May 2007

Dear Plain Truth Ministries Partner,

Last month I shared with you a story about a young woman, Marguerite Higgins, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1951 as a war correspondent in Korea. In this month’s message, I want to continue our trip back to the fifties— this time moving ahead one year, to 1952. That year Helsinki, Finland, hosted the summer Olympic games. Helsinki was the backdrop for the story of Bill and Frank.

Bill Havens was chosen to represent the U.S. in canoeing for the 1924 Olympic games in Paris. He was the clear favorite to win, but as he prepared for the Olympics he learned that his wife would probably give birth to their first child while he was in Paris. She told him to go to Paris and bring back the gold, but Bill decided to stay home, and together they greeted their newborn son, Frank, on August 1, 1924. Bill Havens probably wondered what might have happened had he gone to the Olympics, but he said he never regretted his decision. Twenty-eight years later, Frank Havens was chosen to represent the U.S. in the 10,000 meter canoeing event in Helsinki. The day after the race Bill Havens received a telegram:

Dear Dad,

Thanks for waiting around for me to be born in 1924. I’m coming home with the gold medal you should have won.

Your loving son,
Frank

“Honor Your Father and Your Mother”
The months of May and June are annual reminders about the honor and respect rightfully due our human parents. After we are born, it doesn’t take us many years to realize (especially given the wisdom we receive as hormones rage through our teenage bodies!) that our parents are not perfect. As we mature, marry and become parents ourselves we come to the humbling insight that we will not be perfect parents, either. It’s about that stage of life when we begin to understand what the philosopher Kierkegaard had in mind when he said something like, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it has to be lived forwards.”

There are, of course, many times when children find it difficult to honor and respect their parents, given some horrible experiences endured as they grew up. But there is a spiritual truth about our perfect heavenly Father that transcends the human honor we are asked to give to our imperfect parents. Beyond that, Jesus depicts the very essence of the gospel as becoming like a little child.

One day Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1). As Jesus often did, he did not answer the precise question, but instead raised a deeper issue behind the question. The disciples simply assumed that they were part of the kingdom, and all that remained to be decided was who was going to be the greatest (who would get the most), who would be most honored and respected. Jesus called their attention to a young child, and then he told the disciples, “‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 18:3). The word “change” means to turn or repent, and it is in the passive voice. It could easily be understood as “unless you are changed, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” So Jesus said, in effect, “forget the argument about who will be the greatest, let’s talk about being there in the first place.”

The message of the gospel is consistent, unchanging, always insisting that humans can do nothing to earn God’s favor. We cannot earn salvation. We can do nothing to influence God to love us more. We cannot change our spiritual status any more than we can add a single hour to our lives (Matthew 6:27). We do not qualify for God’s kingdom, for as Paul tells us, “…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:12).

Only God can change our hearts. God must turn us around and renew us. Of course we must repent, surrender our lives to God, humble ourselves and accept the fact that our human efforts to be good will never be good enough. But before we can ever accept God’s invitation to accept his grace, and turn our own lives around, he first must change our hearts so that we are receptive to his freely given offer of his kingdom. We don’t gain God’s kingdom as a result of our merits— only God can transform us into his very own children who inherit his kingdom.

How God Changes and Transforms Us
Jesus gave a similar teaching to Nicodemus, a respected religious leader of his day. Jesus told him, “‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’” (John 3:3). In discussing the kingdom with Nicodemus, Jesus not only said that we must be changed, but that we must be reborn. The gospel of grace is further accentuated in this word picture of a spiritual reality.

We are not active parties in the circumstances of our human birth. We don’t choose our parents or our gene pool. We don’t choose when and where we will be born. We are born. Further, when we are born we are poor and destitute, in need of everything. We don’t birth ourselves physically any more than we bring about, through our efforts, our spiritual rebirth.

When God transforms us and re-births us, from above, from heaven, because of Jesus and by his grace, we come into his kingdom naked and helpless. We don’t arrive in the kingdom of God on our spiritual high horse, with an accumulated treasure chest of good deeds we are ready to plunk down before God so he will be so impressed. When Jesus called for us to be changed and become like a little child, and when he said that we must be spiritually reborn to inherit God’s kingdom, he was not calling for a return to the virtue and values of childhood and childish thinking. His teaching was far more spiritually significant and meaningful.

Think of what Jesus’ original audience to whom he spoke these words must have thought. No one in first-century Palestine idealized childhood. Childhood was hard, often bitter, a time of powerlessness. Children were exploited and even abandoned throughout the Roman Empire. They were victimized, just as much or more, than they are now. And yet, within all of that, the message of the vulnerability we have, in Christ, comes through loud and clear. Jesus told us that we would enter the kingdom of God only by being reborn, only by God changing us, only by God’s grace. He was teaching us about a second birth, not “from below” (not from our human values and virtues) but “from above”— a radical new birth that transforms us into God’s own dear children.

Belief in Jesus does not take us back to childish, immature behavior, but it does transcend so much of what our culture tries to teach us about success. Our radical new birth, transforming us into God’s very own children, transcends the power-grabbing, success-achieving pyramids and hierarchies of becoming the very thing the disciples wanted to be— “the greatest.” The kingdom of God tells us that those who would be greatest among us would be like the youngest (Luke 22:26) and the greatest will be your servant (Matthew 23:11).

And, of course, Jesus does not merely tell us to be servants, but he models this life for us. Philippians 2 tells us about the humility of Jesus, who willingly descended to us, humbled himself and became a despised and hated man to those to whom he came to save (John 1:11). The Creator of the universe was rejected by the world and the humans he had created.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? That would be Jesus, for no one has ever or will ever humble themselves and serve others as Jesus has and does. No one will ever duplicate Jesus’ life, his love expressed to us on his cross, or the power of his risen life symbolized by his empty tomb. Who will be the greatest in the kingdom? That’s not the question. The question is— who is in the kingdom, and by what right are they there? Jesus tells us that we must be changed, transformed and reborn so that we will become like little children.

Some time ago I was sent a sampling of letters little children had sent to God. I thought I would share a few with you, as they depict trust, vulnerability, dependence, innocence and faith that God alone gives to his very own spiritual children. And it is therefore fitting that at this time of the year, we not only pause to honor our physical parents, but much more so our heavenly Father who gives us new birth and new life by his grace. Please see the enclosed “Children’s Letters to God.” I’m sure you will enjoy them!

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). As we consider what it means to be a child of God, we would like to offer you one of the volumes from our 43-volume set, Experiencing the Word— A Daily Devotional Journey Through the Bible. This volume covers the book of Proverbs, a treasure trove of wisdom and practical advice. This monthly offer is free for the asking to our Partners, just fill in the enclosed card and return it to us.

We pray that you will not only remember to honor your earthly parents during this time of the year, but that you will take time to give thanks to our heavenly Father who pours out the riches of his grace on us. Until next month,

In Jesus’ precious name,

Greg R. Albrecht
President, Plain Truth Ministries