The Father’s Love

Introduction

On this Father’s Day, as we prepare to take communion together, I’d like to reflect on the love that God our Father has for each one of us.

John 3:16–17 NIV

16 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

What does it mean?

Many say that John 3:16 is the Bible in a nutshell…the Gospel in miniature. But what do those words actually mean ?

Lets put the text in context.

These two verses follow a passage which details a conversation between Jesus and a Jewish leader named Nicodemus. They were talking about being born again and entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Since the original Greek had no capitalization and no quotation marks, Bible translators are not in agreement on whether these words were spoken by Jesus as part of the conversation with Nicodemus, or whether these words are John’s comments on that conversation.

But whether you believe the famous verse was spoken by Jesus or authored by John, the words, like all of scripture, are inspired by God and the meaning is the same no matter who said them.

For God…

It had to begin with God. It could not begin with man because as scripture tells us “we were dead in our transgressions” Eph. 2:1-5, Col 2:13-14, Rom. 5:12… And, as we know, “dead men tell no tales” or do anything else. If humanity was to be saved, it would have to be on God’s loving initiative.

But Why?

For God SO LOVED THE WORLD That’s why He did it. Out of love. The Bible tells us that the very nature of God is love 1 John 4:8, 16…

The Greek word used in this verse is AGAPE — this type of love has nothing to do with emotion, but rather is a type of divine, selfless love that will go to any length to attain the well being of its object.

And the length that God went to was…

That He Gave His only Son

Gave encompasses the idea of sacrifice.

First God gave Jesus up to be born into a world full of sin and then allowed Him to be crucified to atone for the sins of the whole world.

So, it started with God. Motivated by love . He sacrificed His Son for

WHOEVER Believes in Him

Whoever—not limited to any specific group, but belief in Jesus is required.

What does it mean to believe?

It is well established in historical sources outside of the Bible that Jesus walked the earth in the first century AD. Most major world religions believe that Jesus existed and was a good teacher. So, the “believe” we are talking about here goes beyond mere acknowledgement of His existence. Believe here comes from the Greek word pisteuô meaning to trust in or put confidence in.

My friend Cindy over there is a great seamstress. If she showed me a parachute that she made I may admire the fabric, the pretty colors, the detailed stitching…but unless I strap it on and jump out of a plane, I may not truly believe in that parachute.

I not only know that Jesus walked the earth…I put my full confidence and trust in Him.

Okay, so whoever believes in Him

Shall NOT perish

When the New Testament talks about perishing its in relation to judgement.

Read that in conjunction with v. 17 “God did not send His Son.. to condemn the world…” Condemn meaning to punish or pass judgement

God loved us so much that He didn’t send Jesus to judge but to save the world. (Save comes from the Greek sōzō, meaning to protect, heal or rescue.) He didn’t want to condemn us, but to rescue us. No one has to perish—be judges because Jesus was judged in our place. This is Good News because none of us would survive such a judgement. We are not saved because we are good, we are saved because God is good.

We don’t have to worry about our sins…, God our Father loves us so much that He has that covered for us. We just need to believe in His Son. And, I don’t think we need to get too hung up on what it means to believe. Not all of us are in the same place when it comes to believing. And that’s okay, because most of us are working on that belief. There’s a beautiful prayer contained in the gospel of Mark where a man says to Jesus “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!”

We too can pray that simple prayer asking God to bolster our belief.

The thing is that we don’t purposefully choose unbelief.

Partaking of the elements

As we take communion, we do so not as a mere ritual, but as a tangible expression of divine love described in those verses from John. This act of breaking bread brings us into a deeper fellowship with God, highlighting His love that transcends all human failings.

Bread

And as we eat the bread let us remember with grateful hearts that God so loved us that He sent Jesus, to rescue us, so that we can dwell forever with Him.

Cup

And as we drink from the cup, let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide us into belief of what the blood was shed for.

Amen