What Do You Mean, "Have I Been Born Again?"
David C. Myers
June 7, 2009
Trinity Sunday
Peace with Justice
John 3:1 - 17
Text: "For God's own Son was sent into the world, not to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved." (John 3:17)
This morning's Scripture is one that on the one hand, several people love; and, on the other, several people want to shy away from. It is the story of Nicodemus and in particular of Jesus' assertion that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven one must be born anew (or born again in several translations). Because Jesus said it, we need to study it and let the spirit work with us to make it at home with our souls.
There are those people for whom being "born-again" is a very emotional experience. And when one has such an emotional experience it puts them on a natural "high". They justly feel exhilarated and after all, an experience of such magnitude should make a person feel good.
There are also those people, good Christian people who shy away from the term being born-again; they do so because of the divisiveness that sometimes seems to accompany such a claim.
In the practice of full-disclosure I admit I am uncomfortable with the term being "born-again", for too often I have seen it polarize people into camps - liberal vs. conservative, social action vs. evangelical. When someone asks me if I have been born again, I usually shift uncomfortably, for my experience tells me that we are going to talk at each other from very different faith perspectives.
So as we begin talking about being born again, sometimes it is easier to describe something by saying what it is not. I think that is a place to begin with the phrase "being born again." And first of all, being born-again does not make one person better than another. It is not to be a badge of honor that places one in a position of religious superiority. Let us not forget a most basic and common principal of our faith, "we are all sinners before God, and we all stand in need of God's grace" - even those born again.
We are reminded of that with this morning's Sermon text, "For God's own Son was sent into the world, not to judge or condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved." This verse which comes immediately after the dialogue Nicodemus had with Jesus about being born-again. I don't think that that is a coincidence. I believe that this author and God's Spirit that guided the shaping of the Bible displayed incredible wisdom in putting those words immediately after the dialogue about being born again. "For God's own Son was sent into the world, not to judge or condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved." For this matter of being born-again is a very controversial, yet most fundamental part of the Christian faith. For as we discuss what it means to be born again, we ought to remember God's saving nature, and refrain from the condemnation of others who have not been born again; or who shy away from such a label.
Having said that let me talk about what the experience of being-born again could be (or perhaps has been) for you. I intend to do this by drawing four analogies to our first birth - our physical birth, which I think is most appropriate, because one of the most basic tenets of our faith is that in as much as Jesus was divine, He was also fully human. We need to understand the human implications of our faith.
1.) First of all, the born-again process should mirror the birth process - going through a narrow channel, filled with anxiety. When Debbie and I were attending childbirth classes, we were told over and over again that the most dangerous journey we ever take in our life is the journey through the short distance of the birth canal. There are so many things that can go wrong - the baby could be in the wrong position, the umbilical cord could be wrapped around the neck, or the mother's anatomy may not fully accommodate a healthy birth. Truly those moments of birth are ones of great anxiety.
And like the anxiety parents feel, they are moments of great anxiety for our Creator as well. In as much as the parents suffer anxiety and the mother pain, so should we remember the words of the prophet describing the coming Messiah, "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him." (Is. 53:10) It is important for us to remember that suffering is a part of life, and an integral part of growth. Being born-again should not ever give us the impression that we are immune from pain, from struggle, or from having times when "we are not happy."
Even as the baby cries as it gasps for its first breath, so the parents in the midst of anxiety and pain experience the very human struggle of life. And from it we learn again that from being born - or being born-again - it is important that we bear the pain and suffering with another.
2.) The second point is that birth - or re-birth - is the end of a soft, sheltered, comfortable existence. The comfort of the womb is gone. Not too many years ago the rage of birthing was to have a birthing room - a place with soft, low lights. It was trying to buffer the trauma of coming from the warm dark womb into the bright cold light of a hospital operating room.
But being born-again we may not find such a buffer.
Many of those who have had such a transforming, life-changing conversion have testified that it came in the midst of suffering, or in the midst of being with people facing suffering. We should be reminded by those who have visited the faithful in developing countries of how their faith has been turned around by witnessing a poor oppressed people be the church transforming society. The fact is that we glimpse God not in the self-contained, but in self-giving - even if it means giving-up some of our cherished "wants" and "pleasures" so that others may simply have.
3.) Being born again, like the birth experience, happens before we fully know what it means. So after the experience of conversion or being born-again we need to study what has happened to us to try to understand its implications, and then we move out into the world to share what it means.
On Pentecost, 1961, three months before he was to die in a plane crash on the way to negotiate a cease-fire in Katanga, Africa, Dag Hammarskjold wrote these words in his spiritual journal that came to be known as "Markings": "I don't know who - or what - put the question. I don't even know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer "Yes!" to someone - or something - and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender, had a goal."
For a long, long time those words of Hammarskjold have defined the being "born-again" experience for me which happened when I was 17 and a life guard at Mechuwana - the United Methodist Camp in Maine. One night I was walking from the bath house to my cabin after brushing my teeth and it happened to be a night with the full moon shining right over the camp chapel. It was beautiful; but more than that, something in soaking in that beauty changed me - and I knew it right then and there. I knew the values of my life would forever change. But I never knew just where that would take me. Since that moment when I was in my teens I have tried to discover how that happened to me, how it happens to others, and most importantly, what implications it has for the way I live. As Hammarskjold put it, "I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender, had a goal."
To be a religious person is to be a person who remembers - we remember who we are and remember what others have done to us. Our re-birth - our conversion - may not, and studies show that it probably wasn't or won't be - a mind boggling experience as it was for Moses when he saw the burning bush or Saul, who after being struck as like lightning and being blinded for three days and then became Paul. It may be more like Elijah who heard the still small voice, or like Methodism's founder, John Wesley, who described his experience as having his heart "strangely warmed."
And so we need to study about our faith, to think about and to meditate upon its implications for the living of our lives. While prayer and worship are important, study is also important so that our faith can mature into action. Christian Education for people of all ages is terribly important. It's been said that children that fail to learn, learn to fail at the same time. And during that study we reflect on the life of Jesus Who became like us so that we could become like Him. Jesus' life was one of prayer, study (how else could He have quoted Scripture as well as He did), and meditation. But His life didn't stop there.
4.) Which leads to the fourth and final point. Before we were born we were taken care of; now we are asked to care for others.
I have a confession. My stomach turns when I see John 3:16 ("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.") flashed at athletic events. I bristle, and I think I know why - they do it not so much as invitation or out of authentic evangelism, but to divide the world into believers and non-believers. I think we have to read the next verse which finishes the thought, "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." It is here that I learn that God is a God of love and compassion. "For God's own Son was sent into the world, not to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved."
The first question in the Kingdom of God is not, "have you been saved?", but "could God use you in helping other people?" Did you ever hear or read of Jesus asking - even Nicodemus; "have you been saved?"
Being born-again is not an experience meant solely for personal salvation. Salvation only comes in the context of a social, compassionate faith. The Teachings of Jesus are all too clear about the necessity to live and respond in community with one another. Jesus' last words after His resurrection and before His ascension in the Gospel of John are "to feed My sheep." In Matthew, in the parable of the sheep and goats we are told, "Whatever you do to the least of these, you do so to Me." His Second Great Commandment is, "To love your neighbor as yourself." Our faith cannot be lived and practiced in a vacuum, it must be seen in the context of the community of believers and non-believers.
Well, today is Peace with Justice Sunday, one of the Special Days of the United Methodist Church where we take an offering to help promote efforts to bring about true peace. Peace with Justice Sunday witnesses to God's demand for a faithful, just, disarmed and secure world. The example used today in your special offering envelopes shows that drinking dirty water and cooking over open fires - because one has no choice - are justice issues. By building and taking solar ovens to Haiti, United Methodists help poor families pasteurize drinking water and cook healthy meals in a safe environment.
Established by the 1988 General Conference, Peace with Justice Sunday supports programs that advocate peace and justice at home and around the world. Since half of the offerings collected by your annual conference is retained to fund local peace with justice programs, you can see a difference made locally. In addition, half of the offering is remitted to the General Board of Church and Society to help fund U.S. and global work in social action, public-policy education and advocacy.
We need to remember that peace is not simply the absence of conflict; but true peace can only take place where people feel honored, valued, understood, and on an equal footing with all. Working for peace with justice is one way we can take care of others after we are "born again."
There is something so startling and beautiful at birth. A little baby of 5 to 8 pounds - and yet to think how that life will unfold, what potentials are realized, what suffering it might have to endure, and what develops as it grows into maturity.
A similar magnificence is to be felt in the second birth. We receive the assurance that God loves and accepts us - in an overpowering way - and think how it all unfolds, what potentials God's Spirit may give to us to be realized.