Romans 4: 1-5,13-17, John 3: 1-17

Our reading this week are both leading us to a very personal question – are we a righteous person, are we ‘right with God’?

Not on the outside, in ways that people that anyone can see, but in our heart of hearts, deep down.

We can only answer this personally and it might take a challenge for some of us to really face up to this. But before we can answer this question, we need to fully understand what it means to be ‘Right with God’.  What makes that happen?

Our readings gave us answers both to what it means to be ‘Right with God’ and what it means not to be.  In our readings from Romans we see Abraham given as our example. Many parts to his story but initially we meet him as a Jewish man, who followed the law, he was circumcised and he lived as he was meant to do according to the law of his Jewish faith.

To all intents and purposes, on the outside, this would make him a ‘righteous’ man, it would make him ‘Right with God’, but Paul is telling us that this was not the case and that all Abraham actually needed to do was to trust in God, to believe in God. Not superficially, just reading words because you always have done, or saying the words you see in front of you because everyone around you is doing that – that’s just following the law without really thinking about it, it is not a deep belief.

Well Abraham did lots of things, God gave him a promise but Abraham’s trust wavered slightly and he tried his own method which all went a little bit wrong…  Then he came back to God, and actually he showed how his trust had deepened to a deep belief. He had absolute trust in God that day that he took his only Son up onto a mountain. At one point God asks he to kill his son. How could God have even considered putting Abraham in this position.

But look again, isn’t that exactly what God did, for us.  And all he is asking in return, is that we believe, and we trust, fully, deeply, to the depth that Abraham did, to the depth that the disciples did.  That we own what God has done for us in our heart of hearts.

All of us, in our church family are at different points in our journey of faith, not related to how long we have been Christian, not related to our age but related in how we engage with our faith.  We should be exploring, asking questions, because this is how we grow, how we deepen our faith, how we learn to trust.  So, what questions do you have in your heart of hearts, deep down, what questions do you have there?  This is a deep thing, not something we can share or answer in 5 minutes, because its personal, isn’t it? 

Yet, we see Nicodemus doing exactly that with Jesus.  Now Nicodemus is one of the Jewish Council, an upstanding and important man in his community. Surely he is a

 righteous man?  He has seen Jesus, heard and seen the things he has been doing and

although he would know the opinion of the rest of the council, he has a position, a family.  He would also know what it would be to stand against the council at this point.  But he is asking questions, wanting explanations, “What does this mean, how can that happen?”

“How can we be born after growing old?”

We say Abraham do this, be born again into that spiritual trust with God, we know that he gained a deeper, stronger faith as an older man than the younger man had.  But we also see this growth in Nicodemus and of course, in the disciples.  We are in Lent, looking towards the events of Easter, and it is on the witness and the described events of that period that we see the depth of faith in the disciples.  Many of them died awful, dreadful deaths for their faith.  They could not have done that for something that was only superficially believed.

Where are we in our own journey of faith?  Are we, just ticking the box, turning up, reciting the words, or are we going to take this further? Do we know how to take this further?  Jesus said that we need to born of both water and of the spirit.  Now we could easily assume that means, we are baptised in water and our confirmation is in the spirit but Jesus explains that to be born of water, is our birth, the birth of flesh that is just that – flesh.  To believe, with trust, fully in God, is to be born of the spirit.

Go back to the joy and euphoria of the Pentecost event when the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples.  This was a massive thing, it brought thousands of people to faith.  The utter power of the spirit in the moment, can we really imagine such a thing.  Well, we don’t have to, do we, because if we are ‘Right, with God’, if our trust, our belief in Jesus, his life on Earth, his death for us, his resurrection, all that he did for us, if we fully, truly, deeply believe this, then we are born of the spirit and God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be active in us, in our lives.  Through this faith, we can bring others into our faith and then we too, like Abraham, like Nicodemus and like the disciples will be living examples of his word – IF, we are ‘Right with God’.

Only you know where you are on your journey. Only you know what you truly believe in your heart of hearts but here we are in Lent and what a perfect time to look deep… You can be asking questions, there are Lent course running, chances to meet together to question and explore as Nicodemus did.  We have our Church family all around us, we can help and support each other to develop this deeper faith to fully, deeply, trust and believe in all that God can be for us.

So this week, whatever is happening in your life, your worries, the stress you carry, the joys you share, examine your heart and give it to God, because wherever you are, God walks ahead of you, He walks behind you and all around you, today, tomorrow and always. You are never alone and you can trust in that.                      

Dawn Perry