Communion Message
Introducing Nicodemus
June 27, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

Paul gives us the instructions for our communion service. He writes: For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

Paul reminds us that each time we participate in the communion we are proclaiming again that event that took place 2000 years ago at Calvary where Jesus paid the supreme price for our redemption. In remembering Calvary, John gives us an insight, he says: And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then took they the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. So there they laid Jesus because of the Jews' preparation day; for the tomb was nearby.

So mentioned in this scene is a man by the name of Nicodemus who joins with Joseph in preparing the body of Christ. We are introduced to Nicodemus way back in the early chapters of John, it says; There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "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."

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Nicodemus has always intrigued me because he had a unique relationship, but never once do we find indicated in the Scriptures that he openly professes Jesus Christ as his Messiah and his Lord. He has the joy of having a night interview with Christ. Now he was a Pharisee so that means that he was as one of the men that had chosen to obey all of the laws of Moses. He was a leader amongst the Jews.

And the reason why he came to Jesus by night has been suggested by some that most likely he wanted to avoid the crowds, or maybe he came because he, as a student of the law, they would study in the nighttime and maybe during his studies a question concerning eternal life or his soul became uppermost in his mind and so he leaves his home and he seeks out this itinerant Galilean preacher to talk about spiritual matters. And he hears one of the most profound sermons. Jesus said, Nicodemus, you must be born again. That is, you must be born from above. You must allow the work of God to do something so radical and so wonderful in your life that you become a new creation in Christ Jesus -- something so wonderful that brings you into the kingdom of God.

So Nicodemus heard the gospel message very clearly. Now there's one other occasion when Nicodemus slips onto the scene of Bible record, and that is when the Pharisees had sent out to try to bring Jesus into them, and when it was unsuccessful, Nicodemus stands up and uses a secular excuse -- we don't do those things. That's not the way our law says we do it.

So to defend the actions of Christ, or the actions of those two went to find Christ, he uses a secular excuse, but never once on that occasion does he say: I'm a follower of Jesus Christ and we're not going to treat him this way. And then we come to the scene where now we're at the tomb and he's preparing the body. But it's interesting that John indicates something, he says that he brought myrrh. And in ancient days when you brought myrrh to a funeral service it was an expression of regret. And so here's a man that we see listening to the words of Jesus in one of the most profound sermons on the new birth, we find him using a secular reason to excuse those who have gone after Jesus, and then we find him bringing a symbolic gesture of myrrh to prepare the body of Christ.

One of the great interesting things of theology is there is a difference of opinion: was it possible, was it ever indicated that Nicodemus made a clear-cut declaration of Jesus Christ as his Savior?

You go to Peter -- Peter said, yes, he is the Son of God. He never equivocated, he never questioned who Jesus was, and he identified very clearly as a follower of Jesus Christ.

You go to the apostle Paul, and Paul says, for me to live is for the life of Christ to be relived in my living. Very clear -- he identified himself as a follower of Jesus Christ.

And all the way through the Scriptures you find that open declaration. There is the eunuch that one of the disciples talks to as he shares the gospel, and the eunuch says I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Never -- Nicodemus leaves history with the question never answered by the theologians or the Scriptures. Never once did he openly say 'Jesus is my Savior'. Now I'm not suggesting that he may not have, and by the act of being a part of the burial service maybe that was his way of proclaiming his faith. We'll never know until we arrive in heaven. But here's the lesson that I learned from it. My prayer is what we never leave a question as to who we serve, and who's our Savior. May it always be clear that we live our lives very openly, we live our Christian faith very honestly, and very clearly; and when people observe our ways and listen to our words and watch our actions, they never question our identification with Jesus Christ. May that always be true.

And may it never be said...and I often hear it when I prepare sometimes for a funeral service, well I think they were a Christian. No, it's too profoundly important not to think about it, but to know it.

I met the other day a gentleman who just recently has come to know Jesus Christ and his comments were, I'm really enjoying telling people about Jesus. He said, they look at me and they say you're different. Your facial expressions are different. Something's happened. What's happened? He said, I'm a Christian. Jesus Christ is my Savior...an open declaration. And I pray that our lives will be so lived in our community, in our world, in our business, wherever we are, where we so act and so live and so speak that no one ever questions our identification with Jesus Christ as our Savior. Amen? Let's kneel together, shall we?

Lord Jesus, on this beautiful day of worship we have chosen your house as a priority, this hour of worship is something very important in our lives. So we've come to worship you, dear Jesus. We've expressed our faith in the hymns that we have sung, and now we kneel before you acknowledging that the 2000 years ago on that cross, dear Jesus, you became our substitute. You died in our stead because the wages of sin is death and we are sinners, and only you, the perfect sacrifice, could pay with your life to provide for us eternal life. You died so that we could live.

And we hold in our hands this cup, mysterious as it is, yet your word is very clear that are cleansing is made possible through your precious blood. So as our substitute, and that our cleansing portion, our Savior, we openly and sincerely identify with you, dear Jesus, we're your disciples. We're your followers and you're our Savior, our Lord, our Master, and our God. It's true we're not perfect. We're human beings we fail, sometimes even miserably, and we walk our pathways oft times in disobedience, and we even forsaken you the Lord we love by doing that which pleases us and not you.

So here we are in your presence and we ask you, O wonderful Savior, to forgive us and to cleanse us, wash way our sins and make us pure in your sight. Now we hold in our hands the very promise that that prayer is already answered. Because your word tells us that if we confess our sins, you are going to be faithful and just and you're going to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us. We've acknowledged that we have sinned, and your word has promised that we are forgiven.

Wonder of wonders...grace beyond measure...mercy without dimension. Thank you O wonderful Savior for your love and your mercy and your grace. And it's with joy we lift these elements to our lips and we tell you 'You are our Savior, our God, and our wonderful Lord'. Let's eat the bread together...and then the cup.

Lord Jesus, the amazing thing about this moment is if we've been sincere in requesting and seeking your forgiveness and cleansing, we will stand to our feet and we will be before you just as if we had never sinned -- totally cleansed, completely forgiven, our sins cast from us never to be remembered against us any more, we're brand-new. Thank you Jesus, thank you very much, and everybody said...amen.