Lesson
2: Highlighting the Savior
John
3:1-21
A.
Preliminary Questions:
·
As you
look at our world, what would you call undeniable evil? (e.g.
The Holocaust, etc.)
·
Do most
people believe that they are “basically good?”
“57% of un-churched adults state that a good person can earn his or her
way into Heaven compared to 64% who believed so in 2000.” (2004)
Barna Research Group
·
What is
the problem in someone thinking that they are good because they are not bad
like Hitler?
If someone wants to find out
whether they are excellent at golf, it would be a mistake for them to try to
find this answer by challenging children to miniature golf. Sure, this person may be far better than the
children that he has challenged, but this says nothing about his own game,
given that the children are absolutely horrible. In the same way, it is a mistake to think
that we are good because we are not like bad people.
·
What is
the problem in someone thinking that they are good because they are good like Mother
Teresa?
Imagine ten children who love miniature
golf, but have no idea about professional golf.
Let’s say among these ten children, one child (Lucy) is far superior
then the rest of the children – so much so that they regard her as a pro. In fact the nine other children aspire to be
“professional” like Lucy. After much
training, three of the kids manage to develop skills similar to Lucy. Now, they think that they are “professional
golf players.” That is until they met
Tiger Woods.
Upon meeting Tiger Woods, they
realize that it was a mistake to judge the progress of their golf game by Lucy
(someone who was better than them), because Lucy fell horribly short compared
to someone else. Their conviction on
what it meant to be an excellent golf player proved to be short-sited. In the same way, it is a mistake to think
that we are basically good because we are like other people that we regard as
good. It may be the case that our
perspective is horribly short-sited.
B.
Relevance to John 3:
In John 3, we meet at man who felt confident about his goodness. Nicodemus, a deeply religious man, felt
confident before God. Certainly, Nicodemus
wasn’t bad like the murderous Herod the Great.
Likely, Nick might have even thought that he was good like John the
Baptist. Wherever he derived this
self-confidence, he was about to learn that he had a radically mistaken view of
his spiritual condition.
II. Into the Bible:
Read-John 3: 1-21
A. The
Bad News:
i. Question: When Jesus tells
Nicodemus that he must be born-again, what did he mean?
The phase “born-again” implies
that there was an original birth that ended in mortality; a first life that was
extinguished. Jesus is saying that
everyone born into this world has in some sense been born once
spiritually. But, because of spiritual
death caused by sin, they must be born-again.
Ephesians 2:1: “And
you were dead in your trespasses and sins.”
Romans 5:12: “Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and
so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
ii. Question: How did Nicodemus
respond to the implication of Jesus that he was spiritually dead and needed to
be born-again?
a. It
simply didn’t make sense to him.
John 3:9-10: 9 “Nicodemus said to
him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered
and said to him, "Are you the teacher of
b. He
was unbelieving.
John 3:11-12: 11 "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know
and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our
testimony.
12 "If I
told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you
believe
if I tell you heavenly things?”
iii. Question: Why do you
suppose that Nicodemus was initially confused and unbelieving?
Jesus was declaring that
Nicodemus required a remedy that he felt was uncalled for.
Imagine a man who goes to the doctor for a basic
check-up. After running some blood
tests, the doctor runs into the room panic-stricken. He says that they have to rush him into
surgery immediately and amputate his right leg.
At this point, the patient is confused and unbelieving. Likely, the patient will refuse the doctor’s
earnest pleadings. Why? Because he doesn’t believe his life is in
jeopardy. He doesn’t believe what the
doctor knows and what the doctor believes, which is, there is a rare bacteria
in his right leg for which doctors have no remedy. Further, if that leg is not amputated soon,
it will travel to his heart and stop it.
In other words, the patient doesn’t believe that he is that bad
off.
In the same way, Jesus is
undermining Nicodemus’ personal conviction, as well as the common conception that
people are basically good and need only a little assistance for their
failings. In essence, Jesus says “You
are spiritually dead and require a spiritual resurrection.” Nicodemus had not yet realized the depths of
his sinfulness, and so, the remedy didn’t seem to make sense.
B. The Good News:
i. Question: If spiritual death
and destruction are the bad news, what is the good news in John 3?
John 3:16-18: 16
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the
Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved
through Him. 18 "He who
believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
What does this mean?
ii. Question: Why doesn’t the
good news of Christianity make sense without the bad news of spiritual death
and future punishment?
If we are not spiritually dead
and headed for future punishment, then it seems that God has terribly overreacted
to our condition by allowing his son to suffer on the cross. It would be similar to a father selling
everything he possessed so that he might cure his son of a common cold.
III.
Into Our Lives:
A. Application:
i. Startling Statistics:
According to the Barna Research Group, about
one-third of born-again Christians (33%) believe that if a person is good
enough they can earn a place in Heaven. (2005)
About one out of four (26%) born-again Christians believe that it
doesn’t matter what faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons; a
belief held by 56% of non-Christians. (2000)
It is clear that there are those who
believe that they are “born-again,” but truly are not. They are people who, like Nicodemus, don’t
grasp the severity of their spiritual condition. How about you? Maybe coming into this study, you believed
that people were basically good. Maybe
you felt that God will let you into his good heaven because you have done more
good than bad; you are more like Mother Teresa than Hitler. Perhaps now you understand what the good news
of Christianity is: Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
ii. Reflection: Ask people to
reflect on their own state of soul. Give
those in your group an opportunity to bear their hearts on this matter. If God leads, lead people
into a prayer for salvation.
B. Pray