2/8/2014

Born Again

John 3:1-3 “1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ 3Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”

It’s interesting to note that Nicodemus didn’t meet Jesus in the temple, or while he was out preaching, or when he was healing the sick. Instead, Nicodemus comes under cover of darkness to meet one on one.

Nicodemus begins the meeting by giving Jesus some props. In verse 2, he acknowledges that the Pharisees know that Jesus came from God. What Jesus does next, is surprising. He completely ignores what Nicodemus just said and replies “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In one moment, Jesus bypasses all of the religious rhetoric and goes straight to the heart of the matter.

Wherever Nicodemus was planning to go no longer matters. In a single sentence Jesus lays out exactly who he is and why he’s here on this earth. When we stand before God, it is not going to matter how many days we sat in church, how many people we invited, or how many faith based posts we put on Facebook. The ONLY thing that will matter is how we answer the question “Are you born again?”