Are You Clear?
In church and Bible studies and Sunday schools we often talk about how we live in a fallen world, don’t we? There are many competing things in the world for our devotion, our understanding, our faith and our focus. The world would have us believe that there is no God, or if there is a God He is mean and vindictive, harsh and looking to punish. We, in our insecurity, often find this easy to believe because we feel so unworthy of a Holy, perfect God, so it is fairly common for people to buy into “the new truth”. After all, we know our thoughts and temptations and how we so often “give in”, why would God love us? So, what we do is make up things that we believe will make us more acceptable to a “new God” that will not expect perfection, or judge us by less absolute standards.
I ran across just such a web site, geared to golfers, that I thought was pretty funny and I wanted to use this today as an introduction into our topic of Are You Clear? Now, I have to tell you, if you don’t take this tongue in cheek that it is downright sacrilegious, but for humor it is wonderfully funny.
The site that I ran across was the First Church of Tiger Woods. They have prayers, hymns, a pastor, all sorts of things one would find in a church
In Fact they even have the Ten Commandments of the First Church of Tiger Woods.
Here they are:
I. Thou shall not wear red on any day but Sunday.
II. Thou shall not worship Duval or Garcia above Tiger.
III. Thou shall not doubt Tiger's ability to recover from any deficit.
IV. Thou shall always keep holy the Masters.
V. Thou shall not question why Tiger does not win EVERY week.
VI. Thou shall not scream "You da man!" after any Tiger shot since to call him a man would be demeaning.
VII. Thou shall not root for any golfer other than Tiger, unless he is not entered in the tournament. (Special dispensations are available through the First Church for events in which Jack Nicklaus is also entered.)
VIII. Thou shall not take the name Eldrick, unless in vain.
IX. Thou shall not covet Tiger's game.
X. Thou shall pay no attention to Tiger's apparent flaws. (we at the First Church are sure that there are good reasons for Tiger's over-commercialization, temper, choice of girlfriend, lack of college degree, conflict of interest with CBS sportsline, and acceptance of appearance fees through his deal with Buick. One can not question the will of God.) 1
Pretty Crazy isn’t it? I wonder what Tiger thinks of all this. Well, that is just one example of the things we deify in our culture. Unfortunately, many of the other things one could classify like this are not so funny, and they can be very confusing to someone who is still searching to find truth and earnestly searching in order to live life in a meaningful way.
In John 3:1 – 21 there is the story of Nicodemus, a Pharisee. Nicodemus was a searcher for the meaningful life, like many today. He was initially attracted to Jesus because of the miracles He did. I imagine there would have been many that would have been attracted by what they saw Jesus do; I know I would have been. Can you imagine witnessing firsthand someone being healed right before your eyes, or the feeding of the five thousand with just a couple of fish and a few loaves? So, Nicodemus wanted to know more about this Jesus and the doctrines that He taught. This is significant because Nicodemus himself was “ the teacher of the Jews” ( John 3:10 , literal translation) and he had great respect for the Teacher from Galilee. John 3:1 – 21.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ”
4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit b gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You c must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Like I said, Nicodemus was a Pharisee, which meant he lived by the strictest possible religious rules. Not all the Pharisees were hypocrites even though we might get that from Jesus’ comments we find in Matthew. No, the evidence shows that Nicodemus was deeply sincere in his quest for truth. He came to Jesus by night, not so much because he was afraid of being seen, (Though that was probably one of the reasons) but most likely, also, because he wanted to have a quiet uninterrupted conversation with the new Teacher, who, as he said, had “come from God.” The fact that Nicodemus used the plural pronoun “we,” and Jesus responded with the plural “you”, which we read in John 3:7, may indicate that Nicodemus was representing the religious leaders. He was a man of high moral character, deep religious hunger, and yet profoundly could not see the forest through the trees. He was spiritually blind. Let me ask you, do you know someone who lives a moral life, seems to really want the truth, and yet cannot see the forest for the trees? They may even spout Bible verses at you, pray with fervor, and do good things to help other people, but there is just something missing. Usually the something missing is joy. They just don’t show the joy we talk about, because they are so caught up in the rules. Nicodemus was like this. His heart was in the right place, but there was something he just didn’t get. He was still in that “works” thing. So Jesus gave him some more information and, in order to instruct Nicodemus in the basics of salvation, our Lord used four quite different illustrations.
The first, and probably the most famous one is Birth. Jesus started with what was familiar, birth – as a universal experience. When Jesus said “You must be born again” the word translated “again” also means “from above.” Though all human beings have experienced natural birth on earth, if they expect to go to heaven, they must experience a supernatural spiritual birth from above.
Once again, we meet with the blindness of sinners: this well-educated religious leader, Nicodemus, did not understand what the Savior was talking about! Jesus was speaking about a spiritual birth, but Nicodemus thought only of a physical birth. The situation is no different today. When you talk with people about being born again, they often begin to discuss their family’s religious heritage, their church membership, religious ceremonies, and so on.
Being a patient teacher, Jesus picked up on Nicodemus’ words and further explained the new birth. To be “born of water” means to be born physically (how did he say it – “enter a second time into his mother’s womb”). Don’t forget, baptism is not a birth – but a death to the “old Life”, and a “raising” to new life. To be born again means to be born of the Spirit. Just as there are two parents for physical birth, so there are two “parents” for spiritual birth: This may be a new concept and this may explain something to you. The first “parent” as it were is the Spirit of God John 3:5, which we just read “
I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
The second “parent” is the Word of God James 1:18
18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.
And then in 1 Peter 1:23
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and, when the sinner believes, imparts the life of God.
The next thing Jesus uses in trying to teach Nicodemus is the wind, verse 8:
“8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
It is likely that the evening wind was blowing, right about the time Nicodemus and Jesus sat on the housetop conversing. The word wind in both Hebrew and Greek can also be translated “spirit.” One of the symbols of the Spirit of God in the Bible is the wind or breath. We find that in Job 33:4 ; John 20:22 ; Acts 2:2.
Like the wind, the Spirit is invisible but powerful; and you cannot explain or predict the movements of the wind.
When Jesus used this symbol, Nicodemus should have readily remembered Ezekiel 37:1–14 . The prophet saw a valley full of dead bones; but when he prophesied to the wind, the Spirit came and gave the bones life. Again, it was the combination of the Spirit of God and the Word of God that gave life. The nation of Israel (including Nicodemus and his fellow council members) was dead and hopeless; but, despite the morality and religion of the people, they needed the life that only the Spirit of God provides.
Everyone who is born of the Spirit is like the wind: you cannot fully explain or predict either the wind or the child of God! For that matter, human creation is still a mystery to me, in spite of all that we know about anatomy and physiology. I get the seed and the egg thing, but what we turn into is still mind boggling to me.
The next example Jesus uses is the serpent on the pole. Isn’t it just like God to use the enemy’s symbol for his own purposes? This is when the Jews were in the desert and complaining against God and Moses, Numbers 21: 6 – 9
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
The verb lifted up has a dual meaning: to be crucified as in John 8:28; and then again in 12:32–34, and to be glorified and exalted which is the more common understanding. In his Gospel, John points out that our Lord’s crucifixion was actually the means of His glorification. The cross was not the end of His glory; it was the beginning of the means of His glory. From crucifixion to ascension, and ultimately sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Much as the serpent was lifted up on that pole, so the Son of God would be lifted up on a cross. Why? To save us from sin and death. For the Israelites, the solution to the “serpent problem” was not in destroying the serpents, finding a miracle cure, ignoring them, legislating against serpents, or shinnying up the pole. The answer was in looking, by faith, at the uplifted serpent. In other words there was a new relationship to the serpent. What the people thought was killing them, what we think today might restrict us, is really the thing that was saving them. God is not restricting us from having fun, enjoying our lives, and keeping us down as many would have you think, it is what gives us true life – not controlled by substances, or unhappy relationships, or debt, or lack – of any kind. Looking to Jesus for the answers to our problems is the opposite of what the world would tell us.
The whole world has been afflicted by sin, and “the wages of sin is death”. God sent His Son to die, not only for the Israelites, but for a whole world. How is a person born from above? How is he or she saved from eternal perishing? By believing in Jesus Christ; by looking to Him in faith.
The last example Jesus used here was light and darkness. John 3:20 – 21
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
This analogy is a common one found in the Gospel. Why will sinners not come into the “light of life”? Because they love the darkness! They want to persist in their evil deeds, and often because they perceive those deeds make them “feel good”. This keeps them from coming to the light; for the closer the sinner gets to the light, the more their sins are exposed. It is not “intellectual problems” that keep people from trusting Christ; it is the moral and spiritual blindness that keeps them loving the darkness and hating the light.
In my weekly sermon club one of the members mentioned the first time he walked into a bar, he said he was “blinded by the darkness”. Think about how many things we do in the darkness, because we don’t want to see our own sin. We feel that if the darkness somehow obscures our vision then it “isn’t so bad”. Our blindness sometimes is voluntary. There is a term for that, it is called denial. And contrary to the opinion of some, denial is not a river in Egypt. But I believe it is a river of thought we have running through our heads at times, and there is just as much a danger in drowning in that river as there is in falling into the rapids of Nile itself.
Please note that Nicodemus finally did “come to the light.” He was in the “midnight of confusion”, but eventually he came out into the “sunlight of confession” when he identified with Christ at Calvary . He realized that the uplifted Savior was indeed the Son of God.
So here is the News You Can Use for today. Confusion is all around you, don’t be surprised by it. Other people will tell you the truth according to them, or according to the world. Like Nicodemus, we should not be blinded by what others tell us. God is a loving Father, not a harsh task master. He is the maker of the way to Himself, not the heavily armored “keeper of the doorway”. All of us can fall victim to what others may say, but ask yourself how familiar are those other people with the Word of God? Do they know the same Jesus you know? If the answer is no, or even if you are not sure, then you need to stick to your guns and not accept it. If the others in your life are reading the word, having fellowship with other believers, and praying as just a part of their life, chances are they are telling you the truth, but you still need to find out for yourself, YOU read the word, YOU fellowship with other believers, and YOU pray – asking God your questions. Trust in the answers He gives you in this, and take nothing as the truth that YOU have not looked at for yourself. There are many of us who have had proven over and over again that only truth you will find in this world comes from God, not your friend or neighbor or public figure.
And as much as I enjoy watching Tiger Woods with a golf club in his hand, I won’t model my life after a mere mortal, no matter what the First Church of Tiger Woods says.
Look, I think there is a place for humor and light heartedness just as much as anyone, ask my friends. But now we’re talking serious, we’ve got to be serious sometime, and now is the time. Are you clear about whom YOUR God is? Are you clear about what it means to have this relationship? Are you clear as to what it does NOT mean? It does not mean you are to be perfect. This relationship does mean that you are to be satisfied, loved and secure, but you can only find it in the risen One. It is the only place where satisfaction, true love and security come from, all others are false, misleading and not for real. Are you clear about that? I pray that God will give you clarity beyond your confusion, security beyond your fears, and love beyond your own self doubt.
