“Very truly, I tell you, no-one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
Jesus always chose the words he used very carefully. To appreciate that this is true you only have to think about the stories he told to illustrate the message he was trying to get across. Think about the parable of the Good Samaritan, for example, or the Prodigal Son. The images in these stories are so powerful that, although set in a culture that is 2000 miles and 2000 years distant from our own, they still speak clearly to us today.
So when Jesus wanted to explain to Nicodemus about how people would have to change in order to see the Kingdom of God, he didn’t say “people will have to be a bit different” or even “people will have to change a lot”. Instead he said “no-one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above”. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, this birth from above is not, of course, a physical rebirth, but a rebirth of “water and the Spirit”.
What does this rebirth imply? When a child is born she or he has to leave the warmth, comfort and security of the womb and be thrust out into a world which is noisy, confusing and uncertain. Some psychologists maintain that we carry the trauma of this experience throughout our lives even though we don’t remember it. I don’t know if this is true, but certainly some babies protest loudly at the proceedings!
So being born again might imply leaving the security of one, known existence for another, unknown one. That can be a frightening prospect. I think most of us fear change. We have a tendency to think that any changes will be for the worse, and often we have to make a point of reminding ourselves that change can indeed be for the better.
A baby, for example, may not initially like the change from womb to world, but without that change she or he would be limited to an existence in the dark, where experiences were limited and where the environment changed very little. But perhaps the most significant feature of the environment of the womb is that room for growth is severely limited! So while existence in the womb may be warm, comfortable and secure, it offers no chance for physical growth beyond a certain point and it offers only limited experiences with which to develop the intellect and personality. If we never left our mother’s womb we could never become the mature human beings that is our genetic inheritance.
If we do not trust God enough to leave the confines of ordinary existence and be born again of the Spirit, then we will not grow or develop spiritually and will never be the whole and complete people that God intends us to be.
What else is implied in rebirth? Birth is thought of as a beginning, so being born from above is a new beginning.
A baby’s birth is the first step on a long journey to adulthood and maturity. Newborn babies do not have the ability to sustain existence by themselves. They cannot move away from danger or towards help. Even if suitable food was just a few inches away they probably wouldn’t be able to focus their eyes to see and certainly wouldn’t be able to grasp it. They are so limited in their movements that they can’t even shiver and so even this natural mechanism for keeping warm is not available to them. New born babies are extraordinarily weak and helpless and have to rely on their parents and trust them to provide all the things necessary for their survival.
If we are to be truly born again, one of the first things we have to do is to acknowledge our weakness and our helplessness. We cannot sustain a spiritual life by ourselves. If we are to grow spiritually, we must learn to rely on God and trust him to provide all that we need for spiritual growth.
Babies needs love. Even if human parents provide all that is needed for the physical survival of their baby, if they don’t provide for his or her emotional needs, then that child will not thrive. Not only will they grow up emotionally stunted, they will probably not mature physically at the same rate as other children. Though human parents sometimes fail to love their children, God, our heavenly parent, never fails to love us. So when we are reborn of water and the spirit we are guaranteed a loving parent to watch over our development.
Another thing a baby needs is to learn. It has been said that babies learn more in their first year and a half than at any other time in their life. They learn to focus their eyes, to reach out and hold things, to sit, to crawl, to stand, to walk and to talk. But this is only the beginning of the learning process. As they grow children have to learn how to be social beings, to fit in and get on with other people. They have to learn to read, to write and to handle numbers. They have to learn right from wrong.
How do children learn these things? One way is by copying those around them. Children learn to talk by imitation and they learn socially acceptable behaviour by the example of their parents’ behaviour. Another way a child learns is by listening - to teachers and to parents, and later on children will learn from reading books.
No child can develop without learning and the learning process goes on not just in childhood but throughout life. We can’t develop spiritually without being ready to learn and we need to recognise that the learning process is open-ended.
How do we learn and grow spiritually? Well, we have a parental example to follow in Jesus’ life on earth. We have God’s teaching and God’s word to guide us in the Bible. We have God’s presence with us to consult and to seek advice. We can learn from the experience of other people of God’s work in their lives.
When a baby is born it might be born to great wealth or great poverty. It might be born with a “silver spoon in its mouth” or it can be like us and be born with what - a wooden spoon? A plastic spoon? No spoon at all? It’s all very chancy and unfair.
When we are reborn we are all born to the same state - there are no rich or poor in spiritual birth. No-one is advantaged or disadvantaged.
We are born to a new life in fellowship with God. In this new life we are no longer slaves to sin, because Christ has broken the power of sin.
We are born to everlasting life. This is the promise that is made over and over again in the Gospels.
We are born as God’s children and as his children we are heirs and inheritors of his kingdom.
When we are born we may inherit certain abilities or gifts from our parents. When we are reborn we will inherit some of the gifts of the spirit, for example, faith, wisdom, healing, prophecy, teaching, and as we grow and mature we will enjoy the fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
So in many ways our spiritual rebirth and growth is like the birth and growth of a baby. Birth is a beginning - to be born again is a new beginning. A baby has to trust and rely on its parents - we have to trust and rely on God. A baby needs love in order to grow and thrive - we are guaranteed God’s unfailing love overseeing our spiritual growth. A baby has a lot to learn if it is to become a mature adult - we have a lot to learn if we are to become mature spiritually. In order to learn a child has to listen to and obey its parents - if we are to learn we must listen to and obey God.
When we are born again, we are born to a new life freed from the slavery of sin, we are born to everlasting life, we become God’s children and as his children we are inheritors of his kingdom and his spiritual gifts.
Our own physical birth into this life was not achieved without pain and discomfort, and it is only through Christ’s suffering and death that we are delivered into a new and everlasting life.
