Nicodemus - the priest who had everything?
Nicodemus was born into the right family, had had the right education, he was a senior member of the Sanhedrin and yet he knew that he lacked something. Unlike his fellow Pharisees he recognised that Jesus was the Messiah because he not only exhibited all the signs of a great prophet but his life seemed to be fulfilling the all the prophesies of the Old Testament
Today we are looking at how Nicodemus actually received Our Lord's teaching – and how we are receiving are his teaching today!
Baptism is in two parts the water and the spirit. John did the water our Lord did the spirit. After Pentecost Our Lord empowers the disciples to Baptise with both water and spirit. Nicodemus truly was reborn in spirit
Many Christians begin their journey of faith with their Christening - with the water and their joining community of Christian life. They are welcomed into the church
They receive the spirit in their confirmation. From then on they can receive full Holy Communion. These two sacraments can be merged into a single service when people get baptised in later life.
Both baptism and confirmation require consent and preparation
What do you
need to do to prepare to be baptised?
The intention of baptism is threefold:
We like Nicodemus need to be open to receive – To hear with our ears, to see with our eyes and understand in our hearts - as required by Isiah (6:1-10)
We need to renounce sin and of all that which is opposed to the will of God. I always love listening to the testimony of reformed criminals. It is lovely to hear of the joy and relief they experienced when they gave up their previously sin full lives
We need to believe the Creed – our Statement of belief in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Finally, we need to commit to following Christ as our Lord and Saviour ...
Crucially
Nicodemus went out on a limb. He was not only prepared to defy the will of his
fellow pharisees but to become one of our Lord’s most loyal disciples - actually
joined Joseph of Arimathea in preparing Jesus’s body in the tomb. In fact, Nicodemus
- brought 75lbs of spices to prepare our Lord’s body for burial – enough for a
king!
In the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13) Nicodemus demonstrates a life of commitment. Jesus explains to his disciples that the seed represents the word - the teaching, the Sower represents anyone who proclaims it, and the various soils represent people's responses to it.
Where are we?
Are we the seed thrown on the path of life – Nicodemus’s life demonstrates that he received the seed – the word
·
Are
we the seed thrown on stoney ground – which lacks depth? We hear the word and
at once receive it with joy but have no root and last only a little time - Nicodemus’s
life demonstrates that he had that depth
·
Are
we the seed sown among thorns we hear the word; but the worries of this life,
the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke
the word, making it unfruitful. Nicodemus’s life demonstrates that he remained
true to the word
·
Hopefully
we are like seed sown on good ground, hear the word, accept it, and produce a
crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Nicodemus was such a man. We are still recalling his life and faith today
Amen
John 3:1-17 Jesus
Teaches Nicodemus
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
16 For 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. 17 For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Matthew 13 1:23 The Parable of the Sower
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Isaiah
6:1-10 Isaiah’s Commission
6 In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a
throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim,
each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they
covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to
one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said,
“Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said,
“Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever
hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the
heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.[a]
Otherwise
they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and
be healed.”
Romans 8:12-17
New International Version
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
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