Look Up

      "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

      Israel's forty year long march through the wilderness was marked by a series of highs and lows. Life hasn't changed much. We still live our days riding emotional and physical crests and troughs of life's sea. At one particularly low point, Israel began to grumble about the direction God was taking them. Some thought God had intentionally led them into this barren place to kill them all. The people grumbled about the leadership of Moses and his willingness to blindly follow wherever God took them. They grumbled about the lack of water. They even grumbled about the manna God sent them everyday.

      

     In response to these venomous attacks, God sent poisonous serpents into the camp. As people began to die from the serpents' bite, Israel's attitude changed. Suddenly, Moses wasn't such a bad leader after all. Israel was more than willing to overlook any faults Moses might have if only he would pray for them. It seems they now wanted the God who led them into the wilderness to die to save them from the serpents.

     Moses, being the meek sort, refused to give in to the temptation to tell Israel to lie in the bed they made for themselves. He prayed for their deliverance. God, being the loving and forgiving sort, heard Moses' prayer and sent a remedy. God did not make the serpents vanish. He did not take away their venom. The deadly plague of serpents continued, but God sent salvation. He instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it atop a pole. The pole was placed strategically within the camp and anyone who was bitten by a serpent had only to look on the serpent of brass to be spared. Israel was free to consult physicians or grandma's home remedies. They were free to consult Baal, Chemosh, Dagon or any other god the liked. They would die, but they were free to pursue salvation any means they wished.

     Now, there is no physical healing power in a brass sculpture. In Israel's case, there didn't need to be one. A physical healing was the immediate concern, but it was not the real need. Israel needed a spiritual healing. The brazen serpent was a spiritual cure that solved a physical problem. Looking on the serpent was curative only because God said it was. Those who believed God's promise were saved--everyone else died.

      Those who mocked Jesus knew that a man dying on a cross has no inherent power to save. Such a person is really quite helpless. The power of Jesus to save rests in the promise of God that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life. Believing God enough to look to Jesus as our salvation; produces salvation. He is the only cure for the sin that is slowly killing us.

     Mankind is free to try psychiatry, philosophy, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or any other "ism." Modern society offers a wide spectrum of broad avenues to salvation. Christianity offers Jesus Christ and Him crucified, as the only means to God and the only name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.

BYOS

      “ Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

      The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

      Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.”

      The woman at the well in Sychar was intrigued by the idea of living water that gave way to eternal life. Eternal life without labor is the stuff dreams are made of. It's not surprising Christianity has an allure. Man was designed to live in harmony with God in a perfect world which is just what Christ offers. Like this woman, people of every kind are quick to latch on to the promises of the gospel. That is until Christ gets down to, “Go, call thy husband” and the issue of sin rears its ugly head.

     The woman had five former husbands and was not married to the man with which she was living. What would Jesus do? He would not ignore sin. He called her on it. He didn't reject her or demean her, but He did let her know sin does not enter the kingdom of God.

      Christianity doesn't sit well with the world because it refuses to ignore sin. Nevertheless, to inherit to the promises of Christianity, one must face the issue of personal sin; not a theory about sin; not the sins and hypocrisies of others, but one's own sin. Our own sin is the only sin relevant to personal salvation. Sin is personal. It is the barrier between God and each living soul. When we encounter God, we will be confronted by our sin. This is what Jesus was saying to the woman.

      Bring your sin to Christ and let Him deal with it. This is the beginning of Christianity. Repentance is the one and only door to the kingdom of God. People glibly announce how Jesus let another woman caught in sin go free from religious men who condemned her as if her sin did not matter. However, they ignore the message Jesus left her with, “Go, and sin no more.” Whosoever comes to Christ must first confront their sin, then leave it behind. It's easier to say than to do. I've found it to be a continuous process.

      “ The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” Amazing! Not come see this judgmental Jew, but "is not this the Christ?" Its almost as if she expected the Christ should reveal of sin.

Spirit Born

      “Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?”

      “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

      When Nicodemus asked Jesus how a man could enter his mother's womb and be born again, he was not being facetious or purposely obtuse. It was simply that Nicodemus' approach to righteousness and godliness was based on what he could do in the flesh. He accepted the Law and the Prophets as inspired by the Spirit, but lived in the flesh. Nicodemus was a good man trying to live by the rules. His religion was an exercise in will power---not God's power. His entire outlook was one of fleshly performance of spiritual principles. He could follow the many rules associated with the Sabbath and observe the dietary restrictions of the Law, but when Jesus began to talk about being born again, Nicodemus was confused.

Being born again was impossible. How could he keep such a requirement? The new birth is where many of the Jews of Jesus' day and multitudes of all types of people since have stumbled at Christianity.

      The new birth defines Christianity. It divides the sheep from the goats; the broad way from the narrow way; and the Christian from everyone else. It does no good to complain that Christianity is divisive. Division is the logical and and natural consequence of the new birth. One is either born again or one is not---there is nothing in between. That is not the doctrine of hate; it is simply a statement of truth. That some find this truth offensive is irrelevant. It remains the truth no matter how we feel about it.

      I find it interesting that this truth is lost on the proponents of abortion. Like Nicodemus, in the flesh, they understand the difference between born and unborn. However, when it comes to the spiritual birth they just can't see the truth of, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.”

      People who lay the blame for their proclivity to perversion on “being born that way” are absolutely correct. The flesh with its corruption is the natural state of man. Christianity offers the opportunity to be reborn as a creature dominated, not by the flesh, but by the spirit of God. Christianity is not something to be achieved through effort. It can only be obtained by birth. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

Water and Blood

Without getting into the complexities of the whole God-time/space-time continuum subject, which came first; the Christian or the Church? I ask because there exists in our society the belief that the Church manufactures Christians by indoctrination. This belief persists despite the fact that it is false. The reason for this error is a combination of wishful thinking and misinformation.

It is the hope of some, within and without the church, that by manipulating statements of doctrine that a new, less odious brand of Christian will appear. This is why we see churches accepting “new truths” concerning that which they once perceived as sin. Though some will follow along, altering the message about divorce, homosexuality, cohabitation without marriage, children out of wedlock, and lawlessness does not change Christianity any more than did the “clothesline preaching” of old. It only creates a climate of forced conformity.

Although some church officials are loathe to admit it, Christianity exists independent of church organizations. New “seeker friendly” churches have not created a new Christianity with a modern, closer-to-society outlook. They have only created a haven for those who choose to refuse certain truths which are contrary to their lifestyle.

The reason I can say this in the face of today's mega-churches that preach about vocational promotion and material gain more than righteous living is that, at its root, Christianity is not taught. Christianity is a matter of water and blood. The two exist side by side but they do not mix. To be a Christian, one must be born to it—period.

Churches, regardless of religion or denomination, are gatherings of like minded individuals. Christians are individuals born into a relationship with Christ. It is that relationship to Christ, not church affiliation, that is Christianity. In order to maintain a harmonious relationship with Christ, one may simply leave a church which has strayed from its first principles. That person remains a Christian even without a church.

“Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?”

^“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

Water and blood are the difference between Church and Christian. For roughly nine months we live in the water of our mother's womb before we are born into this word as a human being. We are born with certain strengths and weakness and a proclivity for self-enthronement. Humans organize, make rules for living together, and build monuments to their achievements. Churches are monuments to human achievement—they may be more than that, but they are not required to be.

A human being who surrenders himself at the Cross of Christ is born of the blood shed there. Internally, the water born man dies that the blood born, spiritual man may live. He lives in Christ. No matter what a church, any church, may teach you, without a blood borne, spiritual, new birth, you are not a Christian and you cannot enter the kingdom of God. “Ye must be born again.” It is not the doctrine of a church—it is the word of God.