She was born in 1910 and was one of the most highly respected women in the world. Her home was Macedonia, and she was of Albanian ancestry. In 1928, she went to Ireland to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some six weeks later, she was on her way to India as a teacher. She studied nursing and moved into the slums of Calcutta, India. It was the home of some of the most destitute people in the world. Here she founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a congregation of women dedicated to giving to the poor. The order organized schools and opened centers to treat the blind, the aged, lepers, the disabled and the dying. Under her guidance, a leper colony called Town of Peace was built. She is internationally known for her charitable work among the victims of poverty and neglect, particularly in the slums of Calcutta, India. In 1968, Pope Paul VI called Mother Teresa to Rome to found a home there. In 1971, he awarded her the first Pope John XXIII peace prize. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel peace prize in recognition of her work in Calcutta. She was and is an example of one who gave her life to help others.
As much as Mother Teresa gave, she was not the greatest giver. God is. No amount of giving we might do can begin to compare with the giving God does. This one verse of scripture tells how much he has done on humanity’s behalf. Now it is up to individuals to do theirs.
I. GOD GIVES THE GREATEST LOVE
The verse begins by telling us God so loved. The kind of love God gives is agape' love, a love that gives and gives and does not require a response to keep on giving. It has the best interests of others at heart and will continue giving even when others spurn or reject it. It is a God-type love. Only as humans are in a relation with him can we experience and give this kind of love.
According to the Bible, love is the greatest gift we can receive and give to others. Paul writes; And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:13) This love is even greater than faith and hope. It is superior because it comes from God. If God did not show us love, faith and hope would be worthless.
Not only does God give the greatest love but he also expects his followers to show the same. To be a disciple of Jesus means to love in a unique way. Jesus said; A new command I give: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35) The command to love was only new in the sense that we now have an example in Jesus to demonstrate true and honest love to us. This was something those before his arrival did not have. We can now love in a new and refreshing way because we have the example of Jesus, God's Son who gives the greatest example of love.
God gives the greatest love, but it is our responsibility to accept it from him. He will not force himself upon us. It is a gift we must accept. When we do, we are responsible for giving this same love to others. They need to know this love just as we did. If you have accepted this greatest love, give it away to others.
II. GOD GIVES TO THE UNLOVELY
The verse continues by saying God so loved the world. The world is not the physical planet but the people who inhabit it. Now to be sure, God loves what he has made, but he loves the people he has made even more. He did not send his son to die for the planet but for the people he created.
God created the universe, and the psalmist reflects on the magnitude of God's creation. He also wondered at humanity's status in this created order. He writes; When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8:3-4) But God did care for those he created. We may pale in beauty to the created order, but God cares for us. He loved the unlovely and gave to them.
God loved the whole human race. He did not love just one particular race, religion or culture but the whole world. People of all races and nationalities can and do experience God’s love as he gives to the unlovely.
The song that so many of us learned as children speaks volumes to explain God's giving to the unlovely: 'Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.' We need to remember the grace that motivated God to give to the unlovely. The Bible characterizes us as sinners enslaved by sin. It is only the grace of God given to us and our acceptance of it by faith that changes our makeup.
III. GOD GIVES THE ULTIMATE GIFT
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. God does not give second best. He gives the best. The best came in his Son. He gave his one and only Son because we needed help.
Throughout the Old Testament, God's people made sacrifices attempting to cancel their sin against God. They could never accomplish that. Sacrifices were only pictures of the greatest sacrifice yet to come in the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Once he made that sacrifice of himself for our sin, there was no further need for sacrifices. We believe the Bible teaches God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one and the same. With that in mind, God gave of himself when he gave his Son. He gave the ultimate gift. God gave because love for us motivated him. Jesus allowed himself to be humiliated and suffer ridicule and death for us.
Jesus, the ultimate gift of God describes himself as the bread of life, the light of the world and the good shepherd. Bread represents food, and food nourishes our bodies. When we are hungry, we turn to food to fulfill that basic need. This need, however, is only physical. We also have spiritual needs. Jesus is the bread of life that nourishes us spiritually. He brings refreshment to all who believe in him.
He is the light of the world. Just as flicking the light switch to the on position will flood the room with light and thus dispel the darkness, so Jesus dispels the darkness of sin we live in apart from him. The Bible characterizes us as living in the darkness. When we accept Christ as Savior, he removes the darkness. He becomes the light of our life, and he will do this for anyone who asks. This makes him the light of the world.
He is the good shepherd. The psalmist says the good shepherd led him to green pastures and still waters. The good shepherd leads the sheep to what sustains their life and gives them security. Jesus is the good shepherd who leads all who will follow. He is our guide in life. He provides all our needs just as the shepherd does for his sheep. He will never lead us astray.
God has given and still gives the ultimate gift in his Son, Jesus. As his people, we need to share this ultimate gift with others.
IV. GOD GIVES TO WHOSOEVER
God's gift of his Son was not for one particular group, race or culture of people. God sent him to die for all. Whosoever means anyone. During his earthly ministry, Jesus extended this open invitation to all people. He told them the requirements, but invited all to follow him. It does not matter what a person's past life was like or how they are presently living, God is still ready to give his gift.
The writer of the hymn, Whosoever Meaneth Me must have believed this also. Listen to his words. “I am happy today and the sun shines bright. The clouds have been rolled away; For the Savior said, whosoever will may come with him to stay. All my hopes have been raised, O his name be praised. His glory has filled my soul. I've been lifted up, and from sin set free. His blood has made me whole. O what wonderful love, O what grace divine, that Jesus should die for me. I was lost in sin, for the world I pined, but now I am set free.”
V. GOD GIVES THE ABILITY TO BELIEVE
The verse places a requirement on individuals: they must believe. Since we are enslaved by sin, we do not have the ability in and of ourselves to believe. Left to ourselves without God's intervention, we would go on in our sinful ways. God convicts us through the work of his Spirit and brings us to the place of believing in him. Without God giving us this ability, we would be lost forever.
Faith is the basis of our relationship with him, and he gives us the ability to exercise our faith in him. He gives us the ability to enter a personal relationship with him. We make a conscious move toward him because he enables us to. The resulting fruits make our belief in him evident. Jesus said we will know his followers by the good works they do. We are saved because of our belief, but the good works will follow. Jesus also said not all who claim to believe really do, but those who truly do will make it evident by their lifestyles.
VI. GOD GIVES A FAVORABLE FUTURE TO HIS CHILDREN
Those who believe will not perish but have eternal life with him. Perish points to the idea of destruction in the sense of meeting your destiny. When we fail to believe in Jesus, we seal our destiny. Those who believe will never perish. This gives security in the present life and the life to come.
God gives eternal life to all who believe in his Son. Eternal is used more than 60 times in the New Testament. It indicates we are to think beyond the present pressures and pains of life. The everlasting life God promises begins now and continues forever. This promise gives encouragement for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Our lives are not always all we want them to be. There are many reasons for disappointment. The hope for the Christian is that our eternity will be all we would want and much more. Upon believing in Christ, our future is secure. By faith, we look beyond our earthly home to our eternal home.
The life of the parent who genuinely cares for their child is wrapped up in giving. They give life to them in the procreation process. At birth, many years of giving begin. We give them the physical necessities they need. There are many material things we must buy for them such as clothes, shoes and the like. We give time to them in instruction and play. We make it possible for them to have an education. We give love to them in so many ways. Sometimes children appreciate all parents do and sometimes they don’t. In spite of all the ways we give, we can never be the greatest giver. That place is held by God alone. How wonderful that he gives the greatest love, that he gives to the unlovely, that he gives the ultimate gift, that he gives to all who will believe and that he gives a favorable future to all who believe.
