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?