Born of the Spirit
John 3:1-17
by Jim Westmoreland
A story is told of a little girl who was asked to write an essay on "birth." She went home and asked her mother how she had been born. Her mother, who was busy at the time, said 'the stork brought you darling, and left you on the doorstep.'
Continuing her research she asked her dad how he'd been born. Being in the middle of something, her father similarly deflected the question by saying, 'I was found at the bottom of the garden. The fairies brought me.'
Then the girl went and asked her grandmother how she had arrived. 'I was picked from a gooseberry bush', said grandma. With this information the girl wrote her essay. When the teacher asked her later to read it in front of the class, she stood up and began, "There has not been a natural birth in our family for three generations..."(1)
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of being born from above, or being born anew, He was not talking of a natural birth. As he explained to Nicodemus, He was talking of a spiritual birth, a birth that was, and is, somehow, supernatural.
"Very truly, I tell you", Jesus said, "no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.."
I want us to think about this today. I want us to think about our unnatural birth, and about the mystery that is involved in it the mystery of God, the God who made us and gave us our first birth; the God who saves us, by becoming one with us, dying with us and for us, the God who lives and works in us and gives us our second birth when we were born of the Spirit.
The Bible is full of stories of faith, stories that tell us about life, responses to situations, and how God made a difference. Nicodemus' story comes in three parts. This is the first part in John 3 as Nicodemus asks, how can a person be born again? Nicodemus, a Pharisee, had secretly come to talk to Jesus. He came at night so that he wouldn't be seen. He has obviously been keeping up with Jesus and has probably been part of more than one crowd. He comes telling his own observation, "Rabbi, we know that our are a teacher sent from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." He does not accuse Jesus of blasphemy as the Sanhedrin would later do. No, he affirms Jesus as being sent by God and having the presence of God. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born of the Spirit in order to see kingdom of God.
For us to know God's presence and for us to grow in our own faith, we, too, must be born of the Spirit. We can be religious and not born of the Spirit. The Pharisees were very religious. They knew about God. They knew about the commands, about the Torah, about the Talmud, the interpretation of the Law. But, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." Was this offensive, was it something he couldn't conceive how to do, or was it something that he did understand, and he understood how much it would require that he change the focus and orientation of his life?
In the latter part of John 7, Jesus' identity is being debated by the chief priests and Pharisees, and they are condemning Jesus and anyone who believes in him. Nicodemus does not go along with the crowd of condemnation, but says in vs. 51, "Our Law does not judge a man, unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?" Did Nicodemus believe in John 3 or does he believe now it John 7? We don't know for sure, but it is clear that the Spirit of God is dealing with his heart and mind, because he is not parroting the opinions of the Pharisees.
In John 19:39 Nicodemus steps out to identify himself clearly with Jesus. We don't know when he made the change, but he joins Joseph of Arimathaea to come claim Jesus' body after his death. Nicodemus comes with a large supply of myrrh and aloes to prepare Jesus' body for burial.
Here was a man who had experienced great change. In John 3 he comes to meet Jesus. In John 19 he is no longer a secret disciple, but a very public one as he joins Joseph of Arimathaea to bury Jesus. What happened? What made the difference? "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." Nicodemus believed in Jesus.
In 1981, a Minnesota radio station reported a story about a stolen car in California. Police were staging an intense search for the vehicle and the driver, even to the point of placing announcements on local radio stations to contact the thief. On the front seat of the stolen car sat a box of crackers that, unknown to the thief, were laced with poison.
The car owner had intended to use the crackers as rat bait. Now the police and the owner of the VW Bug were more interested in apprehending the thief to save his life than to recover the car. So often when we run from God, we feel it is to escape his punishment or to escape what we think is an unrewarding and boring religious life. But what we are actually doing is eluding his rescue.(2)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." Have you believed in Jesus? Have you been born of the Spirit? Is something missing in your life? We, too, can be like Nicodemus and know all about religion, even all about Jesus. If we have not given our lives to Jesus to depend on him for forgiveness, to serve him by serving others, then we are still in control of our hearts and Jesus is still at arms length. To be born of the Spirit is to know Jesus as both Savior and as Lord. We give our very lives to Him, and He begins to direct our lives and to make our lives new.
Fred Craddock tells the following story, A young woman said to me, during her freshman year of college, "I was a failure in my classes; I wasn't having any dates; and I didn't have as much money as the other students. I was just so lonely and depressed and homesick and not succeeding. One Sunday afternoon," she said, "I went to the river near the campus. I had climbed up on the rail and was looking into the dark water below. For some reason or another I thought of the line, 'Cast all your cares upon him for he cares for you.'" She said, "I stepped back, and here I am."
Craddock said, "Where did you learn that line?"
She said, "I don't know."
Craddock, "Do you go to church?"
"No . . . Well, when I visited my grandmother in the summers, we went to Sunday School and church."
Craddock, "Ah . . ."(3)
The living faith of a grandmother literally saved her granddaughter's life. Where are your children or grandchildren going to hear, "Cast all your cares upon him for he cares for you?"
For the last several weeks I have been writing about and talking about the importance of sharing our faith stories. For some, this may seem new or unusual. It may seem difficult. You may wonder what I'm talking about. Ask yourself, "How have I felt or experienced God as a part of my life?" (Expand . . . this is core value, keep the main thing the main thing-experiencing God and being able to share those experiences, our faith stories with others. If we keep our faith private, we'll die with our private faith and those around us will die never knowing that our faith made a difference. And, if our church keeps its faith private, then we'll die as a church!)
To be born of the Spirit means getting up every day and praying, "Lord, today, I give to you as much of my life as I know to as much of you as I know. Lead me today and reveal yourself to me." When the church starts sharing its faith stories with others, new lives will be changed and others will be attracted to join us and experience a God who makes a difference. Today, let us all choose to be born of the Spirit. Amen.
Century Christian Church, June 11, 2006 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Richard Fairchild, "Unnatural Birth," http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/b-trinsmsu.php retrieved on June 8, 2006.
2. Source Unknown
3. Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories, Chalice Press: St. Louis, 2001, p. 33.