John 3:1-21
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are 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 Very truly I tell you, 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 wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Some, if not many, Christians think they do not make a big difference in our world...We look around and forget about God’s Kingdom and we only see this one and only world...This world blinds us of God's Kingdom...We can only see what is in front of us and what is around us...We forget about the Kingdom of God and all we see is earth...C. S. Lewis said this about heaven and earth years ago: “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next...It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this...Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither (p. 134).”..
C.S. Lewis emphasized that true Christian life involves this active participation in God's Plan...Thus being a participant, we are thinking about Another World, God's World...
Jesus tells us at different times He is from Another World...He said: "You belong to this world here below, but I come from above...You are from this world, but I AM not from this world." (John 8:23)...Jesus when He was teaching Nicodemus about Heaven and the things in Another World, He said: “You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?...Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony...I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?...No one has ever gone into heaven except the One who came from heaven—the Son of Man...Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have Eternal Life in Him.” (John 3:10-15)...Jesus said this before His death, “My kingdom is not of this world...If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jewish leaders...But now My kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36)...
Jesus just as He taught Nicodemus about Himself and the things of earth and of Heaven, He wants us also to learn about Heaven and His Kingdom...
We learn from Lewis that we must actively participate in life and on earth...Lewis believed that people should not be passive and that they should live as if their lives mattered and that we are LOVED by God...He believed that people should think about heaven as a reference point that motivates them to live differently...We need to align our daily decisions and choices to one’s that show we are disciples of Jesus...And when we make our daily choices and decisions, we have to accept that there is responsibility and accountability what we have done and decided...We might ask each day, are we truly following God's Will in our free will acts that He gives us...And if and when we are aligned with God's Will our life becomes more abundant and we are then as happy as we might be...Because God has made us and created us for Himself and we cannot rest until we rest within Him…We are His children…Being His children we better see that the world is bigger than we thought, but also can be better than we thought if and when we are aligned with God's Will...God's LOVE is proof of this because we can see that He would give up His Only Son to save each of us (humanity)...His Son is our Savior who died on the cross…So we must trust in the LORD knowing that He is LOVE and His Word is Truth and that trusting in Him is really when we think about it, is the right and only thing to do...And in doing these things and following Him, we become more obedient to Him...
By doing and practicing these things we become more aware of the Kingdom of God...We might even think more about Another World that Jesus is talking about...