan this happen?\u201d He still thought that this spiritual rebirth was something he would have to accomplish by himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou really don\u2019t understand, do you?\u201d said Jesus. \u201cYou are a teacher of the law. You have read the Scriptures. You know the history of God\u2019s dealings with God\u2019s people\u2014and the history of their sinfulness. You worship, you pray, you live a religious life\u2014but you still don\u2019t understand\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How we are so much like Nicodemus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We look for miracles\u2014in our lives, in our church\u2014and we pay homage to the people we think can perform them. We end up believing that there\u2019s a certain way that we must follow to get to heaven. We still think our eternal salvation is dependent on something we do or don\u2019t do. The goal in life is to just find that winning long program routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it going to church every Sunday? Or praying more? Or reading the Bible everyday? Or trying to fast more times than anyone else during Lent? Or perhaps if I could just get rid of all my bad feelings\u2014jealousy, anger, resentment! What must I do to enter the kingdom of God? Like Nicodemus, we just want to be able to do something!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re sitting there and saying to yourself and wanting to shout out to me and say, \u201cOK, preacher, Christians don\u2019t feel that way! We know that salvation comes to us through Jesus Christ by the grace of God alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, we know up here [head]. But down here [gut] we\u2019re not so sure. Down here, we are still convinced that we need to be doing something\u2014something better\u2014something more\u2014something different. Down here, the guilt about what we have done, or have failed to do, eats us alive\u2014poisons us until we cannot act at all\u2014until we cannot face God, much less trust God. Down here, we still want to get higher marks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like Nicodemus, we still don\u2019t understand that there\u2019s nothing we can do<\/strong>. We are, like all human beings, sinful creatures, incapable of accomplishing our own salvation, no matter how hard we try, practice, or compete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Nicodemus, we still don\u2019t understand that there is nothing we need to do<\/strong>\u2014except believe. Believe that God can, and has, accomplished our rebirth by the Spirit. Believe that God loved the world\u2014loves us\u2014so much that God gave up his only Son to death, in order that we might have eternal life. Believe that it is not, and never has been, God\u2019s will to condemn us for not being able to achieve our own salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you know why it\u2019s not necessary to get higher marks to enter the kingdom of God? Jesus has already jumped higher than any one of us. He has completed all of the difficult and required flips and turns. Jesus the Son of God ascended to heaven because he\u2019s the one who first descended from heaven. And in verse 14, Jesus said, \u201cJust as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.\u201d Jesus was lifted up high on the cross. Jesus was lifted up higher in his resurrection and ascension. Jesus is now exalted in the highest in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our sins\u2014our failures and shortcomings in relation to God and to one another\u2014are serious. They are offensive to God, and deadly to us. But Jesus Christ bore the punishment for our sins on the cross. Jesus Christ died our death so that we might be born anew of God\u2019s Spirit to eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Nicodemus, his life\u2019s goal to enter the kingdom of God was to discover the secrets to earning higher marks. For Christians, our goal is to accept God at his word and believe everything on faith that his promises are true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Paul was writing to the Romans in Chapter 4 he was saying that what makes a person right with God is not the performance of works laid down by the Mosaic Law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather, it is the simple trust of complete surrender that takes God at his word and believes that he still loves us even when we have done nothing to deserve that love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul said this is what happened to Abraham. Abraham believed in God\u2019s word for him that if he left his homeland and journeyed to a land God would show him, he would become the father of a great nation. Abraham did not know where he was going or how he would get there. Yet he did not hesitate or question God. Instead he put his complete trust in God\u2019s word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus told Nicodemus to put his complete trust in his word, \u201cVery truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.\u201d All he had to do was believe. When we put our complete trust in God, we end up performing good works in the world not because we are trying to earn higher marks but because we love the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s like celebrating Valentine\u2019s Day a couple of weeks ago. You do good things for your loved one because you love him\/her. Christians work hard and do good works in generous service to the Lord not out of earning marks toward salvation, but out of the passion of a lover. It\u2019s never been \u201cgetting higher marks,\u201d it has always been, \u201chaving stronger faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still Striving for Faith<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nicodemus thought that on one night, he could get Jesus to tell him how he can earn higher marks to enter the kingdom of God. We all want to know just those few technical and specific expectations to win the gold medal. But to be born again means living your new life in the Spirit for a lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may have taking God a week to make the earth, the sky and the sea. But God is still working on you and me. God is still working on us even when we\u2019re not aware of it. The activity of God\u2019s Spirit does not end with a moment of rebirth. God\u2019s Spirit continues to guide, nurture, and protect us\u2014in life and for eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a story of a poor preacher in Chicago named Roy who had a multimillionaire older brother, who gave him a new fancy expensive car for Christmas. One morning Roy found a boy from his ghetto neighborhood peering into the car, obviously admiring its luxurious interior. The kindly preacher struck up a conversation with the little boy and eventually told him that his brother gave him the new car for Christmas. The boy\u2019s eyes grew even wider and said, \u201cI wish\u2026I wish\u2026\u201d Roy though the boy was trying to say, \u201cI wish I had a brother like that.\u201d But he didn\u2019t. Instead the boy surprised the preacher and said, \u201cI wish I could be a brother like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before Roy was about to get into his new fancy car, the little boy asked if the preacher would stay for a minute until he got back. So he left the preacher and went to a nearby dark stairwell. Coming down the stairs was the little boy carrying his younger brother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After putting his baby brother gently down on the curb, he said to him, \u201cSee? It\u2019s just like I told you. It\u2019s a brand new car. His brother gave it to him, and someday I\u2019m going to buy you a car just like that!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The little boy promised to spend the rest of his life working to give his kid brother a brand new car. He taught the preacher that a life-long commitment to loving his baby brother is how it is like living with the Spirit of God. It is a life-long journey. We believe and we trust that our eternal life with God will come true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And this \u201ceternal life\u201d is not just something to look forward to after death\u2014not just eternity in heaven with God. No, eternal life has been given to us here and now. This life that we have is blessed like life eternally. It is a life that neither death nor sin can destroy. It is a life in which we can give up trying to do something to obtain salvation, because God has already done that in Jesus Christ. It is a life in which we need not look for signs because the cross and the empty tomb are the only signs necessary\u2014and the only signs God has offered us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To receive eternal life, we need only to believe the gracious miracle of our rebirth in God\u2019s Spirit. We don\u2019t need to achieve higher marks to show God that we are worthy of his love. We only need to trust the promises and the reality of the new, eternal life God has offered us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor 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.\u201d Thanks be to God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gracious God, lead us to believe that you have done what we can\u2019t possibly do for ourselves. Guide us to believe that your promise of new life in Christ is offered to us because of your love for the world. Thank you, Lord for the peace of Christ who came into the world making us new creations, born of the Spirit into eternal life. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John 3:1-17 February 24, 2002 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco. Last Wednesday when I started this sermon, Michelle Kwan wasGetting Higher Faith<\/h6>\n\n\n\n