Lent: New Rule or New Life

Well, our scripture reading this morning is John 3, verses 1 through 8.

John 3:1–8

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he's old?

He can enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I have said to you, you must be born again.

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, the word of the Lord.

Well, just two announcements before we head into the sermon.

The first is perhaps you're new here, love to meet you and talk to you.

Maybe you've been around for the last couple of months, or maybe it's your first Sunday.

Either way, love to meet you just after this service in the student chapel, just for a five to ten minute chat, maybe answer any questions you have about our church.

Maybe you want to learn even more about our church, maybe you just want to learn, or maybe you want to join either way.

Love to invite you to our final membership class for the semester.

You can use it to join the church, but as well, maybe you just want to join March 15th, 5 to 7 p.m.

That's a Sunday evening.

You can RSVP on the calendar page.

Well, happy spring.

Good morning.

What beautiful last couple days.

I'm amazed you're here.

I was like, it's it's a good Sunday.

I'm like, man, don't know what we're gonna have this morning because it's amazing out there.

I mean, yesterday I worked in the yard in the morning, took a nap on the back porch.

Hopefully you were outside, and happy Lent as well.

And Lent in Latin actually means springtime.

And so Lent is the church season that starts us in winter, moves us into the spring.

It's the 40 days leading to Good Friday and to Easter.

And our scripturing this morning is John 3, where Nicodemus, this religious guy, he comes to Jesus at night.

He wants to know how can I be right with God?

How can God accept me?

How can I be loved by God?

How can I know I'm loved by God?

Can God delight in me?

And like, what can I do to have that happen?

Tell me what to do.

And Jesus tells him, Well, it's not really what you do.

It's not really another rule.

It's about the inner spirit, your inner core being born again.

So it's not a new rule, it's actually a new life.

So here's how the conversation plays out John 3.

Let's read again verses uh four, maybe through six, somewhere on there.

Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he's old?

How can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

So Nicodemus is a little bit slow.

Jesus talking about the inside of you, and Nicodemus is like, What's going on here?

Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of flesh is flesh.

So you're gonna have bones, you're gonna have flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

So we're gonna have it inside, we do have it inside of us that needs to be born.

Point number one is this Jesus does not just give rules for life, Jesus gives us a new inner self.

Jesus does give rules for life, amazing rules for life, very helpful, but he gives new self, a new core.

Verses five and six, the imagery is of a new birth.

Verse five, water is a word meaning procreation and new life.

Now I love that Lent always aligns with the beginning of spring, right?

When Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, everything around us is wintertime.

It hasn't begun blooming yet.

Everything's dead.

There's no leaves, there's no blooms yet.

And then by Easter, think about it, by the time we get to Easter, all of our yards will be blooming, the grass is green, we're all outside, we're all happier, much happier than in January, right?

So the new life is beginning all around us.

Now, every morning I walk, our little puppy from our house, I walk down Church Street just over here, turn left on Church Street, and when I turn on Church Street, I've been walking this path for about 13 years now, twice a day, and this is not a fantastic picture, but up on the left, you see you see the beginning of some white blooms on a tree.

This is the first tree that I see bloom every spring, just in my everyday life.

Every spring I know.

And this is a picture I took, I think I took this on Monday, and I was like, oh, it's starting.

It's starting, right?

Like, like new life is beginning around because that's the first tree.

And once that one starts, everything else begins.

Right?

There's gonna be more blooms.

New life is beginning all around us.

Lent, the season headed into Good Friday and Easter, Lent is the celebration of new life.

And that's why it's aligned with springtime.

That it's not just rules that we live by, but Jesus actually births a new self, a new inner self.

Verse 6 that which is born of spirit is spirit.

And Jesus is saying, we have life in our spirit by God, granting us life by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is talking about the core of who we are.

And yet this Nicodemus is just hoping for a new list.

Like, just give me a new list.

He's a religious guy.

Because maybe then, if I have a new list and then I perform the list, I can check it off, and then I can feel loved.

I can feel accomplished.

I can feel like I've performed.

And Jesus says, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Like, it's more profound than that.

And it's even better than that.

But you're gonna have to receive it.

You're gonna have to be rescued.

It's not that you're gonna be able to do it.

A couple weeks ago at the Winter Olympics, Lindsay Vaughn, she came out of retirement to go for gold again.

There's Lindsay Vaughn.

Amazing teeth.

I was like, I looked at the picture and I was like, unbelievable teeth.

She's a legend.

She's 41.

She was going for it again.

You know what happened.

13 seconds into the downhill event, her right arm clips the gate.

She was going 70 miles an hour, right?

Starts to tumble.

Her teeth aren't gonna help at this point, right?

Amazing teeth, doesn't matter.

Her body twists, tumbles, head over skis, hits hard, slides, multiple breaks in her leg.

And then she has to wait.

She ain't gonna ski off that mountain.

She ain't gonna walk off that mountain.

And no amount of rules for good skiing are gonna help her at this point.

She needs outside help.

And that's exactly what happened.

The helicopter comes, they put her, they take her off.

She needed help to come to her.

And some of you are really talented.

Some of you can achieve a lot.

Some of you can get stuff done.

Like you're some of you can are quite the nicodemus.

Like you can really get some rules and obey some rules.

But there's an end to that.

That only goes so far.

Those rules and that achievement and that capability, it can't birth a new life.

It doesn't have the power.

There's certain parts of us that just have to be rescued.

We have to live in a receiving posture before God.

Do you remember the doctrine of the two atoms we talked about last week?

I'll catch you up if you weren't here.

The doctrine of two atoms, it begins back in Genesis with Adam as an Adam and Eve.

And Adam was not only a man, he was a representative.

So this is called federal headship.

That's what that's called.

Adam's not just a guy, but he actually represents us.

It's called federal headship, that's covenantal representation.

Sort of like how the federal government represents us.

The federal government has a covenant to represent us.

Well, Adam represents us.

When he disobeyed, we disobeyed, and we would have disobeyed if we were him.

So sin comes, condemnation, death, exile, separation from God.

Yet there's a second Adam.

God promised a serpent crushing seed.

So we see Jesus even there in Genesis 3, 15, the promise of Jesus, so we have the second Adam.

We have federal headship in the first Adam, but we have a second Adam, this Jesus, so we can have, we have representation in our sin, but we can have representation in righteousness.

And that's in Romans 5, Paul expounds on that, that sin and death comes through one man, but also our hope is through one man, this second Adam, Jesus.

So through Adam we have one trespass and we have condemnation.

Yet through Jesus we have one act of righteousness and we have justification.

So where death reigned through Adam, grace now reigns through Christ.

Paul summarizes it in 1 Corinthians 15, 21, for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

And the key is that the old Adam in you, if you're a Christian, is dead.

That old Adam is dead.

There's a new birth in you.

There's a new Adam in you, which is Christ in you.

And that's why there's no condemnation for us.

Because we have a new life in Christ.

Now, the flesh, our sinful self, likes to make us think that the old Adam's still alive.

And that you need to perform and you need to earn to have worth in the world or in religion.

And you need to perform a set of rules today to have God really love you.

That's old Adam.

But the new Adam already has all this in Jesus.

So what does that mean?

Like, what does that mean for me on Monday?

Well, it means that you rest more, it means that you root more into the new Adam, into Jesus, into Christ in you.

What is true about you?

Not because you perform or you achieve or you have a resume or you have great teeth, right?

None of that.

But what is true about you because Jesus is in you?

What does Jesus say about you?

See, we've been rescued.

It's not just new rules, it's a new birth, it's a new life.

John 3, verse 9.

John 3:9

Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be?

And Jesus answered him, Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

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.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

So Jesus is talking about himself, and he's pointed to the cross that he will be lifted up, verse 15, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

That word life is the word Zoe, which means that your state, who you are, becomes vital and whole and animated by God through the Holy Spirit because of Jesus.

Point two is that we're rescued by Jesus from the sin of self-justification.

That's what Nicodemus is trying to do.

Hey, give me some stuff to do.

I will justify myself by what I do.

That's what we're all trying to do, whether we're in the world or religion.

Let me perform.

Give me a set, give me a set of rules.

I'll justify myself.

And yet Jesus said, No, no, no, no, you're not gonna be able to do that.

You need my grace, you need to be justified by me.

In the verse 14, Jesus tells that strange story from the book of Numbers, and the Israelites are attacked by poisonous serpents, and a bunch of people died, and then God commands Moses, hey, take a bronze serpent, set it on a pole.

So foreshadowing Jesus on the cross.

And back in Numbers says, anybody who looks upon the pole, anybody who's been bit, they're dying.

But they look upon the pole.

They'll live, they'll be rescued.

It's just a picture, right?

That's what Old Testament is picture after picture of Jesus.

To be rescued by him.

Those who look upon him.

And all Nicodemus wants, this religious teacher, he lives a life by the law.

Everything he eats, everything he drinks, everything he's doing is to do the right way to be right with God.

And Jesus says, hey, that list of behaviors is only going to get you so far.

You actually need a new life.

Paul explains it in Titus 3.5.

But when the goodness and the loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy.

By washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

We could summarize it this way: the way of religion is obey, and then you are accepted.

The way of gospel is you are already accepted in Jesus, therefore obey.

The obedience is not for the acceptance, the obedience is out of the acceptance.

So religion is a way of slavery and exhaustion.

And gospel is a way of freedom and growth.

And it is easy to be a Christian and revert back to being a Nicodemus.

It's easy to say, okay, God, I received your forgiveness, I've accepted Christ.

Now, really, what do I need to do to be loved by you?

Okay, God, I receive your forgiveness, I walk denial, I take communion, but really it's Tuesday afternoon.

I'm feeling kind of, I don't feel like you love me, I don't feel delighted in, I don't feel accepted.

Really, what do I need to do?

Just tell me, really, what I need to do, to really be loved by you.

But we have everything we need in Jesus.

Gospel living is rest in the receiving, so to be empowered for the living.

Theologically, we would say our sanctification, our Christian living is not a moving on from our justification, what Jesus did for us.

We're not moving on.

Our sanctification is digging deeper into our justification.

We never leave our justification.

We don't leave Jesus behind to go and serve Jesus.

So what that means is it means your Christian life and my Christian life is about waking up and reminding yourself of everything you already have in Jesus.

Of rooting even deeper into the great wealth of the identity that you have as a daughter and a son.

You're already fully righteous and fully loved.

Period, nothing to add.

So we can take a deep breath of relief, and then we can move on with our day.

To honor God, to love people.

Right?

Gospel living is in the receiving, so to be empowered for the living.

Point number three is this a performance-oriented life is condemnation, but life in Christ is relief.

Paul explains this in Romans 4, 15 through 17, for the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the ones who share in the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations, in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

So the law, all the rules for righteous living, they're so good, holy, great for us.

It brings wrath.

Because we don't live up to them perfectly.

We need another way.

We need the helicopter to come to us.

We're not going to get off the mountain.

So verse 16, that's why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace.

So that's why we get John 3.17.

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.

My mentor Scotty Smith says this the gospel is not merely the absence of all condemnation, it's also the fullness of God's delight lavished on us in Christ.

As Christians, we get to feast.

Feast on God's lavish delight of us.

Okay, one more Olympic story.

Two weeks ago, U.S.

athlete Jesse Diggins, she won a bronze for cross-country skiing.

She's won four Olympic golds.

She is the most decorated cross-country skier of the United States.

She skied the 10 kilometer, the 20, the 50.

She's an absolute beast.

Absolute beast.

And she might burn, I did a little research, I was like, what is that?

Like a 50-kilometer cross-country?

I mean, that is an ordeal.

She might burn 6,000 calories.

So she has to nourish her body.

She has to feast.

She wakes up, she eats oatmeal, peanut butter, eggs, toast, fruit, yogurt.

Her body will burn through whatever she puts in it.

And then she's got to eat even more to restore itself.

So after the race, she's going to eat pasta, bread, protein, pizza.

Some of you are like, I do that.

That's what I do.

This sounds like my method.

She eats with intention because she eats because weakness demands the provision.

Many of us try to live the Christian life just like some jelly with a few jelly beans, a granola bar.

And we need to be feasting.

We need to be feasting on the gospel.

I am born again.

I am fully forgiven in Jesus.

Period.

I am righteous because of Jesus.

Period.

The Father is not disappointed in me.

He delights in me like he delights in Jesus.

I'm already accepted.

I'm already welcomed.

The Spirit is at work within me.

And none of that is based on how I feel today.

All of that is objective in the cross and it's given to me.

So some days I'm going to feel it.

It's going to be amazing.

And some days I'm just going to say, that's what's true about me.

I'm whole.

I'm worthy.

I'm loved.

I'm welcomed, accepted, I'm important, I'm secure, I'm respected, I'm beautiful because God loves me in Jesus.

That's a new life.

That's a feast for our souls.

On Sundays through Lent, Sundays are known as feast days.

And when we count the 40 days, we say 40 days leading up to Good Friday, and Easter is Lent, it doesn't count Sundays.

Because Sundays are set apart.

They're feast days.

And historically, people would fast from something during Lent, but not on Sundays.

Because on Sundays you feast.

It's a symbol of how the gospel is for us to feast on.

That's why we gather.

We gather to feast, to feast on the gospel.

This lavish acceptance and love we have in Jesus.

Let me close by reading Psalm 18, 17 through 19.

He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a broad place.

He rescued me because he delighted in me.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you delight in me not because of my resume or my capability.

You delight in me because you choose to delight in me.

And I know this in Jesus.

Thank you that you delight in every Christian here as we live in the receiving posture that Jesus is enough.

For the full forgiveness we need, the full righteousness we need, all the worth we need and the core of who we are.

Help us to live even more by the new life we have in the second Adam.

Christ in us.

Help us to live in the receiving posture, to root even deeper into Jesus, so to be empowered to live for you.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.