Being Born Again

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

 ³In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

 ⁴"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

 ⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

John 3:1-8 (NIV)

What does it mean to be "born-again?"  It is a term that we associate with Christianity.  Moralism.  Church.  But what does it actually mean for us today?  I am currently taking my Student Ministry through the Gospel of John, and in chapter 3 a man named Nicodemus comes to visit with Jesus.

Nicodemus is a Pharisee...a Politician...a wealthy man (according to Jewish historian Josephus) and according to Jesus the "teacher of Israel."  So it seems that he has his act together.  He is wealthy, powerful, and socially he is an elite.  So why does he come to Jesus?  What is he looking for?

Taking this a step further.  He also has a good theological understanding of Jesus.  He calls Jesus, "Rabbi" which indicated that he thought Jesus was an esteemed teacher despite his apparent lack of theological training.  He stated that he thought that Jesus was "from God" or sent from God.  Once again Nicodemus gets this one right... although not in the proper way (Jews thought that if you had power than God was blessing you).  He then talks about the signs that Jesus was doing.  Jesus did indeed use signs as a way to point to his Divinity.  So, so far, Nicodemus has a good grasp on who Jesus is...

But Jesus addresses Nicodemus' need without him even noticing that he has one.  Nicodemus must be "born again."  So what does this mean?

The Need

First in order to understand what it means to be born again we must understand the need for it to happen to us.  We must understand that in our present state we lack something.  We are sinful and needy, and are in desperately in need of a Savior.  

The Miracle

Then we must understand that God calls us to be born again.  God works in our life.  God is the initiator in our salvation.  It is not of our own accord, but because of his Grace showered over us.  This is a miracle.  God does it for us.

The Mystery

The next step is to understand that we cannot understand what has taken place.  This is why Jesus talks about not being able to see the wind but still knowing that it is there.  We cannot understand what is taking place when we are truly born again but is something that actually takes place in our lives.

New But Still Ourselves

Being born again means that a change has taken place in our lives.  We become different.  We are changed from the inside out to be more like Christ.  We become Christian, and live our life for him.  We are still ourself but we are different.  We are in the process of becoming.

Ezekiel 36:26:  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

We become so much more than we could ever hope to be ourself...we are born again.