What Does "Born Again" Actually Mean? | John 3

Well, hello.

Hi, if we haven't met, my name is Misha.

I'm so glad to be here with you.

I see you, friends, in Saginaw and in Monroe.

And those of you joining us online, thank you for being here.

We are in our last week of this kind of series of messages that we've been calling Who Needs God?

And this is more than just the name of the kind of preaching series.

This is an honest question we've been asking as a church.

Who needs God?

And what we've discovered together over the past few weeks is we all need God.

I need God.

You need God.

Your neighbors need God.

Your boss needs God.

Your kids need God.

Okay, we're gonna vote in a couple weeks.

Whoever you vote for needs God.

Get this though.

Whoever you don't vote for, don't vote for.

They need God too.

We all need God.

And so this is why we're doing this preaching series.

And alongside this preaching series, we've been working on a project for the last few weeks that we've called the No Needs Project.

Because while we all need God, some of us also have really tangible needs as well.

And so we've created a platform where people can share the needs that they have and other people can see those needs and perhaps meet those needs.

And already, just in the last few weeks, we've we've met across the Southeast Michigan nearly 500 needs.

But I checked this morning, I think there's about 341 needs still open.

About 60 of those are in the Brighton area, another 40 in Ish in the Monroe, and another 40 in the Saginaw area.

Let's meet these needs.

We got about a week left on this project.

Let's finish strong.

And if you if you got neighbors, if you got family members, if you got coworkers that you think could meet the needs, share these needs with them.

And the best way to do that is by texting serve to 27242.

Let's let's let's meet the needs of the people in our communities.

Okay.

Now, for today, uh switching gears a little bit, how many of you uh are familiar with the names Ken Griffey Jr.

and Frank Thomas?

Okay?

All right.

Say you you know those of you who grew up in the 90s, these were my two favorite baseball players in the 90s.

Uh I have at home like this big old baseball card book that's filled with just cards and posters of Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr.

Now, I in 1994 I could have told you a lot about those two guys.

I never met them.

I never met these two people in my life, but I can tell you, and and this is like pre-internet in the home, so everything I knew about them basically came from the back of those baseball cards or from whatever was in Sports Illustrated for Kids.

Okay, the reason why I say that is because we can know quite a bit about someone with without actually knowing them, right?

We all get that concept.

And and I bring it up because one of the biggest mistakes we can make in faith or or with God is mistaking knowing about Him for actually knowing Him.

The reality is we can know a lot about God.

We can know like all the all the Bible stories, we can memorize the chapter and verse where they're found.

We can show up to church and we can go to Bible study.

You can you can go to like Christian conferences, and we we're hosting in Brighton a men's conference this Saturday.

Men, you should go to the Michigan Better Man Conference.

You're gonna learn things about God at these sorts of things.

But we can know a lot about God and still miss knowing Him and still miss the sort of life that He's called us to.

Today, we are going to unpack a story in the Bible about a guy who knew a lot about God.

In fact, if we if this was the first century and we were looking for like the expert on God, we would have been directed towards Nicodemus or people like Nicodemus.

He knew a lot about God.

And yet, at one point in his faith journey, he seems to have suspected that there was more to faith than just having all the answers.

So one night, Nicodemus goes looking for Jesus.

John chapter 3, if you want to follow along in your Bibles, that's that's where we're gonna hang out first.

John 3 · chapter mention

Chapter 3 begins like this.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

So first thing we learn about Nicodemus is he was a Pharisee, which means that he belonged to a sect of Judaism that was really devoted to understanding like God's laws and commands, and they were committed to like living out God's laws precisely, like to the T.

And then we find out that he's not just a Pharisee, he's a leader of the Pharisees.

In fact, so much so that he's been appointed as a member of the Jewish ruling council, which is also known as the Sanhedrin.

Today we would probably think of Nicodemus as a religious expert, we might call him, or a religious influencer.

Like his life was devoted to impacting people around faith.

Verse 2 says, He, Nicodemus, came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.

Now, it's interesting to me.

It says that he came to Jesus at night.

Now we don't know exactly why Jesus uh why Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.

Um maybe he was wanted some privacy, maybe he was worried that, you know, what would the other religious leaders think if they saw him talking to Jesus?

Maybe he this was the only time that worked in both of their schedules.

But he he goes to Jesus at night, and despite everything he knows about God, despite his position, despite his authority, he he's like been observing Jesus and he notices there's something different about this guy.

Something about the way he talks, something about the way he interacts with people.

It's just there's something different.

He wants to understand what it is because he's he's intrigued by it.

And so he goes to Jesus and he asks, Hey, what's going on?

And Jesus' reply is, it's odd.

He says, Very, I very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

To which Nicodemus says, How can someone be born when they are old?

It's like a logical question.

He goes on, he says, Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born.

And Jesus answered, Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit.

You should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it's going.

So it is with everyone born of the spirit.

Now, if I were there and Jesus said this to me, I'd be like, What?

Like, what are you saying?

What like why did you put it so strangely?

Okay, but here's the point, okay?

I'll break this down because I had some time to look into this this week.

Jesus knows Nicodemus doesn't need more information.

He knows, okay, this is a smart guy, this is a learned guy, he teaches this stuff.

What Nicodemus needs is a different perspective or lens through which to view all the information he already has.

So Jesus says to him, uh, you gotta be born again.

He uses this concept of like rebirth as a way of saying, like, there's an aspect to this thing that you see in me that you can't achieve by a more meticulous breaking down of the text.

There's an aspect that you have to receive from God.

And so he uses this idea of birth because birth is something we all just received.

None of us like did something to earn our own birth into the world.

And he says, likewise, likewise, you can't manufacture what he calls here the kingdom of God.

Later he'll call it eternal life.

He said, there's there's a verse, there's there's there's a way of viewing life that is like eternal life.

And you can't manufacture, because here's here's here's what he's gonna get at is you can you can like change your behavior without having a changed heart, without having a changed mind.

You can study the scriptures and you can know what's in here without ever surrendering to the God who gave this to us.

You can become more religious without actually becoming more like Jesus.

What Jesus is getting at is that there's aspects to the kingdom of God that can't be gained through more knowledge about God.

Instead, what Nicodemus needed, and what you and I need today, is not necessarily more knowledge, what we need is new life.

We need life that only can come through the spirit.

And just like our life was essentially kind of given to us by our parents, this new life, the spirit life, this eternal life, is given to us by God.

See, what we cannot achieve or accomplish through any level of hard work, Jesus is saying, God, God can through his spirit.

Now, understandably, we just read it.

Um, Nicodemus is a little baffled by this answer.

So his response is, How can this be?

And Jesus says, You're Israel's teacher.

And do you not understand these things?

Which could sound kind of like he's jabbing at him.

But but if you keep going, he he basically goes on to say, Of course you don't understand these things.

Because you can only testify to the things you've seen.

And he's like, Nicodemus, you've never seen the kingdom of heaven.

But he's like, but I have.

And he says, you can.

And then Jesus explains to him how he could experience the kingdom of God.

And he does so by pointing forward to the cross.

But he actually points forward to the cross by reaching back into Israel's history.

And he brings up a story that would have been very familiar to Nicodemus.

He mentions in verse 14 that Moses lifted up a snake in the wilderness.

Okay, here's here's what he here's where this comes from.

In the Old Testament, in Numbers chapter 21, um, there's a story about a lot of the Israelites in the wilderness, they were dying from snake bites.

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

And they were like, we need help, God.

And so God tells Moses to lift a snake up.

And he's like, anyone who looks at that snake, you'll stop dying from snake bites.

And they just had to trust that.

And Jesus in John chapter 3 says, that was pointing forward to something better.

John 3 · chapter mention

He says this in verse 14 just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life in him.

Church, our problem today is not snake bites in the wilderness.

Our problem is actually worse.

Our problem is sin.

We're all guilty of it.

None of us can do anything to escape the consequences of it.

Jesus is saying, when he says, hey, the Son of Man must be lifted up, he says, What you cannot accomplish on your own, the Son of Man came to do for you.

That's what he's saying.

I I've come.

Jesus is the Son of Man.

He said, I've come to accomplish something for you you could not achieve on your own.

And just as the Israelites had to trust that what God provided for them with that snake was the thing, they had to look at it.

It's like, seems weird, but I'm gonna do it.

He's saying, in the same way, I'm asking you to put your trust in me and receive new life.

Nicodemus had spent his entire life trying to unlock the kingdom of God, the mystery of the kingdom of God, through more study.

And Jesus is saying, what you've missed along the way is a relationship with the one who can bring you this new and eternal sort of life.

The Apostle John famously summarizes this interaction between Nicodemus and Jesus like this: John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, no, but to save the world through him.

Jesus, more than anything, wanted Nicodemus to know, and for you and me to know today.

That God so loved this world.

This broken and mixed up and messed up and sinful world, full of broken and mixed up and messed up and sinful people like me and like you.

And he loved us so much and he loves you so much that he gave us his son.

That whoever believes in him, whoever believes in him, can receive the kingdom of God, can receive new life in the spirit, eternal life.

Maybe you grew up hearing everlasting life in him.

But you have to receive it.

Now, did Nicodemus believe?

We don't know.

Because it doesn't say, but I think the more important question for us today is do you believe?

If whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life, do you believe?

And if not, what's holding you back?

It's an important question to ask.

Now we'll we'll never know what was going through Nicodemus' mind as he walked home that night.

But the next time he shows up in Scripture, something seems to have changed.

Uh we'll fast forward to John chapter 7, if you if you want to flip there in your Bible.

John 7 · chapter mention

Um some months have have passed, some time, maybe a year has passed.

Um, in this time that's passed, the religious leaders, kind of in general, have grown more hostile towards Jesus.

In fact, chapter one starts with saying that they were looking for a way to kill Jesus.

Meanwhile, the the sort of public opinion about Jesus was mixed.

Some people were saying, oh yeah, this is a good man.

Some people were saying, no, he's deceiving people.

Some people were calling him a prophet, some people were going so far to say he's the Messiah.

But there were everyone had questions.

No one was really sure.

No one was talking about this openly because they were all afraid of the religious leaders, because the religious leaders were trying to kill him.

And at some point in chapter 7, we learn that the religious leaders send out some temple guards to seize Jesus.

They want him taken into custody, they just didn't want to get him off the streets.

And in ver in verse uh 39, it says, or verse 45, it says, Finally, the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees who asked them, Why didn't you bring him in?

Like they didn't do it.

And this is what they said.

No one ever spoke the way this man does, the guards replied.

Oh, you mean he has deceived you also?

The Pharisees retorted.

Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?

No.

Well, maybe.

We're not sure.

There's one that maybe would be like, no, no, but this mob that knows nothing of the law, there is a curse on them.

And then here it is, verse 50.

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?

And they replied, Are you from Galilee too?

Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.

And that's the end of the chapter.

And even if you get the notes that aren't in every manuscript, it just says, then they went home.

What do you do with that?

It's kind of interesting.

Nicodemus is hanging out with a bunch of colleagues who are openly trying to get rid of this man.

And, you know, they're saying stuff like, hey, nobody important, nobody with any knowledge about anything believes in this guy.

All the people believe in, they don't know what they're talking about.

And Nicodemus is like, well, I mean, and he speaks up.

And I don't want to make more of this than it is.

He does not like profess Jesus is the Messiah, he doesn't go that far.

But in a heated moment, surrounded by colleagues who are on the other side, he speaks up for Jesus, who is being treated unfairly.

And we don't know what was going through his mind.

It's a small thing, but I think it matters.

It at least makes you think that maybe he was wrestling with what Jesus had told him.

It at least kind of makes you think, okay, maybe he's not just a curious bystander.

Maybe he's actually leaning in Jesus' direction.

Maybe he's thinking about taking a step toward Jesus.

And why this is important for us today, for you and me, is because I wonder sometimes how many of us feel like we got to have all the answers before we start moving in the direction of Jesus.

Nicodemus shows us that we don't have to.

We can have questions.

We can have big questions and still start to take steps in faith.

We don't know what was going on in his mind because again, it doesn't tell us.

But Nicodemus shows up in Scripture one more time.

Fast forward to a little further this time to John 19.

At this point in the story, Jesus has recently been arrested while he was praying in the garden.

Some of you know that story.

The temple guards did seize him this time, and they take him to the Sanhedrin in the middle of the night where he's put on trial secretly in order to secure a definite conviction, and he's convicted of crimes he didn't commit, and he's sentenced to death by crucifixion.

And because the plan happened so quickly and happened so secretively, they put him on a cross.

And Jesus died.

And this plan that was years in the making was completed.

After Jesus died, his body was taken down.

And the apostle John tells us that a man identified as Joseph of Arimathea, he goes to the Roman leaders and he asks if he can have Jesus' body so he can give it a proper Jewish burial.

John tells us that Joseph was secretly a disciple of Jesus, and it was a secret because he was afraid of what would happen to him from the religious leaders.

And then it says this in verse 39.

He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds.

Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices and strips of linen.

This was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs.

And at the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid, because it was the Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

What do you do with that?

Here he is again.

This time there's no label of Pharisee.

Next to him, kind of.

It's like, was that on purpose?

This time Nicodemus shows up with 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes.

Okay, I don't know anything about myrrh or aloes.

Sounds like a lot of myrrh and aloes.

75 pounds is a lot of anything.

Nicodemus shows up in scripture with a costly act of devotion to a man who's been recently publicly executed on account of accusations that were made by a council that Nicodemus was a part of.

I mean, think about that progression.

John chapter 3, he's like curious.

John 3 · chapter mention

I got some questions.

It comes in the middle of the night.

John chapter 7, he kind of sticks up for the guy amongst his peers.

John 7 · chapter mention

John 19, he's like, he's openly like showing that he he cares about this guy.

And again, we don't know what's going on in his heart.

And I don't think we should pretend that we do.

But there was something about Jesus that kept bringing Nicodemus back, kept drawing him closer.

And I think that progression is important for us to recognize.

Because as we take steps towards Jesus, even if we still got questions, there's something about it that starts to change the way we sort of act.

Starts to change the courage we have.

Starts to change our priorities, starts to change what matters most to us.

And for our conversation today, this is an important progression because it shows that a relationship with Jesus does more than just change what we know.

It actually changes how we live.

It actually changes who we are becoming.

And specifically for those of us who call ourselves Christians, it's easy for us to show up to church and do the sort of things that make people think we follow Jesus.

To do that and actually miss the relationship that Jesus is inviting us into.

That's what he wanted to get across to Nicodemus that very first day.

So the question isn't, okay, how many times am I going to church enough?

Am I doing enough of the Bible study stuff?

Do I know enough?

Do I know the right things?

Do I have the right perspective?

No, like the better question is: am I actually allowing Jesus to lead my life and to transform my life?

God didn't send his son into the world to condemn the world.

Jesus didn't show up to just tell us, nope, you're doing it wrong.

Do it like He didn't just show up to give us more information or different information about God.

Jesus came to bring all people into the kingdom through giving us new life.

It's why the very first thing he said to Nicodemus, back in chapter 3, was anyone who wants to see the kingdom of God must be born again.

So, what do you do with that?

Like, like how do how do we hear something like that?

God stirs some stuff up.

Hey, how do you take a next step in light of Nicodemus' story?

Well, here's the next step that we could all take.

We can all take a step in the direction of Jesus.

We can all move a little closer to Jesus.

And here's how.

Think about the relationships, the people, the relationships you have where you're the closest to them.

Could be a spouse, could be your parents, could be a friend, coworker.

Okay.

Over time, for better or for worse, those closest relationships, they shape us.

They change us.

We start to be a little bit more like them.

They start to be a little bit more like us.

What would it look like for you to have that kind of relationship with Jesus?

For all of us, wherever you're starting, wherever you are today in your faith, we can all take a next step to grow closer to him.

And for those of you who have never trusted Jesus before, that relationship begins by trusting him.

Start there.

Like you can choose today to put your trust in Jesus and receive the new life that he's promised.

You can make that decision today.

And if you've never said yes to Jesus before, if you've never trusted him and you're ready to make that step today, here's all we ask.

We ask you to tell someone.

Our prayer teams will be around the room in just a moment.

You can talk to someone on the prayer team, you can talk to someone in the next steps area.

And you just simply say, hey, God stirred something to me.

I'm ready to trust him for the first time.

We would love to help you take that next step.

And we would love to, alongside that, start a conversation with you about what it means to be committed to that step through baptism.

Maybe that's the step that you're ready to take.

Let us help you take that step.

Now, some of you, you've already trusted Jesus before.

You've maybe even been baptized.

We also can keep taking steps to move closer to Jesus.

Maybe that looks like, okay, this week, instead of when you open your Bible to read it, you don't just read it.

You read it and then you talk with God about it.

God, what do you have for me in this?

Have an honest conversation.

Maybe it's not just, okay, I need to set aside time for prayer so I can get all my prayer list out and tell you all the things I need, God.

But you listen to Him.

And then when you listen to Him, you do what He says.

What does it look like for you to move a little closer to Jesus?

Not to check the box and say, Yep, moved a little closer.

But to grow in relationship with the one who offers new life, eternal life.

We've been asking this question: who needs God?

Who needs him?

People who got questions, who don't believe, were always like, yeah, they need God.

That's what you need.

You know who else needs God?

Religious people.

People who feel like they've got the answers to all the questions.

People who seem like they got their life together.

We need God too.

We all need God.

I need him.

You need him.

So let's do this.

Let's be a kind of church that lives like we all need God.

Let's actually help each other take next steps with him.

Let's help introduce each other into a transformational relationship with the one who came to save us.

The one who we're told to look at him, lift it up.

Let's do it.

Let's be the kind of church where people can come with the questions they have, with the doubts they have, where they don't have to feel like they gotta make it seem like they got it all together.

Let's be the kind of church that helps one another move a little bit closer to Jesus.

Let's pray.

God, you are so good.

That God, before you ever called us to follow you or come after you or come nearer to you, you came down to us to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Thank you.

Thank you.

God, may we receive that.

May anyone who hears these words receive that as your grace and as your gift that your love has been poured out for us.

God, fill us with your love.

May it change us, may it transform our lives.

Not just make us, you know, learn something new about you, but God actually change who we are and who we are becoming.

And God, may you be glorified as your love and your light flows through us to the world for your glory.

Amen.

Alright, as you as you're kind of wrestling with what's my next step with God, look on that, we'll have on the screen some some ways that you can process it together.

We've got a prayer team, we have communion available.

But take a moment and talk with God.

What's he calling you to do?

And then do that.