Trinity SundaY 6/7/09 text: John 3:1-7 Title: Starting over.
Trinity Sunday
6/07/09
Text: John 3:1-7
Title: Starting Over.
Each week as I study the text I am going to teach the next Sunday I spend a lot of time in prayer and meditation on the text. I study the language it was written in, so I can better understand the meaning of the text. I study the context in which it was written and what others, especially the early church fathers have to say concerning the text. I do all those things, but there is one thing that I always have to ask of the text, “What is God saying to us today?
I ask that question because if I cannot communicate God’s Word in a way that will make a difference in your lives I have failed in presenting God’s Word to you. As I look for what God is saying to us today in the Word of God that was written so long there is always one thing I find out. We really are not any different than them. We wrestle with the same problems of life that the people of old faced. Their lives while quite often good were at others times hard and unsure. Disease and bad relationships haunted them to. They sinned against God and each other. They died just like we do. Quite often they too put God pretty far down on their list of who they depended on for survival and happiness, usually calling on him, like we so often do, only after we have exhausted all other efforts of getting ourselves out of the mess we have made.
All of us at one time or another has wanted to start over with the things that we have messed up in our lives. I remember many times in school, when I didn't get the grade I wanted on a test, I wanted to start over. Have you ever stuck your foot in your mouth and said something really stupid and you wanted to start over? How about that promotion that never happened because of something you said or di, or the argument with your spouse or child that got out of hand, or that car that turned out to be a “lemon"? Every one of us sometime in our lives has wished that we could redo what we just did, so we could start over and correct what we had done wrong.
Starting over is the subject of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. He comes to question Jesus secretly at night, suspecting that Jesus has something he might need. He gets more than he anticipated when Jesus tells him that he will never see the Kingdom of God unless he completely starts over. He must begin a new life, be “born again from above”, as the Greek text tells us. It is clear that Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus is talking about. He thinks that Jesus is talking about a literal rebirth. But that is impossible! How can he be born a second time?
Starting over; what does that mean? For most of us, when we think of starting over or having a second chance, we think of making small modifications to our life. We would not mind making some changes or improvements in who we are or what we have done. Starting over means doing things a little bit differently the second time around, making a few adjustments here and there, so that things turn out better this time. We are willing to start over because we are sure that starting over could not possibly mean changing ourselves so completely that it would be as if we were born all over again a second time. That kind of change just isn’t necessary for good folks like us.
As a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus probably felt the same way. Surely, Jesus can’t mean what he says! Surely, he can’t mean that we must still, in spite of all these good things we have done, start over?! Surely our lives couldn’t be that bad so that Jesus would have to demand that kind of change? How can he make demands like this? Who does he think he is, God or something?
Jesus can make these kind of demands and expect this kind of change because he is God and our plight is that bad. By refusing to believe him and his demand to start over, by refusing to let go of the life that is doomed, we don’t get the opportunity to start over. We don’t get eternal life. Yes, it is that bad! And our restless and endless search for any relief short of completely starting over is a sign that we are always under divine judgment and always in the process of perishing.
We need to start over, but what we cannot do for ourselves, God does for us, as we read in God’s Word, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” “God so loved the World that He gave his only Son” to take the punishment from God that we still deserve.
When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He gave us chance to start over. When he was lifted up from the dead at his resurrection, God offers to us what we can never attain for ourselves: a fresh start, a new beginning, another birth, a new life. Our regrets are forgotten. Our mistakes are left behind in Jesus’ grave. Our sins are forgiven. Such an opportunity to start over is not a mountain to be climbed. It is not a game to be won. It is not a status to be achieved. It is simply a gift to be received. It is a promise to be trusted.
Wow! I can’t believe that it is that good. But it is. When that promise is believed, a new life begins. We get to start over. We can let go of everything that would bury us in the past. As we face the future, everything else simply doesn’t matter when compared to the fresh start God is giving us. We can admit our mistakes, confess our sins, stop having to justify ourselves, and start over.
Because Jesus was lifted up on the cross, so are we. It is like, how can I say it, being soothed by a cool breeze on a hot summer day. It suddenly blows across our tired faces with its cool and refreshing life. As Jesus reminds Nicodemus, the wind blows where it chooses. You hear the sound of it, but you do not know from where it comes and where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. So it is with everyone who receives the life giving love of God. You can’t control it. You can’t earn it. You can’t deserve it. You just receive it. It happens to you. You trust it. It washes over your body at the baptismal font. It enters your body as you eat and drink at the Lord’s Supper. It lifts your spirit as you hear its good news. It strengthens your body and soul as you are embraced in the arms of other Christians. It is in those things of God that you receive the starting over that you always wanted.
Every day you can start over, have a new beginning, let go of your old life and take hold of the new. Every day your regretted past can be left behind. The creator of this whole universe lifted up his only Son on the cross, lifted him up again out of the grave on Easter and lifted him up into the heaven where he sits at his right hand and fills the universe with his love in the power of His Spirit. God did that for you!
A cool summer breeze has touched us Nicodemuses of this world. We have been loved by a love that is like no other. We have been given a fresh start, no questions asked. We have received this new beginning not from flesh and blood but from the source and ground of all that is. There is only one way we can talk about that loving God. We have to talk the language of the doctrine of the Trinity. A God who is this good must be the Trinity, three in one, one in three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We may not be able to explain the Trinity, but aren’t we glad that God is the Trinity who gives us the chance to be born again, so we can start over and over and over. Amen.
6/07/09
Text: John 3:1-7
Title: Starting Over.
Each week as I study the text I am going to teach the next Sunday I spend a lot of time in prayer and meditation on the text. I study the language it was written in, so I can better understand the meaning of the text. I study the context in which it was written and what others, especially the early church fathers have to say concerning the text. I do all those things, but there is one thing that I always have to ask of the text, “What is God saying to us today?
I ask that question because if I cannot communicate God’s Word in a way that will make a difference in your lives I have failed in presenting God’s Word to you. As I look for what God is saying to us today in the Word of God that was written so long there is always one thing I find out. We really are not any different than them. We wrestle with the same problems of life that the people of old faced. Their lives while quite often good were at others times hard and unsure. Disease and bad relationships haunted them to. They sinned against God and each other. They died just like we do. Quite often they too put God pretty far down on their list of who they depended on for survival and happiness, usually calling on him, like we so often do, only after we have exhausted all other efforts of getting ourselves out of the mess we have made.
All of us at one time or another has wanted to start over with the things that we have messed up in our lives. I remember many times in school, when I didn't get the grade I wanted on a test, I wanted to start over. Have you ever stuck your foot in your mouth and said something really stupid and you wanted to start over? How about that promotion that never happened because of something you said or di, or the argument with your spouse or child that got out of hand, or that car that turned out to be a “lemon"? Every one of us sometime in our lives has wished that we could redo what we just did, so we could start over and correct what we had done wrong.
Starting over is the subject of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. He comes to question Jesus secretly at night, suspecting that Jesus has something he might need. He gets more than he anticipated when Jesus tells him that he will never see the Kingdom of God unless he completely starts over. He must begin a new life, be “born again from above”, as the Greek text tells us. It is clear that Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus is talking about. He thinks that Jesus is talking about a literal rebirth. But that is impossible! How can he be born a second time?
Starting over; what does that mean? For most of us, when we think of starting over or having a second chance, we think of making small modifications to our life. We would not mind making some changes or improvements in who we are or what we have done. Starting over means doing things a little bit differently the second time around, making a few adjustments here and there, so that things turn out better this time. We are willing to start over because we are sure that starting over could not possibly mean changing ourselves so completely that it would be as if we were born all over again a second time. That kind of change just isn’t necessary for good folks like us.
As a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus probably felt the same way. Surely, Jesus can’t mean what he says! Surely, he can’t mean that we must still, in spite of all these good things we have done, start over?! Surely our lives couldn’t be that bad so that Jesus would have to demand that kind of change? How can he make demands like this? Who does he think he is, God or something?
Jesus can make these kind of demands and expect this kind of change because he is God and our plight is that bad. By refusing to believe him and his demand to start over, by refusing to let go of the life that is doomed, we don’t get the opportunity to start over. We don’t get eternal life. Yes, it is that bad! And our restless and endless search for any relief short of completely starting over is a sign that we are always under divine judgment and always in the process of perishing.
We need to start over, but what we cannot do for ourselves, God does for us, as we read in God’s Word, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” “God so loved the World that He gave his only Son” to take the punishment from God that we still deserve.
When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He gave us chance to start over. When he was lifted up from the dead at his resurrection, God offers to us what we can never attain for ourselves: a fresh start, a new beginning, another birth, a new life. Our regrets are forgotten. Our mistakes are left behind in Jesus’ grave. Our sins are forgiven. Such an opportunity to start over is not a mountain to be climbed. It is not a game to be won. It is not a status to be achieved. It is simply a gift to be received. It is a promise to be trusted.
Wow! I can’t believe that it is that good. But it is. When that promise is believed, a new life begins. We get to start over. We can let go of everything that would bury us in the past. As we face the future, everything else simply doesn’t matter when compared to the fresh start God is giving us. We can admit our mistakes, confess our sins, stop having to justify ourselves, and start over.
Because Jesus was lifted up on the cross, so are we. It is like, how can I say it, being soothed by a cool breeze on a hot summer day. It suddenly blows across our tired faces with its cool and refreshing life. As Jesus reminds Nicodemus, the wind blows where it chooses. You hear the sound of it, but you do not know from where it comes and where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. So it is with everyone who receives the life giving love of God. You can’t control it. You can’t earn it. You can’t deserve it. You just receive it. It happens to you. You trust it. It washes over your body at the baptismal font. It enters your body as you eat and drink at the Lord’s Supper. It lifts your spirit as you hear its good news. It strengthens your body and soul as you are embraced in the arms of other Christians. It is in those things of God that you receive the starting over that you always wanted.
Every day you can start over, have a new beginning, let go of your old life and take hold of the new. Every day your regretted past can be left behind. The creator of this whole universe lifted up his only Son on the cross, lifted him up again out of the grave on Easter and lifted him up into the heaven where he sits at his right hand and fills the universe with his love in the power of His Spirit. God did that for you!
A cool summer breeze has touched us Nicodemuses of this world. We have been loved by a love that is like no other. We have been given a fresh start, no questions asked. We have received this new beginning not from flesh and blood but from the source and ground of all that is. There is only one way we can talk about that loving God. We have to talk the language of the doctrine of the Trinity. A God who is this good must be the Trinity, three in one, one in three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We may not be able to explain the Trinity, but aren’t we glad that God is the Trinity who gives us the chance to be born again, so we can start over and over and over. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 3:20 PM
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