The Spirit Poured – Sermon – 4 June, 2017
The Spirit Poured
John 3:1-21 Titus 3:4-8
We had the wonderful privilege of touring in May one of the ancient countries of the world, Armenia, where in 301 AD Christianity was declared as a state religion. We were 20 in the group and all were impressed by the beauty and the rich heritage of the country and enjoyed the modern capital city of Armenian, Yerevan.
The group visited several fascinating monasteries and churches built in the 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th and later. Outside the main cities, the majority of churches and monasteries were built and constructed on high mountains and cliffs and it is hard to imagine how on earth they were able to build such wonderful constructions with beautiful Armenian architectural designs. To mention just one, the church of Keghart, consisting of three churches and a large mausoleum carved into a mountain.
All of these churches had frescos and paintings of Biblical images mostly Christ at His birth, baptism, teaching his disciples, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension and Mary. The most common was the crucifixion with its varieties; usually with Mary mother of the Lord, the women and John the disciple. One got my attention, which pictured two well-dressed men. First, the Pharisee Joseph of Arimathea, who offered his tomb for Jesus to be buried in. And the second, another Pharisee, named Nicodemus, who came at night to Jesus with the hope of having an interesting discussion.
Nicodemus new that Jesus was a teacher who came from God, for no one could do the miraculous signs He was doing if God was not with Him.
But regardless of Nicodemus’s conviction and belief, Jesus had to explain to him, how it was possible to follow Him and what is the meaning of being born again and to be part of the Kingdom of God. This idea seemed strange to the Pharisee, so Jesus had to explain to him the real meaning of being a follower and a disciple of Jesus Christ.
In their discussion Jesus had to use the words: “I tell you the truth”.
Someone said: “It makes you wonder what he was saying the rest of the time”.
Now I don’t believe for one moment Jesus was a liar, but why did He use this expression?
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)
And we have so many other examples, one being in our passage today. I believe it was likely a common expression in that day to emphasise the importance of what would be spoken immediately after that.
We have a similar phrase in English:
To tell you the truth. We don’t mean that we weren’t telling the truth before and are only now beginning to do so.
Or, Can I be honest with you? I wasn’t being dishonest with you before, but now my degree of openness is greater and I’m being more transparent than I would otherwise be in the course of conversations.
It could be to emphasise something or some idea. The fact is, we have lot of expressions like that in English: Seriously or I literally am being serious.
When Jesus says “I tell you the truth“, He does it to indicate that what He is telling is the truth.
In John 23:42-43 the discussion between Jesus and one of the thieves crucified goes like this: Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Often times, Jesus speaks and replies using parables.
For example, in Luke 10:25-37, a Pharisee asked him “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus replied with the parable of the Good Samaritan.
However, when Jesus said “I tell you the truth“, He was indicating that He was not speaking in parables, but telling the truth.
Obviously He wasn’t lying at other times. He was just trying to illustrate the point that He was actually telling the truth. It’s something that gets our attention.
When Jesus says “I tell you the truth” the Greek word “Amen” is being used. Amen can be translated as “I tell you the truth,” “verily,” and “so be it” or “let it be“.
He was using it as an expression to make it known that whatever He was about to say needs to be taken as seriously as possible. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you now” or “Pay attention!”
Also this expression reminds us that He is the Truth. It is a living testament that He was and He is the Truth and He was telling the truth yet people of Israel, not necessarily Jews, were blind and unable to see or hear or accept the Truth, Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with English and or phrases in any language. “I am telling you the truth!”
Jesus enjoys telling the truth. He told His disciples maybe 60 times, “I tell you the truth”. He told the truth about all kinds of things: about how much we really love Him, about what is to come, and about what He would do for us. Some is difficult to understand.
I Tell You the Truth: Jesus tells the truth in the Gospels and in our passage too He is telling Nicodemus and us the truth about real discipleship and the right way to follow Him.
Here Jesus talks about the change that should happen in us before we are able to follow Him.
It is not enough to confess Him being the Son of God or like Nicodemus being amazed with all He has done: the miracles and the signs. According to Jesus to see the kingdom, we need to be born again.
No one can enter the kingdom unless he or she is born of the water and the Spirit.
There is a big difference between our natural physical birth and the spiritual birth. Flesh gives birth to the flesh. But only the Spirit can give birth to the spirit. And that is necessary to be part of the Kingdom of God and to have a heavenly citizenship. No other way is possible.
As we read this morning and probably we have read or heard this passage many times earlier, we know that the discussion that night goes forward to the point when Jesus, after explaining all the truth about the rebirth through the Spirit, states one of the most famous life changing verses registered in the Gospels:
“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”.
When we breathe, our heart beats, the blood flows into our arteries and veins, our organs function properly and we receive the necessary/sufficient daily nutrition, we live and exist in our physical state. But we all know that these are only perishable bodies, as Paul says.
But what here Jesus is talking about is the eternal life which is non-perishable. And that is important and necessary to secure our eternity.
This very verse (John 3:16) was the very reason to change my life. When I was a 17, I had so many dreams and plans for the future. Discipleship, ministry, coming to Australia, joining the Uniting Church and standing here and preaching at this Pentecost Combined Service with Anglicans and Uniting were not ever in the formula.
But the shift happened in late September 1975, in the Armenian Evangelical Christian Endeavour Youth Camp on the hills of Lebanon. I was born again and my life totally changed and shifted everything upside down. I believe I was born again by the Spirit. I was and never will be perfect, as no one is perfect, except the One and only One. “Who am I?” I am simply a week servant of God and never will be perfect.
But I assure you that there is the possibility of being totally a new person through Him, who lives and is forever.
The apostle Paul at the closing of his letter to Titus, before the final remarks, reminds us what God has done to us through the appearance of His kindness and love. He has saved us because of His mercy, not because of the righteous things we have done. He has saved us through the washing of the rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
It was the Spirit that was poured on us so generously through the promise of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.
At His ascension Jesus instructed His disciples to go and wait for the change that was promised to them, before they go out and start their ministry. Literally He told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit, who will come and anoint them, prepare them and send them out to do their ministry.
The disciples needed the power of the Spirit more, with the absence of the Lord and their teacher. To be able to do and play their role and part in the kingdom, they needed the empowerment of the Spirit to sustain them. And it was given as promised that day in the form of the wind and the fire.
They were anointed anew and were ready to go out and do whatever it was expected from them to do and change the world totally.
Today, as the followers and disciples of Christ we are invited to receive the gift of the Spirit, which is rebirth, to enjoy the privileges and accept the challenge to be renewed, reborn and do what God desires from us. His desire for us is to be His disciples filled with the Spirit.
Yesterday I heard on the radio the following as a pondering thought:
“Do you catch the bus or the bus catches you?”
It made me think about it seriously. Literally you can’t catch a bus, but actually you get on the bus and the bus takes you from one point to the other.
Or “Do you catch a plane or the plane catches you?”
I don’t know what you say about this expression. But I remember when with few friends we were standing in the shade of a tree at a youth camp, a mature Christian preacher approached us and desperately wanting to start a conversation about Christ and what He can do to change our lives, he asked this question pointing to each one of us saying: “Have you found Christ?” “Have you found Christ?” “Have you found Christ?”
Then I turned to him and said to him: “Dear brother why do you ask; is Jesus lost?”
Then to give him the peace of mind, I said: “Brother, We were lost and Jesus has found us. Now we are here to learn and make our firm commitment to serve Him with all our heart and glorify His name”.
Dear friends, it is time for the church to be the church and filled with the Spirit, fully represent the body of Christ and act on His behalf, who is the head and will remain now and forever.
It is time to be filled with the spirit and do our discipleship.
To whom is the glory now and forever.