Born that man no more may die

 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:9-14

We have come to the beginning of another year. In December, I heard a sermon by brother Brett Sweet from GCF central. I thought it was so appropriate for the gospel, I thought I'd try to use his basic outline. So if you think it's good, thank him. If not, blame me! LOL. 

A stanza in that great Christmas Hymn, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" includes this statement: Jesus is "born to give them second birth". Indeed, Jesus told Nicodemus that if a man wants to see the Kingdom of God, he must needs be born again. But what does this mean? 

1. Jesus is born with a backstory. Unlike us, Jesus did not come into being. He is the great I AM, with no beginning and no end. Jesus was, in fact, the Creator of all that there is. We did not choose to be born. We do not choose to die, but Jesus Christ did both. According to the letter to the Phillipian church, Jesus made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. For man, there is a time to die, and a time to be born, per Solomon. Not for Jesus. He chose to be born in a manger, and he chose to die for our sins on a cross. 

2. Jesus was indeed born, and He was rejected. The world, the system founded by sinful men, of course hated him. You see, it's like that. Jesus is the Light of men, but the thing is, we tend to love our sin, and the Light of the World coming into our world is rather inconvenient. The apostle John writes:

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

So the world rejected Him. That is not so surprising. But not only did the world reject Jesus, so did his own people. "He came unto His own, but His own received Him not". Why? Same reason as the world. The religious folks of His day tried hard to be holy, to be "good". But He called them "whitewashed tombs"! Ouch. My friends, it does not matter if you are sinning outside of the church, or are a self-righteous Pharisee within its walls. Jesus calls you out. Thus, the Gospel is bad news before it is good news. The Light must come and expose the true condition of your soul. But the good news is: To those who received Him, He gave the power to become His children!

3. This is accomplished by being "Born Again". I suppose Nicodemus' head must have been spinning when Jesus told him this was the only way. Nick could only think of the natural world. He did not choose to be born the first time, but here Jesus is telling him he CAN choose to be born the second time. His first birth was of water, but Jesus is inviting Nick to be born again, this time of the Spirit. You see, he was alive biologically due to his earthly parents, but he was not alive unto God. God is Spirit, and those who would worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. However, born into Adam, our spirits are dead unto God. We have no hope of fellowship with our Creator. However, Christ offers us a new birth, that of the Spirit, and upon receiving Him, we can now know God, and we have become His kids!

So here is the problem: We are separated from God on account of our sins. There is no way for us to be good on our own. God offers us Eternal Life through Jesus Christ. But many, far too many, stand aloof and refuse to come to Him. Why? Well, I suppose for each person, the story is different. Shame. Indifference. Suffering. But I suspect that what we all have had in common is Bad Theology. Simply put, we do not come to God because we do not believe He is good. Brent cited a children's book called the boxcar kids. 

Here is a story of four children who have been orphaned. They have a grandfather, but while their parents were still alive, he never came to visit, so they do not know him. What they know of him has come from their mom, who told them that Grandpa did not care about them, that his was an old miser who lived only for himself. So when the four kids are found on their own, their first inclination was to run away. The last person on earth they wanted to meet was grandpa. 

The truth was, however, that grandpa was a man who was indeed very rich in material things, but he was also a very kind man. Even though the kids were not looking for him, he was very much looking for them. He finally does find them living in an abandoned boxcar, where they have spent the summer living on the wages of the oldest brother. However, because he knows they are running from him, he does not immediately tell them who he is. Rather, he displays his kindness towards them. He invites them to come for dinner. He blesses them with presents. He begins to care for them. At the end of the story, the children do find out that he is their grandpa. They have been running from him thinking him to be one way, but in reality he was quite different. 

My friends, so it is with our own journey. We are all spiritual orphans. Though our Father is rich in compassion and mercy towards us, we have been living out of our own resources. Why? We believe, falsely, that God does not see us. He does not care. We certainly have heard about Him, but we have believed a false report. Therefore, instead of running to God, we have run away to false gods. Some of us have turned to relationships, some to success in a career. Others have not found fulfillment in life, and have been broken on the ravages of addition to drugs or alcohol. But what we all have in common is that NONE of these things give any real satisfaction. We have drunk of their water, and have found them ultimately unsatisfying. 

I invite each and every person here to reconsider. According to the Bible, here is the truth: In Isaiah 30:18, He tells us that longs to be gracious to us, and to show us compassion. When God introduces Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6 - "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin". 

So my friends, I do not know where you are on the path of life. I certainly hope that some of you have come to know God, to walk with Him, and have found Him to be good. Many of you, however, are very much on the outside looking in. Like the children in the story, you find yourselves alone, struggling, trying your best to negotiate some sort of peace. May I ask you, though - Have you really found it? Thanks to this mission, you are at least out of the cold of Winter and I trust you have eaten a hearty meal tonight. Though your bodies are warm and well fed, what of your souls? Are you satisfied with the walk you find yourselves on? Jesus offered the woman at the well Living Water. She tasted it and found that He was everything she needed and more. 

Some here may be looking back at a train wreck when they consider what their lives have been about. I know I sure do. It is only so easy to think that life has been wasted, and that we are beyond redemption. What we know of God prevents us from even considering an invitation to a new life. But this is a tragic lie. 

There was a man who lived a very upright life outwardly. He went to church. He paid his tithes. He made sure that he followed the law religiously. But on his way to Damascus to persecute the saints, Saul of Tarsus met the living Jesus Christ. And nothing was ever the same. He writes to the church in Phillipi - "My brothers, I don't get it yet, but this is what I will do: I will forget the past, and reach out for the future, towards the goal of obtaining high call of God in Jesus Christ". He went from the religious Saul of Tarsus to Paul, an apostle of the the Lord Jesus Christ. In comparison to knowing Christ, all his former life Paul considered a pile of garbage. And he would never go back. 

I invite those of you who have received this word to pray with me:

Lord Jesus, 

I am not happy with the life I have been living. Because I did not believe that you are good, I have run away from you. Like the woman at the well, I have found that all the world has to offer cannot satisfy my soul. I am ready to come to you, because I have heard that you are, in truth, good. I open my heart to you. I ask you to come in and give me a new life. Amen. 

advent

 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light

they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God,

The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,

upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,

to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice

from henceforth even for ever.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 9_2-7

Well, we have reached yet another Advent season. Will we have some snow on Christmas? I don't recall that many white Christmases since we moved here in 2021. Anyway, I sure hope we do get some. And then let it be gone until next Christmas! It probably doesn't work that way, though. 

What is advent really about? Is it not the story of Light breaking into the darkness? Of Jesus John writes:

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The advent story is, of course, a part of the overall story of the Bible. It is a tragic story we know all too well. The first day, God says, "Let there be Light" and there was light. On the seventh day, God saw all that He had made, and said it was "very good". The garden in which our parents Adam and Eve were placed was a utopia that was perfect in every way. In the midst of the garden stood the Tree of Life, from which we were free to eat and live forever. However, perhaps long before Adam and Eve were formed, but after God had said, "Let there be Light", a darkness formed in Heaven. Some angel named Lucifer decided he would be God, and was cast out of heaven to the earth. There he sees the innocent couple in the garden and begins to challenge them. "Did God really say?", and invites them to forsake the tree of life and eat of the knowledge of good and evil. They did so, and the darkness was poured out on the earth. At least for a time, the people did indeed walk in darkness. All hope seemed lost. Has not Lucifer won again? 

Surprise, devil! God is not finished with man yet. The LORD prophesied that a Descendant of Eve would one day overcome the power of the evil one. Light indeed has come, and we have beheld His glory, "full of grace AND truth". Darkness, when exposed to light, ALWAYS runs away. The same Light that created the world in the first place is now shining again, illuminating the world, exposing our corruption. In Jesus was Life, and that Life was the Light of men. 

Brothers and sisters, let us always keep this in mind: The present darkness we experience, even at this festive season of Advent, is not forever. Paul writes to the Corinthian Church:

The Scriptures say, “God commanded light to shine in the dark.” Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.

7We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us. 8We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up. 9In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again. 1

Our witness is the Light that is in us. We do not interpret our current unpleasant situation as a discouragement. Rather, we can see that Light is indeed breaking out. No one will need to be confused: When we praise God out of the midst of the darkness of this world, they will know for sure that this power is of God, not of us. By revelation, we know that:

We (need) never give up. Our bodies are gradually dying, but we ourselves are being made stronger each day. 17These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing. 18Things that are seen don't last forever, but things that are not seen are eternal. This is why we keep our minds on the things that cannot be seen.