New Start

What wouldn’t we give for a fresh start, a new beginning? The good news is that a new beginning is exactly what Jesus gives us. In fact, he gives us a new birth.

In John 3:3, Jesus told a member of the Jewish high council named Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

Nicodemus knew that Jesus’ statement could not be taken literally, so he asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?... Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” (verse 4).

So Jesus explained: “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (verse 6).

For physical life, a person needs a physical birth. For spiritual life, a person needs a spiritual birth.

Nicodemus, and Judaism in general, focused on the physical. They were concerned about purity laws, time and place, rules and rituals. Although they knew that God was Spirit, they expected his kingdom to be a physical kingdom like the kingdoms of this world, with geographic territory, agriculture and the enforcement of laws.

The Holy Spirit, like wind, cannot be seen, but the results of the Spirit’s work can be seen. The Spirit changes people, and the change, although sometimes slower than we would like, is evidence that the Spirit is working.

This new birth, this life in the Spirit, is God’s gift to us. In John 3:16-18, Jesus tells us:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. ”

When, we are “born of the Spirit” we enter nothing less than a new life, a life in Jesus, a life led by the Spirit, a life in fellowship with the Father.

As we read in 1 John 2:2, Jesus’ death atoned for all humanity, but only those who believe can enjoy the life of divine fellowship that characterizes the age to come.

If we believe in Christ, we have fellowship with him and the Father. But if we do not put our faith in Christ, then we “stand condemned”, as John 3:18 puts it, because, we haven’t accepted the only rescue that there is -- God’s own Son.

The atoning and reconciling work has already been done, but the benefits of that atoning work are not forced on anyone who doesn’t want them.

Still, as Jesus said in John 6:40, “…my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Our new life in Christ is a wonderful, yet sometimes frightening journey—an odyssey of faith – filled with many ups and downs, but always strengthened by the confidence that Jesus is with us, and that he will help us weather all the storms.

I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking of LIFE.

copyright 2008 Grace Communion International