Born of Water and the Spirit

John 3:1-17

Second Sunday in Lent

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen.  The sermon text for the second Sunday in Lent is the Gospel reading John 3.  I remember the birth of my three children very well.  One of the things that I recall is that when each baby was born the nurse placed a band on their wrist.  The band had information on it necessary to identify which family the baby belonged. The system of bands is to prevent confusion.  It’s especially used to keep a baby from going home with the wrong parents.  The band on the baby essentially says, this baby belongs to these parents.  A parent can use the band to assure a positive identification of their own child and say to the baby, “You are mine”.  A child is born into a family and that is where the child is to have love and security. 

So, we must ask ourselves this question.  How do we know if we belong to God’s eternal family?  To assure yourself of where you belong on earth, you could look at your birth certificate or adoption papers.  By reading them, you know where you belong and to whom.  But how do you know if you belong to God’s family?  How do you know if you belong to God’s kingdom?

In our reading for today John records for us a conversation that Jesus had with a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus.  Many of the Pharisees that Jesus met opposed Him.  But some of the Pharisees listened to Jesus, like Nicodemus, and eventually became followers of Jesus.  Jesus teaches Nicodemus that to be part of God’s family, you must be born again.  If you are to belong to God’s kingdom to live in His love, to enjoy His security and acceptance, you must be born of water and Spirit.   

Recall what Jesus said. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”.  Later on in the conversation Jesus said this.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”.  Jesus explains to Nicodemus how a person enters the kingdom of God.  But to fully understand what Jesus is saying it might be helpful to examine where we should not look when it comes to entering God’s kingdom.   

How do you know that you belong to God’s kingdom?  To assure yourself that you belong in God’s family you could look to your biological ancestry.  That is what the Jews did in the time of Jesus.  Many people in Israel thought that they did belong in the kingdom of God because they were blood descendants of Abraham.  Jesus makes it clear that ancestry does not place you into the Kingdom of God.  To be a biological descendent of Abraham does not mean that you belong to God’s family. This is good to know because most people are not biological descents of Abraham.  That would include us.  We are thankful for the family that we belong to, but we cannot look to our biological ancestry for assurance that we belong in God’s Kingdom. 

How do you know that you belong to God’s kingdom?  To assure yourself you belong in God’s family you could look to your efforts, decisions, actions, and commitments.  The trouble here is that you can never know whether you have done enough to enter the Kingdom of God.  How many good works does it take?  When we look to our own efforts and actions it can only lead to two possible bad outcomes. One outcome is that we become self-righteous and trick ourselves into thinking that our works are good enough. The second outcome is that we could fall into despair.  We could fall into despair because we realize that our efforts and actions are tainted with sin.  We realize that our efforts and actions often fall short.  It is never a good idea to look to our own works as assurance that we belong to God’s Kingdom.  It will either make us self-righteous or it will make us fall into despair.  Our own works and actions do not get us into God’s kingdom.

How do you know that you belong to God’s Kingdom?  To assure yourself that you belong to God’s family you could look to the blessings that you receive in this life.  You might look for evidence of God’s favor in your worldly fortunes.  Your health, wealth, status, and other things may be used as signs of God’s favor to you.  If I am healthy and if I have many earthly blessings then it must mean that I belong to God’s eternal family.  But no level of these earthly things can ever make you certain that you belong in His kingdom.  There are people who have rejected God and yet have great earthly success.  There is also great danger in looking for God’s favor in the things of this world.  What happens when these things fade away?  We could be overcome by doubt and unbelief when health declines, wealth is spent, and status lost.   

How do you know that you belong to God’s Kingdom?  We know where we should not look.  We will not find any assurance from our ancestors, from our efforts and actions, and from our earthly fortunes.  How do you know that you belong to God’s Kingdom?  The answer is simple.  The answer is crystal clear.  We have our assurance that we belong in God’s Kingdom because of Jesus Christ the Lord. Remember what Jesus said about Himself in our reading.  “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him”.  We belong in God’s Kingdom and we are part of God’s eternal family because of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Jesus was lifted up on the cross because of the sin of the world.  This sin infected the whole world, robbing it of life, making it dead, undesirable and loathsome to God.  Jesus poured out His blood on the cross to cleanse us of our sins.  He died on the cross so that we could receive God’s grace. With the poison of sin gone, the gates of God’s Kingdom are open to us.  We no for a fact that the gates of the kingdom of God have been opened because of the resurrection of Jesus.

You have the assurance that you belong to God’s Kingdom and that you are part of God’s eternal family because of Jesus Christ the Lord.  It is Jesus who forgives your sins.  It is Jesus who has rescued you from sin and death. It is Jesus who gives to you the gift of eternal life.  It is Jesus who has directly given you these gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation at your baptism.  It is in baptism that you are given the gift of faith.  It is where you are born again.  It is where you are born of water and the Spirit.  It is Jesus who then continues to come to you in His Word to sustain your faith and assure you of His presence.  How do we know that you belong to God’s kingdom?  You are given assurance that you belong when you look to your baptism.  You are given assurance that you belong when you look to the Gospel.  You are given assurance by Baptism and by the Word because in these means Jesus comes to you.  You have assurance that you belong to God’s Kingdom and are part of God’s eternal family because of Jesus Christ the Lord.  Amen.