Happy Birthday

Christianese

Christianese: “If it be God’s will.” Translation: “I really don’t think God is going to answer this one.” Christianese: “Let’s have a word of prayer.” Translation: “I am going to pray for a long, long, long time.” Christianese: “That’s not my spiritual gift.” Translation: “Find someone else.” Christianese: “Fellowship” Translation: “Organized gluttony.” Christianese: “The Lord works in mysterious ways.” Translation: “I’m totally clueless.” Christianese: “Lord willing …” Translation: “You may think I’ll be there, but I won’t.” Christianese: “I don’t feel led.” Translation: “Can’t make me.” Christianese: “God led me to do something else.” Translation: “I slept in instead of going to church.” Christianese: “God really helped me with this test.” Translation: “I didn’t study but I guessed good so I’m giving God credit in the hope that He helps me again.” Christianese: “She has such a sweet spirit!” Translation: “What an airhead!” Christianese: “I have a ‘check’ in my spirit about him.” Translation: “I can’t stand that jerk!” Christianese: “I’ll be praying for you.” Translation: “There’s an outside chance I’ll remember this conversation later today.” Christianese: “Prayer concerns.” Translation: “Gossip.” Christianese: “In conclusion … ” Translation: “I’ll be done in another hour or so.” Christianese: “Let us pray.” Translation: “I’m going to pretend to talk to God now, but I’m really preaching at you.” Christianese: “You just have to put it in God’s hands.” Translation: “Don’t expect me to help you.” Christianese: “God wants to prosper you!” Translation: “Give me all your money.

Born Again

You want to know how we have Christianized this phrase? There is a WikiHow page on how to be born again.

To show you how preposterous this is, let me ask this question: What did you do to be born the first time?

John 3:1–21 NASB95

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

The Night

Negative connotation.

John 9:4 NASB95

4 “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.

John 11:10 NASB95

10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

It goes to point out that Nicodemus was in spiritual darkness.

Jesus answered the question that Nicodemus was thinking.

John 3:3 NASB95

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

All Jews entered the kingdom except apostates.

Again: from above.

How born a second time? What do we do?

Water and Spirit

What did you do to be born the first time?

John 3:8 NASB95

8 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus entire live was centered around what they did to get into the kingdom.

Religion.

Moses and the serpent.

Numbers 21:5–9 NASB95

5 The people spoke against God and 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 loathe this miserable food.” 6 The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

The healing was God’s work. They just trusted that He would do it.

Salvation is more than intellectual ascent......But you have to have intellectual ascent.

You have to recognize your need for a savior.