Lent 4 Homily and link for service recording

2024 Lent 4   

The service and sermon recording may be found by clicking here

       

Numbers 21:4-9    Ephesians 2:1-10   John 3:14-21

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. 

What is it that moves people to turn to God for help? Most of the time, their motivation is to address a problem of some kind.  

Over the years, I have been around a number of addicts and alcoholics in recovery.  Many of them tell a sad tale of how they ruined all their primary relationships, lost their jobs, even landing in the county jail more than once, and generally made such a mess of their lives that family did not want anything to do with them. As they had burned all the bridges, the only one they could turn to that would give them the time of day was God. 

From time to time, we learn of people who are, according to outward appearances, highly successful people living the American dream. Yet, at some point, they realize that something significant is missing. They come to realize that a life revolving solely around themselves, pursuing unfettered immediate gratification and happiness, has become hollow. They turn to God for help so that life can have meaning and they can experience a deeper joy. 

In the Old Testament reading, the people are overcome by swarms of aggressive serpents that are biting and poisoning them. People are dying. There is no outrunning or outsmarting the deadly little creatures. Their presence and their aggressiveness reveal to the people their childish and sinful attitudes, words and behaviors toward God and Moses.  Their only help is to appeal to the one who sent the serpents in the first place.   

In some respects, I think the Israelites were more fortunate than my first two examples. They felt God’s judgment upon them immediately. In their bewilderment regarding the direction they were traveling, they had crossed the line from complaining, to out and out denial of faith and trust in God and God’s appointed leader. There is even the accusation that they have been brought out into the wilderness so that God and Moses could kill them. The Israelites were blessed in the sense that when the serpents came and kept coming and coming and coming and were aggressive towards them, that they were truly experiencing the LORD’s wrath against them.  Once they saw the serpents as the wrath of God for their sin, they became contrite and repentant.  They admitted their sin and sought forgiveness. 

I know that with those who abuse alcohol and drugs, it can take years, sometimes decades, before God’s judgment upon them becomes realized for what it is.  The alcohol or the drugs have such a prominent place in their lives, they don’t even fully realize that their life is in utter ruin until it is too late. 

Success and all it can buy and give us can be its own opiate.  We are so distracted by the busyness and the striving that we don’t realize that something else has taken the Lord’s place as our ultimate foundation in life. We don’t realize that the spiritual, specifically faith in Jesus as our Savior, is just as important to our well-being as material needs. 

Nicodemus the Pharisee is the one Jesus is speaking to in the Gospel reading. Nicodemus came to Jesus by himself, after dark, to speak with him. We can assume he comes by himself and under the cover of darkness, so that he can speak with Jesus without an audience and without polemics.  

Something is missing within Nicodemus. This is a puzzle because a Pharisee is a student of Scripture.  Not only is there significant head knowledge of God’s Word and the traditions of his faith, he would also be a man who publicly confesses and practices his faith. Yet, something is missing. 

After Jesus was baptized and came through the time of testing in the wilderness, he started his ministry by proclaiming, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” One commentator I read indicates that Nicodemus heard Jesus and wondered if he was truly in God’s kingdom. 

When Nicodemus met with Jesus he said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” There is no reason to for us to be suspicious of what Nicodemus is saying. Nicodemus recognizes that God is with Jesus.  It’s just that Jesus is not saying what he and others expect Jesus to say. Nicodemus is most certainly not at ease for some reason.  He gets the sense that he is missing something vital. 

Now, one of the great gifts of God is the way in which he can take a disastrous situation and make good come out of it. When the Lord received the Israelite’s confession of their sin, he instructed Moses to make a bronze image of a serpent, put it on a pole, lift it up, carry it among the people. When people looked up and saw the serpent that Moses held, they lived. Looking upon the upheld serpent, the people trusted God’s Word. They were saved from the punishment for their sins.

That act of grace in the wilderness becomes the connection for Nicodemus. Jesus connects Israel’s saving help from God with His own eventual elevation upon a cross. Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man.  As the Son of Man, Jesus is the epitome of a true human being.  As a complete human being, Jesus, also fully God, is sacrificed on the cross for our sins. When the sharp stings of God’s wrath strike us, we look up to the cross and we trust God’s Word.  Jesus himself says that he is present with us out of love.  He, the only Son, is given as a sacrifice in our behalf. When we look up to Him, we trust his words. Jesus is born for us. He dies for us. He is lifted upon the cross so that we might be saved from our sins.  We are saved for an eternal life with God that begins now.  Now, we receive God’s forgiveness. Now, we are bathed in God’s light. Now, we put away our false idols and we fully trust in the LORD God for our salvation and well-being. Now, we respond with faith in love towards God and our neighbor.   

The reading from Ephesians 2 beautifully speaks of the gift of God’s grace and the freedom that Jesus’ cross brings.  Once we were dead in trespasses, but God, in his rich mercy loves us anyways.  Faith in Christ frees us from our sin. “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” As a result, the Apostle Paul says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” 

…The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.