Title: Into the Hyperlinks with Jesus
Text: John 3:14-21 (Numbers 21:4-9 and Psalm 107:1-6)
Thesis: God’s desire for us has always been that we respond to his grace in faith.
Introduction
It is common knowledge that Charles Colson was known as President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man.” Slate Magazine writer David Plotz described Colson as “the evil genius of an evil administration.” And Colson himself has written that he was “valuable to the President… because I was willing… to be ruthless in getting things done.” (http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson)
Chuck Colson was a man in need of being “born again.”
You may recall that on the eve of his conviction and imprisonment for obstructing justice, Colson had a dramatic conversion experience. After his release from prison Chuck Colson founded Prison Fellowship and wrote his personal memoir, Born Again in 1976.
In July of 2005 biographer Jonathan Aitken published an authorized biography of Colson’s life titled Charles Colson: A Life Redeemed, in which he wrote that Charles Colson is perhaps the most famous born-again Republican after George W. Bush. He also described Colson as “America’s best-known Christian leader, after Billy Graham.”
Max Blumenthal, writing in the Washington Monthly suggested another title for this new biography might be Born Again, Again. (Max Blumenthal, Born again, Again, Washington Monthly, July/August 2005)
The born again terminology prompts derision in the minds of some people. Max Blumenthal seems to think being born again is some sort of smoke screen to cover up and white wash the past or the skeptical thought that most people never really change. And others like Joe Queenan, whose Op-Ed piece triggered by the apology offered by Bernie Maddox after having bilked a bunch of people, was printed in the Denver Post, is just tired of what he calls empty apologies and would like to ban public apologies issued by con artists, politicians, captains of industry, religious leaders, and athletes. (Joe Queenan, Apology Not Accepted, The Denver Post, 13B, March 18, 2009)
But mostly, I think the term is confusing. In our text today Nicodemus is having a conversation with Jesus in which Jesus tells Nicodemus, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus’ immediate response was, “What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Then Jesus goes on to talk about being born of water and the Spirit and of how humans can only reproduce human life but the Spirit gives new life from heaven. And Nicodemus asks once again, “What do you mean?” Nicodemus is confused. He needs clarity.
It is as if Jesus realized that maybe understanding the intricacies of the new birth are not as important as seeing that Nicodemus experienced the new birth… that Nicodemus understand that he must place his faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior. So he takes a different approach… an approach he thinks a Jewish religious leader would understand. He refers to an Old Testament story found in Numbers 21:4-9.
This is our first Hyperlink. A hyperlink is essentially a Cross Reference. If you look down the margin of your bible at the list of cross references, when you reach John 3:14 you will see Numbers 21:8-9. If we were on an internet web page reading about John 3:14 there would be a hyperlink in the text, usually in blue, which you could click on and you would be immediately taken to another web page where, in this case, you would be reading about Numbers 21:4-9. So a hyperlink or a link or a cross reference simply takes you out of the present text, to another related text, to further your understanding of what you are reading.
Jesus is setting Nicodemus up so that he will be able to understand what it means to place one’s faith in Christ and be born again.
I. One way or another, we are all snake-bit.
So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them, and many of them were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned against God and you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people. Numbers 21:6-7
In this story of which Nicodemus would have been familiar, the people of Israel got tired of wandering in the desert and weary of a continuous diet of manna, they began to murmur against God and complained to Moses.
Perhaps you read The Denver Post this past Tuesday about a homeowner near 112th and Federal who, while working on a leaky pipe under his townhouse, saw a snake in the muddy crawl space. He wasted no time in exiting the crawl space and then begged his friend, Jeff Stafford, to go into the crawl space in search of the snake. So Stafford went into the crawl space but knew something was terribly wrong when he felt the tarp he was crawling in on begin to move under him. When it was all over, he had stuffed 41 bull snakes into a big plastic bag and removed them from the crawl space. The snakes had apparently been hibernating in the crawl space. I suspect there will be a townhouse with a muddy crawl space going on the market soon. (Joey Bunch, Do-it-yourself project slithers into a get-your-friend-to-do-it project, The Denver Post, Section B, March 17, 2009)
Just hearing that story gives me the heebie-jeebies. Can you imagine what the people of Israel felt when poisonous snakes invaded their neighborhood?
In a sermon titled, A Serpent in the Desert, Phyllis Tickle imaginatively described the scene, “There were droves of snakes moving through the camp… snakes in the breadbaskets and the cooking pots, snakes in the bedrolls and snakes in the cribs.” She went on to point out “that all of us are going to be painfully bitten in this life. Most of us learn that truth fairly quickly just from experience.” (Phyllis Tickle, A Serpent in the Desert, November 6, 2005, http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/tickle_4906.htm)
We have all been bitten by the serpent of sin, so to speak, “for all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) In Ephesians we read of how “Once we were dead, doomed forever because of our many sins.” (Ephesians 2:1-2)
According to our hyperlink passage in Numbers 21 the people of Israel grew impatient and they began to murmur against God and Moses. Another hyperlink would take us to I Corinthians 10 where the biblical writer recalls how that despite having enjoyed the blessing of God the people of Israel craved evil things, worshipped idols, indulged themselves in pagan revelry, engaged in sexual immorality, and grumbled. They put God to the test, so to speak, and they suffered the consequences of their sin.
This round of complaining, murmuring and grumbling was not the first time they had given God grief. We may not be able to identify on every level but I would guess that most of us know about impatience and grumbling and complaining about one thing or another that does not quite suit our sense of entitlement.
God’s response was to send some poisonous snakes slithering among them to remind them of their sin and turn their hearts back to God, which brings us to another hyperlink, Psalm 107.
Psalm 107 is a litany of scenarios in which the people of Israel were in distress over one thing or another… and God always heard their cries for deliverance.
II. God always hears the cries of people in sin trouble.
Some wandered in the desert, lost and homeless, hungry and thirsty, they nearly died. “Lord help!” they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.” Psalm107:4-6
In Psalm 107 we get a hint of the scenarios that turned the hearts of the people back to God. Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom, miserable and in prison chains. They rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High. That is why he broke them… Some were fools in their rebellion; they suffered for their sins…
The people of Israel seemed to live in a continuous cycle:
• God blessed the people of Israel;
• The People of Israel rebelled;
• God punished the people of Israel;
• The People of Israel repented and cried out to be rescued;
• God forgave and blessed the people of Israel.
• The people of Israel rebelled again…
• God punished the people of Israel again…
• The people of Israel repented and cried out to God to be rescued again…
• God forgave and blessed the people of Israel again… and so on and on and on.
In our Numbers 21 hyperlink, the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that he Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people. (Numbers 21:7)
The bad news is that people are slow learners. The good news is that God is merciful and extends his grace time and time and time and time again. There is no exhausting the grace of God.
It is always God’s desire that we respond in faith to his grace.
III. God always extends his grace to everyone who wishes to receive it
Then the Lord told Moses, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to the top of a pole. Those who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and whenever those who were bitten looked at the bronze snake, they recovered. Numbers 21:8-9
One day when we lived in Red Oak, IA, I ate lunch at the local Burger King. A short time later Burger King, in a news release, informed the community that one of their employees, who was working that afternoon, had Hepatitis. They had served three hundred sandwiches that afternoon that were garnished with lettuce that the employee had handled. The Montgomery County Health Department came to the rescue offering to vaccinate those who had been exposed with Hepatitis vaccine on a certain night later that week.
When I arrived at the vaccination site there were people lined up for a city block to receive the Hepatitis vaccination. The health department had to schedule a second night in order to vaccinate everyone who said they had eaten a sandwich at Burger King that afternoon. Over two thousand people lined up to be immunized against the effects the Hepatitis virus. Only three hundred people had actually been exposed but two thousand showed up for the free vaccination.
Everyone who was exposed or thought they were exposed or just wanted to get a freebie Hepatitis vaccination received the immunization.
That is the image we have here in the Numbers text… everyone who had been snake-bit was invited to simply look at the bronze snake on the pole and they were healed. The implication is that by simply looking they had demonstrated sufficient trust or faith to receive forgiveness and rescue from the consequences of their sin.
Nicodemus may not have gotten the being born again stuff but he understood how the people of Israel were saved from their sin. So when Jesus said in John 3:14, “As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.”
Nicodemus could understand that just as the people of Israel looked to the bronze snake for their salvation, he must look to Jesus for his salvation.
A few minutes ago I referred to the hyperlink in Ephesians 2:1-2 about how we were all dead in our trespasses and sins and following the course of this world? Let me take you back there once again where we read, But God who is so rich in mercy, loved us so much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (Ephesians 2:4-5)
John 3:16 is probably the most memorized verse in the bible. But unless you know and understand the link with Numbers 21, you cannot fully understand what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus and to us. Now we get it. Jesus was to be lifted up on the cross and when we lift our eyes to the crucified Christ we receive forgiveness for our sins and live just as the people looked at the bronze snake and were forgiven and lived.
The grace of God is offered to everyone who wishes to receive it.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone or whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
But here is where Jesus makes a sharp distinction between himself and the snakes in Numbers 21. Jesus went on to say, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.” (John3:17) God sent the serpents into the Israelite community to punish them for their sin, but God did not send Jesus into the world to give us snake bites but to save us from having been snake-bit by sin.
However, not everyone is open to God’s offer of grace.
IV. Sadly, some opt for condemnation rather than salvation
“There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been condemned for not believing in the only Son of God.” John 3:18
I can think of no greater self-destructive behavior than refusing to look… than refusing to trust in the one option that will rescue or save a person from perishing.
However, no doubt there were those in the desert who would not look at the bronze snake and live. And there are people today who refuse to look to Christ and live.
How many of you arrived today in a car with its “Check Engine” light on or your ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System) light on or some warning light like the air bag, engine coolant or add oil indicators on? In 2008 a Harris Interactive Survey found that 10% of American adults are driving a car with its “Check Engine” light is on. Some said their “Check Engine” light had been on for three months or more.
Those who ignore the warning indicators did so because they thought the severity of the problem was questionable because the car seemed to be running just fine. Others cited a lack of money to get the car fixed. And others didn’t have the time to worry about getting the problem diagnosed and repaired. (Associated Press, “Ten Percent of U.S. Drivers Have Their ‘Check Engine’ light On,” www.yahoonews.com, 6/10/08 – PreachingToday.com)
Whatever the reason, ignoring the “Check Engine” light is deciding to do nothing about it or procrastinating about doing something about it… it all adds up to a self-imposed decision to risk the consequences of catastrophic failure. No one has condemned the ‘Check Engine” light ignorer to a blown engine… they have condemned themselves by virtue of a deliberate decision or indecision.
So either look at the bronze snake on the pole and live or don’t look and die. So either look at Christ and receive eternal life or don’t look and spend an eternity separated from God. God’s offer of grace is a good opportunity but no one has to accept it.
Conclusion
In fact many do not accept it because they are counting on there being another way to get to heaven than through trusting in the death of Jesus Christ as their death and the resurrected life of Christ as their life.
In his book [John] 3:16 Stories of Hope, Max Lucado addressed the misconception that all religions lead to God. How can all religions lead you to God when they are so different? We don’t tolerate that kind of logic in any other matter. We don’t pretend that all roads lead to London or that all ships sail to Australia or that all flights lead to Rome.
And then he poses this scenario. You wish to fly to Rome so you go to the ticket counter and ask for a flight to Rome. The agent looks at her computer screen and says, “Ah, we have a flight to Sydney, Australia leaving at 6 p.m.”
You ask, “Does it go to Rome?” And she replies, “No, but if offers great food and in flight movies.” This conversation continues for scenario after scenario until the agent blurts out, “Sir, all flights go to Rome.”
But you know better. Different flights have different destinations. Every flight does not go to Rome. And every road does not lead to God. (Max Lucado, 3:16 Stories of Hope, Lionsgate 2007 – PreachingToday.com)
The offer of grace and eternal life is through God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
The last hyperlink in our talk today is a reference in which Jesus clearly says of himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one can come to the Father except through me.”
The way to eternal life is not found on MapQuest or a Rand-McNally roadmap or a GPS. It is found in a simple trust relationship between you and Jesus Christ.
I am told that in life and death issues, 10% of Americans believe they will return to earth in a different form; 10% believe there is no life after death; 24% believe the soul lives on in a different place depending on past actions; 48% believe we go to heaven or hell depending on a person having trusted Christ as his or her savior; and the remaining 8% are undecided. Jim Holt, “Eternity for Atheists,” The New York Times Magazine, 7/29/07 – PreachingToday.com)
If you are among the 48% who are trusting Christ and are planning to spend eternity in heaven, you are in good stead according to the various hyperlinks we’ve sorted through this morning. But, if you are among those who are banking on another scenario or are undecided… I would encourage you to look to Christ this morning and live.
