A New Birth

The telephone rang and Greg picked up the receiver.

“Hi! Sweetie, I am glad you called, I’ve been waiting all

day.”

…

“Nothing in particular, just sitting around thinking

about you.”

…

“You know that life is boring without you around,

next time I’ll have to go with you.”

…

“I can’t wait honey, I’m counting minutes now.”

…

“How’s life over there?”

…

“Glad you’re having a nice time, but I’m missing you

badly here.”

…

(Suddenly Greg raised his voice) “The kingdom of

what? You are kidding me! Look, I don’t want to have

anything to do with whatever kingdom you are talking

Ade Esan

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about, I don’t even want to think about it. Bye.” Greg

slammed down the receiver and stamped out of the room.

Greg is a young man in his mid twenties, 6 foot 2

inches tall. He is handsome with a good athletic build—a

basketball star in high school and later, in college. He has

his degrees from one of the most prestigious universities,

has an enviable job, and is approaching the pinnacle of his

career. He is engaged to his high school sweetheart, Lora,

and marriage preparations are underway. Both he and his

fiancé are professing Christians, members of the same

church. With a few months to their wedding day, a friend

invited Lora to a “bride-to-be” retreat in another town,

and there she had a life-transforming experience. This is

what she was trying to share with Greg on the phone.

On the first evening of the retreat, there had been an

expository teaching from the third chapter of the Gospel

of John, with emphasis on the first three verses:

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.” (NIV)

The teacher at the retreat taught that the basic

foundation of Christianity is the new birth, and that this

is mandatory for everybody who professes to be a

Christian. As a house without foundation will eventually

fall, he says, so it is for anyone professing to be a Christian

who is not born again; such a person cannot go far

because he or she does not have any relationship with

God in the first place. The new birth is the beginning of a

A New Birth

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real relationship with God, and anyone in the church who

is not born again is merely congregating with others in the

church; he or she is not truly a child of God. This second

birth is what opens the doors of all of God’s blessings and

provisions, making them accessible to a person, the

teacher concluded. At the end of his teaching, he invited

all who had not experienced this new birth and who were

now willing to do so to come forward. More than half of

the attendees, including Lora, went forward to be led in

the sinner’s prayer—professing that they believe in their

heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins, and

confessing with their mouth that He is Lord, as stated in

Paul’s Letter to the Romans, chapter 10, verses 8-10:

“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and

in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are

proclaiming: That if you confess with your

mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your

heart that God raised him from the dead, you

will be saved. For it is with your heart that you

believe and are justified, and it is with your

mouth that you confess and are saved.” (NIV)