Redeemer Lutheran Church

The Word of the Lord from John 3: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This is the Word of the Lord.

Dear Friends in Christ Jesus

I. Two Teachers Talk
He’s a Pharisee, a teacher, and a ruler: he’s on the council called the Sanhedrin, the highest 
court of the Jews. Those are impressive credentials. His name is Nicodemus, and he comes to Jesus by night. This is early on in the ministry of Jesus, and the Pharisees are still trying to get Jesus figured out. They know He’s a teacher and they know He has power: but how does He fit in? That may be the mission of Nicodemus in our Gospel lesson—to discover how Jesus and His teaching mesh with the Pharisees and their teaching. The two should go together. After all, the Pharisees are the ones who have been holding things together: they teach the Law and make sure people take it seriously. It’s because of the Pharisees’ teaching, example and enforcement that people seek to honor God by keeping His laws, by doing the right thing. We’re usually tempted to think of the Pharisees as evil, malicious plotters, but that really isn’t fair: they’ve accepted the responsibility of defending morality and virtue. They sincerely want to please God, and they’re generally respected by the people.

They’ve also been waiting for the Messiah to come and set up a kingdom right here on earth, and they’re curious about Jesus. So whether he comes on his own or representing others, Nicodemus shows up to see how Jesus is going to fit with the Pharisees, how they’re going to complement each other. He says, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these things that You do unless God is with him.” It’s a respectful beginning from a ruler of the Jews. “Rabbi, you’re a teacher and we’re teachers, too. We acknowledge You are of God, and we seek to serve God, too. We want what’s best for the people, as do You. How are we going to work this? How are we going to get the people to please God even more by their works and lifestyle? And what is Your part in bringing the kingdom of God about?”

Jesus responds, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus is speechless. Jesus’ response doesn’t fit in with his gambit at all. This isn’t tomato/tomahto. It’s like apples and oranges. It’s like AM vs. FM.

Actually, it’s Law and Gospel.

“Born again”? What does that mean? First off, there’s the little wordplay there in Greek, so Jesus has either said you must be born again or born from above. But that’s not the problem part: the problem is that word “born.” How do you go about being born again—how do you accomplish that? After all, what did you to be born the first time? Nothing! You were there, of course—you had to be. But you didn’t do anything to be born—being born was something done to you. You don’t walk up to your mother, remind her of the 15 hours of labor and then say, “Didn’t I do a great job being born, mom?”

And now, this Jesus says that you can only see the kingdom of God if you’re born again. What did you do to be born? Nothing. That’s a head-scratcher for Nicodemus—the Pharisee, the teacher of the Law. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “What do you do to get into the kingdom of God? Nothing.” But that can’t be right. How do you become righteous by doing nothing? So Nicodemus probes: “How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he (ha-ha) enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” In other words: “What in the world are You talking about?”

Jesus sticks to His guns, and let’s take His response sentence by sentence: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus repeats that you can only enter the kingdom of God by being born of water and the Spirit. And what, Nicodemus, do you do to be born? Nothing. It’s done to you. It’s the Spirit who does this rebirth to you, and He does it with water—He does it by means of Holy Baptism.

So what about this whole notion of working your way into the kingdom? That’s the sort of teaching that men come up with, but it’s not God’s plan. Thus Jesus continues, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The works of man don’t save man, Nicodemus: you have to be born of the Spirit.

There’s little doubt that Nicodemus is somewhere between “puzzled” and “astounded,” for Jesus has just told him, in a few short words, that Pharisees’ entire plan of salvation is just plain wrong. They say, “You’ll be saved if you do good things,” but this “Teacher come from God” is telling him, “You can’t be saved by doing, but only by being done to. You can only be saved by the work of God.” To the perplexed Nicodemus, Jesus says, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” That’s a hard one for Nicodemus, too. His theology is neat and tidy: you can tell who the saved people are because they’re the upright citizens who are trying hard to do their best over their lifetime. But Jesus says that the Spirit is going to go where He wishes and save all who believe. It might be a Pharisee or a fisherman. It might be a prostitute or a tax collector. It might even be a thief hanging on a cross.

None of this makes sense to Nicodemus, because none of it agrees with his beliefs—and he sincerely believes he’s right. But that would mean that the “Teacher come from God” with power is wrong. He demands, “How can these things be?”

Here comes the rebuke. Jesus says, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” We don’t hear Nicodemus respond to this one, but I’ll guarantee it’s a tough one for him to hear: Jesus tells him, “You’re a teacher of Israel, and you’ve been teaching the wrong thing. Throughout the Old Testament, God has declared that He would save His people by HIS work. You’ve been teaching earthly things, the way of the world. You’ve been teaching what every false religion teaches, that you save yourself by your own works. As long as you believe that, you will not believe heavenly things—you will not believe what God’s plan for salvation really is.”

And what is God’s plan? Jesus goes on: “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Again, let’s go sentence by sentence.

“No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” With that, Jesus tells Nicodemus that He’s not just another rabbi who happens to have power: He’s the Messiah, the Son of God, come from heaven. He’s come to carry out God’s plan, to do what man can’t do.

And what is that plan? “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” The Christ is going to save by being lifted up—lifted up on a cross; and whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. He’s going to do the work of redemption by His death. Then He’s going to rise again and declare, “Here is forgiveness! Be born again into My kingdom! It’s yours without cost!”

This is completely different from the ways of man that say, “You get what you pay for.” This is the way of God, who loves with a selfless, sacrificial love. Jesus explains the reason for the cross: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Then He adds, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” This is so important! If we are saved by our works, then Christ would have come into the world to judge our works—to tell us whether or not we had done enough. And if He came to judge, He could only condemn—because we could never do enough. But God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

There sits Nicodemus: teacher, Pharisee, ruler of the Jews; and he’s just been told that he’s been living and teaching all the wrong stuff. Jesus will tell this to many Pharisees, many times during His ministry—and this will enrage them so much that they’ll plot His death and cheer His cross. But the Spirit goes where He wishes, and He works through the Word. When the Pharisees plot Jesus’ death, it will be Nicodemus who defends the Savior in John 7:50-51, who bids his colleagues to listen to Jesus. And when Jesus has died, it will be Nicodemus who brings the myrrh and aloes so that the Savior’s body might be laid to rest with respect.

II. Born Again
John 3:16 is sometimes called “the Gospel in a nutshell,” for it sums up the Gospel with these simple words: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only[-begotten] Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” This does indeed proclaim salvation: heaven is not yours because you have done enough to earn it, but because Christ has done enough to save you. “Enough” did not come cheap, but by His holy, precious blood, and by His bitter suffering and death.

Christ’s death for your sin is your salvation—completely. It is not by your work, but because you have been born again by water and the Spirit. The price is paid in full, the work is done and salvation is yours—what joy!

Now, keep in mind that the devil hates this news more than anything else, and he will war against it in any way he can. Remember also that your sinful flesh still clings to you, that your sinful flesh gives birth to fleshly temptations that would rob you of Christ and His grace. So let us speak briefly against these foes who would have you dead once again.

You will be tempted to believe that Christianity first and foremost about being a good person, that all this talk about doctrine is for egghead pastors, that all this proclamation of Law and Gospel is just so much complicated talk. You’ll be tempted to believe that being a Christian is all about living your life in a way that looks out for yourself and is kind to others. Such a life is a good endeavor, but it does not save. It is the way of the Pharisees who say that you will be saved as long as you do well enough for long enough. But you cannot do well enough to be holy. Repent, and believe that Christ has done all well enough to save you.

You’ll be tempted to believe that God loves you more when you’re good than when you’ve sinned. It’s true that God delights in your good works rather than your sins, but that is not the same as His love. God’s love for you is so great that He gave His only-begotten Son to die for you before you were even born. His love for you is so great that He continues faithfully to offer you life and salvation by His means of grace. His love doesn’t falter. If you believe His love for you changes according to your behavior, you’re saying that you earn His love by your good works—that His love comes at the price of your obedience, not Christ’s blood. Repent, and rejoice that God’s love for you is in Christ, and God’s love for you in Christ will never falter.

You’ll often forget your Baptism. You’ll see it as a one-time thing in the past. But Jesus tells you in this text that being a Christian isn’t just that you WERE born again, but that you ARE born again—not just that you WERE baptized, but that you ARE baptized. If you ignore your baptism—your being born again, you’ll start to believe that your life comes from what you do, not what the Spirit has done. Repent. In fact, repentance is the ongoing joy of living in your baptism: it’s the constant acknowledgment that you cannot save you from your sin, but that Christ has.

Before you even know it, you’ll daily find yourself thinking that your good works make you alive before God, rather than the truth that you do good works because God has made you alive. Repent, and rejoice that God has made you alive.

All such thoughts that we make ourselves alive are the teachings of man found in every false religion. The Gospel is that God has made you alive in Christ by His loving work of the cross. Christ has died and Christ is risen for you. He does not come now to judge you, to condemn you for your sin. Rather, He comes with grace and salvation, to tell you that you are born again by the work of the Spirit, to maintain that new life by His Word and His Supper. He comes to declare that you are entered into the kingdom of God, because you are forgiven for all of your sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.