Today on The Bonfire we dig into the story of Nicodemus and the concept that religion doesn’t satisfy. A relationship with Jesus is beyond religion. Find out how to be born again and let’s let a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit wash over us.
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Transcription:
Welcome to The Bonfire. This is Season four, focusing on the life of Jesus: his teaching, his actions. And as we study the Bible, as we look at how Jesus lived, it changes the way that we live because Jesus changes our lives. God is good and there’s nothing greater than God’s presence. And at The Bonfire, we can tell stories, we can be real, we can go deeper with God. God meets us here. And God is love. God is light. God is a consuming fire. Today I want to talk about beyond religion. Jesus goes beyond religion. The Bonfire is all about going beyond religion. Religion might have some good aspects. There might be part of a foundation in religion, but then religion can really go astray and ultimately religion can’t satisfy, and you’re going to see that in John chapter 3.
This is a conversation. His name is Nicodemus. He’s a Pharisee. And the Pharisees were the religious leaders. There were Pharisees and Sadducees. They had slight distinctions. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, the Sadducees didn’t. But in both cases, the religious leaders, they missed it when it came to the Messiah. It’s kind of ironic. They missed the Messiah. But they were so focused on their titles, their prestige, their knowledge, their reputation, their positions, and with all of that, they have a lot of respect. They have a lot of morality, they have a lot of authority in that culture, and yet they’re very unfulfilled. And Jesus calls them out. Jesus’s strongest words were for the religious leaders and he said they’re like whitewashed tombs. They look great on the outside and on the inside they’re full of dead man’s bones. They know how to clean the outside of the cup, but the inside of the cup is not clean.
He called them hypocrites, brood of vipers. Jesus didn’t mince words. When it came to the Pharisees, he was very direct and God will call out sin. God will rebuke. God has the final say. The Pharisees are accountable to God. There are no religious people that exist without accountability to God. Jesus lets them know that all authority in heaven and earth is his, not theirs. Jesus walks in the truth and Jesus will shine light in the darkness of the religious leaders.
This is a lot for someone like Nicodemus to process because he has his peers, he has his tradition, and yet he sees something in Jesus that he doesn’t have. And at night, this is Nic at night, Nicodemus at night, his … Why night? Because he’s probably sneaking out. He’s probably not telling all of the Pharisees, “I’m going to go meet with Jesus. I’ve got some questions about Jesus. I’m curious about Jesus. I’m interested in following Jesus. I want to go deeper with Jesus. I want to spend time with Jesus. I want to listen more to Jesus.”
That’s not what he’s going to tell them. But at night he meets with Jesus. Jesus is available. Jesus is there any time you want to talk to Him. It might be midnight. Jesus is there. Maybe your friends are asleep. Jesus is there. Maybe you’re confused about life and situations, relationships, the direction of your life, your purpose, meaning, your identity. Jesus is there. Nicodemus had a challenge here because if he follows Jesus, he will be ousted from the Pharisees. They’re not going to want to embrace him. He’s not going to have the same role, respect. He’s going to give up a lot if he follows Jesus, and yet he kind of senses it’s worth it. And as he’s trying to sort through this and think through Jesus’s teachings, he shows up at night and there’s a conversation.
God moves through conversations. In the Bible, people have conversations with God. Habakkuk is a prophet. Read that short book. He doesn’t understand what’s going on in the world and how people who reject God seem to take advantage of people who know God. And then why do people who do evil continue to flourish in some material or even military settings? Well, God has answers and God walks him through those hard questions. When you’re wrestling with something, go to God. Be honest, go deep, have a conversation with God, listen to God. In the same way, have conversations with other people. People who love God, people who know Scripture. So we can learn. We want to be lifelong learners. When I didn’t know God, I had conversations with a guy named Mike. I asked him dozens of questions in the conversations. God met me there and Mike pointed me to Scripture and that changed my life.
Jesus is having a conversation with Nicodemus. It’s at night and Nicodemus is trying to sort through the most important things in life, a relationship with God, Heaven, and not only that, but what is truth and what does it really look like to follow God? And as he comes as a seeker, you have people in church this weekend across our nation who are literally seeking, wondering who is God, who is Jesus? That’s what Nicodemus is doing. Other people are seeking through books. They feel a little safer if they can read. They want to think and process. They want to do it alone and they pick up a book. Other people are seeking on YouTube and they’re typing in God, Jesus. They’re typing in questions they have. What about the existence of evil? And as they do that, they watch videos. There’s a lot of resources, going to websites people are seeking.
People have always been seeking. People always will be seeking, and Nicodemus is a seeker. There are seekers who are literally in a bar and they’ve been drinking a lot and God meets them there and they start thinking about God. There are seekers who don’t have any churches in their city, but God shows up in a dream. There are seekers who are religious. There are people that are in high positions in churches across America. It’s not just America, it’s overseas. We have international partners who go to countries and the very pastors there don’t know God yet. They have the position, but they haven’t started a relationship with God. They have religion, but they haven’t moved beyond religion. And they know rituals, but they don’t know their Maker and Messiah yet. I’m just highlighting a reality with Nicodemus that would be shocking for some people in that day. In that day to have a Pharisee coming to Jesus and the Pharisee is lost and the Pharisee is trying to start a relationship with God.
See, that’s kind of radical that Nicodemus is coming out at night and I’m telling you, there are people who have been in church for decades and don’t know the Lord. I have them in my family. Listen, half of America thinks that you earn a relationship with God through being religious and on your own merit and through your own behavior. That you’re going to achieve, perform, and get to a level where God lets you into heaven because you’re a good person. Half of America. For the Pharisees, that was their system. That was their system. They figured if they keep so many laws and they are impressive morally and they’re in the temple and they do the rituals, now they are accepted by God. The Bible’s clear not by works, no one can boast. It’s called grace, an undeserved gift. Nicodemus is just discovering this and many people in America are blinded.
Literally it’s like scales need to fall off their eyes. They’re blinded. Open ears, open mind, open your soul and look what the Bible says. It’s grace, an undeserved gift. Jesus Christ died for our sins and he is risen. As you read John chapter three, just know that this scenario is played out thousands of times. It’ll be played out thousands of times this year, and we need to learn from this passage going beyond religion.
Now, Nicodemus is going to bring this basic longing, seeking, trying to figure out this relationship with God. Jesus brings truth. When you get honest with God, Jesus will bring truth to you and honesty is good, depth is good. The truth that Jesus brings, it’s not what’s politically correct today. He says right away, you must be born again. What does that mean? Born again is a twisted phrase for a lot of people and they just link it to something political or they link it to something that’s not aligning with the Bible and just over the top, way out. Again, not lined up with scripture.
People have a lot of perceptions about being born again, but born again is something that’s very good. Born from above, born to the Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, you won’t know God. You can’t save yourself. It’s not through your effort and good works. Born from above, a spiritual birth. How does that work? Nicodemus is confused. He’s like, how could someone get back into their womb and be born again? No one’s born twice physically. Of course, no one’s born twice physically. You’re born once physically and then you need to be born once spiritually. And the Bible says that you must be born again to know God. There’s an old phrase, “If you’re only born once, you die twice. If you’re born twice, you die once.” What does that mean? If you’re only born once, you’re only born physically and not born spiritually, you’re going to physically die and then spiritually you’ll be separated from God forever.
But if you’re born twice, you’re born physically and then you’re also born spiritually, born again, you’ll only die once. You only die physically because spiritually you’re going to be with God forever. You are alive, not dead through Jesus. You must be born again, born of the spirit. Now, there’s some mystery here. Jesus uses a metaphor and says like the wind, the Spirit moves. People hear the sound of the wind, but they don’t know where the Spirit’s going next. There’s mystery as far as who comes to know Jesus. You can’t predict it when someone’s going to come and know the Lord, who’s next? It’s exciting. Every day more people decide to follow Jesus. The Kingdom grows. The Kingdom is eternal, personal, unstoppable, indestructible. God’s Kingdom grows every day. Heaven rejoices as another person follows Jesus, another person. God has changed the trajectory of individual lives, cities and even countries. There’s been continents where there’s been a dramatic turnaround and you look at the year 1900 to today and what’s happened in Africa, what’s happened in Latin America, what’s happened in Korea? What’s happened in Brazil?
I can start naming places where the wind has blown. There’s a fresh wind. We need a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit where I live in Seattle. A lot of people have the form of religion but they don’t have the power. It’s not by might, not by strength, but by my Spirit says the Lord almighty. We need the Holy Spirit. The church was not doing so well as you open up the Book of Acts, they were waiting for the Holy Spirit in Pentecost. We need the Holy Spirit today. We need a fresh wind. Today things can get a little bit stiff, a little bit rigid, a little bit crusty. It can be very religious and yet not very alive. The Spirit full of truth. The Spirit of truth always agrees with the Word. Where you have the Word and the Spirit working, you’re going to see changed lives.
And be someone who says yes to the Word, yes to the Spirit. There’s a lot of people who say yes to the Word, but they’re not really saying yes to the Spirit. Jesus challenges that mindset. He says, you diligently study the scriptures, but you refuse to come to me. We need the Holy Spirit today with a fresh wind and a fresh fire. Jesus is talking about the Spirit and Nicodemus is taking it all in. This is a new message, to be born again.
Jesus uses a story. When he teaches, he uses stories going back to the Old Testament. Nicodemus knows this story. In the wilderness there were snakes. They bit the people, they were going to die. There’s poison in the people and God said to Moses, take a snake, wrap it around a pole and then put that, hold it up high. Whoever looks to that snake on a pole will be healed. It’s a wild story. I mean it doesn’t always make sense rationally, if I have a snake bite and I’m going to die because of the poison, all I need to do is look up and see the snake on the pole. Why is that happening? God is leading people to faith. It doesn’t always make sense with God’s remedy. It’s not always rational or it’s not even preferential. God says to Naaman, dip in the Jordan seven times and he healed the leprosy. You got to dip in the Jordan. You got to do it seven times. Why would God be so specific with him? Because it’s faith, it’s obedience. It’s trusting God.
Jericho, the walls aren’t going to fall down unless you walk around for seven days and then seven times and give a shout of praise and then the walls fall down. Think, well, who does that in a battle? Well, if God says it, we’re doing it. It’s faith. Jehoshaphat, put the choir out in front of the army. We’re going to war. Who does that? Praise, choir in front of the army in war? God said it. God brought victory. Listen to God, trust God. Trust his Word. If it’s in the Word, go with God, you and God are a majority. You don’t need everyone else to approve. Jesus wasn’t saying, “Oh, I wonder how everyone’s going to think about born again. You must be born again. Some people might not like that.” No, he’s bringing the truth and then he tells the story.
You got to look up and this is foreshadowing. It’s a prototype. It’s powerful. A snake on a pole in that setting, yes, you will be healed, but what’s coming? The Savior, the sinless Savior dying on a tree, and to all who look up to Jesus, you are going to receive his righteousness. You’re going to receive holiness and forgiveness. As there’s this great exchange, you put your trust in Jesus. He gives you peace with God, the forgiveness of sins, and you give him your sin. Your sin is upon Jesus. His grace is upon you.
This great exchange, this healing, not just physical healing, but we have poison in us. We have sin-sick souls. Sin is rebellion against God. The wages of sin is death, separation from God, and we need a healer. We need a remedy, and Jesus brings that. The snake on the pole was pointing, foreshadowing to Jesus who would die on a cross and then be risen from the grave with power over death. Powerful picture from the Old Testament. Jesus is going deep
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Jesus is bringing a new message. It leads right to John 3:16, the most well-known verse in the Bible, for God so loved the world, God so loves you. He gave His one and only son. There’s no greater gift. Whoever believes in him, notice, believe. Trust. That word means when you sit down on a chair, you’re trusting the chair. Intellectually, you might say the chair is going to hold me up, but this is not just purely intellectual assent.
If you just intellectually say, yes, Jesus has risen, that’s not enough just to intellectually know the facts. You need to put your faith in Jesus. You need to follow Jesus. When you sit on the chair, now you’re trusting the chair. It’s not a fact or a concept, but now literally all your weight’s on the chair, when all of your eternity and your soul is there, depending on Jesus, trusting Jesus, receiving his promise, you’re saved, you’re born again, and that trust, that gospel, that good news, Christ died for us and he is risen. That’s at the heart of what Jesus is bringing to Nicodemus. For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son. Whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. You are going to be raised up with a resurrected body. You will not perish. There’ll be no end.
There’ll be no end. Your destiny is eternity. You will be in God’s presence forever. This is the promise of Jesus. And Nicodemus hears this and there’s tension. Because he either receives and follows the Lord or he goes back to his tradition system religion. He’ll have approval from his peers. He’ll have respect in the culture. He’ll have the title, he’ll have the authority in that setting, but he won’t be born again. And he has to make a decision. There’s a rich young man who comes to Jesus and Jesus challenges him because money is his idol and the man chooses money and he walks away sad. Anyone who rejects Jesus, deep down walks away sad. They might not want to admit it, but their soul, their soul is not in a good place. At the same time, anyone who returns to God, that’s always a good decision.
Anyone who repents of sin, turns 180 degrees from sin to the Savior. Anyone who returns who comes home, any prodigal who comes home, anyone who makes a first-time decision to follow Jesus, that’s always a good decision and that’s truth. Jesus tells it direct. Jesus also tells it through a story. For people who want it direct, because sometimes we need it strong, you must be born again. You must put your faith in Jesus. But if you want a story, there’s the snake on the pole and look and there’ll be healing. Just like there was in the wilderness, there’ll be healing. When you look to the Savior, Jesus will be lifted up. He’ll draw all people to himself. He’s faithful to save. As this story plays out and it’s an amazing story and you think through the different dynamics in this story, what you’re seeing is Nicodemus processing the most important thing in life.
You don’t have anything more valuable than your relationship with God, so whatever you invest there, whatever you cultivate there, if you cultivate time with God, you cultivate time in the Word, a rich prayer life, you start to cultivate some of these habits, that your soul flourishes, that’s going to pour out into every part of your life. But if you neglect your soul … See, we live in a culture that tries to numb through entertainment, through a pleasure, through whatever we can kind of grab and grasp. We try to minimize the importance of our soul, and then it’s almost like inoculated or almost like drunk in some ways on the patterns of this world and what this world can offer, and as we do that, sometimes we feel really empty on the inside. You will feel empty if your soul’s empty, but if your soul’s full, you’re going to feel this contentment, this peace, this satisfaction, and Nicodemus longs for that. He doesn’t have that. He has a lot. He has rituals, respect, routines. He’s got religion. Jesus is calling him beyond religion.
What does it look like in your life to move beyond religion? Sometimes do you just go through the motions? Is communion meaningful to you? Are you part of a church family or is that just like, I don’t know, once a month? I don’t know if I feel like it. Are you part of a Bible study where you really develop community and iron sharpens iron? There’s authentic relationships. You get real, you meet with God together. What Jesus invites Nicodemus to do and live, it’s a whole different lifestyle. It’s not like Pharisee is pretty good and Jesus is a little better than that. This is a world of difference. Moving beyond religion, it might be a little scary, but it’s going to be ultimately freedom and fulfillment.
It’s kind of scary when you don’t really open up emotionally or let people in and then you start to do that. It’s kind of scary to pray. It’s kind of scary to share your faith. It’s kind of scary to step into some new things or to do some things that might not be culturally approved. All of that is part of moving beyond religion. I just don’t want John chapter three to turn into, well, it’s just a nice verse on John 3:16. I’m trying to really bring out the fullness of John chapter three and the tension Nicodemus is in and he’s thinking through. And Jesus said he didn’t come to condemn the world. He came to save the world, so know Jesus’ heart. There’s some strong truth here about heaven. There’s some strong truth here about Pharisees, and yet Jesus says, here’s my heart. It’s not to condemn the world, it’s to save the world.
And Jesus closes this conversation with some reality. There’s light in there’s darkness. Jesus is the light of the world. The light shines in the darkness. Darkness doesn’t want light. You would think if Jesus showed up today and he started to do miracles and he started to teach and people could see that the resurrected Jesus was here, everyone would turn to him, but that’s not human nature. There’s darkness and darkness rejects light, resists light. And I’m convinced if Jesus was alive today, you’d have a lot of people who reject him. You’d have a lot of people who’d want to kill him again. He’s risen, tried to kill him. Again, this is very hypothetical, but I’m saying the same hearts today were the same hearts then. And just because light shines in the darkness, darkness doesn’t like it. You might share truth with someone and they end up hating you because you shared truth in love, but they don’t want truth.
You might share wisdom with someone. They don’t want wisdom. They want to keep doing what they’re doing. You might share hope with someone and they just want to keep getting drunk. I’ve talked to people with addictions and I can paint a picture of what their life can be, what their marriage could be, what their finances could be, what their job could be, and they just look like, I don’t want that. I want to stay where I am. Darkness. I remember I lived in Texas, turned on the light one day in my room and the cockroaches, there was cockroaches in my room and when I turn on the light, they ran. Underneath, they ran underneath the bed. They tried to run back to the darkness. When you turn on the light, there’s some who just run back to the darkness. They don’t want the light.
Before I became a Christian, there were parties. There were things happening. They didn’t honor God, and when I started to follow Jesus and walk in the light, I just didn’t get invited to those things and to be honest, it was probably good I wasn’t there too. But I noticed people don’t want any light in the darkness. That light and darkness battle that Jesus talks about, it’s real. And Nicodemus has to choose. The religious system that he’s in is darkness. The religious hypocrisy is darkness. The religion he’s in, it’s dead in terms of Pharisee pride better than other people, have it all together, earn their way to heaven. No, outside of the cup is clean, inside’s not. Jesus comes and he flips the tables and he does that in many ways and in this conversation it’s radical. Nicodemus’s world is turned upside down and there’s a decision to make.
You’ve got a decision to make today. If you’re going to settle into religion or if you’re going to run with Jesus, and a lot of people want to sit on the fence, well, I kind of want to keep this sin, but I’ll get rid of these other sins. Or I’ll follow Jesus, but I just won’t talk about him and lead people to him. Or I’m going to follow Jesus, but he can’t really have my money. My money is mine and I’m going to decide what I do with my money. He can’t have my schedule, but he is the Lord, but I’m going to call the shots and what I want to do. My career, I’m going to do this. No, I’m not going to really listen to what he is calling. I’m going to do some other things he wants, but not the main thing.
There’s so many versions of religion and you can hide behind Bible studies. You can hide behind going to church, but God calls us out. He calls Nicodemus out. I want to close today highlighting something that happened after Jesus died. It’s his burial. We have Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and they have the body and they bring the spices and they wrap the body, and why are they doing that? They honor him. The Bible says Joseph of Arimathea followed Jesus. He was a disciple of Jesus, but he was doing it a little bit secretly afraid of people. I don’t know Nicodemus’s story, but I know this. After Jesus died, he had the courage to come and care for the body of the Lord, and that probably is a hint that Nicodemus made the decision to follow Jesus. And these two Joseph and Nicodemus, they’re there serving the Lord and they’ve been battling with fearing what other people think and they’ve been battling with moving beyond religion, but yes, they love Jesus.
I want to encourage you to be free today to serve and love Jesus publicly, to not be ashamed. Yes, it’s a personal and a private faith, but it’s also a public faith, starting with baptism, to let people know that you love Jesus. I heard a story this week where someone was killed because of their faith in a different country. Sometimes the cost is high. I’m not saying it’s easy to step out of religion and really live for the Lord. I’m not saying there’s going to be no challenges, tests or even persecution. What I am saying is that Jesus is worth it and whether it’s your personal private life or it’s your public life and following the Lord, don’t get into a religious rut. Don’t fall into accidental Pharisee, but instead abide with Jesus the real Jesus, in John chapter 3, the real words of Jesus in John chapter 3, let them sink in and be bold in your faith.
Ask Jesus the questions you’re wrestling with. Receive his truth, direct and stories. Let God’s Word transform you, renew your mind, renew your soul, and then live for him. You might be in a church or a setting or a family where you’ve got to shake it up a little bit because it’s time for some fresh wind. It’s been stale. It’s been stiff and rigid. It’s been hypocritical. Don’t do it in the spirit of pride, that you’re better than others, but absolutely do it full of faith that we’re going with Jesus on this one. You’ll never regret following Jesus. He’s beyond religion. He doesn’t fit in a box or a system, but yes, there’s principles. Yes, there’s truth. Yes, there’s commands, but those bring life. Those actually set you free. Those protect you, provide for you.
And Nicodemus? It appears that he finishes strong. There’s a lot we don’t know. In Heaven, we can talk to Nicodemus, but what we can learn from him is that God calls us, the Spirit moves, trust Jesus, the Savior, and as Jesus calls you beyond religion, say yes full of faith. That’s where the hope of Jesus is. It’s beyond the religious system. It’s really close to the Savior and it’s right and aligned with the truth. Let’s be like Nicodemus and take those risks, respond to Jesus, live by faith. That’s why we have The Bonfire so we can grow deep with God. If you can share this with someone who needs this encouragement, rate and review, let’s spread the good news of Jesus together and that fire in our souls. Nicodemus felt it right here. The fire continues to grow and you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire. God wants to bring a fresh fire in your life, a fresh hope, and move you beyond religion.
