Born Again - John 3:1-21

Can you imagine what it was like to have met Jesus face to face during his earthly ministry? What kind of questions would you have asked him? How might he have answered? The interesting thing is there's a good chance he wouldn't have answered your question directly, but responded with the truth. We're going to see that in the encounter that Jesus has in John 3.

Read John 3:1-21

Perhaps one of the most famous encounters that Jesus has with people in the gospel of John. Nicodemus. A member of the Pharisees, a ruling member of the Jewish religious class. He comes to Jesus by night. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be there, but he wanted answers, he wanted to know: who is this Jesus?? So fittingly, a man in darkness, comes during darkness, to the true Light. Nicodemus starts off with a pretty obvious statement. Something that he and all the Pharisees agree on (even if later they insist it can't be true), Jesus is sent by God. But Jesus doesn't wait for him to go with circles with their questions, he cuts right to the point. Nicodemus comes wanting to know about the Kingdom of God, the kingdom that Jesus has been preaching and teaching, the kingdom that has come. He wants to know how to get in. Jesus says very simply in John 3:3, "unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." You must be born again.

Nicodemus is obviously confused, and maybe rightly so. Born again? That sounds like crazy talk. How is a person supposed to be born a second time? But Jesus isn't talking about re-birth, he's talking about new birth. He's saying that you have to be born not physically but spiritually. He's saying, If you want to see the Kingdom of God, you've got to have new life in me! That's the simple truth about Jesus' message: God sent His son to restore us to the life God intended for us. That means a new birth and a new life in Him. Have you been born again? In 1 Peter 1:3, Peter says we have been "born again into a living hope." Spend some time reflecting on the new birth we have in Jesus.

Read John 3:16-21

Jesus hammers it home for Nicodemus. He's not just there to teach about God. Jesus is there to save the world. The amazing thing is that Jesus came to save the world because of God's great love for us. His mission is rooted in compassion. Jesus came to rescue us from the darkness and bring us into the light. Have you thanked God for that today? That He sent Jesus to die on for you? His death means we no longer live in darkness but now we walk in the light. That's what an encounter with Jesus does! We may come to him in the darkness a la Nicodemus, but we leave Him walking in the freedom of the light. How will you walk in the light today? Give your day to God, ask Him how He wants you to walk in the light, and ask Him to help you do that.

For 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).