The New Birth
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My English teacher always said not to use double negatives… it was a big no no
What Kind of spells do cows do? Moodoo
Jesus talking to Nicodemus
Remember the context… he came at night… and it is symbolic… he is showing up to talk to Jesus and he is not quite there yet… and it is in that context that a important conversation comes about… we want to be able to offer hope to the world and what is going on around us.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Do not marvel.... he is saying… you are blowing my mind… and he is saying don’t worry about this, you should expect me to blow your mind right now...
and some of us only want to accept Christianity if it affirms my politics lifestyle etc… but Jesus is blowing this idea out of the water… Christianity should be blowing your mind and pushing back against the way that you are living and how you are doing work and money etc. If its not it might be that you are creating God in your own image, and Christianity should push back against you...
and he is saying of course you wouldn’t pick this up on your own, you should expect me to be blowing your mind… we cannot be a Christian atheist… we should be blown away by what is going on and Christianity is teaching us in our lives.
We reframe sexuality in teh way we want it… TIm Keller… covenant.. people blow their lids… its gotta hit deep...
Romans 8 tells us that there is a will of God, and we are trying to figure out some very specific things for our lives and wanting to know the will of god about those things in our live… and the bible tells us the will of God in our lives is that we be conformed to the life of Jesus… and if you look at Jesus he got pushed and cut and hurt he got grinded down. Thats what happens in our lvies and if we aren’t marvelling at what God is doing we might get beat down....
and people now look at christianity and say I can’t believe what the bible says about sexuality… and you think this wasnt hard for Nicodemus… hes calling him to rethink how he deals in the world and this is the same thing that Christianity is calling us to do with sexuality and it is pushing against us so we must marvel at it and see what it can do for our lives.
Have you ever had anything that reworked how you thought of everything and it changed everything?
Christianity pushes back and lets it change and blow your mind
Meta noia a shift in your mind.... a new brainwashing, where you thought things were like this… but its vastly different....
We say things like you need heart surgery… and the bible says its not just heart surgery and how you feel, but repentance is focused on how your mind thinks and what should you think about… we should look differently at how we think.... and in our world Christians are being so critical of Christians that we can hardly see Christ in them… and instead of using the Bible as a mirror into our own lives we are using it as a binocular to look at other people and judge them… ad James tells us that we must be born again…
and he isnt just suggesting… he is telling us there is no other option. Everythign that he offers… the Kingdom of Heaven… not that we are just born naturally, but we are born spiritually… the only way we can be born again is if we are born into a new world… we cannot just enter the spiritual world of Jesus and God unless we are born and die to our self and we are supposed to feel it a little bit Paul tells us… I have been crucified with Christ… and it is no longer I who lives.... we have died… our reputation is gone… we were killed with him… we have been born again… there is newness… NEW IDENTITY>>. get this.. holding on to all of these sins and dont want to walk to Jesus becasue you are ashamed… he says you can have a new identity… all of that stuff you are ashamed of… he will give you a new life....
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Wind… same word as the word spirit… penuma.... he is doing a word play/.. saying the only way you are born again is the by the holy spirit of God… and then he is saying this moment of spirit where people come alive by the holy spirit of God…
But then he is saying you cant control the wind...
THis moment of the spirit where people come alive by the spirit of god… and this was a great hope for them.... Israel was living in this one time but God was going to do a new thing and there would be forgiveness of sins and resurrection from the dead… and there would be this new coming on the wolrd… and they believed the spirit of God would drop on individuals.... they would no longer have to go to the temple.. in the end of all things when God came back to zion to redeem the israelites and put the world right and blind would see… and when all of that happened that would mean the spirit arrived.... and thats what makes Christianity crazy… it says we dont have to wait for the end but that comes ni the here and now… and are you born of the spirit and its arrival and defined by that.... they expected like in ezekiel bones coming to life....
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
You hear the sound but dont know where it is coming from or where it is going… you cant see the wind but you see the effects of the wind… and man should you guys be able to understand that all the time here… a few years ago Daniel van
You dont see the wind but see the effects… and the same way with spirit… you dont see the spirit but you should see the effects of it in your life… are you dying to sin and running toward righteousness....does it have that power in your life…
habit
Christianity doesnt try to pound you into obedience… it gives you a person named the Holy Spirit a wind to blow it all out of your life so that over time you become a new person and its not overnight. THe wind blows where it wishes but you do not know where it coems from.... he isnt saying the way you define yourself as a Christian is barking like a dog or acting crazy.... for some its going t obe long slow disciplines that change your life and offer transformation to the world… he didnt come to make bad people good… he came to make dead people alive… if you just live by the flesh, you arent going to make it you cant live by the spirit unless you have the spirit...
this isnt a conversation about ideas… and we have people now that are deconstrusting is the new trend.... and they have never had an experience with the holy spirit they have just had doctrinal things, they have never really experienced God, and they get bogged down in debates about theology and it becomes their whole life and sooner or later poeple end up walking away because they have never experienced him like a friend that betters your life on the daily… and most of us that grew up in teh church have this problem we have the doctrine before we have the experience...
Grew up “in the church” and then the holy spirit came alive in me.... and I really came to know Jesus as my savior...
and here is the brilliance… there is a mystery to this verse… there is something mysterious that is going on that we can’t explain… and he retains the mystery of it.. when Jesus told parables and stories he would speak in poetry rather than prose, we don’t do that… and they would ask him why he spoke in parables… and jesus is like I will tell you why so people cant figure out what I am saying… and then now we explain what he meant… and he says he tells the stories to retain the mystery and we are trying to explain it all, and there is still some mystery to be retained… and we like to try to explain everything… Bonhoffer said sometimes theology’s job is to retain the mystery…
There is still a gap in our knowledge, and look that is okay… we live in light of the benefits we cannot explain… we see in Jesus that he is not just a historical person… and there is some mystery to him… the resurrection the appearing on the otehr side or walls.... some mystery
and then there is this shift in the conversation
9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
THis unbelief.. he cant figure it out… and JEsus
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
You are a Bible guy.. you dont get it? You grew up in church… or you may be of another religion… you’re a bible guy but you’re not saved… you know God exists… thats not your problem… some of you don’t and I am glad you are here… Jesus is the exposition of God in the world… some of you bellieve in God but you dont know him yet… let me explain that to you...
they knew I existed… didnt want a relationship at that moment… They need me when there was trouble,. and some of you are like that… tyou believe in god and you want him far away and just want him when there is trouble.. and thats not a relationship and that won’t save you… thats what Jesus is saying...
11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
We are willing to relate to God at this level… and he is saying you arent having a real relationship unless you want him to have complete access.... dont think like a natural person who doesnt have God intergrated into his very body… the spirit of God lives in you… the relationship is here… then Jesus says…
I want you to believe in heavenly things i want you to have life to the full....
13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
No one but ME.... Once you cross that chasm no one is coming back from it… and then he says this…
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
We can finish this next week but he brings up Moses in numbers because he is talking to Nicodemus he would have memorized it.. he was the best of the best… so Jesus when he is talking to gentiles doesnt bring up OT stories but with Nicodemus he does… so he enters where we are and lands there… so he is talking to nicodemus and he uses moses to explain what salvation is...
extrovert vs introvert.... Jesus is solotude… there is a piece of Jesus that the introverts dont like… parties whip… he is with people all the time… and people like YESSIR
it cant just be me… and christianity tells us it is both… the extrovert and the introvert find their place in Jesus…
and next week I will explain this idea and it will blow up everythign we think about the world… around this OT story… Jesus Christ like nicodemus wants to meet you right where you are now… he wants to use your story… maybe its a story of pain and shame and burden… and he says you have an option here… you can be born of the natural or you have to be born of the spirit and it has to be me....