A Nicodemus Moment

Years ago, I received an invitation to speak to a group of pastors, teachers, and leaders for a two-day retreat.

On the last day, they asked me to share some snapshots of Christ-centered community from my own experience.

I told the story of one such community, a body of believers that discovered Jesus Christ in the depths and learned to love one another through thick or thin.

They also learned how to have New Testament-styled church meetings where every member functioned, sharing the riches of Christ through their various gifts . . . all without a facilitator present.

Their gatherings and their community life was under the headship of Jesus Christ.

One of my closing comments was that this group of believers had discovered that Christ was alive enough to be the head of His own church, not in rhetoric, but in reality.

They certainly had their share of problems and issues, as with every church in the first century. But they also discovered how to find the Lord in their midst.

The examples I gave of the work of the Holy Spirit in this group were stunning. And they made a tremendous impact on my own life and ministry, all these years later.

When I finished, I observed two reactions in the room.

One was amazement. Some leaders had never seen or heard anything like what I described. Later, they quizzed me privately. Those people greatly impressed me.

Their hunger for the Lord displayed itself in their insightful comments and discerning questions.

The other group didn’t quite understand what I was talking about. They had no context for it, so they politely listened and then went on to other things, never asking a single question.

One gentleman in the room was both a professor and a pastor. After hearing me rehearse story after story about the amazing things that happened and can still happen when a group of Christians discovers together how to live by the indwelling life of Christ, he declared his opinion with the group.

“What you’ve just described,” he said, “is a sociological reality called group form dynamics.”

This man just heard the living testimony of Jesus Christ through His body, and he responded, “you’re describing a sociological reality.”

Here was a leader in the Christian world, a pastor in a very large denomination and a professor, and that’s all he heard.

I responded simply, as though I were speaking to an atheist.

“I believe that Jesus Christ exists and that He’s real,” I said. “I also believe that He lives in His people, and when they learn to live by His life, they can express Him in remarkable ways, shaming principalities and powers in other realms. That’s what this group of simple Christians had discovered.”

The conversation then moved on to other things.

I tell this story, all these years later, to highlight a Nicodemus moment.

Consider what Jesus said to Nicodemus:

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, ”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?

John 3:10-12

Just because someone may sport a clerical collar, pastor a church, answer to “Reverend,” or hold more degrees than a thermometer, does not indicate that they know the Lord very well.

Don’t mishear me. I have close friends who are pastors and professors who have a deep and authentic walk with Jesus Christ. They also can perceive when He’s working.

However, just because someone is part of the clergy or they matriculated from seminary doesn’t ensure that they are spiritual or can discern spiritual things.

The sad fact is, we have many Nicodemuses around today.

They may hold PhDs in theology or ministry, but that doesn’t mean they know Christ well or are  living by His indwelling life. Our situation is no different today than it was in ancient Israel when God became enfleshed and broke into human history.

Austin-Sparks, a former pastor and one of the most Christ-centered and spiritually insightful men who ever lived, put his finger on the problem this way:

What is the nature of your relationship with Christ? You may believe in the Christian doctrine of the Deity of Christ, and believe in it very intensely. But if it is only doctrine, a tenet of the Creed, an objective fact concerning Christ, it will not carry you through the terrific experiences which lie in the path of true Christians. John said that the object of his writing his Gospel was that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His name. But he took pains to show that those who did so believe, had an experimental basis for their faith. How and why do you believe? Can you say truly — because something has happened in me for which there is no accounting apart from God Himself. Emotions, reasonings, persuasions, cannot account for it. Human personalities, psychology, or any human or natural factor cannot account for it. It required God Almighty, and I found Him in Jesus Christ. It was the voice of the Son of God, and I lived, and live.[i]

May the tribe of the unknown yet insightful Annas and Simeons (Luke 2:25-38) increase, for they had eyes to see in a blind religious culture.

Bottom line. Never be impressed with mere externals when it comes to spiritual knowledge and experience.

Remember that Jesus of Nazareth was a day laborer. He had no formal religious training, as did the scribes and priests of His day who were spiritually blind.

Neither did the twelve men whom He chose to carry on His work.

Formal religious training isn’t bad. It can be helpful. But it’s no guarantee in equipping women and men to know their Lord well and to follow their spiritual instincts.

[i] T. Austin-Sparks, “A Witness and A Testimony” Magazine, May-June 1946, Vol. 24-3.