Exploring My Strange Bible - I am who I am Part 10: Born of the Spirit

Episode Date: November 29, 2017

In this last episode, we are going to look at a phrase that appears in one of the four gospel accounts about Jesus. It’s a phrase that Jesus uses called “being born again” or “born of the spirit”. The phrase comes from Jesus and a conversation that he had with Nicodemus (John Chapter 3), and what Jesus means and what Nicodemus means by this phrase are two different things. We’ll learn more about what they each mean in this episode.

Tim Mackey, Jr. utterly amazing and worth following with everything that you have. On this podcast, I'm putting together the last 10 years worth of lectures and sermons where I've been exploring the strange and wonderful story of the Bible and how it invites us into the mission of Jesus and the journey of faith. And I hope this can be helpful for you too. I also help start this thing called The Bible Project. We make animated videos and podcasts about all kinds of topics in Bible and theology. You can find those resources at thebibleproject.com. With all that said, let's dive into the episode for this week. All right, well, this is going to be the last part 10 of a 10-part series called I Am Who I Am. We're exploring a huge multifaceted portrayal of God throughout the scriptures.

We looked at Yahweh's character and portrait in the Hebrew scriptures and how in the New Testament, Jesus is depicted as the very embodied human presence of that God in human form. The majority of this series has been exploring the person and the work of the Spirit throughout the pages of the storyline of the Scriptures. In this last episode, we're going to look at a phrase that appears in one of the four gospel accounts about Jesus. It's a phrase that Jesus uses called being born again or born of the spirit. Born again is an English phrase that has come to take on a

whole layer of meaning in the last 50 years in American culture that that's its own thing, its own rabbit hole to get lost down. But the phrase comes from Jesus, a conversation that he had with a guy named Nicodemus. It's from the Gospel of John chapter 3. And what Jesus meant by that phrase and what Nicodemus takes him to mean by that phrase, we're going to see that's kind of a train wreck of miscommunication that Jesus exploits to help teach Nicodemus something profound about human existence before God. This is a really amazing story. I learned so much in reflecting on this story in John chapter 3

that I had never thought about before or seen in this story. So I hope it's helpful for you. It might actually be helpful for you to open up a Bible or turn on a Bible. If not, I'll be reading it aloud throughout the teaching. But I hope this is helpful for you. Let's dive in. Grab your Bible and turn to the fourth book in the New Testament, the Gospel of John, Gospel of John chapter 3. But now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, and he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night, and he said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.

Jesus answered, very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are what? Born again. All right, so let's pause before we read on anymore. This whole story and conversation and passage is about the reality of being born again by the Spirit. We're concluding the Spirit series with John chapter 3, being born again by the Spirit. And being born again is a phrase that you've heard before, haven't you? You've heard of this phrase. And actually, it's interesting. It's becoming less, I think, less well-known or at least less stereotyped a phrase. And what's come to replace it in American popular culture is the phrase evangelical, right? And so, you guys with

me here? So, if you've heard the phrase born again, born again in American culture over the last 50 years or so has actually come to have a really specific meaning in American culture. And so you can do, actually someone encouraged me to do this and I did. I went to the Oregonian online. You know, you can just search the whole history of Oregonian now. They have everything that's really amazing. Just go to their website.

And so I searched for all the stories that have mentioned a born-again Christian. And I also went to Willamette Week, and that was also really interesting too. And so here's a born-again Christian as far as, you know, our city is concerned even. What types of people are referred to? And these are almost always, I found three different types of stories. It's a story about someone who was doing like sex, drugs, rock and roll or whatever. They're kind of like, they're well known as like a musician or whatever, an artist or somewhere in the city, a prominent business person or whatever.

And their life crashes and caves in and hits bottom. And then they got religion. They got Jesus in some form, some sort of radical, they had emotional conversion experience, and now they're still prominent in the city or whatever, musician, artist, whatever, but now they're just like crazy for Jesus and everyone's weirded out by them. So there's a whole bunch of stories about that in the Oregonian,

and the term used to refer to these type of people is born-again Christians. The other type of story is someone who maybe, whatever their background, but the point is that at some point they've become a Christian and then they've become super vocal in the local or statewide political scene, right? And so they are translating and so there's a whole package that comes along with that, especially like back in the 80s of the religious right and the moral majority, and we're born again, and it's connected with politics. It was really fascinating. So there you go. It's either like you're an emotionally broken person who needs a crutch, and you got

religion, and then you adopted this kind of narrow, traditional, moral, black and white framework for your life, and that's, oh, you must be a born-again Christian. Or, you know, you had some kind of similar experience, and then you become very vocal in the political sphere in our city, and so that's, then there you go. That's according to the Oregonian Lament Week. Just go search the phrase born-again, and that's what you'll find. Here's what's interesting. This happened to me not long ago, about three months ago. I was having coffee, as I do regularly, as we all do regularly, as Portland, for goodness sakes. And so I was at Albina Press, and no joke,

I was sitting by two young women, and they were talking about a friend. And they were talking about how this friend, you know, stopped sleeping with her boyfriend, and she's, like, you know, kind of withdrawn a little bit, doesn't come to the weekend parties or whatever anymore, and then one of them said she's become a Christian, one of those born-again Christians or something like that, and it was this totally derogatory term, and what this term referred to in that conversation was exactly what

Willamette Weekend Oregonian referred to, somebody who got religion and what they begin to adopt then is some sort of like very narrow traditional moral framework. They got religion, they got Jesus, they became a Puritan or something like that, right? They became, it was a call to religion, traditional religious morality, right? That's what's happening in that conversation. That's how our culture perceives this term born again, if you use it. Now here's what's interesting to me about this story about being born again by the Spirit. Where does the phrase born again,

at least in the history of Christianity, occur for the very first time? So you just read it. Who coined the phrase? Jesus coined the phrase. And this is what I want to draw attention to, right, first off, is who is he saying needs to be born again? And really think about this.

So our culture has a stereotype that it's somebody who needs an emotional crutch, they got religion, it's somebody who has adopted a very narrow traditional moral religious framework or something like that, and the person, the first person in history who was ever called by Jesus to become born again

breaks all of those stereotypes. Did you notice that as we read that? So who's this guy? Who's Nicodemus? Actually, before we're even given his name, what are we told about him? He's a Pharisee. Which, you know, there's a whole bunch of connotations of that within Christianity too, a lot of which I don't think are quite correct. But the whole point, to say the very least, is he's a very religious man. In terms of like devout

religious practice, he has all of us beat already. Like we don't even need to have that conversation to compare. He's a Pharisee. In terms of like devout devotion to the scriptures and to daily prayer, prayer multiple times per day at set hours over the course of decades and years. We know that he's old. We know that he's a member of what? He's a member of the elite. Do you see that there? He's a member of the Jewish ruling council. He's a man of privilege. He has privileged status in their whole culture. He's a Bible teacher. He does what I do for a living, except he had been doing it for way, way, way longer, like decades. He's an educated, wealthy, as we learn at the end of the gospel, he helped fund Jesus' tomb and the

spices and stuff that Jesus' body was involved in. So he's a wealthy, learned, elderly, religious studies professor. He is a man of status in the community. The only other times he appears in the gospel, people pay attention when he speaks and so on. And this is the first person in history who Jesus calls to be born again. So whatever it means to be born again,

it is not apparently a call to become more religious. It's not a call to adopt a kind of narrow moralistic framework for your life, because you couldn't invent a person who's more traditional and moral and religious than this man. Are you guys with me here? So whatever the phrase born again means, it is not what our culture means. And so we need, it's like back to the sources, back to what on earth did Jesus mean? Now this is already, this happens multiple times in this conversation. Do you notice that Jesus totally just dodges what Nicodemus is saying? What does Nicodemus come to Jesus to do?

Is Nicodemus a broken person looking for some kind of spiritual, emotional crutch in his life? No, no, he's a very stable man, right? And things are going well for this guy. And notice, look at what he, he comes to Jesus. When does he come to Jesus? John chooses to tell us that. He comes to Jesus at night. And this happens one other time in the gospel of John. We're told that some people come to Jesus at night because they're afraid to be seen with him publicly. They're afraid for their lives or their reputation. Jesus, it would be embarrassing for Nicodemus to be seen publicly associating with this guy. We actually talked about this story a couple weeks ago. Jesus

already pulled his stunt in the temple in Jerusalem, right? You remember the stunt. He waltzed in, he acted like he owned the place, and he declared it to be a farce essentially and drove out all of the money changers and so on and stopped the sacrifices from being offered because of the sale and exchange of animals and so on and it's the pharisees and the rulers who come up to him and are like who do you think you are coming to do this that just happened that just happened and so nicodemus comes to him at night and notice look at how he talks look how he talks to him nicodemus comes to him at night, and notice, look at how he talks, look how he talks to him. Nicodemus is not a spiritual seeker. He's coming in response to this very overt political move that Jesus just made, declaring that he has ownership over the temple.

So he comes to Jesus at night, and he says, Rabbi, we know. We know that you're a teacher who's come from God. I mean, who, of course, could do the things that you're doing unless God was sending him. Now, can you read between the lines right here? Is this guy coming like with an honest, like heart-searching, whatever Jesus has, I need it. You know what I mean? I'm at the bottom. No, he's part of the Jewish ruling council who Jesus just deeply offended. What's he doing right here?

And this is a sophisticated story, right? He's doing what we all wonder goes on at the White House or something like. He's doing backroom politics right here. That's what he's doing here, right? So there's the public statement, right? At the end of chapter 2, Jesus offended the ruling elite, and so they all challenge him and shame him. Who do you think that you're doing?

But here he comes at night, and Nicodemus is like, listen, we know, the Pharisees, the ruling elite, listen, the establishment's against you, Jesus, but some of us think that we could help you, right? You could help us. You're a teacher. I'm a teacher. You know, it could be very beneficial for it. Can you read this here? I mean, it's exactly what's happening, right? He just offended the group that this man represents, but he comes at night saying, now, listen, listen, we know you're sent from God,

so let's have a conversation. And what is Jesus' response? Does he receive the compliment? Does he even receive it? Is he like, oh, thank you, you know, that's true. I am sent from God, but in a way you don't even understand. You know, he doesn't even like, like if there ever was a good opportunity for Jesus to be like, well, I am sent from God, but you don't even know what you mean when you say that. He doesn't even, he's just further jugular. He's just like, dude, you know what? You know what? You think it's not possible for anyone

to perform signs unless God were with them. Let me tell you another impossibility. It's impossible for anybody to see the kingdom of God unless they're born again. It just like changes the subject entirely. He's not impressed with Nicodemus, and he's not going to accept his gesture. What does he mean? What does he mean? He just resets the conversation. It's impossible to even know God or experience the reality of the kingdom of God unless you're born again. What does this mean? If it doesn't mean a call to religion and to morality, because he's calling a very religious moral man to be born again, what does it actually mean? What does it mean to be born again? And I'll teach you the word that Jesus uses, the Greek word. Now, do some of you have a

footnote by that word born again? Do some of you have something, like a little note? And what does your note tell you? Yeah, it says, or from above, or some of you might have a note that says the word he uses actually has a couple nuances of meaning. It could mean again, or it could mean from above. This is neat. So the word that Jesus uses, it's the Greek word anothen. Let's say it together, class. Anothen. Very good. very good uh anathan so the most basic literal meaning of this word um is from above uh turn the page or look down to verse 31 of chapter 3 look at verse 31 and jesus says the one who comes, anothen, is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth.

The one who comes from above. He's talking about himself. In John, Jesus uses this kind of spatial language, from above, from below, coming down, going up, as metaphors to talk about God's presence. Jesus' claim is that he comes directly from the presence of God. He didn't float down from heaven, of course. He was born, right, to Mary. But it's the image that he shares in the very identity of God, and he comes representing heaven, so to speak. And so the word literally means from above. However, this word also has a nuance, kind of like a figure of speech type phrase, that the word means as well, which is

again, born again. Now, this isn't like, oh, secret deep meanings of the Bible language or something like that. Like, we use words like this all the time, right? That have double meanings. Actually, there's a perfect example floating in English right now, which is this phrase. I just, I can't, I hear it everywhere. It's this phrase, nailed it. You guys know this. You heard nailed it, right? You know what I'm talking about, right? So, nailed it. What does nailed it mean? Oh, look, there's a nice... Oh, I wonder how that big thing is hanging on the wall right there. Oh, well, some people nailed it. They nailed it up there, right? So that's a literal meaning.

But then it's come in contemporary English to develop this other meaning of nailed it, which is like perfect or spot on, couldn't have said or done it better. You guys know, right? And so it's not magical words or something. It's just language. This is how language works.

We often use words and sometimes with their literal meaning and then we use the same phrase or word with kind of a nuanced, developed meaning. And so I think Jesus is brilliant in that he actually is doing a word play and intends the nuance of both. Namely that whoever you think you are, Nicodemus, Jesus is just not impressed. But he senses that Nicodemus needs to be challenged and addressed,

that he needs to come to see something fundamental about his life. First of all, that his life needs to start over, that he needs a new beginning, right? A new beginning. But also, he needs to recognize that whatever the form of his new life is going to take, if he's going to choose to accept it, it's going to have to come to him as a gift and from an entirely new source. New beginning and a new... What does it mean to be born again? And these two nuances of the word, I think, develop the whole concept. Now, look at Nicodemus' response.

What does he think? How does he take Jesus to mean? Which one? From above or again? Nicodemus said, now, how can someone be born when they're old? Nicodemus asked. I mean, surely they can't enter a second time into their mother's womb and be born, right? Like, how does that work? Now, I've often thought, like, okay, maybe, like, Nicodemus is kind of, like, a feeble old man, and he's not so sharp anymore, and so he's like, what? You know, go into your mother's womb again? Like, how does that work?

Like, dude, you know what I'm saying? I think we kind of think of him like he's stupid, and so he's like, what do you mean, Jesus? Born again. So, no, dude, this guy has a sharper mind than any of us. Way sharper mind. He's memorized the whole of the Old Testament and all these other traditions around it. Mind sharp as a tack. He's a member of the Jewish ruling council. He's a religious studies professor. He's clear. I think he's surely being sarcastic here, right? And he's like, dude, so Jesus, I'm here to play ball. Young man, some of us are interested in helping you, and we think you can help us. What are you talking? Nonsense. What is this nonsense you're talking about? Being born anathan.

Being born anathan. And what Jesus goes on to do then, is he goes on to just, again, ignore Nicodemus' whole agenda, and he develops what both of these are all about. You need a new beginning, Nicodemus. So just first think about what this means. He doesn't get it, and he's going to try and convince Nicodemus of what this means. You need a new beginning. It's developed sense.

This is its literal sense from above. Again, is this kind of developed nuance. You need a new start, Nicodemus. And that's clearly what Nicodemus takes him to mean. Your mother's womb and start your life over again. Nicodemus takes him to me, mother's womb, and start your life over again. I mean, what an offensive thing to say to an elderly man who's educated,

he's a person of influence in the community, he's been teaching the Bible his whole life, and he comes to Jesus and is like, young man, you know, listen, I think we could help you. And Jesus says, you need a new life. You know what I mean? you're just like, what? It's like the gumption to say something like that. So, you know, like Nicodemus, like everything you thought was like legitimately being done for God. He's a very religious man. Everything you thought, you knew about God, and you knew about God's

kingdom, and you knew about the scriptures, you actually need to, like, it was a false start. Your life up to this point has been a false start. You need to start over again. What a deeply offensive thing to say, right? Now, here's what's interesting. This connects to something Jesus said to a group of Pharisees on another occasion in the Gospel of Matthew. And it was Jesus had been in Jerusalem. Again, he did pull this stunt in the temple. A group of Pharisees were in front of him. And he just straight up said to all of them, he just said, listen, you guys, you know, the tax collectors and prostitutes are seeing and entering into the kingdom of God ahead of all of you. That's what he says to them. The pimps and the prostitutes are ahead of you in getting into the kingdom way quicker than you are, Pharisees. And what does he

mean by that? He surely doesn't mean that they're more moral and religious, you know, than the Pharisees. His point is that, so here you have these people, and this is where perhaps the stereotype of born again comes from in our culture or whatever. Because when you have someone, they've come to a place in their life where they have hit bottom. They are emotionally broken. Or in any other kind of life crisis, a financial crisis, or someone on their deathbed, somebody who lives in poverty or in a socially marginal situation. in poverty or in a socially marginal situation.

People in those life circumstances tend, this is a stereotype, but it tends to be true, tend to be more quick to see their need for a savior, for someone to come and rescue them, much more quickly than someone who is in a socially comfortable life, has enough wealth and things are going kind of fine, and they're mostly moral and a religious person. Like, who's going to be more quick to recognize, like, holy cow, my life's not working out for me? Nicodemus' life is working just fine for him, which means it's going to be more difficult

for him to see that he needs to start his life over again, which is exactly what Jesus is saying. Like, back of the line is what he's saying. Nicodemus, your life has been a false start up to this point. Whatever it means to be born again, the first thing Jesus develops, it's this, it's owning that my life and how I think about things and the way I value things and who I think I am and who God is, it's not okay. I'm just not okay. And the moment I begin to think I'm okay is the moment that in Jesus' mind we begin to totally lose track of reality, to be born anothen, to be born again. Now, so that's the first thing he means, and Jesus says, what? You know, so how can be someone born when they're old? Nicodemus asked.

Surely they can't enter a second time into their mother's womb. Jesus, once again, just dodged, it's like he just is bulldozing over Nicodemus right now. Verse five, he just goes on. right now. Verse 5, he just goes on. Jesus answered, very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God. What did he say up in verse 3? He said, no one can see the kingdom of God. Here, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born, what? Of water and spirit. So the first time he said no one can see the kingdom of God unless they're born on nothing, Nicodemus doesn't get it. So Jesus tries again. He tries again and using different vocabulary, different words, and here using vocabulary and words that he knows Nicodemus ought to know, ought to be familiar with him. So whatever it means to be born again, it's the same

thing as being born of water and born of the Spirit. Born of the Spirit. We're born of water and Spirit. Now here I think Jesus is playing to Nicodemus as the Bible scholar here. He's using imagery and language that Nicodemus at least ought to know if he's read his Bible at all, and we know that he's read and taught from his Bible for decades, decades now. Jesus is using, alluding to at least two passages in the prophets, the Hebrew prophets, that talk about a future day when God is going to bring the kingdom, he's going to return personally and bring his kingdom and restore his world, bring justice, send the Messiah, and so on. In two of these passages, they talk about the coming of the Spirit, the coming of God's personal presence to restore and bring justice and bring judgment and so on.

to restore and bring justice and bring judgment and so on. And they talk about the spirit with metaphors of water. Water and spirit. I'll just show you because I like to do that kind of thing. Isaiah 44. This is Yahweh, the God of Israel, talking. And he says, I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon your offspring. And here he's talking about the faithful remnant of God's people who are going to turn from their sins and

see that they need the salvation that comes from God alone and so on. And so he says, for them I'm going to pour water on them and it's going to saturate the thirsty ground that is their lives and their hope. And then he uses this metaphor, it's like I'm pouring out the Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. And when God pours out his life-giving personal presence like water, going to bring new life. Do you see? Follow the poetry here. They're going to spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. So Isaiah uses this rich metaphor that humanity and Israel, God's people, are just like this dry, parched, cracked ground that needs water. And when God gives the gift of his spirit, it's going to be like water that brings new life out of what is dead. There's another prophet that came a hundred

or so years after Isaiah, and he used the same images of water and spirit, but took it in a whole new awesome direction. So look at what Ezekiel says. He says, I'm going to sprinkle clean water on you, and you're going to become clean from all of your impurities and from all of your idols. I will cleanse you. So here the problem is not like dry, parched ground. The problem is that the hearts of God's people, Israel, are grimy. They're dirty. They're impure because they've given their allegiance to false gods who have compelled them to live and to

act in ways that have dehumanized them and that have destroyed them. And so he says, I'm going to wash. It's like, I'm going to wash your heart, wash you again. And look at what he says here, though. It's not just washing you externally. There's something internally that needs to change. He says, I'm going to give you a new heart, and I'm going to put a new spirit within you. I'm going to remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a soft, fleshy heart. Now, how is that going to happen? How is a human heart, the center of desire and decision-making and feeling, going to be fundamentally removed and transformed? And then here we go. I, Yahweh, God says, I will put my spirit within you

and make it so you walk in my statutes and are careful to obey my laws. Josh Gerrills mentioned this passage last week when he talked about Romans 8 and so on, about the gift of the presence of the Spirit. This is a whole theme in the prophets and of Jesus in the New Testament, is that the gift of the Spirit, it's this personal presence of the Creator God in your life. And there's lots of different ways you can talk about it. Here, it's that it actually, it's inviting a new roommate into your life, right? Or even more, it's not just a roommate, it's like it's a covenant partner. It's like you're married to Jesus, right? And he takes up personal residence in your life in such a way that it begins to influence your very volition and your choices and how you frame and think about things. And all of

a sudden, the things that you used to do that you knew you knew you shouldn't do, but you thought they were awesome, all of a sudden, like, you're a Christian, and now you do them, and they're just, like, they're miserable, and they actually, like, oppress you, at least now you do them, and they're just like, they're miserable, and they actually like oppress you, at least after you do them, right? And you feel horrible about yourself, and you're like, dang it, like sinning isn't even fun anymore, you know? And so that's what Josh Gerlitz talked about last week, right? And that's what this is getting at here. So water and spirit. When the spirit is poured out, it's going to be both this, a new source of life, and that's what Jesus is getting at here, from above. Nicodemus, if you don't understand that your life has been a false start up to this point, and everything you thought you knew about morality and religion and who God is and so on, if you

don't see it as a false start, you don't know anything about biblical faith. And if you don't see that your life needs not just some, like, additive, right? So he comes to Jesus as a teacher, right? And he doesn't say, like, thank you, Nicodemus, for the compliment. And, you know, you're like, you're quite a devout man, and I see that there's just one part of your life here that needs some work. You have a short temper, you know, so let's work on that one with you. Like, he doesn't. He just goes right for the jugular, and he's just like, you need a new life, and you actually need your very being to be animated and driven by a whole new source. You need a new life source, Nicodemus. And by the way, Bible scholars here, Isaiah 44, Ezekiel 36, and you know, for real Bible geeks, I won't get into, Isaiah 44, Ezekiel 36,

and for real Bible geeks, I won't get into it, go read Ezekiel 37, which talks about, well, and here I am talking about it, even though I said I wasn't going to. Ezekiel sees this vision of not just a whole valley of dead people, but of just dried, withered bones that depicts the people of Israel, the covenant people. And the only thing that will give them life is if the wind comes, the spirit, and God breathes his spirit, and all of a sudden these new human beings, literally it's like muscle and sinew wrap around. It would be great to depict this with, you know, CG graphics today. And to, like, the sinews wrap around the bones, and the bones come together with

a great rattling noise that he hears, and new human beings are animated by the Spirit. And I think that's what Jesus is alluding to here. No one will see, no one can even enter the kingdom of God unless the reality of the Spirit, born of water and Spirit, comes about, Nicodemus. Look at what he goes on to say. He says, flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to spirit. You shouldn't be surprised, Nicodemus, that I say you need to be born on a thing. Mortal humans, human beings are incredible. Image of God, like incredible. Human beings are awesome, right? And so I'm amazed every day living with these two little tiny human beings

who've come into Jessica and I's life and watching them grow and develop. And you're just like, human beings are the craziest things on the planet. They are the most bizarre things on the planet, I think. We are, not they, not my sons, but we are. They're incredible. But at the same time, we're compromised. There's something fundamentally flawed and wrong with us.

I hope I don't have to convince you of that too much. Even if you're uncomfortable saying there's something really flawed about me, I hope we can agree there's something flawed about us, right? And the human race. And it's a very small step to go from us to me. And so human beings, here we are, returning, human history, thousands and thousands of years and like we now can throw technology and money and education at the perennial human problems and how's that working out for us?

Right? at the perennial human problems, and how's that working out for us, right? It's just, it's okay, and we can solve some issues, but it's just tires spinning in the mud. And Jesus says, listen, like human being, human mortal life compromised by sin and selfishness gives birth to more human life that's compromised by sin. You can't expect something new just from the same exact source. If you want a new human life, you need a new source, Nicodemus. If you have a cherry tree in your front yard, and you're like, man, I've had cherries, you know, for a few years now, and I'm kind of tired of cherries, and the birds get them all anyway, you know, and so I'm gonna, I want some peaches. I'm gonna get some peaches. So you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna, I've

never really watered very faithfully. I'm gonna water my cherry tree. I'm gonna to get some peaches. So you know what I'm going to do? I've never really watered very faithfully. I'm going to water my cherry tree. I'm going to prune it this winter. I've never pruned my cherry tree before. I'm going to prune it. And what will you get next summer? You'll get cherries. I mean, of course. This is kind of a stupid illustration,

but the whole point is that it makes the point that Jesus is making. So if you want peaches, don't just work harder at your cherry trees, you know what I'm saying? You don't, that's trying to reform or change the cherry tree. You need a new root. You need a new source. You need to be born anothen. You need some driving, animating energy and life and person in your life if you actually want to get different fruit. And don't, Nicodemus, expect that you're going to get who I am if you are trying to fit me into your, like, religious political agenda framework. Jesus, dude, he's so gnarly. Look, he keeps going. He doesn't even stop. Verse 8,

he says, listen, the wind, this goes all the way back a couple months. You remember the biblical words for spirit also mean wind or breath. And so here it's the Greek word pneuma that he's using all up above here, spirit. He goes on and says the wind or the spirit blows wherever it pleases. You can hear it, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it's coming. So it is with everyone who is born of spirit. I can try and be compelling as I can in explaining this, but the fact is that for the fundamental transformation of the human heart, I cannot predict or engineer that in anybody.

You have people in your lives that you love very much and they don't want to know Jesus, they don't care about it, and you'll never be able to engineer that inside of them. I can't even engineer it in my own life, really, so much less anybody else's. And so Jesus is like, it's this organic, kind of mysterious, existential reality

that when a person comes to see that my whole life up till now has been a false start and I need something completely that is not, I don't just need to add Jesus to my life, I need to actually fundamentally scrap my whole way of thinking and living and somehow make Jesus the foundation of all of that. We cannot engineer that in each other, that something that happens that needs to be a deep rooted change that comes from above, from an outside source. How does that happen? Or what's happening? Like what would bring someone

to even want to embrace that kind of fundamental change? And I think that's where Jesus goes next. Look at Nicodemus' response. He's just like, huh? How can this be? Nicodemus asked. And Jesus, he kind of gets in his face. He says, listen, you're a teacher of Israel. You called me teacher. I'll return the favor. You're a teacher too. And I'm just talking like basic prophet spirit 101 here, Nicodemus. What do you mean you don't get it? What do you mean you don't get it? You're Israel's teacher, said Jesus. You don't understand these things? Listen, very truly I tell you,

we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but still you all don't. This is a Texan, another Texan you right here, y'all. But still y'all don't accept our testimony. Jesus is returning the favor here. Remember, Nicodemus said, Rabbi, does he say, I know that you're a teacher come from God? Do you remember what he said? He said, we know, the group that I represent. And so Jesus is like, touche. Right? Very true. I tell you, we speak. And this is a theme that's all throughout the gospel where

Jesus comes with this claim that he's not just a teacher, right? He's not just a rabbi and teacher, but that he and the God of Israel are one, that he shares in the very identity of God, that he comes to represent and embody the one true God as God the Son, all throughout from the first sentences of this gospel. And so he says, I, my Father, the Spirit, and I, we speak of what we know. He's not asking Nicodemus if, like, do you approve of what I'm saying? He's just saying, listen, like, I've come directly from God himself. I embody the God of Israel himself. I share in the identity of God, and I'm telling you I know what I'm talking about. And you don't believe what I'm telling you. If I've spoken to you, verse 12, he goes on, of earthly things. I'm trying, Nicodemus. These

metaphors from the prophets, birth and water and spirit, and you're still not believing and accepting me. How are you going to believe if I try and use non-metaphorical language and speak of heavenly things? Listen, Nicodemus, no one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven.

He refers to himself as the son of as the son of man just as moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so the son of man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him and then what follows john 3 16. for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is really profound, what Jesus is getting at here. So he says, Nicodemus, your life, you need to first come to this place. You need to recognize that whatever your life is going to look like, if you accept that your life is a false start,

it's going to be from outside yourself. It's going to be the gift of the Spirit, a new source of energy in your life. And then Jesus pulls out this line. He says, Nicodemus, you're Israel's teacher, right? And here you are, you're approaching me as a teacher. And essentially he's challenging Nicodemus because Nicodemus doesn't believe that Jesus is who he says he is. If you don't believe who I am, Nicodemus,

then ultimately Jesus is saying, you're not going to understand who you are. If you don't understand me, you're not going to understand yourself. Because Jesus is saying, I'm not here to just teach you. I'm not just here to add some new examples or inspiration to your life that's already pretty good and just needs to go the next step. Like, you need something else entirely. And that something else entirely, he alludes to when he talks about snakes and deserts. Did you see that in verse 14? He alludes to the story about Moses lifting up the snake in the wilderness.

Do you know this story? This is one of the more bizarre stories in the whole Bible, I think. So it's the people of Israel going through the wilderness. They rebel against God and so these poisonous snakes crawl into the camp and start biting the Israelites and people are

getting sick and infected and they're suffering and people are starting to die and so God tells Moses get like a bunch of bronze and melt it down and shape it into the image of the snakes that are biting everybody, and then put it on a pole and lift it up super high, and everybody who looks at that metal snake will be healed. And you're like, the Bible is so weird, right? The Bible is

really strange, right? It's a bizarre story. So regardless of how bizarre it is, what's that story about? It's a story about people who are infected with a sickness and they're dying. And it's connected to their own sin and selfishness and rebellion. And as a result, they're sick and they're dying. But the very thing that is killing them, right? The snake is strangely transformed into the very thing that becomes a source of life if they will simply look at it in trust and hope. Are you with me here? That's surely why Jesus is drawing on this story, because look at what he says. He says, Moses lifted up the snake, so the Son of Man, he's

referring to himself, must be lifted up. Jesus says, just like that snake was lifted up, so I am going to be lifted up. Now, what's that? What's he talking about? Is he talking about, I'm Jesus, I'm the King, and I'll be exalted in heavenly glory over all things? Is that what he's talking about? So what, this is a phrase Jesus uses a lot, all throughout the Gospel of John. And can you think of a moment where Jesus is literally lifted up? It's a reference to the cross.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus' exaltation is precisely the moment that he's hoisted up onto this Roman execution rack. And it culminates the whole story because there, according to his claim, he is the son of God, it's John 3.16, right? Sent into the world to actually absorb into himself the collective effects and the consequences of our stupidity and selfishness and sin and evil. And he takes it for us and it takes him to the bitter end, death itself. But because the

commitment of the creator God and his love is so deep and so permanent in its commitment to our world that even our own sin and death aren't allowed to be the end of the story. And so in Jesus' resurrection from the dead, we have God's fundamental statement to our world, to a sinful, rebellious humanity that's spinning its tires in the mud, I love you.

I'm here to save you. And what Jesus, it seems to me, is telling Nicodemus is, Nicodemus, as long as you look to me as your teacher, what you're really telling me is that you're looking for some more inspiration, you're looking for a better example, and some additive to your life to help you get along to the next step. But the whole point is that you're still the driver. You're still the source of your whole journey and about your accomplishments and you and so on.

And what he's trying to get Nicodemus to see is like, you're sick, Nicodemus. You're infected with your own selfishness, with your own status, with your own sense of accomplishment, with your own desire for the approval, or whatever it is, you're sick, dude. You're dying. And you need a new life. And you need a life that's not going to come from just like pruning and watering your cherry tree more.

Like you need a new root to be given to you as a gift. You need a savior, Nicodemus. You don't need a teacher. And this, this is all connected to the work of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit. As long, Nicodemus, as you don't understand these things, you're lost. It's only when you break through from seeing me as a teacher to also, not just, he is a teacher but he's more than a teacher. And it's actually, he can only really become your teacher once he first becomes your savior.

And so think of it this way, you know, I don't know if you've ever had the experience of feeling like a horrible Christian. Anybody, right? Anybody. So you're just like, I'd suck at this. Like, I'm just not very good. And you read, you know, go read the teachings of Jesus, you know, the classic teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 through 7, the Sermon on the Mount. And you read those teachings, and if you can finish Jesus' teachings and be like, I'm up for it,

here I go, then like, good luck. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, let's have a conversation in five years or whatever. And likely you'll be able to do some, maybe even all of what Jesus is saying some of the time. But what it'll do is it'll crush you, actually. It'll crush you. Because it's both meant to reveal about the goodness and generosity and justice of Jesus' character, but also meant to show us something about ourselves, right? To show us that there's something more fundamentally wrong with us than just the inability to keep rules, you know, and to be moral, good, to get religion, and to be born again and be like moral, good,

religious people, or whatever. There's something more fundamentally, as Ezekiel said, that I need a new spirit. I need the gift of God's spirit. So let me, I mean, I'll just, I'll speak very honestly because I don't know how else, I don't know how else to speak. In my own life in the last year, the way that I have become most aware of my need to start over, or at least a part of my life over, and be energized

and animated by the Spirit, is an area of truth-telling in my life. I'm like many of you, I'm a conflict avoider. Anybody? Conflict avoiders, unite. And so I run from difficult, tense moments and conversations. Like, I don't even run very fast, but I can run very fast, right? From a difficult moment. And so here's what happens is I noticed this about a year ago, this pattern and at Door of Hope, you all have helped expose this deep flaw within my heart, right? So, you know, there'll be a moment that comes up, a difficult conversation or maybe like an email or something like that. And it's like, it's awkward or it's a hard subject, a difficult conversation or maybe like an email or something like that, and it's awkward or it's a hard subject, a hard topic, I don't quite know what to do.

And so what I do is I just let it get to the bottom of the inbox. It just goes down there and then six months or so I'm like, oh yeah, those, those ones, dang it. Well, oops, delete, you know, oh, and so I'm, right? So this is my confession. I'm trying to be honest. And so I've done that to some of you, and I'm sorry. And here's why I do that.

Why I do it, and it gets even worse, of course, because some of you have come to me, hey, did you get that question I sent you or whatever? I'm like, oh, yeah, where did that go or something? You didn't get my response or something? You know, like, oh, and none of you have done this before, right? You know what I'm talking about.

And so, like, what is going on there? If Jesus is just my teacher, then I go to Jesus' teachings and you let your yes be yes and let your no be no. And I'm just like, dang it. I screwed up again, you know? And so, you know, I'll confess and I'll take the bread and the cup

and I'll tell friends, please pray for me and try harder. And then like that goes on for a while and then it doesn't change and then after a while you start to get like angry with Jesus. And you're like, dang it, I'm trying, Jesus. You know, like give me a break or whatever.

Or maybe some of you, you know, you're already prone to self-loathing, and so then you're just like, I'm a miserable liar and Jesus could never love me. Or some of you are prone towards justifying your behavior, and you're like, why does Jesus think lying is such a big deal in the first place? It's really not a big deal. Dang it, Jesus, why are you such a... You know, like, you get stuck, and what is not happening is I'm not getting to the source of the issue. And what is not happening is I'm not getting to the source of the issue. And if Jesus is just my teacher, then I just look to him and I try harder,

water the cherry tree, prune it, or whatever. But Jesus is saying, dude, like Nicodemus, you're Israel's teacher and you don't understand that you need a savior. You don't understand that your heart is in a state that you can't fix. It needs to be given to you as a gift. And so I look to what Jesus does as my Savior. I look at a world, a large part of which is in the state that it's in, because none of us will be honest with each other. And we don't tell the truth to each other, and we lie, and we covet, and we do underhanded things to each other, and look at our world as a result. And Jesus comes as the Savior, representing the love of God to absorb the effects and the consequences into himself on the cross. And I'm called not to just, like, look more and more at

my behavior. I'm called to just look. What does he say? Just as the son of man was lifted up like the snake was in the desert, you just look. You just look at Jesus. You stop looking at yourself. You just look at Jesus. And all of a sudden you see like even given the state that my heart is in, like he loves me. He did that for me. He did that for me. He loves me. And that changes the game. It changes the game. And all of a sudden, I view my misbehavior in a completely new way. Because it's not just about my inability to keep the rules, is it? Right? It's actually because my heart, my allegiance, and what I look to for value

and meaning, what I look to as my God, is you all, and your approval of me, and the fact that I'm a good pastor, and I can remember everybody's name, and I can remember all of your prayer requests, and even your grandma's prayer requests that you shared with me, you know, and like, and that I'm a responsible person, I can handle my email, and I want people to think well of me. I want people to approve of me because that apparently I think is what makes me acceptable. That justifies my existence in the universe

is if people think I'm a good guy or something like that. And so what actually is, what am I looking to to make me acceptable to God? Not what Jesus did for me, but it's what I'm trying to do for myself through all of you. What a screwed up person I am. And we're all doing this to each other all of the time.

What a hopeless lot. And that's exactly the point. That's exactly the point. Because if I can just get there, now Jesus says we can work. We can work with you. Once you realize that your life is a false start and that you actually need something new from outside of yourself to animate you, and so I need to confess the sin underneath the sin, which is not just my inability to keep the rules, but it's that I'm worshiping a false God. And I'm looking to ground my value and my acceptability in something other than what Jesus has done for me. And Jesus says the Spirit is the one who comes into your life and brings that insight again and again. Here I am almost 20 years in, and I need to get converted all over again in the last year, in this part of my life.

So how do you get born again? And I think that's about as silly a question as saying, how did you get born? Like, how did you get born? The metaphor is significant. So you didn't get born. You just were born. Did anybody choose to be born?

No. right did anybody choose to be born you know no and so what what what you do is simply recognize that someone has labored and gone through pain in order to offer birth to me and i don't like the way to be a truly grateful son is not to like examine her motives like why did you give me birth or something like the whole point is just to look to my mother and be like thank you like you you went through hell for me you bled for me you went through something that was potentially life-threatening for me and and it it melts my heart a new state. And it seems to me that that's precisely what Jesus is inviting. If he's inviting Nicodemus to be born again, he's inviting all of us to be born again. And I need it, and you need it, and we need, like, don't look for an emotional

experience. Like, we were all born in different ways, and we all get born again in different ways. But it has to involve at least what Jesus is talking about here. Okay, I've been talking for a long time. I don't know where you're at, and I don't know, maybe you're a Christian, and you're not living as if you're born again, or you're recognizing this

need, but there's just new stuff in your life and you need to confess and get to the real sin underneath the sin, not just the rule breaking, but like the fact that you have some false God and some false allegiances in your life that motivate you to do the things that you do, just like they do me. And so we have a time of worship, as we do every week, ahead of us. And let's just pray. If you guys like, let's just pray. And let's just, let's recognize that God's love is with us and for us,

that the gift of his spirit is available to those who just come to Jesus and look at the Son of Man lifted up to die for the sins of the world because he loves us. Amen. You guys, thank you for listening to Exploring My Strange Bible podcast. That's the end of this series. It was a 10-part series.

Man, gosh, there were so many good things that came together in my own mind and heart and life as I was helping contribute to this teaching series many years ago. And we're going to start a new series coming up in the next episode, and you'll find out what that is when it happens. So cheers. We'll see you guys next time.