Believers in Jesus are Unique
Wouldn't it be great if every child grew up hearing from his or her parents on a consistent basis not only, "We love you," but "You are unique" – not unique in the sense of being strange but in the sense of being special. In John 3:14-21, we are told Believers in Jesus are Unique. March 22, 2009.
Wouldn’t it be great if every child grew up hearing from his or her parents on a consistent basis not only, “We love you,” but “You are unique” – not unique in the sense of being strange but in the sense of being special. “God’s design and God’s deliverance of you from your sin make you an absolute treasure in his heart and ours.” Some of you grew up in an environment like that and are making sure your kids sense that uniqueness. Others did not have that and perhaps have had a hard time becoming comfortable with your identity, your sense of self. No matter what your childhood environment was like, you have a heavenly Father who wants to shape your spiritual identity and who wants you to know that you are absolutely unique in his heart.
That’s what a man named Nicodemus learned in his late night conversation with Jesus. Nicodemus was a prominent religious and political leader among his people, a member of an elitist religious group called the Pharisees. Either from a desire to satisfy curiosity, or to fulfill some inner spiritual emptiness, Nicodemus found himself knock, knock, knockin’ on Jesus’ door late one evening and sitting at the feet of the carpenter’s son. It was obvious that Jesus had a special connection with God. Could this Jesus be the Messiah? Was he about to set up a Messianic kingdom? And then the big question, if this Jesus was the One, and the Messianic kingdom was about to unfold, Nicodemus wanted to know, “How do I get in?” Jesus looked Nicodemus in the eye and impressed on his heart a wonderful truth: Believers in Jesus are Unique.
They look to God’s uplifted Son
In order to teach Nicodemus what it means to be a true believer, Jesus referenced an Old Testament event well known to every Israelite. You heard about it in our first Scripture reading. One thousand four hundred forty years before Nicodemus was born, the Israelites were being led by God from Mt. Sinai through the wilderness to the land which he promised to give them. Study the story, and you will see a consistent record of unwarranted complaints by the Israelites against God. Finally God had it up to here. Like a dad with an SUV with whining, complaining, rowdy kids in the back, he pulled his cloud off to the side of the road and said, “OK! That’s enough!” To teach them a lesson which they’d never forget, God sent poisonous snakes into their camp – in the tents, under the tables, snakes around the chairs, in their sleeping bags. Yuck! People got bit and started dropping like flies. When they couldn’t stand it any more, they came crawling on their knees to God’s designated leader, “Moses! Moses! Intercede for us! Ask God to spare us!” Moses prayed. God answered. He commanded Moses, “Make a fake snake. Put it on a pole. Those who look at the bronze snake will be healed.” You know what? It worked!
Obviously you and I know that the bronze snake itself had no power. How could a bronze snake on a pole cure them? Here’s the answer. God was teaching the Israelites an important truth, “Trust me, and you will be all right!” He could have said, “Look at a cactus, and be healed” or “Stand on your head for three hours, and be healed” or “Run around the desert in circles, and be healed.” If he said any one of those things, then they would have worked. But he didn’t. He said, “Make a fake snake, and look at it, and be healed.” The point was this – whatever God says will help, will help! God’s rescue efforts work!
Jesus hoped that Nicodemus got the point. Jesus was telling him, “The real problem people have isn’t poisonous snakes. It’s more deadly than poison. The real problem is called sin. The Israelites of old had been infected with it. Nicodemus, you have been infected with it. So has everyone else who has ever or who will ever live. Nicodemus, you can search in the medicine cabinet, call our favorite pharmacist, or go to the trauma center. There is no cure unless God gives one. But I have good news for you. God has a cure for what’s killing you. He sent that cure from heaven. That cure is God’s own Son who has come down from heaven and hidden himself in human form. Nicodemus, I am that Son of God hidden in the form of a man. Just like the bronze snake in the wilderness, I, too, will be lifted up on a pole. Everyone who looks to God’s uplifted Son will be considered by God to be unique in the most positive sense. They will be cured of the consequences of that deadly poison called sin. 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.
You and I are believers in Jesus, and that makes us unique compared to a lot of other people in the world. It’s not that we look different or have different jobs. We don’t shave our heads and walk around in robes with our hands folded. No! In many ways we are just like everybody else. But what makes us unique is the fact that we look to God’s uplifted Son for life. The apostle Paul wrote that for many people God’s uplifted Son on the cross as a way to eternal happiness looks like foolishness, as foolish as looking at a bronze snake on a pole may have seemed to some Israelites. But it worked! Why! Because God said so.
This same God parted the waters of the Red Sea to free his people from slavery. He made water come from a rock. He gave them food from heaven. He knocked down Jericho’s walls. Those things really happened. Whatever God decides will work, will work. So if he has decided to save you from sin by having his Son lifted up on a cross to become the sacrifice, the payment for all your sins, then believe it. Look to God’s uplifted Son, and you will always be unique, special to God.
They lean on God’s unlimited love
You may have noticed that Jesus told Nicodemus, “The Son of Man must be lifted up. It is necessary that he be lifted up.” Why the necessity? The answer is beautifully summed up in one of the most familiar verses of the Bible. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. If I were a betting man – and I’m not – but if I were, I’d be willing to bet that there are more poems, more novels, more songs written about love than about any other subject. But, you know, there are many different types of love. There is sentimental love, like when you get a lump in your throat at the end of a good movie. There is romantic love like the soupy stuff on soap operas. There’s puppy love like little kids in elementary school. There’s friendship love like what you enjoy with each other.
But God’s love is different. Jesus said, “God loved the world.” God’s love is special. His love moves beyond sentimental feelings to purposeful action. The Founder of the universe took a look at this rotten broken world and did something to change our situation. He didn’t have to. He had plenty of reasons to summon the world into his courtroom and have his Son judge the world. The verdict would have been eternal banishment from God’s presence. But God loved the world so much and in this way that he sent his unique and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Notice also that Jesus said, “God loved the world,” not “God loved some people,” nor “God loved people some of the time.” No! God loved the world. God’s love is perfect in quality and quantity. “So, Nicodemus, when you are scared, and when you are worried about your relationship with God, lean on God’s unlimited love. It is meant for the whole world, and that includes you. You may see graying hair or broken bones or red-lined checkbook ledgers or pink slips or empty chairs at the family table, but God’s love remains constant.”
I’m glad that winter is almost over. It’s sad to see so many folks come in on crutches or with an arm in a cast from slipping on the ice or a sledding accident. A broken bone needs a cast and usually needs some rehab once the cast is off. Imagine going to a physical therapist who gives you a walker made out of Kleenex! You’d be in big trouble. You’d much rather have something strong and firm to lean on. In the same way, don’t try to lean on the paper of your reputation or the straw of your own character to become special to God. Believers, what makes you unique is that, when you are down or worried or hurting or scared, you don’t lean on who you are and what you have done. You are leaning on God’s unlimited love. That is a solid foundation that will never change.
They live according to God’s unveiled truth
The Pharisees were supposed to be extra bright in spiritual matters. They were supposed to have special spiritual insight. But Nicodemus had been living in a fog. He was living in darkness when it came to his relationship with God. Then, he came to Jesus at night. What a perfect opportunity for our Lord to discuss darkness and light! “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
No wonder many Pharisees didn’t like Jesus. He came into the world as God’s light. He exposed their sinfulness and selfishness – like when he cleansed the temple. Jesus looked them straight in the eye and said, “You are sinners. You need me to forgive your sins, or you will burn in hell.” They didn’t want to hear the truth.
But for those who trembled at the prospect of God’s anger, there was good news. Believers are unique. Thanks to Jesus they stand in the light of God’s love and will not get overexposed because of the holy Son-screen which they have on. This changed Nicodemus’ life. Later, no more sneaking around in the dark. Together with Joseph of Arimathea he helped in the burial process after Jesus died. He was willing to risk all, his position, his reputation, to live according to God’s unveiled truth.
Are you? What would you think about entering a restaurant and sitting down to eat, only to see the manager of the restaurant cross the street and eat in another restaurant? What would that manager’s choice say to the people watching? I would think, “Don’t eat here. The food across the street is better.” People are watching us. They see how we live. They hear how we talk. They see our priorities in the things we buy. They know the company we keep. You and I are walking billboards. Does your advertisement lead people across the street or does it say, “Come and see my Jesus!”? Believers, you are unique. That means you have the privilege of living according to God’s unveiled truth.
A theologian named William Barclay (1907-78) once said: It frequently happens that the value of a thing lies in the fact that someone has possessed it. A very ordinary thing acquires a new value if it has been possessed by some famous person. In any museum we will find quite ordinary things – clothes, a walking-stick, a pen, pieces of furniture – which are only of value because they were possessed and used by some great person. It is the ownership which gives them worth. It is so with the Christian. The Christian may be a very ordinary person, but [a Christian] acquires a new value and dignity and greatness because [a Christian] belongs to God. The greatness of the Christian lies in the fact that [that person] is God’s (The Letters of James and Peter, 1960). There aren’t many people who want to stand out in a crowd. God isn’t asking you to stand out. He’s only asking you to be what he made you to be. You are a believer in Jesus Christ. That means you are unique. That’s possible only because our Savior is unique. He the only One there is, and you belong to him. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on March 22, 2009
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