John 3:11-21

Hey friends!

Thanks for starting the week with us as we continue

through the Gospel of John in the third chapter.

John and the John is presenting

a conversation that Jesus has with a man named Nicodemus.

And most of that kind of happens, at least Nicodemus

part tends to happen in the front end.

And then this gets into a little bit of

just discourse or narrative from Jesus,

including, what is probably, I think not probably

what is certainly the best known verse in the Gospel of John.

But we'll get to that along with the rest of it in a moment.

Let me read a few verses here, and then we'll come back and talk it through.

I tell you the truth.

We speak of what we know and we testify to what we've seen.

Yet you do not receive our testimony.

If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe.

How can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven,

the Son of Man.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him

may have eternal life, and this is going to stop there. So

if you remember, Nicodemus and Jesus, Jesus

talking about being born again, born from up from above.

And Nicodemus is asking questions.

And now Jesus almost kind of launches here into sermon mode.

And you get a lot of the themes of John, the idea of testimony,

the idea of witness, the idea of reliability

and making a choice to believe or not.

And here Jesus lays all that out.

Yes, talking to Nicodemus.

But I think for John also providing some parameters

of just how John understands that Jesus ministry works.

I'm talking to you about earthly things, and you can't even believe that.

How could you believe heavenly things?

This ascending and descending.

And then this phrase, this reference to Moses lifting up the serpent,

which, if you remember that story, is when the Israelites

are being punished and they are being bitten by snakes.

And as they look upon the snake that is lifted,

they are, they are delivered.

They they do not experience death.

And so here the idea is that in

a similar way, people will look to Jesus for life.

And I think this is an interesting example,

Michael, of John condensing some of his themes

and some of what's important to him into a relatively small passage here, that

that Jesus gets to speak, but John clearly gets to use.

Kind of you agree with this?

I think this is the kind of discourse that we see from Jesus

in the Gospel of John that can strike people in many different ways.

Some people, I think, receive this kind of teaching

as very constructive, very maybe illuminating.

It may create a lot of space for reflection and spiritual discernment.

And I think a lot of people may find this kind of discourse in the gospel,

John, which we're going to see very, very often, this style of preaching

and teaching from Jesus to be that long,

to be very discursive and sometimes even to be difficult to read through.

And I think that one of the interesting things that that you're going to note

as we go deeper into this is that Jesus is going to say

things that only make sense if you know the breadth of the whole story.

If you understand that Jesus is going to be raised up on a cross,

if that's information you have already, then when you come

to this section of the text and this idea of the Son of Man

being lifted up, you immediately have that in the background.

If you didn't have that, then this is going to just seem like a riddle

or a puzzle.

It may be a head scratcher that's not leading anywhere.

And I think it's really important that we contextualize that.

We put ourselves sort of in the shoes of the people who first receive this,

especially if these are people in the first, now

nearing second generation of the church, that they know the story of Jesus.

They're hearing now in this telling of the story of Jesus's

deeper spiritual teachings for them, when they when they hear this text,

they're going to see,

because of their knowledge

of the Old Testament, an allusion to an Old Testament story.

But they're also going to understand immediately

what is being talked about in reference to the Son of Man being raised up.

I think that context matters here.

When you're reading the gospel of John, because what it does is that enables

us, the reader, to access different parts of information from the story.

At the same time.

If you try to read the Gospel of John on one pass and you never let John

take you down, the smaller parts that that are tributaries of it claim it.

This is going to be a tough story to follow,

but if you allow your imagination, if you allow there to be some flexibility,

some spiritual reading, some symbolic reading, if you allow

that as we go through this gospel, I think this is very rich,

because one way that we could interpret this is that ultimately, Nicodemus,

you are supposed to be the expert on what the law says.

But now when the the risen Christ that the perfect encapsulation

and even the that the in

fleshed version of that law now stands in front of you, you're

now unable to talk about the truths that you claim to have.

And so there's a real depth to this if you're willing to see all of that.

I think one of the helpful ideas, for me, at least as I read the Gospel of John,

is the idea of of conflict

or of against it.

And what I mean by that is that John is going

to consistently present moments where Jesus is against the teachers,

the world, that

that's not unique to John's gospel, but I think he leans into it, particularly,

particularly hard, you know, so here it's Jesus.

Not not quite versus Nicodemus, but we speak of things

we know you don't know them.

The Son of Man.

You can't believe earthly things.

How can you believe heavenly things?

That general framework that we see in microcosm in this conversation,

I think, is a good foundation or a good underpinning

of of how to approach this entire gospel.

Where does Jesus get his authority?

What happens to those who question it,

and what side is the reader on?

Is the reader one who believes or doesn't believe is the reader.

One who sees Jesus for who he is

or who doesn't understand what what side of that choice

of that of that decision does the reader live on?

And I think, again, John has done this really well

in just 3 or 4 verses, presenting that kind of,

again,

maybe conflict is too strong a word, certainly argument

that that kind of division here, which we are going to see again and again.

So, Clint, an interesting note raised by commentators here in this text

is that phrase son of man, which we are seeing now

multiple times in the gospel of John.

We're going to see a lot more of that.

It's used 82 times in the four Gospels

and only that all of those times, save one.

There's one exception, but all of those times, Jesus uses it regarding himself.

And I think that that may seem to us to be a surprising detail,

but but make note of this Jesus in John is always talking about divine knowledge.

And we have that here, right?

This idea that, you don't even understand heavenly things, that

that that knowledge that you could only have by direct contact, but that knowledge

you could only have if you are ascended, if you've seen it, experienced it.

Well, Jesus is because of his nature being the word from John one we have.

He is part of the creative power of God.

He's been there since the very beginning.

The Triune relationship has always existed.

Jesus is fully God.

Well, so Jesus emphasizes throughout his entire time teaching

and much to the confusion of someone like Nicodemus, that he is

also in verse 13, the Son of Man, that that he is fully human.

He is also incarnate.

He is God who has taken on flesh and and that consistent

and persistent definition, self-definition of Jesus.

It matters because here you have Jesus demanding that Nicodemus

see both sides, that Nicodemus see that he's missing the heavenly truth.

But he's also in this moment missing

the Son of Man, that the God standing before him.

That's the tension of the text.

And so Jesus is teaching, but his teaching is always

for the purpose of revelation, revealing who he is.

And in this moment Nicodemus is experiencing it,

but he's not receiving it at this moment.

Well, and I think that that duality in terms of the two ways to talk about

Jesus is made very clear in the text we have here.

The son of Man must be lifted up.

But then as we move to this next verse, which again John

316 is the most quoted, most known verse in the Gospel of John.

Maybe in the New Testament.

But as we continue the reading now look, so we have Son of Man,

and now we have Son of God, for God.

So loved the world that he gave his only son, that everyone

who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

Indeed, God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Those who believe in him

are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already

because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment that the light has come into the world, and people

love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

For all who do evil have the light and do not come to the light.

Hate the light.

I'm sorry, and do not come to the light so that their deeds may not be exposed,

but 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.

So as we get to this incredible passage,

there is a

little bit of unfortunate ness, unfortunate in this.

I think John 316, of course, is a beautiful, wonderful verse.

You will know that most of you will know that the numbers are not original.

The original

versions of these stories of these books did not have chapter and verse.

And one of the unfortunate things that has happened

is that John 316 has been separated from John 317.

Most Christians can quote John 316 to you

very few of them will know that the next verse says,

God did not send the son into the world to condemn it,

but in order that the world might be saved through him.

And that's such a wonderful compliment

to 316 that I wish we did a better job of keeping them together,

because together they really, I think, form the crux of the gospel

that John understands and is trying to share with us

that God so loved the world that he sent His Son, and he did this

not just to save some, but

in the hopes of not condemning but saving the world.

And this matters in John that Jesus is a cosmic Savior, that the

the scope of salvation is intended,

or at least directed at all.

And this we can sometimes read 316

and make it a privatized, personal faith kind of verse.

And, and that's fine, except that 317 cautions

us, cautions us a little bit to be careful with that.

And I wish we did a better job of keeping these verses together.

I think that when we talk about a verse

with as much impact as John 316, we have to linger there a little bit.

Clint, we have to recognize that this text

has been read as a kind of summary of the entire gospel.

And then in some ways, it does that.

It certainly gives us the the movement of the gospel,

this idea that that because of God's love,

that the origination of of God's desire for connection and relationship,

that he gives his only son,

that that's a very good shorthand account of the gospel.

And then this idea that that belief, faith, is a critical response,

an important part of our discipleship and faith,

and that that results in eternal light.

This verse is doing some amazing things, no doubt.

But friends, if you don't put John 316 in context,

I think you miss a lot of things.

If you don't remember, this is being said to a Jewish religious leader

who come to Jesus at night,

that Jesus has already said some very difficult things

about being born again, and even says, how in the world to be born again?

And you figure now Jesus is going to move very quickly to you

see verse 20, this idea that those who do evil and hate the light,

they don't come to light and their deeds are exposed.

Whose deeds are we talking about here? Right?

I think we need to pause and wonder when Jesus

emphasizes God's desire to save the world.

Why the world? What?

What's the emphasis happening here?

I think if you put all of this together, what we're going to begin

to see here is that Jesus is already being met

with hostility from the Jewish leaders and the Gospel of John.

It starts day one, moment one and so when Jesus comes to the ones

who should have known him and they reject him, when Jesus teaches

the people who should understand him and they're completely clueless

when when the deeds of those who claim to be in

the light are shown to be in darkness,

then the hope that Jesus has come for the sake of the world,

the people who weren't waiting for God to come rescue them, right?

The world, the Gentiles, the people outside of the Jewish faith

that they weren't looking for a messiah and yet the Messiah came for them.

I think, Clint, there's so much more depth to a John 316

when you understand that it's not just about

God's desire, God's love for you, and God's desire for you to be saved,

but this kind of cosmic understanding that

in the midst of relationships of dispute and conflict,

Jesus is offering that the Messiah has come for good news

for those who aren't even looking for it, for those who have

not even been on the table within the conversation

of the Jewish leaders and the Jewish leaders who are bringing

the deeds of darkness, they will be exposed for it.

It's there's a kind of

John 316.

There's, I think, historically received as a very aversive comfort for many people.

In many ways.

I think it's also an inversion of comfort.

It's very much a verse that sets up Jesus repudiation of those who hear

and see the revelation and reject it, and that's happening all at once.

When we go back to the very first imagery of this

book, the light and the dark and

we're going to have to put a pin in this for quite some time.

But don't forget that this story we're reading starts

with the detail that Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night.

Nicodemus himself is in the dark,

and John is urging those who are in the dark to come to the light.

John is urging that as we step into the light,

as we lose our deeds of darkness, as we turn to truth, we are enlightened.

And this is the work of God, who loved the world enough

to send his own son in the hope

that there would not be condemnation, but deliverance.

And so this is a powerful sermon, and I think you have to be careful

taking one verse and making it a summary

without being aware of its connection to other parts of the text.

And the last thing I want to say here, Michael, is just it this

I know this sounds exceedingly simple, but I think we forget it.

It matters that John 316 and John

363 17 are spoken by Jesus.

We often hear those as a commentary about Jesus,

as if John was telling us something.

Jesus is speaking of himself.

This is spoken in first person. These.

If you have a red letter Bible, these are red letters.

And so rather than take this as some theological statement

that the church has issued about Jesus, I think it helps to back up

and remember that we are hearing Jesus words about himself.

And I just I think sometimes with the way we've

treated this verse, that almost gets overlooked.

Yeah.

No doubt, Clint, I just want to make sure that we see this so,

so that we understand it when we begin tomorrow with verse 22.

I just want to note there's no reply here.

Jesus ends this section in verse 21 and then verse 22 tomorrow

we're going to find after this Jesus and his disciples went to the countryside.

Right? It's a it's a narrative note next.

And that is the kind of force of this teaching.

Nicodemus has nothing to add.

John sees no reason to offer

anything more beyond what Jesus has said here.

And I do think

we should be careful

to not trivialize a verse

that is so clear and in many ways is so grasp.

It's a thing that we can teach in Sunday School.

It's a thing that we can hold on to

in our own seasons of darkness in our life. But.

But I, I just cannot help but but recognize

this is in John three and not

in chapter 19.

Just the point being, this is early.

Jesus is revealing early the kind of work that he's come to do,

and also the kind of work he's trying to undo.

And I do think this idea of hiding our deeds in darkness,

the idea of hypocrisy, the idea of pretending to be things that we're not.

I think early on in Jesus's teaching,

we find ourselves with the response as well.

I ultimately it all comes down to the Son of Man being lifted up.

And of course, our belief comes in response to what he's already done for us.

I a verse like this

is comforting in the fact that Jesus has already paved the way

and made the way for us, and I think that's the beautiful gift here.

We find in this some strong words.

And if we can see ourselves in the place of Nicodemus,

we don't understand all of this text either.

But that's not the point.

The point isn't perfect comprehension.

The point is not perfect morality.

The point is belief

and trust in the one who has done for us what we couldn't do for ourselves.

The rest of it will follow.

And and John makes it clear that we don't need a follow up to this.

We don't need to hear somebody else's opinions or thoughts.

Jesus's words stand on their own.

And then we're going to continue the.

Story, I think pretty, pretty regular in John, that Jesus will have the last word.

And I think unlike a book like Mark, and maybe by connection, the other two gospels

that ask us the question, Who is Jesus?

And kind of ask the reader to gradually dig into the mystery of who

Jesus is along the story, Mark starts with explanation and definition.

This is who Jesus is.

And then he's going to unpack that in multiple ways

throughout the rest of the story.

But John pulls the curtain back right away.

John does not leave.

Who is Jesus up to question in in the way that the other gospels do and

the rest of the gospel, in some sense, is telling us what he's already shown us?

Yeah, I think that's a really, really helpful summary.

And I think it's worth noting here at the end of this conversation,

we don't think I think we're at 21.5 minutes here.

We don't think of this as being some kind of deep exposé of John 316.

Listen, there's a there's been books and books

and books, libraries filled with books about the truth of this text.

So certainly, if you would like to study that more, let us know.

And we can try to connect you with some of those resources and of course, friends.

I mean,

if you have other thoughts or authors or things you've read,

put that in the comments. Share that with others.

We would love,

of course, for you to like this video if you have found it encouraging,

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continue on into the Judean countryside as John leads us there.

But friends, thanks for being with us today and we hope to see you tomorrow.

Thanks, everybody.