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Scripture Reading:
NRS John 3:1 Now there was a
Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus
by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has
come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the
presence of God." 3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I
tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from
above." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born
after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and
be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no
one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7
Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' 8
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not
know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born
of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these
things be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of
Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 11 "Very
truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen;
yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about
earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about
heavenly things?
Today we are going to explore the impossible. Sometimes we hear things that
just don’t sound right. Remember when people talked about being able to talk
with one another like they did on Dick Tracy. We thought those days would never
happen and here we are, having the ability to have phones that act like
watches. Remember when we thought that the cost of gasoline would never go over
a $1. What we think is impossible is always within the realm of possibility. Have you ever wanted to have a “do
over?” To have a chance for a mulligan? A mulligan is a golf term for a do
over. A chance to take a second attempt at a shot that did not go very well the
first time. Well what Jesus is suggesting is that we get a chance to start
fresh. No matter where we have come from, no matter what the past, no matter
how badly we have messed it all up, we get a chance to start fresh with a new
relationship with God. But in order to do that, we must be reborn. But this
time instead of us doing it, human and human begin the birth cycle, God is
required. Of course those of us who
truly believe in creation being a God thing, God is in the birth of a young
baby as well. There is a story told
that has been attributed to the writer Parker Palmer that tells of a three year
old child who is very anxious to speak to her newborn sibling alone. The
parents are nervous, but they allow it because they can listen on the intercom,
in case anything happens. They hear the three year old asking the infant
– “Tell me about God, because I have almost forgotten.” When we fill
ourselves with so many dogmas and strictures in our quest to form the perfect
Christian, we can lose the essence of our faith which is a childlike,
instinctive reaching out to God our parent - and being held in return.
John Wesley gives this sermon in 1760 though the exact day escaped me
when I was searching. The doctrine of salvation is the most important of all
the doctrines. It is in fact salvation that gets us into the streets of Gold
and in the very presence of the living God. At that moment we are justified in
our faith by opening our heart to Christ, we begin the new birth by inviting in
the Holy Spirit to transform us into the beautiful creation of God. John Wesley
puts it this way, “If any doctrines within the whole
compass of Christianity may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless
these two, -- the doctrine of justification, and that of the new birth: The
former relating to that great work which God does for us, in forgiving our
sins; the latter, to the great work which God does in us, in renewing our
fallen nature. In order of time, neither of these is before the other: in the
moment we are justified by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in
Jesus, we are also "born of the Spirit;" but in order of thinking, as
it is termed, justification precedes the new birth. We first conceive his wrath
to be turned away, and then his Spirit to work in our hearts.”[i]
So why must
we be born again? How can we be born again and what is its nature? These are
important questions that we need to answer in order to fully understand this
grace of God. Let us begin with why. God created us in God’s image. We are
created in the image of God in our upright nature but more importantly, in our
inward nature we are created in that image. God created us to nurture creation itself;
to care for every living thing as if were our own. God created us to think and
to have choice. God created us in the moral image of God, that concept we often
associate with when we say, Love our neighbor. God is full of love, justice,
mercy and truth. We humans were created in that image. In the beginning we were
created pure, without sin, and in the grace of paradise surrounded by all
creation in harmony and love. God gave us the freedom to choose because true
love is never constrained, controlled or abused. But we human beings chose
unwisely. Our inherent nature to not live in harmony with God, but our desire
to be God, became paramount. God had told Adam that the consequences of that
knowledge, to act on the desire to be God had terrible consequences but it did
not stop him in the heat of the moment. Adam may well not have understood what
death was but he had the wisdom even then of knowing that things were wonderful
and whatever this death was it was not. Because of his choice humankind
suffers. We have traded the image of God, that image of love, mercy and grace
for the image of the devil, deceit, selfishness and greed.
Now we are
not talking here about physical death for history tells us that Adam lived for
over 900 hundred years before his physical death came to be. We are talking
about the spiritual death that separates us from God. We are talking about the
death of the image of God within us. Have you ever had someone you respected
and looked up to suddenly do something that caused you to regret that you
looked up to them? This separation from God is like that, we had the beauty of
creation within us, full of love and in harmony with all things. And then we
choose to pervert it into what is in this for me rather than what can I do to
nurture this beautiful thing. But God wants us to have a way to reclaim this
image of God. So the why question is simple. We have this inherent desire to be
in control, to ignore the teachings and ways of God as we live out our lives in
the image of Satan. But God wants us to regain the image of God, to find love without
strings attached and to live our lives in harmony with the world. The only way
for that to happen is through new birth, to be born again in the image of God
from the image of the world we now carry inside of us.
Jesus sat
with Nicodemus in the hours of darkness because that is when the wise men sat
and talked about important things. Jesus told Nicodemus that in order to be a
part of the Kingdom of God, one must be born from above. Nicodemus did not
understand any more than any of us understand the mystery of God’s grace and
mercy. But what Jesus was trying to say is that new birth is that moment when
we invite the Holy Spirit to come dwell within us. Before we are born we have
eyes that do not see and lungs that do not breathe. At the moment of birth the
waters of our surrounding world are released and we are able to see and take
that first breathe as we separate from the one who has nurtured us for the last
nine months. It is the same with God’s relationship. We are born into the world
and its culture and understandings surround and embrace us as we grow from
infant to adult. But the inherent nature of our desires is what we embrace from
birth until that moment when we realize that we need God’s love in us. In that
moment when we invite God in, our senses are opened and we become again in the
presence of the Kingdom of God. We experience the Holy Spirit. The very nature
of rebirth is that we are born into the spirit of God and it becomes an
integral part of who we are. We change our very natures and the fruits of the
spirit become evident to others as we strive to be in harmony with God and the
love of creation itself.
Baptism is
not the new birth. It is an outward and visible sign of God working within us
but salvation requires choice. We need to choose to live in the Kingdom of God.
New Birth is not sanctification either, in that at the moment of new birth we
are but infants in this path toward perfection. We have to learn how to allow
God’s will to override our own and change to become more like Christ. All of
this is to receive that promise of eternal life that begins at the moment of
justification. Salvation is God’s gift to us because God loves us
unconditionally and wants only the best for us. Salvation can be lost if we
turn away from God because true love has choice. But God’s love never turns
away from us. So choose salvation! Choose to invite the Holy Spirit into your
hearts and begin to work towards being Christ in the world around us. What will
you choose?
[i] Outler,
Albert and Heitzenrater, Richard, John Wesley’s Sermons, 1991, Abingdon
Press, Nashville, page 326
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