The iconic Brenda from Bristol has the entire nation in stitches - and nodding in agreement - with her expression of disgust at the calling of yet another election: “You’re joking? Not another one. ... I can’t stand this. There’s too much politics going on at the moment. Why does she [Prime Minister Theresa May] need to do it?”
In my worst moments I might echo her views. That was especially the case when I examined the voting paper for our local Parish Council elections (I vote by post, as I find polling booths too intimidating) and saw a list of 17 names, most of which I had never heard of, and had to somehow select up to 15. And that is just one of three elections in the space of six weeks.
However, we are extremely fortunate and favoured to live in a democracy. I would hate to have to rub along in a dictatorship where the ruling warlord portrays himself as the “father of the people”, benevolently patronising his little “children”. All the while, you find, he has been inflicting the most brutal oppression on any who dare to dissent.
There is much argument about whether the Bible model for a church is democratic or not. In my Congregational church stream it is important that the members’ meeting is the ultimate decision-making body. Allowance is made, of course, for church leaders to use their discretion in delicate pastoral matters or ones where a swift response is required. The danger is that an assertive meeting may hamper or thwart a pastor who actually has Bible warrant and divine authority for a certain course of action. In that way a church can go counter to God’s will.
In many cases a democratic constitution would have brought disaster in the history of God’s people. Let us say the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land was put to the vote. The majority might well have voted to take the people right back to Egypt!
Many Reformed Christians would say that God’s preferred type of government for His people is theocracy. There the church is run, not by committee or by popular mandate, but by God Himself.
Of course, God is unlikely to send down instructions about what colour to paint the walls. Someone has to take decisions on matters where the Bible has nothing to say. But in practice that means that someone on the human side of the organisation needs to wield day to day power. And therein lies the problem. Churches that claim to be organised as “theocracies” can easily spawn leaders who come over as the benevolent dictators I mentioned earlier, patronising their spiritual “children” and displaying alarming levels of abuse in the process.
As Sir Winston Churchill once said,
“Democracy is the worst system devised by the wit of man, except for all the others.”
Let’s not be cynical about democracy. Those who offer themselves to be voted on by us are likely to have something of a love for people. After all, they must be prepared for rejection by the people if they lose the election, and willing to accept the decision with good grace.
Isn’t there a small echo of our Saviour in that? The Lord Jesus Christ was on a divinely-appointed mission to save humankind. But he was prepared to face utter rejection and scorn from precisely the people He had come to redeem. Did He do it gladly and with grace? Supremely so.
“... Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:2-3 ESV).
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him” (Philippians 2:5-9).
Do, please, support our democratic process. It is at least as likely to fulfil God’s purpose as any other type of government.
Saturday, 29 April 2017
Tuesday, 11 April 2017
Bread of the Presence
It is a mysterious story which repeatedly breaks into the flow of the Bible and then disappears again. We find ourselves hearing at least an echo of God’s mind about the life and sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. Here, then, is the story of Easter from a totally unexpected angle.
It concerns a strange Jewish institution called the Bread of the Presence. The account begins with a command of God through Moses in Leviticus chapter 24. God decrees that there is to be a table of pure gold in the Jewish Tabernacle (the precursor to the Jerusalem Temple) that would always have two piles of six bread cakes on it. The bread would be a food offering, but would stay on the table rather than be offered like an animal sacrifice. Every Sabbath day a new consignment would be neatly placed on the table and the old apparently eaten by the priests, and only the priests, as it was most holy.
We then move on to a curious incident that took place in some desperate days for David, the future King of Israel, and his followers (1 Samuel 21). Persecuted and beleaguered by King Saul in the waning days of Saul’s kingship, David desperately needs food for some of his young men. He asks the priest Ahimelech for whatever he can spare. All there is is the Bread of the Presence, which the priest calls holy bread. He can only supply it if the young men are ritually clean. David assures him that they are. The priest then gives him the bread. In effect, ordinary soldiers are being treated as though they were privileged like priests.
Jesus uses this story as an effective argument against those who were criticizing the actions of His disciples. On one occasion these disciples were plucking some ears of corn from local cornfields for food. This was acceptable practice except that it was the Sabbath that day, when “work” was forbidden. The Pharisees challenged Jesus. Jesus replied,
“Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:3-5 ESV).
With this one brief story a number of key points emerges. Here are just some:
• God’s Presence is for ever with His people. Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us”.
• Jesus says, “I am the Bread”. He is the living Bread from heaven, spiritual food to make us alive and nourish us.
• This is holy bread. With the Lord Jesus we are handling holy things.
• Jesus is our great High Priest, who makes His followers “a kingdom and priests to our God” (Revelation 5:10).
• Jesus is a merciful High Priest. He sets aside the strictness of God’s law to still our pangs of hunger and make us clean before God.
• In the Presence of God with us, and our coming to Him in the Lord Jesus, we have an eternal covenant. Holy Communion is now the sign of this.
Thank God for the rich meaning of that far-off piece of ceremony, the Bread of the Presence. May we present ourselves with reverence and Easter hope to our awesome, holy yet merciful God, the Father of Jesus Christ who gave His life as spiritual food for us and rose again.
It concerns a strange Jewish institution called the Bread of the Presence. The account begins with a command of God through Moses in Leviticus chapter 24. God decrees that there is to be a table of pure gold in the Jewish Tabernacle (the precursor to the Jerusalem Temple) that would always have two piles of six bread cakes on it. The bread would be a food offering, but would stay on the table rather than be offered like an animal sacrifice. Every Sabbath day a new consignment would be neatly placed on the table and the old apparently eaten by the priests, and only the priests, as it was most holy.
We then move on to a curious incident that took place in some desperate days for David, the future King of Israel, and his followers (1 Samuel 21). Persecuted and beleaguered by King Saul in the waning days of Saul’s kingship, David desperately needs food for some of his young men. He asks the priest Ahimelech for whatever he can spare. All there is is the Bread of the Presence, which the priest calls holy bread. He can only supply it if the young men are ritually clean. David assures him that they are. The priest then gives him the bread. In effect, ordinary soldiers are being treated as though they were privileged like priests.
Jesus uses this story as an effective argument against those who were criticizing the actions of His disciples. On one occasion these disciples were plucking some ears of corn from local cornfields for food. This was acceptable practice except that it was the Sabbath that day, when “work” was forbidden. The Pharisees challenged Jesus. Jesus replied,
“Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:3-5 ESV).
With this one brief story a number of key points emerges. Here are just some:
• God’s Presence is for ever with His people. Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us”.
• Jesus says, “I am the Bread”. He is the living Bread from heaven, spiritual food to make us alive and nourish us.
• This is holy bread. With the Lord Jesus we are handling holy things.
• Jesus is our great High Priest, who makes His followers “a kingdom and priests to our God” (Revelation 5:10).
• Jesus is a merciful High Priest. He sets aside the strictness of God’s law to still our pangs of hunger and make us clean before God.
• In the Presence of God with us, and our coming to Him in the Lord Jesus, we have an eternal covenant. Holy Communion is now the sign of this.
Thank God for the rich meaning of that far-off piece of ceremony, the Bread of the Presence. May we present ourselves with reverence and Easter hope to our awesome, holy yet merciful God, the Father of Jesus Christ who gave His life as spiritual food for us and rose again.
Friday, 31 March 2017
Heroes?
A commentator remarked that the person who should be best remembered over the incident that developed in London that terrible day Wednesday last week is not the infamous Khalid Mahmood who perpetrated the appalling crime. He should be forgotten. The one remembered should be Tobias Ellwood, who battled for many minutes, that must have seemed like an eternity, to revive the dying policeman, Keith Palmer, with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He failed; but the point is that he was there and he tried.
It is these two actors in the drama whose names should live on while all else is forgotten. I don't think that will happen, because it is human nature to sensationalise crime and to speculate endlessly over the motivation of those who committed it. It becomes an absorbing fascination, the subject of ghoulish documentaries for decades to come.
Not that either of the other two men I have mentioned would seek to be remembered as heroes. As in the best traditions of service, they would claim that they were only doing their duty.
The Bible tells us that that is indeed all that God's servants should think about themselves when they had have done their Master's wishes.
“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Luke 17:7-12 ESV
Servants should not expect appreciation, but reckon that they have only done what they were supposed to do. As always, our example is our Master and Saviour. In fact the word “duty” falls short of describing the devotion of our Saviour to serving. It is more accurate to say that He was on mission. He fulfilled His heavenly Father’s commission to Him. It took Him all the way to the cross, but He did not flinch. In fact it was a joy to Him to play His supreme part in the Father’s plan to save the lost.
May we gladden His heart as we receive the salvation He came to give and then go on to serve others without looking for reward.
O Son of Man, our hero strong and tender,
Whose servants are the brave in all the earth,
Our living sacrifice to Thee we render,
Who sharest all our sorrows, all our mirth.
O feet so strong to climb the path of duty,
O lips divine that taught the word of truth,
Kind eyes that marked the lilies in their beauty,
And heart that kindled at the zeal of youth.
Frank Fletcher, 1870-1954
The famous parable of the sheep and the goats tells us that people will actually be surprised to learn that they have done their duty: fed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick and visit prisoners. "When did we do that?" they will protest. But the Master will simply reply,
"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).
It is these two actors in the drama whose names should live on while all else is forgotten. I don't think that will happen, because it is human nature to sensationalise crime and to speculate endlessly over the motivation of those who committed it. It becomes an absorbing fascination, the subject of ghoulish documentaries for decades to come.
Not that either of the other two men I have mentioned would seek to be remembered as heroes. As in the best traditions of service, they would claim that they were only doing their duty.
The Bible tells us that that is indeed all that God's servants should think about themselves when they had have done their Master's wishes.
“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Luke 17:7-12 ESV
Servants should not expect appreciation, but reckon that they have only done what they were supposed to do. As always, our example is our Master and Saviour. In fact the word “duty” falls short of describing the devotion of our Saviour to serving. It is more accurate to say that He was on mission. He fulfilled His heavenly Father’s commission to Him. It took Him all the way to the cross, but He did not flinch. In fact it was a joy to Him to play His supreme part in the Father’s plan to save the lost.
May we gladden His heart as we receive the salvation He came to give and then go on to serve others without looking for reward.
O Son of Man, our hero strong and tender,
Whose servants are the brave in all the earth,
Our living sacrifice to Thee we render,
Who sharest all our sorrows, all our mirth.
O feet so strong to climb the path of duty,
O lips divine that taught the word of truth,
Kind eyes that marked the lilies in their beauty,
And heart that kindled at the zeal of youth.
Frank Fletcher, 1870-1954
The famous parable of the sheep and the goats tells us that people will actually be surprised to learn that they have done their duty: fed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick and visit prisoners. "When did we do that?" they will protest. But the Master will simply reply,
"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Diana or Christ?
This dramatic and, at the time, very popular picture is evocative of the pressures that were placed upon early Christians to conform to the religion of the day. The ugly form of the many-breasted Diana is on the left. She was a blatantly pagan goddess, also known as Artemis, with prominent headquarters in the ancient city of Ephesus.
The artist imagines a scene later in time where a young girl – who has the light shining on her and takes centre stage – is presented with an ultimatum to worship Diana, or else. We see the hard-faced acolytes of this goddess looking on from around the horrible statue, impatiently waiting for the girl to submit. Just a pinch of incense is all that is required to signal her allegiance to the goddess! Her boyfriend is begging her to conform and save her life. The town recorder pitilessly reads out to her the charge of blasphemy against the goddess. The priest of Diana, seated, looks venerable but menacing at the same time. Two young children, still in their innocence, stare wide-eyed at this girl, failing to comprehend why she will not worship their goddess. Soldiers mingle around, steeling themselves to receive orders to execute the girl if and when she fails to comply with the demands of the authorities. Maybe she will be killed publicly to entertain the crowd behind.
When the apostle Paul visited Ephesus, he was seen as a rival to this established Diana cult. We read about this in Acts 19. Those who profited by selling trinkets relating to Diana perceived a danger to their trade. They set up a huge demonstration at which the clamour went up for two hours:
“Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
Paul was surely fortunate to escape with his life from that place.
It seems to me that we are facing exactly the same choice as the girl – Diana or Christ? – in today’s Britain. The goddess figure today might not be Diana, but it is something equally secular and degrading. There are the siren voices telling us that we must be even-handed with all minorities, whether they obey God’s law or not. Then there are those forced to go along with corruption or exploitation in the workplace. In all these different ways we are expected to compromise – to offer that little pinch of incense to Diana. Will we choose her – or will we choose Christ? You wonder whether there is anybody left who is willing to make the unpopular choice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet make it we must, if we are not to betray than those who have gone before us in the faith. They held out amid great provocation and great oppression. They kept a clear conscience and a consistent witness for Christ.
It is not as if what they went through took them by surprise. The Lord Jesus Himself prophesied that persecutions would take place. He promised no cushy outcome even for those who were the most prominent in His service. The rewards will be worth every trouble, but will only be fully realised in the life to come.
Do we trust in the life to come where everything is put to rights? We too often have a wrong perspective – basically kidding ourselves that this life is all there is, and we had better feather our own nest as far as possible in order to get the best enjoyment out of it. This would be a grave mistake. A life beckons where we spend eternity in the company of our Saviour in heaven.
The apostle Paul writes:
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
2 Timothy 2:10-13 ESV
Monday, 27 February 2017
The Tyrant Tongue
Every time I open my mouth to speak I feel as though I am walking a tightrope. One way there is the pitfall of saying too much and the other way there is the pitfall of saying too little.
It is very easy to say too much. The wise sages all down the years have produced many shrewd sayings about this danger and the results that can sometimes follow.
By saying too much you can do a great deal of damage. It is amazing the size of juggernaut that can be unleashed by a careless word. James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, compared the tongue to the rudder of a ship. It is relatively small compared with the vessel itself, but it can steer the whole of that vessel in whatever direction the pilot decides. I know that from my one brief experience of steering a vessel on water. It was an occasion where I was for a short while in charge of a narrowboat – I was at the tiller, in other words.
As a novice, I found myself always oversteering. The result was that the narrowboat took a zigzag course through the canal. I don't say the boat came to any harm. I did not go crashing into the canal bank or otherwise causing destruction. But I don't think the patient boat-owner who let me have a go at the tiller was particularly impressed by my skills. I hope to have another go soon as we look forward to a church outing on a narrowboat on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
My erratic course also illustrates another point that James makes in his letter. In his first chapter, James criticises the indecisive person – "double-minded, unstable in all his ways".
This double-minded character does not get what he asks for from the Lord. His problem is not just indecisiveness but a lurching between good and evil. About the tongue, James says this:
"... it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water" (James 3:8-12).
The other danger is in our saying too little. That way we may avoid saying the wrong thing, but if we look churlish that may equally send the wrong signals. Our silence can be as much of a weapon of mass destruction as the exercising of speech.
In order to truly use our tongue in the right way, the way that pleases God, we need His grace constantly. We need, in other words, following another piece of New Testament advice, to study how best to speak to each person we meet, and do it prayerfully.
May God help us in this precious work. It can bring enormous benefit where a hasty tongue would cause incalculable harm. It is also an excellent witness for Christ.
A church pastor I know explained to me one day how he was born into a non-Christian home. He found that non-Christians never seem to be able to avoid getting into shouting matches every time they have a difference of opinion. It clearly made a great impression on my friend that Christians see no need of this.
It is very easy to say too much. The wise sages all down the years have produced many shrewd sayings about this danger and the results that can sometimes follow.
By saying too much you can do a great deal of damage. It is amazing the size of juggernaut that can be unleashed by a careless word. James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, compared the tongue to the rudder of a ship. It is relatively small compared with the vessel itself, but it can steer the whole of that vessel in whatever direction the pilot decides. I know that from my one brief experience of steering a vessel on water. It was an occasion where I was for a short while in charge of a narrowboat – I was at the tiller, in other words.
As a novice, I found myself always oversteering. The result was that the narrowboat took a zigzag course through the canal. I don't say the boat came to any harm. I did not go crashing into the canal bank or otherwise causing destruction. But I don't think the patient boat-owner who let me have a go at the tiller was particularly impressed by my skills. I hope to have another go soon as we look forward to a church outing on a narrowboat on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
My erratic course also illustrates another point that James makes in his letter. In his first chapter, James criticises the indecisive person – "double-minded, unstable in all his ways".
This double-minded character does not get what he asks for from the Lord. His problem is not just indecisiveness but a lurching between good and evil. About the tongue, James says this:
"... it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water" (James 3:8-12).
The other danger is in our saying too little. That way we may avoid saying the wrong thing, but if we look churlish that may equally send the wrong signals. Our silence can be as much of a weapon of mass destruction as the exercising of speech.
In order to truly use our tongue in the right way, the way that pleases God, we need His grace constantly. We need, in other words, following another piece of New Testament advice, to study how best to speak to each person we meet, and do it prayerfully.
May God help us in this precious work. It can bring enormous benefit where a hasty tongue would cause incalculable harm. It is also an excellent witness for Christ.
A church pastor I know explained to me one day how he was born into a non-Christian home. He found that non-Christians never seem to be able to avoid getting into shouting matches every time they have a difference of opinion. It clearly made a great impression on my friend that Christians see no need of this.
Saturday, 11 February 2017
Mirrors
Some years ago, I came across an inexpensive way of bringing delight to children in poorer parts of the world by giving them something that would reflect their face. For many this may indeed be the very first time they actually see what they look like! It was all to do with old CDs. I was about to have a whole consignment of them recycled. But one lady in the north of England found out and persuaded me to change my mind. Her church was taking old CDs, putting little stickers on the non-reflective side of them and attaching a ribbon whereby the CD could be pinned up on a wall. The reflective side, albeit with a hole in the middle, could be used as a mirror. What a brilliant way to add value to the shoeboxes full of gifts which were being sent out to these children for Christmas!
There are occasional references to mirrors in the Bible. One is from the apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 13 he describes our earthly selves as being like someone looking at a dim reflection in a mirror. By contrast, in heaven there will be complete transparency. We will see each other face to face, and we will know fully even as God fully knows us.
Another instance that comes to mind is an amusing reference from a letter of James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus. He says that a person who hears God’s word but doesn't act upon it is like a man who sees his getting-up-in-the-morning face in a mirror. He looks himself up and down, but in the end he wants to forget that face. He has a perfunctory shave, turns away and immerses himself in the working day. The person who is obedient to God's will and purpose is like somebody who stoops down to look at all the truth God has given him. He really takes notice of it, weighs it up, and puts it into practice in his life.
This is what we should be like. It is easy to think we've completed our daily devotions, when really we've only been through the motions. God wants us not only to read His word, not even just to think it is impressive, but to take it on board and put it into practice.
The Lord Jesus always practised what he preached and urged others to do the same. He predicted he would be put to death, rise again and return to His Father in heaven. He undertook not to cut His followers adrift, but to make His death an offering for the ransom of many. Thank God that our Lord Jesus was not like the man who ran away from the reality that the mirror showed!
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:22-25
Sunday, 29 January 2017
Their Second Life
Since the disaster of the avalanche which engulfed a hotel in Italy, at least one lady has compared her rescue with being born again. It wasn’t glibly done, either: she explicitly credited God with her deliverance.
I may previously have referred to the words of Coxswain Frank Blewett of the RNLI when he described the steep ladder leading down to the survivors’ cabin:
“These are steps trodden by the reborn. When we have snatched a man out of the jaws of death, this is where he begins his second life.”
Going back to the lady in the hotel, I would guess that the word she used for “reborn” was “renata”. I believe this was a name fondly used by ladies in northern Italy as they made a brilliant discovery, or rather re-discovery, of a Bible truth. They did it as the new learning called the Renaissance blossomed throughout Europe. Re-examining their Bibles in a new light, they discovered that the real qualification for gaining eternal life was to be born again.
This basic truth had become lost or submerged for centuries. This was hardly surprising. When Jesus first uttered it, it caught out the Jewish law expert Nicodemus. In John 3 we learn that Jesus told him,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
Nicodemus could not understand that these words should be interpreted in a non-literal way.
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
Jesus explained:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus still didn’t get it. Jesus expressed astonishment that a man of Nicodemus’s learning could not detect the inner meaning of His words, even after He had clarified it. He had to spell it out.
“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
People today make fun of the expression, “Born Again”, because they don’t understand it. As a result, Christians involved in outreach tend to shy away from it. Yet sometimes it strikes a chord. I remember one evangelist with Birmingham City Mission who would go up to people on New Street and ask them bluntly, “Are you born again?”. He had some quite interesting and profitable conversations as a result!
The new birth is no novelty. It goes right back to the teaching of Jesus Himself. Believers should welcome it as a key part of their heritage.
I may previously have referred to the words of Coxswain Frank Blewett of the RNLI when he described the steep ladder leading down to the survivors’ cabin:
“These are steps trodden by the reborn. When we have snatched a man out of the jaws of death, this is where he begins his second life.”
Going back to the lady in the hotel, I would guess that the word she used for “reborn” was “renata”. I believe this was a name fondly used by ladies in northern Italy as they made a brilliant discovery, or rather re-discovery, of a Bible truth. They did it as the new learning called the Renaissance blossomed throughout Europe. Re-examining their Bibles in a new light, they discovered that the real qualification for gaining eternal life was to be born again.
This basic truth had become lost or submerged for centuries. This was hardly surprising. When Jesus first uttered it, it caught out the Jewish law expert Nicodemus. In John 3 we learn that Jesus told him,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
Nicodemus could not understand that these words should be interpreted in a non-literal way.
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
Jesus explained:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus still didn’t get it. Jesus expressed astonishment that a man of Nicodemus’s learning could not detect the inner meaning of His words, even after He had clarified it. He had to spell it out.
“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
People today make fun of the expression, “Born Again”, because they don’t understand it. As a result, Christians involved in outreach tend to shy away from it. Yet sometimes it strikes a chord. I remember one evangelist with Birmingham City Mission who would go up to people on New Street and ask them bluntly, “Are you born again?”. He had some quite interesting and profitable conversations as a result!
The new birth is no novelty. It goes right back to the teaching of Jesus Himself. Believers should welcome it as a key part of their heritage.
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