Transformative

Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42

Paul writes about how we are now under grace and not the law.  He is making it clear that we have done nothing for this grace, and also making it clear that we cannot simply except the grace once and then  go sin.  Paul makes it clear that we are to be obedient.  As Paul writes in Romans 6:17, “But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.”  It is clear that Paul believes that being under grace means we will act righteously.  We will spread the Gospel as Matthew writes in this scripture.

This made me think about how I learned to ride a bicycle.  My father, an engineer, made me read the manual, learn all the physical science, learn all the laws, and learn the history and tradition of bicycling (which was not too bad since it only started in the early 19th century) before I got on a bicycle.  Well that is not true, but I wrote this to demonstrate how crazy it would be to require all that learning before climbing on a bike.  When in fact we put a child on the bike with training wheels with only very basic instruction.  I remember the first time I rode my bike without training wheels.  I remember some basic instruction, but most of all the encouragement from my parents and the number of neighborhood children.  It was wonderful.

Grace is to me like riding a bicycle.  You are not required to learn all the church doctrines, tradition, know the Bible like a scholar, no you are simply are to go out practicing being Christian.  Now I am a person that can ride a bicycle (I would say a bicyclist, but that has connotations of having the outfit), and so is Lance Armstrong.  Now Lance practices riding a bike much more than I, and has even studied other parts to the art, and thus is a much better bicyclist, especially for races.  While Christians are not practicing to compete and one someone is a Christian they are equally saved with all other Christians (no matter how well versed or practiced another is), it is true that we mature in our relationship with Jesus if we practice more and more. 

The major point is that grace is a free gift and we have done nothing to deserve it.  For most there was a transformative time when Grace turned us to God for the first time.  We respond to that moment with baptism.  It is like riding a bike for the first time, and we remember that moment dearly.  The fact is grace is transformative always.  If you are pedaling along as a Christian you need to realize that every day, every minute the free gift of grace is there and is constantly a transformative force.  You are moving along in your faith and thus you are being transformed just as you were at your baptism.  And for those that have stopped pedaling, and/or have gotten off “the way.”  They need to simply remember the idiom “it is like riding a bicycle” for all you need to do is except the free gift of grace and head toward God as your teacher and practice Christianity.

“Spirit in the Sky”

John 3:1-17

John 3:16 is a scripture that has become for many, including myself, such a pivotal and encouraging scripture and you just have to hear “John 3:16” to feel the promise of that scripture.  When I read this scripture in preparation, I was thinking about songs that encourage in the same way as this essential paricope.  The songs came to mind because Jesus talked about being “born from above” and “born of the Spirit” which made me think of the rock song called “Spirit in the Sky.”  That song was very important to me when I was trying to discern if I was called to ministry.  It was that song and “I’ll Fly Away” that I would turn up and listen to often during the time of discernment.  Both those songs emphasize the promise of eternal life, and I played them over and over as I tried to figure out if I was called to stay a lay leader, go to seminary to be a pastor, missionary, chaplain, etc. and which school.  These songs of the promised helped me concentrate on the work I was called to do on earth.

Friends of mine who were not believers did not understand these songs.  They would only think about the eternal life starting after death, and could not relate that promise to their lives today.  They did not understand that the promise relates directly to how I live my life now, for eternity starts now.  Nicodemus did not understand Jesus in a similar way.  Nicodemus was curious and perhaps open to believe, but he was not able to understand Jesus’ use of the word “born.”  Nicodemus could only understand the word literally, and could not relate to it as a metaphor for a newness of someone that turned to God.  This language of being “born from above” and “born of the Spirit” demonstrated a personal conversion that starts one eternal life here on earth.  We are born again of the spirit so we may be the Body of Christ on Earth prior to that time when in a moment our earthly body’s glory becomes our heavenly body’s glory.

We read this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus as emphasizing personal conversion.  This is the major theme of being Born Again.  This language only becomes relevant because understood once as it is written in verse 14, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up…”  This is essential for our personal conversion is only relevant because of Jesus.  He is referring to what is recorded in Numbers 21:5-9:

The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

Jesus is to be lifted up on a tree for all of humanity.  Father God lifts Jesus out of the tomb to demonstrate the promise of eternal life with God.  Therefore we are baptized not by a pastor, but by the Holy Spirit to participate in the death and resurrection, starting our eternal life when we are born again.