The Goal: New Birth

In order to convince myself and others that I have been "saved," I have often told a story that sounds much like this:

(Insert as many details as possible about the event: my age, location, people, etc.) I knew that I had done things that I shouldn't have. I knew I was guilty. I was told that Jesus died on a cross so that I wouldn't have to pay for the wrong things that I had done. This story about Jesus seemed to be able to fix my problem. So I asked God to forgive me for my sins because of what Jesus did on the cross. Now I know that I have been forgiven and I will spend eternity with God in heaven.

This is the only language that I knew to use about conversion - about what it means to become a Christian. For many years my idea of conversion was agreeing intellectually with certain statements about Jesus. It was my decision. It was up to me to agree with the story I was told about Jesus. As long as I agreed with the main points of the story, then I could ask Jesus to come into my life ("into my heart") and forgive me of my sins. And it was important that I remembered when this all happened. The more details I could provide about the events surrounding this critical time of decision, the more assurance I would have that I was truly converted. That's all conversion was: my own decision to accept certain claims about Jesus.

But then I began to discover that the language we often use to describe conversion is different than how Jesus Himself actually described it.

When Jesus talked about what man (i.e. humanity) needs, He used much more radical, drastic language than we use to describe conversion. He said that every person must be "born again" (John 3:3,5). This baffled the man He was talking to (i.e. Nicodemus) just as much as it baffles us today. How can we be "born again"? Surely a grown man does not get back into his mother's womb to be born a second time?! To better understand what Jesus is saying here, it is important to discover what had just happened prior to Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. Jesus was performing many "signs" (miracles that point to His unique identity as the Messiah, the Son of God) and many people were believing in His name. But then Jesus did something strange. Even though many people were believing in Him because of the miracles He was doing, He was not satisfied. Jesus was not buying it. "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" (John 2:24-25). Jesus was not buying in to their "belief," because He knew what was "in man." Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. And what Jesus sees in us is not pretty - not at all.

Our problem is not just what we do, but who we are.

It is not just that we do bad things - we are bad people. It is not just that we commit sinful actions - we are sinners. And we are this way by nature. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9). "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Ps. 51:5). We are born as corrupted, sinful beings. This is who we are by nature. And there is nothing we can do to help ourselves. In other words, we are broken. The Bible has many ways of expressing this. One way is that we are blind - we are unable to see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:3-4). A blind person cannot make himself see. Neither can we open up our own eyes to be able to see the good news announcement of Jesus Christ as glorious. We are also dead  in our sins and by nature children of God's wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). A dead person cannot get himself out of the grave. Neither can we move ourselves from death to life. We are sinners by nature and we are therefore unable to save ourselves.

We need something supernatural to happen to us - something we can't do or explain. 

We need a new birth (i.e. new life). We need nothing less than an entirely new nature. But only God is the One who can give us what we so desperately need. In other words, we desperately need God's mercy (1 Pet. 1:3). With the new life that only God imparts comes a whole new identity. With this new identity comes new desires. Our eyes are opened for the first time and we actually desire the things that we ought to desire. But all of these things are mysterious. We don't understand how they happen. We can't explain this phenomenon. This is a miracle that God does by His Spirit. The best we can do to explain this is to use the same language that Jesus and His earliest followers used about this gracious work of God. To experience conversion is to be born again - to be given new life by God's indwelling Spirit.

If this is so mysterious, how can we actually recognize conversion? Is it possible for us to know if conversion has taken place? How do we know if even we ourselves have experienced conversion?

Jonathan Edwards, a pastor and leading Christian thinker of the early 18th century, was in the midst of a spiritual revival that was taking America by storm. Mass amounts of people were having remarkable spiritual experiences. The result was much confusion, for people like Edwards began to realize that not all of these spiritual experiences were markers of true, genuine spirituality. There was a great need for discernment in all of the spiritual confusion. In his book Religious Affections, Edwards claimed that there are both reliable and unreliable signs of conversion. He explained that much of what we consider as "evidence" of conversion is actually not reliable at all. After stripping the facade of unreliable signs of conversion, Edwards then reveals reliable signs of true Christian life. In order to do this, he refers constantly to a concept that most of us are not familiar with - what he calls the affections.

Affections: strong inclinations of the soul that are manifested in thinking, feeling, and acting.

Affections are strong attractions toward an object or strong distastes that lead one away from an object, all of which happens in the deepest part of the human person (i.e. soul or heart). The affections are not simply emotions, and neither are they simply preferences of the mind. Affections are deep, long-lasting, and always inspire feeling, thinking, and doing. In other words, affections are our deepest longings that drive everything that we think, feel, and do.

Unreliable signs of conversion:

1. Many or intense religious affections
2. Scriptures miraculously come to mind
3. Much or eloquent talk about God and religion
4. Frequent and passionate praise for God
5. The appearance of love
6. Zealous or time-consuming devotion to religious activities
7. Being convinced yourself that you are saved
8. Others being convinced that you are saved

This list of unreliable signs describes much of what we see in our churches today. And none of these things are enough to indicate whether someone is actually saved or not. They are not bad things. In fact, many of them are commendable. However, they are simply just not enough. Someone who has never been converted can show all of these signs and have many people convinced that he is saved. This is not enough. We need something drastic to happen to us. Now, if we are honest, this is somewhat terrifying. If we really take this seriously, then it should cause us to stop and think - to consider our own spiritual condition. While this medicine might be hard to swallow, it is worth it. It would be much worse for us to be blind and deceived than to know the truth.

Reliable signs of conversion:

1. A divine, supernatural source. We are sinners by nature who are unable to help ourselves, so we need Someone outside of ourselves to do something  to us. The Holy Spirit takes up residence within us and is the source of all of our spirituality.
2. A change of nature. God's Spirit regenerates us (i.e. gives us new life) and now animates our entire being. He gives us new desires and causes us to pursue holiness.
3. A new perception. God shines His light on us and softens our hard, unbelieving hearts. The Holy Spirit opens up our eyes so that for the very first time we can really see. We can actually taste and see that the Lord is good. We now have a new understanding.
4. Deep conviction. Our minds are enlightened so that we become deeply convinced that the essential Christian truths are indeed true. This does not mean that we will never have doubts as Christians. Our confidence in Christian truths may dwindle at times, but our faith will ultimately endure the trials of this life.
5. Humility. We begin to see God for who He really is: perfect in holiness. God dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). When we begin to see God like this, then we begin to realize more and more that this is not who we are. We are not holy like God is holy. This humbles us and causes us to repent of our sins out of a healthy fear of God. We realize that apart from God we can do nothing. This is not a self-deprecation that leads to psychological torture. Rather, it is a healthy dependence on God because we see things as they really are.
6. Hunger for God . We become more and more discontent with worldly pleasures (i.e. misuse of God-given gifts). We realize more and more that these evil desires lead us away from the Source of all life. We grow restless to know and enjoy God more. We are desperate for more of Him.
7. Christian practice. We live in submissive obedience to God. We love the people around us more and more - not just with mere sentiment or words - but with actions that even cost us. And even though we fail and still desperately need God's mercy, God's Spirit enables us to persevere in obedience even through the most difficult of trials.

This list of reliable signs of conversion may seem daunting. Maybe you are overwhelmed by the gap between this list of reliable signs and your own spiritual life. This may seem like perfectionism, but it is not. We know that sinless perfection is not attainable in this life. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). Actually, having a deep conviction about our sin (that result in lives of humble repentance before God) itself is an indicator of conversion. 

Our goal at Redemption Church is for people to be born again. 

This is what we mean in our mission statement by "Christ in me." And we know that this is not something that we can make happen. This is why we are spending a significant amount of time at our Sunday morning DNA Meetings in prayer. We know that we need God to do something that we cannot. We do not want people to just attend our church. We do not want them to just come to our events. We do not want people to come to Redemption Church just because it is something new. People are certainly welcome to come to us out of curiosity, but we do not want them to remain that way. We want something much more for them. We are asking God to cause people all around us to be born again. We are asking God to give them new life. We want people to wake up from their slumber. We want people's eyes to be opened. We want to see people all around us be transformed by God's grace - for their entire lives to be made new. This is our desire. This is our dream. This is why we have started a church.