Friday, March 03, 2006
February 26, 2006 Sermon Notes: What is Being Born Again?
Note: Sermon taken from loose outline notes of the pastor. The actual sermon may have differed on delivery. Sorry, no videotape available of this sermon.
Text: John 3:1-13; Luke 18:18-23
Today we are going to talk about a subject you have probably heard about many times: being born again, and we are going to look a two classic examples where Christ is trying to teach people what it means to be born again, what it means to be his sheep, to be his followers.
First, let's discuss Christ's conversation with Nicodemus. If you remember, Nicodemus was one of the people who helped to bury Jesus, a friend who was actually among the ruling Pharisees, a lone understaander of Christ's message and true identity. I believe this conversation in John was where Nicodemus began to undergo his conversion experience. Let's look at the conversation. Christ and Nicodemus are talking...and Nicodemus asks about inheriting the kingdom. Jesus tells him that in order to enter the kingdom, one must be born again. Of course, Nicodemus was dumbfounded. How in the world can this be possible? I am sure that there had to be some guffaws and even some chuckles. Christ had to get a little sarcastic with ol Nic. 'Pal, you are a teacher of the law, the law given by God, a leader, and you aren't getting this? Maybe you aren't quite so much a leader as we thought....' Jesus had to have a sense of sarcasm. That's another story.
Anyway, Christ talks about how it is a mystery. Christ talked about miracles that people saw and they didn't believe it. He talked about what they could see and verify, but they still didn't believe. How, then, Christ said, could Nic truly understand and seek full knowledge of something heavenly.
The true process of being born again, the mechanics, is a mystery. We cannot fully hope to comprehend. We don't know where the wind comes from, but we know it is there. The air is there even though we can't see it or really grasp it. Likewise when born again. We know it when we see it. We know it when we hear it. We know because we know, we feel it. Being born again is like that. Being born again, to Nicodemus means dying to the world, the world in the sense of valuing what the world believes. We must die to the physical and the worldly to be born again to the spiritual and mystical truths of God. Our souls must be renewed, must be reawakened to the truth of existence being about serving God and following His will.
Let's look at the story of the rich young ruler. He comes before Jesus and says, "hey, I've followed all the written laws of conduct, done everything I've been told." Christ says, that's great. However, you need to give away all the riches you value so much. At this, the young ruler says, wait a minute. No way, Jose, and goes away disappointed. What does this have to do with being born again?
Well, let me tell another story a retired pastor told me. A rich couple came to church for a visit. They came and seemed to enjoy the service. However, several weeks went by and they didn't come back. Well, the pastor and some members went visiting. When asked why they hadn't come back, the couple said, well, we like the church, we like the people. However, we see that we might have to make a serious commitment to this, and we are not sure we want to do that. THEY WERE NOT SURE THEY WANTED TO COMMIT to the mission of Christ, to His house?
See, being born again means not giving into who has the most, of holding it as the primary value. It involes seeing Christ as the truth, way and life. It involves putting His will and such above our own. It involves putting God's mission above our own desires. See, that is what I think Christ was trying to teach this young man. Does he truly think that no rich person can get into heaven? Certainly not. Is there anything wrong with having good things? No. However, Christ could see that for this young ruler, the whole thing was about doing what he could just so he could still have his finery and do just enough to enter the Kingdom. He wasn't committed. Christ was trying to show that people need to be truly committed to the kingdom, and not just do the lip service of the perfunctory, "doing good deeds". it is about giving our life, our resources, our riches...in other words, making that commitment that that one couple did not want to make.
We must not be married to the riches of the world, but be willing to give to the kingdom. We must be willing to give of ourselves, as we care called. WE must give cheerfully, and not just our money. Too many times, churhces make it about giving money, however, it is more than that. While giving or tithing should be taken as part of our worship, because it is, giving our time and work and resources is just as much a part of our giving worship. For us we must be willing to give all, because Christ gave all for us.
Being born again, then, is about "dying" to the desires of the world, to the old "natural" order of greed, selfishness, hunger, self satisfaction. It means having the commitment to do as God asks us. It means ahving the commitment to do as God asks, to desire after following His will. After all, He gave all for us. He died to this world to lead us to the victory. He died and came back to life, having shrugged off all earthly needs. Christ does not necessarily want everything, to have us lead pauper lives, but he does want to know that we are willing to give it all if asked, if necessary. And that, dear friends, means being born again into this world, freed from the constraints of the sinful nature. Yes, we may be tempted, we may succumb, but if we are born again we trust in Christ. WE don't trust in those riches and get upset when we are asked to give it up. We have real priorities. We have priorities of serving the eternal kingdom, rather than this current situation we find ourselves in.
Being born again means having the commitment to the true commandments of Loving the Lord with everything, and loving your neighbor as yourself and not letting the constraints of what others think, of what it costs us, get in the way. That is what being born again is truly all about. There is a mystical process, to be sure, but in order to be born again we must be willing to lay it all aside, no regrets. WE must be cheerful and worshipful givers. We need to lose our marriage to what this world values and instead value the kingdom of God and HIS purposes. When we are born again, we are mystically and mentally and spiritually changed.
Text: John 3:1-13; Luke 18:18-23
Today we are going to talk about a subject you have probably heard about many times: being born again, and we are going to look a two classic examples where Christ is trying to teach people what it means to be born again, what it means to be his sheep, to be his followers.
First, let's discuss Christ's conversation with Nicodemus. If you remember, Nicodemus was one of the people who helped to bury Jesus, a friend who was actually among the ruling Pharisees, a lone understaander of Christ's message and true identity. I believe this conversation in John was where Nicodemus began to undergo his conversion experience. Let's look at the conversation. Christ and Nicodemus are talking...and Nicodemus asks about inheriting the kingdom. Jesus tells him that in order to enter the kingdom, one must be born again. Of course, Nicodemus was dumbfounded. How in the world can this be possible? I am sure that there had to be some guffaws and even some chuckles. Christ had to get a little sarcastic with ol Nic. 'Pal, you are a teacher of the law, the law given by God, a leader, and you aren't getting this? Maybe you aren't quite so much a leader as we thought....' Jesus had to have a sense of sarcasm. That's another story.
Anyway, Christ talks about how it is a mystery. Christ talked about miracles that people saw and they didn't believe it. He talked about what they could see and verify, but they still didn't believe. How, then, Christ said, could Nic truly understand and seek full knowledge of something heavenly.
The true process of being born again, the mechanics, is a mystery. We cannot fully hope to comprehend. We don't know where the wind comes from, but we know it is there. The air is there even though we can't see it or really grasp it. Likewise when born again. We know it when we see it. We know it when we hear it. We know because we know, we feel it. Being born again is like that. Being born again, to Nicodemus means dying to the world, the world in the sense of valuing what the world believes. We must die to the physical and the worldly to be born again to the spiritual and mystical truths of God. Our souls must be renewed, must be reawakened to the truth of existence being about serving God and following His will.
Let's look at the story of the rich young ruler. He comes before Jesus and says, "hey, I've followed all the written laws of conduct, done everything I've been told." Christ says, that's great. However, you need to give away all the riches you value so much. At this, the young ruler says, wait a minute. No way, Jose, and goes away disappointed. What does this have to do with being born again?
Well, let me tell another story a retired pastor told me. A rich couple came to church for a visit. They came and seemed to enjoy the service. However, several weeks went by and they didn't come back. Well, the pastor and some members went visiting. When asked why they hadn't come back, the couple said, well, we like the church, we like the people. However, we see that we might have to make a serious commitment to this, and we are not sure we want to do that. THEY WERE NOT SURE THEY WANTED TO COMMIT to the mission of Christ, to His house?
See, being born again means not giving into who has the most, of holding it as the primary value. It involes seeing Christ as the truth, way and life. It involves putting His will and such above our own. It involves putting God's mission above our own desires. See, that is what I think Christ was trying to teach this young man. Does he truly think that no rich person can get into heaven? Certainly not. Is there anything wrong with having good things? No. However, Christ could see that for this young ruler, the whole thing was about doing what he could just so he could still have his finery and do just enough to enter the Kingdom. He wasn't committed. Christ was trying to show that people need to be truly committed to the kingdom, and not just do the lip service of the perfunctory, "doing good deeds". it is about giving our life, our resources, our riches...in other words, making that commitment that that one couple did not want to make.
We must not be married to the riches of the world, but be willing to give to the kingdom. We must be willing to give of ourselves, as we care called. WE must give cheerfully, and not just our money. Too many times, churhces make it about giving money, however, it is more than that. While giving or tithing should be taken as part of our worship, because it is, giving our time and work and resources is just as much a part of our giving worship. For us we must be willing to give all, because Christ gave all for us.
Being born again, then, is about "dying" to the desires of the world, to the old "natural" order of greed, selfishness, hunger, self satisfaction. It means having the commitment to do as God asks us. It means ahving the commitment to do as God asks, to desire after following His will. After all, He gave all for us. He died to this world to lead us to the victory. He died and came back to life, having shrugged off all earthly needs. Christ does not necessarily want everything, to have us lead pauper lives, but he does want to know that we are willing to give it all if asked, if necessary. And that, dear friends, means being born again into this world, freed from the constraints of the sinful nature. Yes, we may be tempted, we may succumb, but if we are born again we trust in Christ. WE don't trust in those riches and get upset when we are asked to give it up. We have real priorities. We have priorities of serving the eternal kingdom, rather than this current situation we find ourselves in.
Being born again means having the commitment to the true commandments of Loving the Lord with everything, and loving your neighbor as yourself and not letting the constraints of what others think, of what it costs us, get in the way. That is what being born again is truly all about. There is a mystical process, to be sure, but in order to be born again we must be willing to lay it all aside, no regrets. WE must be cheerful and worshipful givers. We need to lose our marriage to what this world values and instead value the kingdom of God and HIS purposes. When we are born again, we are mystically and mentally and spiritually changed.
# posted by Mark : 6:51 PM
