Sermon Series: Misconceptions About Christianity 

It Means Being Religious 

John 3:1-15 

CBC Bishop, 10/19/03

In a nutshell: You don't have to be religious to be a Christian. That's a huge misconception. You simply need Jesus-His forgiveness and His leadership in your life.

I. Introduction

A. Scripture Reading

If you have your Bibles, I'd like to invite you to turn to the Gospel of John in the New Testament, and we're going to look at an interesting occurrence that happened in Jesus' life, that's recorded in the first 15 verses…

John 3:1-15 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." 3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" 5 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. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You 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." 9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

B. Heaven Joke

Did you hear the story about the three men who died and were standing at the gates of heaven? They were asked by St. Peter, what they had done on earth to deserve being allowed into heaven.

The first one said that he was a police officer and had spent his life helping enforce the law and keeping crime down. Peter looked at him, nodded and said, "OK, go on in."

The second man said that he was very wealthy, and had given a lot of his money to help good causes. Again, Peter shook his head in the affirmative, and gave the go ahead.

The third man said that he had been a director of an HMO organization. He said he had saved millions of dollars in health care costs for insurance companies and clients and had cut down on waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. Peter looked at him and said, "OK you can go in…, but you can only stay for three days."

Jokes about people showing up at the "pearly gates" abound. But behind most of these jokes, is the assumption that we have to do something good or religious here on earth, in order to make it into heaven. But I'm here to tell you this morning, that that is not true!

II. The Story of the Pharisees and Nicodemus

A. Introduction

Nicodemus, the guy in our scripture reading this morning, was one of those people who had a hard time comprehending that you don't have to be religious to get to heaven. We first find out about Nicodemus, in these verses I just read to you from John chapter three. He shows up again in chapters seven and nineteen. But this is our introduction to him.

B. What We know about him

Even though we don't know a lot about Nicodemus' history, there are several things that we do know about him.

1. First, we know his name was a Greek name that meant, "victor over the people." Now, that doesn't mean he was a Greek. In fact, without a doubt, he was a Jew. But his name shows just how much the Greek culture of the 1st century had influenced life around the world.

It could be that Nick's parents were Jews who lived in a Greek city, and chose a Greek name for their son, so he'd fit in. We really don't know. But the bottom line is that there had to be some Greek influence in his family's life, because Nicodemus is not a normal name for a good Jewish boy.

2. The second thing we know about Nicodemus is that he was a Pharisee. Now, most of what we know about the Pharisees, we know from reading the New Testament. And if you've read what the gospels say about Jesus' dealings with the Pharisees, then you probably have a pretty negative picture in your mind of who the Pharisees were and what they were like.

Now, I don't know if you know this, but you don't find any information about the Pharisees in the Old Testament. That's because this group didn't come into existence until sometime between the books of Malachi in the Old Testament and Matthew in the New Testament (a period of about four hundred years). Historians believe that the sect or political party of the Pharisees, developed during the period of the Maccabean wars, which took place during that "inter-testimental period". During that time, Greek culture was sweeping the world and had infected even the Jews-God's chosen people-along with everyone else in the world.

But among the Jews there were certain people who absolutely hated the idol worship, immorality and pagan customs of the Greeks. That hatred was coupled with fierce military resistance against the religious persecution that was brought on against the Jews by the Greek general, Antiochus Epiphanies.

Those who stood their ground and didn't compromise with the Greek influence of the day, and refused to abandon faith in Jehovah God, were called "Hasidim" or saints. It is believed that these Hasidim were the forerunners to the Pharisees of Jesus day.

So if you keep that in mind, you'll realize that not all Pharisees were evil men. They had their roots in a movement that was born out of a desire to be faithful to God. In history, these were guys who were men of great courage and conviction; they were sincere and noble; and they were willing to give their lives for their God.

The Pharisees had a lot of things right. -They believed strongly in the sovereignty of God. -They taught that men were responsible for their moral choices. -They taught that man's soul is immortal and that there would be a resurrection of the dead. -They believed in the existence of the angels -and They believed that there would be rewards and punishment at the end of this life. Those are things most of us believe, today.

3. Another thing we know about Nicodemus was that he was one of the most important leaders of his day. He held a prominent position in Jewish society. In fact, according to verse one, we know that Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin-the highest Jewish legal court in existence-it was like he was a member of the Jewish Supreme Court.

4. Still another thing we know about Nick, comes from something Jesus said about him in verse 10.

John 3:10 10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus,

He wasn't just one of the teachers, he was the one and only, or at least "the main" teacher of the Jewish religion at that time.

C. What we can learn from him

Understanding all that, starts to paint a picture of a very devout religious leader, well educated, highly respected, and very moral. Nicodemus was a man to be admired for the way he conducted his life. And it's this guy that came to Jesus under the cover of night.

Now in today's language, we'd call Nicodemus, a seeker. What sparked his spiritual seeking was all the miracles that Jesus had done that were being reported throughout the entire region. Nicodemus interpreted them as something more than just miracles-in verse 2 he calls them signs-he was referring to the fact that they were signs that pointed to Jesus being the promised Messiah.

So if I can recap this for a minute, what we have here is a guy who was very religious and very moral. He was a person who was sincere about his faith and who really wanted to know the truth. And that's where this entire story becomes so applicable to setting straight this misconception about Christianity-that is means being religious.

You see, the truth we learn through this encounter with Nicodemus is that being religious isn't what counts…it's a relationship with Jesus that counts.

There are many people who have grown up in homes with Christian principles or have had a church background. They are people with high moral standards, they are good role models, and they are highly respected in the community - but like Nicodemus they do not have eternal life.

III. Other Seekers

A. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, was a man like Nicodemus. He too, grew up in a religious home. His father and grandfather were both preachers. He was a moral person and a good person and yet he did not have any assurance that he was going to heaven when he died. Listen to how he tells the story of his life:

"It started with God sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people's heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my head ache.

"The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed in I suppose. At last, a very thin looking man, a shoemaker or tailor or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, this man was really stupid. He needed to stick to the Bible, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The Bible text was - "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."

"He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus: "My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, look. Now lookin' don't take a great deal of pain. It ain't liftin' your foot or your finger; it's just, lookin'. Well, a man needn't go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn't be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, look unto me. Whoa! Many of ye are lookin' to yourselves, but it's no use to lookin' there. You'll never find any comfort in yourselves. But Jesus Christ says, 'look unto me'.

"Then the good man followed up his text in this way: "Look unto me; I am sweatin' great drops of blood. Look unto me; I'm hangin' on the cross. Look unto me; I am dead and buried. Look unto me I rise again. Look unto me, I ascend into heaven. Look unto me; I am sittin' at the Father's right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me, look unto Me."

"When he had gone to about that length and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, "Young man, you look very miserable." Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, "and you always will be miserable -miserable in life, miserable in death - if you don't obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved." Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted as only a Primitive Methodist could do, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin' to do but to look and live."

I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said. I did not take much notice of it. I was so possessed with that one thought. I had been trying to do fifty religious things, but when I heard that word, "Look!" oh, I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him." (The Early Years, Spurgeon's Autobiography. Pages 87-88).

After entering into this new relationship with Jesus, Charles Haddon Spurgeon went on to becoming the most famous preachers of the 19th century, and was called by many "the Prince of Preachers".

B. Martin Luther

Martin Luther, the great reformer and founder of the Lutheran church, had given his life to the Catholic priesthood at an early age. He lived continually under a heavy burden of guilt. He tried everything he could think of to save himself. He had fasted, prayed, and gone on pilgrimages. Luther had confessed his sins so often that, out of frustration, one of his priest-friends, said to him, "Look here, if you expect Christ to forgive you, come in with something to forgive - murder, blasphemy, adultery - instead of all these minor offenses."

Luther studied the Scriptures diligently and finally came to an understanding of Paul's words in the book of Romans, "the just shall live by faith." When he finally understood these words Luther said, "then I understood that the righteousness of God is that righteousness by which, through grace and sheer mercy, God justifies us through faith. Then I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning. Before the righteousness of God had filled me with hate, but now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul's became to me a gate to heaven."

C. John Wesley

John Wesley, the man who founded the Methodist movement, was another person who was devoutly religious. He had dedicated his life to the ministry and gone to America as a missionary to convert the Indians. After several years of miserable failures and no converts, he boarded a ship back to England.

On that ship he found himself traveling with a group of Moravian missionaries. The ship found itself in the middle of a horrible storm. Wesley was deathly afraid, but he was amazed that the Moravians were not afraid, at all. They held a worship service that was calm and didn't seem to be affected by the storm. Many of the other passengers screamed in fear. Wesley, himself, hung on for dear life. But the German Moravian missionaries didn't miss a note in their hymn singing.

Later Wesley asked the leader of the Moravians, "Weren't you afraid?"

He replied, "I thank God, no."

Wesley asked, "Were not your women and children afraid?"

"No," replied the man. "Our women and children were not afraid."

When he arrived back in London, Wesley was so impressed by their faith that he attended a Moravian meeting on Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738. He later said, "I felt my heart strangely warmed. That night I did trust in Christ-Christ alone for salvation. And an assurance was given to me that He had taken away my sins, even mine."

D. Me

On a cold fall night, in 1971, a young man took the screen off the window of his fourth story dorm room, so he could jump out and commit suicide. He was depressed and drunk. What use was life? He had grown up in a very religious home. He had tried to be a good Christian. He set huge goals for himself to be a success so his parents would be proud-in school, in football, and Christian service organizations. He was a leader in his home church, and a leader on campus. He had an athletic scholarship. He had a lot of friends. But he felt empty. Life held no hope. So, he decided to end it all.

Just as he was about to climb onto the ledge to jump, his roommate walked into the room, saw what was happening, and pulled him back into the safety of the room.

The next day, after sleeping off the drunk, he went to the gym to shoot some baskets. One of his coaches saw him at the gym and invited him to a hockey game that evening. After the game, the young man and the coach sat in the coaches car, and the coach shared a Bible verse with him. It's the next verse in the story of Nicodemus.…

John 3:16 16 "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.

And the coach said the words that I put on the front of your worship folders this morning, "You're trying to be religious. And religion isn't going to take away that emptiness you feel…only God can do that. That hole you feel in your gut is exactly the size of Jesus. (Don "Bubba" Church, Wheaton College 1971).

Friends, I was that young man, 32 years ago. That night, in my coach's car, I stopped being religious, and asked Jesus Christ to forgive my sin and begin leading my life.

IV. Conclusion

Illustration: In 1942, the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators played in the World Series. It was a very close series. At the end of six games it was tied at three games a piece. The stadium was filled to capacity for the deciding game in Washington DC. The game came down to the ninth inning with the score tied 2 to 2. New York went down in order and Washington came to bat. The home town fans screamed for one single run which would win the series and the World Championship.

The first two men made outs and it looked like extra innings. Then a future hall of famer, by the name of Goose Goslin, came to the plate. Two strikes were called and then two balls. The crowd was breathless on every pitch.

On the fifth pitch, Goslin stepped into the ball and slammed it to left center field. The crowd went wild; it looked like a home run. But instead of going out of the park, the ball hit six inches below the top of the wall and fell back into the playing field.

Goslin was slowing down for a triple, when the third base coach signaled him to try for an in the park home run. So he put "the petal to the metal" and ran for home plate. The shortstop took the throw from the centerfielder, he spun and fired the ball to the catcher. Goose Goslin slid into home in a cloud of dust, and it looked like he touched home just before the catcher's tag.

The umpire delayed the call for a second, then as the dust cleared, he raised his right hand shouting, "You're out!"

The Washington fans were furious. The Washington manager, coaches and players rushed out to argue the call. The umpire announced he would consult with the other umpires. And after the four umpires conferred for a minute or two, the home plate umpire announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, the batter is out, because he didn't touch first base!"

Friends, listen…Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and I were all in the same boat as Nicodemus. We were all deeply religious men. But we had never touched first base. We didn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, where He was the forgiver of our sins and the leader of our lives. No matter how religious any of us were, if we didn't have Jesus, we didn't have any hope of eternal life in heaven.

You don't have to be religious to be a Christian. That's a huge misconception. You simply need Jesus-His forgiveness and His leadership in your life.

John 3:16 16 "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.

Have you asked Him to be the forgiver of your sins and the leader of your life? That's not religion…that's a relationship that will last for all of eternity. And God holds that out as a free gift to you this morning. You accept that gift by praying a prayer, similar to this…

Jesus I know I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe that when you died on the cross and rose from the dead, You did those things for me. I accept the exchange of my sin for your righteousness. And from this day on, I want to follow you as the leader of my life.