A Time To Be Born Anew
Sermon
Love Is Your Disguise
Second Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter
A man comes to Jesus by night, a ruler of the Jews; his name is Nicodemus. "Rabbi we know that you are come from God, for we have seen the signs that you do..." and if Nicodemus comes with a question he does not get it out before Jesus responds:
"Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Nicodemus wonders aloud (John 3:1-4, author paraphrase).
And so the gospel of John places the question on the table: What does it mean to be born anew? First Peter makes the striking assertion that through Christ we have confidence in God and that we have "been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God..." (1 Peter 1:23).
So what does it mean to be born anew? We observe that folks in Christ's Church have widely divergent points of view on the question. Have you been born anew; are you a Christian, born again? Important questions for us to revisit, because sometimes persons who long for and try to claim new life in Christ look like the life is being squeezed out of them and wonder if new life has been stillborn. How much difference should it make if I am born anew, if I confess Christ as Lord, profess to be a follower of Jesus?
Conventional wisdom suggests that it does not have to make much of a difference. You will get along better in the world if you take your religion in moderation, like the tanning booth and Haagen-Dazs ice cream. In fact, if one is born anew, one might be well advised to try not to act like it, for coworkers and friends could be put off by a newly born, newly saved person. You might not want to talk about being saved in polite company, because someone could become concerned that you would try to save him.
As an old lifeguard and teacher of lifeguards, I have to admit that these words create an odd ring in my ears. Before I was a lifeguard I was saved, and if I hadn't have been saved I would not be here preaching this sermon, and I would never have become a lifeguard or a teacher of lifesaving. I almost drowned as a kid and was saved, a story which is very interesting to me but one I will save for another day. The thing which is curious to me is that I have never met a person who was worried about being saved, if he or she needed to be saved.
Sometimes lifeguards save people before they are fully aware that they are in trouble. This usually happens with children. In shallow water a child, learning to swim and little by little gaining confidence, starts to bob. The child moves into deeper water still very much under control, but now gravity and inertia begin to take over. The bottom slopes away from the child's feet and the satisfied, confident expression on the child's face turns to uncertainty with a hint of worry. The experienced lifeguard knows two or three more bobs into deeper and deeper water and the uncertainty of the child will turn into uncontrolled panic and utter terror. Now is the time to act. If the lifeguard moves quickly, the guard can often reach the child before the child comprehends the reality of the danger.
Parents and grandparents of young children know this scenario well. They frequently act to protect and/or save young children from danger, often when the children don't understand the potential for trouble.
"The Church Is in the Saving Business"
It is hard to find common ground on this statement among Christians. Some will only agree that the church is in the saving business if we suggest that the church is here to save the poor from hunger and poverty, and the oppressed from the ravages of oppression and that this is how God saves. I could not agree more that this is a part of the church's saving agenda, but this does not get us off the hook when we are inclined to say with Nicodemus:
"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
To be born anew, to be a Christian, born again, to be saved is a foreign notion to some, because they view themselves as having been good most of their lives, they have never been a criminal or an addict, and life has never been desperately out of control so that God's agent of grace had to dive into the raging waters of sin and despair to save. And if in hearing this you think "that's me," we say our prayer of thanksgiving that life for you has been good.
But it is also possible that some of us here are failing to give God the glory which is rightfully God's. "Can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asks Christ. I want us for a few moments to think of "born anew" in a different frame. When was the last time you were borne?
When was the last time you were carried? I know this is a different kind of borne, it is spelled differently, but it will help us make our point.
When you were a baby, you were borne everywhere. When you were a child, maybe until you were ten or so, occasionally late at night you were borne to your bed and tucked in. When you had your accident, you were borne to the hospital. On your wedding day, you were borne to the church in fancy transportation. In your grief, you were borne by friends. In your education, you were borne by wonderful teachers. In your vocation, you are borne by all of the practitioners who went before you, by their invention, knowledge, and dedication. In your home, you are borne by tradition, common wisdom, commitment, and self-control. And when you are old, one day your body will be borne by loved ones and friends to a final resting place and your spirit will be borne to God on the wings of love.
Will you be borne anew? Of course you will, again and again. But whether or not you sense it, whether or not you see it, whether or not you understand it, this will make all the difference for you as you seek to know the One who came to save, the One who bears you up not only on your last day but also on this day, in these days.
Who would you be if God had not borne you and borne everyone you love? Who would you be now, this moment, if God did not continually bear you? Who will you be, how can you be, if beginning this instant God does not bear you?
We remember the story which is often told of a dreamer who is walking with the Lord on a beach. Across the skies flash scenes from his life and mostly during his life journey there are two sets of footprints in the sand. Many times though he notices only one set of footprints, especially at the lowest and saddest times. And the dreamer asks the Lord about this; "I noticed that in the saddest and lowest times only one set of footprints appeared. I thought you promised to walk with me always. Why is it that you left me, especially when I needed you?"
"Dear child, in your times of trial, I did not leave. You see one set of footprints; this is where I carried you."
A wonderful and meaningful story, and it raises a question for us today. A question that gets close to the heart of the matter: "Can we imagine a time when in reality there is ever more than one set of footprints in the sand? When God Almighty did not carry us?"
Can we realize how much we have been saved? How much life and love is a gift? How the sustenance of this life is amazing grace?
Have you been born anew? If you have missed knowing how much you have been carried, then, probably not.
But if you have sensed how much you have been borne, how much you have been carried, how much you have been blessed, then... The answer is self-evident.
Early in his ministry Jesus was teaching in a house near the Sea of Galilee and the power of the Lord was upon him to heal. Now there was a paralyzed man who was being brought to Jesus by his friends on a bed. They sought to have Jesus lay hands upon the paralyzed man, but the house where Christ was teaching was filled, overflowing with people standing on tiptoes at doorways and windows trying to see and hear. So finding no way in, the loving friends carried the paralyzed man to the roof and handed him down with his bed through the ceiling tiles into the midst of the crowd before Jesus. Christ saw the love and the faith of this man and his friends and tenderly said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." Now the Pharisees who were nearby were shocked. "Who can forgive sins but God only?" they thought. And seeing their questions, Jesus answered them, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" And then he said to the man, "I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home." And the man who had been hopelessly paralyzed rose from his bed, took up that on which he had lain, and went home (Luke 5:17-25, author paraphrase).
Is there ever really more than one set of footprints in the sand? Is there ever a time when God does not carry us? Do we believe that anything we say or do has an enduring quality?
Is any monument made with human hands fitting for the portals of eternity? Aren't the footprints we leave like the scratchings of a sparrow on the Rock of Gibraltar? The footprints in the sand and on the beach which endure are the footprints of God. The impression we are privileged to make is the impression of love left upon the heart of our loving Father, the etching of our faces and our lives left on the heart of our Parent who loves us and remembers us, cares for us, and watches over us. First Peter suggests, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:22-23).
We have the great and glorious chance to make our lasting, loving impression when we understand how God has borne us in every moment, and we open our hearts to God in love. God loves us and remembers us with fondness and tenderness when we love one another, when we carry each other as He has carried us even on the bed of our paralysis to the place of grace to be touched and healed and made whole. Do you understand how God has borne us, has carried us, has claimed us, has called and saved us from spending the gift of life pursuing things other than His love?
The Easter season is a time when we proclaim Christ's victory, when we name God victorious. May he also be victorious in every one of us as God bears us up not only in times of trial, not only in times of paralysis and pain, but also in times of carefree wandering, traveling, and reveling in the paths God allows us to choose until that day when earthly life and light grow dim and He bears us up to take us home.
"Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Nicodemus wonders aloud (John 3:1-4, author paraphrase).
And so the gospel of John places the question on the table: What does it mean to be born anew? First Peter makes the striking assertion that through Christ we have confidence in God and that we have "been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God..." (1 Peter 1:23).
So what does it mean to be born anew? We observe that folks in Christ's Church have widely divergent points of view on the question. Have you been born anew; are you a Christian, born again? Important questions for us to revisit, because sometimes persons who long for and try to claim new life in Christ look like the life is being squeezed out of them and wonder if new life has been stillborn. How much difference should it make if I am born anew, if I confess Christ as Lord, profess to be a follower of Jesus?
As an old lifeguard and teacher of lifeguards, I have to admit that these words create an odd ring in my ears. Before I was a lifeguard I was saved, and if I hadn't have been saved I would not be here preaching this sermon, and I would never have become a lifeguard or a teacher of lifesaving. I almost drowned as a kid and was saved, a story which is very interesting to me but one I will save for another day. The thing which is curious to me is that I have never met a person who was worried about being saved, if he or she needed to be saved.
Sometimes lifeguards save people before they are fully aware that they are in trouble. This usually happens with children. In shallow water a child, learning to swim and little by little gaining confidence, starts to bob. The child moves into deeper water still very much under control, but now gravity and inertia begin to take over. The bottom slopes away from the child's feet and the satisfied, confident expression on the child's face turns to uncertainty with a hint of worry. The experienced lifeguard knows two or three more bobs into deeper and deeper water and the uncertainty of the child will turn into uncontrolled panic and utter terror. Now is the time to act. If the lifeguard moves quickly, the guard can often reach the child before the child comprehends the reality of the danger.
Parents and grandparents of young children know this scenario well. They frequently act to protect and/or save young children from danger, often when the children don't understand the potential for trouble.
"The Church Is in the Saving Business"
It is hard to find common ground on this statement among Christians. Some will only agree that the church is in the saving business if we suggest that the church is here to save the poor from hunger and poverty, and the oppressed from the ravages of oppression and that this is how God saves. I could not agree more that this is a part of the church's saving agenda, but this does not get us off the hook when we are inclined to say with Nicodemus:
"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
To be born anew, to be a Christian, born again, to be saved is a foreign notion to some, because they view themselves as having been good most of their lives, they have never been a criminal or an addict, and life has never been desperately out of control so that God's agent of grace had to dive into the raging waters of sin and despair to save. And if in hearing this you think "that's me," we say our prayer of thanksgiving that life for you has been good.
But it is also possible that some of us here are failing to give God the glory which is rightfully God's. "Can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asks Christ. I want us for a few moments to think of "born anew" in a different frame. When was the last time you were borne?
When was the last time you were carried? I know this is a different kind of borne, it is spelled differently, but it will help us make our point.
When you were a baby, you were borne everywhere. When you were a child, maybe until you were ten or so, occasionally late at night you were borne to your bed and tucked in. When you had your accident, you were borne to the hospital. On your wedding day, you were borne to the church in fancy transportation. In your grief, you were borne by friends. In your education, you were borne by wonderful teachers. In your vocation, you are borne by all of the practitioners who went before you, by their invention, knowledge, and dedication. In your home, you are borne by tradition, common wisdom, commitment, and self-control. And when you are old, one day your body will be borne by loved ones and friends to a final resting place and your spirit will be borne to God on the wings of love.
Will you be borne anew? Of course you will, again and again. But whether or not you sense it, whether or not you see it, whether or not you understand it, this will make all the difference for you as you seek to know the One who came to save, the One who bears you up not only on your last day but also on this day, in these days.
Who would you be if God had not borne you and borne everyone you love? Who would you be now, this moment, if God did not continually bear you? Who will you be, how can you be, if beginning this instant God does not bear you?
We remember the story which is often told of a dreamer who is walking with the Lord on a beach. Across the skies flash scenes from his life and mostly during his life journey there are two sets of footprints in the sand. Many times though he notices only one set of footprints, especially at the lowest and saddest times. And the dreamer asks the Lord about this; "I noticed that in the saddest and lowest times only one set of footprints appeared. I thought you promised to walk with me always. Why is it that you left me, especially when I needed you?"
"Dear child, in your times of trial, I did not leave. You see one set of footprints; this is where I carried you."
A wonderful and meaningful story, and it raises a question for us today. A question that gets close to the heart of the matter: "Can we imagine a time when in reality there is ever more than one set of footprints in the sand? When God Almighty did not carry us?"
Can we realize how much we have been saved? How much life and love is a gift? How the sustenance of this life is amazing grace?
Have you been born anew? If you have missed knowing how much you have been carried, then, probably not.
But if you have sensed how much you have been borne, how much you have been carried, how much you have been blessed, then... The answer is self-evident.
Early in his ministry Jesus was teaching in a house near the Sea of Galilee and the power of the Lord was upon him to heal. Now there was a paralyzed man who was being brought to Jesus by his friends on a bed. They sought to have Jesus lay hands upon the paralyzed man, but the house where Christ was teaching was filled, overflowing with people standing on tiptoes at doorways and windows trying to see and hear. So finding no way in, the loving friends carried the paralyzed man to the roof and handed him down with his bed through the ceiling tiles into the midst of the crowd before Jesus. Christ saw the love and the faith of this man and his friends and tenderly said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." Now the Pharisees who were nearby were shocked. "Who can forgive sins but God only?" they thought. And seeing their questions, Jesus answered them, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" And then he said to the man, "I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home." And the man who had been hopelessly paralyzed rose from his bed, took up that on which he had lain, and went home (Luke 5:17-25, author paraphrase).
Is there ever really more than one set of footprints in the sand? Is there ever a time when God does not carry us? Do we believe that anything we say or do has an enduring quality?
Is any monument made with human hands fitting for the portals of eternity? Aren't the footprints we leave like the scratchings of a sparrow on the Rock of Gibraltar? The footprints in the sand and on the beach which endure are the footprints of God. The impression we are privileged to make is the impression of love left upon the heart of our loving Father, the etching of our faces and our lives left on the heart of our Parent who loves us and remembers us, cares for us, and watches over us. First Peter suggests, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:22-23).
We have the great and glorious chance to make our lasting, loving impression when we understand how God has borne us in every moment, and we open our hearts to God in love. God loves us and remembers us with fondness and tenderness when we love one another, when we carry each other as He has carried us even on the bed of our paralysis to the place of grace to be touched and healed and made whole. Do you understand how God has borne us, has carried us, has claimed us, has called and saved us from spending the gift of life pursuing things other than His love?
The Easter season is a time when we proclaim Christ's victory, when we name God victorious. May he also be victorious in every one of us as God bears us up not only in times of trial, not only in times of paralysis and pain, but also in times of carefree wandering, traveling, and reveling in the paths God allows us to choose until that day when earthly life and light grow dim and He bears us up to take us home.
