Reborn
Teaching Pastor; Staff Governing Elder; Staff Director
To be a believer in Christ is to be reborn and recreated by God. This miraculous rebirth not only saves our souls from sin, it also informs and influences our present and gives us a transcendent hope for an eternal future with God.
Study Questions
To be a believer in Christ is to be reborn and recreated by God. This miraculous rebirth not only saves our souls from sin, it also informs and influences our present and gives us a transcendent hope for an eternal future with God.Application
Being recreated is a reorientation—to a new family, a new culture, a new way of life. What did this reorientation look like for you when you became a believer? In what ways do you still struggle to orient yourself to your identity as God’s child?
What do you dream about? What excites you? What upsets you? What do the answers to these questions reveal what you truly value? Are your hope and life expectations in alignment with God’s plan and purpose for you as his child?
Part of being a believer is living in expectation of the future God has for us. How much personal bandwidth do you invest in thinking about eternity? Or, are you looking for transcendence elsewhere? If so, consider the genuineness of your faith or the possibility that you have been dulled by the world.
1 Peter tells us that we will surely face trials here on earth, but that they are meant for our growth. How has God used trials in your life to squeeze out your reliance on yourself and hope in worldly things? How can our future inheritance from God strengthen our faith and give us hope in the midst of trials?
Key Points
We must own our createdness and our fallenness in order to experience what it means to be recreated.
Being recreated by God is a reorientation—to his family, his culture, and his plans for the future. When we struggle to come under his authority, it raises questions about our understanding of our position as created beings.
When we are reborn, the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life within us, and we can live in expectation of a priceless inheritance in eternity.
We are all looking for a sense of transcendence, often in worldly things like power, influence, and earthly relationships. However, our future with God should not only provide us with that transcendence, it should orient our entire lives.
Just as intense heat can remove the impurities from gold, so also can trials in our lives purify our souls and draw us closer to God. We should not waste our trials, but embrace them as God’s tool for growth.
Whether we struggle with crippling guilt and shame over our sin or self-righteousness in comparison to others, we must all humble ourselves to receive God’s mercy.