What Does It Mean To Be a Spiritual Person?
What Does It Mean To Be a
Christian?
What Is Christianity All About?
In the Gospel of John,
Chapter 3, we read of
Jesus' encounter with a religious leader named
Nicodemus. It goes like this: Now
there was a
man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling
council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you
are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the
miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." In
reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the
kingdom of God, unless he is born again." "How can a man
be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot
enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus
answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of
God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to
flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be
surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows
wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where
it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is
born of the Spirit."
There are four points to
be made when thinking about this passage of Scripture; they are: the
Terms of Spiritual Life, the Process of Spiritual Life, the Reality
of Spiritual Life, and the Questions of Spiritual Life.
I. The Terms
of Spiritual Life
From this passage, we
learn that being spiritual and being a Christian are two terms that
mean essentially the same thing. We learn this because the religious
leader recognized that God was with Jesus ("Rabbi, we know you
are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the
miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." ) So, those
who are close to Jesus are also close to God. Therefore it
is not wrong to consider those people as "spiritual" who
are genuine, true followers of Jesus. And, as you know, those people
who are followers of Jesus have become known as "Christians"
(because they are followers of Jesus Christ.) Therefore, the author of this article uses the
term "Christian"
and "spiritual" interchangeably.
II. The
Process of Spiritual Life
Jesus teaches in this
passage that spiritual life is a process similar to that of physical
birth. This is obvious because of the fact that the religious man to
whom Jesus was speaking started asking questions about how he could go
back into his mother's womb to be "born again".
Jesus explained to
Nicodemus that He was not talking about physical things, but
spiritual things. So, spiritual life comes through a spiritual
birth, in a similar manner as physical life comes through physical
birth.
There are three typical
models for how people come into spiritual life. One is called the
Conversion Model. In this model, the beginning of spiritual life
comes through a single, dramatic conversion experience. Oftentimes
the person will describe their immoral and wild lifestyle before
their spectacular conversion experience. Following their conversion,
there is a radical change of behavior and good, steady growth in
their Christian life. It might look like this:
Birth----------------------------X-------------------------Growth
in Christ
The second model is
called the Commitment Model. In the Commitment model, the spiritual
life of the Christian has multiple ups and downs throughout his life.
Sometimes these ups and downs are dramatic "conversion"
type experiences, other times they are calm and quiet resolutions. The
difference between the Conversion model and the Commitment model
is that the radical change of lifestyle and steady growth in his
Christian life is not consistently maintained after a commitment, but
is followed by a slide backwards into previous lifestyle patterns. It
might look like this:
Birth----------x----------x----------x----------x----------Growth
in Christ
The third model is called
the Covenant Model. In the Covenant model, parents (usually) make a
promise to God (in fancy, theological terms this is called a
"covenant") to bring up their children in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord in the Church of Jesus Christ. Often times
this child grows up never remembering a day of disbelief, wild
living, or a dramatic conversion experience. It looks like this:
Birth-------------------------------------------------------Growth
in Christ
In John 3, the passage on which this
article is based, Jesus teaches us that the important
thing is not that you know when and how the Lord has worked spiritual
life in you, but simply that you are certain that
he has. As a matter of fact, Jesus even said that the Spirit of God
is like the wind: "You hear it's sound, but you cannot tell
where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who
is born of the Spirit." This means that how God works is
sometimes mysterious. But, the important thing is that one knows God
has worked. How do
you know whether or not God has done a work deep in your soul? This
leads to the next point.
III. The Reality
of Spiritual Life
In the same way that a
healthy infant born physically will breathe, cry, and squirm, a true
spiritual birth will produce certain manifestations. The Bible calls
this "fruit." There are two main types of fruit a
spiritual Christian person will produce.
The first fruit a
spirit-born man will produce is the fruit of repentance. This term
means that a person will experience a change in the way he thinks
about certain things.
The Bible teaches that
the Christian will repent (change the way he thinks) of his own
sinfulness. Most people will admit they have made mistakes, but a
truly spiritual person will admit he is not good, not seeking God,
and deep, deep down is seeking to please himself, promote himself,
and protect himself. Also, he will recognize that this is offensive
to God, that he is distant from God, and that he deserves God's
wrath.
Not only will a person
repent of the way he thinks about his own sinfulness, but the
Christian will repent (change the way he thinks) of making himself
his own savior. When people realize they are sinners and separated
from God, they typically will quickly try to remedy the situation
themselves. From this one needs to repent. Whereas we deserve the
wrath of God and deserve to be punished, Jesus took our place. His
death on the cross was His standing in our spot - taking the
punishment we deserve. Therefore, He "saves"
us from receiving the punishment we deserve. This is where the term
"saved"
comes from.
Not only will a person
repent of the way he thinks about his own sinfulness, and who is his
savior, but he will also learn that the Bible teaches that the
Christian will repent (change the way he thinks) of seeking to be in
control of his life. The spiritually renewed person will turn over
the steering wheel of his life to Jesus; he will be willing to follow
where Jesus leads; he will be willing to do what Jesus says.
As was said earlier, true spiritual life produces
the fruit of a change in the way a
person thinks about deep, spiritual matters. But not only is it true
that there will be a change in thinking, but it is also true that
change always produces a corresponding change in behavior. A
Christian person, a truly spiritual person, will begin to have a love
for others that seems to grow a little bit more each day. He will
want to start giving of his time and money to help others, rather
than seeking to help only himself. He will find himself reading the
Bible and praying - and enjoying it! He will find himself enjoying
worship in church with other Christians. He will become more patient
with his wife and children. There will be a new and growing peace
that replaces anxiety and worry that was so prominent before.
This is the reality of
spiritual life. When one is born-again, as Jesus mentions, he becomes
a new creature in the way that he thinks and the way that he lives. He
is infected with a spiritual power that was absent before.
The final things to
consider with this passage of Scripture are:
IV. The
Questions of Spiritual Life
What do you do if you are
not sure where you are in the process of spiritual life? What do you
do if you are not sure spiritual life has taken root in your soul?
First of all, you need to
answer the question: "What do I believe?"
-
What do I believe about God?
-
What do I believe about who Jesus is?
-
What do I believe about this concept of my being a
sinner?
What do I believe
about Jesus being my Savior?
If you believe what the
classic, historic Christian faith has taught regarding these
questions, then you are likely a born-again person; or, you are
soon on your way to becoming a spiritually new person.
The second question you
need to answer is the question, "Where do I want to be?" This means,
where do I want to be, spiritually? Do I want to be a
person who has given my life to Jesus Christ? Do I want to be a
person who has experienced spiritual rebirth?
The final question to
answer is, "Why not?"
Why not pray to God:
-
Admitting that you have
been rebellious toward God, that you have not desired to obey His
law, and that you deserve God's wrath.
-
Confessing your belief that Jesus is the Son of God
and Savior of sinners.
-
Communicating your desire to give control of
your life to Jesus Christ.
Asking God to send
the Spirit of God to give you spiritual life and new power for living.
No matter where you are in
your spiritual journey, the solution is the same to all spiritual
problems: pray. Pray as above - admitting your sin, confessing your
belief, communicating your desire, and asking God for life.
Talking with the Lord
about this matter is just the beginning of your spiritual life. But
it is a beginning! Don't put it off. Go to the Lord about this. And
then talk with a person you know who exhibits the sort of fruit
described above for more help. May God bless you.
For more information,
contact one of our pastors,
here.
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