John 3:1-15
The children’s game of follow the leader was a simple game that had people all over the world enjoying the game of copycat. You would literally just follow the other person and mimic their movements. Whether it was a hop, skip, jump, or run, or anything else. Everyone got their chance to lead and to follow and the adventures often went to silly and creative places. Play is one of the best ways to learn and this game teaches us a very important way of life.
Who would of thought one of the most important games we played was following the leader? This is a great place to end our current series on Kingdom Living – with the idea of following and mimicking the Spirit. Much like the ever popular children’s game, living in step with the Holy Spirit is a real-time follow and respond lifestyle. He goes and we follow. He leads and we do. He gives and we accept. Following the leader is a uniquely important trait for us to learn.
Receive the Spirit for New Life (v1-7)
First, we have to believe the Spirit and rest in its promise of new life. Trust it – like we trust in a chair to hold us up. We don’t test the chair each time before we sit on it, we trust it to do its job. This is what Nicodemus was trying to understand. Born of water is simply talking about physical birth, but being born of the Spirit is a step of faith. If we sit down in a chair because we trust its support, then in the same way we can trust in Christ and receive the new life that He promises, which births a new life in us through the Spirit. Jesus, by giving His life for us on the cross (the perfect and unblemished sacrifice as 100% God and the necessary representative of the human race as 100% man) offers us a new life—a new opportunity—to live. The old rut of sin and shame are removed and we are given a new life, powered and led by the Holy Spirit, making a new creation – the old is gone (2 Cor 5:17)! This is freedom from the rut we get trapped in, stuck in the mud and mire of our sin and broken life. He is our escape, our rescuer. And this is a forever escape, but we don’t only just do that once. Now we have the ability to daily choose to live in the fleshly desires of our old life, or step into the Spirit and live as the new person we now are (like a briefcase handcuffed to a person who can’t undo the chain, we are trapped with our sin until that chain is broken, then we can truly live free).
Pursue the Spirit’s Movement of Work (v8-10)
If we are going to be able to walk away from sin in our lives, we have to walk towards something. That something is the Holy Spirit. As we choose to live in step with the Spirit, following its lead, we begin to see the Spirit at work. Our partnership with FCA started as an invitation because they were short-handed but as we’ve followed the Spirit it has opened so many doors, such as school prayer walks and favor built with the administration. None of that was forced open, but was a response to God at work! This is what Jesus means – we see the work of God somewhere and we align with it, join with it, allow ourselves to get carried along. It doesn’t have to be our idea, we just have to be willing to join in. But that is often the point people get stuck – certainly Nicodemus did with v8-9. Jesus tells Him you have to be with the Spirit enough and watch well enough that you learn. It’s this following the Leader that makes football players as good as they are too. Defensive players have to read and react. You can’t possibly know what play the offense will call, but you can learn what to watch for and then react accordingly. You learn the situation (down and distance), the formation (watch the lineman, not the specialists, as their initial movements often betray whether it’s a run or pass), and a DB learns to focus on the WR’s hips to be able to mimic movement and stay on their guy. We surely can’t anticipate where the Spirit will go, but we can watch, learn, and follow. This is done simply through prayer and a growing knowledge of how He works through scripture.
Share the Spirit’s Testimony (v11-15)
As we live in step with the Spirit each day and take part in the work He is doing, we will have opportunities to talk about it—in 2 ways, with our actions and then our words. When the Spirit is leading, our actions and words communicate the testimony of our risen Savior in ways we can’t imagine, creating influence and impact that we never dreamed! But we can only get there if we are following the Spirit, listening and participating ultimately to the point of sharing. Will you speak up? Will you, when the Spirit opens the door, walk through?
Next Steps
A life lived as a citizen in God’s Kingdom is a life filled with following the Leader – follow and respond to God’s work and movement, going where He goes and doing what He prods you to do. Anyone can practice this:
- Trust in Jesus! Choose daily to live in the Spirit instead of the flesh.
- Pray for eyes to see and courage to join in God’s work.
- Speak with honesty and love about Jesus when a door is opened.
Following the Leader certainly proved to be a thoroughly used game in life. Whether it’s for entertainment, football, growing up, or living as a citizen in God’s Kingdom, it really boils down to that. Are you following the Spirit? Or trying to lead your own way?
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