Seeking the Kingdom

By Cal Cook

Wow what a week! Sunday after church we came home to a dog that had thrown up all over the place. He couldn’t keep anything down, even water! We called the vet Monday and by Tuesday we were told that our 18 month old Bull Dog Eli’s kidneys were failing. It was bad enough news for any day, but Tuesday was also my wife’s birthday!

I had to call last minute and cancel leading a Bible Study at the Kiwanis Manor because I thought we were taking the dog to Columbus to see a specialist (oh my). The vet wanted to wait another day and see if Eli would bounce back so I also begged off a meeting with the Bishop Wednesday morning. Eli’s kidneys started working again on Wednesday so I ran to Wide Water and met with the Bishop two hours late! Thursday resulted in surgery and the vet found a stuffed animal in Eli’s stomach and part way down his small intestine. Over $1400 later and the dog is home do well, but I’m emotionally drained! I know, it’s just a dog, but he’s still part of the family.

While all of this was going on I’m trying to prepare for Sunday. John 3:1-17 is chock full of verses with lots of depth to them. Max Lucado wrote a whole book on just John 3:16! I’ve preached on this passage before so I don’t want to repeat myself…but I would be remiss if I didn’t follow an exegesis of Nicodemus and Jesus to some extent. Nicodemus is one of the people from the Gospels I am most fascinated with. It’s a tossup between him and Pilate really, but both have such an interesting dialogue with Jesus!

I love the way Nicodemus starts out by acknowledging that everyone (at least anyone with any sense) knows that Jesus has been sent by God. The miracles prove His authority, but…you can almost hear the ‘but’. Jesus leaps right over all that and declares what Nicodemus really needs to know. If we could only read the hearts of others we might be able to do the same…but we usually are only speaking to what we think lies in their heart. Our response is usually not what they’ve actually said, but by what we think they mean.

God in the flesh is the only human that could ever know the heart of anyone else. Quite often we don’t even know our own heart! Jesus’ response to Nicodemus is fascinating…one that has led people to all different kinds of conclusions.

John 3:3  “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Apparently Nicodemus was seeking the Kingdom…Jesus looking into his heart knew exactly why Nicodemus came in the dark of night. I wonder if Jesus walked into our church on Sunday morning, how many hearts would he find seeking the Kingdom? I pray he would at least find mine…how about you?