John 3:1-17
“The Snake and Love of God”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge United Methodist Church, Chattanooga, TN www.eastridgeumc.org
My heart nearly broke this past week as I was helping a mother and her son, who was probably 50-something and suffers from some serious mental problems, get a bus ride to Atlanta.
They live very difficult lives, and were moving from Nashville to Atlanta via Groome Transport—with all their worldly possessions in tow.
They had gotten stuck in Chattanooga due to a lack of funds.
When I was about ready to leave them, the man, Eric, looked at me and asked, “Do you think God really loves me?”
I answered, “Yes. Definitely.”
He continued, “Because, sometimes I wonder.
Things always seem to be going so bad, and with the way people have treated me all my life—sometimes I just wonder if God hasn’t just forgotten about me.”
Then he added, “Maybe when I get to Atlanta I will look for a Methodist Church.”
Our Gospel Lesson for this morning gives us sure and certain hope that God has not forgotten us and that God does indeed love us more than any of us could ever imagine!!!
Jesus says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”
In Numbers Chapter 21, during their wanderings in the wilderness poisonous snakes invaded the camp of the Israelites killing many of them.
But God gave Moses the remedy: he was to make a serpent out of bronze, put it on a pole and hold it up for the people to look at.
Anyone who looked at the serpent on the pole would live.
The serpent, entwined around a pole, remains to this day, as a sign of healing used by various medical organizations.
Now, this is the only place in the New Testament where the bronze serpent is referred to.
And here it points clearly to the death of Jesus!!!
As Moses put the serpent on a pole, and lifted it up so the people could see it; the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
Humankind as a whole has been bitten with a deadly disease.
The only cure is to look at the Son of God dying on the Cross, and find life through believing in Him.
This changes our perspective.
The evil which was and is in the world, deep-rooted within us all, was somehow allowed to take out its full force on Jesus.
When we look at Him hanging on the Cross or “lifted up”, what we are seeing is the result of the evil in which we are all stuck.
And we are seeing what the love of God has done about it, for you and for me and for every person who ever lived!!!
The Cross is the Ladder set up between heaven and earth.
Back in 1976, Jimmy Carter was running for President against Gerald Ford.
If you are old enough to recall you might know that Jimmy Carter caused a bit of a sensation.
Because during his campaign, Jimmy Carter said publicly that he was a Born again Christian.
It caused a stir, and it was a term that was used about him over and over again.
“Wow...Jimmy Carter is not just your ordinary run of the mill Christian.
He is a born again Christian!”
A few years ago, a Youth Director friend of mine was asked by young girl in the group about “those born again type of Christians.”
“What are they?”
Now, what would You answer to that?
He told her that there is actually no other sort.
If you are a Christian, then you are a born again Christian.
Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless [they] are born again.”
When I was still in high school, I had heard about born again Christians...
I had even met a few...
But I didn’t understand the concept.
I thought that a born again Christian was a person who had once been a Christian....
…had somehow stopped being a Christian at some point....
…and then had become a Christian
again.
Somehow, it seemed to me, that they had messed things up somewhere along the line....
…whereas the rest of us had stayed the course.
Jesus said, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying ‘You must be born again.’”
When I was a senior in high school some friends of mine and I were discussing the future....
…we were talking about college and we were talking about careers....
I don’t think I said it out loud, but I thought to myself, “When I grow-up I’m going to be a Methodist Minister.”
I had felt that call as far back as I could remember.
But I knew that something had to happen to me before I could make that dream a reality.
I knew that I was missing something...but I wasn’t quite sure what that “something was”.
And maybe that is how Nicodemus, who we see in our Gospel Lesson for this morning, felt when he came to speak to Jesus secretly at night.
Nicodemus had spent his entire life trying to follow God.
Keeping the commandments, and doing all that their traditions required of him.
He was respected by all as an elder and ruler.
But deep down inside Nicodemus was missing something...
And he knew it.
He may have been wondering, “Does God really love me or has God forgotten about me?”
So he went to Jesus for the answer.
As the Church of Jesus Christ, we are Christ’s representatives—Christ’s Body on this earth.
Do you think the Nicodemus’ of the world are coming to us—looking for the answer?
During my first year of college I became close friends with another kid named Tim, who was a Christian.
On our first meeting, he asked me if I was a Christian.
It seemed a kind of crazy question at the time, but I answered “yes.”
As we hung out together and talked and did things I came to realize Tim’s understanding of what it is to be a Christian, and my understanding were much different.
He was actually living--to the best of his young ability--his faith.
He was evangelizing.
He was sharing Christ with others by his words and actions.
It’s what he lived for.
And even though he never questioned my answer to his initial question...
I knew that he had something I didn’t have.
Jesus was the most important part of Tim’s life, and it made him different than any other kid I had ever met.
For the very first time in my life---I saw that it was actually possible to walk the walk and talk the talk.
Not that Tim was perfect, but he had a relationship with the Living and Loving God that transformed his perspective on life and of other people.
So I started to do some really heavy thinking.....
I started thinking about God.....
I started thinking about the devil....
I started thinking about the meaning of life.....
And I started talking about things--spiritual things--that I had never even thought of before.
One night, I was walking down the sidewalk all by myself and I felt that I had come to a cross-road.
Was I going to give my life completely over to God....giving up on the world and everything that I had placed between myself and a relationship with Jesus?
Or was I going to continue down the road I was already going?
Seeking, but not finding....
Looking but not seeing....
Listening, but not hearing....
I decided to give all I had to God....
…it was a big decision for me, but I made it, and I have to tell you that it was the most thrilling experience of my life…
…and the most important decision I have ever made.
My life has not been even close to the same since.
I had been born again!
Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”
I met a man this week who nearly broke my heart when he asked me, “Do you think God really loves me? Do you think God really cares about me?”
I was able to buy him and his mother a bus ticket because you all put money in the offering plates here at this church.
I was able to give them something to eat because you all stock the food pantry.
You know, the whole world is asking the same question as that man I met.
And we answer them “yes” or “no” through our actions and our words—
“Yes,” by pointing to the Son of Man, lifted up and dying on the Cross.
That is what we are trying to accomplish through the upcoming Block Party.
Please be sure to take some of the promotional cards and hand them out.
That is what we are trying to do every day of the week.
This is serious business we are involved in here.
It’s very deep and very mysterious.
It changes lives.
It helps persons to “see” the kingdom of God.
It is the solution.
It is the cure.
“For God so loved the world…”
We can be born again, not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit of God!
Praise God.
Amen.
