What must I do

Sermon given at Grace UMC 5/29/16

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  John 3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." ³ Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" ⁵ Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷ "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

A grandfather found his grandson, jumping up and down in his playpen, crying at the top of his voice. When Johnnie saw his grandfather, he reached up his little chubby hands and said, “Out, Gramp, out.” It was only natural for Grandfather to reach down to lift the little fellow out of his predicament; but as he did, the mother of the child stepped up and said, “No, Johnnie, you are being punished, so you must stay in.” The grandfather was at a loss to know what to do. The child’s tears and chubby hands reached deep into his heart, but the mother’s firmness in correcting her son for misbehavior must not be lightly taken. Here was a problem of love versus law, but love found a way. The grandfather could not take the youngster out of the playpen, so he crawled in with him. God did not spare Paul and Silas the suffering and imprisonment, but He did come down into the prison with them. God did not keep the three Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace, but He went into the furnace with them. God will not always deliver us from trouble and heartache, but He has promised grace for every situation of life.—By Fred W. Parsons, These Times, March 1969.

This morning I want to talk to you about salvation. Now everyone in here has probably heard a message of salvation at least once in their life or you wouldn’t be here in the first place. I believe that there is one message that concerns all of us in regards to what God is offering through Jesus. But because there are many people who interpret the scriptures, there are as many interpretations of those scriptures as well. There are those who believe that from birth you are predestined to be saved or not saved and that salvation is God’s decision on you before you are born. If that were the case I wonder what would be the point in me being here offering a message of hope if in fact it has already been decided for you anyway? Then there are those that believe that once you give your life to Jesus, offer Him your heart and confess your sins, then the rest of your life you are good. In other words, nothing really has to change because your future is secured. I guess in a sense that means that you could then go out and commit murder and still assure that you have a place in heaven. Finally there is the Methodist understanding. Now I say Methodist even though a great many Protestants believe what we believe. That salvation is about God’s grace. Plain and simple, God loves you and God was willing to come into the world in the flesh and sacrifice His life on the cross so that you can be free of the consequences of sin. But that in in of itself is not enough. We must ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, to be baptized in the power of that spirit so that we can become a new creation within the Kingdom of God. What is old becomes new and what is new is different than what was before.

In order to receive this infusion of God called the Holy Spirit, we must believe in Christ. Simple really, God loves us beyond measure and we must love God back with all that we are and then we are to love our neighbor in the same way. That is the message of the Gospel that was conveyed to Nicodemus and then through that message to us. It is simple and yet it is important that we hear the message over and over again. It is not enough to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, even demons know that Jesus is that. The question comes whether or not you have Jesus in your heart and you have allowed the Holy Spirit to indwell in you and make you a new creation. If we continue to act like the folks we see in the streets every day and no change takes place, we folks who are called Methodist begin to question whether or not salvation has happened. You see when you give your life to Christ, when you open your heart to Jesus, you cannot stay the same. Suddenly the world looks different and you act different. Why? Because your heart now belongs to God and you have a love for one another that is unwavering, unconditional and non-judgmental.

When we give our lives to Christ we are forever changed to be the people of God that shares that love in the world. Think for a moment what the world would be like without the people we call followers of Jesus. There would be no love in the world except for love of self. We see a lot of that in the world around us. Those who have would continue to strive to have more and those less fortunate would continue to starve, be homeless and ill. That was the world of Jesus day and I believe it to be the world of today. We have lots of work to do. In order to assure our salvation continues until the day we pass over, we need to renew our commitment to God daily through prayer, through connecting to God and through our love. God gives us gifts and talents to be used to change those in the world around us into a better place. What we do matters and what we do is driven by what we believe. Jesus said to Nicodemus, ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

At night no one would see him (Nicodemus). At night he would avoid awkward questions from the other religious leaders. At night he could spend time with Jesus without anyone knowing. If he could speak with Jesus at night when no one was around, maybe he could begin a relationship with Jesus without having to make any real changes. He could follow Jesus without it impacting his job. In fact, his friends and family wouldn’t even have to know. He could talk to Jesus at night and quietly make a decision in his heart to believe in Jesus; that way it wouldn’t disrupt his comfortable and established life. That sounds like a lot of fans I know. Fans are happy to follow Jesus as long as that doesn’t require any significant changes or have negative implications. Here is the reality that Nicodemus is about ready to have impressed on him: There is no way to follow Jesus without him interfering with your life. Following Jesus will cost you something. Following Jesus will always cost you something. Kyle Idleman, "Not a Fan" (p. 30)

Are you truly in a place where your life belongs to God? If your actions, deeds and words do not tell the world that you are different then is the Holy Spirit in you and has your heart been changed? God is love, pure and simple. So let us love God and love one another and go out and change the world.