Prayer: Thank you, God, for your great love for us, may we hear this passage afresh and be captivated by your love this morning. In the name of your Son Jesus who you sent to save us. Amen.
John 3:16; probably the most well-known bible passage in the world. I imagine most of you can join me in reciting this verse…
For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This morning, I am going to try to unpack John 3:16.
What is the “world” that God loves? How does God love the world? What does it mean that he “gave” Jesus? What does it mean to “believe”? What does it mean to “perish” or to have “eternal life”?
Firstly, who is this God that loves the world? God is the all-powerful creator and sustainer of the universe. He is personal and relational, he feels emotions – he loves, he is full of compassion and mercy, and he feels anger towards those who do not honour him. God is holy and righteous.
We were all created by God for the purpose of being in a loving relationship with him. We were created to worship him. To be loved by him and to love him with all our being.
Sadly the “world” God created chose to turn away from him. Humans chose to trust in themselves rather than trust in and glorify God. The term “world” in the New Testament usually refers to sinful humanity, a term often connected to depravity rather than the glorious creation of God. John talks about the “world” in his first letter…
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father but are from this world.
In John 15 Jesus says that he and his disciples do not belong to the world.
John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
This is the “world” that God loves so much. The world that had stopped loving him, the world that craves sinful pleasures, the world that worships worthless idols of pride and greed and possessions rather than worshipping the one who created and loves them.
“World” may also be interpreted with the idea that God loves and sent his son to save everyone – not just the Jews. This verse is part of the conversation that Jesus was having with Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader. Jesus had just told him that he must be born again…it wasn’t enough just to be born a Jew. Jesus is saying God loves the whole world – a world that included Gentiles and Jews. He loves all people – sinners and saints alike! He also loves the earth, the world he created – the mountains the sea, the stars, the creatures…
What is the “love” that God has for the “world”?
God “loves” the “world” with a Father’s love. Those of you who have been parents will know something of this love. When our children have been disobedient or got caught up in the things or ways of “the world”, when they have been disrespectful to us, when they have turned their back on us…we (I hope!) have still loved them. Our great desire is for a loving relationship with our children. They may not deserve our love, due to their actions or attitudes, but we love them regardless, because they are our children.
God’s love for us is like that. The “world” does not deserve his love, but he loves it, he loves us, unconditionally.
How does God show the “world” his “love”?
The word “so” in this verse can be translated as “in this way”. In this way God loved the world. This way was the way of sending his Son. His one and only…
His Son is the one who had been around since the beginning. John opens his gospel by describing Jesus as the word, the one who made all things, the one who is the light and life for all. God’s son is the word made flesh, he is Jesus, the Messiah.
God “gave” him to the world in order to save the “world” that he had created. His Son is his gift to us. The greatest gift of all time. It is a gift so precious to God and a gift that was very costly. For God knew that the only way he was going to restore the loving relationship with his people was for his Son to die that we might be forgiven.
I began by describing God as holy and righteous. God loves the world but is also angry when people don’t love him and others, he is sad that there are many who turn away from him. The system of Old Testament laws and sacrifices did not work in reconciling God’s people to him, they did not offer eternal salvation. They had to be repeated over and over again. So, at the right time God put in place his plan that would once and for all enable all people to receive salvation, to be born again into his family, to be assured of eternal life.
This plan entailed the “giving” of his Son Jesus. Who incredibly is God himself – I know the Trinity can be a hard concept to grasp but God is Father, Son and Spirit. So, in giving his Son, God was giving himself to die for us. The only one who is righteous and holy, who could be sacrificed to take on all the sins of the “world”.
That is what he “gave” his Son to do. His gift was to send Jesus to suffer and die for us once and for all. What a sacrifice. Can you imagine what it would be like to watch your one and only son persecuted, whipped, humiliated, and hung on a cross like a criminal to die a painful death?
This was the way God showed his love for us.
The message of John 3:16 does not end with God giving us his Son.
John 3:16 ends by speaking of eternal life. To preach the gospel from this one verse then we must unpack that God’s giving of his Son did not end with his death on earth. We must explain that Jesus was victorious over sin and death as God raised him to new life on the third day.
To explain how we can have eternal life it is helpful to look at verse 14 and 15…
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
To understand this verse, we must refer to the Old Testament. In Numbers 21: 4-9 we read of the grumbling Israelites in the desert speaking against God. They were fed up with God and Moses and their situation… and God was a bit fed up with their attitude! He sent venomous snakes that bit people, and many died. The people then repented and said to Moses:
“We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So, Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So, Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”
God gave his only Son Jesus to be ‘lifted up’ on a pole so that whoever looks on him and believes, will live.
This ‘lifting up’ refers to two situations Jesus experienced to save us. Firstly, is the literal ‘lifting up’ on a pole as he is placed on a cross to die where he takes on our sins. After a humiliating death and apparent defeat, Jesus is again ‘lifted up’ when on the third day he is raised to life by the Father. The Greek word ‘hypsoo’ can mean both ‘lift up’ and ‘exalt’. Jesus is exalted in his resurrection.
As we look on both his death and resurrection and believe, then we will have eternal life. Because Jesus defeated death and rose to glory, so can we.
Whoever “believes” in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
What does it mean to believe? It is more than just a head knowledge belief. Some people believe that Jesus existed and was crucified but that is as far as their belief goes, they do not believe that in his death he took our sins upon himself, and some have trouble believing that he rose again and was exalted.
Some may in fact believe all this but have not responded to that belief. If we look back at the first chapter of John’s gospel, I think we will find that we need to both believe and receive. And that John had this in mind when he speaks of ‘believe’.
John 1:11-13 says:
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
We need to believe in him, to be convinced that Jesus truly is the Son of God who died and rose for us. From belief we move to trusting in him, having faith in him, following him.
We receive him by inviting him into our lives, taking what he offers us – forgiveness and a new life in his Kingdom. In John 6:35 Jesus says that he is the bread of life and invites his followers to come and eat and drink that they may never be hungry and thirsty. As we believe in and receive Jesus, he becomes our daily sustenance. He fills us with his life, with eternal life.
Now comes the hard message in John 3:16. It says that those who do not believe in God’s only son, will perish.
This is the bit we don’t like to hear.
To perish is the opposite of having eternal life. They are the ones who remain condemned. Verse 18 says:
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.
Those who do not believe remain under God’s wrath and judgement and do not become part of God’s family. They live in darkness and will continue to do so when they die. But this is not God’s desire…because…
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. And then verse 17…
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God sent Jesus to make it possible for all to be saved because he loves all. He does, however, require a response from us.
We are promised eternal life when we believe. What is eternal life? We don’t know exactly what it looks like after our earthly death, that remains a bit of a mystery except that we will be living in God’s glorious presence.
But our eternal life begins as soon as we believe and receive Jesus. We receive new abundant life as we are born again. We receive Jesus’ risen life, we receive the Holy Spirit, our life is filled with God himself.
After 20 minutes talking about the most famous verse in the bible, I hope you have a new appreciation for John 3:16! And of course, I have not exhausted all that could be said about it! Max Lucado wrote a whole book on this one verse!
It is easy to gloss over the familiar, so let us pause and consider the importance of this verse. Do you believe that God loves you so much that he sent Jesus to die and rise again for you? Do you believe that it is only through believing and receiving Jesus that we receive eternal life?
Do you believe in Jesus? Have you received Jesus? All we need to do is turn to him, to come to him to receive the life he offers. He longs to pour out his grace and mercy, his love and life.
Do you feel that you could share this verse with others in the world who do not believe and tell them of God’s love and his desire that that they would not perish but have eternal life in his family? A few of us have been meeting to discuss St Luke’s vision and plan to grow and reach out to others in our community. One idea we have is to get little badge buttons with 3:16 on them as discussion starters. People will see the badge and ask what it refers to…a perfect opening to discuss the wonderful message of God’s love.
Let us pray: God, our heavenly Father, thank you for your amazing grace, your deep redeeming, unconditional love for the world. Thank you for the precious gift of your only son Jesus. May we look and believe in him, raised on the cross crucified and exalted in glory so that we may not perish. Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may share your love for the world and with the world with the good news of John 3:16. In your one and only Son’s name we pray. Amen.