Engaging with God

new birth and new life is what Jesus addresses in our scripture passage today

Nicodemus is apparently intrigued by Jesus and wants to know more about him; but he doesn't want to do this publicly , so he comes to Jesus at night. 

Jesus makes it very clear to Nicodemus that anyone, Jew or not, even a Pharisee, must be born again (or born from above.)

God loves us and seeks after us and is not satisfied until he has found us. And this love of God extends to all people – God loves the world.

While we were still sinners – lost and separated from God – God sent Jesus into the world to save us.

To believe in Jesus is to trust him with our very lives.

But the opposite is also true: there is no life apart from God, so those who do not share in God's life through Jesus don't have this life of the ages . 

we will see that Jesus was passionate about maintaining this sacred space of worship and focus on God

because the Jews understood themselves to be God's chosen people, the Temple represented their very identity in a way no other building could

Jesus had no patience for the things that would distract us from dwelling in God's presence and worshiping Him.

Jesus is saying something new , something about himself – he is somehow the Temple of God. 

We are now the dwelling place of God in this world! This is what it means when the Bible says that we are "the Body of Christ," and even that we are "the temple of the Holy Spirit."

When we receive Jesus, we receive the presence of God in our lives .

the "Word" is not only a description of God's revelation to us through Scripture, but the very way that God has entered into human life and history through Jesus Christ.  

Without getting into the mystery of the Trinity, the very first thing that John wants us to know is that the Word is God . 

The eternal Logos entered into creation and became a human being.

Jesus, because he is God in human form, shows us what it truly looks like to be in God's image .

Jesus Christ is the Word, the living and active power of God, through whom God created the world and through whom God is saving the world .