The Divine Imperative

There is a humorous advertisement on the radio in which a husband and wife start out on their vacation and as they drive along tick off the various items each attended to just before leaving. Then there is an agonized wail from the wife: “Oh, Jack, we’ve forgotten the baby!”

Is the Church in danger of “forgetting the baby”? In our sophistication, are we bypassing our Lord’s words, “You must be born again” (John 3:7)?

This is the only imperative Jesus lays on all men. To the Christian he gives further commands, but to the unregenerate world he says, “You must be born again.”

Recently a religious activist spoke of those who continue to affirm the validity of the historic Christian faith as the “living dead.” This searing criticism was accompanied by a ringing call to be a new person, willing to face up to and participate in the new “religious revolution”—which, so far as I can determine, is dedicated to working for a new world without the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here we are once again confronted with our own failure to make plain the necessity for and meaning of the new birth. Despite the fact that Jesus says it is an imperative, we are inclined to think of it as an option to be acted on or rejected as the individual thinks best.

It is interesting that Jesus uses the word must with reference to himself on a number of occasions. He “must” be about his Father’s business. He “must” preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to other cities. He “must” go to Jerusalem and suffer and die, and the third day rise from the dead. The Scriptures about him “must” be fulfilled. He “must” rise again from the dead.

But when he speaks to unregenerate man, there is but one imperative: “You must be born again.”

For the Christian there are two commandments: We “must” love one another, and we “must” be his witnesses, going into all the world to preach the Gospel.

Why, oh why, do we pay so little heed to something so vitally important? The new birth is the very foundation of becoming a Christian. Just as physical birth is the beginning of physical life, so the new birth is the beginning of spiritual life, of life from the dead.

Perhaps, even in the Church, there are many who are of the great band of the living dead—living in this world but dead to the next, living for selfish ends but dead to the Spirit of the living God.

Perhaps there are those who think they are well and prosperous but who in our Lord’s eyes are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17), living but one life, the physical.

We live in a day when population control is a major issue and when there are demands that there shall be no legal restrictions against abortion. Could there be a connection between these concerns and a lack of interest in spiritual rebirth?

Years ago I knew a deeply devout Christian woman from Australia who startled and often offended people by asking when first introduced to them: “Have you been born again?” Perhaps her method was overly abrupt, but it was surely an effective way of confronting people with the necessity of spiritual rebirth.

No doubt Nicodemus was deeply versed in the Old Testament Scriptures, but there lurked in his mind and heart a serious question about ultimate answers that led him to seek help secretly. So he came to Jesus, and Jesus told him of the necessity of being born again from above.

In the ensuing explanation Jesus made it crystal clear that there are two births, one physical, the other spiritual, both equally real: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

The Apostle Paul says, “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:5).

Does it make much difference? “The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.… If you live according to the flesh you will die” (Rom. 8:7, 13).

The problem of the world and much of the trouble in the Church is the emphasis on the world and—worst of all—the effort to cure the world’s ills without curing the hearts of men. The social order is desperately sick, and it will never be cured aside from treating the hearts of sin-sick individuals.

The revolt of youth is not in itself bad; many are revolting against the hypocrisy and selfishness of an older generation that has made and is making a mess of the world. The trouble with revolting youth as well as with the “establishment” is that both are blind to the nature of the sickness that has infected mankind and society. They think the troubles of the world can be cured at the material and secular level and do not recognize the vital significance of our Lord’s words, “You must be born again.”

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn [are converted] and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3, 4). For us to admit the necessity of the new birth—our own need of regeneration—requires humility, a virtue that is in scarce supply today. We see the ills of humanity and are determined to right them in our own way and by our own strength, and by doing so we add to the problem.

The doctrine of the new birth needs to be recaptured and preached from every pulpit. Men must come to see that either we are born once and then destined to die twice, or we are born twice and die only once. This must be stressed as the divine imperative.

Finally, it remains for those who have been born of the Spirit to demonstrate in their lives his presence and his power. Our chief responsibility is to glorify the God who has brought us into this new life, and we do not do this by walking about with our heads in the clouds, oblivious to the needs about us. We glorify God by witnessing to his saving and keeping power. We make our greatest contribution to our fellow men when we tell them how they too may become new creatures. This is not a matter of pious phrases but of tender love that meets physical needs even while telling of the new life to be had in Christ.

The fruits of the Spirit, so graphically outlined by the Apostle Paul, are not ethereal in their application but are completely geared to the needs of those about us. If we show in our lives “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22, 23), we are giving convincing evidence to others that being born of the Spirit is a very real and practical matter.

The requirement for man to become right in God’s sight is that he must be born again, born by the power of the Holy Spirit, and thereby made fit to live in God’s presence now and for eternity. It is the way of humility and faith, the way into a new life in Christ Jesus, God’s Son. Its simplicity is staggering—and its result is Life.

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