Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Rebirth: the Pride-Killer of the Gospel


Most people today are attempting to change their situation to “something better”, whether it means changing their identity, their job, their social network, their lifestyle...fill in the blank...most people are just unhappy and wanting better.  With this the case, the question to be asked is this: Why is everyone so unhappy?

Jesus said that it’s because sin enslaves everyone (Jn8:34).  Sin is more than the bad things you do...it's a spiritual force that brings spiritual death and eventually physical death.  More than action, it's intention.  

He came to save people who would believe in Him (Jn3:16).  He said that people will make it through whatever “storm” this life brings if they build their lives on His Words (Mt7:24-27), and that when one puts their faith in Him, they “pass from death to life” (Jn5:24). 

People listen to Jesus’ hard words and think they can’t have Jesus unless they begin acting like a ‘Christian’.  But the truth is that Jesus came “not to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt9:13) and when a sinner repents, angels rejoice (Lk15:7, 10).  He saves people as they are, and begins conforming them to His holy image (Rom8:29).  His initial calling of Matthew (a tax collector…considered a “sinner” by the majority) was followed up by His coming to Matthew’s house for a party that included a bunch of “sinners” who liked to party (Mt9:10), and this continual attendance at parties apparently was such a staple of Jesus’ social life that people wrongly called him a drunkard and a glutton (Mt11:19).  People had stupidly assumed that because Jesus went to spend time with non-religious and “worldly” people, he must not be as holy as his teaching and miracles let on.

But the truth is that Jesus was perfect and without sin (Heb4:15, Is53:9).  His knowledge and understanding was such that even at the age of 12 he was making that day's doctors of religion marvel.  Then as an adult, when the doctors of religion would argue his radical concepts, he had the ability to immediately bring them to silence.  This is because He came to tell the truth (Jn18:37), but He told it in such a way that even the most adamant and hostile religious people could only say, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (Jn7:46).   Truly His words were “spirit and life” (Jn6:63, 68).

Jesus came and spent time with “sinners”, and had such a heart for them because regardless of how sinful they were, He had both the truth and the mouth to speak it.  And the truth, as always, made an impact.  In Jesus’ case, the impact was salvation (Lk19:9-10).

Much has been said recently about how Jesus’ ministry targeted sinners and not righteous people, and, even by Jesus’ admission, he “came not to call the righteous, but sinners”.  But to say He didn’t have compassion for religious people is to miss the point.  This is proven in the examples of Nicodemus (who was converted later on…see John 19:39), the Scribe who understood the Law’s teaching in Mark12:28-34, and the famous Rich Young Ruler who thought he’d done a good job as a religious person his whole life, until Jesus loved him and told him the truth that he needed Jesus and not his religion (see Mk10:17-22).  The real reason why Jesus appeared to have more civil conversations with the sinners than religious people is because the religious people were so blinded by their self-righteousness, Jesus’ spirit-and-life words weren’t getting through. 

The woman at the well was a “sinner” to whom Jesus told the hard truth as well (John4).  The difference between her and Nicodemus from the previous chapter is that, by John’s chronology, it appears to have taken years for Nicodemus to come to faith, when it appears to have only taken a few minutes for the woman (See John4:25-29, 38-43).  Why is this?  It’s because self-righteousness, from wherever it springs, blinds people to their need for God’s mercy and forgiveness.  Nicodemus and the Pharisees appeared to have this (though Nicodemus was open), and even the woman at the well had some of it, but it pretty quickly broke down during Jesus’ conversation with her.  Jesus tells the truth to people and brings them to the place of seeing their own sinfulness (like Peter in Luke5:8), and when they see this, they see their need for what He offers, and are reborn by the Holy Spirit.  Think about Jesus’ Words, “If anyone hears my words and believes Him who sent me, he has eternal life.  He doesn’t come under judgment, but has passed from death to life” (Jn5:24). 

When Jesus spoke about eating his flesh and drinking his blood (John6:35-58), he was talking about believing in Him and deriving your life from His life.  6:29 has him saying, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the One whom He has sent.”  He wasn’t talking about communion or Eucharist…he was talking about Himself, which is what communion and Eucharist is supposed to be about!  And His point was that the people needed to see their need for Him and begin finding their lives in Him. 
When people were grumbling at His hard teaching, He said, “Don’t grumble among yourselves.  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.  The words that I’ve spoken to are spirit and life” (Jn6:63).

What kind of statement is this?  A simple one: They had grumbled because they had trouble accepting his teaching.  And Jesus, in effect, said, “Your grumbling is your flesh fighting me, while my Words are the Holy Spirit giving life.  Stop grumbling.  Your understanding can’t give you what I can give you,” just like Proverbs3:5-6 had famously said 1000 years earlier.  The grumbling happened because the flesh is hostile to God (Rom8:7-8), and God’s Son was telling them, “You have no life apart from me”.  Finally, Jesus said, “This is why I told you no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (6:65). 

What kind of statement is this?  Again, a simple one: Sinners' flesh, enslaved to sin (8:24), dead in sin (Eph2:1), and at enmity with God (Rom5:10), is overcome by God’s grace.  His grace, more than being freely offered (Mt11:28-30) is also freely sovereign (Mt11:27), and He gives people new life to look to Jesus who is the only hope they’ve ever had to a) live this life to God’s glory, and b) live eternally for God’s glory.  The invitation goes out for all, but because no one responds in and of themselves (as they don't want to), God “grants them repentance, that they escape from the snare of the devil, having been captured by him” (2Tim2:26).

Jesus said it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom (Mk10:25).  But this isn't because it's impossible or because Jesus doesn’t love rich men.  It’s because the rich men have money and possessions as a crushing idol that captivates them away from what they really need by convincing them that THIS is what they really need.  Jesus also said that Pharisees who are leading others will lead as they both end up in Hell (Mt15:14).  But this isn’t because Jesus doesn’t love them.  Rather, it’s because they have religion and their own power and will as their idol that keeps them from submission to Jesus’ rule of needing to be Holy-Spirit-reborn (Jn3:3,5,7-8).  The issue with both groups isn’t lack of God’s grace—God gives rain and sunshine on sinner and righteous and provides food, happiness, and everything to all peoples everywhere (Mt5:45; Ac14:17, 17:25).  The issue is a lack of God-consciousness.  People don’t care about God and His glory, and so because of this, they don’t see their need for Jesus to redeem them. 

So Jesus comes to sinners to capture their hearts, so that they’ll be redeemed by looking to Him in pure and sincere faith, admitting their need for Him.  In so doing, He even captures some rich people (ie, Joseph of Arimethea) and even some religious Pharisees (ie, Nicodemus and Paul).  This is because, in the end, they’re ALL sinners in need of grace.  And where sin increased, “grace abounded all the more”. 

What leg are you standing on?  What if the truth is that Jesus is the only possible hope for a lost and dead world?  Will you grumble, fight, and kick, or will you accept that He, being the Creator and Redeemer, knows truth better than you do?  It’s not a question of will before it’s a question of truth.