Sermon: Citizenship in Heaven

Citizenship in Heaven

By Curtis Karns

Preached 02 21 16 at First Presbyterian Church of Anchorage

Background: not in the sermon

In an interview during the popes visit to Mexico, the question Phil Pullella of Reuters asked was this, “Today you spoke a lot and eloquently about the problem of immigrants. On the other side of the border there is an electoral campaign that is rather hard. One of the candidates for the White House, Donald Trump, in a recent interview said that you are a political man, and indeed perhaps a pawn of the Mexican Government when it comes to the policy of immigration. He said that if he were elected president he would build a 2,500-km wall along the border. He wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and, in that way separating families and so on. I would therefore like to ask, first of all, what you think of those charges against you, and if an American Catholic could vote for a person like this?”

The Pope responded, “Thank God he said I am a politician because Aristotle defined the human person as an 'animal politicus' [a political animal]. So at least I am a human person. As to whether I am a pawn, well, maybe, I don't know. I'll leave that up to your judgment and that of the people.”

 “And then, as far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he says things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”

Introduction to the Scripture readings:  How recognizable should faith be in our lives?
The pope and Donald Trump tangled a bit this week when a reporter pointed out that Trump’s plan to build a wall along the border of Mexico contrasted so sharply from the pope’s call for giving aid and shelter to immigrants.  The reporter went on to ask whether a catholic American could cast a vote for Trump.  The shortened version of the pope’s response that was most reported was this: “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel…I only say that this man is not Christian if he says things like that…”

Trump responded swiftly at a campaign event in South Carolina, saying: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.”…“No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man’s religion or faith,”

Now, this has been in the news since Thursday, and there could be a lot more to report on the story if it was really worth it.  What I find useful for a sermon from this piece of news, is this:  The pope was not sure what Trump had said or not said, but he lifted up a principle for Christians to ponder.  So I want to pose that principle as a question, not for Trump, but for you and me.

How should our faith show itself in our words and actions?

                  Or, How recognizable should faith be in our lives?

For me, this discussion in the news on “being Christian” comes in the very week when the recommended Scriptures for today are these passages found in Philippians and in Luke.  Let’s take a look at these scripture passages and see how they guide us in our own way of bearing witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

3:17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

3:18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.

3:19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.

3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

3:21 He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Luke 13:31-35

13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you."

13:32 He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.

13:33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.'

13:34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

13:35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Scripture: The Contrast—The Healing of Justice-Love vs the Wounding of Domination

We only have time to look at small passages of scripture each week.  But the gospel reading this week is really full.  What a contrast of images are contained in this one paragraph! 

First, notice where this passage (in Luke 13) falls in the Gospel of Luke.  Everything that happens after Luke 9:51, tells of Jesus going to Jerusalem, the city where he knows he will be persecuted. Luke 9:51 tells us that “from that point on, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem,” so today’s passage is a part of that courageous, intentional journey Jesus is making.

Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem and travels to that city to face the religious and political powers of the world, as well as the spiritual powers—all the powers that would be so offended by his ministry that they would sentence him to death and kill him on a cross. Jesus is going to Jerusalem, knowing that they don’t want his prophetic message there—Jerusalem kills its prophets.  So, at this point, Jesus is in the midst of that last, oh-so-courageous journey to Jerusalem.

The Pharisees tell Jesus to flee; the ruler of that region, Herod, wants to catch him and kill him, they say.  What does Jesus respond?

Jesus basically gives a two-part response.  In the midst of it all, Jesus describes his daily activities.  He has been busy healing and casting out demons.  We actually see this if we continue reading in Luke. All along this journey to Jerusalem (just check out the very next paragraph after this one!) Jesus is all about healing and casting out the powers. In fact, Jesus really claims that this is what all of his ministry is about, even going to the cross; it’s all about healing what sin has caused and casting out the powers that hold us back from God’s grace in our hearts and in the way we live.  

But on the other end of the spectrum in this same passage we have Herod and the Roman Empire, which is itself a wounding force—they will kill Jesus, after all--and one of the things Jesus is doing by going to Jerusalem is joining in solidarity with all the others who are victimized by the powers of empire.  The whole Roman Empire—and every government—is demonic to the degree that the leaders, and the population, become blind to the values which the empowered people accept that allow their society to damage people (and the rest of the world that God loves). 

This is why the church of Jesus Christ is always at work in the world today.  Our world always needs reform.  Let me give you an example from our own society.

I visited an 81-year-old man in prison recently, who was guilty of something, so his lawyer told him to plead guilty to misconduct.  Unfortunately, the lawyer had not followed changes in the law and had him plead guilty to the wrong kind of misconduct, shocking him when it resulted in a 10-year sentence instead of a 2-year sentence.  It will cost him thousands of dollars to attempt to get this injustice fixed, money he doesn’t have. 

But it’s not just individual injustices.  25% of the people incarcerated in the world are in prison in the USA.  For a variety of reasons that I only slightly understand, our prisons are based on a punishment system, rather than a rehabilitation system.  That is, rather than trying to heal whatever brokenness put people in prison so they can learn to live well in the world, we punish them for their misconduct, without providing much opportunity to learn a new way of being in the world.  No wonder people keep going back to prison after they get out.

And that is only one of the reasons our correctional system is not working.  Our systems are demonic to the degree that we don’t address the way they are set up for failure.  I am glad that this seems to be a moment in history when society is calling for a review of our prison systems.  It needs to happen.

For Christians, living the way of Jesus is about addressing the real issues in the world around us.  This is why Jesus set his face to Jerusalem.  He was standing out as a different power in the world; not a power of overwhelming domination, but a power of compassionate love, and of justice that heals.

In our reading from St. Paul in Philippians, this same contrast is lifted up—a contrast between living out of trust in God and the grace of Jesus Christ to give blessedness compared to the way of the world, which is living according to trust in wealth and personal power to give blessedness. 

Paul tells us that our citizenship is in heaven—we need to live according to that way.  The ways of citizens of heaven are to be different than the ways of the world. The people who live the way of the world are governed by their appetites.  They want more stuff for themselves and their own wellbeing, because they think that is what will bring them happiness.  This way of living, Paul tells us, is against the cross of Christ.  Jesus died for the way of heaven.  We should not weaken in our resolve to live for that way, too. 

And that is important, because Paul was writing some while after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.  Paul’s writing reflects on what the earliest church thought was really important about Jesus’ message.

Well, I started out talking about Donald Trump and the pope—I mean, how could I not when they offer such tempting, provocative statements in the press?  And I said that their trading of words in the press raises a question for us:  How recognizable should faith be in our lives?

Let me address this question in two ways.  First, since we started out with a political example, let’s ask this in a political way.

First, do our politics all have to agree if we are Christian? 

Many years ago a pastor said on television said he would gladly shoot a democrat if he thought he could get away with it.  I read in a public blog from another pastor that, according to him, it is quite clear that republicans clearly are not Christians.  Yeesh!  I guess we need the pope to comment on the behavior of a few more of us American Christians!  That kind of vocabulary is absolutely out of bounds.  Not only is it untrue, but pastors have to be careful about what people will do with their words.  For some worshipers, who are already upset and not in good spiritual space, that kind of talk sets up some real stinkin’ thinkin.’  That can set up the kind of thinking that leads people to doing violence in the name of Christianity.  Jesus way is not the way of the world.  Quit doing violence to one another in the name of Jesus—that is against Christ.

And I have seen politicians use religion badly from both parties.  In one church where I was pastor, a democratic politician showed up in church only when he was campaigning for reelection, and on no other occasion.  Boy that ticked me off.

When I became pastor in another church, we ordained one of our members an elder, he promptly filed to run as a republican for the state house of representatives, and we never saw him in church again—let alone at a session meeting.  But his campaign literature always listed him as an ordained elder.

Both sides of the aisle can misuse religion.

But both sides of the aisle can include faithful Christians, whose faith drives their passion for good government.  No one party has a corner on Christianity.  Whether it is the Christian Right or the Christian Left, they don’t have a corner on it, no matter what anyone tries to say.  Wouldn’t it be a great thing if the Christians on both sides of the aisle insisted on talking to one another somewhat regularly, despite their different political philosophies?  That would be so much better than publicly demonizing one another just for being from the other party.  We can honestly disagree and still be Christian, and our politics can disagree.

Indeed, I would go so far as to say there should be Christians in all parties.  Because whenever one party gets too much power, and one way of thinking becomes the only way of thinking, a whole new set of temptations will arise.  We need one another to combat the arrogance that would make us think that any one of us, or any one party, has the only direct line to God.

There is another question, though, is more pertinent to what I think the pope was getting at.  If we claim to be Christian we need to be able to describe how we believe the way we live, and what we do, is guided by our Christian principles.  To simply say we are Christian, without showing how our lives are guided by that faith, is truly not enough.  So my 2^nd question, a question for each of us, and for any of our politicians who claim to be Christian, is this: How does our Christian faith show itself in our lives.

Douglas John Hall, a Christian teacher said it well, I thought.  He said a true confession of faith has three parts.  First, there is a stance that we take.  It is a stance that shows how we are different than the world today because we stand with Jesus.  Jesus power was about healing and casting out those invisible powers that keep us from living like citizens from the Kingdom of heaven.  That was much different than the status quo of the world around him that was based on slave labor and military might.  So that’s a question for us:  When you stand for Jesus, what does that mean?  What are you standing for, and what are you standing against?  Like Jesus we have to ask: what is the stance I take?

Second, Hall said, a true confession of faith puts that stance into action.  When we pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” we have to follow up that prayer by living it out.  We have to put our faith into action to make a difference for Jesus, and for the world that Jesus loves.  So... that is the second question for you and for me:  Once you know what you are standing for, what are you doing about it?  How does your life show what you stand for?

Finally, he said a true confession of faith includes the Word.  We have to describe our faith and actions in terms of the biblical faith of Jesus Christ as revealed through Scripture.  And we have to do it in a way that helps our actions to make sense. And so that is our third question:  How does that stand you take, and the actions you take for that cause, fit the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Conclusion:

As for whatever candidates you will find yourself supporting, how does supporting that person reflect your true identity, a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven?  Because that is what we want our world to look like.  The Kingdom of heaven is where justice also reflects God’s love, and where people seek to live in right relationships with one another and with all creation?  Our lives and our world need to be places where reform has a chance of bringing our both our lives and our world more and more into line with the Kingdom.

But when speak and when we vote we need to do so with a certain amount of humility.  We need to learn from the Christ, who did not consider equality with God something to be gripped with white-knuckle further, but humbled himself to take on the form of a creature, a human being.  And in doing so Jesus was telling us that he insisted own remaining related to us, no matter our stinking' thinking'.  Indeed, just because we probably wouldn't get it otherwise, he even took on our DNA--insisting that much that God wants to be related to us no matter what.  In Jesus God signals that God does not put us down for our race or our religion or even our sin.  God works to restore what has been damaged, and refuses to cast us off like so much damaged goods rejected from the assembly line.  And that is how we should be and our politics should be, too.  The world needs healing.  Our societies need reforming, patterned after the kind of justice, tempered with love, that leads to wholeness.  That is the way of the Lord, and that must be our way, too.

Lesson 5: The New Covenant in Christ's Blood

Lesson 5: New Covenant

Beginning with Prayer

You may choose to use this as a daily study throughout the week.  There are three segments, so it lends itself to more than one day per week.  If so, begin with this prayerful time each day.

Let’s begin with Mary’s prophecy, given when she learned she was pregnant.  It is called The Magnificat, found in Luke 1:46-55.  

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

for he will speak peace to his people,

to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,

that his glory may dwell in our land.

 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,

and righteousness will look down from the sky.

 The Lord will give what is good,

and our land will yield its increase.

 Righteousness will go before him,

and will make a path for his steps

If you are with others, please continue this prayer in silence.

What is occupying your mind right now?  Give to God any concerns you have, or any preoccupations that might keep you from bringing your whole self to this study.  Then, when you are ready, go to the next paragraph.

• Offer thanks to God for watching over all things, including those things that concern you.  
• Offer thanks to God for watching over you, too.
• Offer any other prayer that is on your heart.

Gracious, Saving God, we pray that you would speak to us freshly with the Scriptures, with our mediations, and with any conversations that this study inspires.  In Christ’s Name we pray.  Amen.

Check in

This week we will be looking at another key teachings about salvation from the Bible.  Before we start, though, I want to give you an opportunity to check in.  

First, if anyone is new, please let us know (be sure to tell us that by posting a comment to this page.  In your comment,) and let us know what brings you to this study at this time.

For those who participated in the previous lessons, what would you like to share with the study group?  Do you have any new questions or thoughts to share a week later?

  

Day 1: Covenants

Definition of the Biblical Concept of Covenant

A covenant is literally an agreement, a bit like a contract. A biblical covenant has two properties not contained in human agreements:

1. God institutes the covenant agreement, not people.  Through God’s covenants God makes promises to God’s people and God requires certain conduct from them.
2. God’s covenant defines our true identity.
   
   We get a hint of this in the covenant of marriage.  When two people marry, their own identity is changed and their family makeup is changed.

Getting in Touch With Our Own Covenant Experience

Our families, and sometimes other significant relationships, define much of our identity.

     Family covenants, and the covenant of marriage

• What is the family name(s) of your birth parents?
  What affect did your family members have in shaping you as you grew into adulthood?
  
  Are there others who acted as grandparents, or uncles and aunts, or other significant people, who shaped your life?  How do you feel related to them?
  
• Exodus 20:12  “Honor your father and mother…” (and other scriptures)
  Our elders task is to raise up their children, and to affect others, so that they will learn to live lives in faithful relationship with God.  We honor our elders best by becoming the people God intended us to be, because of our elders’ efforts and, sometimes, in spite of them.
  
  How are you doing in living as an example of faithfulness that will affect others?
  

     Covenant with God

• Are you baptized?
  Baptism marks God’s covenant with us as individuals, and our membership in the Christian community.
  
  Remember once again, how God was at work in your life so you became a Christian.
  
  How has your relationship with Christ and Christianity formed your identity?
  

• Are you married? 
  What effect has your marriage had in re-forming your identity? 
  
  What name changes (if any) did you and your spouse use to mark the changes in family identity that came with marriage?

     

     What else forms identity?   Do you see God in these other things?

Old Testament Covenants From Genesis to Jeremiah

1. Genesis 15:1-18b The Promise to choose a people through Abraham and Sarah—a people through which the world would be blessed.  To be known as God’s chosen is a great blessing; it also includes great responsibility, because that blessing will be for the world.
   
2. Genesis 9              The Covenant with Noah and his offspring, where God promises to work for salvation of humanity, taking away the threat that God desires to destroy humanity due to their sin. 
   
3. Exodus 20:1-20     The Law: The Ten Commandments, plus the teachings throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  The Law establishes the rules for living as the Hebrew people in obedience to God.  It included sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. This covenant clearly reveals God as Savior.  This covenant also provides a clear way for God’s people to honor God and live well with each other and with other peoples.
   
4. 2 Samuel 7:8-16  The Covenant with David promising forever a king from the line of David.

God’s covenants are all aimed at blessing people—bringing people closer to experiencing The Kingdom of God.  Over time, however, it became clear that the people failed again and again to live faithfully.  There was an ongoing sense of shame among many.  Others were more arrogant and were able to take advantage of this shame-based attitude and exploited others.  God began to speak through the prophets of a Savior, who would bring a new covenant.

Old Testament Covenants as Preparation for the New Covenant in Jesus Christ

John Calvin, one of the chief founders of the Presbyterian way of Christianity, said that God’s revelation to humans always includes some “translation.”  He said that God condescends to humanity through revelation.  By this Calvin meant that God gives us revelation in a form, and at a level, that we can understand.  That is, we can never fully grasp God or God’s will because of our limited human abilities.  Even so, God continues to relate to us and to communicate with us.  The Old Testament covenants are therefore meant to be understood as preparing us for the fulfillment of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. 

How do you understand your need for God’s salvation?

How do you see the need for salvation in those around you?

How do you see the need for salvation in our societal structures? 

Day 2:  The New Covenant of Forgiveness in Jesus’ Blood

Let’s start this section by noticing the body of scripture pointing to Jesus as the Messiah.  We can explore 

Although the Hebrew people always expected God to raise up an anointed leader (a Messiah), the people’s understanding of that Messiah grew over time.  After the Exile there were more prophesies than before, perhaps because the people’s understanding of their need for a Messiah was greater after that very difficult time.  From the beginning Jesus, and the Christians, have described the Christ, Jesus, as the fulfillment of these Scriptures.  Check out these Bible Readings:

Messiah Scriptures

Deuteronomy 18:15-19 A prophet like Moses

2 Samuel 7:8-19 A king in David’s line

Micah 5:2 The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem

Zechariah 9:9 The Messiah will enter Jerusalem on a donkey

     Isaiah describes both the nation of Israel and the Messiah as “The Suffering Servant” 

Christians recognize this as a way of describing the Way of the Messiah as the true Israel.

Isaiah 42 To bring justice to the nations

Isaiah 49 A light to the nations

Isaiah 53:3-7 Describes the Messiah as “a man of sorrows.”

Isaiah 61 Which Jesus used to describe his ministry’s purpose in Lk 4

Other Scriptures were later quoted in the gospels as predicting the Messiah, because the earliest Christians understood Jesus to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament:

Isaiah 7:14 A scripture to an Old Testament King: born to a virgin or young woman.

Isaiah 9:16 “To us a child is born…wonderful, counselor, prince of peace…

Psalm 22:16-18  Describes suffering almost identical to Jesus on the cross

The New Covenant in Jesus’ Blood

Jeremiah 31:31-34:

Jeremiah’s prophesy does not name a Messiah, but it is among the most famous because of how clearly it described the purpose of Jesus’ ministry: to open people to the new covenant, through which the Holy Spirit came to “write God’s will in our hearts.”

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

The Lord’s Supper: the Institution of the New Covenant

Matthew 26:27-28 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins

Mark 14:24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Luke 22:20 (At the Lord’s Supper) “And he (Jesus) did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Notice how Jesus’ words communicate two important salvation points on salvation:

1. Jesus made it clear that his sacrifice was the sacrifice God used to institute a new covenant with all people, and all creation.
   
2. The new covenant in Jesus’ blood is for the forgiveness of sins.

Qualities of knowing ourselves as forgiven:

1. Sin as bondage for the victim

Forgiveness is about release from victimhood.  It is about not allowing ourselves be defined by the evil that has been done to us.  It is a return to putting our trust in God for our day-to-day lives and for understanding our true identity as children of God.

1. Sin as bondage for the sinner

Forgiveness is about release from a life characterized by guilt and shame, and a turn away from allowing selfishness to be our guide in life.  It is a return to putting our trust in God to guide our day-to-day lives and for understanding our true identity as children of God.  However, for reconciliation to happen the sinner will need to show contrition to the victim and make restitution for damages done, at least as much as possible.  However, our forgiveness in God is meant to set us free from the bondage of guilt and shame by returning to our true identity as children of God.  It is this quality of “a healed soul” that characterizes Christian identity, and it is restoration to God and the Christian community that characterize Christian life.

1. Repentance 

Remember that the message Jesus was most known for was this:  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news(Mk 1:15).”

The biblical words we translate as repentance (שוב=shuv in Hebrew, μετάνοια=metanoia in Greek) mean to turn or to return. 

It means to turn from our current path, to return to God, and to go beyond the mind that we have and see things in a new way.  

Seeing John 3:16 through the eyes of the New Covenant

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life

1. “The world” that God loved, in the biblical Greek, means the whole created order.  The New Covenant helps us understand that God’s love is truly unconditional.  It is for all, if only we will receive it. 
   
2. “Gave his only Son” speaks of God’s love on two levels. 
   First, that God came to us in Jesus.  This communion with us, joining with us and all creation in human flesh, speaks of God’s willingness to bridge the divide between us and God, when we cannot.  This forces a change in the Old Testament vision of God as holding an angry, “wrathful” attitude toward humanity and the world.  God’s is unhappy, even angry, about sin.  However, God’s primary attitude toward the world is here revealed as loving and saving.
   
   Second, God gave Jesus to suffer the realities of our existence.  In Jesus God takes the cosmic debt of sin into God’s self.  We are no longer characterized as “sinners” in God’s eyes.  God takes away our identity as “defective sinners” and gives us back a new identity, “children of God.”  This means we need to let go of feeling guilt and shame, and get on with being curious, learning children—growing in grace day-by-day.
   
3. “all who believe in him” comes from Jesus’ language and worldview.  To believe is less about “knowing the right things” than it is about “knowing in whom we trust.”  For our modern ear, perhaps a better translation is the Old English version “to belove.”   Because of our limitations, we humans will never fully understand God and God’s ways, even in Jesus.  Therefore, “believing right” sets up interesting religious arguments, but assumes only people smart enough, or wise enough can be saved.  But Jesus heart means those who dare to love God and follow to the best of their ability.
   
4. “may have eternal life” has also been misunderstood by modern generations.
   The Greek word for “eternal” is sounds something lie aeon, and it means “life of the age to come.”  That is, to trust in God is to have life of the age to come.  In it we begin experiencing something of that life right now, and then on into eternity.  It is about participating in The Kingdom of God right now, on this earth.  It is also about being secure that God will keep us safe forever.  Paul put it well
   
   Consider another passage in John, 17:3:
             “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
            whom you have sent”
   To know God and Jesus is to participate in the life of the age to come.
   
   The new covenant in Jesus’ blood helps us to know God in Jesus as forgiving and saving, despite our sin.  It is also to see the world as connected to God, who came in the flesh—demonstrating God’s full communion (connection) with the created order.  Seeing the world with those eyes changes everything.  We now are open to being born again.

Do you hear anything new or different in this interpretation of John 3:16?

How important is it to you that God so loved the whole created order that he came into the world in Jesus Christ as a creature?

Jesus spoke rarely about hell, and more about knowing God in order to participate in the kingdom of God on earth, or life of the age to come beginning now.

Where do you see people feeling like lost sheep, or needing a healing of some form of  soul-sickness?  That is, where do you see a longing for participation in “God life” now?

If Jesus’ salvation covers all the biblical need for salvation, how does the salvation of the individual affect the need for salvation in the larger society?

Day 3:  Born Again

Reclaiming the Christian Phrase, “Born Again”

This phrase has been claimed largely by the conservative wing of the church and has come to stand for Christians who believe the Bible is inerrant, an interpretation which insists on the literal accuracy of statements in the Bible that many other Christians insist are not literal.  As a result, many Christians don’t want to use the term Born Again, because they do not want to be numbered among those who reject ideas that they believe important, issues like evolution, and in support of women as church leaders.

This is unfortunate, because Jesus’ teaching on this area is essential.  Let’s look at the passage in John 3:1-16:

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above. ’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life

First, note that the Greek is a bit vague on the phrase “born again.”  The NRSV translates it, “You must be born from above.”  This is probably the better translation, although both translations are possible.  However, both imply being born again.  “Born from above” simply clarifies that this would be a spiritual rebirth, through which we may see the kingdom of God.

Even so, Nicodemus is a literalist in how he thinks of spiritual things, and so he is confused.  Clearly, Jesus is speaking of a spiritual, eye opening, new beginning and not a physical one.  The gospel of John often shows those who are spiritually “in the dark” as literalists, who miss the point.  Jesus often describes them as needing to “come into the light.”  The point is to listen to what God is saying, not in finding a legalistic way of interpreting it.

Three time Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born from above, or of the Spirit.  In Hebrew culture, putting it in three times emphasizes the importance of what is being said.

The metaphor of rebirth, being born of the Spirit, is an image of radical transformation.  An old life has been left behind, and a new life has begun.  It has a number of metaphorical equivalents in the New Testament.  In Paul, dying and rising with Christ, being crucified with Christ, and becoming a new creation.  In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), bearing the cross and following Jesus to Jerusalem, the place of death and resurrection.  To be born of the Spirit, is to die to an old identity and way of being, and to be born into a new identity and way of being centered in the Spirit of God…(Marcus Borg, Speaking Christian).

For Christians this is essential.  It is about the transformation of people, and those people can have an effect on transforming the world.  These people bear a passion for God, and for a more just and peaceful world.  It is this quality of being passionately “born again” that gives Christians the quality that attracts others.  Indeed, we need to remember that we are born again, so that we do not go back to the old life.  As Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot (Matthew 5:13).”

 Have you ever had, or have you notice others who have had a negative attitude toward the idea of belonging to “the born again crowd?”  What is that about?

Does this description of being born again sound much the same, or somewhat different than what you expected?

What had to die in you as you walked with Jesus in order that God could birth a new life in you?  Is that process finished, or still continuing?

If our walk with Jesus is about letting the old die within us, and letting God’s new person come to life, how much of a surprise is it that the Bible describes this same process as being true with regard to our physical bodies?

Remember that lesson 1 listed six areas of broken relationships that require salvation (The first 5 from Genesis 5 and the last from the Psalms).  After walking through this class has your thinking advanced in terms of how you would describe Jesus’ salvation affecting these areas?

1. Protection from the devil
2. Restored relationship with God, we receive a new identity: children of God
3. Restored relationships between people—one-on-one and societal
4. Restored relationship with the land
5. Restored relationship with our bodies, even beyond death
6. Help in times of immediate crisis.

This ends our official 5-week study.  As a bonus, I plan to write a 6th study that considers how God has always been at work for salvation across all peoples, even before Christianity ever arrived, and sometimes in spite of some mistakes Christians have made.  If you are interested, check this page in two weeks.“

Let’s end with Luke 1:68-79, Zechariah’s prophecy, which he spoke over his newborn son.  Zechariah’s son was John the Baptist.  The words, first meant for John, are good words for helping us to understand our role as servants of God.

68  Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

    because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

69 

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us

    in the house of his servant David

70 

(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),

71 

salvation from our enemies

    and from the hand of all who hate us—

72 

to show mercy to our ancestors

    and to remember his holy covenant,

73 

    the oath he swore to our father Abraham:

74 

to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,

    and to enable us to serve him without fear

75 

    in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

76 

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

77 

to give his people the knowledge of salvation

    through the forgiveness of their sins,

78 

because of the tender mercy of our God,

    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

79 

to shine on those living in darkness

    and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace.”