For God So…

INTRO

Good morning… Kenya this past week. Drew asked me hey you want to speak on the 26th… I said sure before I realized that would be right after we got back form Kenya on a 7 hour time difference…

Some piece about Kenya…

So last week we started this series where we are going to be studying through the Gospel of John this summer. And this is one of my favorite books in the Bible because i just love the stories that John tells about Jesus. I love the interactions Jesus has with people. Because these are real people and real interactions. And I think that when we look at these stories we will see ourselves in these people. And the words that Jesus says to them are just as applicable to us.

Simple yet profound (Reword)… We chose to do an in depth on John's gospel because although it's often time the first suggested book to read to brand new Christians because of its simplicity, it also is amazingly profound in its structure, theology, and richness. We hope that you are reading John on your own as we walk through this book as a community and our prayer is that the simple words of John will profoundly move us all to living Jesus > Everything. 

Show book and resources…

This week we are going to look at a story that takes place in the dark… In the middle of the night.

So we started with the question of are you scared of the dark....

Alarm going off in the middle of the night…

The darkness can be scary… But it also serves a second purpose… Secrecy. What happens in the dark is harder to see. And that’s what is happening in this story. It centers around the darkness because the character interacting with Jesus doesn’t want to be found out.

TENSION

So let’s jump into this interaction.

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  (SLIDE)

A few things we need to understand…

Nicodemus | Religious Leader, Leader of Leaders (SLIDE)

Nicodemus is well verses in religion. He knows what the Bible says, or thinks he does. He’s already in the religious leader group, but he’s a leader of that group. In other words he’s got the religious street cred.

The Setting | At Night (SLIDE)

This detail is significant. Jesus will continue with this analogy throughout this passage. But the first thing we should ask is why come at night? Now remember this is the first century. They didn’t have street lights and flashlights on their phones. It’s DARK. So why come to Jesus in the dark?

Remember who this guy is. He’s a Pharisees. A religious leader. This is the same group that is trying to arrest Jesus. That will eventually get him on the cross. While some think he’s trying to lay a trap he probably wouldn’t have come at night to do that. The most probable answer is he came at night because he was ashamed. He didn’t want to be found out by his friends. He didn’t want anyone else to know that he was interested in what Jesus had to say.

My guess is this is some of you this morning… You are here just kind of checking this thing out because you aren’t quite sure about this Jesus guy. So you come in the “dark” so that no one else will know. And that’s great, we are glad you are here. And my hope is that this interaction will bring light into your life so that you can see who Jesus really is.

The Motive | He wants something (SLIDE)

Nicodemus has heard about Jesus and he wants to know if what Jesus’ is saying is true. The fact he came at night gives us a clue that maybe Nicodemus was unsure of Jesus, but he wanted to be sure before others found out.

Maybe he’s had enough of the rules. Or maybe he realizes he can’t live up to the rules and if he is still in good standing with God. Maybe he’s worried God doesn’t like him… Maybe he needs an answer from God that he’s hoping to find…

Nicodemus wants to know who Jesus is… Why he’s doing what he’s doing. He wants to know if Jesus is legit or just an other fraud. If wants to know if Jesus isn’t for real that way he can just ignore him, go on with his life. But he’s also worried that maybe what Jesus is saying is true. And maybe Nicodemus is on the wrong side of thing. Maybe what Jesus is saying is true and he needs to rethink somethings in his life.