Lost In The Dark Series

There is a tiny village in NE Scotland named… “LOST.” It’s a quaint village where the sign posts dutifully point the way to “Lost”, and the signs have become a popular tourist attraction. Many people have had their picture taken as they posed underneath that single word “LOST” and they posed looking bewildered and confused - because they’re LOST… you see. That was the joke.

But there actually came a time when tourists and delivery trucks became bewildered and confused… because they couldn’t find LOST. People ended up getting lost trying to find LOST, because there were other tourists who were stealing the signs and taking them home as souvenirs.

As you can imagine – at $400 a pop – this was concern for the town. Community leaders considered renaming the village “Lost Farms”, but the residents didn’t like that idea… and they fought the change. So the town fathers just gave up and welded the signs to metal posts to make them harder to steal.

OPEN: In our story today, we’re reading about a man who was lost. He was following his own signposts and didn’t know where he was going. His name was Nicodemus, and he’d had become intrigued by Jesus. He’d heard of the wondrous things Jesus had done; His mighty miracles and powerful teachings. Nicodemus also knew that Jesus had run the merchants out of the Temple because they’d turned the house of God into a marketplace for making money. So, I suspect Nicodemus had become impressed by Jesus, and he’d come ask a few questions.

Now Nicodemus – was a man of power and prestige. A ruler of the people; A prominent Pharisee… and a member of the Sanhedrin. But that’s probably why Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. The Pharisees and the Sanhedrin despised Jesus, and if they ever found out that Nicodemus had gone to Jesus to talk with Him, they would have destroyed him.

John 12 tells us “… many even of the authorities believed in (Jesus), but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.” John 12:42

It was a dangerous to even look like you were interested in Jesus. So under the cover of darkness, Nicodemus comes to Jesus, and the first thing he said to Christ was a compliment. He says: "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." It’s very polite - very respectful. He was saying “others might not like you… but I do!” But Nicodemus must have said something wrong, because Jesus interrupted him saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

It was like Jesus completely ignored Nicodemus’ greeting and just started talking about something else. Talking about… being born again. So I spent a couple hours trying figure out why Jesus would have said what He did. And, then it suddenly occurred to me that the problem was Nicodemus’ first 7 words. Nicodemus said: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher.”

Well… what’s wrong with that? I mean wasn’t Jesus a teacher? Well… yeah. But that wasn’t ALL He was. You see, I think the problem was, Nicodemus wanted to engage Jesus in a conversation, but he wanted to do it on his terms. He wasn’t coming to Jesus as (some kind of) a humble learner. I believe he came to Jesus as if he were an EQUAL. I mean, after all, Nicodemus WAS a pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. He’s a man of importance; He’s a religious leader with a reputation. Nicodemus was a teacher so he called Jesus a teacher – because he saw them as equals. But of course… they weren’t equals. Nicodemus was following his own signpost… and he was Lost!

Some time back I watched a video where a Bible instructor noted that almost all the religions of the world have acknowledged (for the most part) that Jesus was a great teacher or a prophet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvw1-DdgJo8 (from timestamp 0:8 thru 2:31)

The speaker made excellent point and his main point was this: Other world religions want Jesus … but they want Him on their terms. They want Jesus… but not His teachings! These world religions describe Christ as a teacher, or prophet … or a minor god - but never as the Son of God. At best, Jesus was just an equal to them.

And that’s probably what Nicodemus was doing, he wanted Jesus… but only on his terms as an equal.

Tim Keller said it this way: “The founders of every other world religion said “I’m a prophet who shows you how to find God.” But Jesus taught: “I’m God, come to find you.” Jesus IS NOT OUR EQUAL. Jesus is God in the flesh who had come to find us.