(This is part four of a four part devotion series. You can find the other parts on our Born Again Series page. )

John 3:11,16

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As we conclude our study on John chapter three and Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, I want to end by asking, what’s our responsibility as born again children of God? And there are two things I want to focus on today.

The first is a responsibility towards humility. When you look at John chapter three, there’s really one thing that’s keeping Nicodemus from being born again. And do you know what that is? It’s his big head. You see, Nicodemus wants to figure things out. He wants to have an answer for everything. And even though, like as a pastor, I really appreciate good questions and always encourage people to search for answers in Holy Scripture, there’s also a time and a place for recognizing that you know what, my head is getting too big. I need to step out of the way. I need to let God be God. And recognizing humility that I will never fully understand him, that there are some things that God has chosen and God has done that are so much bigger than I am, and so much beyond my ability to understand that true faith means I’ll humble myself, accept it, and let God push me through that birth canal.

The second thing I want to focus on is the role of testimony. See, Jesus says something very interesting. He says to Nicodemus, we know he’s talking about the Triune God. “We testify to what we have seen and yet you people still will not believe our testimony.” (John 3:11) When we think of testimony, especially in connection with being born again, oftentimes in Christian culture, sharing your testimony means talking about your conversion story. How did God suddenly, miraculously take me and work faith in my heart?

Sometimes sharing our stories can kind of become a competition to see who can tell the best story. But really, when it comes to a Christian’s testimony, it’s not about me at all. It’s all about God. It’s all about the Triune God and what he’s done for me.

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. (John 3:16)

God so loved worthless me that he sent His Holy Spirit into my heart, so that I would believe and take and receive Jesus as my true Savior from sin and death. When it comes to talking about our testimonies, I find that oftentimes we’re embarrassed if we don’t have a great story to share. But honestly, nothing’s more relatable than that because most people have a pretty boring story. It’s not about me at all. Instead, let me tell you about Jesus. Amen.

(This is part three of a four part devotion series. We’ll be posting the last part of this series in the coming weeks. You can find the other parts on our Born Again Series page. )

John 3, Genesis 3, Ephesians 1:4

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As we look at John 3 and talk about baptism and the rebirth through the Holy Spirit, people often ask, how can your baptism mean anything if you didn’t choose it? Now, I love this question because it betrays so much of how we think as American Christians.

Part of our American culture, in fact, is how individualistic we are. We like to anchor our identity on our personal choices. I chose to go to this college for school, or I chose this as my career. I chose this person to be my spouse. I chose this sexual orientation or I chose this gender. We like to make it all about our choices. Spiritually speaking, your spiritual identity is anchored in a choice. But it wasn’t yours. You see, that choice was made long before you were born. It was made by Adam. Adam was the only human being that really, truly had free choice. And he took his free choice, and he moved himself from being under God and chose to listen to the devil instead and place himself under the devil’s rule and under the devil’s authority. (Genesis 3) And because of Adam’s choice, you and I, sadly, we don’t get a choice.

We are born with the devil as our natural spiritual father. If you ever question whether or not that’s true, just look at the free, “free” choices we try to make in our life. Any time we have a chance to choose, really choose, our default is to listen to the devil. Our default is to sin, and it always has to be a struggle. Even and especially as Christians, it’s always a struggle to have to reject the devil and try to choose what God would want us to choose.

You see, God respects your choice so much that when it comes to talking about faith, he chose to use a picture that does not involve your choice at all. Being born. You see, not one of us got a chance to choose who our parents would be. We couldn’t choose where or when we were born. We couldn’t choose our name when we were born, our national identity. We could not choose our gender, nor could we choose our gifts and abilities. All of these things are given to you by virtue of your birth, by virtue of having parents and a God who loves you.

You see, our salvation, our belonging to God as his child isn’t my choice. It’s entirely God’s choice. God chose to send Jesus as our Savior who would suffer and die on the cross for our sins. God chose to call you before the foundations of the world to be holy and blameless through faith in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:4) God chose to send His Holy Spirit into your heart to create saving faith. God chose you to be a citizen of his kingdom through the forgiveness of sins. In fact, when you think about it, the only choice we have is to walk away from all of that. And so my prayer today is that God would strengthen you through His Holy Spirit to keep you strong, firm, and steadfast in his choice that you may rest in his choice. Amen.

(This is part two of a four part devotion series. We’ll be posting the next parts of this series in the coming weeks. You can find the other parts on our Born Again Series page. )

John 3:8, Titus 3:5-6

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Last week we talked about the second birth that God works through faith in Jesus Christ. But today I want to ask a question how can we be certain that that birth has actually happened?

One of my favorite things to do when I meet people is I like to ask them, what’s your birth story? And what I find is, though, every single person alive has been born, we each have a unique birth story. Some were born early. Some were born late. Some were born naturally, others by C-section, some born at home, some born at the hospital, and all of us at different times and different places. You see, this is what Jesus means in John three when he’s speaking with Nicodemus and he says,

The wind blows wherever it wants. You don’t know where it came from or where it’s going. So are those who are born of the spirit. (John 3:8)

And what is Jesus saying? He’s saying, just as you can’t put wind in a box, we shouldn’t try to box up the Holy Spirit. This is important because every person has their own spiritual birth story. Every Christian story is different. Some came to faith as little children and never remember a time when they didn’t believe. Others came to faith later in life and could point to the exact moment when the Holy Spirit worked faith in their heart. For some, coming to faith was like a slow, subtle sunrise as the day gets brighter and brighter and you can never point to the moment where it began. You just know when the sun is finally out. They know they believe, but they can’t identify when that process started. Others might have always known Jesus, always known God in a certain sense, but they didn’t come to a full realization or understanding of the gospel until much later in life.

What the Holy Spirit is teaching us here is that just because he worked one way in my life does not mean I should expect that he must work the same way in someone else’s life. We cannot put the Holy Spirit in a box. At the same time, the Holy Spirit wants you to be certain that you are born again, and he wants your certainty to not rest in a memory that can change or go away, or an emotional feeling or something that can change. He wants your certainty to be anchored in God’s sure promises. And that’s why Jesus says that we must be born of water and the spirit.

And there Jesus is speaking about Holy Baptism. If you look at the promises that God makes to you in baptism, he says, baptism now saves us. Or in Titus chapter three, he says,

He [God] saved us through a washing of rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on you generously through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 3:5-6)

You see, you are, you have been born again, and God, through Holy Baptism, has delivered all those gracious promises to you, the forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Jesus. Amen.

(This is part two of a four part devotion series. We’ll be posting the next parts of this series in the coming weeks. You can find the other parts on our Born Again Series page. )

John 3:3, Psalm 51:5

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Does God accept us just the way that we are? Whenever I get asked that question, I like to turn to John chapter three when Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus.

You see, Nicodemus is the perfect picture of religion. He’s dedicated. Devoted. He doesn’t just go through the motions. He really believes in God. His prayers are fervent and he strives to live a holy life. All of his community would have looked at Nicodemus and said, if anyone’s going to heaven, I bet he’ll certainly be there.

To this, Jesus tells Nicodemus,

No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. (John 3:3)

What does Jesus do? He effectively slams heaven’s door shut on Nicodemus’ face. He tells him, Nicodemus, you are not good enough. You need to be born again. And I find there is no message more offensive to human beings than to tell them you are not good enough.

Well, what about me? I’m a pastor. I go to church every Sunday. I study God’s Word. I spend time in devotion and prayer week after week. Surely I’m good enough, right? Wrong. God does not accept me just as I am. You see, my problem goes all the way back to my birth. I have to wind the clock back. And what Scripture tells me is that

I was sinful from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)

It’s important what Jesus says. No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. And his words stand for all time, Old Testament and New Testament. So what is Jesus talking about by this second birth? Well, he’s talking about the miraculous birth worked by faith. You see, faith is a miracle where we are pulled out of our skin completely and placed in Jesus. God winds back the clock of our life and goes past our sinful birth, past our sinful conception, and goes all the way to the perfect conception of Jesus, the perfect birth of Jesus.

I’m not saved by my devotion. I’m saved by Jesus’ perfect devotion that led him to the cross, to suffer and die for sinners like you and me. I’m not saved by my righteousness or my good works. I’m saved by Jesus perfect righteousness, when God declared him not guilty and raised him from the dead Easter morning. It’s because you have faith in Jesus that you are born again. You are placed fully and completely in Christ Jesus, and through him you will see the kingdom of heaven. Amen.