IS YOUR GOD TOO SMALL?
As many of you know, my wife is a music teacher at East End Elementary. Just last week, another teacher B obviously affiliated with the Academy Theater B approached her about their next production. He told her they=re doing South Pacific, and he wondered if I=d be interested in being part of the cast.
As my wife told me about this man=s request, I was truly flattered. What role would they want me to play? Would they want me to be the entrepreneurial Luther Billis? Would they want me to be Lieutenant Joe Cable? Had Kevin Dill or Becky Borthwick let it slip about what a talented singer I really am? So I said to my wife, AWhat role do they want me to play?@ To which she quickly replied, AThey=re looking for drunken sailors!@
Okay, okay, that was a little bit humbling. And truth be told, I didn=t really think they=d ask me to play a major role. But it=s nice to be asked. It=s really quite flattering. And as all of us suspect deep, deep down, flatteryYwill get you everywhere.
In a manner of speaking, that=s exactly what Nicodemus was trying to do in the passage we read from the gospel according to John. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the prestigious Sanhedrin B what we might call the Supreme Court of ancient Israel. Now since Jesus had caused a bit of a stir amongst the Pharisees, Nicodemus came to Jesus by cover of darkness. Upon gaining an audience with Jesus, Nicodemus said to him, ARabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.@ Why it was almost as if he had borrowed a page from Dale Carnegie=s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. You know, flattery will get you everywhere!
Nicodemus probably expected Jesus to reply with something like, AWhy, yes, I do come from God. How perceptive of you to notice!@ But that=s not what Jesus said at all. Jesus knew why Nicodemus had come, and Jesus knew the question that burned in his heart. Jesus quickly put the small talk aside and said to him, ATruly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.@
Nicodemus wanted to know how to attain the kingdom of God for himself. He wanted to know how to attain eternal life. And that=s the question Jesus answered. AUnless one is born anew,@ he said, Aone cannot see the kingdom of God.@
The Greek words translated Aborn anew@ here are gennaythay annothen. They can actually be translated two ways. One way implies that one must be physically reborn. The other way implies that one must be spiritually reborn B literally, Abegotten from above.@ Nicodemus misunderstood. He assumed Jesus was talking about physical rebirth, and he did not understand how that could happen. How important it is that we be on the same wavelength when we=re trying to communicate!
For example, I came across an interesting story about a miscommunication just the other day. It seems the children in a particular family really wanted a hamster and they begged their parents to buy them one. They promised their parents that if they got said hamster, they would take care of it themselves. So Mom and Dad purchased a hamster for their kids and the kids named it Danny.
After a month or two, the mother found herself responsible for feeding and cleaning up after Danny. Thus, she located a prospective new home for him, and she told the children about her plan. Surprisingly, the children took it pretty well. They actually said, AHe=s been around here a long time. We=re really going to miss him.@
AYes,@ the mother replied, Abut he=s too much work for just one person, and since I=m that person, I say he goes.@ One of the children said, AWell, maybe if he wouldn=t eat so much and wouldn=t be so messy, we could keep him.@
But Mom was firm. AIt=s time to take Danny to his new home,@ she said. AGo and get his cage.@ Suddenly the kids cried out, ADanny! We thought you said Daddy!@
Like I said, how important it is that we be on the same wave length when we=re trying to communicate. Jesus said to Nicodemus, AUnless one is born anew, one cannot see the kingdom of God.@ Nicodemus thought in terms of physical rebirth, but Jesus was speaking in terms of spiritual rebirth.
This simple passage has probably caused as much confusion in the church as any passage in all of Scripture. The question is asked, AHow does one get to heaven?@ And the answer is posited, AYou must be born again.@ The confusion is this. Is our spiritual rebirth something we accomplish on our own, or is our spiritual rebirth something God accomplishes in us?
I truly believe that conventional wisdom in America today leans toward the former.
You know, in order to be born again, we must accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior. I don=t know where exactly that language came from. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus say, AIn order to see the kingdom of God, you must accept me as your personal savior.@ Yet try to look at this as a theologian. If the onus of being born again rests with us, then does this not become salvation by works? We do not B nor have we ever B espoused a doctrine of works-righteousness. Salvation comes by the grace of God and the grace of God alone. Or, try to look at this from a psychological standpoint. If I have accepted Christ as my personal savior and you have not, aren=t I inclined to look down upon you B to see myself as being superior? It=s this very attitude that has given Christianity such a bad name in recent years.
That=s why Jesus clearly indicates that it all begins with God. To Nicodemus, he says, ADo not marvel that I said to you, >You must be born anew.= The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.@ That=s what the Church has taught for the last 2000 years. That=s what we call orthodox Christian theology. It all begins with God. We still have free will. God can come to us by way of his Holy Spirit and we can choose to reject him. But I=ve always been of the mindset that if God wants you, God=s going to get you. Our spiritual rebirth begins with God. It=s orthodox Christian theology. And if it begins with God and not with us, that ought to humble us as well, don=t you think? We didn=t first choose God, rather, God first chose us.
Yet the question is often asked, AHow do I know that I=m born anew?@ How can I tell if I=ve been begotten from above? How does that old saying go, AThe proof is in the pudding?@ The proof of our spiritual rebirth is evidenced by the way we live our lives. Again, the proof of our spiritual rebirth is evidenced by the way we live our lives.
A recent United States President claimed to be born again, did he not? His spiritual rebirth got him to stop drinking. And perhaps that=s a good thing. Yet I recently encountered a startling essay that questions his sincerity. I=m not going to say who wrote the essay because some of you might know him. And I don=t mean to offend anyone, but I do want you to think. The essay says:
Many persons supported George Bush because they believed him to be a devout Christian, a man of prayer, a man of God. Certainly Bush lets no opportunity pass to let the public know that he is a born again Christian. I have been asked whether I believe him to be a godly man. It is not for me to judge, but I am not persuaded that he is. For one thing, none of the people whom I have known in my lifetime whom I would characterize as Agodly@ have every publicly paraded their godliness. And among widely known public figures, the only one that comes to mind (who is godly) is Mother Teresa.
The essayist goes on to contrast former President Bush=s actions with Jesus= Sermon on the Mount. ABlessed are the peacemakers,@ Jesus said. The essayist says Bush is a war maker. AHe waged an unjust war in Iraq.@ ABlessed are the meek,@ Jesus said. The essayist says, ABush and his cronies are the epitome of arrogance and toughness. They mocked John Kerry for suggesting that we show some sensitivity in dealing with those who disagree with us.@ The list goes on and on, but I=ll stop here. Again, I am not trying to offend anyone. I just want you to think about what it means to evidence our faith by the way we live our lives. Consistency is imperative.
Compare that to the man about whom Don Skinner wrote in last Friday=s Meadville Tribune B a man named Millard Fuller. Skinner wrote:
Highly successful and an early millionaire, Fuller could have been forgiven for being satisfied with his achievements. He might also have evaporated into oblivion. He was one of several men I=ve personally met who sky-rocketed into economic orbit, only to look around and ask, AIs this all there is?@ Indeed it was all B where he was at. But not where he was going. He hadn=t gotten off the ground yet.
Who was Millard Fuller? Millard Fuller was the founder of Habitat for Humanity. By the year 2009, Habitat for Humanity volunteers had erected 300,000 homes, occupied by more than 1.5 million people. As Fuller himself put it, AWe know that by doing what we can, we make a difference. We know from experience that when we move on faith, God moves with us.@ Now there=s a man who was born anew. He truly figured out that life was not all about him.
J.B. Phillips was the author of a book entitled, Your God Is Too Small. When is our God too small? Our God is too small when we believe the world revolves around us. Our God is too small when we think we have all the answers. Our God is too small when we think we=re better than somebody else. Our God is too small when we equate God=s desires with our own. Our God is too small when our faith doesn=t guide every aspect of our lives. Our God is too small when he impacts only our lives and not the way we deal with others. Our God is too small when we think that being born again has only to do with spending eternity in heaven. Our God is too small when he doesn=t impact what we do in the here and now. So I ask you now: AIs your God too small?@ Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment