Fifty-2
Sundays ~ Listening for God
John
3:1-5: “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who
was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a
teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing
if God were not with him’. Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one
can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”. “How can
someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter
a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very
truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of
water and the Spirit”.
The sermon last Sunday presented a strong testimony in support of this verse.
Other verses were presented to support this verse. There was not much new in
the sermon for me and certainly the idea that a person must be born again in
order to enter the kingdom of God is one I accept to be true. Because I take
things literally, if had I been Nicodemus in this situation, I think I
would have responded the same and struggled to understand how a person could be
born again.
I started to think about the ways we respond to the things God's word
tells or asks of us. Some people act on what they hear straight away. Other
people delay as they consider the meaning in their mind or heart or maybe they
try to bargain or argue with God about it. Other people completely ignore
it.
Consider Adam and Eve – they were told not to eat from the tree of “the
knowledge of good and evil” because it would cause them to die (Genesis
2:15-17). After the serpent convinced and confused ("deceived") Eve,
she ate the fruit and offered some to her husband Adam. Both of them failed to
respond appropriately to the instructions God had given and as we all know,
there were consequences that followed. Similarly but with a different
outcome, Naaman was told by the prophet Elisha to wash seven times in the
river Jordan in order to be cleansed of leprosy (2 Kings 5: 9 -12). Initially
he was angry and refused to do such a thing until his own men convinced him to
do so and when did, he was healed.
Abraham by contrast, accepted and obeyed when God
instructed him to sacrifice his son Isaac. There was no hesitation or attempt
to deliberate with God about this (Genesis 22:2-18). Likewise, when the Israelites were gathered together on the Day of Pentecost heard the Apostle Peter tell
them to “Repent and be baptized” they responded and nearly "three thousand
accepted the message and were baptized" that day (Acts 2:38-41).
Many
things contribute to how we respond to God. Matthew 13:1-23 (in 'the parable of
the sower') identifies that the condition of our heart as a factor in how we
respond. We would be wise to adhere to the words of Hebrews 3:7: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...”
This December it will be forty
years since I was “born again”. I am truly grateful to be able to say this.
When I came to faith the opportunity to be 'born again' and to have my sins wiped away and a new start was an exhilarating prospect. This possibility exists today for anyone who would come to Jesus and accept what he did on our behalf (Romans 3:24). I say choose life...choose
faith...choose to be born again.
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