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This morning's New Testament lesson contains one of the most powerful images of the Christian life - the image of rebirth.

When Are You Born? - John 3: 1-12 - February 17, 2008 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett 1. Bassett

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This morning's New Testament lesson contains one of the most powerful images of the Christian life - the image of rebirth. The occasion is a conversation that Jesus had with a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a religious leader, and he came to Jesus by night. Perhaps there was a curiosity, and maybe even a deep hunger inside him to know what Jesus was about. But he came timidly, sneaking around in the dark.

And unlike the many times that the Pharisees accused or argued with Jesus, here is a time when a Pharisee showed Jesus considerable respect: Nicodemus said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God."

Jesus' response to that statement of Nicodemus has been one of the bedrock statements of the Christian faith for the last 2000 years. It's John 3: 3: "Jesus answered him, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.'" That Greek word that is translated in the Revised Standard Version as 'from above,' can also mean 'again'; and that's how the phrase 'born again' has become part of our religious language. For millions of people that phrase has been the basic image of their Christian experience. So let's consider what it might mean.

When were you born? That is a basic question all of us can answer. We say, "My birthday is ... ", and that moment of your birth is considered a fundamental part of your identity. It is precisely recorded, and as time goes on it determines when you start school, when you drive, when you get insurance breaks, and so on. It is your special day; you celebrate your day of birth, at least until you hit 39, and then you maybe don't celebrate quite as much. Your date of natural birth is significant.

But, as I said, there is a whole line of Christian thinking that re-asks that question 'When were you born' in connection with what Jesus said to Nicodemus. I have met card-carrying Christians; maybe you have too - who could reach into their wallets and pull out a card that says that exact date that they were born again as a follower of Jesus. That might be the extreme, but there are countless Christian people who can tell you the day they committed their lives to Christ and were re-born. And for them, that date of spiritual birth is just as significant as the day of their physical birth.

This experience is deeply interwoven into our Methodist roots. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, described a path of salvation for an individual; and a key moment on that path is the moment of 'New Birth.' It is a dramatic moment of sudden assurance. In fact, one of Wesley's most famous sermons was entitled, "The New Birth." And here is the description he gives. I'll say in advance that Wesley's scientific understanding of life in the womb was clearly not accurate 350 years ago; and it also wouldn't be pleasing to somebody in the pro-life movement. In addition, he uses masculine language that we now call sexist. But if you can put those things aside, this is a powerful image of what it means to be 'born again.'

He begins, "Before a child is born into the world he has eyes, but sees not; he has ears, but does not hear. He has a very imperfect use of any other sense. He has no knowledge of any of the things of the world, or any natural understanding.. It is then only when a (person) is born, that we say he begins to live. For as soon as he is born, he begins to see the light. .. His ears are then opened, and he hears the sounds ... He likewise breathes, and lives in a manner wholly different from what he did before."

And so, Wesley says, the person now has physical life - but no true spiritual life. The person has spiritual eyes, but cannot truly see God. Spiritual ears, but cannot truly hear God's voice. " ... though he is a living (person)," said Wesley, "he is a dead Christian." He is not truly alive spiritually. But, by the grace of God, he can turn to Christ, and be born again. Then, says Wesley, his eyes are opened to see the glory of God; his ears can hear the voice of God bringing good news and hope; his heart can feel the presence of God in the Holy Spirit. It's a whole new level of living; a whole new person. And it happens in a moment. So that idea of being 'born again' is fundamental to the first Methodist teaching. And it is fundamental to faith as many have experienced it.

I want to affirm that, because there is no doubt that it is real. But I also want to talk about another way of looking at new birth that is also real. And here, I can talk more personally; because, if you asked me when I was born again in Christ, I could list dozens of times. My spiritual life has been a whole series of new births - there was the time when some peers prayed over me when I was a youth; there were times when a sermon or anthem convicted me about a new direction in my life; there was witnessing the birth of my first child - my goodness, what a powerful new birth in me; there was a night that the phone rang after midnight, and a man I hardly knew said, "Everett, I was lying awake in prayer, and God told me to call you. I know that you have been having a rough time, and might be having trouble sleeping, and I wanted you to know I'm praying for you." As it turns out, I was sound asleep, but that phone call, and the grace it represented, changed my life. There are so many other times. For me, the question isn't, "When were you born?" It's, "When are you born?" because it keeps happening. God reopens my eyes; or speaks in a new voice that I am hearing as if for the first time; or touches my heart again. And this is new birth, too.

I have been with Christian people who spoke of the moment Jesus came into their lives and they were reborn. And I have been with Christian people whose walk with Christ is more like an unfolding journey of rebirth over and over again. Both ways are real, both ways are powerful, and both ways are grace beyond description.

I think about the two greatest apostles in the Bible. First, there is the apostle Paul.

Paul was a Christian-hater on a trip to Damascus to persecute Christians, when he was struck down on the road, heard the voice of Jesus, had scales in front of his eyes, and when they fell off, he was a changed man - a great Christian apostle. If you asked Paul when he was 'born again', he would have no trouble telling you. It was on that road.

But what if you asked Peter, the other great Christian apostle? What would Peter say about being born again? Would it be the moment he was in his boat mending his nets,

and Jesus came along and said, Follow me, it's time to fish for people. Was that Peter's rebirth? Or was it when Jesus told him to throw out his nets one more time, and the nets filled with more fish than Peter had ever seen, and he fell on his knees before Jesus - was that his new birth? Was it when he looked over the sea and saw Jesus walking on the water, and said, I want to do that, and Jesus said, Come ahead, and Peter walked on the water with Jesus? How could that not totally reinvent you? Or was it when Jesus pointed to Peter and said, Upon this rock I will build my church? Or when Peter went with Jesus up on the mountaintop and saw Jesus transfigured in glory, and heard the voice of God­talk about new sight, new hearing! Or when Jesus was arrested, and Peter denied Jesus three times and then wept in shame? Was that new birth? Or when he looked in the empty tomb on Easter? Or felt the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? Or preached the first Christian sermon and saw 3000 people respond? If you were to ask Peter when he was born again, you'd better have a lunch packed, because he's going to talk for a long time.

The point is, God is always at work, and where God is at work, new birth is happening. Life-bringing, transforming things. Moments that will open your eyes as if you're seeing for the first time; messages spoken to the heart. God's grace is new every morning, says the Bible, and in that sense we are reborn every day. Here's where that other meaning of the word Jesus used comes in - 'being born form above.' That grace is always flowing down to us, and any time we try to say, "Well, this is the way new birth happens," our words are smaller than God's possibilities. I suspect God has as many ways of bringing new birth into our lives as there are stars in the sky. And God knows just what the nature of the birth is that you need to experience in your life.

What is universal is God's desire that every one of us experience new life in Jesus.

There are so many in this world who have wandered off the path of God's grace, and are living lives of spiritual desperation - and that is simply not what God intended. Nicodemus knew about Jesus; he had seen the signs, and he came with this hunger and desire to know some answers. But Jesus offered him something far more profound than answers - Jesus offered him new life -- the chance to enter the kingdom of God as a reborn person.

That is what Jesus is offering us this morning. I don't know about you, but sometimes my eyes get tired of what they see in this world; sometimes my ears want to close to the sounds of pain and anger and hatred; and my heart aches. And then grace comes flowing down, and God says, "Look again. Listen again. Open your heart. Be born again." That doesn't mean all that other stuff disappears. What it means is that I can hear the voice of the Savior again in the middle of it, bringing good news to the poor, hope to the hopeless, and bread to the hungry. That's the kingdom of God Jesus proclaimed. And I want to be there; I want to be part of it. I believe you do too. But we know that we can't drag all our old stuff into that new kingdom. We've got to die to sin; we've got to die to prejudice and greed and fear. We've got to leave that stuff behind. But when we surrender those old selves to the transforming power of Jesus, then miracles of grace begin to happen. It is so profound and beautiful, that the only way to do it justice is to call it the birth of a new person of faith, and to give thanks and praise to the Savior who gave his life to make all things new.