Sermon(Jn 3:1-15): Look to the eternal life

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025256395

 

>> 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. .... 11 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. .... 14 And 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. (Jn 3:1-15) <<

 

You know Wu-i-dok-kyeong(牛耳讀經: To read the words of Scripture to the ear of a cow (= To preach to deafears)) and Dong-mun-seo-dab(東問西答: To say of things of the west when asked about the east). These are proverbs expressed in Chinese characters, having the meaning that there was not a good communication between the two or among some people. You can use the analogy Wu-i-dok-kyeong when a man of low intelligence does not understand what you say, however hard you may try to teach him a great truth; and Dong-mun-seo-dab when he, not perceiving your point, answers irrelevantly. But sometimes the questioner himself has a low intelligence and can't understand the right answer of the replier, one-sidedly saying the replier is in Dong-mun-seo-dab.

 

My brethren, Jesus didn't come to the world to make us know him just as a good teacher. Jesus came to us to give us the 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. (Jn 3:16)" We can never gain eternal life just by believing that Jesus is a good teacher, or a good teacher from God. In order to gain the eternal life, we must believe in Jesus, the Savior and God who became a man. There are futile efforts in the world. The most futile effort of humans is to come to Jesus in order to hear well-wishing remarks or a lecture on ethics as from a good teacher, like Nicodemus in the text. As a matter of fact, many people miss the very important thing, the eternal life Jesus gives, because they know him just as a good teacher. Jesus said, "Do not love your parents, brothers and sisters more than me." In terms of ethics, it is not right to love a stranger Jesus more than your parents or brothers. Nevertheless we must love Jesus more than our parents and brothers to obtain eternal life. The Devil instills the idea, 'Jesus is a teacher,' into many people, preventing them from meeting Jesus at a higher level, and from getting to eternal life. Jesus, today in the conversation with Nicodemus, intends to remove this false husk, the title 'teacher'.

 

Generally, you need to have basic understanding to understand high-level truths. Those who do not have an ability to read English can't study with textbooks written in English for the third or fourth year students at college. How can a man who is not good at math learn natural science or engineering? The same is true here. In order to gain eternal life, we must first know who can grant us the eternal life and who the giver of the eternal life is. Jesus declares himself to be the giver of eternal life. "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. (Jn 3:14-15)" Jesus also says that he came from heaven. "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. (Jn 3:13)" My brethren, how can you get the eternal life without believing this truth and this fact? We must know and believe this truth to obtain the eternal life and to be members of the saints in heaven.

 

But the truth mentioned here can never be understood by the wisdom of an ordinary man, or with the head of an ordinary man belonging to the world. Jesus tells us the secret that the Holy Spirit's intervention is absolutely necessary for us to understand the truth belonging to heaven. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (v. 3)" "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (v. 5)" 'Is born anew' in verse 3 can be understood as 'is born from above'. Nicodemus understood that expression as 'is born again', while Jesus explained the expression to him in the meaning 'is born from above', and at the same time used it in the meaning 'is born again (anew)'. What on earth is the real meaning of the expression 'is born of the Spirit (v. 5)'? Does it mean only 'We live, with the Holy Spirit in us'?

 

We think that the divinity of Jesus is caused by the begetting act of the Father while his humanity (the human spirit and flesh) by the bearing process of Mary his worldly mother. Likewise, the saying 'We are born of the Spirit' means primarily 'The Holy Spirit has borne us anew'. Just as God the Son who was a perfect God came into this world with human flesh (and spirit) through the 'bearing' of Mary, so we as perfect humans are born anew God's children through the 'bearing' of the Holy Spirit and are to enter the heaven. Of course, nothing of the divinity is added to us when the Holy Spirit bears us anew. Our spirit and flesh is just human spirit and flesh even after we are born again of the Spirit. Nevertheless the Spirit dwells in us if we are born again, although nothing of the divinity of God is added to our being. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are. (1 Cor 3:16-17)" >>If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (1 Cor 8:13-17)<< Nicodemus, a man full of Judaism, never knew that the Holy Spirit bears us anew to make us children of God. He knew just this: Humans are servants of God, so they must meet God in fear and with the heart of a servant. How could a man with the spirit of slave understand the status and life and the eternal life after death of those people with the spirit of adopted children? It was a quite strange story of another world to him. There were clear contrasts here: teacher versus Savior God, spirit of slave versus spirit of adopted son, and servant versus son. We children of God should not just think that the Holy Spirit has come upon us. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit has borne us anew. To visit someone else's house is one thing, and to be adopted into someone’s family is another.

 

"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. (v. 14, 15)" Jesus told Nicodemus another crucial secret concerning himself. The secret was that he was to die on the cross, and that many people would gain eternal life thanks to that death. This didn't happen yet when Nicodemus visited him, however it was very important thing Nicodemus must know. How can you talk about Jesus without considering his cross? The crucifixion of Jesus is infinitely more important than all Jesus' good life. The crucified Jesus is the more important Jesus Nicodemus must know than the good teacher Jesus. Of course, Nicodemus couldn't think of Jesus' cross when Jesus said so. But later he may have recollected what Jesus had said before, when he saw Jesus' crucifixion. "Nicodemus also, who had at first come to him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. (Jn 19:39-40)"

 

>>Nicodemus said to him, "How can this be?" (v. 9)<< Naturally, for Nicodemus, who was on the level of Judaism, not receiving the light of the Spirit, everything is mixed up, and that he couldn't understand Jesus' sayings. However even Jesus' disciples at first didn't escape such a situation. It was not until Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later, and not until the disciples received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost that they also certainly realized that Jesus was the Savior. Peter said, "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know ㅡ this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. .... Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:22-36)" My brethren, sometimes a truth can be understood after a long time. For thousands of years Christians have acknowledged that the God exists in the (form of) Trinity, not knowing thoroughly what it meant. We see it uncertainly as in the mirror now, but we'll understand all clearly when we go to heaven. He who rejects a truth because he does not understand it is completely a man of unbelief or becomes a heretic who will lose the eternal life forever. "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (Jn 14:26)" This saying of Jesus' means 'Accept it as a truth even if you do not understand it now.' My brethren, believe and obey the words of the Scripture, the Christian doctrine, and the sermons of your pastor even if they are so difficult that you can't understand them well.

 

Nicodemus could understand that the miracles Jesus had worked were the works from God indeed, but he couldn't understand the miracles proved Jesus' divinity and his status of the Savior; because it was too great a truth. Nicodemus couldn't notice that he was seeing now the God who created the world and who is present in human flesh in front of him. How could he even imagine it! Jesus told of the (believers') birth of the Spirit, the cross, the eternal life, and the origin of his divinity for Nicodemus and the disciples round about. My brethren, today Jesus wants to tell also you about those truths. That's the truth you must know. The basis for our eternal life lies in the fact that Jesus, the God, died on the cross for us, and we have obtained the eternal life because the Holy Spirit have borne us to be the children of God, and dwells in us so that we can know Jesus the Savior rightly and believe in him. My brethren, look to the eternal life. Do not miss the eternal life. Your eternal life is right in the hands of our Savior Jesus.

 

May the grace of Jesus be with you!

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                       - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -