Good Morning Friends,
Today on the journey from Easter to Pentecost we look at scripture that describes an event that happened before the crucifixion with a man named Nicodemus, a religious leader, and an event with the disciples that happened after the Holy Spirit event of Pentecost. Hopefully, they open our eyes to the greater possibilities of experiencing God and the role of the Holy Spirit and leadership in this process. In the post Pentecost event, the apostles Peter and John had just faced the first persecution against the first-century church by the Jewish authorities. Unable to legally punish the apostles, the Sanhedrin let the apostles free, warning them not to preach the gospel anymore. The apostles went and joined some of the other believers and, after sharing their recent experience with them, they all looked to God in prayer. The prayer of that first-century church is an extremely reassuring prayer. It changed people, maybe even Nicodemus on his role on the Sanhedrin and it guides us, with companion scripture to a better understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit. And this prompts a question for us today that may have nudged Nicodemus. So, What Does Being Born Again Have To Do With Prayer And Pentecost And God’s Politics?
Scripture: After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’ For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:23-31 (NRSV)
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:1-8 (NRSV)
Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:39-42 (NRSV)
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
Romans 8:26 (NRSV)
Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Psalm 2:1-9 (NRSV)
Message: There is more than one way to win a fight. And though we do not know I imagine that Nicodemus was fighting the good fight for social justice in a less visible way after the resurrection. He seems like a logical man and the thing is that prayer is not such a logical thing. Regardless, what is clear is that the mystical moral working of the Holy Spirit produces the miracle of redemption in us. The Bible tells us little about Nicodemus. But this name “Nicodemus” gives us some insight into his relevance for the Kingdom and our own salvation. You see, his name is made up of two words, a word which means “to conquer,” and one which means “the common people.” The total word means, “One who conquers the people.” And maybe that is why Nicodemus was so interested in Jesus…this Jesus the Messiah who had captured the attention of the common people engaging with them with their faith heritage to create something new. But what soon becomes evident in the battle for power over the people and of the people is that following Jesus would require a commitment that would cost Nicodemus a great deal…. …Nicodemus would be asked to give up everything. It is true throughout all of Scripture…. Following Jesus is not something you can do at night where no one notices. It is a twenty-four-hour-a-day commitment that will interfere with your life. We are to pray without ceasing. In fact, we are to die so that Christ might live in us. That is not in the small print, but a bold guarantee of the nature of the relationship. And here. if we claim that we too need to be born again, because of what Jesus said to Nicodemus, then we might just have to do things that feel uncomfortable, like engaging in the holy occupation of a surrendered life in prayer. I guess we all need to ask God to help us to understand what the commitment is going to require of us. That is what the disciples did when persecuted after Pentecost. They prayed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Surprisingly, after Jesus’ death, the story goes that Nicodemus brought close to 100 pounds of spices to the tomb to help Joseph of Arimathea prepare Jesus’ body for burial. Such a large amount of myrrh and aloes would be difficult to conceal, but at that point Nicodemus must have seemed unafraid for his connection to Jesus to become known. I wonder why, after Jesus had died, would a man of Nicodemus’ standing risk his reputation. What he did after that is left to our imagination. The answer, for me, is I think that Nicodemus, after sleeping on it awoke believing that Jesus was the Messiah and he fought and prayed realizing that if Jesus was the Son of God, then nothing could stop the change that Jesus offered. But the more important question does not only involve Nicodemus type leaders responding to the Holy Spirit, but our response to a prayer that encourages us to be all in and born again.
And So, in the power of the Holy Spirit the benefits of prayer can conquer the people. Many undoubtedly will think prayer is boring and a waste of air. They do not expect answers. But those who do not praise God and do not request of God to help them fulfill their purpose miss out on one of the greatest gifts of being human. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is how the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God and nourish that relationship. And we need to do that for we can never really know ourselves deep down until we get to know God. Seriously people we are missing out when we do not come before God. We were made to desire this. And yes, some of us are hardwired to suffer through prayer as I suspect that Christ was and the disciples. But this too can be turned to joy with the renewing of our minds if we are born again in the Spirit. It can be the better way to win a fight. At the end of prayer, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit and inspired to speak the word of God with boldness and in love in a way that extends the prayer into the lives of those around us reflected back to us to guide us. And that is why the prayers of the disciples are encouraging for us today. You see, the answer that came to them when they prayed was the filling with the Holy Spirit. And this is something we can experience too. And yes, the outpouring of the Spirit is exactly what is desperately needed in society and its institutions, because of the enormous challenges that face us. More than anything else, politics in society and in churches needs the outpouring of God’s Spirit. We need to be regularly and continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Not because places of worship and political institutions are so bad but because the hardness and isolation of the world is so great when we do not let God overthrow our own sins. Friends, Christ makes us alive in the experience of a marriage love and covenant love nourished by prayer in the sovereign grace of God. That is how the Kingdom of God comes. This is a new birth and perhaps the only way we can get to know how bad we really are… how dead we are spiritually and how good and alive God is.
Pray for places of worship that they be an encouragement to the people to pray wherever they are. Pray we have life in the Spirit growing in the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves so we might better know our sins down deep and be reborn. Pray our prayers be the beginning of an uprising against the craziness of the world. Pray that we are born again into the grace of God so others might see life. Pray we realize the very serious nature of God’s love and mercy and our need to die to sin. Pray
we know who God is and what God wants from us in the work of worship and our collective work as the people of God. Pray we get the chance to be born again in thinking and loving and living. Pray we are Holy Spirit inspired in our proclamation of the Word. Pray we are all filled with the Holy Spirit and speak the word of God with boldness in a way that opens people’s eyes to possibilities of the Kingdom of God. Pray we come to Jesus for an explanation, greater clarity, and knowledge so the Holy Spirit can use us to help explain to others how God works connecting it all together in a way that makes sense. Pray we wrestle with our stubborn literalism and be led by Jesus into the deep mystery of faith. Pray we receive the challenge to believe in and receive the challenge of God’s love. Pray we realize that the blessing of Pentecost happens in different ways and in different measures throughout the early church and indeed throughout the rest of church history. Pray we know who we are praying to and praying for as the called-out assembly of God. Pray we appreciate the circumstances that prompt prayer. Pray we consider carefully what we ask for. Pray we are all in, filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. Pray we realize that we must be all in for the commitment to bring a Kingdom Transformation.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 