Most of us find people who can't get to the point rather annoying. They take 30 minutes to tell us what most people can say in five. There are also the people who beat around the bush because they don't know how to ask what they need to ask, whether from embarrassment or avoidance. Then there are the people who will never say what they are thinking even though you can sense that there is something wrong between us and them. The leader Nicodemus was somewhat like this as he came to Jesus under the cover of darkness. He had some questions for Jesus but wasn't sure how to approach him so he started trying to ease into it. One thing we know about God is that he knows our heart.
Jesus was not one who beat around the bush. He said what had to be said, whether it was with direct and clear language or through story telling. Those who needed to understand what he was saying understood it clearly. In Nicodemus' case Jesus went right to the heart:
“I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3)
Today we take this for granted, even though few in the Church understand it and fail to walk in it. However for Nicodemus this was the very first time he had encountered such a thought. Of course in the natural it sounds ridiculous and that was Israel's problem, all the leaders thought in the natural because they did not have spiritual minds. So Nicodemus' response was not a strange one nor a surprise to Jesus:
“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” (John 3:4)
Come on now, in the natural that is exactly what Jesus was saying, but Jesus wasn't talking in the natural. I caution you here that I differ in my understanding of the text that follows from other teachers but I don't want you to get lost in this. What is important is that we understand the significance of the need for re-birth. Jesus reply was straight to the point:
“I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:5)
Now here is where I differ from some people. The water Jesus is talking about is not baptism but our natural birth. Jesus is talking about two births in this passage. I believe in baptism because Jesus told us to baptise. I do not believe that baptism has an effect on our salvation because it is only a symbol of what happens spiritual to us. It would be like the Jews saying you have to be circumcised in order to be saved. Look at what Jesus said next:
"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." (John 3:6)
You should be able to see this in the context of the entire conversation; Jesus is talking about the birth of the flesh and the birth of the spirit; a physical birth and a spiritual birth. The "water" birth is not as significant here as understanding that a transformation must happen before we can enter into the Kingdom of God. Even on this earth we are in the Kingdom because the Kingdom is in the hearts of men and women; the Kingdom is a matter of the heart.
In this day and age this passage is vital to understand. We have far too many people who do not understand the need for this second birth and they think that simply changing their morality is all that is needed. They fill the church, teaching right from wrong, getting involved in all the activities, seemingly a good Christian, yet all that has changed is the outward appearance while the inside remains untouched. We must understand that everything hinges on our encounter with Jesus and the second birth that is offered to us.
The Word is clear on the importance of this matter:
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
This is not the only passage that makes it as plain as this.
We have to stop treating the Church like some business that is selling a product that makes people feel better. The Bible cannot be found in the self-help section of the book store. The pastor should not be preaching the psychology of man. There is only one solution, one hope, one way and it is found in our re-birth in Jesus Christ. We need to understand that the Spirit lets us know after this re-birth that the only life we have is in Jesus because we are made alive in Jesus. Aside from Jesus we are dead because eternal life is not found by our flesh but instead in our spiritual re-birth. The Church is not a matter of the natural but the spirit.
Jesus tells Nicodemus:
"You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:7-8)
And so it is with all those born of the Spirit. This world has lost it's hold on us. We are not chained down by the values or thinking of this place. We are lifted to a higher plain of understanding that everything must be obedient to the authority of Jesus Christ. How can we hope to minister to the lost of the world if we do not understand the result of the transformation that takes place in our re-birth? We are a new creation. The same old rules no longer apply. God can do incredible things through us because we have been freed from the restraints of this world. Darkness no longer has a hold on us. Demons must flee at our command. Illnesses must leave. Health must come in. Circumstances must change. This is who we are in Jesus and the world needs to see this authority to know it is real.
The second birth is not a poetic imagery that Jesus gave us. It is an actual event that takes place when we encounter Jesus and accept his sacrifice for our sins. It is the moment that the Holy Spirit moves in and writes the law upon our heart. It is the moment our minds are renewed so that we can comprehend the things of God, with a new perspective. We no longer see people as we used to. Let's stop teaching morality in an attempt to change from the outside in, and let us preach the need for the second birth so the Spirit can change us from the inside out.
3 comments:
Isn’t it odd that if the Baptists and evangelicals are correct that their “born again experience” is the true and ONLY means of salvation, the term “born again” is only mentioned three times in the King James Bible? If “making a decision for Christ” is the only means of salvation, why doesn’t God mention it more often in his Word? Why only THREE times? Isn’t that REALLY, REALLY odd?
Why is it that the Apostle Paul, the author of much of the New Testament, NEVER uses this term? Why is this term never used in the Book of Acts to describe the many mentioned Christian conversions? Why is this term only used by Jesus in a late night conversation with Nicodemus, and by Peter once in just one letter to Christians in Asia Minor?
If you attend a Baptist/evangelical worship service what will you hear? You will hear this: “You must be born again: you must make a decision for Christ. You must ask Jesus into your heart. You must pray to God and ask him to forgive you of your sins, come into your heart, and be your Lord and Savior (the Sinner’s Prayer). You must be an older child or adult who has the mental capacity to make a decision to believe, to make a decision to repent, and to make a decision to ask Jesus into your heart.”
It is very strange, however, that other than “you must be born again” none of this terminology is anywhere to be found in the Bible! Why do Baptists and evangelicals use this non-biblical terminology when discussing salvation?
Maybe it’s because…making a “decision” for Christ is NOT the manner in which sinners are saved!
Gary
Luther, Baptists, and Evangelicals
Five questions that Baptists and evangelicals should ask themselves:
1. Does the Bible state that a sinner is capable of choosing righteousness/choosing God?
The Bible states that the sinner must believe and repent, but are these actions initiated and performed by man of his own intellectual abilities, or are faith, belief, and repentance a part of the entire "package" of salvation? Are faith, belief, and repentance part of the "free gift"? Does God give you faith, belief and repentance at the moment he "quickens" you, or does he require you to make a decision that you want them first, and only then does he give them to you.
2. Is there any passage of Scripture that describes salvation in the Baptist/evangelical terms of: "Accept Christ into your heart", "Make a decision for Christ", "Pray to God and ask him to forgive you of your sins, come into your heart, and be your Lord and Savior (the Sinner's Prayer)". Is it possible that being "born again" is something that God does at a time of his choosing, and not something that man decides to do at a time of his choosing? Is man an active participant in his salvation in that he cooperates with God in a decision to believe, or is man a passive participant in his salvation; God does ALL the work?
3. Is the Bible a static collection of words or do the Words of God have real power, real supernatural power? How does the Bible describe the Word? Is it the meaning of the Word that has power or do the words themselves have supernatural power to "quicken" the souls of sinners, creating faith, belief and repentance?
4. Does preaching the Word save everyone who hears it or only the "predestined", the "elect", the "called", the "appointed" will believe when they hear the Word?
5. WHEN does the Bible, if read in its simple, plain, literal rendering, say that sins are forgiven and washed away?
Gary
Luther, Baptists, and Evangelicals
How many steps did you complete to receive the "free gift" of Salvation?
Is this a "free" gift?
I tell my child that I have an incredible gift for him. However, in order for the gift to be his, he must:
1. apologize for his bad behavior and sincerely mean it.
2. he must commit to change his ways and follow MY ways for the rest of his life.
3. he must make a decision that he WANTS my gift.
4. he must then approach me, hold out his hands, ask me for the gift, and cooperate with me, as I place the gift into his hands.
If he does all this, he will receive his gift. But...if he chooses to reject my gift, I will damn him to HELL!
Now is this "gift" really a gift...or a REWARD for making the right decision?
No, that is NOT a gift.
.
This is a gift: "Dear Son, I have a gift for you. Here it is. I love you more than words can describe", and then I place the gift in my son's lap. No strings attached. The gift is his. He did nothing to receive it. I did everything.
THAT is a gift!
So what is God's free gift? It is the whole salvation package: faith, belief, repentance, forgiveness of sins, atonement, and eternal life. It is ALL free... to those whom God has predestined, before the world existed, for reasons we do not know, to be his children.
Gary
www.LutherWasNotBornAgain.com
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