For God So Loved the World

For God So Loved The World

John 3:14-21

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to each and every one of you in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am Steve Garrabrant, and I am blessed to serve as Vicar here at Gloria Dei and the Head of School at Lutheran South Academy.

Everyone here in this Worship Center is loved. And, while it may not always feel like it…

…We are loved by one another as brothers and sisters in the faith…

…We are loved by spouses and children and families…

…We are loved by friends and coworkers and bosses and employers…

…well…ok, maybe most of us are loved…or…maybe sometimes we’re loved…

You see, unfortunately, the love we receive, and the love we share with one another is imperfect.

While we cherish being loved, we all know what it’s like to fail in loving those most dear to us, and we know all too well what it’s like to be on the receiving end of love that falls short.

I stand before you as someone who struggles with this. I love my wife, my children, my family, and yet my love for them is imperfect. I struggle with being short with them when I am stressed…or grumble with them when things don’t go my way…it’s not their fault—well, most of the time it’s not their fault; but still, regardless—I unfairly handle my stress and my shortcomings around them far differently than I do with most others. I am a school administrator…I am a vicar…my life is in the fishbowl…I can’t let my guard down around those I am leading or those I am serving—and so the one’s closest to me—my safety net of being loved—are the ones who have to put up with my shortcomings and flaws and failures and the list goes on and on.

Why is it that we take it out on those we love most?

When my 20-year-old son Eli was a little kid, he loved his mom. There is no doubt that kid loved his mother! And when Rachel and I would have date night and my in-laws would watch the kids, Eli stood in front of pictures of Rachel and just cry and cry and cry that she left without him. It got so bad that Rachel’s mom had to turn over every picture of Rachel in the house when we had a date night. And then we would return, and you would think that he would be overjoyed that we returned and we were all back together again. No! He would punish Rachel for leaving. He would be rude to her…mean…just down right ornery! She would hold him on her lap and he would twirl on her hair and say “No ponies!” and tug on her hair. He was a stinker! And in all fairness…I did say he was a stinker…at 20 he’s much better now…we no longer have to turn pictures over or hide them!

Seriously, why do we mistreat the one’s we love most? Why do we take it out on them or take for granted or whatever. Why? The simple answer is we are sinful and our love for one another is imperfect.

But there is perfect love. And, while our love for one another is imperfect and incomplete, God’s love for us is perfect. God’s love for us is complete.

God’s love for us is emotional: He love us with all His heart.

God’s love for us is active: He puts His love to work for our sake.

And, God’s love for us is sacrificial: He loves us even when it means loving us will lead Him into suffering, and even death.

Throughout Scripture, God’s perfect love for us is on display.

In Genesis, we see God make man and woman special and unique from the rest of His creation. And, God provided for them—He gave them everything they would need. And when man and woman sadly gave in to temptation and sinned against God, He didn’t wipe them out and start all over again. No, He gives the first promise of a messiah—to make all things right again. And when Adam and Eve felt guilt and shame and lost their innocence in being naked, God provided for them. And the Lord made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them (Genesis 3:21). The first sacrifice. God taking an animal from His perfect creation and made garments of skins for His beloved man and woman and provided for them.

And throughout the Old Testament, God made a covenantal promise that He would provide for His chosen people—that He would send the Messiah to reclaim His cursed creation and to redeem His fallen chosen people.

And when God’s chosen people were oppressed by Pharoah, He sent Moses to lead them out of oppression by means of the Exodus.

But the people whom God was rescuing grumbled and fell into sin and so they wandered in the wilderness until God would allow them to enter the Promise Land.

And while they were in the wilderness, they sinned against God even more, but God in His love and grace and mercy still provided for fallen man:

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 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.” Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 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.” 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. (Numbers 21:4-9).

And if we look to the New Testament, we see God’s perfect and complete love for His people.

In Ephesians, Paul tells us:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

By the Holy Spirit, the words of Moses and Paul both point us toward God’s love for us in Christ. The Gospel of John record’s Jesus’ own words that bring God’s perfect and complete love into focus for us today:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. (John 3:14-17)

Over and over again, we hear throughout Scripture that God loves us. And in His love He gives us life. He saved the lives of His people while they wandered through the desert wilderness. He saves us from our sins and gives us life by His grace. He sent us His only-begotten Son, that by faith, we may take hold of His love and never perish, but have everlasting life. This divine love saves us from death and gives us life in Christ. And this divine love is highlighted at the Cross.

Just as Moses was sent to deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, in His love, God the Father sent us Christ to deliver us out of the bondage of sin.

In His love, Christ willingly endured the humiliation, suffering, and death of the Cross.

And in Christ crucified—in His suffering, and bleeding, and gasping, and thirsting, and dying—we see God’s emotional, active, sacrificial love on full display.

On the Cross, Christ loved us emotionally, just as He loved His mother and His disciples. As He gazed down from the cross upon Mary and John, Christ utters these dying words:

Woman, behold thy son! And, then He said to His disciple, Behold thy mother.

In love, He commits them to each other to care for one another and love each other just as He loved them both. In the same way, He commits us to love each other wholeheartedly and compassionately.

On the Cross, Christ loved us actively. As He answered the prayer of the repentant thief on His side, He says:

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Even as He dies, Christ actively answers the prayers of those who flee to Him in repentant faith. And in love He continues to answer our repentant prayers today with the promise of life in heavenly paradise.

Christ’s sacrificial love is on display throughout His earthly ministry, but we see it most clearly at the Cross.

As He bleeds and dies, He suffers the wrath of God—because He loves us.

As He dies, He secures eternal life for us—because He loves us.

As He hangs upon the Cross, forsaken by God, He secures God’s gracious, enduring blessing and favor upon us for all the ages—because He loves us.

Because…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up—that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

By this divine love, our sinful, inadequate love is forgiven and transformed by Christ. Our imperfect, incomplete love for spouses, children, and all in the body of Christ is forgiven by Christ’s loving death on our behalf. And by His love, we are redeemed and made new, to love spouses, children, caregivers, friends, bosses, employers, and everyone else because Christ loves us!

John puts it this way in his first epistle:

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:10-11)

So, led by the Spirit of God, and transformed by the love of Christ, we love one another with a holy love that is emotional, active, and sacrificial.

Because Christ loves us, we love one another with all our heart; always concerned for the well-being of all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Because Christ loves us, we put our love into action; always working for the good of all.

Because Christ loves us, we give ourselves in loving service to others, even when it means we must suffer for their sake—for this is how God loves us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Regardless of age, wealth, health, or ability, we are all loved by God in Christ. By His grace, we strive to love one another, always holding steadfast to our faith in the love of God; and always holding dear these words by which the Spirit reveals God’s love to us today:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In the peace that surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in the love of Christ Jesus. Amen.