Thabiti Anyabwile writes, “Nothing could be more eternally important than Christian people knowing what the Bible teaches about the new birth and knowing that they have experienced it.” Did you get raised in a Christian house? Did you pray a prayer one time but that's about the extent of your spiritual life? Jesus said to a good, believing man one time, "That's not enough- unless you're born again you're not going to see the kingdom of God." My prayer is that you stick around with this post long enough to care about the new birth- your life in the now and your eternal destiny depend on it.
The new birth: What is the phenomena? Crawling back into the womb? Some weird academic, theological concept? A term to decide how someone will vote? "Born again" is a term that gets thrown around by everyone from George Bush to Charles Gibson. I read the book "Finally Alive" by Piper and to be honest I wasn't terribly impressed with how entertaining/mind blowing it was. BUT fewer books I've read this year have had more of an effect on how I see the world.
Jesus on the New Birth
Here it is: John 3:1-8. Pay attention to who Nicodemus is. Read it slow and picture the secret nighttime conversation between the well-respected leader and the God-man.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus' qualifications
Do you know anyone like this? Nicodemus is a religious man. He goes to church on Sundays and goes to Bible studies. Heck, he's even a leader in his church. (V1) He's a religious and moral man among men (the Pharisees were the most religious people in the world.) Furthermore, Nicodemus acknowledges, without a doubt, God's work in the person of Jesus Christ (V2).
He believes that Jesus is the Son of God. And so we say, "that should be more than enough, right? He's a really good person AND he believes in Jesus. That's the formula right? This guy is going straight to heaven!"BUT... look what Jesus says! He says, essentially, "NO, Nicodemus". Jesus says that "You must be born again!" And heaven? Unless something drastic changes and you are born again, "YOU CANNOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD" (V5)... Nicodemus has not experienced God in a real, saving way. If he were to die on this day he would be one of these unfortunate souls who thought their whole life that they were destined for heaven.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
“Look, Lord! I did all those church bake sales! I read my bible, I got baptized and confirmed, I fed the poor, I prayed every night, I even built houses and shared the gospel on a missions trip! But God, I prayed a prayer one time. But God I said I believed in you! And what’s more, Jesus, I did it all in your name. I did it for you!” As we read the Lord’s terrifying reply in verse 23, we clearly see a distinction between professed faith and saving faith.
If this passage has never shook you up then something is wrong. We must not pass this off as an interesting concept or something to think about for someone we know. We must, though it may cause us fear and trembling, follow the exhortation of Paul, “Examine yourself, to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Cor. 13:5)
It is possible to see God's work in Jesus without seeing God's work in you. How do we go about discovering if we and the people around us have had a born-again experience? What do we do if we have not had a born-again experience or aren’t sure? I’ll try to get a post up soon…
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