Why This Series and Where Are We Going? John 3:1-18 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 What I am picking up on here is precisely the term "born again." The Barna A Profound Mistake Now I want to say loud and clear that when the Barna Group uses term "born I'm not saying their research is wrong. It appears to be appallingly right. Today we begin a series of messages about the new birth. What does the Bible Today's message will be an introductory overview of where we are going and But it always happens through the word of God. Listen to1 Peter 1:23 and 25: There are several crucial questions we will be asking. One is: What is the go to church, and those who have been there all their lives?
November 18, 2007
This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, 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." 3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said
to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time
into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say
to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. 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.' 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." 9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can
these things be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and
yet you do not understand these things? 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? 13 No one has
ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man
be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be
saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only Son of God.
If you go to the Barna Group online-it's an organization that specializes in
religious research and statistics-you'll read things like this: "Born Again
Christians Just As Likely to Divorce As Are Non-Christians." The same kind
of statistics are given by Ron Sider in his book The Scandal of the
Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the
World? and by Mark Regnerus in his book Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in
the Lives of American Teenagers.
American Church Not Unlike the World
Group in particular uses it in reporting their research. So that report is
titled " Born Again Christians Just As Likely to Divorce As Are
Non-Christians." Sider uses the word "evangelicals" but points out the same
kind of thing: "Only 9 percent of evangelicals tithe. Of 12,000 teenagers
who took the pledge to wait for marriage, 80% had sex outside marriage in
the next 7 years. Twenty-six percent of traditional evangelicals do not
think premarital sex is wrong. White evangelicals are more likely than
Catholics and mainline Protestants to object to having black neighbors."
In other words, the evangelical church as a whole in America is apparently
not very unlike the world. It goes to church on Sunday and has a veneer of
religion, but its religion is basically an add-on to the same way of life
the world lives, not a radically transforming power.
again" to describe American church-goers whose lives are indistinguishable
from the world, and who sin as much as the world, and sacrifice for others
as little as the world, and embrace injustice as readily as the world, and
covet things as greedily as the world, and enjoy God-ignoring entertainment
as enthusiastically as the world-when the term "born again" is used to
describe these professing Christians, the Barna Group is making a profound
mistake. It is using the biblical term "born again" in a way that would make
it unrecognizable by Jesus and the biblical writers.
Here is the way the researchers defined "born again" in their research:
"Born again Christians" were defined in these surveys as people who said
they have made "a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still
important in their life today" and who also indicated they believe that when
they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and
had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to
describe themselves as "born again." Being classified as "born again" is not
dependent upon church or denominational affiliation or involvement.
In other words, in this research the term "born again" refers to people who
say things. They say, "I have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It's
important to me." They say, "I believe that I will go to heaven when I die.
I have confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior." Then the
Barna Group takes them at their word, ascribes to them the infinitely
important reality of the new birth, and then blasphemes that precious
biblical reality by saying that regenerate hearts have no more victory over
sin than unregenerate hearts.
The New Testament Moves the Opposite Direction
I am not saying that the church is not as worldly as they say it is. I am
saying that the writers of the New Testament think in exactly the opposite
direction about being born again. Instead of moving from a profession of
faith, to the label "born again," to the worldliness of these so-called born
again people, to the conclusion that the new birth does not radically change
people, the New Testament moves the other direction. It moves from the
absolute certainty that the new birth radically changes people, to the
observation that many professing Christians are indeed (as the Barna Group
says) not radically changed, to the conclusion that they are not born again.
The New Testament, unlike the Barna Group, does not defile the new birth
with the worldliness of unregenerate, professing American Christians.
For example, one of the main points of the first epistle of John is to drive
home this very truth:
everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him."
abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of
God."
whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."
is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith."
on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does
not touch him."
We will come back to texts like these in the weeks to come as this series
develops. There are many questions to answer and we will distance ourselves
plainly from perfectionism and deal realistically with the failures of
genuine Christians. But for now, is it not true that these statements appear
to be written with the very claims of the Barna Group in mind, namely, that
born again people are morally indistinguishable from the world? The Bible is
profoundly aware of such people in the church. That is one reason why 1 John
was written. But instead of following the Barna Group, the Bible says that
the research is not finding that born again people are permeated with
worldliness; the research is finding that the church is permeated by people
who are not born again.
"Regeneration"
teach about being born again? Another word for the event of being born again
is "regeneration." It is helpful to use that word from time to time. Would
you be willing to add it to your vocabulary? Children would you help your
parents with this? They have probably never used the word "regeneration" in
talking to you. So they may not know what it is. Would you tell them when
you get home, "Mommy and Daddy, did you know that 'regeneration' means being
born again? And did you know that the word 'regenerate' is how you describe
somebody who is born again? You say, 'That person is regenerate.' That means
he's born again"? If you could coach your parents with this, it will help me
very much. Then we can all use words in the same way and not get confused.
1) The Desecration of the Term "Born Again"
why. You can already see one of the reasons I want to focus on this issue.
The term "born again" is desecrated when it is used the way the Barna Group
uses it. And, of course, that kind of misuse of the biblical term is not the
only kind. The term in our day simply means that someone or something got a
new lease on life. So the internet says that Cisco Systems, the
communications company, has been born again, and the Green Movement has been
born again, the Davie Shipyard in Montreal has been born again, the west end
in Boston has been born again, Kosher foods for Orthodox Jews have been born
again, and so on. So it's not surprising that we have to be careful when we
read that 45% of Americans say they have been religiously "born again."
This term "born again" is very precious and very crucial in the Bible. So I
hope to make sure that we know what God intends when the Bible uses this
language. What does being born again mean?
2) What Happened in Being Born Again
Another reason I am eager to focus on the new birth is to help you know what
really happened to you when you were born again. It is far more glorious
than you think it is. It is also more glorious than I think it is. It is
wonderful beyond all human comprehension. But that mystery is not because
there is little about it in the Bible. There is much about it in the Bible.
It's because when all is comprehended there is still more. So I hope that
you will know more and know better what happened to you when you were born
again.
3) What Must Happen to Be Born Again
Another reason for this series is that there are others that I want to help
be born again. I want to show them what must happen to them. And I, with
your prayers, would like to be a means of many being born again in these
weeks. The new birth, we will see, is not a work of man. You don't make the
new birth happen, and I don't make the new birth happen. God makes it
happen. It happens to us, not by us.
Being Born Again Happens Through the Gospel
"Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable,
through the living and abiding word of God. . . . And this word is the good
news that was preached to you." So even though God is the one who begets his
children, the seed by which he does it is the word of God, the gospel that
we preach. So pray with me that one of the great effects of this series will
be that miracle. And bring your friends and family who need to hear about
the necessity of the new birth. I will try to explain it clearly and show it
from the Bible so people can see it for themselves.
And the reason I want you to know what happened to you in your new birth and
others to know what must yet happen to them is threefold. 1) When you are
truly born again and grow in the grace and knowledge of what the Lord has
done for you, your fellowship with God will be sweet, and your assurance
that he is your Father will be deep. I want that for you. 2) If God would be
pleased to bring this kind of awakening to his church, then the world will
get the real deal of radical love and sacrifice and courage from the church
and not all these fake Christians that live just like the world. 3) If you
know what really happened to you in your new birth, you will treasure God
and his Spirit and his Son and his word more highly than you ever have. And
he will be glorified. So those are some of the reasons why we are focusing
on the new birth.
Crucial Questions About Being Born Again
new birth? That is, what actually happens? What is it like? What changes?
What comes into being that wasn't there before?
Another question is: How does it relate to other things that the Bible says
God does to bring us to himself and save us? For example, how does being
born again relate to:
Corinthians 5:17),
sent me draws him," John 6:44),
me," John 6:37),
what was said by Paul," Acts 16:14),
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2
Corinthians 4:6),
remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh,"
Ezekiel 36:26),
us alive together with Christ," Ephesians 2:5),
as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" Romans 8:15).
describing what happened to us when God saved us?
Another question we will ask is: Why is the new birth necessary? Jesus said
to Nicodemus in John 3:7, "You must be born again." Not, "I suggest it," or,
"Your life would improve if you added this experience." Why is it that
"unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3)? This
is one of the great reasons for dealing with this. Until we realize that we
must be born again, and why we must be born again, we probably will not
realize what our condition really is without salvation. Most people do not
know what is really wrong with them. One way to help them make a true and
terrible and hopeful diagnosis is to show them the kind of remedy God has
provided, namely, the new birth. If you have a sore on your ankle and after
the doctor does his test, he comes in and says, "I have hard news: We have
to take your leg off just below the knee," that remedy would tell you more
about the sore than many fancy words. So it is with the remedy "you must be
born again."
Another question we will tackle is how the new birth happens. If it is the
work of God, which it is, how do I experience it? Is there anything I can do
to make it happen?
And a final question we must deal with is: What are the effects of being
born again? What changes? What is it like to live as a born-again person?
Millions in Church Not Born Again
Which brings us back to where we started, namely, the claim that "born
again" Christians have lifestyles of worldliness and sin that are
indistinguishable from the unregenerate. I don't think so. First John 5:4:
"Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the
victory that has overcome the world-our faith." But my conviction is not
rosy news for the church. It implies that there are millions of church
attenders who are not born again.
Would those of you who are born again, and have the Holy Spirit in you, and
love God and care about lost people, pray with me that the effect of these
messages will be to awaken the spiritually dead - both the ones who never
Sunday, November 25, 2007
You Must Be Born Again:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment