Losing My Religion

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?" 10Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." - John 3:1-21

The title of this message may bring the REM song by the same title to mind. Have you ever read those lyrics? Here’s a couple/few lines:

"That's me in the corner - that's me in the spotlight-losing my religion …Every whisper of every waking hour I'm choosing my confessions …like a hurt lost and blinded fool/Oh no I've said too much I set it up"

I don’t think I know all that the song is about, but I think I hear someone who simultaneously feels cornered and exposed and who is struggling with what to reveal and what to conceal. I read an interview with Michael Stipe, who wrote the lyrics, and he said it was based on a southern expression that loosely equates to reaching your wits end. I am from the south and have never heard the expression. So, I dug deeper and discovered it can mean coming up against something or someone that so profoundly challenges your core convictions and view of the world that it changes them. You “lose your religion” and are unable to look at life and the world the same way again.

I think that is what happened to Nicodemus when he met Jesus. He came out under the cover of darkness and met the Light of the world, and I don’t think he was ever able to return to life as he had known it before. It is no wonder he came out at night - the original Nick at Night. After all he had a lot to lose. He was not only an elite of the religious establishment. He was also a politically powerful ruler - a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest tribunal of the Jews, and he was a respected scholar and teacher in Israel. Losing his religion would cost, but keeping it was costing more. For all of his religious knowledge, prestige and power, he did not have an intimate, real relationship with God. He had a photocopy of a dollar bill rather than the real deal and maybe you do too.

So many professing Christians have a religion about Christ rather than a relationship with Him. Like Nicodemus, you know the Scriptures and the rituals and how to get things done in church, but you don’t know Christ. I know about Barak Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton. I don’t know any of them personally, and they don’t know me, which is not a big deal. Coming face to face with Christ one day and being surprised to hear from Him then the words “I never knew you” is the biggest deal anyone will ever face. The good news is that we can know Him personally now. That is why He came - not to condemn the world, but to bear the world's condemnation so that "the world might be saved through Him."

So, how? How do you trade in your old religion for a new relationship? As Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again (or from above).” Acknowledging we have to start life over sounds good to those of us who know we made a mess of our lives, but it is more difficult for those who, like Nicodemus, have done relatively well. Relatively hard or easy, it is absolutely essential. Flesh (our natural, fallen, sinful nature) only gives birth to flesh, and no matter how we dress it up with religious garments and such, it will always remain spiritually-dead flesh. You, me and everyone else must be supernaturally born from above to enjoy a reconciled relationship with God. Like our natural birth, we do not cause or control our spiritual birth. God, the Holy Spirit whom we do not cause or control anymore than we cause or control the wind, moves as He wills to give us a new life under His control - a life in which He will move us in often unexpected ways. Our place under the control of God’s Spirit, His Divine Wind, is something like that of a sail boat moved by natural winds. We simply raise our sails into position to be moved by exercising God-given faith in Christ.

Natural religions, even ones that use Jesus’ name, involve some means of working your way into God’s favor. To receive the relationship God is inviting us to enjoy, we simply need to look to Jesus Christ, who has finished all the work required for us to be reconciled to God, and put our faith in (trust in/reliance on) Him - the One God lifted up. Part of you may feel like “that’s too easy” or like asking “where is the honor in that?” The answer is that all the honor and glory for accomplishing our salvation are with God where they belong. Jesus has lived the God-pleasing sinless life that we have not, and He has absorbed God's punishment for our transgressions. The work is finished. The invitation is open. The question is will you trade in your religion, which will strand you in the darkness of self-righteousness and self-condemnation, for a new life-saving, soul-freeing, real relationship with God that will move you His way all the way home to paradise?

Cleaning House

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." 17His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your House will consume Me.”18The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" 19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"21But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. 23Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. 24But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. - John 2:13-25

Imagine your walk into church this morning was a little different. Imagine the first person you met this morning, the greeter, politely handed you bulletin and said, “That will be one dollar please.” The polite greeter then directed you to an offering exchange table where you exchanged your currency for official SoundLife offering chips. Let’s say the exchange rate was about 2 to 1, so your $200 in cash became one hundred dollars worth of chips with a church logo. Next you discovered we were observing communion today as you paid $5 for a Chicklet sized piece of unleavened bread and another $5 for a thimble full of official fruit of the vine. Would you have felt blessed and ready to worship or something else? I suspect something else, and you would be in good company. When Jesus, who was the true Passover ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ and the true Temple of God (His body was God’s dwelling) arrived at the representative temple during the Passover and found profiteers making a buck off God’s name rather than the prayers of worshippers honoring God’s name, the tables were bound to turn. Jesus knew well the inspired writings of Isaiah that expressed God’s intent for His temple, and He was passionate about the purity of worship. “Foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship Him….these I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer….For My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" - Isaiah 56:6-7.

That was not happening and Jesus was good and angry. He was not out of control in a sinful rage. He was passionately purifying God’s house from the polluted practices that were defiling it and dishonoring God. He continues to do the same today. God graciously reveals to us in His inspired written word that we, the body of Christ, are now the temple of God, and the Spirit of Christ, who indwells every true believer, zealously works within us to clean out the clutter and greed that defile us and choke out the living word implanted in us.

Jesus said “stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” Let’s look at that, because I fear Jesus would overturn the tables in a number of our churches if He walked into them this morning. Here’s the deal. Christians in America, the world’s largest free market economy, rather than buying into dreams of greed need to convincingly communicate that some things are just too precious to sell. Some things are necessarily ruined when you sell them. Hillary Clinton was rightfully upset a couple of weeks ago when David Shuster from MSNBC accused her of “pimping out” her daughter Chelsea. I know he was just trying to use street vernacular and sound hip or whatever, but he struck a nerve and rightly so. A mother selling her daughter, pimping her out, is unthinkable to any mother with any decency, because children are too precious to sell. Likewise, love is a gift to be given. It gets ruined when it is sold. We arrest people for selling or purchasing ‘love’, because we intuitively know selling love ruins love. It takes something beautiful and makes it ugly.

As beautiful and precious as children are and love is, God is even more beautiful and more precious, and He and His bride, the church, are not meant to be for sale. We should think of selling God’s Gospel and of making a buck off God’s name, as if it were just another brand name, with the same disgust that we think of selling ‘love’ or selling children. It is no coincidence that God refers to the apostate church of the end times as a harlot. God’s church is the ultimate, supernaturally-instituted charity offering the ultimate Gift, God, to the needy, namely everyone - absolutely free of charge. It needs to be clear to all that the church is not just another business with something to sell. Toward that end, we need to carefully avoid using manipulative marketing techniques in the name of relevance. Such practices alert people to protect themselves against attempts to take from them. We should only use straightforward ways to assure people we are a true charity with something wonderful to give.

So, if we do not sell anything, how are we to be financed and continue ministering? God’s answer is pure and simple - giving. Churches are set-up to be exclusively funded through the generosity of cheerful givers, who freely give without being manipulated or coerced in any way. Let’s turn the tables in a society obsessed with siezing every opporunity to capitalize and honor God by operating under the banner of true love “Not for Sale.”

Wedding Wine

"1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 4And Jesus said to her," Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."5His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." 6Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. 7Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." So they filled them up to the brim. 8And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him. 9When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom,10and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." 11This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him." - John 2:1-11

I recently read that when the Roman Emperor Claudius could not recruit enough soldiers for his campaigns he blamed it on men not wanting to leave lovers and families. So, he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. St. Valentine was a priest who secretly married couples. When he was caught and jailed, many visited and showered him with notes and flowers. One such visitor was the prison guard’s daughter. Before being hauled off to be executed, the priest left her a note of thanks and signed it ‘Your Valentine’. The day of his martyrdom is celebrated as Valentine’s Day. I am not sure of the historical accuracy of that account, but it sounded good.

An account I am much more sure of - certain of in fact - is the record of Jesus’ first miracle, which fittingly in light of Valentines, took place at a wedding. Most weddings are occasions for joy, and as we look to learn from this wedding account, let’s focus on keys to life-transforming joy. Christ gave His life in part to give us His joy! Joy is a fruit of God’s Spirit, and far too often too many of us who call Christ Lord lack it. A quick note - in Scripture wine is often associated with joy. In Psalm 104:15 we are told that God makes “wine that gladdens the heart of man.” In Ecclesiastes 9:7 we read, “Go...drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.” In Luke 7:31-34 Jesus asked, "To what can I compare this generation? They are like children calling: 'We played the flute, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of "sinners." God always commends sobriety and condemns drunkenness (in fact self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit), but with that said, I think the prayerful wise use of wine in moderation is a matter of Christian liberty. Of course, you are free to disagree. That is the beauty of liberty. Now, let's look at keys to Christian joy.

The first thing I notice in this text is that Jesus, His mother and His first followers were all invited to the wedding, which brings up a couple of different points depending upon where you are in relation to God. If you are just beginning to even consider inviting Christ into your life, you may have the misimpression that doing so will mean the end of all your fun. That is simply not true. Jesus is ‘the Life’ your life is missing. He may cost you sin’s fleeting pleasures Hebrews 11:25, but He will replace them with God’s vastly superior pleasures.“In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever”- Psalm16:11. For those of us who have been privileged to know Jesus for a while, this is a reminder to stay in a position to be invited to all of our friends’ events. Jesus was not a killjoy who was jealous of people having a good time. He was a life-filled, joyful, welcomed guest, and we should be too. I think a key to this is to avoid moralizing unconverted people. Like all of us, they need the new life transformation that only God can give. So instead, show them God’s love and then in God’s time introduce them to Jesus, who is the Way to and the Life of the ultimate wedding feast.

If you are a Christ-follower who is finding joy elusive, Jesus’ mother Mary has great advice for all of us. “Whatever He says to you, do it.” This is a primary key to enjoying the abundant joyful life available to every one of Christ’s servants. Knowing this is not the key. Doing it is! Knowing I should eat right and exercise doesn’t make me healthy. Eating right and exercising does! Notice also that part of this key is doing “whatever He says.” Partial obedience, only doing whatever He says that aligns with what we were going to do anyway, holds no promise of joy. Doing whatever He says, even if it sounds as ridiculous as carrying some of the roughly 150 gallons of water you poured into water-pots to a headwaiter to taste, releases God’s overflowing joy into and through you.

Speaking of overflowing, consider the quantity and quality of the transformed interior contents of these symbolic jars of clay that were once just put to ceremonial use. The quantity is lavish - Six twenty to thirty gallon jars filled to the brim! This paints a great picture of the contrast between the ‘wine running out’/'diminishing return' empty life without Christ and the abundantly full life with Him. Next, notice the quality is the best. After Jesus transforms the contents of these vessels and it is presented to the headwaiter, he judges the transformed brand new wine to be excellent. So it is with everyone whom Jesus transforms. We are taken to God, who declares us “good” - something He certainly would not have done in our unconverted washing water state.

The final key to joy is faith in Christ. It was not His time to 'go public’, but it was time to grow His followers’ faith. So, He allowed them and the servants involved to witness His first miracle. God reveals the right amount to the right people at the right time for His purposes. You may not know the duration of or God's purposes for your current circumstances, but you can know unquenchable artesian joy in any set of circumstances. They key is always trusting Christ, not circumstances, for joy. Thankfully, God wisely uses changing circumstances to teach us to trust the unchanging Christ for our joy in all circumstances. Getting weened off of circumstantial joy and onto Christ-dependent joy can be difficult, but it is a step of faith that is well-worth taking.

Friends and Neighbors

35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37The two disciples heard him say this, and followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). 42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). 43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50Jesus answered, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." - John 1:35-51

How can we help our friends and neighbors come to know and love Jesus? Three keys that help us help others - preparation, investigation, and invitation - are revealed in this account of Jesus gathering His first followers. Let’s go through this text together and consider each key plus some side notes as we come to them.

The first thing we see is John intentionally losing two disciples to Jesus. Here is an important side note for us. We need to be Christ-centered not church-centered. What if John had been ministry-centered instead of Christ-centered? Would he have been free to gladly lose two of his best to Jesus? I think not, and we might have been without a Gospel of John, because John was likely one of the two disciples who left to follow Jesus. Churches are to be co-laborers for our Savior not competitors saving our ministries.

Next we see Jesus’ first words in John and get our first look at the interlocking keys of investigation and invitation. Notice how Jesus engages them with a question and then uses their response to extend an invitation. “What do you seek?” opens His investigation. They answer to know where He is staying, which brings Jesus to His invitation, “Come and see.” Notice that their answer to Jesus’ question did not express the depth of their desire. They were not just after His travel plans. They wanted to travel with Him. Jesus was investigating to draw out their desire to be with Him in order to satisfy that desire with an invitation to do so. We would do well to ask people, “What are you seeking?” They probably will not say, “a Savior to rescue me or reconciliation with God,” but they may say, “purpose or peace or joy, etc.” Of course, we know those to be some of the fruits of a relationship with Christ. They will not ask for the root (Christ). They will ask for the fruit (meaning, love, peace), and when they do, we can invite them to “come and see” just how fruitful a life-saving relationship with Jesus Christ can be.

Next we read they stayed with Jesus for a day, which brings up the key of preparation. There is no substitute for investing in time with Christ. Time with Christ grows confidence in Christ. It was after they had spent time alone with Jesus that they went out declaring Him to be the long-awaited Messiah. What hinders your time alone with Christ? TV? Computer? Busyness? We habitually fill time with the same noise as those without a relationship with God! Why? We do not have a void to drown out, and it is definitely harder to hear God’s “still small voice” with our music so loud our ears are ringing. We need to fast from the noise that keeps us from enjoying soul-refreshing, heart-preparing, time alone with God.

After spending time alone, start close to home. Andrew first went to his brother. When he brought Simon to Jesus, Jesus forecasted encouraging change when He told the impetuous Simon, “You shall be called Peter (a rock).” It helps to keep our focus on what people can become in union with Christ (Peter the rock) rather than on who they are outside of Christ (Simon the impetuous).

Finally, let’s notice how this works when dealing with skepticism. Philip announced to his friend Nathanael that they had found the Christ. Nathanael -“a true Israelite”- had a hang-up with Jesus being from Nazareth. Instead of arguing, Philip says, “come and see.” People like to be invited. They don’t like to be corrected. So, don’t fight - invite! When your investigation uncovers hang-ups (those who never hear, bad things to good people, etc.), don’t stall in endless debate. Agree to deal honestly with honest questions, but invite them to investigate further. Invite them to “come and see.”