John 3:1-17, "Mission of God"
June 11th Mission of God (Trinity Sunday), John 3:1-17.
3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council (elite of the religious elite- powerful- a lot to lose if his reputation was tarnished). 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 gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You 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. [Nicodemus was asking a question of function- apparently the birth metaphor was not good enough for him and he wanted to know how the spirit was actually reborn- let’s look at Jesus’ reply]
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 (or I gave you an “earthly” metaphor- of birth) 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(in Numbers 21), 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.
Immediate reflections: This is a weird conversation- flesh, spirit, born again womb questions, snakes, eternal life- wowzers
Foundational Belief:
The foundational belief of biblical justice and evangelism- is that God loves everyone- and wants to be made known in all nations-
Radical truth of pentecost- God’s Spirit is loose in the world and is spread by people, we are the carriers of God- the very Spirit of God is in us by faith
I talked about the daily battle of self vs. Spirit
(what does this text say:) What is the mission of God-???
Points:
Birth (bios) and birth (zoe/pneuma) are different- one is a divider the other an equalizer [expound]
this text includes both birth and death
Spiritual birth includes having people get real about death- “look to the snake/cross”- that death and life are linked- we need to die to self to really live- therefore we look at something that levels and kills our selfish self
God is committed to God’s mission- what’s the level of commitment? This is particularly important to realize today- what we call Trinity Sunday. Giving up Godself in eternal reality- we can’t comprehend that completely, but we get that God has laid the very nature on the line. God’s very nature is mission- God the parent, God our Savior and God our power source- Father Son and Holy Spirit- his essence and nature is beyond our comprehension- but we can tell that we know God by how God relates to us- God is relational- God’s purpose of mission is to be in a whole relationship with creation that is seeking also to be whole- so God is one- but is known as three, not because there are three Gods- but because God is opening up himself- in order that we can be whole- its like when I open my arms to hug danny- he may feel one arm, and the other and eventually my chest- but they are all part of the same body- and they are all needed for a whole hug
...So what commitment do we have- with our mind, body, Spirit and church?-
Mind- I hear a lot of time “the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it” a nice thought- but really? The Bible says sell all you have and give to the poor- turn the other cheek, love and pray for your enemy- challenging! Mark Twain’s quote “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that scare me, it’s the parts I do understand.” Sometimes the truths are straightforward- but it takes putting our will or soul to work. Also Paul has challenging ideas of faith, forgiveness, justice, etc.- we have to use our minds- God wants us to- a retreat into “false” simplicity is usually an attempt to protect our SELF
God has invested in us- God’s Spirit- what do we do with the creativity and imagination we have available- we are Given God’s ability to see that the world, our family, our community- can always be more loving and kind- but sometimes it seems the church is where imagination comes to die- we do things the same at all cost! When our founder, Jesus Christ, and our power source- the Holy Spirit of God- are constantly calling us to be about the work of renewing- the church at times can seem to be about the work or re-old-ing, Now I love history- but at times I am reaching back in time instead of embracing the present and the future, we aren’t called to save the past but rather to make our present life whole, reaching in, instead of reaching out, turning off our God-given minds- instead of turning loose God’s gifts in us. Jesus had challenging words for Nicodemus and the religious folk of His day- and I think we need to listen to that advice.
God loves the world- God does not hate the world
Sometimes we talk ourselves into the idea that God is an “out to get us” God
Joke- children, apples and cookies
God loved the world so God gave up part of God’s very own essence-
Is the word “saved” a tired Christian word? Could it use a little freshening up? What does it mean? What does the message read? What does Dale Bruner say?
Soothee- sodezo= heal, preserve, make whole---- the whole world- kosmos
We don’t have a condemning God- we have a loving God- those who assume God’s all about condemnation and doesn’t love us enough to come to us and give us a creative, selfless example of humble and forgiving love- are just heaping the condemnation on themselves- thats verse 18 for yah
I mean I feel like Nicodemus a lot of the time- “Okay Jesus I know you are from God, but...” but how can someone like me start fresh when I have been this way my whole life
Jesus preached righteousness as an inward condition- and outward visible activities
He loved the fringes- he didn’t equate disabilites with sin, he touched people that were “ritually” unclean, he valued children as if they were people- he taught women as if they were equal to men= believing in Him, thought Nicodemus- would mean disbelieving in much of what I have known
But it came down to this for Jesus and Nicodemus- do you want to be part of saving/making whole the world or do you just want to be part of a righteousness club- that waits for the Messiah to come back and retrieve the priveleged elect from the earth.
The good news is that we don’t change- as much as the Spirit changes us- and when it happens you know it and when you see it in someone else- it is exciting- the Spirit blows like the wind and pushes you into a new direction- all we have to do is be available and willing to receive God’s nudgings-
Nicodemus was blown in to meeting with Jesus by the Spirit and he received some nudges that night- and the rest of his life followed, according to John 19 Nicodemus is one of two who handled Jesus’ body- and he bought 75 pounds or myrhh and aloe and other spices- his life was not about himself any more- something had happened to him
And that’s why we come to worship together- because we need the Spirit to happen to us- to move us in the right direction- to fill us- INSPIRE us- with a stronger will, with creativity, with hope and love- so that we can go out and be about God’s mission of loving this wonderful world
Our loving and living God is on a mission to redeem the world- we are called not as observers- but as participants- we are missionaries- May we seek Jesus in the night and in the light, may the Spirit of God blow us where she wills, May our lives be full of Spirit and less of self, may we commit our minds, our hearts and bodies to loving this world.- Amen
3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council (elite of the religious elite- powerful- a lot to lose if his reputation was tarnished). 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 gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You 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. [Nicodemus was asking a question of function- apparently the birth metaphor was not good enough for him and he wanted to know how the spirit was actually reborn- let’s look at Jesus’ reply]
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 (or I gave you an “earthly” metaphor- of birth) 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(in Numbers 21), 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.
Immediate reflections: This is a weird conversation- flesh, spirit, born again womb questions, snakes, eternal life- wowzers
Foundational Belief:
The foundational belief of biblical justice and evangelism- is that God loves everyone- and wants to be made known in all nations-
Radical truth of pentecost- God’s Spirit is loose in the world and is spread by people, we are the carriers of God- the very Spirit of God is in us by faith
I talked about the daily battle of self vs. Spirit
(what does this text say:) What is the mission of God-???
Points:
Birth (bios) and birth (zoe/pneuma) are different- one is a divider the other an equalizer [expound]
this text includes both birth and death
Spiritual birth includes having people get real about death- “look to the snake/cross”- that death and life are linked- we need to die to self to really live- therefore we look at something that levels and kills our selfish self
God is committed to God’s mission- what’s the level of commitment? This is particularly important to realize today- what we call Trinity Sunday. Giving up Godself in eternal reality- we can’t comprehend that completely, but we get that God has laid the very nature on the line. God’s very nature is mission- God the parent, God our Savior and God our power source- Father Son and Holy Spirit- his essence and nature is beyond our comprehension- but we can tell that we know God by how God relates to us- God is relational- God’s purpose of mission is to be in a whole relationship with creation that is seeking also to be whole- so God is one- but is known as three, not because there are three Gods- but because God is opening up himself- in order that we can be whole- its like when I open my arms to hug danny- he may feel one arm, and the other and eventually my chest- but they are all part of the same body- and they are all needed for a whole hug
...So what commitment do we have- with our mind, body, Spirit and church?-
Mind- I hear a lot of time “the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it” a nice thought- but really? The Bible says sell all you have and give to the poor- turn the other cheek, love and pray for your enemy- challenging! Mark Twain’s quote “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that scare me, it’s the parts I do understand.” Sometimes the truths are straightforward- but it takes putting our will or soul to work. Also Paul has challenging ideas of faith, forgiveness, justice, etc.- we have to use our minds- God wants us to- a retreat into “false” simplicity is usually an attempt to protect our SELF
God has invested in us- God’s Spirit- what do we do with the creativity and imagination we have available- we are Given God’s ability to see that the world, our family, our community- can always be more loving and kind- but sometimes it seems the church is where imagination comes to die- we do things the same at all cost! When our founder, Jesus Christ, and our power source- the Holy Spirit of God- are constantly calling us to be about the work of renewing- the church at times can seem to be about the work or re-old-ing, Now I love history- but at times I am reaching back in time instead of embracing the present and the future, we aren’t called to save the past but rather to make our present life whole, reaching in, instead of reaching out, turning off our God-given minds- instead of turning loose God’s gifts in us. Jesus had challenging words for Nicodemus and the religious folk of His day- and I think we need to listen to that advice.
God loves the world- God does not hate the world
Sometimes we talk ourselves into the idea that God is an “out to get us” God
Joke- children, apples and cookies
God loved the world so God gave up part of God’s very own essence-
Is the word “saved” a tired Christian word? Could it use a little freshening up? What does it mean? What does the message read? What does Dale Bruner say?
Soothee- sodezo= heal, preserve, make whole---- the whole world- kosmos
We don’t have a condemning God- we have a loving God- those who assume God’s all about condemnation and doesn’t love us enough to come to us and give us a creative, selfless example of humble and forgiving love- are just heaping the condemnation on themselves- thats verse 18 for yah
I mean I feel like Nicodemus a lot of the time- “Okay Jesus I know you are from God, but...” but how can someone like me start fresh when I have been this way my whole life
Jesus preached righteousness as an inward condition- and outward visible activities
He loved the fringes- he didn’t equate disabilites with sin, he touched people that were “ritually” unclean, he valued children as if they were people- he taught women as if they were equal to men= believing in Him, thought Nicodemus- would mean disbelieving in much of what I have known
But it came down to this for Jesus and Nicodemus- do you want to be part of saving/making whole the world or do you just want to be part of a righteousness club- that waits for the Messiah to come back and retrieve the priveleged elect from the earth.
The good news is that we don’t change- as much as the Spirit changes us- and when it happens you know it and when you see it in someone else- it is exciting- the Spirit blows like the wind and pushes you into a new direction- all we have to do is be available and willing to receive God’s nudgings-
Nicodemus was blown in to meeting with Jesus by the Spirit and he received some nudges that night- and the rest of his life followed, according to John 19 Nicodemus is one of two who handled Jesus’ body- and he bought 75 pounds or myrhh and aloe and other spices- his life was not about himself any more- something had happened to him
And that’s why we come to worship together- because we need the Spirit to happen to us- to move us in the right direction- to fill us- INSPIRE us- with a stronger will, with creativity, with hope and love- so that we can go out and be about God’s mission of loving this wonderful world
Our loving and living God is on a mission to redeem the world- we are called not as observers- but as participants- we are missionaries- May we seek Jesus in the night and in the light, may the Spirit of God blow us where she wills, May our lives be full of Spirit and less of self, may we commit our minds, our hearts and bodies to loving this world.- Amen
posted by Palouse Fed. Church at 11:28 AM
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