Born From Above

Text: John 3:1-15

Focus: Salvation

Function: The gospel, and invite to Christ.

Form: Story telling.

Intro:

Born again.

Born again Christian.

Those words have a lot of meaning, both good and bad. If you hear that phrase on TV, in a television show, or in the news about a politician, it communicates a whole lot of meaning.

To most skeptics, its meaning has become pretty negative.

To many Christians, it means that we belong to a specific tribe, a specific group within Christianity, and it means something good.

To many other Christians, it may imply a group of people who have left behind NT Christianity in exchange for a sort of political/religious organization and philosophy.

What does it mean to you?

Does the sound of it communicate something positive or something negative?

We are a family here. We are a body here. We are a group who have made a promise, and have kept that promise, that we will love and care for each other in spite of each other.

Our membership promise is a promise to God that in spite of each other's failures, weaknesses and even sins, we will love and care for each other. We will hold those who abuse the trust accountable, while offering the same grace and forgiveness that we also need.

I asked a devout leader in another church just exactly what that covenant within a local church means. He said, “it means we exhort each other and hold them accountable.”

He asked me what I thought, and I said: “it means that encourage enable each other.”

Both of us were saying the same thing, from a different perspective.

But, if we want to be forgiven, then we need to forgive.

Right now, that is being tested.

And in this group, I surmise that there are people who are like-minded on very many issues, but would disagree was to whether or not they take that term “born again” to be positive or negative.

In 1985, Lea Iaccoca took over the Chrysler Motor Company. He brought the company back from disaster.

I remember a commercial the next year. There was a group of enthusiastic people singing the Hallelujah Chorus and they kept the religious image up by declaring that Chrysler Motor Company was indeed: “Born again.”

It bothered me that these words of Jesus were used by a manufactuary to market a product.

I thought to myself, “they have just cheapened my faith.”

But then, the phrase got tossed around so much after that, its meaning was lost and it was used by some to describe a hypocrite.

Secularists blasted the whole idea of forgiveness, grace and “do overs” as an excuse for people to forsake responsibility for their own despicable actions.

So, with mixed feelings, I use that term “born again” because I do not know how the person I am speaking to will receive it. It has been used in derision so much, that it seems as if we have to find another way.

But listen, these are the words of Jesus Himself.

Actually, it is the King James Version that uses that specific phrase “Born Again.”

The Greek word “anothen” literally means from above. That is why our reading this morning reflects the more accurate translation.

Born from Above.

Born from a Higher place.

Born from God.

That doesn't mean the idea “Born again” is wrong.

It certainly is consistent with the way Nicodemus understood it.

He said, “How can I be born a second time? I am too big to enter my mother again!”

I can picture him saying: “Jesus, the physics just will not work!”

And Jesus launches into the teaching about the mechanics of being born by God, born from above.

What does it mean to be born again?

I remember a very inquisitive young man coming to me over 30 years ago and asking me the same question: “What do you mean when you say that you are born again?”

Later on, I'll tell you the gist of what I answered the young man. But when I was finished giving him my description he said: “I have asked 3 other Christians that I know, and every one of them has given me a different answer.”

How do you answer that question? (ASK)

In the text, there are two clues given:

He gives one clue, and then Jesus is fairly critical of this man who claims to know so much about God's word, but has a hard time believing in the mystery of God.

And after Jesus spends time, sort of chastising Nicodemus for his arrogance, Jesus gives the second clue.

The First clue:

Born of water and Spirit.

I think God's heart is grieved over all the argument as to what it means.

In context, the water birth is the physical birth that every experiences on their own birthday.

The Spirit, is the Spiritual Birth that God supernaturally does in their lives.

Some have said that water birth is “water baptism.” Others have argued that after the water birth, there is the sign of spiritual birth, the sign of speaking in tongues.

I believe it grieves God's heart when the argument happens because the point of being born from above is that we are indeed born by God and God dwells in mystery.

That is indeed what Jesus tries to tell Nicodemus. He says, The Holy Spirit, just like the wind, cannot be controlled, it cannot be timed, it cannot be created, it cannot be managed. It (He) is not subject to human law or even human science. God moves the wind wherever God chooses and to accomplish whatever God's purposes are.

The Holy Spirit works with the same mystery.

And the point is that God is entirely un-predictable.

This is hard for this religious leader. You didn't get to be a Pharisee without incredible intelligence and education. Most of these men memorized the entire OT and then the Talmud, which was another 13,000 commands given to sort out the meaning of the first 1,300 commands.

There is something about learning as much as we can about a subject. The more we learn, the less surprise we have.

The more we learn, the more we feel in control.

Or, the more we realize we do not know. It can be one way or the other.

And there was this pride among his kind that their knowledge made them in control and above the rest of the population.

And Jesus' stern statements humble him.

Nicodemus indeed becomes a believer. He is one of the few from the Pharisees who spoke in Jesus defense, helped and sheltered the Church when it began, and believed in Jesus.

But it wasn't until Jesus gives to him first this simple command: “Stop being so proud of what you know and follow God.”

Do you remember a few weeks ago how Peter, who wasn't so well educated, and sometimes by the way he over reacted, wasn't so intelligent either, how Peter was rebuked for trying to be one step ahead of God, instead of one step behind Jesus?

I am sure that you know what I am saying. Have you ever met a person who didn't really listen to you, but instead they were forming their answer while you were speaking and in the process they were showing off what they knew instead of either helping you think through a problem, or humbling themselves enough to learn?

Have you ever did the same thing to someone else?

Yes is probably the honest answer.

So here is Jesus, with this brilliant man, and Jesus message, about being born from above is almost this: “stop being clever, or being in control long enough to see what God is doing.”

And I learn this about being born from above, it means the we have indeed given our lives to God. We have surrendered the control of our lives to God.

My niece is in boot camp with the US Air Force. She is Kathy's sister's only daughter and Kathy's sister is taking it hard.

My niece went from only child, to boot camp.

She went from top of the pecking order to “fresh meat.”

She actually got away long enough to log onto her facebook account and cry out for everyone to pray that somehow God would deliver her from boot camp.

She was in misery because the control of her life was taken away from her and given to someone else.

We as Christians, when we become believers dot he same thing. But we do it for an eternal kingdom.

We, in baptism, symbolize that we have died to ourselves and from this day on, our lives belong to God. Paul said it like this: “I have been crucified with Christ, yet I live. It isn't me alive anymore, but Christ Jesus inside me.” Galatians 2:20

Jesus goes about the same discussion with Nicodemus, but just as Jesus told the rich young ruler that the way to salvation was to give all of his riches to poor people, gain reward in heaven and then follow Jesus, Jesus makes the same complete and total surrender demand to Nicodemus. The one thing that Nicodemus felt like he had control in was his knowledge of everything that he thought God would do. His knowledge almost made it seem like God had to ask him permission.

Jesus called Nicodemus to give up that control. For the rich young ruler, he felt secure because he had control of his wealth.

But when Jesus essentially says: “you will belong to God from now on, and God's Spirit is wild, God does as God pleases, without asking our advice” Nicodemus believed and accepted those terms.

Do you see the difficulty?

Remember the young man who was asking all the Christians he knew about what being born again meant?

I remember that my answer was something like that: “we give our lives over to Jesus. We have died to ourselves. Our lives belong to God from now on. So, in a very real sense, we have a new life.”

The young man was actually shocked. He said, “no one else said it like that.” “no one else included this element of dying to self in order.”

I think that it is important that Jesus' answers varied according to the person he was talking to. But all of them included the fact that there can be no other god in their lives but Him.

If their god was money, give it up. If there god was their own accomplishments, then God wasn't going to be able to use them. For Peter, it was his competitive nature, even among the fellow apostles that Jesus was constantly bringing into question.

But the main point about being born from above is that it is entirely up to God. And God dwells in mystery. He cannot be controlled. But, God has made it simple.

Jesus' second clue comes after the rebuke of Nicodemus. Jesus gives to the man, a very simple form of salvation.

Jesus said, “When I am lifted up on the cross, look at me and you will live.”

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.

This is an interesting story. The Children of Israel were constantly rebelling against God and God's appointed leader, Moses.

So one time, in order for God to prove that Moses was the leader, God sent a plague of serpents into the camp.

The serpents were deadly and thousands of the people, who had been bitten were dying.

So Moses prayed for God to forgive them, in spite of the fact that they were complaining against Moses. And God told Moses to fashion a brass serpent on a brass cross and lift the cross/serpent combination up high.

Do you know the symbol for medical establishments? A serpent on a cross. It comes from this story that Jesus refers to.

And here is the thing, the people only had to do one thing in order to be healed from the plague of fiery serpents.

All they had to do to get better was to look at this symbol.

It wasn't an idol. It wasn't a graven image.

It was a symbol. And the very simple and easy task of looking at it would save them.

But Jesus' statement about the salvation that He is to provide to the entire world comes from this story in the Old Testament from Numbers 21.

So here is Jesus telling this Pharisee how easy it is to be reconciled back into God's family.

Look to Jesus and live.

Now, it is not an easy image. The cross, the crucifix, is a bloody image. But the faith is simple. Very simple. Look at it.

We might want to make it hard and say, well we have to look and understand that it was our sin, our own sin that put Him there.

And that is certainly a biblical truth.

We may say, well only the look, IN FAITH is going to save the person.

And I believe that is true, but that is for God to decide, not me.

Jesus said that it takes the Holy Spirit to create faith in Him. (Matthew 16).

So this look is a faithful look.

But it is soooo simple! And that is the point that Jesus is making.

So, we surrender to God.

But first, we look to Him and we live.

Have you looked at Jesus?

Do you look to Him?