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.