The Gospel of John: John 3.11-21

Read and meditate on John 3.11-21.
To appreciate the importance of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, you have to take everything John has said and reported in the run-up to this, and fold it into Jesus’ words. When you do this, when you take the time to consider Who Jesus is, why He came, and what He would do to satisfy the love and justice of God, the enormity of God’s saving grace and love brightens and expands, so that you see afresh how truly Good the Good News is. Everything else that follows in John’s gospel will develop within the trajectory established by this late night conversation.

                                                              ¹¹“I say to you,
We speak the things We know, and testify
what We have seen, and you prefer a lie
and choose not to believe Our witness. ¹²So
if I have told you earthly things, yet no
such things have led you to believe in Me,
if heavenly things I speak, how will it be
that you should come to faith by these? ¹³No one 
to heaven has ascended but the Son 
of Man, Who came to earth from heaven. ¹⁴And
as Moses in that barren desert land
the brazen serpent on a pole held high,
so must the Son of Man be lifted high
for all the world to look upon, ¹⁵that all
who trust in Him, and on His mercy call,
shall have eternal life, and never die.
¹⁶For God so loved the world, that from on high
He sent His only-begotten Son, that they
who trust in Him should know eternal day,
and never perish. ¹⁷For God did not send
His Son into this cosmos to condemn
it, but to save it through Him. ¹⁸Everyone
who trusts in Him, in God’s eternal Son,
is not condemned; but who does not believe
in Him is judged, and ready to receive
eternal condemnation, choosing not     
to trust in God’s own Son, Whom He begot
from all eternity. ¹⁹And this, this is
the condemnation: Light has come to this
dark world, but men loved darkness more than light,
because their deeds are evil. ²⁰They love night
and hate the light, whose deeds are evil. They
will not come to the Light, but from it stay,
so that their wickedness remains concealed,
and not exposed. ²¹But good works are revealed
by Light, and those who do the truth come to
it, that the good works they are seen to do
are done in God.”
- John 3.11-21

Reflect
1.  Try to get into Nicodemus’ mind in this passage. Why does he come by night? What is he hoping to learn? Why is it so hard for him to understand Jesus? In what ways is he like any people you know? Complete this prayer: Give me a heart of love for the lost Lord. Let me learn from Nicodemus…

2.  Jesus is firm but gracious with Nicodemus. In our witness for Christ there is no reason to separate truth from love, conviction from kindness. Explain. I want to learn from You, Lord, how I…

3.  In chapter 4 we will see an entirely different approach by Jesus to leading someone to the truth – more confrontational, direct, and clearly focused on Himself. He will not use the kind of “glancing” approach that we see here with Nicodemus. Jesus’ approach to Nicodemus is not so much “you” as “whosoever.” And it doesn’t focus on Jesus the “Teacher sent from God” but on the Son of Man and Son of God. Why is this? Why is Jesus indirect with Nicodemus, rather than confrontational? Do you think it’s important to be able to adjust our presentation of the Gospel to the circumstances and attitude of the one with whom we’re sharing? Explain. Teach me, Lord, how to speak graciously, so that I may know how to answer every person, and to…

4.  Jesus did not seem to expect Nicodemus to understand everything He was saying, especially as He spoke to Him about being born “from above,” about the Spirit, coming down from heaven, eternal life, and so forth. But He told him these things anyway. Why? What’s the lesson for us as witnesses? I know people aren’t necessarily “ready” to hear the Gospel, Lord, but I also know that…

5.  What are the most important lessons for you from this conversation with Nicodemus about being a witness for Christ? About following Jesus? Bring together into one prayer the prayers you composed for questions 1-4.

Summary
“You must hate your own work and love the work of God in you. And when your own deeds begin to displease you, that is when your good works begin as you begin to find fault with your evil works. The beginning of good works is the confession of evil works, and then you do the truth and come to the light. How do you do the truth? You do not soothe or flatter yourself or say, ‘I am righteous,’ while in actuality you are unrighteous. This is how you begin to do the truth. You come to the light so that your works may be shown to originate in God. And you have come to the light because this very sin in you, which displeases you, would not displease you if God did not shine on you and his truth show it to you.” Augustine (354-430 AD)

Every believer is called to follow Jesus and to be a witness to Jesus. From this conversation with Nicodemus, we gain precious insights into both aspects of our calling as disciples. Explain.

Closing Prayer
Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring itto pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.

Psalm 37.3-6

Psalm 37.4-9 (Neumark: If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee)
Delight yourself in God’s salvation; He’ll give you all your heart’s desire.
Commit to Him your every station, and His good purpose will transpire.
Your righteousness a blazing light He will bring forth against the night.

Rest in the Lord and wait on Jesus; fret not at those who brandish sin.
Forsake all wrath till anger ceases; let anxious fears not enter in.
The wicked perish from the Lord, but they are blessed who heed His Word!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.