The Second Sunday in Lent, 2008
Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier
John 3:1-17
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
In the church, we hear a lot of catchy sayings that are commonly found on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and coffee mugs. We hear and see such things as “Jesus saves,” “Turn or Burn,” “Saved and Secure,” “John 3:16” or even “Born Again.” These phrases are used over and over and over. The question must be asked in the church, “Is it helpful to an unbelieving world for the church to speak in clichés?
A cliché is a phrase that is repeated over and over again to the point of losing its original impact. Its overuse defuses its power. The word cliché is a French word that comes from the days of the printing press with movable letters. In order to print a word, the letters would have to be reset each time by hand. Certain phrases that were used again and again were stamped out from one metal slug for efficiency. Thus, in our usage, a cliché is a term or phrase that is just stamped over and over again. Examples of cliché are phrases like, “break a leg,” “fit as a fiddle,” “sick as a dog,” “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse,” “close but no cigar,” etc… After using such phrases over and over, does anyone really know why a fiddle is fit, or how a dog is sick, or how a horse makes a good meal? The more these phrases are stamped out, the more they lose their original clarity.
The church must always be on watch that we do not become lazy and regurgitate a list of clichés in the place of God’s Word. Take for example the cliché “Born Again.” This phrase has become a part of our American culture and society. The phrase has come to mean a conversion experience, a change of mind, a renewal of perspective, or a rethinking of life. The phrase is so common that it is even used outside of the church. It has been used to describe politically minded liberals who have had an experience of enlightenment and changed their political position. They call themselves “Born Again Conservatives.”
Within the church, there is that segment of Christians who emphasis a conversion emotional experience that they refer to as the event in which an individual is “Born Again.” They define themselves as a different type of Christian. They consider themselves “Born Again Christians.” Yet, it is rather redundant to say “Born Again Christian.” That would be like saying, “Trinitarian Christian” or “Lutheran Christian” or “Believing Christian.” They then go around asking other people if they too have been “born again” as if it were some type of a secret password for club members only.
This emphasis that they place upon experience stems from the stamping of the cliché “born again” onto the pages of Holy Scripture. They refer to John chapter three where Jesus tells Nicodemus, 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 ESV) Then they define what Jesus says as an emotional experience of conversion. Then they put a requirement of this experience for salvation.
Yet, they leave the specifics of the experience vague. How can a person know for sure that he had such an experience? Was it real? Was it right? Such demand for an experience leaves people in doubt wondering why there hasn’t been a dramatic change in life. Such people put their hope in trying again and again to obtain such an experience in order to see change. They want to see it.
However, our faith is not based upon our personal experiences rather it is based upon the solid, clear, and certain Word of God. As Hebrews chapter eleven states, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.( Hebrews 11:1 ESV) In the church, we should be mindful of the language we use to speak the Faith we believe. Let’s go back to the Scripture and discuss what it means to be “born again” in order that no one shall be left in doubt.
Nicodemus tells Jesus that he knows that God is with Jesus because that is the only way that Jesus would be able to do the signs that Jesus is doing. Nicodemus is inquisitive and trying to discern if Jesus was the long awaited Messiah and king of Israel. John the Baptist had stirred up the people with the news of the Kingdom of God being at hand. Nicodemus wants to be apart of this coming kingdom and he is curious if these things are unfolding right before his very eyes.
Swiftly Jesus turns the attention away from being able to perform miracles to being able to see the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is present where the King is located. Find the King and you find the kingdom. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 ESV) The shift is from the ability to do miracles to the ability to see. This can only take place if a person is born again. It would be better to translate this passage as “begotten from above.”
It is Jesus who is given the title as the Only begotten of the Father. This is the title that is used in the Gospel of John chapter one. He alone is truly God of truly God being the Son of God. He alone is begotten of the Heavenly Father from all eternity. Likewise Jesus is from above and His kingdom is from above. Jesus is referring to a heavenly spiritual birth rather than an earthly physical birth.
Nicodemus doesn’t quite understand. The only type of begetting that he can think of is that which takes place in the natural physical realm. He can only think of the impossibility for a man that is old to be begotten a second time. He maintains that it is impossible to go back into the womb of his mother.
We were begotten by our earthly fathers in sin. It doesn’t matter what types of things we do out of our own abilities, for they will always be tainted with sin. We cannot open our eyes to see the kingdom. As John 1:13 teaches, people are made children of God not by earthly things such as blood, will of the flesh, or the will of a man, but instead they are begotten by God.
It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens us to see. We cannot enter into the kingdom by our own efforts. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us faith to be partakers of the kingdom. The Holy Spirit works to renew us, bringing new thoughts and new desires.
It is not about going back into the womb of the mother, rather it is about going into the kingdom of God. The language of Jesus shifts from seeing the kingdom to entering into the kingdom. There is a connection between seeing and entering into a kingdom. The believer is to be a participant in the kingdom. Nicodemus does not understand how this is possible. Jesus teaches Him by saying, “Amen, amen unless one is begotten of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”(John 3:5) Nicodemus was thinking of earthly realities while Jesus was revealing heavenly realities. It is God who begets through water and the Spirit. Whatever is begotten of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is begotten of the Spirit is spirit. Jesus clarifies that it is not out of the flesh, nor of a decision of the mind, nor a desire of the heart, but out of water and the Spirit.
As John chapter one opens with the discussion of begetting, it also teaches of the baptism of John in the Jordan River. It was at the baptism of Jesus in which there was water and the Spirit who descended in the form of a dove. This event marked Jesus as the Only Begotten Son of the Father.
The phrase “begotten from above” means “begotten out of water and the Spirit.” This is a clear reference to the gift of Holy Baptism through which God works in us. St. Paul puts it this way, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5 (ESV) These are heavenly realities that the natural mind apart from the Spirit cannot comprehend. The natural mind asks, “How is this possible?” Yet the believing heart, trusts in the promises of Jesus and the one who trusts in Him has eternal life.
The next time someone asks you if you are born again, you can answer? I have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I have been begotten from above by water and the Spirit. Unlike emotional experiences, this is solid and certain. You are covered in your baptism with something much better than a bumper sticker or a T-shirt. You are covered with the righteousness of Jesus. As Mark 16:16 declares, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Amen.
