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.”

The context of this passage is Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus, who is drawn to Jesus and curious about his power

Nicodemus comes to him in the night and Jesus hits him with the notion that if Nicodemus wants to be all in he has to be born again

Since this is not yet a well-known phrase Nicodemus hears it is literally and is like, “What?”

So Jesus continues to explain that he’s not here to start a revolution or something, he’s here to bring new life.

And he starts by giving a parallel to a bonkers story found in Numbers 21 in which the people of God are grumbling about God and poisonous snakes come and start biting people and killing them and God tells Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole and lift it up and if people look to the snake they won’t die.

In a similar way, Jesus says he will be lifted up and everyone in this snake-bitten world who looks to him will live.

Then we get one of the most famous Bible passages there is

“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.”

But we should not leave off verse 17

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

LET’S PAUSE THERE AND DISCUSS

Jesus is working with a theme of death and life

Like those dying of snake bites, death is the default reality

What’s needed is something or someone who can SAVE people from death and restore life

For THAT, God sent his Son, or, we might frame it as, the second person of the Trinity became flesh and entered in to the tragedy

Why did he do this?

SIMPLY PUT, because he wants people to live and not die

Why does he want people to live and not die?

Because he loves us

Did God have Moses lift up a serpent to mock the people that they were dying from serpents?

No, he did it to save them.

Did God take on flesh so he could condemn people and punish them?

No, he did it to save them.

I want us to really sit with that and ask whether our view of God is one who primarily wants to condemn or primarily wants to save

It REALLY matters

Because I’ve found that many of us were given a gospel that centers on God condemning

Something like

You’re terrible and God would love nothing more than to punish you forever and you’d deserve it. Lucky for you Jesus came and died on the cross. Somehow that means you’re off the hook. But you’re still terrible. So try to show some gratitude.

In some circles it’s almost like the more you talk about how underserving of God’s love you are the holier you are

A pastor I worked with used to say “we’re all just pond scum”

No. We’re not.

We’re human beings made in the image of God.

And God loves us so much he took on human flesh to save us.

And he didn’t do it begrudgingly.

Sometimes it’s presented like the mean Father REALLY wants to condemn the world and get his pound of flesh but cool Jesus steps in to appease him and the Father’s like “FINE. Y’all are lucky.”

But the Father and Son do not have separate wills.

They are on the same page.

That page is the story of how the Godhead is united in making all things new and rescuing humanity from sin and death

I like how Eugene Peterson paraphrases this passage in the Message:

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again."

God’s primary posture toward you is not anger and condemnation. It’s love. Active, tangible, sacrificial love that saves you.

That’s not a key theological point. That’s THE POINT.

That’s the heart of the gospel.

Not judgement and condemnation. Love.

If you’ve not read the book of 1 John in a while, that’s your homework

It’s all about love, light vs. dark, and life in the Spirit

Let me just share one section that reinforces everything we’re talking about here

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. 1 John 4:7-16

Here’s the thing about being loved though

We all fundamentally desire to be loved. It may be the primary desire we have.

But we live in a fallen world in which love itself has become a risk

And here we’re talking about genuine love that goes beyond “i love pizza” warm feelings

We’re talking about love in which one opens themselves fully to another

And one gives of themselves sacrificially for the good of another

We’re talking about love in which a person is fully known and fully accepted without condition

Genuine love is more than transactional

Genuine love changes a person

But many of us struggle to accept that kind of love from anyone, LET ALONE THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE

We’ve been wounded so we don’t want to expose ourselves

We’ve been condemned so we don’t want to open our past or our thoughts

We’ve been let down or rejected so we don’t want to risk trusting again

So even though we feel forgotten and alienated and miserable when the light of love presents itself we prefer to stay protected in the darkness

Even when God says “I’m not here to condemn you I’m here to save you.”

Even when God says “Follow me and I will give you life.”

It feels safer to remain hidden

That’s how distorted our reality has become because of sin

People love the darkness rather than open themselves up to be loved by the light.

And the only thing that can break through that fear and defensiveness is active sacrificial love

Like God himself going all the way to the cross for us

1 John 3:!6 - This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

There’s nothing more that God could do to say “I’m not here to condemn you I’m here to save you.”

So … I don’t know how you picture God.

Or what feelings are evoked when you hear God.

If they are different than what gets conjured when you hear “Jesus” you need to reconcile those

God is like Jesus

Jesus has revealed God to us

Perhaps you were given a “sinners in the hands of an angry God” gospel

And you picture God’s primary posture toward you as judgment and condemnation

And maybe that keeps you from fully accepting him and being fully accepted by him

Maybe that keeps you from things like prayer because who would want to talk to a spiritual being that doesn’t want to talk to you

Who would want to open themselves up to someone who is just waiting to punish them

But that’s distorted picture of God

God’s wrath is directed toward all that destroys his good creation and brings death

Including the sin that has wounded and distorted you

What he wants to do is heal it all and make all things new

Including you.

If he wanted to just punish you and wash his hands of you he would not have taken on flesh and subjected himself to being murdered for you

God’s primary posture toward you is not anger, it’s love

As embodied in Jesus

Take the witness of Jesus as evidence

Come out of the darkness and allow yourself to be loved by the light