"The Rights of God" # 3

The Starting Point for the Working of God (continued)

What applied to Naaman also applied to Nicodemus. John 3:1-8 says:

"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with Him." Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus saith unto Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Jesus answered. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

We can think of Naaman as a man of the world; on the other hand, Nicodemus represents the so-called religious people. But with God, none of this matters at all! Even our religion, our piety, our strivings: all are meaningless. God takes no notice of any of these things. Whether we seek healing from leprosy, an illustration of extreme poverty in the midst of great wealth, or whether we have other desires, recognition of our public position - God brings both to the same starting point. Whether the one must dip himself seven times in the Jordan as a sign that a complete death to one's own self must take place, or whether it is said of the other, "Except a man be born again" - in both cases it is the same: THE STARTING POINT OF GOD WITH US IS THE END OF ALL THAT WE ARE IN AND OF OURSELVES.

This is as valid for the "religious" person as it is for "the man of the world." There is no such thing as a second-hand knowledge of God. God cannot be "studied." All true knowledge of God is a personal, immediate, living experience of Him. All else is so-called theology, our own thoughts about God, philosophy.

Has it become clear from what we have been saying that God can make no use of that which we are of ourselves? We may have traveled on a long, perhaps "pious" road; but God cannot use that. God begins with us at the Cross. Living fellowship with God is only for those who are born of God. Naaman did not know God. In the case of Nicodemus, we cannot say this. Nevertheless, Nicodemus had no more life from God than Naaman.

This presents us with some serious questions. It presents us with the question: am I born again? Have I experienced resurrection? Is my relationship with God based on personal experience? Do I know what it means to be dead and buried? Or is this all simply knowledge? Are these "truths" that I have accepted without having "experienced" them and stood in their full reality?

If we want to act according to the rights of God, then it is of utmost importance to begin at that point at which the rights of God have their highest confirmation, at the Cross of Calvary, where only one thing remains for us: to give God His rights in continually relinquishing all of "our" rights.

In the seventh chapter of Mark, and the fifteenth chapter of Matthew, we find the report of the Syrophenician woman. Here too we are faced with the same starting point for all the blessings of God.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 4)