Nicodemus' Story - Part 4 of 5
John 3:14-18 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.
Jesus takes the gospel story back a few steps here. He has been talking about the role of the Holy Spirit up until now. Now he talks about his role and the role of the Father. The whole trinity must be addressed in order to answer Nicodemus' questions. And in doing so, we hear the complete gospel story...
The Father, out his great love for all of us, sent Jesus to die for us. Since God can't be in the kind of relationship with us that he desires while our hearts are unclean, through Jesus' shed blood, our hearts can be cleansed if we believe in Jesus. But this is not the whole gospel.
There are two terrible misunderstandings about these verses in our culture. The first is that phrase "who believe in him." In our culture, people believe in Big Foot or Peter Pan or Santa. This is not what belief means here. It means so much more. This isn't a perfect example, but the person who looks a chair over and decides that it can hold their weight, but doesn't sit in the chair - that is just surface belief - the same kind of belief that allows one to believe in Santa. Then there is the kind of belief that one might call "trust" where you actually trust the chair and sit down in it letting it take on your weight. But that doesn't completely capture what "believing in Jesus" means either. Real faith is not complete until it is lived out and a rebirth takes place.
The second misunderstanding is that phrase "eternal life." People think it is synonymous with heaven - where one goes when they die. But eternal life is what happens when we enter into a relationship with God - in fact, it is the relationship with God. And it starts here on earth.
Most people end the gospel story with "if you believe hard enough in the story of Jesus, then you get a free ticket to heaven when you die." But that really misses the gospel. Some even throw in, "if you believe hard enough in the story of Jesus and feel sorry enough for your sins, then you get a free ticket to heaven when you die." But that still misses the gospel story. We can't believe hard enough, be sorry enough, or be try hard enough. We can't. We can't do anything to earn it. So that is where the Holy Spirit comes in...
God loved us and sent Jesus so that his shed blood would cleanse our hearts so that the Holy Spirit could do its transformation in us - rebirthing us - setting us aside and empowering us for service to God. Eternal life happens when the Holy Spirit puts us into service for God. This is rebirth.
These verses aren't about going to heaven, they are about being born again into eternal life. We believe Jesus was who he said he was, we trust his way to be authentic, and all along the Holy Spirit is transforming us putting us into service for God.
Many people believe they will go to heaven when they die - and perhaps they will. But the real question is "are we living an eternal life now?" Have we allowed the Holy Spirit to transform us? Do we desire to be put in the service of God?
This is a 5 part post... more tomorrow...
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