The Love of God

The verse: John 3:16

For God so loves the world, God gave God’s one and only, unique, begotten Son that anyone who believes in him might stop dying and live an abundant never ending life.

We are going to recite this version every week for the next few weeks, as this is our series for the next few weeks. I will put it in our emails. This is a compendium of several different versions sort of clumped together with the idea of helping us express the concepts we are going to explore together.

We are going to be distilling this even more to the core ideas: We are loved, We matter, We are enough. You are loved, You matter, You are enough. I am loved, I matter, I am enough.

These three ideas are embedded in the phrases of a familiar and comfortable verse, a verse that is often quoted or at least cited and yet it seems it is frequently not completely understood.

To understand all of what is happening in this verse, we have to read the whole passage here, and then we have to understand some of the Old Testament scriptures. So we are going to start by reading John 3:1-21 “Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “…”

Nicodemus. A respected and devout religious leader, trying desperately to understand the simple message of Jesus through the lens of his very complicated understanding of God and God’s rules.

Nicodemus goes to the source, alone, with a need to ask questions that aren’t meant to trip Jesus up, but are meant to help him figure out what it all means.

If you have spent any time in church or listening to preachers you know how often they like to beat on the poor pharisees: don’t be like the pharisees, those self-righteous pharisees, etc., etc., imagining themselves to be standing with the disciples of Jesus if they were back in this time, not on the side of the religious elite trying to grapple with the reality of God incarnated as a Human person with lowly pedigree and simple commands. But the reality is we still wrestle with the simple application of Jesus in our day to day lives - somehow adding complex and difficult and lofty meanings to a pretty straight forward message: you ARE loved, go BE love. Believe and grab hope. Live for the sake of the other; feed the hungry, house the houseless, welcome the marginalized.

We spend a lot of time trying to define the terms and a lot less time putting the words in action. A pastor friend, Ben Cremer, puts it this way: Jesus healed the sick. Jesus told rich rulers to give all they have to the poor. Jesus told his disciples they couldn’t worship both God and money. Jesus flipped tables of the money changers who were using the unholy alliance of religion and empire to establish a predatory economy against the poor. Jesus set captives free from actual chains. Jesus advocated for the marginalized and the most vulnerable of society. Jesus taught and fully embodied a gospel of liberating the oppressed. To fully grasp the life and teachings of Jesus makes it impossible to conclude that he only came to bring "spiritual" justice. Jesus came to save the world, which includes whole persons, mind, body, soul, strength, and dismantling the systems that dehumanize and oppress them. May his church be seen following his example.

The reason it is important to understand this part is that the rest of this series says that the promise of this verse, John 3:16 is not casually associated with the gospel, it IS the gospel and it is for everyone and it is not complicated or hard or a big ask: believe. There are whole books about leading people in a specific prayer, through a series of verses to help them see who they are and why they need Jesus. But these verses contradict all of that: believe. Faith essentially says “I believe Jesus. I believe his words, his works, his life, his death, his resurrection” Everything else God wants for us is made possible by God working in us through the Holy Spirit. Our only responsibility is probably the most challenging one but it is incredibly simple: believe. The verses after 16 tell us why it is a challenge: we don’t want to. We have spent a lot of time hiding ourselves from ourselves, from everyone else, and believing feels like an exposure we can’t afford. It feels like condemnation, even though we are promised it isn’t - it’s hope.

Pastor Mario touched on this a lot last week: Jesus wants to redeem, loves to redeem; his whole intention is to redeem the hard things, the dark things, the things we’d rather not expose to him. But our default is to keep everything hidden, keep it in the dark - and at least part of that is a reluctance to believe that what we have been promised is possible, that we can have freedom from the darkness, that the light of Jesus exposing us isn’t about us getting wounded further, but about getting our wounds healed.

If you have ever had an animal as a pet or been around a small child long enough, you may have seen this kind of behavior in action: they scrape a knee (in the case of a child) or they get something in a paw (in the case of a pet) and they are reluctant to show it because it hurts, and they are afraid if they show it something worse will happen. Animals may bite or growl or snap; actually, young children may too…but once you see the injury and kiss the booboo or remove the rock from the paw, the relief and trust begin to grow and ultimately there is a shift in reactions.

The healing starts when we believe that the One who could condemn instead draws us in and holds us close.

And as we realize that the act of believing doesn’t hurt us more, but actually stops the hurting and begins the healing process, our belief grows. We become able to trust more, to stand firm in the knowledge of the grace of Christ. We stop worrying about what others think and we realize that if believing in Jesus has helped us this much, it probably could be useful to others to believe as well. But we know that it wasn’t easy for us, and we remember the admonition of the Christ to love others: so we start in the same place Jesus did - freeing the captives, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger. We also realize we can’t do this as an individual as well as we can do it together. We spend time with other believers so we can pray the prayer of Jesus together: the Our Father who is in heaven and whose will should be carried out here: another quote from Pastor Ben: In heaven: No one is sick. No one is in poverty, No one has a monoply on resources, no one is exploited to maximize production, No one’s value is measured by the bottom line. Imagine if this is what we Christians meant when we prayed “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” If we as a body of believers work to make that a reality, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our communities then John 3:16, the promise and the hope becomes embodied in us. And that is the power of the Gospel and the beauty of a single verse: For God so loves the world, God gave God’s one and only, unique, begotten Son that anyone who believes in him might stop dying and live an abundant never ending life.

Let us pray:

God help us to believe. Remind us that you love us, we matter to you, and we are enough. Draw us close, redeem our hurts, and give us strength to embody the promise of hope.

Holy and gracious Father:In your infinite love you made us

for yourself, and, when wehad fallen into sin and become

subject to evil and death,you, in your mercy, sent Jesus

Christ, your only andeternal Son, to share our human

nature, to live and die asone of us, to reconcile us to you, the

God and Father of all.

He stretched out his armsupon the cross, and offered himself,

in obedience to your will,a perfect sacrifice for the whole

world.

On the night he was handedover to suffering and death, our

Lord Jesus Christ tookbread; and when he had given thanks

to you, he broke it (breakbread), and gave it to his disciples, and said, "Take,

eat: This is my Body, whichis given for you. Do this for the

remembrance of me."

After supper he took thecup of wine (raise cup); and when he had given

thanks, he gave it to them,and said, "Drink this, all of you:

This is my Blood of the newCovenant, which is shed for you

and for many for theforgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink

it, do this for theremembrance of me."

Therefore we proclaim themystery of faith together:

Christ has died.

Christ is risen.

Christ will come again.

We celebrate the memorialof our redemption, O Father, in

this sacrifice of praiseand thanksgiving. Recalling his death,

resurrection, and ascension,we offer you these gifts.

Sanctify them by your HolySpirit to be for your people the

Body and Blood of your Son,the holy food and drink of new

and unending life in him.Sanctify us also that we may faithfully

receive this holySacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy,

and peace; and at the lastday bring us with all your saints

into the joy of youreternal kingdom.

All this we ask throughyour Son Jesus Christ: By him, and

with him, and in him, inthe unity of the Holy Spirit all honor

and glory is yours,Almighty Father, now and forever. AMEN.

And now, as our Savior

Christ has taught us,

we are bold to saytogether,

Our Father, who art inheaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our dailybread.

And forgive us ourtrespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not intotemptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

(Facing the people, theCelebrant says the following Invitation)

The Gifts of God for thePeople of God.

(Everyone comes up to receive)

Let us pray.

Celebrant and People

Eternal God, heavenlyFather,

you have graciouslyaccepted us as living members

of your Son our SaviorJesus Christ,

and you have fed us withspiritual food

in the Sacrament of hisBody and Blood.

Send us now into the worldin peace,

and grant us strength andcourage

to love and serve you

with gladness andsingleness of heart;

through Christ our Lord.Amen.

Benediction: Go with the knowledge that you are loved, you matter, you are enough. You are dismissed.