“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”[b] that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:7-9
What has God put into the DNA of this church? In talking with a number of people, a common theme was the way God wants to have a relationship with us.
There are some of us who don't remember ever not having God in our lives. There are others of us for whom this tangible relationship seems to be elusive, even though we may have come to church for many years.
Like a roller coaster, there is a tipping point at the top where there is a pause and a letting go; similarly, for some of us, there is a letting go required to completely trust in God and let go of the logical 'yeah buts', doubts and or fears about whether He will accept us; it is these sort of thought that might be holding us back.
The truth is that God longs for us to say "come in". He longs for us to invite Him into our lives.
We come to church to draw close to Him. To be reminded of His love for us.
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]
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. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:1-8, 16-21
Jesus never had one way of inviting people to have a relationship with Him. You might think that Jesus would welcome Nicodemus; instead He opened with a challenge. He recognized that Nicodemus was hiding by coming out at night.
Jesus said, I'm not here to condemn the world, but to set it free.
Jesus approaches each one of us differently.
These three things are what Jesus always says to those who want a relationship with Him:
1. Forgiveness - Jesus wants us to let go of past hurts and "be born again". He wants us to let go of bad habits. Sin is people seeking to meet legitimate needs in the wrong way. E.g. We might have a legitimate need for knowing that we will be cared for. However, we might try to get love in all the wrong ways. Or, we have a need for companionship. Today, many relationships are put into jeopardy or worse, crash, due to relationships with others on line. God loves to forgive us.
2. Follow - Jesus invited his disciples to follow him. Or, he said “go and love God the way you should.” With Nicodemus, he said, “you need to start again.”
3. Freedom - God loves to bring healing and freedom for people. Sometimes we forget to ask God to intervene. Sometimes we get afraid of the future. Sometimes we try to protect ourselves rather than trusting God to take care of us.
God loves to create moments where we have an opportunity to let go of our fears and doubts and let Him be in charge.
Many times when God does something in us, then we're more effective in doing something for others through our actions.