Who Is Jesus To You

GROW (WHO IS JESUS TO YOU)

John 3:1-9 (NKJV)

1 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.”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus asked His disciples a question similar to the one I am asking you this evening. Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”(Matthew 16:13-18). So to Peter, Jesus was the Son of God. This evening we are going to look at the life of Nicodemus and ask him, “Nico, who is Jesus to you?” As we look to Jesus, we are transformed and we find any lasting solution in Him, and not by looking at ourselves. (2 Corinthians 3:18). The posture God wants you to have is where you sit and receive from Him, because He wants you to get into His presence and receive peace and rest from Him, which results in you being Spirit led.

The world situation where we hear of wars and rumours of wars is not going to disappear overnight and the situation in our country, world, economy and petrol price is not getting better. Maybe you’ve been to church and never heard about just sitting and receiving from God, because normally you get told to do more, be more active and give more of your time but God wants you to sit and receive from Him.

Your ability to sit and receive from God is directly proportional to your personal understanding and revelation of who Jesus is. In the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42), Martha was concerned about serving, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and received from Him. This doesn’t mean that her work was finished but she knew Jesus was her Saviour, and that it was more important for her to sit and receive from Him. When we speak about grace, it is a person, and His name is Jesus. When we say we need more grace in our lives, we are essentially saying, we need more of Jesus in our lives. When we say that grace is the solution to every problem and addiction in our lives, no matter how bad it is, we are saying that Jesus is the solution. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells a parable of two builders. Just because we are saved, doesn’t mean that bad things will not happen to us. The storms came on both houses, but the house that was built on the rock, was the house that remained standing, and the rock we need to build our lives on is Jesus. So what would your answer be if Jesus asked you “who do you say that I am?”

When in a conversation with people whom you highly esteem, you just want to sit and soak in everything and receive from them not even participating in the conversation.

John 3:1. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Jerusalem at the time. We know this because when Jesus had died, he brought 100 pounds in weight of spices for the burial. This was worth a large sum . The Great Sanhedrin was the Supreme Court ruling over the Jews under Roman law. Nicodemus was one of the71 members that were part of the Great Sanhedrin and they were the ones that determined the spiritual climate of the people. Here you have Nicodemus with all the money in the world and yet you might be thinking why is he having a private conversation with Jesus? There must have been within Nicodemus a yearning for more. In fact, have you ever arrived at the destination you were heading only to discover that it is emptier than the place that you came from? Nicodemus was clearly searching for more. Now when you read in the Gospels, Jesus really had a tough time with the religious leaders and was butting heads with them all the time. His harshest words were not to the tax collector, prostitute or great sinner because when He encountered them, He offered them grace and love and when they recognized Him as Saviour, they received freely from Him. His harshest words were to the Pharisees and He used words such as brood of vipers because they would not receive from Him. Nicodemus was one of them.