Where Are You From? — June 2, 2024
June 2, 2024
John 3:1-8
Where Are You From?
My daughter was born in Nashville two weeks after we moved back to Tennessee from Wichita, Kansas. Two weeks, maybe a little less.
I was serving as the pastor of Wichita Olivet Church of the Nazarene and accepted a position as the youth pastor at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Mt. Juliet.
She could have very easily have been born in Kansas, in Missouri, in Illinois, in Kentucky, but we made it back and she was born here.
Thank goodness, nothing against all those other places, but I’m glad she wasn’t born on the road.
With that little story in mind….I have a question for us:
Does it make a difference whether a person is born in Kentucky, in Missouri, in Kansas, or in Tennessee?
I know some people would say, “Yes, it makes a lot of difference.”
I can go on Amazon right now and buy a T-shirt that says, “American by birth Southern by the Grace of God.”
They are $20.95 if you want one. You can probably also find one that says, “American by birth, Northern by the Grace of God.”
They probably wouldn’t sell as well for a number of reasons, but there is nothing wrong with being proud of where you are from. “GBO, as Charlie Ray Smith would have said.” That’s fine. However, I realize this will not be warmly received by everybody; but I refuse to believe that the geographical location of our birth determines who we are or who we can become.
I wasn’t born in Tennessee, ya’ll, but I got here as soon as I could.
Have you ever noticed that Jesus wasn’t born in his hometown? We tend to think of his hometown as Nazareth, in fact the Bible refers to Nazareth as the hometown of Jesus, but he wasn’t born in Nazareth. Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem.
He was born on the road, much like Paige could very well have been.
As I read through our text today and others like it, it is very clear that according to Jesus, the geographical location of our birth and even who our earthly parents are isn’t nearly as important as who our spiritual parent is, our spiritual birth.
As important as our earthly birth is, our spiritual birth is even more important.
Jesus has some very important lessons for ole Nicodemus here in John chapter 3.
Nicodemus, who was a highly respected leader among the Pharisees, came to Jesus curious to find out some things. He was also hesitant to be identified with someone whose reputation might not be as impressive or as solid as his own.
Jesus was from Nazareth in Galilee. Galilee was sometimes called Galilee of the Gentiles. The Hasmoneans reconquered Galilee around the end of the 1st century BC. The Assyrians had invaded and took over Galilee in the 8th century; exiled the Jewish population and brought in Gentiles. So, if you were from Nazareth, you were already a bit of a second class citizen according to a lot of people in Israel during the time of Jesus’ ministry, which is why even one of his own disciples once asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Nicodemus was born in the right zip code with a silver spoon in his mouth. He knew where he was born. He knew who his ancestors were. It was all very impressive. He knew where he was born and who his ancestors were, and so did everybody else. He was kind of a big deal around town.
So he hears all these great things about Jesus and he wants to find out if they are true, but he is a little apprehensive, rubbing elbows with a Galilean, and a Nazarene at that, might tarnish his reputation.
So he approaches Jesus at night, at arm’s length, to say, “We are hearing lots of good things about you, Teacher, you must really be from God.”
It is not even clear how convinced Nicodemus is that Jesus is “from God,” but he is curious, and he wants to find out…. He wants to find out if all the things he is hearing about Jesus are true.
Maybe he thinks, “my life is pretty good, but if Jesus can make my life better for me, that would be sweet.”
Notice what Jesus does.
He pulls the rug out from all of Nicodemus’ pretense and posturing.
In essence, Jesus says to Nicodemus, “You think you are pretty special because of where you were born and who your parents are, but I’m here to tell you, Buddy, none of that amounts to a hill of beans compared to being born anew, being born from above.
What really matters in this life, Nicodemus, is God’s kingdom. All the silly grabbing for power and status and wealth that so many people think determines the quality of life is not what it is all about.
For Jesus where we are born, who our earthly parents are doesn’t determine who we are.
Our earthly birth isn’t nearly as important as our being born again.
….Which is a phrase many of us find uncomfortable….
For some people, unless you can prove to them that you’re “born again” experience took place in the exact same way as theirs, with the exact same rituals involved, you are probably not really “born again.”
One of the things I love about the United Methodist Church is that we recognize there are lots of ways people come to faith.
I’ve mentioned before how my good friend and former associate pastor, Richard Wesley, was once a Nazarene preacher and the son of a Nazarene preacher.
To serve as a pastor in the Church of the Nazarene, you have to document your “born again” experience, which was easy for me, because my conversion was night and day, instantaneous.
But Richard’s conversion was a little more subtle. He said, ‘My closest experience of an instantaneous conversion came one day when I was sitting in church and realized I believed what my father was saying in his sermon.”
Some people would say, “That is not a born-again experience at all.” Not me, Richard is every bit as born-again and as spiritual as anyone I know.
I once heard an old Nazarene evangelist say, who led all kinds of people to an experience with Christ say, “the only things wrong with an instantaneous conversion is that it tends to only last an instant.”
Many of us need to be born again every day. I know I do.
In essence to be born again or to be born from above is to be led by spiritual standards and not earthly ones.
It is to be reminded that we are all God’s children no matter who our parents are or where we were born.
And that God’s kingdom is good and to be preferred over any other kingdom anywhere.
To be born again is to realize where we are from isn’t nearly as important as where we are going.