“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. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
Martin Luther calls this the entire gospel in iniature.
In other words the entire gospel summarised.
John 3:16 and 17 expresses,
it communicates
the core of the Christian message
GOD LOVES YOU
And God wants you to know it.
That is why Jesus was sent into this world.
To live among us.
To suffer for us.
To rise again for us.
Now this has a major implication for each of us.
It changed the way in which we should see God.
It changes how we should experience God.
Jesus’ influence on this world,
by what he said and by what he did, established a foundation for all Christians.
And therefore it establishes a foundation for the church.
This foundation is that all Christians are to communicate to each other and to the world that
GOD IS LOVE
In the gospel reading Cathy read earlier, this is the message Jesus was attempting to communicate to Nicodemus.
Nicodemus had everything going for him in the circle of Jewish Leaders.
He was wealthy.
He had the right status.
He was a member of the elite Jewish council.
He was considered very knowledgeable.
However there was one big problem with Nicodemus.
Nicodemus had a perception of God and how to enter God’s kingdom that was not correct.
And as a Jewish Leader he had dedicated his life to this way of living, the wrong way of living.
He was travelling down the road of what he thought was important.
Of doing everything correctly.
A road that suggests that unless you do everything 100% correctly God will reject you forever.
Nicodemus thought that God’s highest priority was to select the elite for a place in heaven, and reject everybody else.
In other words he thought God was like a grumpy old judge or boss, who would severely punish anyone who didn’t perform perfectly, and there were no second chances.
Have you ever thought of God that way??
Do you know someone who thinks that God’s main priority is to reject rather than accept,
that God wants to condemn rather than to save?
A picture that some people have of judgement day is that there will be a huge screen with God showing a dvd or video of your life.
And that He will be fast forwarding the story, pointing out all the sinful parts of your life.
The parts where you stuffed up.
Well such a picture tells only a small and distorted part of the story.
From what Jesus told Nicodemus, and what He has told us throughout the bible, on judgement day God maybe there showing the film of your life,
but he will be highlighting those occasions when He has been at work in your life.
Like…..
When you were created.
When you were accepted into his family in baptism.
When He gave you opportunities to develop as a person as a Christian.
When he moulded you as a result of you experiencing Him in His worship, in bible studies, in socialising with other Christians and as a result of prayer.
And everytime one of your stuff ups are shown, Jesus will be standing right beside you, saying I paid the penalty for that.
Jesus will be telling you and His father isn’t it great that you sent me to earth so this child….you….. can be in heaven with us.
Now for Nicodemus this was a completely different way of thinking.
Verse 3 to 11 demonstrates how difficult it was for Nicodemus to grasp this way of thinking.
And it is difficult for many people today to grasp.
It is difficult for many Christians to understand Jesus’ way.
Our first thought as a church,
should be what can we do so people can hear and experience the message of John 3:16-17!!!!
And do you know why?
Because no one else on earth is given that task.
Unfortunately this is not always the message we convey
through how we act,
how we relate to each other and to others,
what we do in our congregations.
Sometimes our number one question is how does this relate to the past….
Other times it is what will it cost us in time, in money or in other resources.
Sometimes our number one question is, what do I believe the church should be?
Other times we are influenced by how other organisations are run.
Recently I was talking to a senior pastor, who has made this important observation.
Everything associated with the church communicates a message.
A question he often asks is: Is the message of John 3:16-17 being clearly communicated in every experience people have with the church he serves?
I think that is a good question, I question we probably should ask often.
Of course he knows its not, but his purpose in asking the question is to identify the areas where it isn’t
and where the congregation maybe able to change.
He goes onto say that when most people say they are going to church…they mean they are going to worship.
What we sometimes don’t realise is that for most people their worship experience begins even before they arrive in the car park.
So it includes ease of finding and accessing the church,
what happens in parking the car
It includes what happens during worship….
and it extends to their encounters with the buildings,
other rooms,
the toilets,
the chairs,
the hospitality,
the meetings
and the people they meet before, during and after worship….
he argues everything about a church conveys a message…..
The question for him and for us is are people experiencing the message of John 3:16-17 when they cross our path…
Are they experiencing that God loves them, welcomes, wants them to be safe and wants them in heaven.
That he came to save them, not condemn them or forget about them.
That he considers them special
And when people experience this welcoming, inclusive and loving community
Like Nicodemus they often ask questions
They are attracted to what is behind the community
They see that God has something special to give them they can get nowhere else
Now this is nothing new
One of the aspects I find intriguing about the gospel reading for today is what brought Nicodemus to Jesus….
Verse 2 tells us it was the signs that Jesus had performed
As a consequence Nicodemus had many questions
And Jesus listened to them
And answered them with God’s wisdom
And the same thing happens today….
When I hear how people joined the church or a congregation or came back to the church
It was often as a result of something they experienced and saw…
In most cases it was how a Christian related to them and treated them
How people were patient with them…
in answering their questions
As you listen to their stories…
in many cases the stories portray an example of the fruits of the spirit as found in Galatians 5:22 being displayed in the Christian who is influencing them
Such actions are not something that we have or don’t have from birth
they arise out of having a strong relationship with God….
And in this relationship we are influenced by God as a result of prayer,
regularly worshipping….
bible reading and study….
fellowship with other Christians in one to one relationships, small groups and the wider community….
serving at the church, in our families, and in the various communities God has placed us in….
and giving of our time, talents and money.
And the message God was attempting to convey to Nicodemus was that He needed to allow God to be his influence and not something else
Nicodemus was looking at things from an earthly perspective
When Jesus was talking about being ‘born again’
Nicodemus was scratching his head…trying to work out how to crawl back into his mother’s womb
He was so focussed on what he had to do….
That was part of his nature….
And it is part of ours
Often we are so concerned with what we have to do!!!
But what Jesus was saying was its not about what you have to do
It is about what God is doing for you
And what God does for you….Changes you
It changes your status with Him
And for each of us it begins and ends with baptism….
But it should never stop at the day we were baptised
The day we were baptised is the day we can say God claimed as us his own
It is the day we began being influenced by God
It is the day we can say we are committed to being in a relationship with the Triune God…
so he is the influence in our lives
this relationship is absolutely important because without it we are allowing things apart from God to influence us
and the influence God has on our lives
is to constantly remind us and to demonstrate to us
“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.
And this is the message that transformed Nicodemus as we discover in John 7 and 19
Taking him from the road where he was focussed on himself….on doing things so he can be saved
Onto the road where he allowed Jesus to do the work for him
To save Him to give him eternal life
Just as Jesus saves YOU
Amen
