There Is No Secret

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5290 Epigram on Salvation (Born Again)

• You cannot cure a blind man by increasing the light.

• It is impossible to get regeneration from reformation.

God’s Word for Today: A Daily Devotional for the Whole Year May 29

What is the reason that people will not repent?

Oh, there are perhaps many and various reasons. But the real reason no doubt is that they think that Christianity will rob them of their joy and happiness.

If one is to become a Christian, they say, one must cease doing nearly everything that one desires to do—cease dancing, drinking, playing cards, attending the theater, and so forth. And one must begin to do things that one has no desire to do—begin to pray every day, in fact, many times a day, go to church every Sunday, associate with believers who, on the average, are good enough people, but who are too narrow-minded and boresome. Whenever they come together they feel that they must read and sing and pray!

Most people in our country think that the ideal way of living is to “enjoy life,” as they say, as long as life lasts. And then, when one becomes sick or aged, to make one’s peace with God, receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, die a beautiful death, and have the minister give an impressive eulogy.

Their lives show that this is the way they think.

Here is where the misunderstanding lies.

They think that Christianity consists in compelling people, with their old carnal and unwilling minds, to give up a number of things that they desire to do and to do a number of things that they do not wish to do.

But this has never been Christianity, only a weak imitation of real Christianity.

This is unregenerate humanity’s attempt to serve God with its old, unwilling mind.

One becomes a Christian only by a divine miracle: the new birth.

The Word for today is “Faith.” In , God made a promise to Abram that he believed, and in , Paul says that “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” In , David declares the faithfulness of the LORD, and in our Gospel text Jesus tells a spiritually drawn Pharisee that faith is something that only God can give, but His gift is the key to the Kingdom of God, nothing that we can do in our actions, our study, or our human circumstances or capacities. That He wills to do so is the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom. That He is doing so today is the testimony and proclamation of the Church. That you can be a part of it based upon Christ’s finished work on the cross, proclaimed in the preaching of the Gospel and administered through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, is the message and mission that I announce today.

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

“Did Jesus choose to hang out with people in spite of having a huge mission with limited time or because he had a huge mission with limited time?” According to Greg Finke, author of Joining Jesus on His Mission, “He hung out with people because of it. As we watch Jesus in the Gospels, he seems to choose to hang out with people and enjoy them as the most effective way of accomplishing his huge mission with limited time. Such a strategy seems unlikely to those of us who are busy, goal-oriented people. We don’t have time to spare! Hanging out with people seems inefficient to us in the extreme! However, please take note: Jesus chose this strategy for a reason. Could it be that a strategy which on the surface seems inefficient ultimately is most effective?”

e hung out with people because of it. As we watch Jesus in the Gospels, he seems to choose to hang out with people and enjoy them as the most effective way of accomplishing his huge mission with limited time. Such a strategy seems unlikely to those of us who are busy, goal-oriented people. We don’t have time to spare! Hanging out with people seems inefficient to us in the extreme! However, please take note: Jesus chose this strategy for a reason. Could it be that a strategy which on the surface seems inefficient ultimately is most effective?”

Finke, Greg. Joining Jesus on His Mission: How to Be an Everyday Missionary . Tenth Power Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The New Manners and Customs of the Bible 13:35 Night Watches

The earliest division of the night into watches is detailed in the Exodus 14:24 Night Watches. After the Jews became subject to Roman power, they adopted the Roman method of dividing the watches. There were four watches: Sunset to 3 hours later; from this time until midnight; midnight to three hours before sunrise; and the last from this time until sunrise.

Nicodemus came to Jesus for a conversation in the evening.The Scriptures reveal what motivated Nicodemus - the signs that Jesus did.

Nicodemus came to Jesus for a conversation in the evening.

John 3:1–2 ESV

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

John 2:23–3:2 ESV

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

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 are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus thought that he understood the power of God, as did many of his fellow Jews. They knew the Old Testament stories about Moses and the Prophets. They understood that the righteousness of God meant that God would not justify the wicked, nor would He work on behalf of the ungodly. Therefore, Jesus’ acts supported His proclamation that the Kingdom of God was at hand. As Peter would later preach on the Day of Pentecost:

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 are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Finke, Greg. Joining Jesus on His Mission: How to Be an Everyday Missionary . Tenth Power Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Acts 2:22–24 ESV

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Jesus displays the power of God. To Nicodemus, that indicated that Jesus has a special relationship with God, a relationship beyond that of the typical Pharisee with his list of obligations and restrictions. What Nicodemus needed to know was the secret. What he expected was that it was a secret that involved human effort or application of knowledge.

What he got was humanly impossible.

John 3:3–8 ESV

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Born again, or born from above? ἄνωθεν appears in the New Testament thirteen times, over half of which are translated as either “above” or “from the top.” Only two times it is translated “again.” However you translate it, there was nothing that Nicodemus or any other human could to to bring it about. You cannot scheme it, it isn’t cultural, you cannot earn it. In fact the way Jesus says it, you are the object of the action. God is the subject.

Even if it is possible, wouldn’t age get in the way? Not just physically, but even, if not especially, in terms of habitus, or aptitude.

Confessing the Gospel: A Lutheran Approach to Systematic Theology, Volumes One & Two Theology as Aptitude

The Lutheran tradition has consistently asserted that any genuine theology is a habitus.

Confessing the Gospel: A Lutheran Approach to Systematic Theology, Volumes One & Two Theology as Aptitude

Two points are most important: (1) God gives this habitus through the means of grace—it is neither self-generated nor self-cultivated; and (2) God gives this habitus so that the varied spiritual needs of his people might be met by the healing balm of the gospel. These two points are brought together in the dogmaticians’ repeated insistence that theology, properly speaking, is a God-given practical aptitude (habitus practicus) intended to foster living faith and bring salvation.

Confessing the Gospel: A Lutheran Approach to Systematic Theology, Volumes One & Two Theology as Aptitude

Properly understood, it is an active aptitude and ability by which the theologian applies the gospel message to the church’s proclamatory, confessional, catechetical, liturgical, and diaconal tasks.

Confessing the Gospel: A Lutheran Approach to Systematic Theology, Volumes One & Two Theology as Aptitude

Two points are most important: (1) God gives this habitus through the means of grace—it is neither self-generated nor self-cultivated; and (2) God gives this habitus so that the varied spiritual needs of his people might be met by the healing balm of the gospel. These two points are brought together in the dogmaticians’ repeated insistence that theology, properly speaking, is a God-given practical aptitude (habitus practicus) intended to foster living faith and bring salvation.

Quenstedt’s definition aptly reflects these themes: “Theology is a God-given practical aptitude of the intellect given to man by the Holy Spirit through the written Word, regarding true religion, by which man after the Fall is to be brought to life eternal through faith in Christ.”

Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one is able to enter into the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Contrary to the assertions of John Wesley and other “holiness” advocates, He doesn’t create a two part process by these words. Jesus told the Apostles to baptize those who were to be discipled by them “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The record of the Church fathers indicates that is what they were taught by the Apostles in fulfillment of Jesus command, “teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.” There is “one faith, one Lord, one baptism,” per Paul’s words in . Nothing from the experience of any person trumps what God has clearly declared and promised in His Word.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one is able to enter into the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. He doesn’t create a two part process by these words, contrary to the assertions of Wesley and other “holiness” advocates. There is “one faith, one Lord, one baptism,” per Paul’s words in . Nothing from the experience of any person trumps what God has clearly declared and promised in His Word. Jesus told the Apostles to baptize those who were to be discipled by them “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The record of the Church fathers indicates that is what they were taught by the Apostles in fulfillment of Jesus command, “teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.”

Lightfoot’s Apostolic Fathers in English 7

But concerning baptism, thus shall ye baptize. Having first recited all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living (running) water. 2But if thou hast not living water, then baptize in other water; and if thou art not able in cold, then in warm. 3But if thou hast neither, then pour water on the head thrice in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In the 16th Century, the Anabaptists denied that there was any power in baptism, and demanded that people get re-baptized as a confession of their faith in Christ. The Lutheran Confessions reject this view.

Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions Article IX: Baptism

Concerning Baptism, our churches teach that Baptism is necessary for salvation [Mark 16:16] and that God’s grace is offered through Baptism [Titus 3:4–7]. 2 They teach that children are to be baptized [Acts 2:38–39]. Being offered to God through Baptism, they are received into God’s grace.

3 Our churches condemn the Anabaptists, who reject the Baptism of children, and say that children are saved without Baptism.

Today, the devil attacks baptism by saying that the water has no power, that you need evidence in order to prove that you are a child of God, that you must produce such evidence or else be judged a false Christian. He uses others who claim to be preachers of the Gospel to advance this attack upon the pure teaching of the Church. God’s Word is clear and certain. God begets you, God uses water, and God connects that water to His declared Word of promise.

For Nicodemus, it wasn’t faith that was the perceived obstacle. As a Pharisee, God operated in accordance with obedience. Obedience bound God to bless. Jesus was saying some innovative things, but God was clearly with Him, therefore, Jesus must know something

Are you a baptized person? Then you have been born from above, born of water and the Spirit, given the Promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the gift of faith so that it will be a shield that quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Ephesians 2:4–10 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Romans 4:16–17 ESV

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

God calls you today to trust in Him, in His mercy, in His grace, and in His Promises. He calls you to forget your past failures, ignore Satan’s efforts to deny that God has made you His Child, or that He even wants to do so. He calls you to embrace the Gospel, trust in the Lord, and watch as “God works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” It’s not about you, it’s all about God the Father, It’s about Jesus Christ His only Son, and it’s about the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and keeps us in the True Faith as He works in the Church through the Word preached and administered in the sacraments.

So let the peace of God that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Finke, Greg. Joining Jesus on His Mission: How to Be an Everyday Missionary . Tenth Power Publishing. Kindle Edition.

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 are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”