“In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 3: 4).
We’ve been talking about God’s plan and purpose for the universe and His plan and purpose for you and me as individuals. We discussed how God has purposed us from the very beginning. He knew us before we were ever born and knew exactly when we would be here.
There was something else God purposed from the beginning; that the Light of the world should, at a specific moment in time, come to this earth and live among men and die on their behalf.
This Light was with God in the very beginning when He spoke the universe into existence. As a matter of fact, the Apostle John called this Light the Word; as if it were the Light itself that spoke things into existence. John said that the Word was present at the beginning when all things were made and that there wasn’t anything made that the Word didn’t participate in.
Jesus is the one John called the Word and the Light. Jesus is called a lot of things in John’s book. He’s called “The lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” He’s also called God’s “one and only son.”
When you’re watching football on TV, do you ever see some guy holding a cardboard sign that says, JOHN 3:16? Holding a cardboard sign with JOHN 3:16 painted on it at a football game may sound a little wacky, but that guy was doing it for a reason. He’s trying, in his way, to tell people that God sent his “one and only son” to save the world.
Here’s John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
That’s God’s plan for all man, including you and me; that we have eternal life. God has a unique purpose for each of us, something He wants us to do. But without this first part of God’s plan we can’t fulfill any of the rest of His purpose for us.
The term “born again” has been used so much that it has become a part of the common language. People refer to Christians as born-agains, most times in a derogatory sense. It has become a tag by which the world identifies practicing Christians. We have even made a distinction between “Christians” and “born-again Christians.”
A lot of folks, if asked, “Are you a Christian?” would say, “Sure I’m a Christian. I go to church, I’m an American, I give to the Red Cross and just last year I spent a weekend helping build a house with Habitat for Humanity.”
But if those same folks were asked, “Are you a born-again Christian?” They would start a nervous back-pedal.
Being born-again smacks of religious fanaticism. Born-agains seem to be different from everyone else, a little out there; not quite accepted by polite society.
They might ask, “Is this whole born-again thing really necessary? I believe in God, I mean I believe He’s up there somewhere, looking down on us occasionally. I go to church … well, I don’t go that much, but I belong to one. I try to do good things and help people. You know - leave the world a little bit better than I found it. I vote Republican. Isn’t that enough? I mean how much can really be expected of me? I don’t really know why I shouldn’t go to Heaven; I’m doing all the right things, right?”
It’s funny. The reasoning above sounds kind of 21st century doesn’t it? Sounds like the kind of thing you would hear in your neighborhood from your friends or coworkers, maybe even something you might have said.
Well, the reasoning isn’t as 21st century as you might think. It’s been around for a long time.
Two thousand years ago a man named Nicodemus came to visit Jesus (he came at night so his friends wouldn’t see him talking to Jesus). He said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus answered him by saying, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
That’s where the term “born-again” comes from.
Like most folks, Nicodemus, didn’t understand. “How can a man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
But that’s not the kind of birth Jesus was talking about. Jesus explained. “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
What Jesus meant is that it wasn’t good enough for a man was born into this world only; he has to be born into another world, one from above, if he is to see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus, like so many folks today, was a good man. He was a religious man and a leader in the synagogue. He gave his money to the temple, he did good deeds, he obeyed the Law, he pretty much did everything right. Why then, was Jesus telling this good man that he had to do something else, something as incomprehensible as being born-again, to get into heaven?
I worked with a guy once who was a lot like Nicodemus. He was a deacon in his church, he taught Sunday school, he was always helping with the youth group, he was a good neighbor, he had a nice wife and great kids, he was a responsible employee; pretty much a great guy all around.
He knew I was a Christian so he shared his church life with me on occasion. He told me that he really liked his church, loved helping the kids and doing good things for those less fortunate; it made him feel great. He admitted that he didn’t know about “this whole born-again thing, but all my good deeds have got to count for something, right?”
This guy was just like Nicodemus, doing all the right things, but missing the necessary thing.
We can’t fulfill our purpose; we can’t live up to our true potential unless we are born-again. It’s impossible.
When God created the first man, Adam, he made him from the ground, the materials of this earth. Then God actually breathed His Spirit into the man to make him come alive. Adam was born (created) of the earth and he was born (given life) of the Spirit. Adam was alive in the flesh and in the Spirit.
Then something went terribly wrong. Adam and his wife, Eve did the only thing they weren’t allowed to do. They ate fruit from a tree that would let them know the difference between good and evil.
This action, according to the one who talked them into it, would put them on a par with God. They would know good from evil, be able to judge it for themselves and make their own decisions. They would be able to shape their own destiny, determine their own purpose. And they were right. Their own destiny, however, was tragic.
By choosing for themselves what God had reserved for Himself, part of them died. They lost the Spirit life that God had breathed into them; the connection that allowed them to be a part of God’s kingdom and His plan. With that part of them dead, they were forever doomed to live according to their own plans and purpose.
God knew ahead of time what the fate of this first man would be. He knew that all of the man’s offspring would suffer the same consequence. When they came into the world they would be born only of the earth, only of man. They would not be born with the Spirit life that was breathed into Adam because Adam had lost it, he didn’t have it to give.
That is why Jesus, God’s Son, the One who was there with God in the beginning, who was a part of speaking all things into existence, came to earth. He came to give man back that Spirit life. He came to set right that which had gone so wrong with Adam back in the Garden.
That’s what He was trying to explain to Nicodemus. The only way to see God’s kingdom, to participate in His plan, to fulfill His destiny for you, is to get back that Spirit life, to be born again.
Being born-again isn’t hard. Jesus has already done all of the work. All you have to do is what Jesus told Nicodemus to do, believe in Him. Believe that Jesus really is God’s Son, that He is the Light of the world and that He came to give that Spirit life, back to you.
If you’re already born-again, you’ve been through this and you know it. You felt the Spirit life come into you then and you can feel it now.
If you haven’t been born-again you know it too. It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that you go to church or you’re a good person, or you give to the poor.
It also doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that you’re a rotten person and you’ve done some bad or stupid things in the past. There isn’t anything you’ve done that being born-again won’t wash away.
According to God, unless you’re born-again, you’re never good enough to be a part of His kingdom and once you have been born-again, nothing you’ve ever done will prevent you from being a part of His kingdom.
Here’s how to be born-again; it’s pretty easy. Stop what you’re doing and talk to God. If it helps, close your eyes, but it’s really not necessary. God will hear you whether you have your eyes opened or closed.
Tell Him, “God, I believe your Son Jesus is the Light of the world. I believe that he came to breathe that Spirit life back into me. I accept what He did for me and I want to be a part of the plan that You have for me.”
That’s it! No Hail Marys. No walking over broken glass. Nothing else. The gift of eternal life is free. You don’t have to do anything but receive it.
If you did ask God to breathe that Spirit life back into you, drop me a note. I’d really like to hear about it and tell other folks what happened. Don’t worry, I won’t use your name or anything, what you did was between you and God. But I do want to hear about it. It’s the most important thing you’ve ever done and somebody needs to know!
Gone Fishing. Back in Two weeks.
We’ll be up in the north woods next week, getting mosquito bit and hopefully eating fresh fish. But Purpose Weekly will be back on August 17th and we’ll get into how to start really living our purpose.
Until then, God Bless us.
