Nicodemus was afraid as he stole along the street. He had questions that needed answering. Jesus had impressed him, not just with his knowledge but with his wisdom. He seemed to preach hope, hope in a new way of living and people were believing him . . . and were being changed too.

It puzzled him to see how all his knowledge, all his study, all his righteousness and he seemed to need something else. Something was missing, and it was a big thing, it was something that left him void.

He lived a life that was strict, self-disciplined, obedient, righteous, holy, whatever spin you want to put on it, he lived a life that was bound by expectations that are explicit in the bible. On top of that he lived according to a whole lot of interpretations of that by years of scholarship. It meant that there was no way you could stumble. He was meant to be immune from sin.

But he wasn’t. And he knew it.

He knew he was 99% of the way there, but there was one sin he committed all the time because it played on his insecurities like nothing else. It wasn’t bad, like you might think, certainly by our standards it would be quite trivial. But if we lived everything to the letter, if we always did what was right, one little sin would become something major.

And he felt like he was a hypocrite and a fraud for this. He felt like the whole world would be appalled if they found out what it was. He felt like his life would crumble if it ever came out into the open. It was a secret that he hated to keep but there was no way he could tell it.

So he carried his burden on his own, all day and every day. Putting on the brave face as he greeted people at the door, or talked with his colleagues. In fact it was when he talked with his colleagues that he felt the most insignificant. They all seem so perfect. I wonder how many of them struggle in the same way that I do? I bet you none of them do, said a small voice. It’s only you who can’t come to terms with this sin. Nicodemus you are a failure.

Nicodemus, man of the law, man of the cloth, man of God—a failure, came to Jesus in the night.

“more secrets,” he thought to himself as he stopped at a corner and hid behind a building to see if anyone was coming down the street. No one, and then he tried to be swift about it.

As he was walking quickly, someone was coming down the road and he scrambled for cover : “this is an uncannily familiar feeling,” he thought to himself as he knew he often did this when conversation talked about his particular sin.

He would feel a flush of embarrassment then tell a joke around the subject, and then laugh uproariously, horridly overcompensating which his colleagues thought was just a tad quirky, but laughing to move the conversation on. He knew it was just enough to throw people off the scent of his sin. But he didn’t know that people had no idea because they thought he was holier than all of them.

He waited for the person to pass and then carried on.

He arrived at Jesus’ house and the door was open. There was an oil lamp burning on a table and Jesus was reclining on some cushions close by. He looked like he was sleeping.

Nicodemus knocked on the door post just below a blood stain, the residue of hundreds of years of Passover celebrations. It was the first time he had noticed how fresh the stains were and for some reason they felt a little redundant.

Jesus opened his eyes, gave a small smile and welcomed him in. Nicodemus sat down in front of the man who had just days earlier, thrown a tizzy in the temple courtyards. Overturning tables and shouting about how selling worship was a terrible disrespect to God and missed the point of the Passover and the temple entirely. Many people were upset by this, but equally many thought he had a point…Nicodemus was one of the latter.

Jesus made some small talk and Nicodemus made it awkward, he was so nervous and began to do that overcompensating laugh again.

“Teacher, you’re causing quite a stir and to be honest, I feel conflicted about you.” Jesus raised an eyebrow in the same way Spock does on Star Trek whenever something fascinating crops up : of course some of you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Nicodemus continued, “I’m finding that on one hand you are an extremely knowledgeable teacher who has come from God. You are doing incredible miracles, and the way you teach is with Truth and authority. No-one denies this. And in fact, there are many people who listen more to you than to the rest of us. This doesn’t make sense except if you are truly connected to God.”

He tried to hide the pain, there was no small amount of jealousy behind these words. “And, yet on the other hand you are the most offensive person I have come across. You seem to just come in here and do all sorts of cavalier things, without any regard for the law or for us. But there’s something about you, that smacks of God’s anointing, of God’s hand on your life, of God special approval everything you do. I swear, that in spite of the in-your-face attitude, I really think I’m catching a glimpse of heaven when I see and hear you.”

Jesus interrupted him.

“You’re on to something Nicodemus. You truly are and it’s bigger than you could ever imagine. And it’s so desperately what you want. You want to know don’t you, whether or not you really are catching glimpses of heaven. Truth is, unless you’ve been born from heaven, you will never understand or witness its kingdom.”

Nicodemus paused. Jesus had said this last statement in a way that implied that Nicodemus could be born again. Another time. If he didn’t respect Jesus so much he would have found a polite way to excuse himself and then think nothing of it.

What an impossible thing! And he imagined briefly climbing back into his mother’s . . . and then stopped because it was just too gross. What a bizarre thing for Jesus to have said. That if you want to see the God’s kingdom then you had to be born once more—a physical impossibility.

“But Jesus, that’s daft. How can we go inside the womb again?”

Jesus looked at him and saw that he was genuinely struggling here. “Nicodemus, it’s not physical, it’s deeper than that. And that’s the thing. I’m talking about being born into a new lifestyle through a turning point, a decision that you make.

“It’s not of the flesh, it’s of the Spirit. Religion is not about your physical but your spiritual. It’s not what you do, but why you do it that matters, because the ‘why’ that determines the ‘what’. Surely you, you of all people being a religious leaders should now that?”

And Nicodemus looked at Jesus not because he was looking at Jesus, but simply that Jesus was at the end of his gaze. Too many thoughts were clouding Jesus out. His eyes were open, but he was blind.

This week if we are up-to-date with the book we will be looking at Rick Warren’s understanding of what God’s third purpose for our lives is: We were created to become like Christ. Initially I thought this was an awful thing to preach on because I’m the worst person to be talking about the transformative power of the relationship with Jesus.

It almost seems unfair doesn’t it, that God would ask us to become like Jesus. That he would set us up for a fall. And in the story of Nicodemus, it seems like Jesus is talking about a very absolute, pin pointed beginning to a new life. When he talks about knowing heaven he means knowing in a very immersive sense.

Being born again as a new person. It’s pretty stark. It implies that when you become a Christian, then you have a new life. Couple that with Jesus telling people to “sin no more” and we face some very difficult teaching. You can’t help but feel that this Christian life is an impossible one. Be like Christ? “Be Holy as I am Holy, says the Lord?” Stop sinning full stop. Take up your cross? Suffer for me. Do these mean anything to us? Starve for 40 days in the desert? Be able to tell a fig tree to wither and then it does? Stopping storms?

I was on a beach mission once and we were there to save the world in the Bay of Islands. And I was out with one of the guys one evening, evangelising to people who were out for a pleasant stroll asking them along to the tent for a free coffee. We came across a man and got talking to him. Well I just stood back and watched. It came to a point where we were saying that if we have faith, we can move mountains (that’s good Christ likeness).

“oh yes” said the man.

“Yes,” continued the leader, “if I have enough faith I can tell the wind to stop.”

“Uh huh.” Replied the man looking at his watch.

“Would you like me to?”

There was a silence and the man looked at my leader and said, “oh, nah, don’t do that, you really don’t need to do that.”

“No, no, I’m going to do it. I’m going to show you God’s power.”

My leader then turned a little, held up his hand, and this is a true story I am not lying to you, he said, “in the name of the lord Jesus Christ I command this wind to stop.”

And the wind kept blowing.

Now we’ve got lots of reasons as to why God didn’t answer that prayer, truly we do, but my point is, here was a guy trying to be Christ-like, and exercise as much faith as he could, he put quite a bit on the line and to be blunt, as far as the experiment is concerned, he failed.

What does the phrase be like Christ mean? Especially with the whole born again, or new creation, or it’s no longer me that lives, but Jesus who lives in me. 100% totally surrender, commitment and dedication to Jesus, but more, total transformation into his likeness.

And this is the reality of what Jesus expects when he tells people. “Follow me.” Now what exactly did that mean? To the fishermen on the side of lake Galilee it wasn’t a commitment to follow Jesus on Sundays. It was a commitment for 24/7 discipleship. They lived and breathed Jesus. They spent three years focussing on Jesus and virtually nothing else. They went where he went, ate where he ate, did what he asked them to do and experienced Jesus like none of us ever will because he was there in the flesh. But the thing is that when they followed him they entered into an experience, a relationship with him. They saw the human and the divine. They saw the Jesus who would stop the storm, who would rise from the dead, who would heal multitudes, who would overturn the tables in the temple, who would stand for justice of the oppressed, who would suffer horribly for his message, who would love people unconditionally, who would restore people into relationship with him, who would question the authorities about the error of their ways, who wasn’t afraid of cross-cultural boundaries, or even legal boundaries to some extent. When they followed Jesus, they were immersed in him.

The story in the Gospels say that they left their nets and followed Jesus immediately. What do we make of that? Imagine for a few moments, Jesus standing in front of you while you are doing the thing you do most, school work family whatever and Jesus says follow me. Just for a moment think about the call to follow Jesus in these terms. Jesus says “Stop what you’re doing, follow me.”

What are the costs to you. Let’s talk about that in our groups. Are the costs too much? Remember the rich young ruler.

Now let’s say that you did this. Do you think you would be radically changed by the experience of being with Jesus like them? I firmly believe that we would all be exactly like the disciples. Slow learners. Not really understanding. Given enormous power but not sure what to do with it. I think we would actually not be totally holy and righteous, because they certainly weren’t.

They deserted him, stole from him, questioned him, had wrong expectations of him, they even tried to tell him off when the woman broke expensive perfume over Jesus feet. But they were still his disciples.

I think we miss can easily the point. Christ likeness isn’t Christ actual-ness.

I think the minute we talk about standards based Christianity we fall into a dangerous trap because being like Jesus is the goal. Paul says press on. And we need perfection. It’s kind of like the law with a twist.

I think the purpose of all the rules in the old testament were to set a high standard that could never be achieved. This would draw people to God, why? Because they knew that even if they broke the laws, they were still in his family. They didn’t suddenly stop being Jews if they broke the law, there was always a way back. It was the same with the disciples, they weren’t kicked off the team for getting it wrong were they? Peter was even called Satan by Jesus, but he still remained as a disciple.

But the problem is that the law and love didn’t go very well together in practical terms. The human condition doesn’t see law in that light. We don’t seem to see law as being a tool of love.

But when the law says don’t do over 50 kph in residential areas, it’s not doing it to be a kill joy, it’s there for the welfare of people. The disciplines in place are meant to be there to help you not speed. In fact the best thing that ever happened to my driving was getting two tickets in one week. It meant that for three years I couldn’t get another ticket or I’d lose my licence. I might have thought it was a bit rough, but the point is that it’s not what I think, but that the law is trying to look after all the people I was being a hazard to. What’s the most loving thing for me to do in the car? Drive at the speed limit.

Law is actually a tool of love.

What Jesus did was fulfil the law to the tee. Not for the sake of obeying all the rules, but because he embodied love. He was so full up with love that the law was naturally fulfilled.

So that’s why they can say all of the law (of the Old Testament) can be summed up love God, love people.

So to be Christ-like is to be characterised by love. This is the basis of where Paul says he’s wretched because there are two sides to him in battle. The sinful side and the spiritual side. He knows that perfection is the aim, but not the condition. He knows that this existence is difficult. But he is drawn back to Jesus. And that’s the key. Not that we don’t sin, though that’s still an aim, but that we are drawn to Jesus.

Before we move into the response, let me say this : We can never be exactly like Jesus : it’s not how we were designed. When God made us in his likeness in Genesis, you know, made us in his image, it didn’t make us God. It meant that we resembled God in some way. In the same way, being Christ like is resembling Christ is some way. I like the idea that our lives are no longer characterised by sin, but by the love of Jesus.

So what about the fact that we sin? I think that sin can do one of two things : separate us from God. Which is the default setting. When we sin, it reinforces distance from God because sin opposes his nature. Sin opposes his nature. It is anti-love. So our sin could just make us feel ashamed and afraid of God. And I’m sure we often do put our tails between our legs a skulk off to the shadows. We don’t want people to see that stuff. We can’t see how God could still possibly love us. We feel as though all the unforgiven secrets that we carry with us throughout our lives, we feel as though God will not accept us.

But that is not the whole story is it. The truth is that in the same way that there’s nothing you can do to earn God’s approval, there’s nothing you can do to make him love you any less. So your sin can actually draw you closer to God. Though it’s not the sin that separates us, but our response to it. This is where the whole relationship with God thing comes in.

As Christians, we are in relationship with him, we can always come back to him. And there is the transforming power. As we find healing with him, then we will be transformed.

And here is how. Paul has written how we change. And what characterises our lives now.

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, 23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. 24 Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good - crucified. 25 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. 26 That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

1 Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. 2 Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. 3 If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. 4 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. 5 Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. 6 Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

Galatians outlines a number of characteristics of things that are in opposition to God and counters it with the fruit of the spirit. Tonight’s response is quite simple. There is one challenge. Peel off one layer and see what happens.

1. Think of a person you have trouble ‘loving’.

2. Look in the mirror and try and find the characteristics of Jesus that you think are evident in how you deal with this person and which ones aren’t.

3. Take a piece of paper for each characteristic you identify that you need and then return to your seat.

4. Pray for God to help you in these areas and be prepared to act on his answer.

Study your self and try to see where you are Christ like and take heart. It’s easy to get stuck on our negative stuff. Look at yourself and know that God loves you and you are welcome in his arms : warts and all. Take your time, come and go as you please.