Last week in Doug Haskin’s sermon, he mentioned something in the first service that caught my ear. He said that the Navajo people have a fear, or at the very least, an uneasiness about death. So I started looking into that. The story goes that when the Spanish came in and diseases spread, the time was called “running away from death.” If someone stayed near someone who was dying they too would get the disease and most likely die. Historians point to that moment when fear about being around the death began.
The custom then developed that only two people would be around a dead body. They would cover themselves in ash and only wear moccasins. If the person died in their home, the building was burned. If they died outside of the home, their possessions would be buried with them. In addition to this, after the burial of the body, tracks to the site would be swept away so that the spirit of the person could not find their way back to the family. On top of this, a custom of not speaking the person’s name came about as to not draw the person away from the afterlife. So fear of death isn’t so much the issue, but rather the returning of the dead.
And this idea of death, a light hearted subject for a Sunday morning, is what leads us into our sermon series on discipleship where we are going to start off in the Gospel of John chapter 3, verse 1. And as you open to John 3:1, let me set up what the next five weeks are going to look like.
We’ll be talking about growing in our faith walk with Jesus. Jesus calls us to be his disciples, which means we are to be learning from the Master. Being a disciple presupposes that growth will happen in our lives. One of the great travesties that has entered the Church is that we say a prayer of accepting Jesus and we get a mindset that’s it until heaven. Too many times I have spoken with people who hold this idea.
But Jesus says things like, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (John 15:4)” Or “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)” Or “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24)”
Greater listening and greater obeying of the Master is Jesus’ intention. The goal is that we begin to experience the gift of eternal life now, which is called the abundant life. Putting the words of the Master into practice is living and growing in our relationship with him.
So for the next five weeks, we are going to walk through five stages of discipleship. These stages are Dead, Infant, Child, Young Adult, and finally Parent. I want to challenge you, that as we walk through these stages, that you are honest with yourself in where you are. If you are an infant, then praise God, and know that you have whole new discoveries of his faithfulness ahead of you. If you are a parent, then praise God, because we need fully mature believers to lead others into deeper understanding. No matter where you find yourself, the goal isn’t to beat yourself up about it, but rather to grow.
So let’s jump into it and begin with stage one, death. Let’s read John 3:1-21 together.
“1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’ 3 Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 4 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’
“9 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10 Jesus answered him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.’
16 “‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.’”
Now there’s a lot that we could cover in this passage but for our purposes today, we’re only going to be looking at this passage from the 100ft view.
At the end of Jesus’ conversation he makes a statement that reverberates back through the interaction. In verse 19 Jesus says, “… and people loved the darkness …” This is important because at the beginning we’re told very plainly that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. From the passage we know that Nicodemus is a Pharisee, and it’s not uncommon for the religious leaders to come and challenge Jesus, but Nicodemus does this at night to be more covert. He didn’t want his fellow Pharisees to know of this meeting. Jesus calls it out that people love darkness because it covers their deeds. A hint at Jesus’ desire for us to live in the light of God and not the darkness of sin. Jesus’ challenge to Nicodemus is to come out of darkness and into the light.
This is the call that Jesus sends out to everyone. The dichotomy is very simple, there is the light of Jesus and the darkness of the world. If you don’t have the light, then all you’re left with is darkness.
Walking backward through the conversation we can see that within darkness there is condemnation, while in the light, there’s no condemnation. In the darkness stands those who do not believe in Jesus, while in the light, stand those who do believe.
So what’s all that mean? Why are there these dichotomies of darkness and light? Of condemnation and forgiveness? Of believing in Jesus’ or not? The answer is sin. Sin is the darkness that breeds death. Sin is what condemns us to separation from God. Sin is what keeps us from believing in Jesus. Death is the state that all humanity is in apart from Jesus. We’re all just roaming zombies if you will.
The proclivity to sin entered into the human race via Adam and Eve. It was their sin that turned the creation upside down. It is their sin and their weakness to it’s temptations that flows through each of their children. It is why David in his Psalm 51 writes, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (51:5 [NIV])” What is sin? One definition has it as, missing the target. As an archer nocks his arrow to the bow string with the purpose of hitting the bullseye, he releases and the arrow sails through the air, missing the target. And so sin is missing the God mark. God says this, and we do something else. But it’s deeper than simply missing a target. It’s desiring those things that God said don’t. It’s desiring lies, when God desires truth. It’s desiring what isn’t ours and it’s stealing to get it. It’s dishonor people in our lives; from parents to friends, to bosses, to employees. It’s lusting after others, and sleeping with someone who isn’t our opposite gender spouse. It’s placing things in front of God, or making things, even ourselves, into God. It’s taking the Lord’s name in vain by our words or deeds. It’s not keeping holy things respected and trampling them with disdain.
Sin is simply doing what God says not to. And the more we engage in sin, the more destruction we cause in our own lives and the lives of others. And then we make justifications for why it’s okay to continue doing the sinful things. Like our parents Adam and Eve, we blame it on others. The blame shifts to parents, to spouses, to friends, to jobs, to situations. And instead of the light showing our faults, we sink deeper into darkness. And our sin is ever present with a knife at our throats, condemning us before God. It is a sad state, and as long as we stay in a state of sin, we stay in a place where we will always reside, death. A state of everliving darkness. As Jesus would go on to state, “But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12 [NIV])”
So every person who has ever and will ever live is in this state of condemnation, of death, by their own sin. Every person is in a state of darkness, and so the light of Jesus comes into the world of sin to bring us out of darkness into the light, out of condemnation into restoration, out of death and into life.
Continuing walking backwards in the conversation, Jesus speaks of believing in him for that transfer from darkness to light; from condemnation to restoration. Jesus references a story from the life of Moses that Nicodemus would know. Due to the Israelites sin of turning away from the land that God had promised them, they were punished with snakes that came into the community. People were being bitten and many died. Moses called out to God for mercy. God told him to make a booze serpent and put it on a pole. If a bitten person looked to the pole they would be saved (Numbers 21:6-9). Jesus points to that saving act and says, that’s what we are to look towards. We are being bitten by the snake of sin and dying in condemnation because of it. So Jesus is lifted up as a sacrifice that we might look to him and be saved. We are to believe in what Jesus has said and done. That belief is an act of trust. Trusting that Jesus is right and we have lived in pursuit of sin. Trusting that he cared for us and places himself in a position to forgive that sin. And then walking hand in hand with him the rest of our lives.
It’s the transition from the dark to light, from condemnation to restoration, that Jesus begins the conversation with Nicodemus.
Jesus speaks of re-birth. In response to this, Nicodemus thinks of actual birth, and reentering the womb and being reborn. But Jesus is talking about a spiritual birth. A renewal of the soul. This happens only by a movement of the Spirit. We cannot earn the renewal, the light, the restoration, the life. It has to be given to us, and we must receive it. Jesus offers everyone the opportunity to receive his offer of light; his offer of restoration and rebirth. We must accept that gift. Paul writes it like this in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
And how do we receive it? Paul writes this in Romans 10, “8 But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (10:8-13)”
The first stage of discipleship is the non-disciple. It’s a realization that we are not a follower of Jesus. It’s a recognition of our sin and that we are condemned to death by those sins. It’s coming to a point of saying, I have sinned against God and I need to be renewed by the Spirit through the work of Jesus being lifted up on the cross.
At this heartfelt recognition, we embrace the light. God pours out renewal on us, and from that moment on, he looks at us in the light of his grace. Perfect in eternity, through the lens of Jesus.
But God wants us to fully experience that renewal and that light. That’s why every person who trusts in Jesus as their Savior is a disciple, who is called to grow in their walk with Jesus. Once we move from death to life, from darkness to light, from condemnation to renewal, we are to walk in a state of growing. As a young couple begins to walk their lives together, so too, each disciple is to walk their lives with God.
The start of this walk is what we’ll talk about next week.
My challenge for you this week, however, is one of two things. First, if you don’t know Jesus as your personal Savior, what’s holding you back? If you have questions, you can talk to me after the service or during the week, or you can drop that connect card into the bags later on in the service, and I can get back with you. Jesus didn’t come to condemn you or the world, but open the way out of death into eternal life. Don’t let that gift pass you by.
Second, if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, then praise him in the next song as if it was your first time praising him after he saved you. Let us recapture the moment of our first experience when we moved from death to life. Jesus was worthy of our praise then, and he is worthy of it now.
Let us move ever closer to our Savior, further into the light of his love. Amen.
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