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To be born of the spirit is to be born again. This may sound elementary to most people here. But how many actually take it to heart? On earth we are tempted six ways from Sunday, straying off the path of righteousness. Many of us pray in a house of worship, but how many people actually take to heart what the clergyman says? We hear of what our optimum relationship with God is, but when many leave after the service, how long do they keep it in mind? Ten minutes? Five minutes? Until they vote?
In John 3, Nicodemus who is presented as a teaching ruler of the Jews, has a secret conversation with Jesus. The inherent problem with Nicodemus is that he has no choice but to teach that which came to him from generations of Jews following their first receiving the Word of God in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land. A lot of what the Hebrews heard regarding God Is not always cut and dry. Within the Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are ambiguities and seeming contradictions. This is probably why Leviticus 19:32 deals with the things God told the Hebrews when it says, “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.” Those who are old, then, who attempt to give clarity where clarity doesn’t seem to exist, are expected to be deferred to in matters involving the Word of God.
But many generations later, whatever was told to the Jews may either have been diluted in a sense, to the point where the Jews could have been misled, or they lost sight of the Word of God to a certain extent. And whereas via passages like Leviticus 19:34 they were expected to declare the glory of God of the heavens to people who don’t know, they largely kept God to themselves.
Which leads us to the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. We don’t know why Nicodemus, who was indoctrinated by the generations of Jewish teachings, reached out to Jesus one night, saying to him in Verse 2, “we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Two presumptions can be made: 1) Nicodemus, being a learned man, is not gullible, so 2) by some miracle, perhaps, Nicodemus is convinced that the signs that Jesus made are real and not the signs manufactured by, say, a sorcerer.
Following that opening, Jesus says to him in Verse 3, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” When Nicodemus asks how a person could be born from the womb again, Jesus effectively corrects him by saying in Verse 5 that to be born again is to be born of water and the spirit. To be born of water and the spirit is to be born of the Word of God through Christ Jesus.
Many people who say they are Christians have yet to be so born again. Their understanding is still overpowered by what the flesh advocates, and they have yet to subordinate that understanding to the teachings of Christ Jesus. So, many of them risk the dark side of Matthew 25:31-46. What are the two great commandments of Jesus but to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself? As John 3:16-17 says, Christ Jesus came to save us from our flesh for an eternal spiritual existence in God’s Kingdom. But many have not taken Christ Jesus to heart and so have yet to be born again. Ironically, Nicodemus of the Jews had more of an understanding of Jesus than many of those who regularly attend a house of worship.
In John 3, Nicodemus who is presented as a teaching ruler of the Jews, has a secret conversation with Jesus. The inherent problem with Nicodemus is that he has no choice but to teach that which came to him from generations of Jews following their first receiving the Word of God in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land. A lot of what the Hebrews heard regarding God Is not always cut and dry. Within the Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are ambiguities and seeming contradictions. This is probably why Leviticus 19:32 deals with the things God told the Hebrews when it says, “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.” Those who are old, then, who attempt to give clarity where clarity doesn’t seem to exist, are expected to be deferred to in matters involving the Word of God.
But many generations later, whatever was told to the Jews may either have been diluted in a sense, to the point where the Jews could have been misled, or they lost sight of the Word of God to a certain extent. And whereas via passages like Leviticus 19:34 they were expected to declare the glory of God of the heavens to people who don’t know, they largely kept God to themselves.
Which leads us to the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. We don’t know why Nicodemus, who was indoctrinated by the generations of Jewish teachings, reached out to Jesus one night, saying to him in Verse 2, “we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Two presumptions can be made: 1) Nicodemus, being a learned man, is not gullible, so 2) by some miracle, perhaps, Nicodemus is convinced that the signs that Jesus made are real and not the signs manufactured by, say, a sorcerer.
Following that opening, Jesus says to him in Verse 3, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” When Nicodemus asks how a person could be born from the womb again, Jesus effectively corrects him by saying in Verse 5 that to be born again is to be born of water and the spirit. To be born of water and the spirit is to be born of the Word of God through Christ Jesus.
Many people who say they are Christians have yet to be so born again. Their understanding is still overpowered by what the flesh advocates, and they have yet to subordinate that understanding to the teachings of Christ Jesus. So, many of them risk the dark side of Matthew 25:31-46. What are the two great commandments of Jesus but to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself? As John 3:16-17 says, Christ Jesus came to save us from our flesh for an eternal spiritual existence in God’s Kingdom. But many have not taken Christ Jesus to heart and so have yet to be born again. Ironically, Nicodemus of the Jews had more of an understanding of Jesus than many of those who regularly attend a house of worship.
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