Three Reasons To Thanks God Series

Three Reasons to Thank God

Give Thanks Part 2

John 3:1-15

Today, we are continuing our message series, Give Thanks.

As we approach Thanksgiving, we want to prepare our hearts for gratitude toward God.

God does not change.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God is always holy, just, loving, merciful, and forgiving.

And that is a good reason to give thanks to God.

God who is perfect, cannot change and become imperfect.

And that is good news.

However, we are imperfect.

That is why change is good for us.

Change gives us the chance to become more like God.

The passage that we read today tells us about three changes that God brings into our lives.

It says that we should thank God for these changes that He brings to our lives.

Therefore, let us stop and ponder about these changes that God brings into our lives.

And let us take time to give thanks to God for them.

I. We must thank God for giving us life (vv. 1-4).

Verses 1-2 say this.

1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He 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.”

Nicodemus was a man of the upper class, conservative in his beliefs, and definitely interested in Jesus’ teaching.

As a Pharisee, he belonged to the strict religious sect of Judaism.

As a member of the ruling council, he was a powerful person.

He wanted to talk to Jesus because he heard about the miracles that Jesus performed.

Therefore, he came to Jesus to obtain more information.

He was cautious, but open-minded, and ready to learn.

Nicodemus came by night to aske Jesus some questions.

He showed great respect to Jesus.

Yet, his understanding of God was very limited.

Jesus started His conversation by talking about something that Nicodemus already knew: the first or the physical birth.

Verses 3-4 say this.

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus told Nicodemus that no one could even see the kingdom of God without a rebirth.

Birth is our mode of entrance into the world.

But that is not enough.

We must be born again.

However, Nicodemus’ thinking was very materialistic.

He could only understand the first or the physical birth.

One thing is clear.

God brought us into existence from nonexistence.

He brought us into being from nonbeing.

Once we were not, and then we were.

This is what Jesus meant when He talked about the first birth or the physical birth.

Nicodemus believed that God created him.

He believed what King David wrote in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:13-14 say this.

13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

We take our bodies for granted.

But think about it.

Our bodies are so complex.

From a single cell, over a nine months period, over a hundred trillion cells appear until a body is delivered.

From that tiny little spec of a cell, the whole body emerges.

Our bodies are wonderfully and fearfully made.

But that is not all.

Not only they are complex, but they are also made with purpose.

This is why we cannot stop only looking at our physical body.

We must look through it and beyond it.

This is what I mean.

Imagine that you have a telescope in your home.

And you admire how it is designed and how it is shaped.

You admire all these shiny things.

You say, “This is a beautiful piece of whatever it is!”

And then you bend down and look through the lens, and see all the stars in the sky.

And you see its purpose.

You are not just looking at it and admiring its design.

But you are looking through it and see its purpose.

Our bodies are wonderfully and fearfully made.

We are not just physical bodies that God brought into this world.

We are unique individuals with unique purpose.

This is why I believe that only Christians can truly have a healthy self-image.

It is because only Christians can see the true purpose for which God has made us.

There was a time when we did not exist.

God brought us into existence for a purpose.

He formed us with a purpose.