Becoming Born Again

In John 3 a story is told of a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus coming to see Jesus at night. There is no need to think that Nicodemus was trying to avoid detection.  This could be the case as a Pharisee and ruler, but it could very well be that he was looking to talk with Jesus undisturbed.  He addresses Jesus with civility and respect.  He calls Him a rabbi and affirms Jesus is sent from God.  Nicodemus points to Jesus’ miraculous signs as a confirmation that Jesus was no ordinary man.  Notice the sobriety of Jesus’ language, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." By using the words ‘truly, truly’ Jesus is making this statement as a declaration of truth.  Jesus is inferring that His statement carries with it authority and the burden of truth.  It is if He is saying, ‘This is to be believed, you must be born again to see the Kingdom.’  

 

If Jesus is to be believed then the new birth is necessary to see the Kingdom of God.  No new birth, no kingdom.  It is that simple.  To avoid any confusion for Nicodemus, the original language carries the sense of being born from above. This is not natural generation.  This is not birth that comes about by a natural relationship between a man and a woman.  Nicodemus did not get this from being born into a nice Jewish family.  Nicodemus had every natural advantage for being a shoo-in into the Kingdom.  He had lineage, he had theological training, he had recognition, he had years in temple worship, he had everything going for him, and yet Jesus speaks to him plainly…you must be born again.  Something must take place that is akin to the trauma of childbirth. In other words, Nicodemus, you must be made new.  To see Jesus Christ for Who He is you must become a new man.  

 

Jesus was not impressed with Nicodemus’ civility or his appearance of religion.  He was not impressed with Nicodemus’ recognition of Jesus’ sign-producing capabilities.  Jesus knew what was in Nicodemus.  This ought to be very sobering for us.  What Jesus is looking for is a complete revolution.  To see the Kingdom of God was to see God’s King and Nicodemus was still blind.  He was willing to confer niceties on Jesus and His ministry, but He could not see who Jesus truly was. Nicodemus needed a complete transformation characterized by the Kingdom of God itself.  He needed to meet the Kingdom’s King.  He needed to be introduced to the only One who is able to perform miraculous signs.  He needed a wholesale revolution of thinking and being. He needed a complete reorientation or recalibration of everything he knew.  He needed to be born again.

 

You can well imagine Nicodemus’ next thought.  If I must be born again, if I must be transformed how must it be done? After all, I’m a man acquainted with doing. My whole life has been one of doing.  My identity is bound up in my doing. But how do I become reborn?  How does one start over? I am an old man and the prospect of entering in again to my mother’s womb is preposterous and yet this is precisely Jesus’ approach.  Nicodemus must have thought, if what Jesus says is true then I am hopeless and helpless to do this on my own.  Nicodemus did not understand that the nature of being born again is so radical and so transformative that unless the Spirit of God brings it, it will not happen.  It isn’t simply a matter of praying the sinner’s or understanding four spiritual laws and filling out a card.   Conversion must come from outside of us.  It is something the sovereign Spirit must do.  It is impossible for Nicodemus to do.  It is something only God can do.  Only God can create life.  Only God can give sight to the blind. Only God can raise the dead. Jesus uses the language of impossibility. 

 

What Nicodemus needed was to be made completely new. His entire way of thinking, doing, and speaking must be radically changed.  If you are a Christian then what you have experienced in the new birth is radical, pervasive, and transformational.  This is nothing less than the Old Testament’s language from Ezekiel of hearts of stone being replaced by hearts of flesh.  Nicodemus, once you see the Kingdom for what it really is, and once you see the King for Who He is, you will not be the same person.  You simply cannot be!  You will still struggle with sin, but what has happened in the new birth is nothing less than a Copernican revolution.

 

When the Spirit regenerates, or makes new, the result is nothing short of being made alive from the dead.  A new nature is given.  Old things become past things.  Old sins no longer have the power they once had.  Thinking becomes different.  Seeing becomes different. Speaking becomes different.  Jesus Christ is no longer given polite assent.  Jesus Christ becomes Lord.  The old is gone and the new has come.

 

Friends, much of what passes for acceptable Christianity is not really Christianity in the true, biblical sense.  Much of what passes for acceptable Christianity is Christianity that has not experienced the transforming work of the sovereign Spirit of God.  We’re tempted to settle for much less, but God wants to make us new.  His desire is that we are truly reborn.  What does God want to do here in Central Oregon?  He wants to make you new.  What does God want to do in your home?  He wants to make it new.  What does God want to do in your interaction with your neighbors and friends?  He wants to plant you as a regenerated, transformed member of the Kingdom square in the middle of it to show the transforming power of both the Kingdom and the King.  But first it won’t come without a radical, pervasive and transforming work of the Spirit.

 

 

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves with InFaith, a ministry that assists small and rural churches. He can be reached at danjmorse@icloud.com  

Time to Grow Up

It’s a lazy, drizzly Sunday afternoon here at the ranch, one of those kinds of days that easily could use an investment in a nap. As I sit typing this, and behind me on a multi-shelved rack, is a recent project; I’ve taken on an experiment of growing almost 200 Ponderosa Pine (Pinus Ponderosa) trees from seeds. During our Christmas tree outing after last Thanksgiving, I picked up some pine cones near Ochoco Pass. I’ve never done this before but I dried out the cones and harvested the seeds from their interior. 

 

They say the best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, and the second-best time is today. Some have thought my efforts at growing seeds and planting trees a fool’s errand. After all, I’m an old man now and I’ll surely never see these Ponderosa’s in their regal glory. It turns out, I’m not planting them for me, I’m planting them for the future, that another generation may see their regal glory.

 

Looking over my shoulder, the seeds have begun to sprout. The seedlings have found their way through the potting soil and have begun their reach toward the window. They’re kind of cute and chock full of promise. Their delicate fronds look like miniature green drink umbrellas. It’s kind of funny, but I find myself checking on ‘my babies’ with too-frequent regularity.

 

In the book of Genesis, God’s creative fiat is seen in the newly-created world, teeming with vivacity and vitality…all around, it’s life on steroids. In fact, much of the initial Genesis narrative takes place within a verdant garden, created by God (and ex nihilo no less!), and tended by the world’s first man and woman.  There’s something about new life and a garden that warrants God’s approbation (Genesis 1:12) in the Genesis story. Growing these seeds into young trees has got me thinking about God’s creative fiat and the Christian life.

 

When seeds are planted by a gardener, the intention is that they will grow. For every farmer that plants a crop, he looks forward to an autumn harvest. In the Bible, the garden motif is strong.  In fact, Jesus uses the gardener analogy with frequency (Mt. 13, Jn. 15). The crucifixion took place in a garden (Jn. 19), and, post-resurrection, Jesus was even mistaken for a gardener (John 20). In many ways God’s posture toward His people is that of a master gardener. Psalm 1 speaks of God’s righteous one as being like a tree, planted by water, and yielding fruit. Even the essential work of the Holy Spirit in every Christian is classified as ‘fruit.’ 

 

When the Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesian church, he encourages them to ‘grow up’ into Christ, and the point he is making is a good one. He is encouraging the Ephesian believers to mature, to take seriously their call to grow from seedlings to strong trees that stand tall. They are to grow up into Christ, and slowly but surely take on the regal familial resemblance of their Lord and Savior. For the Christian, God is a gardener, and by the effectual advocacy and work of the Holy Spirit, He’s telling each one of us (like the Ponderosa Pine seeds planted in fresh, damp soil), it’s time to grow up. 

 

         

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves with InFaith, a ministry that assists small and rural churches. He can be reached at danjmorse@icloud.com  

Loving My Opposite Voting Neighbor

Christian friends, 

In a few scant days we’ll know the outcome of the impending U.S. election. We’ll go to work on Wednesday and likely stop for groceries on Thursday on the way home. What will we do? With a nation bitterly divided (and almost in half) we all have family and friends, neighbors and acquaintances, that have voted contrary to our best judgment. What for me seems incontrovertible, has not been the case for many that are close to me. What will I do?

Social media is full of rhetoric and vitriol. Some that I have huge respect for have resorted to name calling and the impugning of others’ character and motive. This election has brought out the worst in some folks. Names like deplorable, Nazi, bitter-clingers, dumb, fascist, garbage, stupid, childless cat-lady, and every form of demeaning appellation has been thrown about. The political playground on Facebook, X, InstaGram, and Tic-Tok is rife with bullies on both sides of the aisle. Meanie Sid Phillips from Toy Story would be shocked at the competition.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got my political opinions and I certainly question the political decisions of some folks who claim Christian affinity. In the moment I admit that sometimes I shake my head at the childishness of it all. But what about Wednesday and Thursday of next week when we see our neighbor from a distance? What happens when our poison-speak does not account for real persons, perhaps those members of the family that we’ll see over Thanksgiving? The New Testament writer named James warns us that, “…the tongue is a fire and a world of unrighteousness” (3:6). James gets right to it with this, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless” (1:26). Did you get that? Worthless, of no value. And don’t think that because we use a keyboard and not a voice that we can escape James’ warning.

I think it can be demonstrated that we have a duty to vote. Living as citizens in a Constitutional Republic it is the duty of the citizenry to vote. That means every eligible citizen should exercise this duty, if possible. That being said, as those who name the name of Christ, we have an imperatival obligation, not simply to vote, but to love our neighbor. Yes, even those neighbors! In sermon-form Jesus puts it quite plainly, ^“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:43-45). Jesus ratchets up the obligation and issues this as a command with imperatival force, and if anyone had the ‘right’ to hate his neighbor, it would be Jesus. Christian friends, the imperatival obligation is yours, and not your neighbor's. For those you consider to be your political enemies, engage them, discuss political philosophies with them, challenge them and let them challenge you, but above all, love them and pray for them, so that you may truly be sons and daughters of your Father.

 

There’s an old maxim that says it’s impossible to hate someone that you pray for. My guess is that may not initially be true, but God has a way of changing us. And, my suspicion is, that if we begin to love our neighbor (as we’re commanded to do) we’ll see a change both in the world, and in us. 

 

11/3/2024 

- DJM 

 

 

    

 

Dan and Judy Morse live near Prineville, Oregon. Over the years Dan has done bi-vocational work, church planting, and served as a senior pastor in several churches. He now serves with InFaith, a ministry that assists small and rural churches. 

 

When Fear Gets the Upper Hand

Maybe you are old enough to remember Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 #1 song, Don’t Worry, Be Happy.  It actually won a Grammy for the best song of the year.  The first time I heard it I thought it was cute and catchy, but after my older daughters listened to it countless times over and over on their cassette player it quickly lost its appeal.  

 

Don’t worry, be happy? Are you kidding?  

 

Do you ever worry?  Are you ever anxious?  With economic uncertainty and the looming election, it’s no wonder that worry has been a frequent companion.  

 

Imagine yourself a first century disciple.  Your average lifespan is much less than we know, you have no checking account, you have no 401K, you have no Social Security, you have no Medicare, you have no unemployment insurance, in fact, you have no insurance at all, you have no dental program, you have no health benefits, you have no refrigerator, your meals are acquired each day for the day as you have no canned food or TV dinners, bread must be baked daily, food spoils quickly, there are no exterminators, running water is almost unheard of, clean water is hard to find, bathroom facilities are non-existent, you have no hand sanitizer, basic hygiene is non-existent, you have no washing machines or microwave ovens, scorpions and snakes are commonplace, you have no Tylenol, Novocain, penicillin, Ambien, Zoloft, or any modern medicine.    You have few possessions and the ones you do have would likely fit into a couple of laundry baskets.  For some time, you’ve been following Jesus and He’s called you to live a life of committed discipleship. He has just forewarned you about what this call to discipleship will look like, and then He begins to address the issue of worry and anxiety. Take a look at Luke 12,

 

Luke 12:22-34   ²² And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.  ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  ²⁴ Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!  ²⁵ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^1  26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?  ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,¹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  ²⁸ But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!  ²⁹ And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. ³⁰ For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.  ³¹ Instead, seek his¹ kingdom, and these things will be added to you.  ³² "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  ³³ Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.  ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

It’s not for nothing that Jesus uses the example of ravens.  They were unclean scavengers.  Ravens clean up garbage and dead animals.  According to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 they were undesirable birds and were to be treated as something disreputable. It is the wisdom and glory of God to use unusual means to provide for His people.  Manna and quail in the wilderness wanderings and a raven for the prophet Elijah, but for the most part ravens were not thought well of. These ravens were nasty scavengers and Jesus makes the point that even these are fed. 

 

And then Jesus says you cannot add any length of time to your life by being anxious.  An example is given of lilies as well.  Solomon, in his finest wardrobe, doesn’t hold a candle to this flower in its bloom.

 

Are you more valuable than ravens or lilies?  Jesus gives a resounding yes, and says, your Father knows what you need.  Anxiety is unbecoming the disciple that calls God their Father.  To be anxious is to impugn the character of God as our Father, but it’s also a denial of His care and mercy over His people.  And then Jesus gives another reason to trust in making a connection between those things most valuable to His disciples and their hearts.  

 

God is not stingy concerning the giving of His gifts to His people.  It is His good pleasure.  He is not tight-fisted and selfish.  He delights in giving His kingdom to those who belong to Him.  Don’t be afraid, things may look tough right now, but His kingdom is glorious and far-beyond what we can even comprehend, and He is delighted to give it. Don’t be afraid.  

 

Here’s the truth of it…the future for these disciples was quite bleak.  An incredibly difficult road lies ahead.  Some of them will even lose their lives for being Jesus’ disciple.  And yet, right in the middle of all of this Jesus speaks and says, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  It may be exceedingly difficult right now, but He’s given His people His kingdom, and He’s given it to set His people free from anxiety.  God cares more for those He loves than lilies or birds and the way we know that is in the glorious good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Don’t worry. Why? Because Christ has been given.  Christ has risen from the dead, and it is God’s will (it is His intended purpose) to give His people far more than we can even comprehend.

- DJM 

10/29/2024

A Few Lessons in Church Planting -

For the last several years we have been in the halcyon age of church planting.  It seemed that for a long time every Sunday there was a new street level sandwich board advertising a new church with a trendy name.  Interestingly the names were typically not descriptive of something substantive.  In fact, out here in the Northwest we even have, The Coffee Church.  Moderately-able worship leaders are in high demand and often move from one trendy new church to another.  During our church plant we even had long-distance musicians solicit us for a place on the team.  For them there was no philosophical or theological inquiry, nor inquiry into church planting vision...simply a tight worship set was the draw.

 

A while back we finished up a 5-day vacation with family in Idaho.  On our way home and just outside of Walla-Walla, Washington we got off the beaten path and drove to the Whitman Mission.  Every time I visit here it has a significant effect upon me.  If you don’t know the story of the Whitman Mission let me give you a little history.  In 1836 several Presbyterian missionaries made their way along the Oregon Trail and settled near Walla-Walla.   Of those who made the trip were Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa.  They married on February 18, 1836 and the day after their wedding they left for the Oregon Territory.  They were convinced that they were called to bring the gospel to the Nez Perce Indians and to help them by educating them.  The Whitmans committed their lives to loving and serving the indigenous natives in the area.  Their life was not an easy one.  Their first winter was spent in a very small hut, and the second winter their home was flooded out and they had to move to higher ground.  Their only child, Alice Clarissa, was born in 1837.  At age 27 months she drowned in the river just a short distance outside of their home.  Their lives were characterized by privation, hardship, and backbreaking toil.  In 1844 seven children arrived at the mission that had lost their parents in the journey across the Oregon Trail from Missouri, and Marcus and Narcissa adopted them as their own.  Known for their hospitality, their home was a place where those headed west often stopped, but they never lost sight of their first priority to bring the gospel to the native Indian tribes in the area.  On April 2, 1847 Dr. Whitman ended a letter this way, he said, ‘…we live at all times in a most precarious state….’  And then on November 29^th, 1847, 11 years after they had begun their mission, Marcus, Narcissa and 11 others were killed and another 47 were taken hostage.  In a terrible misunderstanding and tragic circumstance the Whitman mission came to an end.  For almost forty years Presbyterian missions were ceased in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Here are a hard few lessons from the Whitman Mission church planting and missional efforts that likely will not be taught in college or seminary missiology classes:

 

Sometimes signing up for ministry is akin to signing a death warrant.  Often there is no forward progress of the gospel without significant suffering and this should not surprise us.  After all, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

 

Sometimes the people God sends you to serve will not let you out alive.  It is an interesting tension biblically, but if you look at the life of Jesus there was a great deal of difficulty imposed upon His ministry by those closest to Him.  For another couple of eye-openers do a little research on Jonathan Edwards' last days of ministry at Northampton or Nate Saint's ministry to the indigenous peoples in Ecuador. The servant is truly not greater than the Master.

 

The most thankless job in church planting is that of the church planting pastor’s wife. Untold grief, tears, and hardship are sown by the church planter/pastor's wife as she serves alongside of her husband.  God keeps a record record of every tear.

 

Bi-vocational church planting and missions work is profoundly difficult.  It requires a rare skill-set and often comes at an incredible cost to family and well-being.  Marcus Whitman was both a doctor and a missionary, and even wore several other hats as he toiled at the mission for 11 years. 

 

There are casualties in church planting. Sometimes this means reputation, sometimes relationships, sometimes our very lives, but anything worth something will require everything.  We are fools to think of church planting lightly, knowing the gravity of what’s at stake.

 

Sometimes it is impossible to count the cost beforehand.  There are some tasks that God calls us to that we would run far away from if we knew what they would cost us.  God gives grace in the moment and not beforehand.

 

Church planting success cannot be measured in the here and now, but can only be accurately considered in light of eternity.  In the eyes of some the Whitman Mission was a colossal failure, and as a church planter it is a strong temptation to look at numerical growth as the yardstick for true success.  This is a fool’s errand.  Wood, hay, and stubble, as opposed to true gospel fruit, will be made evident at the day of the Lord.

 

Walking around the Whitman Mission I was reminded of Jesus’ words in John 12:24:

 

‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’

 

I’m thankful for men and women like Marcus and Narcissa.  They paved the way for Pacific Northwest missionaries and church planters that would follow. It may not be pretty as we consider the incredible cost, but they’ve showed us the inestimable value of bringing the good news to a world that desperately needs it, and the incredible privilege of following God’s call no matter the cost. 

 

-DJM 

 

9/8/2024 (Adapted from a blog post from 2013)