Have you been born again? This is
a question that sounds a bit odd to many of us this morning, a question we
might expect in a church from a different tradition, like a Pentecostal church.
Yet this is what Jesus tells Nicodemus we all need, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but
Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You
must be born again.'" Paul also talks about new life, contrasting
the new life with being dead in our transgressions and
sins. In both Ephesians and John, new life is found in following Jesus
and accepting him as our Lord and Saviour. Paul tells us again in Colossians
that we are dead in sin, but made alive with Jesus;
powerful words of hope!
Paul talks about being dead in our
transgressions and sins. This is about our spiritual condition, a heart and
soul thing, not a physical body thing. There’s a lot of brokenness today that
creates a death of hope, a dying of peace and safety; there’s hurt inside many that
kills any chance of dreaming of something better. I volunteered for years at a
downtown ministry in Thunder Bay with men whose families had shattered, with
children from broken homes, many filled with parents struggling with addictions.
I saw the scars and trauma in their eyes. They came looking for hope, for help,
for a new start again. Many of them only knew of God as a someone who hated
people who broke his rules. The family brokenness, the breaking down of being
community together in a society focused on 'me
first,' has led to lots of loneliness and brokenness. When they would come
to that place of accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, it was amazing the
transformation that happened as they accepted God’s grace in Jesus.
Paul's not saying that you can't experience
joy, satisfaction, accomplishment, or even love
in your life without being made alive in Jesus, just that it has no roots to it.
I have many friends who don't want anything to do with God or religion and have
happy and fulfilling lives. They’re accomplishing a lot and doing a lot of good
things and they don't feel dead. Yet in God’s eyes they are dead because they’re
disconnected from Jesus who is life. Life’s not just about breathing, it’s
about being anchored in Jesus as Lord.
Without Jesus and the Holy Spirit,
the good things in life, the good things we accomplish, the happiness we feel
all depends on us and our ability to make life go well, but what happens when
life goes hard? We often discover that the things we put our trust in for
happiness end up failing us at some point. In small and large ways, we've made
the good things God has given us, God’s blessings into gods small "g"
gods that we lean on to make us happy and satisfied. When you judge life by how
you feel, you’ll make sure you surround yourself with stuff that makes you feel
good. Yet in the end, everything you've done comes to an end because it’s
focused on this life. If death and nothingness is all that you have to look
forward to, life loses its meaning and purpose.
An old friend continues to say 'no' to Jesus, he’s admitted that he sometimes wonders why he bothers
working hard, does good things, and helps others, and his only answer is
because it makes him feel good. He's been married and divorced twice and was living
with his girlfriend. His happiness depends on keeping her satisfied enough to
stay with him. This is what Paul's talking about when he talks about “gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its
desires and thoughts.” This is what Jesus is getting at with Nicodemus,
when life and happiness depends completely on what we do and have, the “flesh giving birth to flesh” idea instead of the “Spirit giving birth to spirit.” I've always been a
"God" person in his life
and so we would talk about happiness and having something constant in our lives
instead of things that keep changing. We’ve talked about God and why Jesus is
that constant in my life. I’ve talked about how Jesus makes me a different person;
someone he keeps talking to about Jesus. Being born again for him will look
like exchanging his small 'g' gods for Jesus. This is a decision we all need to
make.
Tim Keller mentions how some of the unhappiest people he's met are those who've succeeded in life but then found that as
they accomplished all their dreams, they were still restless. The more they
achieved, the more they needed in order to feel fulfilled and happy. Nicodemus
is a Pharisee, a member of the ruling council, a man dedicated to fulfilling
all the laws and requirements of the Jewish faith, but still he’s seeking more,
finding that doing the law wasn't filling that emptiness in his heart and soul that
needs more. Nicodemus shows up one evening; hoping to find something to fill
those empty places in his soul.
Jesus identifies Nicodemus' heart longing, that emptiness in his soul as a longing for the kingdom of God.
Jesus tells Nicodemus, "Very truly I tell you, no
one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."
Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus, "How can someone
be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their
mother's womb to be born!" You have to wonder how can someone as
educated as Nicodemus not understand that Jesus isn't talking in literal terms,
but pointing to something deeper. Jesus is trying to help Nicodemus see is that,
instead of seeing life through the lens of following all the rules or his
accomplishments, Nicodemus, and many of us, need to see and experience life
from a new starting point. Jesus points to the need to have the Holy Spirit
renew your heart, soul and mind so that you approach and live life through
Jesus instead of yourself. We've messed up our hearts and souls through sin so
much that it is described as death. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the only ones
who can un-mess us up again and bring us into new life.
I was talking last week with someone about how faith is a heart and soul thing, not a rules and law thing.
Faith is rooted in relationship with Jesus; this is what Paul’s getting at when
he tells the Ephesians, “Like the rest, we were by
nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God who is
rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” There’s that word “grace” again, rooted in our relationship with God,
rooted in God’s great love for us; a love that looks like sacrifice, that looks
like Jesus on a cross reconciling us with God our Father again and bringing new
life. There’s a whole lot of death and life talk here by Paul; our souls are
dead in our sins, but he keeps pointing us to the offer of new life and the
generosity and grace of God, “God raised us up with
Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order
that he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his
kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Receiving the new life that flows out of God’s grace, means letting go
of your old life and your wants; letting God take charge and shape your life
his way instead; inviting the Holy Spirit to wash the old away and dress you in
new clothes with a new family name and identity anchored in Jesus. You’ll begin
to embrace new priorities and cultivate a new focus in life based on accepting
Jesus completely, letting go of your fear and embracing trust and faith in
Jesus and his plans for you. You may be called to embrace some of the chaos
that comes from loving the prodigal as God does; reaching out to the hurting
and broken, coming alongside those that are rejected and ignored by loving
those Jesus loves, helping them know they too can have new life, that there’s
hope because of God’s amazing grace.
You’re invited by God to embrace his grace. You’re God’s handiwork, created to do good
works, to be grace to others. Living our new life in and with Jesus
frees us to accomplish Jesus’ goals because the old stuff no longer holds us
back. It may seem small to you to lead someone to Jesus, but the angels in
heaven celebrate every time someone comes to Jesus, making that small thing in
your eyes something that has eternal consequences. Your new life allows you to
continue the things Jesus was doing as he told his disciples in John 14, " Very truly I tell you, whoever
believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even
greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
Your
new life is a sign of hope to others looking for healing and hope in their own lives. You’re
witnesses of the power of Jesus in the world still today; of the power to hope
again after life throws you a curveball. Jesus sees who you are and all the
potential he’s placed in you when he created you. The church is here for the
world, Jesus has put us here, not for ourselves, but to go out wherever Jesus
has placed us to serve and to bring healing, and to make disciples by offering
them the new life found in Jesus. The
power of the Holy Spirit in you brings change into our community that
ripples out in ways that you can't even imagine as the Holy
Spirit blows wherever it pleases. We’re part of building a community of
strength and hope and health rooted in Jesus; living out what the kingdom of
God is, where people focus on living for others, offering them God’s grace.
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