Sequence

I just noticed something in John 3 here that I have not noticed before. This discussion seems to talk a lot about what we can or cannot do along with what must happen if one wants to be a part of God's kingdom. Now that I think of it it seems a little unusual for Jesus to be so intent on talking about the word do. Many other times when people came to Him and asked what they must do He often steered the conversation to the issue of belief. But here He seems to start out with the doing discussion.

...no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus *said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:2-5)

What I see next seems to focus around what we know or don't know.

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 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." (John 3:8-11)

At this point I now see the transition into what we do or do not believe. It is very like Jesus to guide nearly every discussion to talking about what we believe.

"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. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

...so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 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.

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." (John 3:11-12, 15-16, 18)

The last thing I see in this sequence is a discussion about judgment. Judgment at its core meaning is a revealing, an exposure of what is believed deep in the heart, far beyond our mental profession or claims or systems of intellectual beliefs. Judgment is all about revealing for everyone to see the real motives and attitudes and gut-level nature of what is actually going on inside of us.

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 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 (truth about His character) of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3:17-21)

Why does this last part talk about deeds instead of motives? I always assumed deeds referred to external behavior that was evident to the public to start with. But if that is true then it would make no sense to be afraid of Light for fear of being exposed.

I believe what is implied here is that those who are afraid of the Light of real truth exposing what is deep in the heart are afraid of having their selfish motives exposed that underly all of their external righteousness. The Pharisees were quite intent on their outward deeds being evident and public, but their tended to get very upset whenever Jesus came along and began to expose their true motives and the real condition of their hearts. So it seems to me that Jesus is here using shorthand to link the word deeds in this case to the real motives of the heart that underlies those deeds. Otherwise there would be no reason for fear to be involved.

I also find this passage very instructive about the true nature of judgment. Jesus stated very clearly that God never condemns us. We have assumed that judgment and condemnation are one and the same thing. Because of this deeply embedded assumption we have, the Bible sometimes uses judgment interchangeably with the more accurate use of the same word in regards to revealing, so one needs to examine the context to see which way it is being intended. But here Jesus lays out heaven's perspective on real judgment which is simply the exposure of what is hidden inside of us.

As I take a broader overview of this passage it is finally becoming more clear to me that this whole discourse really is a synopsis of the gospel as it is in Jesus. I have spent years very frustrated in not being able to crack the “code” that seemed to enshroud this passage for me personally. I have heard many discourses on it, memorized sections of it, been taught all kinds of doctrines and ideas from it and heard it thrown around like candy for nearly all of my life. But it was so vague and generalized and lacking in demonstration that I felt inoculated to experiencing the real significance of these words of Jesus.

Even now I feel like I am only getting slight glimmers of the real meaning of these words. I have to confess that I feel very much like Nicodemus when I read this. I am baffled, confused and even somewhat dismayed as I hear what sounds like a secret code or a foreign language that is so strange and different from the familiar religion that I have been taught all of my life. And even though these words have been used very often in the Christian culture that I grew up in, the real meaning behind them is nearly just as confusing for me as they were for Nicodemus when he first heard them.

I feel somewhat sad that it has taken nearly 50 years for me to begin to figure out what this passage is really saying to my heart. It is also a sad commentary on the effectiveness of the religions around me, that they are so distracted by other priorities (like behavior control) that even though they have nearly worn out this passage they still are unable to get across to many people the real life-changing truths about God so close to the surface in this passage. I suspect it is not from lack of trying but much more from a lack of personal experience of this truth so that the life of the speaker is congruent with the message they are attempting to convey.

Along that line I still have to confess that I have the very same problem. One of my areas of greatest discomfort is that my face and my vocal inflections are all too often out of harmony with the exciting truths that I try to share with people. This is so much of a problem that it often even irritates me while I am talking sometimes. I feel trapped in a body and a personality that is partially stuck in the past while my heart is trying to move on to something very new and different and passionate. When I get close to God's presence my insides feel like they come alive but my outsides feel like a hardened shell and refuse to allow most of what is inside to be evident in my demeanor and expressions. Sort of sounds a lot like Romans 7 to me.

One more important thing I want to mention before I close this out. What I see this morning here in this passage is a clearer picture of the sequence that someone else pointed out to me recently. They used these words to describe the sequence in this way:

• Our actions and behaviors are caused by what we feel. We tend to do things because we feel like doing them.

• Our feelings come from the things we think. The way our thoughts flow produce feelings which then lead to actions.

• Our thoughts are a product of what we really believe. Our beliefs form the guidance system for what we choose to think about or the direction in which our thoughts gravitate. These beliefs do include our intellectual beliefs but much more so our gut-level, emotional belief system that has much more influence over us than our professed beliefs.

• Our beliefs at the heart level are formed by our perceptions of what we see. This means that how we perceive reality, how we really view ourselves and most importantly how we perceive God and how He feels about us are the foundational basis for our real beliefs.

So how we see God determines what we believe which determines how we think which affects the way we feel which causes most of our behaviors.

The real problem lies in that we tend to usually focus more on trying to control or change our behavior instead of paying attention to the deepest root cause back at the other end of this chain of motivation.

The more that I have thought about this sequence the more I sense that it is absolutely true. And given this truth I begin to see that to make any real lasting change in my life or to help anyone else effectively, I must always focus on addressing the root of this sequence instead of wasting a lot of time at the other end trying to manage the symptoms of external behaviors. Behavior management generally produces a lot of hypocrisy because it fails to address the core issues, the heart beliefs linked with our distorted pictures of God deep in our soul.

As I looked over this passage this morning I noticed for the first time a very similar outline of this sequence. Jesus started where Nicodemus was focused, on the externals and his desire to be a good religious person and be accepted by God. This is in the realm of behavior which is where most religious people think all the important stuff exists. But Jesus quickly took Nicodemus back through the sequence all the way to what was going on at the heart level and his mistaken views about how God felt about him in order to show Nicodemus where the real problem lay.

Nicodemus was focusing on the outward signs that he had noticed in Jesus' life and was attracted to possibly be a part of this intriguing new kingdom emerging before him. So Jesus started there and led him back through the fact that these signs could not be experienced until things at the heart level were radically different – as different as being born all over again as a new person. Then He shared with Nicodemus that what you do comes from what you know, and what you know comes from what you believe at the heart level. What you believe about religion and about life will be shaped mostly by what you believe about God and what you think about God will be seen in whether you are willing to come closer to the Light or are afraid of being exposed.

The Light is the fuller revelation of the truth about God as revealed in the attitudes, actions and spirit that surrounded the life of Jesus while on this earth. The main purpose Jesus came to this earth was to reveal the real truth about God which is really judgment. This new, greater revelation about how God feels about us is such a strong light that everyone who clings to other ideas about God become very nervous whenever this Light begins to expose their false opinions. Jesus says that men loved darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

Again, I believe that when Jesus speaks of deeds here He is strongly implying both outward actions, but even more so the inward motives behind our actions. He is saying that our righteous deeds are actually rooted in evil motives of selfishness and desires rooted in pride. When we are living in a counterfeit religious system – which is all religions other than what Jesus demonstrated – we are going to find ourselves fearful whenever the real truth about God comes close to us. We naturally resist the truth about God because it always threatens to expose the falseness of our deeply cherished opinions about life, reality and religion.

But anyone who is ready to let go of false and ineffective religion and allow the real truth about God as revealed in Jesus to come into their heart and draw them toward God's heart, those people are going to be the ones who will want to come to the Light. Jesus says that they practice the truth. This is not a talking about lots of effort to be a good person or having the right list of facts. This means that when a person is willing to be real, to be transparent about what is really going on in their heart and is willing to have God expose their insides and connect to their heart, they can be drawn closer to this revelation of God's true character and will not be afraid of real judgment.

To live from the heart and allow Jesus to do the work He wants to do at that much deeper level is to let go of all fear of being manifested and exposed. And when we live from the heart and are open and honest with God and ourselves as God is increasing the level of light in our souls, that kind of living is what Jesus says is wrought in God.

Analyzing Birth

Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

I have felt for many years as one unqualified to make too many kinds of emphatic declarations about the real meaning of this phrase born again. I am very aware that it is used quite widely in Christian circles and is even bantered about in politics sometimes, but this has only led to widespread skepticism on the part of many about the authenticity of people's claims to having experienced this phenomenon.

So, how do I try to unpack something that I still feel unsure that I even yet really understand it well? To avoid thinking about it is certainly the wrong direction to turn, for according to Jesus this experience in a person's life lies at the very root of everything else if one desires to really be a part of God's kingdom. There is no shortage of demonstrations of people giving false meanings to this idea in the context of pervasive counterfeit systems of religion that all of us are familiar with. But what I desire to know is exactly how to enter into the genuine experience of being authentically born again.

I really am weary of the worn-out usage of this terminology to justify or promote all sorts of gimmicks and religious assertions in various churches. I am just as skeptical as most others about the claims of many people having experienced this event in their lives, though I do find their claims interesting. I am not saying that all of these claims are false, but it seems to me that the very nature of rebirth and what I have been learning about the Spirit of Jesus over the past few years would imply that people who are genuinely born again will not likely be going around trumpeting that fact to gain advantages for themselves. That sounds much more like the spirit of the Pharisee's than the spirit of Jesus.

I was very recently listening to one of my favorite teachers talk about a topic along this line and need to go back and listen to it again very carefully. He was explaining that all throughout the Bible this point of transition is referred to, but from different perspectives. This can be cause for great confusion if we are not aware of the nature of how different this appears depending on what angle you approach it.

He uses the analogy of a door that can be viewed from two sides. When we view this door from the side of the flesh, our human natural perspective that we have grown up with, our normal view of reality, this door is always going to look like a threat to us. It represents death and all the fear and pain that goes with that.

But after a person has voluntarily chosen in this context to pass through that doorway and emerges out the other side of this death experience, when they look back at the very same door, instead of seeing death and pain and fear all they see is the beginning of new life, a life so rich and abundant and satisfying that they nearly completely forget about the pain and death that intimidated them so much from the other side of that door. From this new perspective this door was the new birth experience that Jesus is talking about here; it was their initial entrance into the kingdom of God, the initiation into the family of God where they find fulfillment, joy, meaningful and enriching relationships and perfect peace. That is not to say they have no more problems but that they now have new meaning and purpose for their lives in the midst of everything else going on.

But when we read various passages in the Bible we can often become very confused by sometimes hearing it referred to as death and other times being viewed as the initiation into life and joy and peace. To our normal way of reasoning these two simply are not naturally compatible with each other. It makes little sense at all to believe that one can enter into greater life by giving up life.

Yes, I am aware that we teach this formula all the time in religion. But I am talking about our gut-level beliefs and feelings here, not our professions and intellectual assertions that we throw around with religious jargon. True and effective religion is only that which is rooted in what our heart really believes, not just in what our minds accept as true from what we are taught or have been convinced. In fact, much of the time our religious assertions get in the way of being able to identify what we really believe at the gut-level and it often takes a severe crisis to expose the real beliefs that control the direction and reveal the real motivations of our life.

I have been committed for some time to searching for and examining my own inner self to discover as much as possible what is really going on deep inside. This can be very unnerving at times and quite frightening when deep feelings and false assumptions are unmasked in the right side of my brain that shock and dismay the left side of my brain. Typically my left brain reacts in ways that want to mask or repress these incriminating feelings and beliefs, but I have been learning over the past few years that this is not the right way to move into real life and honesty and freedom. I need to push back against the natural tendencies to hide from my own faults and mistaken ideas about reality and to push into the pain produced by the lies buried in my past memories so that I can expose myself more intentionally to the healing presence of Jesus in each one of these pockets of darkness.

One of the reasons I struggle with this idea of being born again is because of the popular belief and assumption by most Christians that this is something that happens in a specific moment of time and generally only happens once to a person. Again, these are assumptions that I challenge and believe are fundamentally not sound. It is not always true that a person must experience a dramatic rebirth experience all in one moment of time. It is also not true that experiencing this only once is enough to secure a person into a permanent saving relationship with Jesus. I know this may sound like blatant heresy to the minds of many people, but I have observed too many examples that challenge these assumptions about a single birth, once-saved-always-saved mentality to be able to give it any credence.

I believe that it may be that some people experience a new birth transition over quite a prolonged period of time. Now, maybe I am not correctly identifying just what is meant by this birth experience – that is certainly possible since I don't consider myself a strong authority on this subject and am somewhat skeptical about those who claim to be such. But I have just seen too many people including myself that experience a slow growing transition from the old way of thinking to a completely different perspective of reality that takes a long time.

This has sometimes led me to seriously question whether I have indeed ever really experienced the new birth at all or whether I am just pretending or fooling myself. I am sure there are people around who might like to reinforce that opinion about me, but I believe there is room for wide differences in how people come into the kingdom of God. I am not saying that there are other doors through which they may enter, but I am saying that some people's personalities and experience appears very different and causes them to come into relationship with God through very externally different-looking means than others.

Probably the most popular example of a dramatic and apparently quick new-birth experience is that of Saul on the road to Damascus. But even when I look at that story closely it becomes evident that this was simply the external revelation and climax of a long process of conversion that well may have been developing over many years in Saul's heart. And just because the story does not go into detail about all that was transpiring inside of Saul over those previous years does not mean that it was not taking place over time. Most of the events in the Bible are quite condensed which leaves many details to be discovered by implication. And in everyone's life, I believe that the Spirit of God works over long periods of time to prepare a person for certain points of climax which we often label a new-birth encounter with God. And it may also be true that there are quite a number of these climax points as a person is exposed to more and more truths about what God is really like that they never believed before.

So is a one-time new-birth experience enough to initiate a person permanently into the kingdom of God? Or is there more that needs to take place to keep them there?

This is where things can get very touchy with theologians and religious people of all stripes. This can be a source of very explosive arguments and debate that I have little interest in getting caught up in. But I do believe that though our salvation itself is secure, that security is not based on our own new birth encounter with God but on the unconditional forgiveness that has already been a reality in the heart of God from eternity.

Now that I begin to see it more clearly from that perspective it begins to make even more sense to me how this new birth experience may fit into the puzzle. I have never really thought about it this way before. Again, possibly yet another false assumption about God is emerging into my consciousness here. That is the idea that by my conversion or new birth or whatever term might be used, that I can somehow contribute in some way to my own salvation. This gets to the core issues of what place my willpower and choice has in relationship to my being saved in the end. And what I believe in this regard will strongly influence or determine the surrounding assumptions and beliefs about many other related issues.

I am praying for insight, wisdom and guidance to understand this more clearly. I want to have a clearer understanding of what Jesus was trying to explain to Nicodemus and get past all the preconceived ideas and assumptions and teachings from my past. And not only that, I also want to experience the assurance more fully at the heart level that comes from passing through this doorway into life. If that needs to happen on a daily basis then I want to be willing to do that daily.

Does this imply that each day when I wake up I am outside of God's family of life again? No, I don't think that is necessary to assume. But on the other hand, the false beliefs and teachings of many churches about assurance of salvation causes many people to neglect securing their own salvation because they assume that some experience they had with God years ago is all that is necessary for them to be saved in heaven. But this false kind of assurance leads many to neglect their salvation and fail to have their characters prepared to enjoy the very heaven that they believe they are destined to inherit.

It is very clear from the Bible that there is more to salvation than simply having an encounter or experience of conversion and new birth. Just as a baby must experience much more than a birth experience to continue to be viable in this world, so too must Christians experience much more than initiation into God's family if they want to remain alive and thrive the way they were intended to by God. Does that mean that they must pass through the birth canal spiritually over and over to stay a Christian? Not necessarily. But if they fail to daily have their spiritual connection with God nurtured, then they may die and find themselves back on the other side of that door once again and in need of being born all over again.

By what I have read in the Bible, this may or may not be able to happen very often. If a person dies spiritually after they have genuinely experienced the incredible goodness and sweetness of God, something inside of them is destroyed, some part of them that enables them to be drawn to God's goodness and love in the first place. And while it is not impossible for them to be born yet again it becomes much more difficult the second time because of their reduced capacity to respond to God's love and grace. This is referred to in Hebrews 6 where it says that it is impossible to return to a relationship with God under certain conditions.

But after looking carefully at this passage, I believe that when a person has not really experienced the truth about God and turns away from Him because of misunderstandings or misrepresentations about Him by religion, that God can still bring them back and reintroduce them to Himself using fresh revelations of His goodness and character to appeal to their hearts.

But it is also true that those who really have entered into a rich and deep experience with God and have been filled with His Spirit and have lived in His presence; when these people chose to turn their back on His love for them and embrace lies about Him through lust, greed, pride or any other choice – they will find themselves incapacitated to return into an intimate relationship with God. They have destroyed their own heart's ability to respond to the very attractions that God uses to draw people to Himself. They have so damaged their own respect and desire for goodness and truth about God that it is impossible for them to be attracted to Him effectively again. They lose their ability to feel the right kind of desire that is needed to experience a saving relationship with Jesus.

So, if this new birth that Jesus was talking about is referring to entering into a full, intimate relationship with God at a deep level, then it could be seen as a one-time experience possibly. But if it is referring to a change of mind about God, a turning from lies about God to embracing fresh revelations of His heart to them, then I can see this being a repeated experience that needs to happen on a regular basis. This view of the birthing process is more of a progressive thing, a building on previous decisions to embrace truths about God, not a repeating of previous decisions over and over.

It is very normal for a person to encounter truth about God and accept it in one area of their thinking but still be very steeped in lies about God in many other areas of their thinking and feelings. It is from this perspective that I believe a person needs to be born again and again as they are confronted with more and more lies in their heart and mind about the truth of God and about reality. As each new revelation of truth about God is encountered, they again have to make sometimes painful or difficult choices to let go of their previous ideas and feelings and to pass through an experience of death into life in this area of their gut-level belief system. They have to repeatedly die to self and their own opinions each time they meet selfish and sinful perspectives about God. If this kind of new birth is what describes the other side of the same door as dying to self, then Paul might affirm that it must be passed through on a daily basis.

I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. (1 Corinthians 15:31)

While this statement is lifted out of the middle of a dissertation on the resurrection, it still affirms that Paul saw himself dying to his own desires and feelings on a regular basis. In several other places he refers to this issue of dying to self.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)

If dying to self, being crucified with Christ is a description of the back side of the door of new birth, then it can be seen that death and new birth need to happen on a regular basis. And while it is not necessary for a person to be initiated repeatedly into the family of God to come to see themselves as an accepted part of that family, I believe we will find times in our lives where our doubts about our security or place in that family so overshadow us that we may need to reaffirm our choices that initiated our previous new birth experiences over again. This is all part of the settling process whereby our hearts become more and more secure in the rest that God invites us into and where our lives can feel safe to thrive and mature in Christ.

The Heart of Nicodemus

...this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." (John 3:2)

The one verse is giving me a lot of clues about various subjects and issues presented in the surrounding context.

This man links Nicodemus with the discussion about how Jesus related to men found in 2:23-25.

Coming by night implies a lot about the feelings and fears of Nicodemus and his concern for what other leaders and people might think about him. It also provided a time when they could speak together privately without interference from others seeking to be around Jesus.

Rabbi reveals a little bit about Nicodemus and his thoughts about Jesus. It was certainly a respectful title and even a compliment bestowed on a quite young and seemingly aspiring new teacher. But on the other hand it also exposes a lack of understanding on the part of Nicodemus as to the true nature of Jesus and His real identity. But we must be very careful to not be harsh in our judgment of Nicodemus on this point for we all struggle to believe the real truth about Jesus just as everyone else did when relating to Him personally when He was here on earth. We must remember that there was very little known history and information about Jesus available for the public at this point in His ministry.

We know... This is a very telling word by which Nicodemus identifies himself with the other leaders of the Jews. Nicodemus, I believe, was thinking strategically by initiating this clandestine encounter with Jesus early on in His ministry. Nicodemus may have really taken a liking to Jesus from a distance and was becoming very concerned that things were suddenly taking a wrong turn that would unduly prejudice other leaders against Jesus and damage His reputation. I am sure that Nicodemus must have felt that he might be able to effect some diplomacy behind the scenes and so he wanted to set up precursors for a potentially wider dialogue in the future to repair some of the damage caused by the recent events in the temple.

You have come from God as a teacher. I am not ready to come down dogmatically on just what this may really mean. I know there is a lot of discussion and opinions about what it means and many of them very well may be accurate. But I think there is room here for multiple understandings that may even overlap. If we are truly honest, most of us can admit that we often have mixed feelings and motives for the things we say and Nicodemus was no exception.

Christians today often make this phrase an opportunity to criticize Nicodemus for calling Jesus only a teacher and not the Son of God. But again, remember that there was still very little to go on at this point in Jesus' ministry to form opinions about His true identity, and from that perspective Nicodemus was actually going much farther than even some of His own disciples may have been ready to do. Very clearly it is in fact true that Jesus was a teacher, for that is what He did much of the time. So we should not rush to judgment in condemning Nicodemus for stating the obvious.

What I do find more curious is the fact that Nicodemus states that we know you are a teacher sent from God. This strongly implies that Nicodemus either directly knew or strongly believed that he was not the only leader who had this opinion about Jesus. It also may be seen that he might have been including many of the common people and their feelings about Jesus, but I think it may apply more to the leadership of the Jews from Nicodemus' perspective.

No one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. This seems clear to me that Nicodemus is again stating the obvious in some respects. In addition he is also using this as a means of beginning what he hopes can be constructive dialogue for diplomacy. This is one of the hallmarks of effective diplomacy; to establish mutual trust and respect through affirmation and by seeking to use compliments and by attempting to view situations from both sides.

Again, I sense that Nicodemus may have been expressing multiple feelings on his own part. While I fully believe that he was coming to initiate diplomatic dialogue with Jesus which might be seen as more on a professional level, I also believe that Nicodemus felt some of the magnetism of Jesus in his own heart and was drawn to come into closer proximity with this strange new person that had suddenly appeared on the public scene. I believe that he sensed that there might be more to Jesus than what he had seen in public and he wanted to have a chance to explore and test for himself what might be learned about this complex and baffling young teacher.

I really wonder what made the difference between Nicodemus and many of the other leaders who ended up repeatedly rejecting Jesus? It seems clear at the end of the story after Jesus' crucifixion that Nicodemus decided to fully take sides with Jesus against all odds and at the expense of his own career. But between those two points in time there is almost nothing known about how Nicodemus was thinking except for a few interventions that he effected on Jesus' behalf during some of the councils of the ruling body of the Jews determined to destroy Jesus.

But as I meditate on this passage it seems clear to me that Jesus saw very clearly the heart of Nicodemus and understood that he was being drawn to Jesus emotionally but afraid to be fully transparent at this point. As usual, Jesus responded more to the real heart conversation that was not so obvious in the external words. Whenever Jesus sensed people being drawn to Him by His Father He always spoke to the internal desires in their heart that were usually obscured by the external words and actions. This is why Jesus was so amazingly successful in touching the lives of so many people while at the same time baffling us as to the seeming disconnect between people's questions and His answers.

The closer I come to Jesus and the more in tune I am with His Spirit, the easier it is going to be for me to hear the quiet messages of the Spirit informing me of what is really being said when people talk with me instead of hearing only the external words which may have nothing at all to do with what they want. This is nothing new to me, for I have often done this very same thing with others. My own heart was desperately crying out for understanding and recognition of deep pain or frustration, but I was too afraid to express my real feelings. Instead, I would offer some external discussion in hopes that someone would look past my words and seek to take me to the much deeper pain in my heart that was overwhelming me.

When I am listening to others, it is also sometimes just difficult to avoid the triggers that often distract my heart from really listening to their unspoken conversations and heart-cries. Whenever an unresolved pain of my own gets triggered by words or actions from others, my own prejudices and fears usually fill my consciousness to the exclusion of being able to listen to the still, small voice that is seeking to guide me in a very different direction.

I certainly want to learn the skill of listening better and perceiving more accurately the real messages that come to me from others as Jesus always was able to do. But I realize very well that this is far more than just a learned skill. It requires inner healing from the things that block me from being able to listen effectively and care for others from my heart. Until my own heart experiences true healing and more freedom from my own triggers, I will continue to be prevented from really appreciating the true feelings and needs of others or have much of anything to offer them for relief.

But as Jesus becomes more permanent in living in my own heart and healing my own pain, I will be more available to be a channel of blessing, life and true nurture to others who need His ministry. I can then become a more active agent of grace and will more quickly introduce others who are hurting to the One who knows how to fix every problem and heal every pain. I can become a co-worker with Christ as He seeks to draw all men unto Himself.

Attitudes and Perspective

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; (John 3:1)

The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" (John 2:18)

It seems nearly unavoidable, according to these verses, that Nicodemus was somehow involved in some way with what had just taken place in Jesus' cleansing of the temple. In stating his credentials it also seems clear that John is linking him in some way with those events and the challenges of the Jews about the authority of Jesus.

If it was “the Jews” that confronted Jesus after the temple cleansing, then a prominent person who is listed both as a Pharisee and as a ruler of the Jews could hardly have been unaware or uninvolved in the enormous tension and controversy swirling around this social upheaval. It is even very possible that Nicodemus may have at least witnessed first hand that event though I would question whether he was directly involved in the confrontation as a protagonist. I say this because of the nature of the attitude displayed by Nicodemus in his conversation with Jesus.

As in all groups of people, there was most likely a wide spectrum of perspectives and opinions about how things should be done among the leadership of the Jews. Some were very technically oriented and were eager to find fault with anyone who might commit an infraction of the rules. Others were very dishonest in heart and were primarily looking for power and position in order to gain control over the lives of others. Many were compromised by the desire for material enrichment and thus felt very threatened by Jesus' actions in the temple, as were all who wanted social and political control over the common people.

But as always, there is a small group of people who are more observant and reserved who prefer to look for a bigger perspective and take more of a long-range approach to situations. These kinds of people tend to be much more mature than most others and want to find the underlying issues that are often obscured in delicate or explosive situations. They like to ponder what is really going on and find ways to resolve conflict through other means rather than direct confrontation. They often tend to try to take a more pragmatic approach to tensions and conflict and sometimes believe that compromise is the best way to move forward.

This is a description of what we today now recognize and label as diplomacy. Diplomats are highly skilled in the art of compromise and of looking at situations from very different perspectives than most other people. Diplomats tend to look for ways of bringing opposing sides together for dialogue and want to find common ground where others believe there is none. Diplomacy certainly has its virtues and benefits, but it also has some serious weaknesses that sometimes makes it incompatible with the principles of the kingdom of heaven. This is what Nicodemus suddenly ran into when he approached Jesus in the spirit of diplomacy.

There has been much discussion over the centuries about the motives and attitudes of Nicodemus. Some view him with suspicion and tend to think of Jesus' responses to his words as attacks designed to expose and embarrass Nicodemus. Others take a more benign view and believe that Nicodemus had good intentions but just needed some clarification. Still others might think of Nicodemus as something of a spy trying to entice Jesus into a compromise with the corrupt system of religion which he represented. I suppose there might be a little bit of truth in many of these opinions and we can't know for certain exactly what was going on fully in the heart of Nicodemus. But from the text and from future references to Nicodemus in the Bible we can learn a great deal that can influence our own relationship with God.

Which brings me to see something else that may be significant here. It is very possible that the reason this story has a good bit of ambiguity about the motives of Nicodemus is so that the Holy Spirit can apply principles and truths from this passage to our lives in a wide variety of circumstances. We can see faulty attitudes and beliefs and assumptions within ourselves reflected in the words of Nicodemus and feel the conviction of truth from the Spirit of Jesus in His words of response to Nicodemus. God may have intentionally intended to keep this somewhat vague so that the applications of truth, mercy, love and clarity of God's viewpoints would be more flexible for use by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of anyone reading this story.

What I am seeing though, is that Nicodemus was very likely coming to Jesus in the context of the elevated emotional atmosphere of tension among the leadership of the Jews caused by Jesus' confrontation with them in the temple. It is also interesting and significant to note that Nicodemus was also closely identified as “a man” immediately after John's comments about mankind in the previous verses. I believe that this was very intentional and has been too often overlooked because of the bad placement of the chapter break by translators many centuries after it was originally written.

As I take more time to listen to what is in here I want to explore the connections about signs, belief and authority that seems to be the main themes of John's writing here.

Take These Things Away

...He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." (John 2:16)

Why did Jesus say this the way that He did? After all, He also stated very plainly that this was His Father's house, so why was He even bothering to ask people to take their stuff out of the house?

Again, I am looking at this in order to perceive the real significance of this event in order to understand how it applies to my own life and church. What I am noticing here is that God is not going to cleanse His sanctuary without the cooperation of those who constitute that sanctuary. Remember, the church/temple/sanctuary is not really a place or building but is made up of living stones, (1 Peter 2:5) people with open hearts who are allowing God to cleanse them so that He can fully dwell in them collectively. (2 Cor. 6:16) From this perspective it is easier to see how these words can take on much more meaning.

This ties back into the issue of authority and its proper exercise. Just because Jesus is asserting that He has authority to cleanse the temple does not mean that He is going to do it without my involvement. God is not going to cleanse my heart of sin, selfishness and false sources of life (false gods) unless He receives my permission and cooperation. Otherwise the result of this kind of activity would be a condition in my heart that would preclude me from really being able to love God genuinely. Love can only exist in a heart that is free to not love, otherwise it cannot be true love. Freedom of choice and love are inextricably fused together.

I believe that is part of what I am seeing in these words here. Jesus is explaining that He is not going to forcibly and personally remove the obstructions preventing God's presence in my life, the temple of my heart. I may encounter times of intense passion on the part of God that will make my problems unavoidably clear to me, but I still have a choice as to whether I am going to throw out the things that distort my picture of God or whether I am going to cling to them.

Another thing I just noticed about this phrase; Jesus was not trying to force people out of the temple but was insisting that their stuff, their merchandise and their counterfeit activities be removed. After all, the temple's original purpose was to be a place where people could come to meet with God, so it wouldn't make any sense to run the people out of the temple courts – that is, unless they refused to remove the things they had brought in that were not appropriate to be there, things that misrepresented the God of that temple. Then if they refused to be parted from their false ideas, false activities and false affections, then it would only be appropriate for them to leave with the things that they valued the most. Because there is no room in the temple of the heart for false ideas about God linked with false gods who promote those ideas and the true presence of God. These simply cannot coexist together.

What was happening in this temple situation was a vivid illustration of what is happening in each one of our own hearts. There is a great deal of business activity going on in our spiritual life that has no place being there. Our ideas about God demanding payment before we can receive forgiveness, our exploitation of the weak, the poor, the ignorant, the fearful are all things that misrepresent God and have no legitimate place in the sanctuary of our heart and mind. Our beliefs in a God who gets mad, who threatens violence and who seems arbitrary at times, all of these and much more are perversions of the real truth about our Father in heaven that bring filth and stench and noise into the temple of our hearts.

Even if all of the facts and symbols that we are using may be things that are religious and were originally designated by God as means of expressing something about Himself, if we have distorted those things into something they were never originally intended for then we have filled the temple with counterfeit ideas and activities that need to all be removed.

But Jesus is here asking me to remove these things. You see, I am the one that ultimately holds the authority in my own house. And as long as I insist that this temple is my house and not God's house, then I will be very reluctant to remove the counterfeit things that are corrupting my temple. These are going to be things that are very familiar to me, that bring me enrichment at the expense of others or that distort the truths of God. But if I refuse to acknowledge the authority of Jesus in this place and refuse to agree to let go of the things that blind me to the real truths about God and how He feels about me and relates to me, then there is going to be a serious problem.

What we have here is a situation of competing claims of authority. Jesus is claiming in essence that He has authority to order the removal of everything that distorts our concepts and feelings about His Father from the house that He says belongs to His Father. On the other side, there are people and false gods asserting that Jesus does not really have legitimate authority to challenge our picture of God, to require that false ideas, misrepresentations and religious distortions must leave. Instead of welcoming the new light that is presenting itself and admitting that our ideas are faulty and sinful, we may choose to argue and debate and quibble and resist the passionate love that is impossible to ignore.

The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:18-19)

This now begins to unravel some of the mystery of why Jesus answered this question the way that He did. The Jews believed that as keepers of the truth about God that they were the ones who should be considered as the authorities to be recognized on the temple grounds. On the other hand, Jesus was asserting that as the true Son of the owner of this temple that He had more legitimate authority than they and that, in fact, they had come to be seen by God as embezzlers and usurpers of the rightful authority of God in the minds of His people. So what was happening here was that there were two competing claims of authority, but only one of them could be right.

The Jewish leaders were living in fear of losing influence and control over the minds of the common people. They were afraid of losing strategic advantages that they had been carving out for themselves in their various schemes of personal enrichment at the expense of religious worshipers. They were in fear of being exposed as frauds and opportunists and they were scrambling to keep up the appearances of religious piety and social control that they had worked for so many years to construct in the minds of the public.

What this turned into was a confrontation about who owned this temple and therefore who had legitimate rights to be recognized as the established authority here. The very same confrontation takes place in our own hearts on a regular basis.

I am very familiar with the suggestions of false gods that constantly assert their ideas to me on a regular basis. Many of them sound very religious and feel quite legitimate, but their claims of authority in my heart must be challenged by One who is greater than my heart. (1 John 3:20) But ultimately it is up to my own power of choice as to whether I am going to acknowledge and embrace Jesus' new claims of authority over what is true and what is not true about the beliefs that fill the libraries of my mind and heart. This is not just a one time event but is something that must be repeated again and again. As I find new lies about God exposed by the increasing light of His presence and self-revelation, I am challenged repeatedly to “take these things away”.

I do not want my heart, my sanctuary that is designed for God to dwell in, to continue to be a place of business. I do not want my life to reflect the lies about God that have corrupted me for so many years. I want Jesus to come in and keep exposing the false ideas about Him and about reality and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I choose to give Him full authority, because He has demonstrated the basis of His authority by raising up His own temple in glory and triumphant love after I helped to destroy it.

What I have recently been learning is that the true message of the cross is very different than what I have been taught in the past. The real message that the cross reveals is that there is absolutely nothing that I can possibly do that can ever be so horrible or disgusting or revolting or painful that might cause God to stop loving me or even can lessen His passion for me in the slightest degree. I am coming to perceive, even though still dimly, that God's love and forgiveness and heart towards me is unconditionally permanent and passionate. If I am ever lost for eternity, it will never be in the slightest way God's fault for not doing everything possible to change my mind about His love for me.

This is the basis upon which Jesus claims to have authority in my heart and life. He will never force me to give up my claims of authority, but He will expose the false nature of those claims and give me repeated opportunities to lay them aside and allow Him to take up residence on the throne of my heart. As I surrender to His love and become captured by His passion and beauty, I will become more eager to continue to surrender even more fully and to fall into that love that is beyond comprehension.

Consuming Passion

His disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME." (John 2:17)

This is the verse that presents itself for my attention this morning. What comes up in my mind are questions about this zeal, this passion and how I should understand it correctly. I like another rendition of this verse that I found which seems to put it more succinctly.

And it came to the minds of the disciples that the Writings say, I am on fire with passion for your house. (John 2:17 BBE)

This event and the similar one like it near the end of Jesus' ministry has been used as justification for all sorts of attitudes and actions throughout history that have almost nothing to do with the kind of passion that was really in the heart of Jesus. People tend to only look at these stories on the surface and immediately jump to conclusions and make assumptions about what they may be justify or encourage by Jesus' example. Many times a person's anger and even violence is excused by pointing to these actions of Jesus when in fact these displays of selfishness have nothing to do with the kind of jealousy for His Father's reputation that motivated the heart of Jesus.

But what also came to my attention this morning was the fact that this intensity, this zeal, this passion seemed to become most obvious in the life of Jesus under certain circumstances. And in this case it was when He was in the temple which was supposed to be the house on earth belonging to God, the Father of Jesus and to Jesus Himself since He too was God. So in effect, it might be seen that when Jesus came to His own family's house on earth as a representative of humanity He could rightfully be expecting to find God's presence there in that house.

With this expectation in mind, when Jesus found instead a counterfeit system of religion firmly entrenched in the very house where He should have been able to find God's sweet presence and love, He became very jealous and passionate about this terrible slander against His family reputation and was moved to try to restore a better picture of God in the house of His Father. What He wanted to do was to reunite God's house with God's presence. And God's presence itself is the nuclear core, the very center of passionate love, the great source from which all other passions find their origin.

This concept of God as the originator and center of all passion has been something relatively new in my awareness. But the more I study about this the clearer this truth becomes. As I have unmasked the many false assumptions about passion and the misinterpretations of what is called God's “wrath”, it has become much more clear to me that humans have distorted the messages God wanted to pass down to us in the Scriptures about God's passion.

A principle that I have come to observe in the Bible is that the closer we get to God's presence the more intense will be our emotions. Passion itself seems to me to simply be an intensification of emotions, something like an accelerator, a booster, an amplifier. It is not necessarily an identifier of the nature of the root emotion or attitude which it amplifies, it simply intensifies whatever is already there.

It is like greatly increasing the light on an object making it much more clearly seen for what it really is.

It is like turning up the volume on a quiet sound so that everyone can clearly hear what it really sounds like.

It is like adding a power booster to a moving object to accelerate its movement in a certain direction. It does not change the direction of the object but only increases its speed in whatever direction it is already traveling.

Our confusion about passion often comes from observing its effects when it has been applied to human motives, human cravings of the flesh that are amplified and intensified by passion.

When sexual desires are suddenly intensified by great passion a person often feels driven to acts of violence against others. But this only reflects the basic selfishness that already controls the life.

When anger and desires for revenge are amplified by passion, violence is usually the result and wars break out in attempts to control or destroy all who are in opposition.

When greed is amplified by passion, honesty, integrity and compassion for others can quickly evaporate in the rush to enrich one's self at the expense of others.

Because most of the examples of passion are in the realm of intensifying human, sinful desires, some have come to view passion itself with suspicion, believing that it is itself sinful. But this is a mistake and sets us up to misunderstand the passion of God. It also prevents us from being able to properly appreciate many of the actions of Jesus when fueled by the passion of heaven.

There are two other places in the Bible that come to mind as I think about this principle of passion. There are many more I know, but two stand out right now. One is found in Revelation 14 where it points out that those who reject the truth about God will suffer fiery torment in the presence of the angels and the Lamb. This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible because of the false assumptions about God that people bring to this text.

If one starts with the false assumption that God gets mad, runs out of patience and is ready to punish and reek revenge against those who spurn His advances of love, then this text will be assumed to mean that God is intentionally hurting everyone who will not agree with Him. This is the view of nearly the whole world today and reinforces a picture of God worse than the devil himself.

But when this verse is carefully viewed through the lens of a better understanding of God's character and attitudes towards sinners which is based only on real love, it can be seen that it is talking about the danger of being exposed to pure love when it is mingled with intense passion. For it is not God who is torturing these people in His presence but it is their own conscience that torments them when faced with the irreconcilable conflict between pure love and entrenched resistance to love that has been stored in their own hearts. When enough power and resistance meet there is always heat and fire produced as a result.

On the other hand, God's passion which amplifies our awareness of His unbelievable love for us can have the opposite effect if we have previously let go of the lies about Him in our hearts put there by the distortions of His enemy. When we allow God to bring us into full harmony with His love and let go of all resistance to His grace, that same passion that induces unimaginable pain and torment for the rejectors of mercy becomes the greatest motivation for joy, pleasure and excitement for the saved. The Bible says that they will shine as the stars of the sky. This is a result of the passion of God flowing through a life and heart that has been brought back into full synchronization with the passionate heart of God who is love.

The other incident that I see in the life of Jesus where I sense this same passion flashing out of His heart was when He was anointed with perfume at Simon's feast. In John 12:7 Jesus' response to selfish criticism by some of the disciples was to instantly exclaim, “Leave her alone!!!” I see in this story the same kind of passion that came to the defense and protection of an extremely sensitive heart that had come to know God's heart in ways that none of the others in the room had yet experienced.

Passion is consuming, no doubt as this text states. But the fuel that passion ignites when it comes will determine the outcome and nature of what happens next.

When sinful desires are mingled with passion, then what will ensue will be the amplification of sin and its results.

When pure love is ignited by the intensifier of passion, what will be demonstrated is a revelation about the heart of God that may often be unfamiliar to most of us.

We confuse God's passion with the more familiar human examples of sinful passion because we almost never see the pure and holy passion of God in our experience. But this is, in fact, the very thing that we need the most and at a deep level really crave to experience. This is what we were originally designed for and what will cause us to thrive and come to be fully alive.