We’re In This Together

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

8 and

“A stone of stumbling,
    and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:4-10 ESV

Peter spoke to his audience, not so much as individuals, but as a corporate community. In verse two he addressed them as “newborn infants,” using the plural designation rather than the singular. Together, they represented a collection of “born again” people who all shared a common bond as the children of God. And it was together that they were to “grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 ESV). The walk of faith is not a solo sport, but a community event in which God’s people engage in a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship with one another. And Peter emphasizes the communal nature of that relationship by switching to a building metaphor.

Each believer shared a common story. They had come to faith in Jesus “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood” (1 Peter 1:2 ESV). It was their individual relationships with Jesus that bonded them together into one family in which they shared God as their Heavenly Father. These people probably came from different economic, social, and even ethnic backgrounds. Yet, they each had come to Jesus “the living cornerstone of God’s temple,” who was “rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor” (1 Peter 2:4 NLT).

Jesus was the foundation of their shared faith story. Their new lives were being built upon and around Him. A cornerstone was a massive piece of cut stone that, when put in place, established the pattern for all the other stone to come. It provided a guide for the builder, determining the right angles necessary for laying perfectly perpendicular rows of stones. Without the cornerstone, the walls could become easily misaligned, leaving the final structure unsightly and even unsafe for use.

But Peter describes his readers as “living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple” (1 Peter 2:5 NLT). At one time, each of them had been an unfinished, rough-hewn stone. But God had chosen and carefully prepared them to fit into the plan for His holy temple. They were in the process of having their rough edges smoothed away. Their shape was being reformed by the Builder, so that they might become a seamless and integral part of God’s glorious House. Peter’s point seems to be that you can’t build a house with a single stone. Even Jesus Himself was the “cornerstone” and not the house itself. And while it is true that every believer has the Holy Spirit living within them, Paul pointed out that it is the collective body of Christ that forms the temple of God.

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? – 1 Corinthians 3:16 NLT

Back in verse nine of 1 Corinthians, Paul declared to the believers in Corinth: “You are God’s building.” Then in verse 17, he re-emphasizes their collective status as God’s temple.

God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. – 1 Corinthians 3:17 NLT

And Paul used this same building metaphor when writing to the believers in Ephesus.

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. – Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT

Don’t miss what Paul is saying.

Together, we are his house…

We are carefully joined together…

We are being made part of this dwelling where God lives…

Paul is stressing our unity and shared sense of identity and purpose. The temple was the place where God’s glory dwelt, and as His “spiritual house,” we serve as the dwelling place of His presence and power in this day and age. This spiritual structure, like the Old Testament temple, is meant to be the place where the priests of God mediate on behalf of the people of God. In this holy place, sinners can discover the grace of God and receive cleansing from their sins. The church, the body of Christ, is to be the place where the condemned can find full acquittal for their sins. They are the messengers of God’s gracious act of redemption made possible through the sacrifice of His own Son on the cross. It is the place where the holy priesthood “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5 ESV). Peter is not inferring that additional blood sacrifices must be made to atone for sin, but that the church was to be a place marked by selfless and sacrificial service to God. That’s exactly what Paul wrote to the believers in Rome.

I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. – Romans 12:1 NLT

This is the same thought that Paul had expressed earlier in the same letter.

…present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. – Romans 6:13 NLT

After stressing the communal aspect of their faith and their corporate status as God’s dwelling place, Peter returned to the metaphor of the cornerstone. Quoting from Isaiah 28:16 and Psalm 118:22, Peter discloses that Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. Jesus had been the cornerstone whom God had promised, but the Jewish people ended up rejecting Him. They set aside the One who had been destined to be the source of their hope and salvation. They cast Him aside like an ill-formed stone, refusing to recognize Him as “chosen and precious” (1 Peter 2:6 ESV). And quoting from another Old Testament passage (Isaiah 8:14), Peter makes the sad assessment that the Jews had ended up turning the cornerstone into “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:8 ESV). The One who could have offered them salvation became a cause of their stumbling and eventual fall.

It was the apostle Paul who wrote, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23 ESV). Because Jesus didn’t appear in the form they were expecting or produce the outcome they were anticipating, they stumbled over Him. And Peter points out the cause of their fall.

They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. – 1 Peter 2:8 NLT

John the Baptist had appeared on the scene, preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mark 3:2 ESV), and Jesus had picked up on that same message when He began His earthly ministry. But the majority of the Jewish people refused to heed the message and ended up rejecting the King for whom they had long been waiting. And Peter pointed out that they met “the fate that was planned for them.”

But Peter had good news for the believers to whom he wrote his letter.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. – 1 Peter 2:9 NLT

Peter borrows from Old Testament imagery that was most often associated with the people of Israel. Because they had rejected the cornerstone, the message concerning the good news of the Kingdom was taken to the Gentiles. And when they accepted God’s gracious offer of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone, they became the chosen people of God, His royal priests, a holy nation, and His chosen possession. And Peter stressed the amazing nature of this transformation in their status. They had once been living in darkness, but God had graciously called them out and exposed them to the wonderful light of life – His Son.

And Peter goes out of his way to remind them of the staggering implications of their spiritual rags-to-riches story. And, once again, he uses an Old Testament passage, most often associated with the people of Israel to make his point.

Once you had no identity as a people;
    now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
    now you have received God’s mercy.  – 1 Peter 2:10 NLT

The apostle Paul provides another reminder of this remarkable and undeserved transformation that has taken place in the life of every believer.

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. – Colossians 1:13-14 ESV

And as Peter will point out, that transformation should produce a complete renovation of our character and conduct.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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Conceived of God.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”  – Matthew 1:18-20 ESV

Matthew was rather matter-of-fact in his opening line to his gospel account. He simply said, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.” No timidity or hesitancy. No question as to the validity of his statement. Two times in three verses, Matthew mentions that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not a man. This fact, which many still debate today, is the basis for the Christian belief that Jesus was born of a virgin. In his gospel account, Luke records further details regarding this amazing miracle of God. “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’” (Luke 1:26-28 ESV). Gabriel went on to tell Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31 ESV). Understandably in shock at this surprising visit from an angel and upon hearing this shocking news, Mary asked, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34 ESV). That’s a fair question, right? She was being told she was going to have a baby, and yet she had not even had sex yet. Mary may have been a young, uneducated country girl, but she knew enough about human biology to know that what the angel was telling her required something more. There was something missing. Mary basically told the angel, “This is impossible, because I have never even been with a man!”

But while Mary may have been confused by this angelic announcement and seen all kinds of flaws and impossibilities linked to it, Gabriel simply told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35 ESV). This was not going to be an ordinary conception and birth. And while every child born is a miracle of God, this particular child was going to come into the world without the normal contribution of an earthly father. He would be the Son of God. There are still those today who, like Mary, struggle with the virgin birth. They go out of their way in an attempt to discount and disprove what the Scriptures clearly teach. Having a hard time believing the possibility that such a thing could happen, they simply reject it.

But if all things are possible for God, why would the virgin birth prove to be a problem for Him? If God could create the universe simply by speaking it into existence, could He not create life in the womb of a young girl? The thing that amazes me about this story is not that Mary had a baby without the assistance of a male, but that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. That reality gives me a serious case of brain freeze. I have no trouble at all believing that God could create life in the womb of a young virgin girl without the normal interaction of the female's egg and a male's sperm. After all, He created Adam out of dirt. But what blows me away is that the Holy Spirit, a member of the Trinity, was the source behind the conception of Jesus. According to Luke, the angel told Mary, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35 ESV). This was to be a miraculous, God-ordained, Spirit-empowered conception. How did it happen? We're not told. Neither Luke or Matthew provide us with specifics, because Gabriel didn't provide them. It was enough for Mary and Joseph to know that this child was going to be “holy – the Son of God.”

When I think about this incredible event in human history, I am amazed, not that it happened, but that a similar miracle has resulted in my own new birth. The Holy Spirit has made possible my new life in Jesus Christ. It is He who has made me a new creation. Jesus made this fact abundantly clear in His conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Jesus told him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 ESV). Like Mary, Nicodemus was confused by what he heard. So Jesus clarified. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6 ESV). Then, knowing Nicodemus was still wrestling with this concept, Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8 ESV).

I have been born of the Spirit. I have within me a new sinless nature, just as Jesus did. I can live holy and set apart because I am a new creation, born of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus was. John tells me, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9 ESV). It's interesting to note that John used the Greek word, sperma, which should be self-explanatory. Here he refers to the Holy Spirit, as the generative force that makes possible our conversion from condemned sinners to consecrated saints – conceived by God through the power of the Spirit of God. And made possible through the sacrificial death of the Son of God.

New Birth = New Life.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. – I John  5:1 ESV 1 John 5:1-5

His status as a child of God was extremely important to John, and he wanted his readers to understand and appreciate just how significant their position as God's children was as well. He did not want them to take it for granted. He also did not want them to assume that this was a condition for which they were responsible. Their spiritual rebirth, like his, was a work of God – from start to finish. They had been “born of God.” The Greek word John used is gennaō and it can mean “to be born or begotten,” but it can also be used in a metaphorical sense, “in a Jewish sense, of one who brings others over to his way of life, to convert someone.” Of course, Jesus most certainly had the first meaning in mind when He used the very same word in His conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 ESV). But Jesus also made it clear to Nicodemus that this new birth was a spiritual, not a human event. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6 ESV). All men and women experience a natural birth. They are born of water. They are born of the flesh. But Jesus said that unless you are born of water AND the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. There is a second birth required and that birth is spiritual in nature and completely the work of God.

But it is interesting to think about that second definition for the word, gennaō. It refers to one who brings others over to his way of life, converting and changing them. With the new birth, we become children of God. We are given new natures and a new way of living. No longer simply flesh-based, we are spiritual creatures with the very Spirit of God living within us. Paul puts it this way: “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT). In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul puts it even more bluntly. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29 ESV). To the believers in Ephesus he wrote, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV). God has chosen us. He has, through the death of His own Son, provided a means by which we could be brought over to His way of life, converting and changing us. It is NOT our faith that changes us. It is Jesus. He is the one who has provided us with new life. Paul put it so well when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 ESV). It is our faith IN Jesus that provides us with new life. Paul describes how that happened. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ESV). He goes on to say, “we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6 ESV). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV). Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have been been born of God. But even that capacity to believe has been given to us by God. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been save” (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV). God made us alive (syzōopoieō) together with Christ. We were dead in our sins, incapable of doing anything good or right, but God “quickened” us, putting the capacity within us to open our spiritually blinded eyes and see the truth of His gracious gift of new life in Christ. God regenerated us. Yes, we chose Christ. We placed our faith in Him. But even that choice had to be made possible by the grace and mercy of God. We who are children of God have truly been born of God. He chose to adopt us, not the other way around. He has made us His sons and daughters. And as a result of that new birth, we have been given new life. And the life we now live in the flesh, we live by faith in the Son of God. Same old bodies. Same old world. But new life, new nature, new power, new hope, new relationship with God, new future.

Born From Above.

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this its the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. – 1 John 5: 4 ESV 1 John 5:1-5

As he has done so many times before in his letter, John uses a comparison or contrast to make a point. He has used light and darkness, truth and falsehood, sin and righteousness, as well as love and hate. Now he brings up a slightly more subtle comparison. And yet, it is the key to understanding who we are, what it is we are up against, and how we are to come out victorious in the end. It is not exactly a new topic, because he covered it before. But this time he ties it to something highly significant: our victory. On one side of the comparison or contrast is John's term: “born of God.” This term is a differentiator for John. He is not referring to creation. All men and all things were made by God. But not all are “born of God.” That distinction is made possible only by belief in Jesus as the Christ. So for John, all mankind falls into one of two categories. They are either born of God or of this world. Or as he put it in even starker terms earlier in his letter: “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil” ( 1 John 3:10 ESV). There is a clear line of demarcation that separates one group from the other. It is the new birth. We often refer to it as being “born again.” It is interesting to note that when Jesus was secretly pursued by Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council, that Jesus said to him, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above,  he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NET). The Greek word Jesus used was anōthen and it has a double meaning. The one we traditionally see rendered in this verse is “anew or again.” But the other meaning is “from above, from a higher place; of things which come from heaven or God.” It seems likely the Jesus was referring to being born of God or from above, and that Nicodemus, based on his response, heard Jesus to say he had to be born again. It would seems that Jesus is teaching us that our new birth is a work of heaven. It is not of this world. It is a supernatural, divine undertaking that is based solely on faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

Belief in Jesus as Savior and as the only means by which men can be made right with God results in a divine act of procreation. When one places his faith in Jesus, he is born from above. This is an incredible transaction that takes place at the very throne of God in heaven. Which is why Jesus said to a very confused Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12 ESV). Jesus had tried to explain to Nicodemus what this heavenly birth meant. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6 ESV). Faith in Jesus as our sin substitute and Savior results in a new birth and a new identity. We become children of God who have been born from above by God. And then John gives us the encouraging news, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4 ESV). But what does that mean? We have been born from above, but we have been left below. We remain in this world, suffering with the same temptations, the same results of the fall, including sickness, disease and eventually death. So how have we overcome? What has our faith in Jesus given us victory over? The apostle Paul gives us the answer in words that are far to eloquent to attempt to paraphrase them.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:31-39 NLT

Our faith in Jesus results in our new birth. Our new birth makes us children of God. Our new status as His children makes us victorious. We win in the end. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Our own sins can't condemn us or remove us from our rightful place as His sons and daughters, because Christ has paid for our sins once and for all time. We are overcomers. We are victors. We are more than conquerors. We have been born from above.

A New Ballgame.

John 1:35-3:30

“God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.” – John 3:19 NLT

John records for us those early days of Jesus' earthly ministry – from the choosing of His first few disciples to the wedding at Cana. Almost immediately, we begin to see Jesus' deity revealed. Somehow Jesus was able to see Nathanael long before the two met, knowing that he had been sitting under a fig tree prior to Philip's arrival to invite him to meet Jesus. This supernatural capability shocked Nathanael and caused him to exclaim, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God – the King of Israel!" (John 1:49 NLT). But Jesus tells him "You will see greater things than this" (John 1:50 NLT). These men are in for a wild ride. They have no idea what they are getting into as the follow Jesus. Each day is going to be an adventure, filled with excitement, confusion, awe, broken expectations, thrilling new insights, and mind-numbing lessons that make no sense.

They will watch as Jesus turns ordinary water into expensive wine. They'll stand back in shock as He angrily clears the Temple of venders, shouting, "Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!" (John 2:16 NLT). They will scratch their heads in confusion as they listen to Jesus tell the religious leaders, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19 NLT). Everything about Jesus was surprising and shocking to them. He was not what they were expecting and the things He said and did were surprising, confusing and a little bit disconcerting. Their world was being rocked and their preconceived notions about life, religion, God and man were being turned upside down.

And then comes the nighttime visit from Nicodemus, the Pharisee. This well-educated religious leader made his way to Jesus after dark in order to keep his visit a secret. Jesus had already begun to make enemies of the religious leadership by virtue of His words and actions. He had begun to attract the attention of the people and cause an uproar, and the Pharisees were not amused. But Nicodemus was curious. He wanted to know more. He knew that Jesus had miraculous powers and must have been sent from God, but he was unclear as to just exactly who Jesus was and what He was doing. And like the disciples, Nicodemus got more than he bargained for in his meeting with Jesus. Nicodemus was part of the religious elite of the Jewish people. He was well-educated and viewed as extremely righteous. He was considered among the holiest and most godly of the people. And yet Jesus reveals to him some shocking news. "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3 NLT). This was disconcerting news to Nicodemus. As a son of Abraham and a keeper of the Law, he had always viewed his place in God's kingdom as a sure thing. And now Jesus tells him he must be "born again." Not only that, but "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit," Jesus says (John 3:5 NLT).

All Nicodemus can say in response is "How are these things possible?" (John 3:9 NLT).

He is confused. His brain is on overload. He is attempting to process information he has never heard before. He is being forced to reconcile what he is hearing with all that he has been taught over the years. Jesus is revealing to Nicodemus the truth regarding Himself and the truth about eternal life. It is not based on religious rule-keeping or hereditary purity. It is about the Son of God and belief in Him. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16 NLT). That verse is very familiar and comfortable to us, but to Nicodemus it would have been like a hand grenade exploding in the closet of his mind. Everything he had counted on and staked his life on was being ripped to shreds. The rules were changing and requirements were being altered. It was all about belief. Eight different times in His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus mentions the word, "believe." He uses the imagery of the bronze serpent from the time of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Nicodemus would have been very familiar with it. Because of their disobedience, God had sent poisonous snakes to plague the people. He then instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. If the people would listen to God's word and look at the bronze serpent, they would be healed from snakebite. But if they refused to believe and do as God said, as crazy as it may have sounded or looked, they would die. Jesus tells Nicodemus, "so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes on him will have eternal life" (John 3:14 NLT). Belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the remedy for man's sin was the requirement. But Jesus knew that not everyone was going to believe. Not everyone was going to accept this new requirement. "God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil" (John 3:19 NLT). Just as there were those who refused to look at the bronze serpent and died in the wilderness, so there were going to be those who refused to believe in Jesus and die in their sins. Jesus was giving Nicodemus a choice to make. Did it sound illogical? Yes. Did it appear improbable? Most certainly. Could Nicodemus have found it all unacceptable? Of course. But that is the nature of belief. It requires faith. It demands trust. It necessitates risk. But it is all based on love – the love of God. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son…" (John 3:16 NLT).

Father, Your Son rocked the world. He shattered all preconceived notions and broke down all the man-made constructs that attempted to explain You and promote the path to righteousness. He is still rocking our world today. Sometimes it is so hard to simply believe. It is so difficult to just trust. We feel like we have to do it all. We are so performance driven. We want to earn our good standing with You by doing good works for You. But it has always been about Your Son. He is the key. For both salvation and sanctification. Never let me forget that. Amen.