Reborn (Church Matters)

Well, well, today we begin a series entitled Church Matters. Um, the series will take us all the way up to Harvest Fest. And Harvest Fest, as you know, is our time to celebrate the harvest and God's provision for us. We bring in typically a special speaker. This year, we'll be bringing in Dave Bliss, who is our our mission mobilizer for our district. And then after that, we're into Advent, and then I hate to say this, parents, but then it's 2027. Time flies, doesn't it? So, we'll [clears throat] be in this series, Church Matters, then for several weeks. Tom Holland, not the actor who plays Spider-Man, but a much more boring man who writes uh non-fiction, uh, argues that the Christian church has had the biggest impact out of anything else in all of Western civilization. Again, Tom Holland in his book Dominion, written I think around 2021, argues that Christianity that the the church of Jesus Christ has impacted Western civilization more than anything else, more than the Greeks, more than the Romans. Now, if you're saying, "What do you mean Western civilization?" Well, we're talking about uh cultures and countries and continents that have been highly highly impacted by Christianity. So, in general, we're talking about the Americas, Europe, uh, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, etc. [clears throat and cough] Interesting enough, Tom Holland is not a Christian. He's just a guy who loves history and put in the work. He he points out several ways in which Christianity has benefited Western civilization. But that's not why I want and we as elders want to share about why the church matters. Although that's true, the Church Matters series is more about helping you and I remember why the Church of Jesus Christ is not an add-on to your Christian faith, but an essential. It's not uh varsity Christianity and and then you could choose JV if you don't want to play against the bigger guys on the line in football. No, it's actually part it's part of Christianity. In fact, the New Testament cannot imagine a a single Christian that is not a part of the church. It's an oxymoron. So, the church matters, friends, in ways that I hope you will see and be thankful for over these next several weeks and months. Would you open your Bibles to John chapter 3? We're going to read a second passage this morning. We we read Ezekiel already. Would you open up your Bibles to John 3? And we're going to read I'm going to read, you're going to follow along. John 3:es 1-8. John 3:es 1-8. If you're looking in your Bible for John, it'll be up on the screen so you can find it there. Or just hit Psalms and keep going till you get to the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm going to begin reading in verse one. John 3:1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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 else can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 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?" Verse 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. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. 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. Would you bow your heads and pray with me? Father, we thank you as always for your word. And Jesus, we thank you that you authored the word, that you are the word incarnate, that you are not only speaking these words, but through the minds of godly men over centuries are capturing your words. We get to read about you and understand who you are and how we can know you and live with you for all eternity through this incredible book translated into countless languages, some at the very risk of death. We thank you for these words. Please impact our hearts. do the work that only you can, God, through your spirit, to help us see you clearly, to help see ourselves in light of you, and to respond in faith and repentance. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Well, in the back of your bulletin, if you're new, just want to orient you to what I we try to do every week, and that is have a clear title and a sermon outline. And and so you'll you'll notice on the back of that bulletin, our title for today's sermon is simply reborn. We're going to walk through John and Ezekiel. We're going to see how God calls us to be born again by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And maybe a clarification real quick that I I thought of and I I don't even know if I'm doing this right, so maybe the kids can help me. But do you remember making a little illustration of the church with your hands? Right? Here's the church building and here's the steeple. But really friends, when we talk about church, we're talking about all the people. So when you read church in the New Testament, always think about the gathering of God's people and not merely a beautiful building like what we have here. Well, a Baptist pastor tells a story. He has a friend uh who actually attends his church. This is out in the West Coast. and his friend, the dad comes in and says, "I'm just really concerned for my kids." Now, who hasn't shared that thought? A concern for their kids. But, but hang on. This is different. The kids aren't into drugs or trouble with the law, debt, anything that would make the newspaper. They have families. They hold down jobs. And frankly, they're just kind of delightfully nice. He and his wife brought the kids up in the church. They were raised in children's church and youth group. They made professions of faith. They were baptized and they didn't go crazy hog wild in college. So what's the father concerned about? Well, the pastor says he's concerned because his kids call themselves Christians, but they don't live as if they need Jesus. They don't show any fruit of being changed, of being any different than the average person they work with in the workplace. Our primary passage today, John 3, which I just read, would say that this man's children are nice, but not made new. Nice but not made new. John 3:1. It's a familiar story to many of us. It's probably the only reason we would ever know a name like Nicodemus. [sighs and gasps] Only a few types of people, I think, want to talk theology late at night. First are drunk people. We've all been there. Some of us have seen that. And it's not very fruitful. On the other end, if you're sober. Two, I'm convinced that the second type of people that want to talk theology late at night is is your spouse when you're in bed and you're really tired. Yeah, we've been there, right? And three, it's people who don't want to be seen during the day. And here that's Nicodemus. Now, we learn a little bit about Nicodemus. If you're not familiar with the with the environment of the first century Judaism, he is a big deal. He is part of the big uh he he is a pastor or priest of renown in not only just Judaism, but in the heart of Judaism in Jerusalem. So, he's kind of a big deal. We don't know exactly why he's come. I think it's on his own. I think the reason he comes at night is he doesn't want his other Pharisees to see him, but we don't know that for sure. So, that is speculative. Either way, it is clear he's coming at night because he doesn't want to be seen. Whether he is an emissary or whether he's on his own, he shows Jesus respect. We we saw that rabbi. He refers to him teacher. He affirms Jesus divine ministry. And he's asking, we know that you're sent of God, but he he seems to be imply implied in his statement a question of kind of what's the deal. It's worth noting that Nicodemus checks all the boxes on when you describe a good Jew of the day, a good follower of God. And yet, like that father talking to the Baptist pastor, Nicodemus has not been born again. And Jesus, as he often does in the gospels, which I love in the Gospels, you've noticed this and I numerous times, right? Somebody asks Jesus a question and his answer is never what they're anticipating because he always answers their deeper need, not just their felt surface need. So here he goes. The questions asked, or at least the the assumption is there's a question in his statement, and we know that you're of God. And Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Now, depending on your translation, that might say, "Verily, verily," or or other ways of saying truly truly is a Hebrew way of saying what I'm saying is important and it's there's a blood earnest in my sincerity and the truthfulness of this statement. So, it's a listen. If you're not going to hear anything else, listen to this. Verily, verily or literally in the old Hebrew would have been amen. Amen. if this would have been a Hebrew statement. Okay, but it's translated into Greek. Now, Nicodemus, hears this. Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus in in his own way reminds me of that little that little character in the TV show in the 70s. He says, "What you talking about, Willis?" He just has no no idea what Jesus is talking about. How can a man be born when he's old? Jesus, I can't go crawl back into my mother's womb. So, Nicodemus is this great teacher of the law. He is a pastor of pastor, a priest of priests, and he's like that three-year-old just just no idea what is going on. Jesus says, "You can't see the kingdom of God unless you're born again." Okay, you you can't enter the kingdom of God unless you're born again. And you have to be born of the spirit and water, water and spirit, not just naturally speaking.

So Jesus isn't talking about the natural birth process, which there of course there is water because the placenta and of course we believe everyone is born with the spirit. He's not he's talking about spiritual rebirth here and Nicodemus isn't getting it. He is not cluing in. And so Jesus says again, truly, truly, verse 5, I say to you, unless you're born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And he gets a little more detailed here. Nicodemus, what is born of the flesh is flesh, but what is born of the spirit is spirit. He's creating a little distance now in Nicodemus's concept here. He's trying to help him see this isn't a physical rebirth that I'm talking about here to enter into God's kingdom. This is a spiritual rebirth. that which is a born of the spirit. The end of verse six, do not marvel, Nicodemus, what I said to you. You must be born again. 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. So Jesus isn't talking about a mystical experience here. He's [clears throat] not talking about a physical rebirth. He's talking about a spiritual rebirth. And notice his play on words here in verse 8 in Hebrew and I believe so in Greek as well. The word for spirit is the same word used for wind. It's the same idea because you and I cannot see the spirit. So we don't know where it's coming from and we don't know where it's going. It's like the wind. Okay. So too is rebirth. [clears throat] So pastor, you're telling me we need to be reborn spiritually. Born again. Yes. And that only God's spirit can do it and we can't control it. That seems to be what Jesus is saying here. Yes. So, where's the hope, pastor? Where's the hope? Well, let's remind ourselves of what we learned in Genesis and what we've probably learned if we've been raised in the church since we were little. Let's remind ourselves of what we learn about our nature after Genesis chapter 3. We're going to look at two passages here that the Apostle Paul writes. two Christian churches in the first century, one in Rome and one in modern day Turkey, talking about this very thing. Romans chapter 8, he says this, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind in the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set in the flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Now again, Paul's talking to born again Christians here who have the spirit of God within them, but they also are still made of fallen humanity. They have a dual nature to them. Okay, that's anyone who's in Christ. That is the case. We we we we can cry out with Paul and say, "I don't do the things I want to do and I do the things I don't want to do. I'm so ah it's hard." Okay, but notice the assumptions here. The underlying theology is that our flesh is by nature hostile to God. Our flesh leads to death in our flesh by our own physical human god-given born strength because of the corruption of sin since Genesis chapter 3. We cannot please God. We cannot do it. Ephesians chap 2:es 1-3 Paul says, "You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked before you were born again, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind." So again, here Paul's talking to born again Christians, reminding them that their life was like before they were born again. Before they were brought into union with Christ, they were dead in sin, born under God's wrath. And that's Nicodemus, too. He's dead spiritually speaking, dead. And when he dies, his physical death, he will die an eternal death as well under God's wrath. That's you and me, friends. Let's let's just pull out an obvious elephant in the room. Our our culture tends to say a message that is very different than what we just read. Our culture tends to says we're basically good. You're basically good. You're pretty okay. The scriptures say something very different. That while we were made for the potential of good, we remember that Genesis 1 and two. Since sin came into the world, a fundamental change, the curse and our nature has changed and never could we please God. In fact, the prophet Ezekiel, the passage just before what we read, uses some very very strong language. Ezekiel 36:16-17, this is some 500 years before Jesus walks the earth. The word of the Lord came to me, that is Ezekiel, quote, "Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways, that is how they live their life, their supposed good works before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity." Yuck. Paul picks up on this in Philippians chapter 4. He says, "What we think of our good deeds, God sees them as menstrual rags."

So from after Genesis chapter 3 uh until Revelation 21, the second to last chapter in the Bible, this is the reality of humankind. We are born into sin and we are really good at doing it. We're born rebels and we choose to be rebels, too. We are under wrath and rightly so based on our actions and our dead hearts. The good news, therefore, friends, we can't have good news if we don't understand the bad news. So, if you buy into the the lie of our culture that says you're basically good, then there really isn't any good news. Jesus is just your self-improvement project. But if there really is such bad news that we are dead in our sin, that we we have no hope for eternal life, we cannot see the kingdom, let alone enter into it, then being given the promise that you can be born again, is the best news on earth, absolutely wonderful. Now, back to John chapter 3. Nicodemus says, "H how can these things be?" Clearly, he he he doesn't have eyes to see. He doesn't have ears to hear, but he's trying. How can this be, Jesus? Jesus answers him. Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? It's a gentle rebuke. You you you're an Old Testament scholar, Nicodemus. You should know this. You should know that the lie that even today is sometimes repeated that the Old Testament is just God's wrath and the New Testament somehow God has a change of heart is not true. that God had promised long ago. He would give his people a rebirth, a new heart. And that was what we read earlier in Ezekiel chapter 36. Turn there with me. If you're heading back to your Old Testament in your own Bible, you'll the middle is the Psalms. Keep going to the right. You'll get past Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. If you hit Daniel, you've gone one book too far. Ezekiel chapter 36. We see the old news of God's promised grace foretold and then fulfilled of course in Jesus. So Ezekiel here real quick very general context is in Babylon speaking God's word to a people in Babylon because they've been punished by God for their rebelliousness. God had given them so many blessings they couldn't count them. Yet they kept turning to their sin because they were not born again. So we read together [clears throat] earlier uh therefore says say to the house of Israel, Ezekiel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, oh house of Israel, that I'm about to act, but for the sake of my holy name which you have profained among the nations to which you came. Now those words are shocking. I think in an era where we tend to function culturally that we are the most important person in the universe and I'm I'm in that camp by the way when the the self is is what we talk about all the time for for God to say I'm not saving you for your sake. I'm not going to do this for you. This is for my sake. This is for my glory. I I I find that offensive. But that's okay cuz I need that and maybe you do too. I could preach a whole another sermon here. Let me just pull out a couple highlights that we read earlier and that you can reference here as I walk along. Verse 22 and twice and then at the end of the passage, verse 32, God clearly states his reason for wanting to do what he's going to do. What he's promising to do that it's fulfilled in Jesus later. I'm not doing this for your sake first and foremost, but for my sake, for my glory, for my name. So even in salvation, God reminds us that his glory is of utmost importance. That he is first and foremost in all things. Why is he doing it? Well, for the nations. Did you did you catch that in verse 22 and 24? For my holy name which you have profained among the nations. I will vindicate verse 23. The holiness of my great name which you have profained. nations will know that I am the Lord as I vindicate you. They will and I will gather them from all over. Well, friends, remember back in Genesis 12 and our study, this is God following through with his promise to Abraham. I am going to use Abraham's descendants, the people that Ezekiel is preaching to to reach the nations, to bless the nations. Ultimately, take another step further. In Matthew 28, Jesus commissions us, go out into the nations, make disciples, baptizing them in the name, and teaching them all that I have taught you. So God is doing this for his sake and for his mission to the world. What is he going to do? How? What's the process here? That is the new heart. And I I don't know how old I was in Christ when I read this, but I just was so stunned at this incredible promise. Verse 25, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. There's a reference to the water. We would see this fulfilled in baptism. Verse 26, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Now, we could call this a heart transplant, but with a caveat. When you and I think of a heart transplant, and it is amazing that our doctors can do this, we're talking about a sickly heart that still works. It's still beating, right? And the doctor in ways I don't understand at all, so forgive me. Takes out the old one, puts in the better one, right? But that's not the language here. The language is of a stone heart. Stone hearts don't pump blood. Stone hearts are dead. Stone hearts are dead. Jesus through Ezekiel is saying, "I'm going to do heart surgery, but I'm not making you better. You are dead. I'm going to give you new life. I'm going to rebirth you." Ezekiel is giving us here a clear picture of this. Jeremiah also picks up on this chapter, I think 31, if I'm if my memory is right. So don't don't read this accidentally maybe by it it's as if we needed just a little boost. No, we're dead. And I I don't know who said this way back when, but it's that illustration, the idea that we're we're not treading water looking for a lifesaver to be tossed out so that we can grab on and be brought to shore. Okay, that's the idea of a heart transplant. That it's it's dying but not totally dead and we get a better heart and we can we can do we can do better things. Now, the idea is that we're dead at the bottom of the lake or the ocean. A stone heart sinks and God takes that dead person with a stone heart and gives him or her a new heart of flesh that pumps blood and the spirit which helps guide the heart to be able to obey the laws of God. So for [clears throat] God's sake, so that we might reach the nations with born again hearts. [clears throat and cough] God doesn't do this because Israel is so lovely. God doesn't do this because Israel had great things and great works. No, God does this because of his name, for his purposes. God dies for sinful men and women and is resurrected by victory so they might so we might have life. And that is what we see now promised by Jesus in John 3. Turn back with me. John 3 11 and following. So Jesus had said to Nicodemus, "How don't you understand this?" Nicodemus. You know Ezekiel, you've read this many times, probably taught it at synagogue. Truly, truly. There's this third and final time he says this to Nicodemus. Listen up, Nicodemus. I say to you, we speak of what we know. We bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. Egimus, you don't apparently believe what God said through Ezekiel.

Verse 12, if I've told you earthly things and you did not believe, how can you believe if I were to tell you heavenly things, things that no man has seen. No one has ascended into heaven, Nicodemus, except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. Here Jesus is referring to himself. And 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. Now, this really blows Nicodemus's gourd. But he knows this example. Every good Jewish kid knows the example. It's Numbers 21. People of Israel are in the desert. They're getting bitten by these venomous snakes. Moses makes this little bronze or copper serpent on a on a pole and he puts it up. If they look at that, if they look at it, they will be saved. they won't die. And so Jesus foretelling his own death on a much uglier cross than this one says, "If you will look towards me, if you will put your hope as the the men and women in Moses's time did, if you put your hope in me, then you will be saved."

And then we we know these words. Many of us have heard these so many times. May they hit us freshly now. John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For whoever would look at that son of God on the cross resurrected from the dead three days later ascended to heaven seated at the right hand of the father. If we look towards him, the promise is eternal life to be born again and to live as we were intended to live for all eternity. Genesis 1 and2 fulfilled in the sense that what was created to be very good can actually be very good. Genesis, I'm sorry, Revelation 21 and 22. Read it this week. Write that little note down if you want some encouragement. Have some Christian imagination about a life where you no longer need to shed tears. A life with a body that no longer pains you to walk or to breathe.

No longer will we have to worry about our loved ones. Will they make it another day or grieve those that we've lost. We will be reunited with them who are in Christ. For God so loved the world, not because the world was lovely. [snorts] Our best attempts are filthy rags, but because God is love. It's in his nature. It glorifies him to love a people so wretched as you and me. Amen, Larry. That's right. 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. Hear this. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. We're already under wrath because we have not believed in the name of the only son of God. And this is the judgment. Verse 19, the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, does not come to the light, lest his or her works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light and so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. That father sitting in the Baptist pastor's office was looking for those those good things in his children's life and he didn't see them. But I know he prayed for them and continues to pray for them. Salvation, friends, or being born again is God's work, God's gift, his glory for our blessing. He accomplished it. We get a chance to receive it by faith. The good news is you don't have to bring any good works. You bring all your sin to Jesus. You come forward in humility. And that's the hard part. I know we come forward in humility. We look to the Savior.

And we hold to that promise. You said you would forgive. You said you would give me a new heart, eternal life. And we cling to that. And he helps us through the spirit. Friends, if today you are unsure whether you have eternal life, can I encourage you? Can I plead with you to pray, to cry out to God and say, "I'm a sinner and be as specific as you can." He knows. He's not surprised. We can't hide in the darkness like Nicodemus.

Bring your filthy rags before him and exchange them for the robes of his righteousness. But more on that in weeks to come. Parents, let me encourage you. I hope your children have boring testimonies. I do. Help them see their sin though at a young age. Help them come to the Savior for forgiveness. Teach them of Jesus and their need for repentance and faith and obedience and baptism. And lean on other on the church to be your help. and pray, pray, pray that they might be born again. Let me caution us real quick before we close in prayer of some counterfeit versions that uh this Baptist pastor I mentioned, his name is Michael Lawrence. I think he had a good word on some some counterfeits. One [clears throat] of the counterfeits is is forgetting that we're called to be made new, but we think it's just merely about being nice.

The Bible calls Christians to be made new, not merely nice. Now, of course, don't take me out of context and say, "Pastor said you can be mean. That's not my point." But it's far more than just being merely nice. We can be Minnesota nice, but that doesn't glorify God or give any sign necessarily of salvation. Two, Jesus calls us to be disciples. Disciples for life, not merely a one-time decision. Disciples for life, not merely a one-time decision. Three, God gives us this new heart so that we can obey him and be holy like he is holy, not merely healed. God can heal psychologically and even physically. But don't go after the gift. Go after the giver and be holy, not merely healed. Fourth, Jesus commands us to share the gospel, not to sell it because we don't save people. God saves. We just have the privilege of sharing. And five, we must be charitable, not char. In other words, we observe and as church, we exercise authority given to us through Christ. Matthew 28, all authority on earth, heaven and earth has been given to me. And he charges us to make disciples and to have authority over each other's lives, to speak into each other's lives, to assure each other of our faith and our salvation, and to confront each other when we are caught in sin. But let us never move into that next step of being judged. That's God's role and God's role alone. In closing, we must be born again by the work of God the Spirit for the glory of God the Father through faith in God the Son and his finished work. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, you love your church so much that you died for her. You love your bride. And we who are in Christ are part of your bride. Not merely individually, but collectively. You use other metaphors that are so powerful. We're a family. We're a temple. We're a body.

Thank you for the gift of the church. Thank you for how it is such a blessing. Now, I know, Lord, I know that some of us have some church hurts because the church is made up of sinners saved by grace. So for those of us who are hurting, help us to move to take those hurts to you, Jesus, and to ask for your healing there. But not let us not throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak. Let us not think that we can leave the church and somehow make it on our own.

And father, through your spirit, by the work of your son, save us. Do the work, the miracle that [sighs] we're going to see next week with two baptisms, the miracle of rebirth through water in your spirit.

Do that in our lives, whether we're in our hundreds or our 90s or in grade school, middle school, high school, and anywhere in between. Continue to do that work. We call on you to be a God who saves and help us to be a people faithful to share the good news of that salvation. We pray all these things in your name, Jesus. Amen.