The Journey

This is a logo that I made using Photoshop for my Wednesday night Bible Study on the Gospel of John.

Nicodemus

Lessons learned from John 3:1-21.

Nicodemus was a very prominent Jewish Pharisee. He was rich (according to Josephus), and would probably have had much social empact because of his elite status.

He came to Jesus at night in order to talk to him. There could be a few reasons why? 1) Fewer crowds around Jesus at night. 2) Theologians of the day often studied at night, so he could have went to Jesus for theological insight. 3) Embarassment.

I think that he went to Jesus in order not to draw a crowd to himself. This is too often what we do today. We come to Jesus for help whenever it is convienient. We seek safety for ourselves when we go to the Savior. Nicodemus would have had a lot to lose to go to poor carpenter who was often ridiculed because he had no formal education.

We can learn something from Nicodemus here. Although he might have went to Jesus at night in order to save some of his own social status...Jesus still saw him. Jesus still took time out of his schedule for him.

Nicodemus saw Jesus. He sought Jesus. Shouldn't we do the same?

Being Born Again

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He 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."

 ³In 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!"

 ⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸The 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."

John 3:1-8 (NIV)

What does it mean to be "born-again?"  It is a term that we associate with Christianity.  Moralism.  Church.  But what does it actually mean for us today?  I am currently taking my Student Ministry through the Gospel of John, and in chapter 3 a man named Nicodemus comes to visit with Jesus.

Nicodemus is a Pharisee...a Politician...a wealthy man (according to Jewish historian Josephus) and according to Jesus the "teacher of Israel."  So it seems that he has his act together.  He is wealthy, powerful, and socially he is an elite.  So why does he come to Jesus?  What is he looking for?

Taking this a step further.  He also has a good theological understanding of Jesus.  He calls Jesus, "Rabbi" which indicated that he thought Jesus was an esteemed teacher despite his apparent lack of theological training.  He stated that he thought that Jesus was "from God" or sent from God.  Once again Nicodemus gets this one right... although not in the proper way (Jews thought that if you had power than God was blessing you).  He then talks about the signs that Jesus was doing.  Jesus did indeed use signs as a way to point to his Divinity.  So, so far, Nicodemus has a good grasp on who Jesus is...

But Jesus addresses Nicodemus' need without him even noticing that he has one.  Nicodemus must be "born again."  So what does this mean?

The Need

First in order to understand what it means to be born again we must understand the need for it to happen to us.  We must understand that in our present state we lack something.  We are sinful and needy, and are in desperately in need of a Savior.  

The Miracle

Then we must understand that God calls us to be born again.  God works in our life.  God is the initiator in our salvation.  It is not of our own accord, but because of his Grace showered over us.  This is a miracle.  God does it for us.

The Mystery

The next step is to understand that we cannot understand what has taken place.  This is why Jesus talks about not being able to see the wind but still knowing that it is there.  We cannot understand what is taking place when we are truly born again but is something that actually takes place in our lives.

New But Still Ourselves

Being born again means that a change has taken place in our lives.  We become different.  We are changed from the inside out to be more like Christ.  We become Christian, and live our life for him.  We are still ourself but we are different.  We are in the process of becoming.

Ezekiel 36:26:  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

We become so much more than we could ever hope to be ourself...we are born again.

Worst Christian Songs of All-Time

I love Christian music...mostly. The genre has made drastic improvements over the past few years. But growing up, I remember not really liking the majority of Christiian music. So I am posting my opinions of the worst Christian Songs ever.

DISCLAIMER: In no way am I doubting the Artists passion for Jesus, or am I making fun of them as individuals...I just think that these songs are terrible.


#5. Go Light Your World. Kathy Troccoli.



Last time I checked, I was a sinner saved by Grace. My light is not important...we take Jesus to the world. In fact Jesus is the Light of the World (John 1). I understand her thought here. We should be the Light in the world, but her lyrics stress our work rather than the work of Jesus...this I have a problem with.


#4. Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life. Bobby Bare.



Now I want to give Bobby some props for the Football analogy...but no! This is terrible.


#3. Jesus is my Friend. Sonseed.

If you havent seen this one on youtube...I dont know where you have been. This would be #1 but I cant really take this song seriously enough to. It is terribly funny in all of the wrong ways. Enjoy.



"Jesus is like a Mounty...He always gets his man..."

"...Zap!"

Nothing else to say.


#2. The Champion. Carmen.



Now I understand the Theological thought behing this one. We technically are in a spiritual battle. Good and evil have been in a fight for a while. I get it...but seriously...is this the best we can come up with? Its kinda like some sort of cheesy MMA fight (although I love me some MMA) written with a script.

I just dont like the song. Jesus got beat...he bled...he died...But he did so by allowing it to happen. Jesus allowed this to happen because it was his Father's plan. Jesus death was a horrible one...but I dont like to think of Jesus as a mild, weak, man who was a wuss. Jesus was the manliest of men who suffered and died like a man...he was not beaten up by the devil...he allowed his Father's plan...he gave up us life...no one took it!
I think the real reason I dont like this song is that I had to go watch Carmen in concert with my parents when I was a kid... I just thought that it was so cheesy.


#1. Friends. Michael W. Smith.



Friends are Friends Forever...Really? A "Friend will not say Never." What does that even mean. The theology in this one is terrible. It seems that in this one, friends will live in perfect harmony til Jesus comes back. That just isnt the case, is it? Sin messes up all of our relationships...friendships especially.

Not a big fan of this one.

MWS is one of Christian Music's biggest stars and will always be...I just think that this one is one of those songs that looks at life through pink colored lenses.



I appreciate all of these artists and by no means do I intend to diminish what they do...I just really dont like these songs.

We are a Movement

Mark Driscoll's We are a Movement Video from the Acts 29 Raleigh Bootcamp:



Great stuff...well said...we need to Plant...we need to reach.

Mark Driscoll and Crappy Christians

Mark Driscoll has been under a lot of criticism as of late:

• Ingrid Schlueter assassinated him in her blog in regard to his talking about sex from the pulpit.
• The Baptist Press also wrote an article on him intitled "Driscoll's Vulgarity Draws Media Attention"

Both of these articles spoke very negatively about Driscoll and his "vulgar" speech. Now, I admit Driscoll is very blunt, but most of these are refereing to Don Miller's book Blue Like Jazz which is not really a great theological book. In it Miller refers to Driscoll as the "cussing pastor." This was around 10 years ago when Driscoll was still a relatively new Christian. Obviously Christians, espescially pastors, need to refrain from unwholesome speech and talk...but 10 years ago is a long time.

Praise God, that I am not remembered for my past or my past sins. Grace showed up big in my life, and because of that I have freedom from them.

I am okay with people targeting people who preach the Gospel. Most Pastors or Ministers would agree that to serve Christ puts a bih bullseye on your back and because of that people will always be critizing you...that goes with the job. The problem that I have is when a Christian Publication totally assassinates the character of a Pastor who is sold out to Jesus and doing all that he can to change his culture for the sake of Christ. The SBC should be embarrassed that it published that it let someone write such a horrendous article.

Upon reading the article it is apparent that the "annonymous" writer had an agenda against Driscoll...

Ed Stetzer (from the SBC's Lifeway) upon speaking to Driscoll wrote a response to the whole situation in his blog. Stetzer and Driscoll are friends and Stetzer admits to criticizing Driscoll's language. Now Driscoll has repented publically...that means that biblically we should forgive him and move on.

Now on a positive note...Driscoll has also had a great amount of positive publicity from the secular press:

• New York Times article
• ABC News Video Interview
• And most recently he was on D.L. Hughley's CNN Show

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/js/2.0/video/evp/module.js?loc=dom&vid=/video/bestoftv/2009/02/13/hughley.cussing.pastor.cnn" type="text/javascript">

Driscoll is possibly the voice of the current generation...and he is apparently paying the price for it, but it shouldnt come from Christians...its a shame that the secular press seems to like him more than his Christian counterparts...maybe that is why is making a difference.

Not the Light...

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He
came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men
might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the
light. (John 1:6-8)

It is an amazing and humling thought to think that God uses people! John the Baptist was chosen by God to introduce Jesus to the world. Jesus was the eternal Son of God who left heaven to come to earth, but he uses a man who lived in the desert, eating locusts and wild honey and wearing camel skins, to annouce his coming to earth...

Is this not a crazy thing? Is this not a humbling thing?

John was not the Light, but he was put here to testify to the Light.

There was a man...

John was a man. A real person. God uses people! He uses us today, not because he has to, but because he chooses to. This should give us a passion because God has given us a purpose.

Sent from God...

Because God sends us, we must understand that we have a mission while we are still on earth. God sends us out to our community to make a difference in the lives of the people around us. We are sent!

He came as a witness...

We are to tell our story of who Jesus is and what he has done in our life. To be a witness is to tell what we saw... If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then we will be a witness to it!

About the Light...

Our witness should not be about ourselves, but about Jesus who is the Light. Jesus comes into the dark world and dispels the light and that is to be our witness. The world is a dark and dreary place that desperately needs to hear about the Light. That is our duty.

That all might believe...

The reason that witness is for all around us to believe. We show and live Jesus out in the real world so that others can believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God who takes away sin.

He was not the Light...

John was not the Light...and neither are we...and neither is our Church...

We show Jesus...that is the Gospel... Jesus is the Light that we show!

But came as a witness to the Light...

This was John's purpose: to be a witness to the Light! Should our purpose be any different? We should be all about sharing Jesus to the lost and dying world that is in complete and utter darkness.

We are witnesses to the light:

1. God sends people
2. We witness
3. People believe

thats the plan...

The New Rebel

G.K. Chesterton: from Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith (33, 41-42)

The new rebel is a skeptic, and will not trust anything...therefore he can
never be really a revolutionary. For all denunciation implies a moral
doctrine of some kind...Therefore the modern man in revolt has become
practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against
everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything...There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be
stopped.

The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

What a beautiful way to start a chapter. In the beginning...not an actual time...but eternity...WAS the Word. So, the Word was there in the beginning...the Word was there before time began...the Word was there from the beginning. The Word is eternal.

"The Word was WITH God." So this Word which is eternal is also coequal with the God the Father. The only way to be coequal with something is to be the same.

"The Word WAS God." So we see this Word is not only co-eternal with the Father, and co-equal with the Father, we see that the Word is God.

The introduction that the Gospel of John makes here is an incredibly deep resource of Theological material. John states that Jesus is the Word. Jesus was there from the beginning of time. Jesus is God in the flesh. John doesnt start off his Gospel by stating geneological facts, but instead shows that Jesus is eternal. This concept goes much deeper than the other Gospels because from the very start we see that John is stating that this Jesus-man was in fact the God-man. We dont have to wait to find out, we know from the start.

Its like reading a book, but sort of starting at the last chapter. Jesus is the eternal Word who is co-equal with God the Father because he is God the Son.

In the Beginning:

We serve a God who has always been! He has always been! Our God was there when time began, so He is all-powerful. "Nothing was made that wasnt made in Him." He is the Creator. C.S. Lewis stated that "where can look for help if we cant look to something that is greater than ourselves." Because our God was there in the beginning He can be trusted to protect and guide us in the present.

The Word:

Our God is also the Word. This is a difficult concept for us to understand, because John is directing this term towards the Theolofical climate of his day. People understood this term as a living being. So Jesus not only the pre-existant, eternal one, He is also the One who became a man and lived an actual life. Too many times we forget that Jesus was an actual human being, with feelings and desires and emotions. He was tempted. He knew hunger and thirst and pain. He wept. He was misunderstood by his family and friends. He was betrayed.

...but He was perfect.

Because Jesus lived an actual physical life He knows what it is like to be in our shoes. He is not a cold distant God but an up-close-and-personal God who understands us. He is sitting at the Father's right hand interceding for us, because He understands us.

Was God:

Jesus became a man, but he was always God. When Jesus became a man he just added humanity to his divinity. Jesus became a man...but he was God. Because he was God, when he died he paid the upmost price for us. His death was a death of a man, but also of God. Because he was God, his death actually meant something. Because he was God, when he died he actually accomplished somethign. Jesus was God and when he died he conquered Satan, Sin, and Death.

Because...He WAS God.

As John so wrote some 1900 years ago..."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Need nothing be said.