John 3:16 (2)
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The Gospel reading for this Sunday, from John chapter 3, contains the best-known, and most quoted, and memorized scripture by Christians and unchristians alike, these words of Christ,
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
If you any watch football, you may have seen this guy or someone else holding the reference John 3:16.
Yet, the vast majority of people only know this verse in isolation. Most people don’t know that these words were spoken as a larger conversation in the middle of a late-night people-encounter Jesus had with a man, a Pharisee, named Nicodemus.
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Nicodemus came to Jesus with all kinds of questions.
Maybe you’ve never wondered about Jesus, but many have. Like the parent who wonders about Jesus as they watched their child struggling with cancer. Or the bread winner who is starting over again after Covid closed his place of business. We wonder when our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, go off to war and don’t return to us. The spouse may wonder when he or she finds out the love of his or her life was unfaithful? The couple wonders “why us?” as they face together a childless marriage. The mother wonders as she gathers her teenager’s clothes to do the laundry and finds the remnant of a dangerous addiction hiding in a pocket. We wonder when we wade through the debris left by a tornado or a hurricane.
Have you ever felt that way?
Have you ever wondered about who Jesus is or if His claims are true? Is He truly the Son of God? Is He really the Savior of the world? Did He really turn water into wine, walk on water, open the eyes of the blind, open the grave of the dead and call them back to life? Is everything written about Him in the Gospels, the gospel truth?
If you’ve ever felt that way, even for only a moment, you're not alone.
Nicodemus wondered which is why he came to Jesus one night with a briefcase full of questions. He wasn’t supposed have doubts not as a member of the Jewish ruling council, not as a Pharisee. He couldn’t have questions and be, as Jesus calls him,
John 3:10 (ESV)
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
As the teacher of Israel…” he was expected to have all the answers. So, I wonder, was Jesus’ question rhetorical? Or was it to be a reality check for Nicodemus?
If Nicodemus were alive today he would the head of the theological department at Concordia Seminary. He’s not supposed to have questions he suppose to have the answers.
Four chapters later in the gospel of John, when Jesus is attending the feast of Tabernacles, a.k.a., the Feast of Booths, the Chief Priests and the Pharisees send their “officers,” their religious police, to arrest Jesus, AND when the officers come back empty-handed John records this,
John 7:45–48 (ESV)
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
I wonder if Nicodemus felt pressured at that moment when they asked,
48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
He could have or should have stood up and confessed, “I went to see Jesus one night. I asked Him a lot of questions. That would have been the truth, because,
49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
But instead of saying, “I asked Him questions. I’ve heard him speak and He IS the real deal” Nicodemus keeps his late-night encounter with Jesus a secret and covers it up with a quick redirect.
(Nicodemus) said to them (The Chief Priests and Pharisees), 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
Was this Nicodemus’ way to get the council to bring Jesus in so that they can hear Jesus too?
Why would Nicodemus suggest that? Because hearing Jesus that night was life-changing for Nicodemus. Paul writes this about the necessity of hearing Jesus,
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
You have to hear the Word of Christ for His Word to change your heart, your life! You have hear the Word of Christ to crossover from unbelief to faith.
That why Faith Lutheran Church and School exists to open the doors of God’s house each week in worship and all week long in school, to let people (of all ages) in to hear the Word of Christ!
Words like these,
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus came to Jesus that night after the sun had gone down looking for light. And Jesus turned on the light for Nicodemus when HE heard Jesus tell him the gospel in a nutshell, John 3:16.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is the verse that can bring us THE encounter with Jesus and change our hearts.
Have you ever wondered about how quickly a snake bite kills?
The black mamba is among the fastest-acting venom's of any snake. If he bites you, his venom is lethal enough end your life in 20 minutes.
Why talk about snake bites and John 3:16? Because Jesus mentions them, just before He speaks this most famous verse of the Bible.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
When Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, they became impatient and grew tired of the food and lack of water.
5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
God got tired of their grumbling and complaining. But He loved them and to prevent their sin from destroying their relationship with him, God sent snakes to turn them back to Him, in so doing He shows them His mercy and love and by providing a way out of their sin. What was that way, trust him. The caduceus.
8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Who would have thought of such a cure, except for God. Guess what they give you today when you are bit by a venomous snake? You are injected with the poison of the snake. Huh.
We are so much like the children of Israel. We live outside of Eden. We wander through this desert life, this sinful world grumbling and complaining, often easily entangled in sin’s webs. In our sinfulness, we wonder,
If God so loved the world, then...Why does God allow bad things to happen?
If God so loved the world, shouldn’t our Christian lives be easier, better, and always pleasant?
If God so loved the world, then...Why doesn’t He step into the world He loves and do something about evil, disasters, suffering, and death?
The truth is God has, and God did. And all our answers are found here,
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Jesus is God’s answer to all our questions about sin, satan and death and only by looking up in faith and hope to the ONE God lifted on the cross, can we have forgiveness, life and salvation in Jesus’ name. Read it with me
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Let’s gather our tithes and offerings.