Born Again

John 3:1-3

Born Again

Are you born again? It’s a common question in Christian evangelism and has been as far back as I can remember. It’s tied to the most popular verse the Bible than John 3:16. Why that one verse out of the tens of thousands? Why is John Chapter 3 so popular out of the almost 1200 chapters in the Bible? Who is Nicodemus. Helf is one the of more popular characters in the NT that is not Jesus or an Apostle.

In fact, and if I’m wrong on this I’m sure someone will correct me, Nicodemus is the only Pharisee whose name we learn in the Bible. Otherwise there just referred to as a group, and not specific individual names. Why is all that? Why is John 3:16 so popular? Why do know Nicodemus name? Why do pastors, teachers and evangelists compel us to be Born Again?  We will find these answers and more as we study John 3. In a message entitled “Born Again.”  

3 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.”

There’s been some time passed between the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3. How much time? We don’t know. Let’s say a few weeks. After starting His public ministry in The Temple by cleaning house of all those that would had turned the temple of the Lord into a marketplace there would have been a lot of eyes on Him. Imagine how quickly that news spread!

During this time Jesus did not go hide in his house. He wasn’t locked down under quarantine. No, He was out and about amongst the people. He was teaching and preaching the Word of God. He was loving and serving the people He came across. He was also working many miracles. The fact is we don’t know everything that Jesus did while He was here. John himself tells us this towards the end of this gospel. We do know what was recorded was recorded so that we might believe in Jesus.

There was no shortage of discussion among the Pharisees & Sadducees. Jesus even had caught the attention of the Jewish Sanhedrin. Seventy men chosen from all, the religious leaders of Israel, Pharisees/Sadducees, and priests. To be among the Sanhedrin was to be considered the best of the best. They had money, power, status, and education. It was one of the highest honors you could achieve in ancient Israel.

Nicodemus is one such man. He’s heard the discussion about Jesus and he shows a great bit of wisdom concerning what to do about Jesus. He goes to talk to him personally.

Do you want to know what is going? What Jesus is doing? Who He really is? Talk to Him yourself! Study His Word! Talk to Him again! The Apostle Paul tells us to workout our own salvation with fear and trembling. The Apostle Peter tells us to cast all our cares and anxiety upon Him for He cares for us. Jesus Himself tells us “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”

Nicodemus wants to know more about Jesus, so He goes directly to Jesus. It is nighttime. Why is it nighttime? Maybe Nicodemus didn’t want to be seen talking to Jesus. Maybe He wanted to avoid the crowds. Books have been written about this. Do you know why it says he came at night? Because it wasn’t daytime. Anything else is conjecture. Do you know when the best time to come to Jesus is? Anytime! Anytime at all! We should focus less on when someone comes to Jesus and focus more and the fact that they did come to Jesus.

He starts the conversation as respectfully as He knows how. He refers to Jesus as rabbi, that is teacher. It’s a title of respect. The leaders loved to be called Rabbi.  He says Rabbi, we know you’re a teacher come from God. Do they really? Best we can see in the gospels no one in the Jewish Sanhedrin believed Jesus to be a teacher of anything other than heresy. They even accuse Him of being in line with Satan.

The Greek for We Know is oidamen. Its not talking about intimate personal knowledge. It’s talking about a general public knowledge. While Nicodemus may or may not agree with that personally he accepts that the general public does. Similar in concept to Tom Brady being the greatest QB of all time. You may love him, you may hate him, but the general consensus is that he’s a very talented QB and possibly a metahuman. Nicodemus says this is who the public thinks you are based on your teachings and your miracles. I’ve come to see for myself, so I can make my own decision.

 

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

What kind of answer do you think he was expecting? Maybe He was expecting Jesus to say “No, it’s just a big misunderstanding. Those money changers have been ripping me and my family off for years and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Did you see how quickly they ran away? If it had been that big a deal the guards would have shown up. After I calmed down I apologized to everyone and it’s all good now.” Maybe He was expecting Insane ramblings. In his wildest dreams he probably pictured Jesus as a prophet breaking the 400 years of silence between God and His people Israel. He never once expected to hear what he heard.

“Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Now we know this concept. We’ve heard it all our Christian lives. It’s been more or less a staple of evangelical teaching since the John 3:16 movement that started in the 70’s.

For Nicodemus though, not only was this a foreign concept. It cut directly to his core. You see Nicodemus was a pharisee, not only that he had made it all the way on to the Sanhedrin. He was considered one of the best teachers in all of Israel. Yet it wasn’t enough for Him. He had accurate theology. He believed in God, divine sovereignty, human responsibility, angels, demons, heaven, hell and the resurrection. He had access to the OT scrolls which the general public did not. He had the highest education one could obtain.

Yet, here he is confounded by a carpenter from Nazareth of all places. He was brought up his entire life to believe in his heritage and his good works. The fact he was born to Hebrew parents was what placed him in the kingdom of God. His good works kept him there. Here Jesus it turning that world view upside down. all his religion, all his ritual, all his ceremony, all his external righteous acts, , all of that had not gotten him into the kingdom. The same applies to us. God doesn’t have any grandchildren, just sons & daughters.

We understand the word born but what about again? It could be translated born from above just as easily as born again. The point is the same. We make no contribution to our salvation. You made no contribution to your birth physically you make no contribution to your birth spiritually. That birth is not achieved by man, salvation is not of us but of the Lord. Nicodemus didn’t need more laws, rules, and sacrifices.  he needed to become a new creation; only God can do that. That is what we all need. That is the hope we have in Jesus.