The Year-Round Christmas Tree

Text: John 3:16

Introduction

There’s one thing about Christmas that I HATE—taking down the Christmas tree.

I love putting it up & decorating, but I hate taking it down.

Last year I kept my Christmas tree up for the entire month of January.

Starting decorating\aesthetic\not as bad as other people are.

I hate when we have to take the tree down, because it feels like you’re putting the spirit of Christmas in there with it—the spirit of giving, thankfulness, family, etc.

Now that Christmas is over, and MOST of us have taken down our Christmas trees—today I want us focus on ANOTHER tree.

A tree that, with the new year approaching, we all need to come to recognize is available to us year-round.

You can’t tuck it in a box—it stands here for every one of us.

1 Peter 1:24 (ESV)

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

What is Peter referring to here?

He’s referring to the cross that Christ shed His atoning blood upon.

Today I want us to think about this tree, and we’re going to do so by looking at John 3:16 and some of the surrounding verses.

I think studying this tree today will help realign us in the new year.

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I. DANGER

“…shall not perish…”

What does Jesus mean by “perish”?

Jesus wasn’t referring to some earthly plague that the people were facing that He came to save them from.

Jesus wasn’t referring to some oppressive government that was killing the people that He had come to save them from—no, He’s referring to a deeper problem with three letters; S-I-N, sin.

John 3:17-19 (NIV)

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

So this perishing that Jesus came to stop—it wasn’t from dying physically, but from dying spiritually.

But this isn’t a problem that just the people in Jesus’ day had.

Paul’s clear in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Why? Because we love sin.

The Lord has blessed us a lot this year, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t struggled.

This year has had it’s trials.

I don’t know everything that is going on in all of your lives, but I do know that we all share the same illness: we are all sick with sin.

Sometimes we like to maybe put on some metaphorical makeup in order to mask our illness, but we are all sick.

This illness started back in Eden in Genesis 3, you all know the story.

God planted two trees in the garden: 1) Life & 2) Knowledge of Good & Evil.

The serpent came, tempted Eve, Eve ate, Adam ate, and God cursed the Earth.

It’s here, in the Garden, that Paul says in Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—”

It seems that, in some way, the fall weakened man to sin—I’m not saying we were born with sin (I wrote a several page paper for school where I looked at this, and I’m convicted we aren’t), but we are weak to sin.

That being said, I don’t want to take away from what Jesus said here: we sin because we love the darkness.

I think about what James wrote in James 1:13–15 “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

We are ultimately responsible for our sin.

And we’ll be judged for our sin (2 Cor. 5:10).

This is the problem that all man has without Christ.

Without our sins forgiven, we’d be subject to the wrath of God (John 3:36).

The purpose of the tree is to keep us from perishing; and we’re perishing because all of us sin.

II. DESIGN

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”

I think it’s important to notice what it doesn’t say.

The text doesn’t say that God hated the world and was waiting for them to get what was coming to them.

The text doesn’t say that God loved the world and did nothing and left us to our own devices.

I emphasize this point because I feel like we sometimes have a really problematic view of who God is.

In Greek mythology the god’s of Olympus (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, etc) are seen as vindictive jerks.

If one of their followers made them look like bad the gods would lash out out of spite.

The gods were evil.

I feel like we can sometimes view God in a similar way, but maybe not to that extreme.

I went to a School of Preaching where many people believed that when you sin one time you’re out of covenant with God—meaning, if you get hit by a car, cuss, and die from your injuries before repenting you’ll be damned for all eternity.

And maybe you don’t view God in that way, but maybe you have this view that God is just waiting around the corner to catch you in a sin.

That is not the biblical picture of who God is.

Earlier we mentioned Genesis 3 and how God cursed the earth after Adam, Eve, and the Serpent sinned, but notice what God says to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.””

People who are smarter than I am look at this passage and believe this is God telling Satan that He is putting a plan in motion that will ultimately redeem the deceived and crush the deceiver—that God is declaring that Jesus is coming to crush Satan and set free those of us who have been slaves to sin.

Or notice this passage, Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

Before God created the world, before Eve ate the fruit, before the Serpent was able to speak, God had set in motion His plan to redeem us “in him,” “in Christ.” When we are baptized into Christ you are a new creation (Gal 3:27; 2 Cor. 5:17).

God loved the world—and He showed it by sending His one and only Son.

Some look at the phrase “one and only” and think “I thought we were all sons and daughters of God?”

This is true, but we are sons and daughters of God in a different sense that what Jesus was.

We’re all children of God in the sense that God created us all (Gen. 1:26, 27).

But in another sense, we aren’t children of God—consider John 1:12 “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—”

Or think about Paul’s words in Galatians 4:4-7.

The New International Version Chapter 4

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. e 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

In John 1, the same author of John 3:16 depicts Jesus as being there in the beginning of time; co-eternal/co-equal with the Father—He is uncreated, and therefore He is the Son of God in a very unique way.

So not only is Jesus uniquely the Son of God, God demonstrated His love for the world by giving His son.

Consider the words of Paul in Philippians 2:5-8

Philippians 2:5–8 NIV

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Christ, being fully equal with God, gave up the glory of heaven to come to earth.

Not just as a God, but as a man.

Jesus was born of a woman, He experienced real pain and sadness.

Jesus knew what it was to be hungry.

Jesus knew what it meant to have a mom and a dad and family.

Jesus knew what it was to be happy.

Jesus knew what it was to be sad.

Jesus knew what it was to have your heart broken.

Jesus knew what it felt like to be angry.

Jesus experienced all of this so He

Jesus had friends who died that He wept over.

Jesus looked at the way the world behaved and it broke His heart.

Jesus came, lived as a man, so He could empathize with us—Hebrews 4:15 says “15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

But Jesus didn’t just come to earth to experience life, He came to live a sinless life and to die in our place.

We’re told that the cost of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).

We needed a pure, sinless, willing sacrifice to wash our sins—something an animal our one of us could not accomplish (Heb. 10:4).

Jesus didn’t just come to earth once we had our lives together though.

In Romans 5:6-8 Paul wrote,

Romans 5:6–8 NIV

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

There are few actions in this world that fully demonstrate love—John 15:13 says, “13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

III. DUTY

“…that whoever believes in Him…”

EXPLANATION.

In response to what Jesus did, something is required of us.

We’re called to follow and serve Him!

If we so desire our sins to be forgiven, we must submit to Jesus in faithful obedience.

QUESTIONS.

I don’t know if you’ve felt this way, but it’s been my experience that many in churches of Christ get a little anxious when they hear John 3:16 used—probably because so many use it to say that all you have to do is believe.

Well, is Jesus here divorcing belief from baptism?

True belief is not divorced from obedient faith.

Consider what Jesus said in John 8:30–32 “30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him. 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””

If we are true believers, we are obedient.

Keep in mind that each word in the Bible is contextualized by its verse, which is contextualized by its chapter, which is contextualized its book, which is then contextualized by all of Scripture.

Draw a line between verse 16 to John 3:5 “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”

John 3:1–6 NIV

1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Many want to look at John 3:5 and say that the “water” is referring to the flesh (amniotic fluid at birth) and Spirit is referring to the ACTUAL baptism taking place, the saving work of God.

The problem with that is that it doesn’t make sense in the context—Jesus in verse 6 uses the term flesh, referring to physical birth; why wouldn’t He keep the same metaphor all the way through?

I think there’s another text that we could pull in that might help us think through this verse—look at Titus 3:5 “5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,”

Here Titus uses similar language to Jesus—talking about birth—but he expands upon the “water and spirit,” he calls it “washing” and “renewal by the Holy Spirit.”

Does this sound familiar? This reminds me of Acts 2:38.

So no, Jesus is not divorcing baptism from belief.

It’s in the waters of baptism that we give ourselves over to God.

Jesus says in Matthew 28:19–20 “19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

When we’re baptized, we’re giving ourselves over to Jesus to be His disciples.

Here’s the point: God, in His design, has given us this path/duty to avoid the danger, and it’s to put our faith in Him in obedience to Him.

IV. DELIGHT

“…but have eternal life.”

When don’t have much time to dig into this, but God did all of this so that we could ultimately dwell with Him eternally—the way the Garden was meant to be.

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:3–5 “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

This delightful promise that the Lord has given us is something that is waiting for us, something that will never spoil, something that will never fade, something that is YEAR-ROUND.

CONCLUSION

I love Christmas trees, but I’m far more thankful for the tree of Calvary upon which my Savior shed His blood and set me free.

How will you respond to the truth of John 3:16 this week and into this new year?

I pray that for those of us who are adopted sons and daughters of God that it reminds us of the depth of the love of God—how even in our weakness He deemed us worth dying for.

Maybe you’re sitting here and you’re not a Christian; I want you to know that this invitation is open for you whenever.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28–29 “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

A life of sin is not a life of rest, not true rest. Don’t you want that for the new year?

It can be yours today—you can be baptized today, and added to the family of God.