The Sign of Life

Nicodemus often gets a lot of negative criticism from Christians. We sometimes find it hard to understand why Nicodemus could'nt accept the truth of Christ during his private converstaion with him in John chapter 3. The truth is, many of us are just as confused about what it truly means to be "Born Again." This is one reason why we have so many denominations today. There is a lot of confusion and controversy over how a person can become born again. Jesus actually goes into great detail how a person can become born again in John chapter 3: 4-21. He says that a person must be born of water and the spirit.

It's hard for us to understand this statement because we often find ourselves trying to condense it into earlthy terms. These are not terms of earth. These are heavenly metaphors. The water is faith and the spirit is true repentance. The water is the first step; but as a person becomes born of spirit the old is gone and the new has come. The first step; or water baptism is the first step along the pilgrimmate of eternity. Physical water baptism is not required for salvation: although there are some denominations that proclam baptism is required for salvation. The baptism of which Jesus mentions here is a baptism of rebirth. One cannot go back into his mother's womb and be born of water again (i.e. from the amniotic fluid). But, when one comes to believe in Christ as his Lord and Savior he or she becomes born again in the spiritual realm. The old is gone and the new has come. Paul said, 'We have been crucified with Christ.' Oswald Chambers in his book, "My utmost for his Highest" gave himself a white robed funeral. His former way of life was put to death giving way to victory and new birth in Christ.

The second step of being Born Again is to be born of the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit. When you were born you resembled your parents. You looked like them and probably acted like them. You carried the same acsent. Now that you have been born of the flesh through faith in Christ a life long process of begin born of the spirit begins to take place. Some denominations describe this as, "the doctrine of entire sanctification, holiness, and others simply call it discipleship. As a person begins to digest the things of the spiritual world; i.e. communion, church attendance, fellowship of the belivers, bible study, prayer, worship, scripture they begin to take on a new idenity. That identity does not look like the world, but rather it begins to take on the image of Christ. As we grow spiritual every day we begin to look more and more like our Father and his image of Holiness begins to control our life and our actions.

Nicodemus had a hard time understanding all of this doctrinal stuff. And I would imagine many Christians today still do. Of course we do. In the story Jesus gets to this point with Nicodemus. Utter confusion would be the problem. He decides to tell Nicky (or Nicodemus) in verse 14 and 15 a story from Israel's past. He says, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert so should the son of man be lifted up. That whoever belives in him will not perish." Then he goes on to share with him the most popular verse in the entire Bible; which is John 3:16. One would need to to back to Numbers chapter 21 in order to understand this story. (read this story as part of your devotion for today)

The Children of Israel were grumbling and complaining about the food they had been given by God. They were ungrateful and unfaithful. God send upon them the curse of the sand vipers. Many Israelites were bitten and died. They went to Moses and asked him to pray for them and take away the vipers. Moses did. God told him to make an image of a snake out of broze and twisted it around a pole. He told Moses to lift it up on a high pole for all to see. Anyone who looked at the image was healed instantly. So, what does this have to with Jesus and being born again.

Jesus was lifted up on a tree, or cross, or pole; or whatever you want to call it. He was the sign of life just like the broze snake in the desert. This all did not make sense to Nicky until he saw it with his own eyes. His private talk began to make a lot of sense when he saw Jesus lifted up just like Moses had lifted up the snake in the desert. In order to be born again one must first accept Christ as Lord and Savior, but then he must repent and turn and look towards Christ. Anyone who looks at the sign of life will have life for eternity. This turning requires one to make a complete 180 degree turn in his or her life. We must make a 180 degree turn from sin to Christ. From the world to holiness. From what we want to what God wants. This is what it means to be born of the flesh and the spirit. We must have faith and then we must die to ourselves and repent of our sins.

Many of Jesus's disciples realized at one point in their pilgrimmage with Chirst that this was going to be very hard to do. Jesus asked them, "Will you leave me as well." John replied, 'Where else would we go. You teach us the truth.' Yes, turning our lives around in faith is very hard. But, because Christ suffered and died and rose again he has the power to breath grace into our lives. He can and will empower us to live lives dedicated to a life long pursuit of holiness.

I truly believe that the degradation of our churches today has to do with the fact that were good at getting people to take the first step; but we fail when it comes to teaching them about holiness and living a life of repentance. We allow them to be who they are and convince them that this is good enough and they can lead and teach and be a part of eternity with us without ever changing our behavior or our desires. This is not one denomination speaking over another. This is not a doctrinal message this morning. This is a message straight from the words of Jesus himself. He tried to help Nicky understand this truth. Finally, after the crucifixion things became more clear to Nicky. He helped in the burial of the Messiah. Later, he shows up and is a very influential part of the New Testament Church.

Last, from now on when you see an ambulance or a hospital look for the sign of life. The emblem of snakes wrapped around a pole is on the side of a lot of ambulances and hospitals today. They got this idea from Numbers ch. 21, "the sign of lie." Let this be a reminder to you that not only do you need to put your faith in Christ, but also that we need to turn our lives over to Christ including our dreams, desires, and our future.

I pray you will. Any questions about this post can be sent to shilohpj@live.com