We’re Worse Than We Think
John 3:1-8
April 5, 2009
Welcome. Invite friends for Easter.
We’ve been talking a lot about what we call the Gospel, good news, the message of the Bible, and how that changes our lives. I thought it be good to take a look at what Jesus says as he ministers the Gospel to Nicodemus and to the Samaritan Woman.
In John 3 Jesus says to Nicodemus, “You’re far worse than you think.”
In John 4 Jesus says to the Samaritan Woman, “You’re far more loved than you could ever imagine.”
These two truths are key, foundational in Gospel Living. We’ll look at the first today and the second next week on Easter.
Jesus’ simple message to Nicodemus was, “You must be born again.” There are two aspects of this:
1. Being born again is an other-worldly reality
There is a strong contrast between the flesh and the Spirit.
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. (John 3:5-6)
To enter the Kingdom of God, you have to be born of the spirit. So, to enter the Kingdom of God, you have to be born again, born in the Spirit.
In the Greek, the term born again can also be translated born from above. You must be born from above, you must be born of the Spirit. Entering the Kingdom of God is not a human activity. This is the work of God.
The picture goes further. To not be born from above, again means we are already condemned:
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. (John 3:18, 36)
My 3rd son Noah has a tricycle (actually a hand-me-down from his older 2 brothers) [picture]. It has a little basket in the back and a brake. But if Noah ever wanted to get on a highway, the tricycle would never make it. Tricycles are for driveways and sidewalks, cars are for highways. No matter what you do, you can’t spruce up the tricycle to get it up to 55 mph. It was not made for the highway.
Flesh produces flesh, Spirit produces spirit. To enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born again.
Add also that the tricycle has a flat tire and the handles don’t turn the front wheel. The tricycle is already condemned for the trash heap.
To live in God’s kingdom, to be a Christian is a completely different existence. The world of the driveway and the world of the highway are radically different. It’s not like regular human living. It’s a new race of humanity. It’s other-worldly.
What God’s kingdom is not:
It is not being good, keeping the rules, being dutiful, charitable, altruistic, trying to help others. There are a lot of “good” people in the world: the Oprah’s and Bill Gate’s and other philanthropists who genuinely are trying to help people. The people who have volunteered their time and energy in New Orleans or elsewhere, people who give a year or more of their lives serving on the Peace Corp. My brother works with the Clinton Foundation in Ethiopia with their AIDS program. He is surrounded by “good people” trying to help the enormous needs in the world.
There are some really good people in the world, but this is not what Jesus is speaking of. There is a huge difference between human kindness, human compassion, human generosity and living in the Kingdom of God. It’s like the difference between a tricycle and a 510 hp V12 Aston Martin Vantage [picture, beside tricycle]. It is in a completely different realm.
Let me give an example of the difference between human goodness and the Kingdom of God.
I know of some conflicts, and I’ve been in some myself, where one person feels mistreated, attacked, disrespected, push around, judged—deeply sinned against. This person initially responded with a lot of patience, willingness to accommodate, perhaps seeking help with the real desire to work on the relationship.
I believe neither of them is living in the Kingdom, living in the Gospel. For discussions sake, let’s assume the antagonist is really guilty of mistreating the person. That, obviously is not the Kingdom of God.
But the person who feels to be the “victim,” the person who has tried to be patient and gracious is also not living in the Kingdom. How do we know? Because although the person may have started with patience and kindness, the person inevitably and eventually gets to the point of bitterness, resentment, anger. This person is bitter and feels so justified in the anger because the person had tried to be so patient and kind. The “goodness” has only made the person more angry.
In the Kingdom of God, in the Gospel, we wouldn’t mistreat people, push them around, treat them with disdain. And in the Kingdom of God, our goodness would not lead to bitterness, anger, or self-righteousness. There is a difference between human “niceness/goodness” and Gospel Living: our goodness would remain in humility, not self-righteousness, in grace, not vengefulness.
This is Passion Week and we want to meditate on Christ’s suffering. Jesus was despised, falsely accused, and tortured by his enemies. Even though completely innocent and violently attacked, yet there was no bitterness or anger. He forgave, he cared. That’s not just human goodness, that’s super-human.
2. Good people have to start all over
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a very respected, religious and pious man, a member of the ruling council. We won’t take the time now, but these Pharisees lived far more religious and righteous lives than any of us. They were disciplined, religious, zealous, “good” people.
Nicodemus was a Jew, a descendent of Abraham. To Nicodemus, being a blood descendent of Abraham had a lot of promises attached to it.
To use our previous illustration, Nicodemus had a really, really nice tricycle.
But Jesus says to Nicodemus, you don’t just need to do a little more, be a little better. Being a Jew, a descendent of Abraham doesn’t give you much. You need to start all over. You need to be born again. You need to throw away your really nice tricycle.
You have computer problems, and your tech friend says, you don’t just need to re-install Windows or get some more RAM. No, your mother board is fried. You need a new computer.
You don’t just need a few more prayers and church services, some good works and a little more patience. You need to start all over. You have to abandon any hopes in trying to salvage your goodness.
Jesus was saying to Nicodemus, you’re worse than you think. You’re going to have to start over.
This ties in well with things Paul says in Galatians.
Paul was saying that Jews and Gentiles are in the same boat. It doesn’t matter if you’re a law-keeping Jew or an immoral, pagan Gentile—you’re in the same boat. Law-keeping Jews need to put their faith in Jesus, and law-breaking Gentiles need to put their faith in Jesus.
Paul is saying, my Jewish law-keeping is worthless. It is rubbish. It’s monopoly money. I thought it had some value (praying, reading my bible, going to church, helping the poor, giving time and money to serve others). I thought I had something that made me better than immoral, corrupt, racist, sexist, violent, greedy people out there. But now I realize, we’re the same. Whether I have a really nice tricycle or a rusted and junky tricycle, we’re in the same boat. “Good” people are as far from the Kingdom of God as any other sinner.
Jesus’ message to Nicodemus is: we worse than we realize. We’re hopeless.
P. Dwight shared about this last week: we don’t realize how wicked we are and how vulnerable to sin we are. If we knew no one would know, if we knew there would be no consequences, who knows what we might do? We all underestimate our sinfulness. We’re far worse than we realize.
But do we believe that? Do we think like that?
When Sinners Say I Do, Dave Harvey [picture of cover]
I read a helpful book on marriage that actually talks a lot about Gospel Living, applied to marriage. Harvey fleshes out what it looks to have this attitude/perspective.
I am a better husband and father, and a happier man, when I recognize myself as the worst of sinners. (p. 43)
G. K. Chesterton once responded to a newspaper article inviting readers all over the globe to answer the age-old question, “What’s wrong with the world?”
His reply was brief and to the point, “I am.” (p. 52)
In humility, suspect yourself first
For most of us, when things go wrong, our instinct is to presume we’re right and the other person is wrong. Our initial instinct is to be defensive, not repentant.
We assume we understood the situation, we assume we know all the facts, we assume the other person doesn’t understand.
Stop. If we really thought we are the worst sinner, if we though we’re more wicked than we realize, then our first instinct is to wonder, maybe I’m at fault, maybe I didn’t understand or did something wrong. We’d think:
What’s wrong with the world? I am.
What’s wrong with this marriage? I am.
What’s wrong with this church? I am.
In a conflict, we’d ask ourselves, “Am I trying to win the argument, defend myself, punish the other? Am I overly reactive because of my own insecurities, do I hear attacks where no attacks were intended? Or am I speaking in love, am I trying to build up not tear down?”
Some of us, especially if you’re married, may have learned that we tended to do some of these things. We have a pattern of arguing, punishing, self-justifying, etc. We can learn to be more suspicious of ourselves because we realize we tend to fall into these patterns.
I have a tendency to justify myself, to want to show that I didn’t really do anything that wrong, that I have a very reasonable explanation for what I did.
I need to be suspicious of myself, recognizing that I maybe overly defensive and self-justifying. I may not be listening well because I’m too busy defending myself.
I need to see how this whole self-justifying posture is really saying “I’m more righteous than you think. Let me show you.” Not, “I’m more sinful than you think, I’m more sinful than I even know.” My instinct is to defend myself, not to suspect myself. The truth is, I don’t see myself as the worst of sinners.
Admit that circumstances only reveal existing sin
We tend to blame, blame the problem on the other person, the situation, the stress, the kids, the traffic, our parents & the way we were raised. We play the victim.
I’ve learned to be sympathetic to difficult circumstances; some circumstances are really, really hard: some marriages, relationships, economic situations, health situations, tragedies.
However, how we respond to our circumstances says something significant, not just about our circumstances, but also about us. Some people have very difficult lives, but are still thankful. Some people are incredibly privileged, but always complain. Some people have lots of money, but are stingy. Some people are quite poor, but are generous. How we respond says something about us. Circumstances reveal what’s inside.
Jesus is a great example. As mentioned, Jesus was completely innocent and violently attacked. He was the object of jealousy and hatred by those in power, who conspired his execution. Yet, there is no bitterness or anger. He forgives, he cares. Circumstances reveal what’s inside.
Focus on undeserved grace, not unmet need
We fight with people because we’re focused on how the other person has failed us, wronged us, offended us. But if we understand the Gospel, if we see ourselves as the worst of sinners, we’d realize and focus on how we’ve received far more than what we deserve.
The focus on the sinner is not how he’s been given less than what he deserves but that he’s been giving far more than what he deserves.
The attitude of the person convicted of his sinfulness is that of humilty, unworthiness, and thankfulness.
We’re worse than we realize, and it’s important that we not just recognize this is what the Bible says, but that we recognize it’s true.
When this takes root in a community, I believe we’d have more of a culture of repentance, confession, making apologies. People would be always asking for forgiveness. Spouses are always asking for forgiveness, parents and kids are asking for forgiveness. Pastors are asking for forgiveness.
Jesus is confronting Nicodemus that he’s far worse than he knows, but in doing so, he points to the road to life.
The solution is not trying to be better—that’s hopeless. It’s impossible. I’ll never be good enough. Give up. I need to hear that, because I still think if I tried hard enough, I could be good.
Instead Jesus points to a different solution.
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
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.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:15, 16, 18, 36)
We are saved by not trying to be better. We’re saved by believing, trusting in Jesus. The Christian life is not one of self-effort but one of faith in Christ.
By trust in Jesus, we enter the Kingdom, have eternal life, are no longer condemned, and we experience a freedom, security, joy, and love that, as it were, makes us super-human.
We’re not trying to be good enough. (a) We know we can’t, and (b) we know we don’t have to try—we’re no longer condemned. We live in a freedom and security that in Jesus we’re rich, we’re strong, we’re truly good. In Jesus, tricycles are Aston Martin’s.
Please come back next week as we consider what we’re to believe, what gives us this freedom, security and joy.