HIDE AND SEEK

#1 · January 8, 2003, 10:56 am

Quote from Forum Archives on January 8, 2003, 10:56 am
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

HIDE AND SEEK
January 5, 2003

Text: John 3:1-22

Isnt it funny how some words sound like nonsense when continuously used
in ways that has nothing to do with their meanings? The word
"resolution," for instance, fits this category. Resolve, from which
resolution is derived, means to make a decision which is acted upon. Yet,
when applied at the time of a New Year, a resolution is hardly taken to
mean firm action. Instead, it is tossed around comically as people make
New Years resolutions with no intention of keeping them. For instance,
if I told you this morning that I resolve for 2003 to clean off my
desktop and keep it clear throughout the year, you would soon discover
that my resolution is not very resolute. It is a resolution that I
doubt that I would, or could, keep. That being the case, it becomes no
resolution at all. Someone learning the English language could become
easily confused if they learned the dictionary meaning of this word and
then saw its application about this time of the year.

This began to be the fate of the Biblical term born again. A few
decades ago, the term was applied as an adjective to modify the noun
Christian. That is, born again Christian was used with such
increasing frequency that it became futile to claim just plain
Christianity. If one said he or she was a Christian, the question was
returned, Are you a born again Christian? No longer were there just
Christians; suddenly we were all self-defined as born again Christians.

Although one of the original intents of using born again in this manner
was to make a particular distinction of some of the doctrines and
statements of belief of Evangelical Christianity, this inaccurate use of
the term created confusion within both Christian and non-Christian
communities. Some critics of American culture, for instance, reduced the
born again phenomenon to a case of rampant consumerism. To be born
again was to identify with a superficial cultural wave that required
only passing commitment, like consuming a bag of chips. It tasted good
and was an acceptable thing to do, but lacked any real spiritual or
life-changing substance.

Such trivializing of things spiritual leads to a downgrading of authentic
religion until all such expression is seen merely as an attempt to cover
up other psycho-socio-economic causes. Sigmund Freud, for instance, saw
in Christianity's depiction of the death and resurrection of God in flesh
a subliminal attempt to get rid of the guilt of the infant's desire to
replace father or mother. Freud seemed to have a knack for confusing the
simple. Religion can also be explained away as an attempt to avoid the
inevitability of death, or to appease the gods thought to be in control
of magical environmental forces that determine the outcome of a harvest
or how much pain lowly humans endure.

Yet, in spite of such humanistic, secular explanations, the 20th century
saw Christian faith explode in places such as Korea, Africa, and South
America. D. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, points out in
a review of the second edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia that
in the 20th century Christianity became a religion practiced everywhere
in the inhabited world, with the most growth taking place in the world's
less developed nations. "Religion is not dying out," he says, "and indeed
resumed rapid growth in the 20th century." According to his data, 81
percent of Christians in 1900 were white, compared to 45 percent in 2000.
(used by Jeff McDonald, No Compromise, The Salvation Army War Cry,
Christmas 2002, p. 16) If Christianity is explainable as only a cultural
or geopolitical force, how can such a shift be explained? Cultures in
those geographic regions already had historical, traditional religions to
address the psychological needs of humanity, and most governments in
those same areas did not accept Christianity favorably. Yet, citizens in
such places grew in the Spirit of God.

"These are the days of miracle and wonder," Paul Simon sings, and as in
other historic periods when authentic Christian faith managed to survive
despite persecution and the ravages of conquest and epidemic, more is at
work than changes in human identity, awareness, and affiliation. As
political tensions rise and recede, populations shift, arms proliferate,
pluralism increases, and peace and justice are pursued, humanistic
ideologies and spiritual realities compete for supremacy. We continue to
witness in our day the result of considering a search for truth as the
sole responsibility of the fully aware human being adrift in an
indifferent and even hostile universe. In other words, truth then becomes
our own making, created by shifts in simple definitions. Unfortunately,
even Christians participate in this by using Biblical words and thoughts
in non-Biblical applications. Just like those who resolve to lose fifty
pounds this year but end the year having gained fifty pounds,
non-Christians wonder what the big deal about using born again to
describe Christians when said Christian ends up living and behaving like
one who is not born again - Christian or not.

Born again, as used by Jesus in John 3, refers not to humanity's
attempt to reach ultimate truth but to God's intervention in history.
When such a use of the terms religion and born again is understood
this way, then the search for truth shifts. Truth comes from the actions
of a God who is self-sustaining, who freely chooses to connect with those
creatures who are a part of Him, but know Him not. We discover this
profound revelation when we stop playing hide and seek with God.

Before moving to Nicodemuss experience with Jesus, I want to jump back
several centuries to illustrate Gods intervention into human history.
Turn with me to Ezekiel 20:44. Now, this is well before the term born
again ever became a part of the religious dictionary. The prophet
Ezekiel received a message from a God who was so brokenhearted over His
people's waywardness that only the incursion into time of an
authentically new spiritual reality could overcome the gap between human
sin and divine holiness. You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal
with you for my names sake and not according to your evil ways and your
corrupt practices, O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord. As we
know from the testimony of the Old Testament and the history of Israel,
God intervened in human affairs to restore, recreate, and redeem. This is
truth coming to man in spite of mans false longing to hide from God.

When a member of the educated, ruling class in Israel named Nicodemus
heard Jesus of Nazareth preach around A.D. 30, he approached Him to learn
the source of His power. As a healer, Jesus was attracting much
attention. Some saw in him a threat to their own status as leaders. They
saw a threat to their established way of life. They saw a threat to their
rehearsed way of understanding Gods revelation. Jesus taught and lived
differently than they did, but the leadership could find no way to
discredit him. Jesus was a real threat to their world. Even though it is
generally accepted that Nicodemus came to Jesus on his own accord, these
are some of the background thoughts that he would have carried with him
to his clandestine meeting.

The earnest inquiry of Nicodemus echoes questions of people today who
wonder if there might not be more to human purpose and destiny than how
to make a living and find some peace of mind. Jesus cut through all
pretenses and signaled a new and final manifestation of the spirit.

"You must be born again," Jesus said. Nicodemus was dumbfounded, and
replied half-mockingly, "How can an old man be born twice? Should he
enter his mother's womb again?" "Flesh gives birth to flesh," Jesus
explained, "but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

Just as God did for Ezekiel, Jesus makes it clear to Nicodemus that God
is involved in human affairs. Nicodemus expressed surprise and asked
about the possibility of being born again from the womb on the human
plane. But he knew just as well after hearing Jesus spiritual
explanation that it was still impossible for any man or woman to be born
again on their own accord. But what is impossible for human beings is
quite possible for God, and Christianity dares to say not only possible
but also necessary in order to move from the path from death to life. The
action of being born again happens when we stop playing hide and seek
with God. This is the distinction between using born again as an
adjective and the Biblical use of Born again. To be born again is a
change that occurs in our lives as a result of Gods intervention. To
regard born again as anything less than this is to change it from Gods
power to a human superficial application.

But it's hard to tag the experience of someone like Joni Eareckson Tada
as superficial. An outgoing, radiant young woman who loved to play
lacrosse and ride horses near her family's Maryland home, she anticipated
a bright future until she dove into a lake in the summer of 1967 and
broke her neck. Paralyzed from the neck down, the independent-minded Joni
found herself strapped into a hospital bed 24 hours a day. "I desperately
wanted to kill myself," she writes in A Step Further. "I had no hope of
ever walking again. I had no idea of how I could find purpose or meaning
in just existing day after day.

Then God came to her and breathed into her His Spirit in a new way, and
she experienced resurrection. She learned that He came to earth and
suffered so He could sympathize with our weaknesses. When God moved me a
few notches up the scale of suffering... a whole new world opened up...
to me. She concluded that God had a purpose for her - to empathize with
people going through their own trials. (used by Jeff McDonald, No
Compromise, The Salvation Army War Cry, Christmas 2002, p. 17)

C.S. Lewis, author and scholar of medieval literature, learned as a child
to look for joy in the power of the imagination. He was acutely aware of
his own awkwardness and clumsiness, and knew solitude and grief. His
mother died of cancer when he was young. Later, as a scholar and
essayist, he engaged in a chess match with Christianity, delighting in
refuting its claims. But the claims moved in slowly and steadily until he
found himself in checkmate. Only then did he find the joy he had searched
for his whole life. "At each step one had less chance to 'call one's soul
one's own,"' Lewis writes in his autobiography Surprised by Joy. "To
accept the incarnation was a further step in the same direction. It
brings God nearer... I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we
set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when
we reached the zoo I did... It was like when a man, after a long sleep,
still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake." (used
by Jeff McDonald, No Compromise, The Salvation Army War Cry, Christmas
2002, p. 17)

When Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky died in 1881, thousands followed
his casket as it was drawn through the streets of St. Petersburg, so
great was this man's impact through his portrayal of the drama of
alienation and redemption. And it happened because this utopian socialist
was given a New Testament when he was a political prisoner in Siberia. As
a student in 19th century Russia, he was attracted to radical publicists,
and would spend ten years in exile from his beloved St. Petersburg for
this association. His yearning for freedom in an authoritarian state and
his understanding of the struggle between good and evil led him to see in
Christ a uniqueness that absolved and transcended human guilt and
suffering. "If it could be shown to me that Christ is not in the truth,
and the truth not in Christ, I would rather be with Christ than with the
truth," he said. (used by Jeff McDonald, No Compromise, The Salvation
Army War Cry, Christmas 2002, p. 17)

If the Holy Spirit does intercede in people's lives, if God's Spirit is a
distinct reality that envelops, whispers, calls, and moves through
history, it reveals something about its source - that God is the One who
seeks and finds. The Christmas we just celebrated is the clearest,
highest sign of this part of His character. He gave His Son to be born
and to die and to rise again to usher in a reign of the Spirit. This is
the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness
instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil
hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so
that it may be seen plainly what he has done has been done through God.

God acts through His Spirit manifested in the Christ child to take upon
Himself the world's lostness and to banish anything that compromises the
way of love everlasting and of life in the redemptive, affirming
compassion of God. Paul declares, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

So it is not with a resolution that we greet the New Year, but with an
acceptance of Gods offer to fill us with His Spirit and, consequently,
to be born again. How does this happen? It happens when we stop playing
hide and seek with God and just acknowledge that He who seeks has found
whom He seeks. And having been found, to allow the God of might and love
to give us new life through new birth. But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly what he has done has
been done through God.

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

________________________________________________________________
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Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

HIDE AND SEEK
January 5, 2003

Text: John 3:1-22

Isnt it funny how some words sound like nonsense when continuously used
in ways that has nothing to do with their meanings? The word
"resolution," for instance, fits this category. Resolve, from which
resolution is derived, means to make a decision which is acted upon. Yet,
when applied at the time of a New Year, a resolution is hardly taken to
mean firm action. Instead, it is tossed around comically as people make
New Years resolutions with no intention of keeping them. For instance,
if I told you this morning that I resolve for 2003 to clean off my
desktop and keep it clear throughout the year, you would soon discover
that my resolution is not very resolute. It is a resolution that I
doubt that I would, or could, keep. That being the case, it becomes no
resolution at all. Someone learning the English language could become
easily confused if they learned the dictionary meaning of this word and
then saw its application about this time of the year.

This began to be the fate of the Biblical term born again. A few
decades ago, the term was applied as an adjective to modify the noun
Christian. That is, born again Christian was used with such
increasing frequency that it became futile to claim just plain
Christianity. If one said he or she was a Christian, the question was
returned, Are you a born again Christian? No longer were there just
Christians; suddenly we were all self-defined as born again Christians.

Although one of the original intents of using born again in this manner
was to make a particular distinction of some of the doctrines and
statements of belief of Evangelical Christianity, this inaccurate use of
the term created confusion within both Christian and non-Christian
communities. Some critics of American culture, for instance, reduced the
born again phenomenon to a case of rampant consumerism. To be born
again was to identify with a superficial cultural wave that required
only passing commitment, like consuming a bag of chips. It tasted good
and was an acceptable thing to do, but lacked any real spiritual or
life-changing substance.

Such trivializing of things spiritual leads to a downgrading of authentic
religion until all such expression is seen merely as an attempt to cover
up other psycho-socio-economic causes. Sigmund Freud, for instance, saw
in Christianity's depiction of the death and resurrection of God in flesh
a subliminal attempt to get rid of the guilt of the infant's desire to
replace father or mother. Freud seemed to have a knack for confusing the
simple. Religion can also be explained away as an attempt to avoid the
inevitability of death, or to appease the gods thought to be in control
of magical environmental forces that determine the outcome of a harvest
or how much pain lowly humans endure.

Yet, in spite of such humanistic, secular explanations, the 20th century
saw Christian faith explode in places such as Korea, Africa, and South
America. D. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, points out in
a review of the second edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia that
in the 20th century Christianity became a religion practiced everywhere
in the inhabited world, with the most growth taking place in the world's
less developed nations. "Religion is not dying out," he says, "and indeed
resumed rapid growth in the 20th century." According to his data, 81
percent of Christians in 1900 were white, compared to 45 percent in 2000.
(used by Jeff McDonald, No Compromise, The Salvation Army War Cry,
Christmas 2002, p. 16) If Christianity is explainable as only a cultural
or geopolitical force, how can such a shift be explained? Cultures in
those geographic regions already had historical, traditional religions to
address the psychological needs of humanity, and most governments in
those same areas did not accept Christianity favorably. Yet, citizens in
such places grew in the Spirit of God.

"These are the days of miracle and wonder," Paul Simon sings, and as in
other historic periods when authentic Christian faith managed to survive
despite persecution and the ravages of conquest and epidemic, more is at
work than changes in human identity, awareness, and affiliation. As
political tensions rise and recede, populations shift, arms proliferate,
pluralism increases, and peace and justice are pursued, humanistic
ideologies and spiritual realities compete for supremacy. We continue to
witness in our day the result of considering a search for truth as the
sole responsibility of the fully aware human being adrift in an
indifferent and even hostile universe. In other words, truth then becomes
our own making, created by shifts in simple definitions. Unfortunately,
even Christians participate in this by using Biblical words and thoughts
in non-Biblical applications. Just like those who resolve to lose fifty
pounds this year but end the year having gained fifty pounds,
non-Christians wonder what the big deal about using born again to
describe Christians when said Christian ends up living and behaving like
one who is not born again - Christian or not.

Born again, as used by Jesus in John 3, refers not to humanity's
attempt to reach ultimate truth but to God's intervention in history.
When such a use of the terms religion and born again is understood
this way, then the search for truth shifts. Truth comes from the actions
of a God who is self-sustaining, who freely chooses to connect with those
creatures who are a part of Him, but know Him not. We discover this
profound revelation when we stop playing hide and seek with God.

Before moving to Nicodemuss experience with Jesus, I want to jump back
several centuries to illustrate Gods intervention into human history.
Turn with me to Ezekiel 20:44. Now, this is well before the term born
again ever became a part of the religious dictionary. The prophet
Ezekiel received a message from a God who was so brokenhearted over His
people's waywardness that only the incursion into time of an
authentically new spiritual reality could overcome the gap between human
sin and divine holiness. You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal
with you for my names sake and not according to your evil ways and your
corrupt practices, O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord. As we
know from the testimony of the Old Testament and the history of Israel,
God intervened in human affairs to restore, recreate, and redeem. This is
truth coming to man in spite of mans false longing to hide from God.

When a member of the educated, ruling class in Israel named Nicodemus
heard Jesus of Nazareth preach around A.D. 30, he approached Him to learn
the source of His power. As a healer, Jesus was attracting much
attention. Some saw in him a threat to their own status as leaders. They
saw a threat to their established way of life. They saw a threat to their
rehearsed way of understanding Gods revelation. Jesus taught and lived
differently than they did, but the leadership could find no way to
discredit him. Jesus was a real threat to their world. Even though it is
generally accepted that Nicodemus came to Jesus on his own accord, these
are some of the background thoughts that he would have carried with him
to his clandestine meeting.

The earnest inquiry of Nicodemus echoes questions of people today who
wonder if there might not be more to human purpose and destiny than how
to make a living and find some peace of mind. Jesus cut through all
pretenses and signaled a new and final manifestation of the spirit.

"You must be born again," Jesus said. Nicodemus was dumbfounded, and
replied half-mockingly, "How can an old man be born twice? Should he
enter his mother's womb again?" "Flesh gives birth to flesh," Jesus
explained, "but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

Just as God did for Ezekiel, Jesus makes it clear to Nicodemus that God
is involved in human affairs. Nicodemus expressed surprise and asked
about the possibility of being born again from the womb on the human
plane. But he knew just as well after hearing Jesus spiritual
explanation that it was still impossible for any man or woman to be born
again on their own accord. But what is impossible for human beings is
quite possible for God, and Christianity dares to say not only possible
but also necessary in order to move from the path from death to life. The
action of being born again happens when we stop playing hide and seek
with God. This is the distinction between using born again as an
adjective and the Biblical use of Born again. To be born again is a
change that occurs in our lives as a result of Gods intervention. To
regard born again as anything less than this is to change it from Gods
power to a human superficial application.

But it's hard to tag the experience of someone like Joni Eareckson Tada
as superficial. An outgoing, radiant young woman who loved to play
lacrosse and ride horses near her family's Maryland home, she anticipated
a bright future until she dove into a lake in the summer of 1967 and
broke her neck. Paralyzed from the neck down, the independent-minded Joni
found herself strapped into a hospital bed 24 hours a day. "I desperately
wanted to kill myself," she writes in A Step Further. "I had no hope of
ever walking again. I had no idea of how I could find purpose or meaning
in just existing day after day.

Then God came to her and breathed into her His Spirit in a new way, and
she experienced resurrection. She learned that He came to earth and
suffered so He could sympathize with our weaknesses. When God moved me a
few notches up the scale of suffering... a whole new world opened up...
to me. She concluded that God had a purpose for her - to empathize with
people going through their own trials. (used by Jeff McDonald, No
Compromise, The Salvation Army War Cry, Christmas 2002, p. 17)

C.S. Lewis, author and scholar of medieval literature, learned as a child
to look for joy in the power of the imagination. He was acutely aware of
his own awkwardness and clumsiness, and knew solitude and grief. His
mother died of cancer when he was young. Later, as a scholar and
essayist, he engaged in a chess match with Christianity, delighting in
refuting its claims. But the claims moved in slowly and steadily until he
found himself in checkmate. Only then did he find the joy he had searched
for his whole life. "At each step one had less chance to 'call one's soul
one's own,"' Lewis writes in his autobiography Surprised by Joy. "To
accept the incarnation was a further step in the same direction. It
brings God nearer... I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we
set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when
we reached the zoo I did... It was like when a man, after a long sleep,
still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake." (used
by Jeff McDonald, No Compromise, The Salvation Army War Cry, Christmas
2002, p. 17)

When Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky died in 1881, thousands followed
his casket as it was drawn through the streets of St. Petersburg, so
great was this man's impact through his portrayal of the drama of
alienation and redemption. And it happened because this utopian socialist
was given a New Testament when he was a political prisoner in Siberia. As
a student in 19th century Russia, he was attracted to radical publicists,
and would spend ten years in exile from his beloved St. Petersburg for
this association. His yearning for freedom in an authoritarian state and
his understanding of the struggle between good and evil led him to see in
Christ a uniqueness that absolved and transcended human guilt and
suffering. "If it could be shown to me that Christ is not in the truth,
and the truth not in Christ, I would rather be with Christ than with the
truth," he said. (used by Jeff McDonald, No Compromise, The Salvation
Army War Cry, Christmas 2002, p. 17)

If the Holy Spirit does intercede in people's lives, if God's Spirit is a
distinct reality that envelops, whispers, calls, and moves through
history, it reveals something about its source - that God is the One who
seeks and finds. The Christmas we just celebrated is the clearest,
highest sign of this part of His character. He gave His Son to be born
and to die and to rise again to usher in a reign of the Spirit. This is
the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness
instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil
hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so
that it may be seen plainly what he has done has been done through God.

God acts through His Spirit manifested in the Christ child to take upon
Himself the world's lostness and to banish anything that compromises the
way of love everlasting and of life in the redemptive, affirming
compassion of God. Paul declares, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

So it is not with a resolution that we greet the New Year, but with an
acceptance of Gods offer to fill us with His Spirit and, consequently,
to be born again. How does this happen? It happens when we stop playing
hide and seek with God and just acknowledge that He who seeks has found
whom He seeks. And having been found, to allow the God of might and love
to give us new life through new birth. But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly what he has done has
been done through God.

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

________________________________________________________________
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