Q1, S06 Born of the Spirit
Quarter 1, Session 6: Born of the Spirit
DO YOU DESIRE REBIRTH?
Passage
John 3:1–21
Concept
This session falls under Jesus’ second question: Do you desire me? Jesus meets with Nicodemus, one of the highest ranking religious leaders at the time, and tells him that if he wants to enter the Kingdom of God, he must start over, he must be born again. The new birth comes through the power of the Spirit. This new birth brings us into a mysterious life we don’t understand fully, but we commit ourselves to following wherever the Spirit leads. This also means stepping into the light so that everything we have been hiding in the darkness can be exposed and removed.
Key Question
What has it meant or what would it mean for you to be born (again) of the Spirit? Why is this essential to entering the Kingdom of God?
The Vector Tool
Do you see our vector tool being played out in John 3:1–21? With whom? How so?
Born of the Spirit
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were completely out of your element? We all have “cultural power” in some areas, meaning that we know the cultural rules for how a space operates. For example, after you’ve had one child, you know your way around the hospital, you know the cultural norms for how to interact, where you’re allowed to go, how to get what you need, etc. Likewise, you know your way around your office building, you know who can get things done, who to avoid angering, etc. All of these things become second nature to us, and we comfortably navigate through these cultural worlds. But someone else stepping in from the outside may not have the same familiarity, which means they are lacking “cultural power” in that sphere.
Consider stepping into a courtroom. It doesn’t matter how much cultural power you have in your own spheres, if you’ve never been around a court of law and you suddenly find yourself thrust into this world (whether for jury duty or some other legal matter), you’ll be lost. There are unspoken rules and norms, there is a new language, there are actors and procedures that are completely foreign to you. You could be the CEO of your own large corporation and thus have immense cultural power in your field, but when you step into a new cultural sphere, the lowest level employee has more cultural power than you do, because he or she is familiar with that arena.
What It Means to be Born (Again)
Something like this is in play when we talk about entering the Kingdom of God. In John 3, Jesus explains to Nicodemus, one of the highest ranking religious leaders at this time, that if he wants to enter the Kingdom of God, he must be born again. We are familiar with the phrase “born again” as a religious term, but imagine how Nicodemus would have heard this term when Jesus first said it. This phrase didn’t come pre-loaded with meaning; Nicodemus heard Jesus telling him that he could no longer be an adult, that he had to become an entirely dependent, completely immature and undeveloped infant.
When we step out to follow Jesus, to enter the Kingdom of God, the Spirit of God gives us new life. But it’s not simple addition. It’s not simply adding something on top of what we’ve already achieved and learned. Rather, it’s a starting over. It’s a new birth. It doesn’t matter what you’ve accomplished in your career, if the Spirit gives you new life it means a hard reset: you’ve come to the end of yourself, and now you’re starting fresh in a new sphere. This is a humbling place to begin, but Jesus says it is essential.
1. Read John 3:1–21. Right off the bat, what strikes you about this passage? What do you find interesting or challenging or confusing?
2. Doing your best to avoid religiously cliché language, what do you think it means to be “born again”?
3. Why do you think that being born again (or born of the Spirit) is a prerequisite for entering the Kingdom of God?
4. Looking at your own life, what has it meant or what would it mean for you to be born of the Spirit?
Step Into the Light
In this context, we are also told that God sent Jesus into the world—not to condemn it, but to bring life. Jesus’ mission was not about judgment, because he says that the darkness has already rejected the light. Jesus came into a world that had already rejected God’s right to rule over it. And when Jesus came, he was constantly being rejected. And yet he came because “God so loved the world.” This is a hugely important statement.
It sounds intimidating to “step into the light” (as the passage calls us to do). But we have to understand that the call to enter the light stems from the love of God. This world is a dark place. But God has sent light into this dark world by sending Jesus to be with us, to bring us light and life. Stepping from darkness to life sounds terrifying, because the light does indeed expose what the darkness hides. But this is only bad news if we love those things that will be exposed. If we can see true life in the light, then we would be fools not to grab hold of it.
So we stand today with this constant offer to recognize God’s love for us, and to accept this love by stepping into the light. We have no need to fear being exposed in the light so long as we trust the source of the light. We all have a decision to make: will we step into the light, or do we prefer what the darkness offers us? This is a decision we make when we first begin following Jesus, and it’s a decision we make moment by moment as we continually seek to keep in step with him.
5. What do you think it means to “come to the light”? Is this something you have ever done? What was it like? Is there anything holding you back from doing this at this time in your life?
6. Spend some time in prayer. Thank God for his gift of new life. Thank him that he “so loved the world” that he gave us Jesus. Pray that we would be flooded with God’s new life. Ask God for the grace to step into the light and be exposed in all the best ways.
Key Question
What has it meant or what would it mean for you to be born (again) of the Spirit? Why is this essential to entering the Kingdom of God?