Unfortunately I have not been able to get inside many of your homes up to this point in my ministry here. I sat looking at the directory for almost an hour thinking and praying over each one of you within it. I then had to ask myself what you were struggling with and finally I thought of it: hope. Some of you struggle with rebellious children and have a hard time coping with the criticism. Some of you are struggling to find your way in life whether it is from your youth in finding career options or just dealing with school or whether you are older and trying to find the purpose God has for you in your old age. Some of you are struggling to make ends meet and when the money gets tight so does the tension of your relationships. Some of you are struggling with a decision that will change you for the rest of your life and maybe even eternity. Some of you are struggling with whether you are worth anything or not.
Someone once said, “There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.” I read about a painting that helped remind me of this truth we often miss. The painting depicted “an old burned-out mountain shack. All that remained was the chimney...the charred debris of what had been that family’s sole possession. In front of this destroyed home stood an old grandfather-looking man dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying. Beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life. Those words were, "Hush child, God ain’t dead!" No matter how hard or difficult the problem you are facing right now in your life; God lives in heaven watching over you and caring for you. This encourages me to have a little more faith in and hope for God.
If a bit of hope would do you a world of good, then today might be your day to tune in to the message found in John chapter 3. I know that everyone seems to know John 3:16 but today we will not be focusing directly on that verse. There is more to chapter 3 than just verse 16 and much more to why the story is included in the Bible. Today we will learn from the conversation of Nicodemus and Jesus about hope: where it is found, how to reach it; and what it will take to do so. Jesus tries to show Nicodemus the true hope for the Jews and for us as well. Look at how he comes to Jesus. “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night…” Nicodemus showed up at Jesus’ door step in the middle of the night. Now why would anyone want to meet in the middle of the night? So they don’t get caught of course. So a man of the Pharisees, a leading sect of Jews, and a ruler as well came to see Jesus. A group of seventy men ruled the Jews and were called the “Sanhedrin.” So of the elite parts of the Jewish people, this man was in the elite of the elite. Nicodemus is going to learn that Hope sits in the light of heaven. Follow along and maybe you too will find the hope you are looking for.
Know the Man – 3:2
“This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him. “Rabbi we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.””
This ruler and very elite leader of the Jews came bearing some very remarkable comments to Jesus. By calling Him rabbi, or teacher, Nicodemus was granting Jesus the type of respect and dignity he would give to one of his own fellow rulers. This was incredible because Jesus was not of a “certain” family but of a poor family who would have had little in the way of education. This was also significant in that by granting Jesus such a title, he was honoring him in a way that no other ruling Pharisee had. Nicodemus even recognized that God had sent Jesus and for good reason; Jesus performed miracles well beyond the tricks of magicians. No magician could heal leprosy. Nicodemus had quite a bit of information about Jesus correct. Jesus truly was a teacher sent from God. Jesus himself proclaims that he came to fulfill the Law of the Old Testament and teach what God truly meant by even the 10 commandments. Nicodemus is not totally in the dark but he has missed one key trait of Jesus. Even after seeing all that Jesus had done and risking his place in the Sanhedrin by coming to see Jesus, Nicodemus still didn’t see Jesus for who he really is: God incarnate. The Son of God was standing on earth right in front of him and he couldn’t see it. He didn’t know the man from whom hope would come.
Two teenagers burst through the front door and raced to the counter with an empty pillow case. "Put it in," they demanded of the clerk. "Put what in?" the attendant asked. "The money; Put it in and nobody’ll get hurt," they barked. The puzzled library attendant, who had less than $1 in collected fines in the petty cash box, ducked out the door and called the police. They, too, were dumbfounded. "It’s the first attempted library robbery I ever heard of," said one cop, scratching his head. The only plausible explanation was that the two careless crooks got the Grandon City, Kansas, bank mixed up with the library. The two buildings are a block apart on corner locations, and at the time, the bank’s exterior was partially obstructed by scaffolding. The youths, believed to be runaways from Florida, were nabbed by police hours after the bungled heist. In keeping with their crime, the bonehead bandits were taken into custody and promptly "booked".
These two goofballs were looking in the wrong direction, with the wrong information and found themselves the receivers of an armed robbery charge for one whole dollar. Many times when looking for hope, we find ourselves looking in the wrong direction. Where we look depends greatly on who we know to look for. We may look to others for help and support. We may look to alcohol or more money to buy our way out. We may even look to Jesus, knowing full well that he is the only answer but we don’t recognize him as the King of the universe. We may recognize him as the guy who bails us out of life’s problems or the santa of Christianity. Knowing the man we are approaching can help us find hope. Knowing he is in complete control of whatever we may be facing, no matter how difficult it may be on us, can give us hope that “this too will pass.” The first big step in finding and holding onto the hope which only heaven can give is to know the man who can provide it: Jesus. How well do you know Jesus? How well do you know His love for you? Have you read His book recently? Hope can be very hard to find if you can’t find the provider.
Know the Path – 3:3-8
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him ‘How can a man be born again when he is old? He cannot enter into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’”
I find this part to be slightly amusing. Jesus listens to Nicodemus’ very smooze like way in which he talks to Jesus. Honest, I would say that Nicodemus was trying to butter Jesus up a little bit but most commentators don’t go this route. After Nicodemus says his little introduction, Jesus just cuts him off and gets to the point. No, thank you for the compliments or that was nice of you to say. I guess you can’t smooze Jesus. No brown-nosing allowed! Apparently, the Jews believed they had in many ways already received the kingdom of God. In their minds, they were the kingdom of God and only needed the Messiah to bring about an earthly kingdom. They thought Jesus would come and rule the Jewish people as the kingdom of Israel until the end of time. Nicodemus, a master of the Old Testament, still had much to learn about his Bible. Nicodemus manages to stammer out a couple of questions that may seem ignorant but I think may have more to them; of course a person cannot enter back into the womb. He might be asking, “How can an old man like me change his ways so easily?” Even though he does have a good question, Nicodemus once again misses the point. He continues trying to see things from an earthly view. He keeps making earthly distinctions without seeing the spiritual part of each thought. Flesh is flesh and spirit is spirit. Jesus didn’t come to create an earthly kingdom. He came to bring about the church and the start of a heavenly kingdom on earth. Nicodemus couldn’t see the path clearly because he wouldn’t look beyond the circumstances in front of him.
One good example of not understanding the directions or path we must take comes in the form of a true story of a library. A brochure put out several years ago by the Durham, N.C., County Public Library explained the use of the card catalogue, acknowledging that this can be mystifying at times. The brochure told of one patron who, upon reading "See Main Entry" on a catalogue card, went out to the front steps of the library.” -- Durham, N.C. Herald. However, there are times that something can be mistaken for directions as well. Migratory birds in the U.S. were tagged by the Department of the Interior with metal strips reading "Wash. Biol. Surv." -- for Washington Biological Survey. The code was changed, so the story goes, after a farmer from Arkansas wrote to the department: "Dear Sirs, I shot one of your crows. My wife followed the cooking instructions attached--she washed it, boiled it and served it. It was the worst thing we ever ate." – Quote magazine.
Just because you know the name of the destination doesn’t mean you know how to get there either. Nicodemus had already missed who Jesus really was which also meant he had missed out on where to find the hope of eternal life. Now Nicodemus couldn’t fathom how Jesus would accomplish such an amazing feat as having everyone reborn. He missed the fact that the road to Christ is a spiritual one, not a physical one. You can try as you may with your efforts and abilities to reach heaven and the hope that sits in it but I guarantee you will never make it. The path to Jesus is a spiritual one. Sin deadened our souls. The only spiritual capability we have has been crippled by sin. Now, only through the rebirth of our spirit can we be able to reach heaven. Nicodemus couldn’t see that. Maybe you will see the path that the ingenious religious leader did not. We must be brought back to life through Christ. This is the path to hope. We must not only know the man who can provide hope, we must also know the path to him. We must surrender our will to his and accept the gift of new life so that we can have the hope which comes from heaven.
Know the Cost – 3:9-21
By this point, Nicodemus has met his match and has little or nothing to say. Jesus tells Him not to be amazed and yet he stammers out a simple question in obvious amazement to the ideas Jesus has just proposed. He also gets a scolding. He called himself a teacher and yet did not even understand a basic precept of God’s earthly plan. How could Jesus explain to Nicodemus the things of heaven when Nicodemus wouldn’t even think about the spiritual aspect of human beings? Jesus explains how this exchange of dead spirituality for life will come about. He gives Nicodemus the first glimpse into how he will help every human being have the opportunity to walk the path of hope.
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes In Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” God had sent a plague of snakes upon the people and he provided salvation from the snakes by having Moses build a pole that looks just like the medical symbol used today. If the people would look to the pole, they would find salvation. Jesus Christ would also have to be lifted up on a pole, and if men will only look to Him they will find salvation. The path to salvation cost the man who provided it. The man who built the bridge for us to find hope in heaven had to give his life for it.
Some may think this is where the cost of salvation and hope ends. Let’s keep reading Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Jesus paid a price, the ultimate price, for your salvation. He paved the road for you to find hope in heaven. You can walk that road with all of your burdens. You can carry them all you want but wouldn’t that road be much easier if you would give them up. Think of the tunnel of light with the darkness behind you. You may want to get away from that darkness but the further you run towards the light, the more you will have to give up. You can’t carry your sins to heaven. The cost of hope is the removal of sin. If you want to find the hope of heaven you have to give up the sins and burdens you carry.
You may have come here with a heavy heart. You may be looking for a way out, kind ear to listen to you, or just a little comfort to console your broken and hurting heart. You may have trouble at home with your spouse or children. Maybe you feel ignored or unloved. Whatever burdens you have, come trade it in for hope. There are no hopeless situations; just people who have given up hope. Maybe you need to know the Man who provides salvation and hope. I will gladly talk to you about Him. Maybe you’ve been in church for years and know lots about the man and are just now starting to understand the path. Nicodemus didn’t fully understand that being a man of God had more to it that Bible knowledge and rituals. He didn’t realize that a spiritual relationship with God was needed. Maybe you even know the path and have just now begun to count the cost. Giving up those burdens and sins to the one man who can carry them would be well worth it. If you’ve struggled with making it through some of life’s tough corners, the come and lay them before God.
