Being "Born Again"

...unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God....Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.....just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (Jn. 3).

 

"The Spirit gives birth to spirit...."  From the words of Jesus, we must conclude that not every person walking the earth is born of the Spirit, or "born again," even though we are all born with the capacity to receive the Holy Spirit, or The Breath of the Almighty:

 

I thought, "Age should speak;

advanced years should teach wisdom."

But it is the Spirit in a man,

the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

It is not only the old who are wise,

nor only the aged who understand what is right (Job 32:7-9).

 

Man is a spiritual being, but in order to walk in the Spirit of God, He must be 'born again' of God's Spirit.   Life being what it is, there are all kinds of "spirits" that shape our souls from birth -- and they often damage us in a permanent way.  Fear, anxiety, is one result of the damaging effects of sin, not only our own sin, but that of others on us.

 

Not one of us is a perfect parent; few of us operate on a daily and momentary basis in communion with God's Holy Spirit -- and we sadly see the effects of our sin impressed on the souls of our dear children.  The effect of generations of sin most often land on the children.  The most common sentiment of the elderly looking back over their lives is that of regret for the things they did and for the things they failed to do. 

 

The second chapter of Ephesians is, to me, one of the clearest expressions of what it means to be "born again" of the Spirit of God:

 

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions --- it is by grace you have been saved.

 

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

The question is, whose spirit is at work in us?  Is it the spirit of "the kingdom of this world," or the Spirit of Christ?  As Jesus said, "You cannot serve both God and mammon; either you will love the one and hate the other, or you will hate the one and love the other."  Mammon is a word coming from the Chaldean, or Babylonian, language, representing avarice deified.  It is often identified with money, but can be simply the things of the world that control our thoughts and desires.

 

When Jesus was "lifted up," as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, He destroyed the power of Mammon over us.  Those who had been bitten by snakes in the desert were healed as they gazed upon the bronze serpent on the pole.  That which had bitten them was destroyed.  In the case of Jesus, He became for our sake, the sin which was destroying us --- and He destroyed the spirit of this world that reigned over all of us. 

 

When He rose again, He rose as the "new man" or the "second Adam" (see 2 Corinthians.)  Death and Mammon no longer had the power to rule over Him -- or over those who rose with Him from the dead.  Now we are free to live for God, in communion with God's Spirit.  We have been 'born again' of water and the Spirit. 

 

That is the significance of baptism: we have died with Christ, and we have risen with Christ to be "seated in the heavenly places with Him."  Mammon, or the god of this world, no longer has power to blind us to the things of God.  We are free now to see the Spirit of God incarnate in the world around us.  We no longer have to "gratify the cravings of our sinful nature," because the Spirit of Jesus, who knew no sin, lives in us, freeing us from the demands of the flesh.

 

Every one of us, after physical death, will be freed from the demands and cravings of the sinful nature -- one way or another.  But Jesus could not stand to see us living our lives in bondage until death.  He made us one with Him, and took upon Himself our physical death, so that we could live even now in freedom of Spirit with Him.  We are "born again" of water from His side and Spirit from the breath of His mouth to live now for God instead of for ourselves. 

 

He promised that He would never reject or send away anyone who came to Him.  Millions of sinners throughout the ages will testify to His power in us to save us from sin and death.  All it takes is coming to Him; he will do everything else necessary to deliver us from sin and death.