God Shaped Hole (born again) – Baptismal video testimonials below

A really smart friend of mine went to Jerusalem a few years ago to do some archeological digging. For part of her experience she got to do some sight-seeing in the city of Jerusalem. One of the “sights” that she saw was the empty tomb.

I wanted to see her pictures so she invited me to the lecture she was giving at Anderson University. This lecture was for a lot of really smart people and they asked some really technical questions about the dig and her spiritual experience. Being the “smart” person I am, I raised my  hand. She called on me. I asked  her what turned out to be one of the more profound questions of the evening. I asked, “was the tomb still empty?” She smiled and knew I wasn’t asking the question to be funny. With an emotional crack in her voice, she said,” yes – it was still empty.”

It’s still empty! There is still hope for the world!

He is Risen! He is risen indeed!

Our scripture for today

John 3 

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!”

A look at Nicodemus

John tells us in verses 1 and 2 that he was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish
Ruling Council.

Some of what this means is this:

• He was a man of power.
• A man in a select group of people.
• As a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, he was one of 70 men
  who ran the religious affairs of the nation. He had religious authority over
  any Jew anywhere in the nation.

Because he was a Pharisee, he was a public figure. A man of standing and authority.
Respected. Having a big stake in the established order. A man who would seem to
have everything going for him. Others no doubt would believe him to be happy,
fulfilled, having a whole life and yet verse 2 tells us:

He came to Jesus at night, when it was dark. When no one else was around. When no one would see him. He was after something. Hungry for something. Something
his habits, his traditions, his power, his stuff, his religion hadn’t given him.

Outside he had it all. Inside he was not whole. Outwardly he lacked nothing. Inwardly he was hungry.

I’m guessing here but I kind of think Nicodemus was tired of playing the game. He wasn’t going to waste his energy anymore trying to be something and someone he wasn’t. Nicodemus was tired of behaving like he was whole. He recognized in Jesus something different, something unique.

Jesus, unlike our culture, doesn’t recommend to Nicodemus that he add anything else into his life. Jesus doesn’t believe Nicodemus should acquire anything.

Jesus won’t let Nicodemus believe that if he becomes a better Pharisee,
if he tries to live a more holy life, if he became more religious, if he only keeps the rules a little better, then he’ll be happier.

Jesus didn’t come to make people happy. He came to change people.

He wasn’t tortured, brutalized, nailed to the cross and raised from the dead to make our life more comfortable. He didn’t do it to create a national holiday we call Easter.

No …. Like he told Nicodemus – He did it so that we could be born again.

Like Nicodemus, all of us are after something. There is a longing in our heart for something more but nothing satisfies.

• Our religious traditions can’t satisfy that longing
• The stuff we own can’t satisfy that longing
• Our bank accounts can’t satisfy that longing.
• Our traditions can’t satisfy that longing.
• Our spouse can’t satisfy that longing.
• Nothing on this earth can satisfy that longing.

Blaise Pascal, a brilliant mathematician in the 17^th century.  A man whose mind and heart was built on logic and science came to the conclusion that everyone has a God-shaped hole in their heart.

We try to fill it with other stuff and like Nicodemus we learn that nothing else works.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, you have to change. You must be born again.

What does it mean to be born again?

Lets go back and check out what happened to Nicodemus.

In John 7: 45-52, Nicodemus sticks up for Jesus among his contemporaries. Though he is still a Pharisee, he has received true life.

Being born again,  he will not let Jesus be unjustly accused.

And in John 19:38-42, John tells us that Nicodemus is one of the men who approach Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body so that it might be buried properly.

And so this man who had received life, a true life, now wraps, anoints, and buries the body of the man who had exposed his false life.

Nicodemus went from just believing that Jesus was a great teacher and Rabbi to trusting Him.

When you are born again you just don’t believe in Him you begin to trust Him. It means you put your trust in someone other than yourself, your occupation, and your bank account.

Nicodemus was risking everything.

Once he met Jesus:

•  He starting thinking a different way.
• He started looking at life a different way.
• He was losing his identity as a Pharisee and gaining his identity as a Jesus follower.

When he was born again …. How do we know he was born again? – in John 19 He is asking Pilate for Jesus body. If you remember before he only met Jesus in the dark.

His world had changed.  Nicodemus, once a very religious man, once a very good man had an Easter experience.

He was lost and now he was found.

He was dead and now he was alive.

He began to think differently. He began to live differently. He began to do life differently.

Do you want to have an Easter experience?

Maybe you are tired of playing the game. Maybe you are tired of wasting your energy  to be something and someone you aren’t.

All of us are born with a God-shaped hole in our heart. It is a hole only he can fill.

6 people today have similar experiences. Today, through their baptism, they are professing that they are going to follow Jesus the rest of their life.

Each one of their stories is unique. All of them have gone through some difficult moments in their life. Each one of them has experienced a turning point. Each one of their stories is a story of what it means to be born again.

As you listen to their stories – see if you can hear where the turning point happen.

Here are the stories (click on their picture to see video)