Our world is in crisis. And I am not talking about the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic came into our lives and after we have recovered from it we will still be in deep crisis. Our world is struggling through an identity crisis and the church is not immune.
The church has been struggling through an identity crisis for years, and the pandemic that we find ourselves in has only emphasized the losses that we have slowly experienced, many of us haven’t even noticed.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting here, extending the conversation that we are having on Sunday mornings (or whenever you find yourselves engaging in the online experience. Find this weeks discussion at this service).
The question that rattles around in so many leadership team’s conversation and discussion, whether general church goers, elders, pastors, or denominational leaders is “who are we?”
We have struggled for years, even decades trying to rediscover who we are in light of scripture and culture, community and the individualistic world that we are now accustom.
Jesus helps us to understand who we are when he makes a simple claim for us in answer to this question, we are the reborn. In John 3, Jesus finds himself hosting a late-night guest. His name, Nicodemus (Nic for short).
Nic is a Pharisee, a ruling leader in the synagogue, and the teacher in Israel. He is significant in the religious, social and cultural framework of Jerusalem and Judaism in Palestine. He has authority and responsibility and he has lived and struggled along with everyone else in Israel under the boot of the Roman rulers.
This leading Pharisee shows up late at night, and begins a conversation with the Son of God. It is a wrestling match of sorts, reminiscent of Jacob coming face to face with God in Peniel (Genesis 32:22-32). And just as Jacob walked about limping so will Nic. The limp will look different, just as the wrestling was.
As we dove into this story of Nic and Jesus’ conversation we discussed three specific realities of transformation brought on by our identity of being reborn, or as Nic misheard Jesus say, born again. We talked about this transformation being spiritual and all encompassing, God led, and through the work of Jesus Christ himself.
In addition to these three Jesus opens up the dialogue to five other realities in this passage for us to sink our teeth into and work through.
Just as Jesus shows us, we need to understand our identity in relationship to scripture. Nothing has been truer and more necessary since his ascension. Jesus uses the scripture to help Nic understand his need to be reborn spiritually by way of Ezekiel 36 and in so doing teaches him a new way of understanding the love and grace of God.
Knowing and understanding one’s identity isn’t always comfortable or enjoyable. Jesus shows us this as he shares with Nic one more piece of information that he won’t understand until after he is departed, that “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up” (John 3:14). Discovering who we are and what we were made to be and do is not always as easy and wonderful as we conceive in our minds. Most of the time our discovery is hard and demands sacrifice.
Our identity is not wrapped up in what we want or think we need. We have this pre-conceived notion of identity in our western world. We see it as physical and temporal – our gender, body, sexuality, feelings and emotions, and personal preferences. Yet God has a different idea as our designer and creator (Genesis 2). God’s design has a more eternal perspective in mind with a focus on purpose rather than fleeting personal preferences…he sees us bringing glory to Him and enjoying Him forever. Our identity is wrapped up in His being. Remember, we were made in His image, the creator’s image, not our own (John 3:7-8).
We are not alone in the process of discovering our identity in Him. Jesus walks with us through the process. Just as he tells us in verse 21, “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” and “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). In discovering our identity in Christ, we find ourselves living life in the light of the world, living in Jesus. He doesn’t leave us to discover all of this on our own but leads us as he led Abraham to the promised land, the Israelites in the desert, and Nic to understanding what it meant to follow him – to be reborn. We are never alone when we live in the truth of Jesus.
Life is never what we expect, trusting God is the anchor we need. Just like Nic, we walked in darkness, we approached Jesus in our darkness. In the darkness of our sin, we can’t begin to understand even our own expectations of this life and the world that we live in. It isn’t until we come face to face with Jesus, like Jacob and like Nic, that we see through the light of His perfect and sovereign will in purpose and creation. Our identity is far more than we could ever have seen or dreamt. We are the reborn. We are not just dust; we hold in us the breath of God. Eternal and purposed with an identity held together by his very being.
If we look at Nic's visit, we see a man that came in the cloak of darkness and came into the light of Christ. Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, shows us as he demonstrates to Nic on that star lit night that our identity is in Him, our identity is found in being REBORN.
