“Happy Second Birthday!”

John 3:1-17

Sandy and I were bragging a few days ago about how smart our grandson Ryan is. According to his parents, Ryan now knows how to get his favorite Sesame Street videotape out of the cabinet, insert it in the VCR, and turn it on to watch! And he’s just 16 months old! What a brilliant boy!

But whoever we were bragging to knocked us down a peg or two. They said it’s nothing when your grandchild can put a tape in a VCR and play it. Everybody’s grandkids do that! Then they said, “It’s when your grandchild puts a Peanut Butter and Jelly SANDWICH in the VCR and tries to play it that you know you’ve got a winner!”

And I guess they have a point! Little children are so creative with their curiosity. When I was up in Massachusetts for my mother’s surgery, I had the chance to spend some time with Ryan, and I have to admit that the little kid just about wiped me out! If there was a button nearby, he had to press it; if there was a door, he had to open it; if there was something he could get his hands on, he had to taste it; if there was something above him, he had to climb up to get it; if he had on a clean diaper he had to…well, you know! That little kid proved me to be pretty much out of shape. Oh, you have to be a well-conditioned athlete to keep up with a little kid!

And I found myself thinking how great it would be to find once again as an adult all the energy, all the excitement, all the sense of adventure that little children have. But, of course, you can’t go back. You can’t be born all over again.

Can you?

One of the truly great and unique blessings the Christian Faith offers to people is the gift of new birth. Now this is not the same new birth talked about by religions that speak of reincarnation. And this is not at all like the controversial “re-birthing” experiences of past-life regressive hypnotherapy.

No, the wonderful thing about the Christian new birth is you don’t have to regress backwards to find it, nor do you have to wait until you die.

It is possible, Jesus challenges us to believe, to be born again right now! In fact, not only is it possible, but it is absolutely necessary to be born anew!

This human quest for something more is, I believe, what lies behind our fascination with things like reincarnation and past lives. I’ve noticed that most of us, if there is some truth to reincarnation, aspire to rather romantic levels on the wheel of life. Nobody wants to come back as a slug, or a worm, or a snake. We all want to be horses and eagles. And I’ve noticed too that, when people imagine what some past life might have been, they always seem to have lived as members of royalty. Nobody ever has a past life as a cab driver, or as a paraplegic, or as a child suffering with bipolar disorder. Ever notice that?

We humans sense a higher potential for our lives. And I think the reason we think and dream about these things is because what we all really want out of life is to be happy, and satisfied, and secure.

The Christian Faith recognizes this human desire to be truly whole and well. But it also declares that human beings can’t get there on their own.

I was watching a videotape the other night of a Church of England minister speaking to a large gathering of people. These were not people who had made a commitment to Jesus Christ, but had lots of questions about the Christian Faith. For the most part, they were skeptics. Among them were young people and old people, women and men, blacks and whites, rich and poor. And something interesting happened while this minister was speaking. When he started talking about human beings having an inner emptiness – a hole in their hearts that couldn’t be filled with success, or sex, or wealth, or family, or any other material or human thing – this crowd of people become very still. Very quiet. They listened intently. It was as if he’d struck a deep nerve. It was like he was speaking directly to each one, and they knew exactly what he was talking about.

People were created to live in relationship with God, he said. But because we turn away from God, we are left with this God-shaped hole that we are unable to fill by ourselves. Oh, we try to stuff it with all kinds of things – cars and homes and trips and jobs and wealth and success and even other people - but that hole just sucks those things down without their even making a dent. We think, “I’ll be truly happy once I get an education.” So we get educated. But three weeks later, we need something more. “If only I can get that job!” And lo and behold, we land the job and start a great career. But three weeks later, it’s not enough anymore. We imagine, “If only I could find the right person and fall in love, my life would be complete.” So we meet Mr. or Ms. Right. But three weeks later…

Do you know what I’m saying? True fulfillment and wholeness and happiness are elusive things. There’s a hole in our hearts that cannot be filled no matter how hard we try.

Some of the great minds in history have written about this. This God-shaped hole is what Leo Tolstoy was wondering about when, all his success as an author and a beautiful family notwithstanding, he was left on the brink of suicide with one burning question: “Is there any meaning in my life which will not be annihilated by the inevitability of death that awaits me?”

Let me invite you to take up the same question today. “Is there any meaning in your life that will not be annihilated when you die?”

Well, Tolstoy looked all around his society for some sign of people who had a true answer to that question. Most of his contemporaries did not. But out among the peasants of Russia, Tolstoy discovered some people who’d found an answer to that question – and a filling of that hole – through faith in Jesus Christ.

And that’s the point of our Scripture story today about a man named Nicodemus.

You know, here was a man who had everything, and yet who had nothing. If you were to draw up a list of the 70 most successful people in Israel, he would be there. If you were looking for one of the top religious scholars in the world, he would be among them. If you were seeking the crème de la crème of Jewish society, Nicodemus was one. He was a member of the Sanhedrin – the ancient Hebrew version of our Supreme Court, but with expertise in the religious laws of Israel. Nicodemus had reached the pinnacle of worldly success. He was wealthy, well-liked, and religiously upright.

And yet there was something missing. So one night – when no one was looking – Nicodemus slipped out of the house and went and found Jesus. And this is more or less what he said:

“You know Jesus, I’ve been watching you, and listening to what you have to say. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something truly genuine and different about you. I know that God is with you.”

And Jesus, with his wonderful ability to perceive our deepest questions, goes right to the heart of what Nicodemus is wondering.

“The truth you’re looking for, Nicodemus, is this: no one can fill the empty hole in their heart unless he or she is born again.”

Now, Nicodemus – being something of a literalist – can’t quite figure this out. “You mean, I have to go find my mother, crawl back up inside her womb, and then come popping back out again?”

I can see Jesus rolling his eyes on that one. “No, Nicodemus, I don’t think your mother would go for that!” You see, that’s the trouble with literalists. That’s me talking, not Jesus.

“Well, how can one be born again?”

And Jesus answered, “Human beings are made to be born twice. We are all born of the water of a woman’s womb. That’s what brings us into this world and makes us physically alive. But once we’re here – born of the water – we need to made spiritually alive to God. It’s not something that happens automatically, like how you simply start breathing when you’re born. God does not force Himself on anyone. Only when a person agrees to the new birth can the new birth happen. And then the Holy Spirit makes it happen. That’s why I say, ‘If you want to see that hole in your heart filled, you must be born again.’”

Here’s what I love about the Christian Faith. It is utterly realistic. It does not pull any punches about the difficult realities of life. Giving your life to Christ does not promise a change in your outward circumstances, but in your inner self. Your difficult marriage will still be difficult, but YOU will be different! Your rebellious child will still be rebellious – but YOU will be different. Your loss will still be your loss - your cancer will not go away – your enemies will still not like you – your worry will not disappear – your poverty will not turn to prosperity – your loneliness will not transform itself into instant friendships – your problems will not all go away – but YOU will be changed and different!.

The way God goes about saving the world is not by changing our outer circumstances, BUT BY CHANGING US! And as people with a new spirit born within us, we can begin to live life and tackle life’s challenges in ways never before possible!

I was interested to read in the paper a week or so ago about a speaker at the First Baptist Church of Concord. Joni Earickson Tada is one of the most amazing people you’ll ever meet. At 17-years of age, she was a beautiful young woman with a bright future ahead of her. But then a diving accident changed her life forever. She was left a quadriplegic.

For a while of course, Joni hoped beyond hope that the paralysis would go away. But it didn’t. And when that reality began to set in, she found herself spiraling into a deep, deep depression. For a while, it seemed she would be overcome by her circumstances. But through the encouragement of some friends, Joni finally reached out in faith to Jesus Christ. She asked him to come into her life, and give her a new spirit. And the power of the Holy Spirit came. Joni was born anew!

Over the next two years of rehabilitation, Joni learned to paint by holding the paintbrush between her teeth. Today, her paintings are highly regarded and widely in demand. But Joni also found herself being drawn more and more to the plight of people like herself who lived life every day with physical disabilities. Again, the new spirit in her life led her to start “Joni and Friends” – a radio ministry heard on over 700 radio stations and that brings a message of hope to disabled people. She became an advocate for accessibility, working with churches all over the country to help them recognize and correct the barriers that stand in the way of some people being able to be part of the church. Joni has written 27 books – almost all of them best-sellers, and each of them bearing the message of God’s ability to bring to life within us a brand new YOU who can face life as it really is with power and grace!

“You must be born again for that hole in your heart to be filled,” Jesus says.

Now I know for a fact that there are many here today who are dealing with some pretty heavy stuff in their lives. And I know there are others whose outer circumstances may be okay, but inside, there is an empty place that you haven’t been able to fill with human things.

Would you be willing to consider asking God to bring a new YOU to life today? Would you be willing to let the Holy Spirit fill that inner empty space with a new spirit that is alive to God and raring to help you live?

What’s so very remarkable to me about the offer of new birth is that birth is the one thing in life you can’t do for yourself. You can bring about on your own power any other event in your lifetime, including death. But you cannot cause your own birth. That’s always up to someone else

And this second birth – the spiritual birth Jesus promised – is something only God can do for you!

But here is God’s promise to each of us today: I will do it for you. Today can be your second birthday! All you have to do…is ask!