Come into the Light
John 3:14-21
March 15, 2015[1]
We often focus on verse 16 of
today’s Gospel Reading, and for a good reason. John 3:16 summarizes succinctly so much of our
Christian faith. But we sometimes forget
that John 3:16 is part of a larger conversation. To fully understand what Jesus was telling
Nicodemus, we really need to see it in the larger picture. When we do, we can see a more complete
picture of what it means to say that we are “Christian.”
Last week, we received the
Brady family into the membership of our church. I take real joy in watching people take steps
forward in their journey of faith—not just in the public part of standing
before you as they proclaim their faith; but also in the time that I get to
spend with them before hand, talking about our spiritual journeys and the words
we use to express our faith.
We use a lot of words in
proclaiming our faith. Our Service for
the Reception of Members gives us opportunities to remember our baptisms, to
recall the story of our faith, and to affirm the truths of our faith as
contained in the Apostles Creed. When
you boil it down to its most basic elements, our journey of faith in Christ can
be reduced to a few simple but profound questions. You can see these questions on page 34 of The United Methodist Hymnal. We ask candidates for membership:
· Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?
· Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to
resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present
themselves?
· Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your
whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with
the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?
Three simple questions. Three extremely profound questions. Three questions that are relatively easy to
answer in the safety of this sanctuary; but three affirmations that can be so
much more difficult to live up to in our daily living. When answered “yes” with our words and our
lives, these questions form part of the process that we describe as “conversion”—of
the transformation of our lives.
Jesus talks about these three
questions in his nighttime conversation with Nicodemus described in the third
chapter of John.
The first question addresses
our “repentance,” our intention to change our direction in life. That word “repent” doesn’t simply mean to
regret what we have done. It doesn’t mean
that we feel badly about what we have done.
It means that we choose to change direction, to turn around. It means that we want to live
differently. It means that we are willing
to “come into the light,” as Jesus says in verse 21. We put our actions under God’s searchlight,
to be exposed for who we are.
When we come to God’s
searchlight, we may start out thinking that we are pretty decent people. We may be able to truthfully say that we are
not ax murderers, and that we have not cheated on our spouses or on our income
taxes. But we need to be prepared; for
under God’s searchlight, we may discover some things about ourselves that we
would prefer to keep hidden. Things that
we cover up when we get dressed for church on Sunday. Attitudes of the heart that are imbedded so
deeply into who we are. Attitudes that
Jesus exposed to the religious leaders who could truthfully proclaim that they
lived fully within the boundaries of the 613 commandments contained in the Law
of Moses. Jesus exposed the difference
between outward behavior and inward attitude when He told the leaders things
such as, “you have heard it said, do not murder; but I say to you that anyone who is
angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” (Matthew 5: 22). Or when He told the leaders, “You have heard
that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone
who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his
heart…” (Matthew 5:27-28). Things that we find we are powerless on our own to
change. Jesus invites us to repent of
our sin.
The second question addresses
our enlistment in God’s kingdom, volunteering for duty in opposing evil in our
world. Our Christian journey is not
simply a negative one in which we don’t sin; it also is an affirmative journey
in which we do good. In Christian
parlance, it’s not bad to be a “do gooder”; doing good is what we want
to do—not for appearance sake, but to help usher in God’s kingdom, to be a part
of God’s business of changing the world.
Jesus told Nicodemus that “those who do what is true come to the light,
so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (John
3:21). When we do this, we follow in
the footsteps of Jesus himself, who “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38).
The third question gets very personal—it
describes a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and asks us to put our
“whole trust in his grace.” What do
those words mean?
First, let me repeat what I
have said before. It does not describe
an action that we do in our heads; it describes what we do with our
hearts. It’s unfortunate that our
English translations use the word “believe” in John 3:16 and elsewhere, because we have come to interpret that
word as an intellectual act. Lots of
people get hung up here, because there are aspects of our faith that defy
logic. The essential element is not to
understand the miracles of healing, of turning water into wine, or of casting
out demons neither is it to comprehend the theology of atonement or the mysteries
of death and resurrection. The essential
element is to trust in Jesus.
This distinction is
illustrated by Gayle Carlton Felton in her study guide to Methodists’
understanding of baptism and Christian initiation called, By Water and the Spirit. Dr.
Felton recalls a story
about a daredevil
who was about to ride a bicycle across a tightrope strung over a deep
gorge. Seeking encouragement, perhaps,
he asked the bystanders if they believed that he could perform this feat
successfully. Many of them cheered
loudly and affirmed that, indeed, they believed that he could do it. The daredevil then uncovered his bicycle and
revealed that it had a second seat. “All
right,” he said, “who among the believers will ride with me?” To have faith is to trust, to climb aboard,
and take a lifelong ride with Christ.[2]
To trust in Jesus is to take
the second seat, putting our entire lives into His care.
· When Jesus invites the rich young man to sell all his
goods, give the money to the poor and to follow Him, He is inviting the young
man to take the second seat. (Matthew 19:16-22).
· When Jesus invites us to deny ourselves and to take up
our crosses daily and follow Him, He is inviting us to take the second seat.
· When Jesus invites Peter, James, Andrew and John to
leave their nets and to follow Him, He is inviting them to take the second
seat. When He invites us to let Him be
the “Lord of our lives,” He is inviting us to take the second seat. (Mark
1:16-20).
· When Jesus tells the father of a dying child that “all
things are possible to those who believe,” He is inviting the father to take
the second seat and trust that Jesus is able to heal his child. When the father says, “Lord, I believe; help
my unbelief,” the father is taking the second seat even though there are times
he’s not entirely sure. But he takes the
second seat anyway. (Mark 9:14-29).
· And, when we, like the father of that child, start to
waiver about that second seat and whether we have what it takes to make it
across the gorge, Jesus reminds us who is in the first seat. It is then that Jesus offers us his assurance,
his promise that “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew
28:20).
We don’t get there on our
own. We don’t get there because of the
good that we have done. We get there
only by God’s grace, offered to us through Jesus Christ.
This act of putting ourselves
into the second seat, of putting our whole trust in the grace of Jesus Christ,
is not a single moment nor is it a single decision. It is a way of living. Some people think of their “conversion” as a
single moment in time that enables them to put one more check mark on their “To
Do” lists. I don’t deny that some people
experience a sudden and profound change in their lives; but not everyone comes
to faith in that way. For many people,
it is a gradual transformation that takes place daily, reminding them to take
the second seat. That is what the
Christian journey is all about—remembering who is in the first seat, but
committing ourselves to going with Him on the journey.
This morning, I would like to
close by asking you those same three questions that I asked the Bradys last
week. We don’t need to be standing here
in the front to respond to those questions.
And as important as your answer is here this morning, it is equally, if
not more important, how you will answer these questions on Monday morning or
Tuesday afternoon or Friday evening. So
I ask you to bow your heads and prayerfully consider these questions. You may answer them aloud if you wish; but it
is even more important to answer them in your heart.
· Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness,
reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?
· Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to
resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present
themselves?
· Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your
whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with
the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?
May God give us grace to come
into the light and say, “We do!”
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