Today, we come to this question: “How do I relate to God?”
This is an important question, but, for a lot of people, it’s not the first question people tend to ask … the first question people ask tends to be “Is there a God?”
This is what we looked at our first week together. While we realize that we can’t prove God exists, we discovered that God’s existence is more than possible. It is the most believable reality based on the evidence.
Then, we asked “Is God good?” There’s so much evil in the world, and because of it some people are angry with God and don’t want to relate to Him because they blame Him. There are lots of ways to address this question as we heard last week.
One way is to perhaps ask the right the question … instead of asking “Why does God allow evil to exist?” We should ask, “Why does God allow me to exist?”
After all, we do bad things … we sin. The answer, of course, is God allows us to exist simply out of love. So, God’s love endures evil, which also means God is good.
Now, let’s directly address today’s question, “How can we relate to God?” If God loves us in our brokenness, He obviously wants to relate to us. So how do we relate to Him?
Today, in our text, we’re going to learn how to have a better relationship with God. Let’s look at John 3:1-2, “There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with Him.” John 3:1-2
So, here we hear Nicodemus striking up a conversation with Jesus. There are a couple of ways that Nicodemus seems to think a person can have a relationship with God.
First, you can have a relationship with God by being good.
Now Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and Pharisees were big on being good! This is called legalism. By ancient counts, there were 613 laws in the OT, and the Pharisees tried to keep them all. For example, there was a Law about tithing, “Every tenth of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.” Leviticus 27:30
This law was intended to be a command to tithe on what the soil produces, but the Pharisees took that to the extreme by demanding, “You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin…” Matthew 23:23
They had to tithe on their spice rack! Now, that’s not a bad thing in and of itself, but it greatly complicated the intent of the law.
Then, Jesus tells a parable about an extreme situation where a Pharisee goes to the temple in Jerusalem to pray. He says, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other people – greedy, unrighteous, adulterers … I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.” Luke 18:11-12
This is legalism at its worst. It’s not that the Pharisee is big on being good. It’s that he’s big on being better than others. Self-righteous legalism believes God will like you more because you do better than other people.
Legalism simply needs to answer a question … “How good is good enough?” Jesus answers this question in Matthew 5…
“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20
Their goodness was legendary! But their goodness was also not good enough! That’s why legalism doesn’t work. There’s always someone better than you … and God is better than all of us. God says, “… be holy, because I am holy.” Leviticus 11:45
So, Nicodemus seems to think you can have a relationship with God by being good. Another way that Nicodemus seems to think a person can have a relationship with God is on your own terms.
Nicodemus says, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with Him.” John 3:2
This is just contrived flattery. He’s trying to get in good with Jesus, so he’s saying anything good about Him. He wants Jesus to behave on his terms. And this is pluralism, which means that whatever I believe or want, God should say and do. We pick things we want or like from all over the place, then expect God to say and do things based on them.
I can pick up on a little Christianity here and a little Buddhism there and a little new age mysticism over there. I’ll put them all together, and they’ll all lead me to God, because, after all, all religions lead to the same place, right?
We understand this to be nonsense because in reality, this line of thinking wants to create God in our image, instead of recognizing that God created us in His image.
For example, if one doesn’t know what to believe, they may tend to believe in all religions. But following all of them is quite another matter. As a result, one may decide to make their own rules, and that is called pluralism. That is trying to have a relationship with God on your own terms… and it isn’t even reasonable.
Now, back to our text, Jesus knows that Nicodemus isn’t getting it. Nicodemus wants Jesus to say, “Nic, what you are doing is great!” But Jesus is not impressed by Nicodemus’ flattery.
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3
Jesus is simply saying “Nic – you are on the wrong track.”
To be able to have a relationship with God, you must be born again. So, what does that phrase really mean “being born again”? To begin with, doesn’t it start with …
admitting what’s wrong in our lives?
Jesus clarifies what He means by being “born again” when He says, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5
In the first century, Jews were big on ceremonial washings. Jesus’ first miracle in John’s Gospel involves “…six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification…” John 2:6
Jesus turns the water into wine at a wedding in Cana at His mother’s request But the reason the Jews made such a big deal out of ritual purification is because they looked at sin as a stain.
I suspect Jesus gets His language of “water and the Spirit” from Ezekiel 36…
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances.” Ezekiel 36:25, 27
When Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to be born of water and the Spirit, He’s saying, “No matter how good you may think you are, you’re not perfect! You’re still sinful. And you need to be washed by the blood of Christ. You need to come clean … and that begins by admitting what is wrong in your life.
There are two ways we can deal with sin in our lives. First, is the thought of covering up sin. And we seem to do this all too often. Some obvious examples are …
• Flee the scene of a crime
• Manage an addiction
• Lie, which is the sin of choice to cover up other sin.
Or, a second thought is that we can be cleansed from sin. And it all starts with our Baptism, whereupon the Holy Spirit continually works within us to draw us into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
As water can cleanse you outside, Jesus can cleanse you inside … by His Spirit, when we begin to admit that sin ravages our lives … when we are able to admit what is wrong in our lives.
But being born again also means … believing what’s right.
Jesus has this interesting statement in verse 13, “No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven — the Son of Man.” John 3:13
If you want to find your way to heaven, Jesus is the only One who knows the way…
◦ Buddha did not come down from heaven
◦ Muhammad did not come down from heaven
◦ Confucius did not come from heaven
◦ Only Jesus came from heaven!
Jesus is the only guide to heaven who has been there and done that, and so He is the only one who can assure us that we will make it. This is why Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6
You can’t be born again without Jesus. You can’t have a relationship with God apart from Jesus. Some people may balk and say, “That’s too exclusive!” But actually, it’s incredibly inclusive! And here is why…
Sometimes we really do get a free lunch … but the catch is that someone else always pays! If I was receiving the free lunch, and would have insisted on paying, I would have been told, “No, the bill is already paid!”
This is what you do when you try to get to heaven without Jesus. You say…
• I want to pay with my goodness! NO Way! Or,…
• I want to pay my own way! NO way!
Jesus lovingly says, “Just let me cover it! You can’t pay, because I already paid for all of your sin in full.”
When you believe in that offer … that IS when you truly know that you have been born again. Jesus has taken care of EVERYTHING for our salvation. What is left for us is to trust him like a little child.
Is it any wonder Jesus says … it’s like we’ve been born again? Amen