Christian Living

Life in the Spirit

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
07/22/21
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“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into 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 be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.” (John 3:3, 5-7)

When our Lord Jesus spoke these verses, He was speaking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a prominent Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jewish leadership. Nicodemus had a position and power within the community and, therefore, a lot to lose. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were in opposition to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus was a threat to the norm and was causing a disturbance in the order of the Jewish religious system. If the peers of Nicodemus knew that he had ventured to see and talk with Jesus, it might have jeopardized his standing in the council that he was a member of. Nicodemus had heard the words of Jesus, and he knew that he lacked in his relationship with God. Nicodemus wanted to be closer in his faith with God, and he wanted to learn of the eternal life that Jesus was offering. Therefore, Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night so the others of his order would not know.

When Nicodemus approached Jesus, he asked Him this question, “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.” (John 3:2) Jesus, who knows the heart of a man, went past the courtesies and small talk and began to answer the question of Nicodemus’ heart with our text verses 3, 5-7. At first, Nicodemus was amazed by this answer and questioned how one could be born again. From the answer that He gave, we realize that He was not talking about a rebirth of the physical body but the spirit. I am willing to believe and say that the whole conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus is not recorded in John’s Gospel, and I would not be the one to add or subtract. But the answer that Jesus gave is most profound. To understand the fullness of the answer, I have to return to the Old Testament Scriptures.

Everything in God’s creation on earth was in the plural state. God didn’t go around and plant one seed for a tree and another for a dandelion. He filled the earth with plant life in a mature state. God didn’t place a newborn animal and wait for it to grow; He filled the earth with mature animals. All God’s creative work was placed upon the earth, fully functional and living in harmony, fulfilling their purpose according to His plan. I ponder that this was so for the crown of His creation, humanity. God formed Adam from the dust of the earth, but Adam was a body that had no life within it. Why was there no life? Jesus gives us the answer in the gospel of John. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6:63)

The striking point that grabs me is that for Adam to become a living being, God had to breathe His spirit into him. “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) It is the Spirit of God that gives man life. Adam and Eve lived in harmony with God because they were created in His image. “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)

We do not know how long this paradise was created by God for man lasted, but it was when God and man walked together on this earth. When God and man had a personal fellowship between them. A time when there was peace between man and his Creator. Then tragedy struck all creation when that evil fallen angel Satan comes down in the form of a serpent and tempted man that he could be as God. Adam and Eve fell to the deception of Satan and disobeyed God’s Word, and sin entered into the world. All the earth and humanity now lives in the truth of death. Humanity’s relationship and their peace with God were now fractured. The heart of man is corrupted, and therefore the spirit of man is also. Man with his broken spirit can no longer reside with God. The seriousness of this is the body will die, but the spirit will live for eternity, and some in the Kingdom of Heaven and the rest in the Lake of Fire reserved for Satan and his demons.

Just as a follower of Jesus will have a resurrected body after he leaves here, he must also have a reborn spirit that is not corrupted by sin. We all fall short of God’s glory; none of us can keep the law of God perfectly, and how then can we take this broken spirit that is unacceptable to God and experience a rebirth of spirit that will be acceptable to God. We only have one body, and we only have one spirit, and neither can be replaced here on earth. With Nicodemus, I ask, “Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (John 3:4)

Jesus answered Nicodemus with this truth, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6) The flesh often determines much of what we do and usually does not have any eternal value that will be profitable for us in the spiritual world we are bound for. Our flesh is easily tempted in the same as Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan. (Matthew 4:1-11) Our sins against God fall into three categories as John wrote, “The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” (1 John 1 2:16) Many succumb to the desires of the flesh and go down the broad road, which leads to destruction. I understand that as I struggle with that every day. As a man who was fully God, He has empathy for us as He has fought the same battles as we. Following Jesus does not make life easier and sometimes makes it harder. It comes down to which we will surrender to, the flesh or the Spirit of Truth. When we follow Jesus, He gives us the Spirit of Truth that we may know the way to go. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

Being born again, which means to be born from above, we need to surrender and walk by the Spirit of God. All we have to do is to be willing, to surrender to the will of God, which is revealed by the Spirit of Truth with who we abide. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have this power, the power of God’s Spirit living within us. Because God is holy, we must also strive to be holy. Because God is righteous, we must also strive to be righteous. As we walk by His Spirit (Galatians 5:16), not with, behind or in front of, but walking by the power of His Spirit, we will overcome the desires of the flesh. We will become new creatures in Christ, becoming more in His image. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

It is the abundant life, the transformed life from the lost of the world, which leads to eternal destruction, but the Spirit-led life that follows Jesus and serving Him in the good work that He has set before us. A sacramental life in which He lives through us, taking us to places that He has prepared for us in this world and the place and city that we were created to be. Either way, we will leave this world behind someday, for the question is always to which world we shall go. If we live for this world, we spend so little time in, and we will die as the world will someday soon. Or we can be spiritually born again from the Spirit above and do that which is good, acceptable, and perfect and have our place at the Heavenly Father’s table. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, February 26, 2018