God So Loved the World
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD
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ay the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Our text for this morning is the Gospel lesson appointed for this Fourth Sunday in Lent. John 3:14-21: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
There’s an old saying that whenever you don’t know what to preach about, you can always preach on John 3:16.
Today we are going to talk about John 3:16, not because I don’t have anything else to talk about, but because it is a part of our assigned Gospel reading for this morning.
More importantly, John 3:16 contains everything anyone needs to know in order to be saved. That’s why it is called the Gospel in a nutshell.
As we look at John 3:16, we find some wonderful pairing of words. These word combinations give us rich insights into God’s truths that he shares with us this morning.
We read in our Gospel lesson, God loved the world so much that he gave . . . .
LOVED and GAVE. Both these words are important to understanding just what it is that we will be celebrating on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter morning.
True love gives; it is willing to sacrifice itself. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
As we ponder the cross on Good Friday, we see the epitome of God’s wrath against sin. Sin had to be paid for; it could not simply be overlooked or swept under the carpet.
But as we look at the cross, we see not only the epitome of God’s wrath against sin, but we see the epitome of his great love for the sinner. God LOVED you; that love prompted him to GIVE you what you had to have in order to receive the righteousness needed for membership in the Kingdom.
God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son to the World so that Whoever . . . .
WORLD and WHOSOEVER. These two words provide us a scope, a description of just how far-reaching this gift of God’s love and forgiveness is.
The gift of Jesus is not limited to a fortunate few. God's love is very wide, extending to the whole WORLD, all humankind. WHOSOEVER means that none of us is beyond its scope. The invitation is open to all, regardless of the life lived or the degree we have wandered. Even when we despise ourselves, God loves us.
God so loved the world so that he gave his only-begotten Son to the world so that whoever Believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
BELIEVE and HAVE: God extends the invitation of salvation to all people. Don’t interpret this to mean that it is a passive invitation — a take it or leave it proposition. We know from Holy Scripture that it is God’s will that all people should be saved and come to the glory of God.
Yet, it is important to note that God does not does not force his gift of salvation on us. In order to have it, we must be willing to accept his gift of faith which empowers us to believe in Christ Jesus and what he has done for us.
The formula is simple: those who accept God’s gift have eternal life. Those who don’t, won’t.
God so loved the world so that he gave his only-begotten Son to the world so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life.
ETERNAL LIFE and PERISH. Just how many options are available to us? On this side of heaven, there are many options from which we can select. We can choose good or bad; healthy, unhealthy; right, wrong.
But when it comes to end of our existence, there are only two. All our options we now elect from pale into insignificance when compared to the only two options we have when it comes to the end of our existence here on earth: We can either perish, or we can enjoy life everlasting.
I don’t know about you, but the choice is clear in my mind where I want to be for eternity.
Yet, my human nature influences me to live as though I have chosen to perish rather than live. And though that comes ever so naturally, St. Paul warns us that it is dangerous to allow our human nature to go unchecked.
The Holy Spirit has given us some good weapons to fight against the tendency to live as though we are servants of someone other than God.
He has given us Word and Sacraments; he has given us worship and prayer; he has given us Christian fellowship.
These gifts help strengthen our commitment to belong to Christ rather than the world. These gifts strengthen our resolves to serve God rather than sin. These gifts strengthen our trust in God’s promises of his love and forgiveness which are ours for the mere taking.
May God’s peace that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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The Rev. John F. Pope, Pastor
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Tempe, Arizona
March 9, 1997