by Ms. Anastasia Rebello
Many have their favourite text; but this has been called “Everybody’s text”. It is the essence of the Gospels. There is probably no greater summary of God’s love than that which is found in John 3:16 and we will be making that verse our text for today.
In John 3:16,Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” It is only one sentence. And that sentence contains only twenty-four words. Yet that one sentence is packed with so much truth that we literally will not have time to fully unpack its contents.
From this one verse we can find at least seven truths (probably more) about the love of God. Let’s look at them now.
1. THE LOVE OF GOD IS UNCONDITIONAL. (For God so loved the world,)
The Greek word for world (kosmos) is defined as “the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.” This is the world that God loved. It doesn’t say that God loved all good people; Or God loved all the Jews. Or that God love all the saints. It says, “For God so loved the world.”
That God should love the world only heightens the mystery of this love. It tells us that the initiative in all salvation lies with God. This text tells us that it was started with God. It was God who sent His son, and he sent him because he loves men. At the back of everything is the love of God.
So God’s love clearly isn’t based on our spiritual condition or our moral predisposition. It isn’t based on our behaviour or our attitude toward him. Rather we see here that God’s love for mankind is universal and unconditional. He loves everyone. And this is one of the things that sets him apart from every other god.
At a comparative religions conference, the wise and the scholarly were in a spirited debate about what is unique about Christianity. Someone suggested what set Christianity apart from other religions was the concept of incarnation, the idea that God took human form in Jesus. But someone quickly said, “Well, actually, other faiths believe that God appears in human form.”
Another suggestion was offered: what about resurrection? The belief that death is not the final word. That the tomb was found empty. Someone slowly shook his head. Other religions have accounts of people returning from the dead.
Then, as the story is told, an elderly preacher walked into the room. He sat down and took in the conversation, which had by now evolved into a fierce debate. Finally during a lull, he spoke saying, “what’s all this rumpus about?”
Everyone turned in his direction. Trying to explain themselves they said, “We’re debating what’s unique about Christianity.”“Oh, that’s easy,” he answered . “It’s grace.”
The room fell silent.
He continued that Christianity uniquely claims God’s love comes free of charge, no strings attached.
After a moment someone commented that he had a point as various religions think differently.
At the end of the discussion everyone concluded that the preacher had a point. Only Christianity dares to proclaim God’s love is unconditional. An unconditional love that we call grace. Christians boldly proclaim that grace really has precious little to do with us, our inner resolve, or our lack of inner resolve. Rather, grace is all about God and God freely giving to us the gifts of forgiveness, mercy, and love.
So God’s love for us is unconditional. Someone once wrote: “There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less.”
2. THE LOVE OF GOD IS SACRIFICIAL.( that He gave)
Here we learn something important about the nature of true love. Some people think they love others because of what those people do for them or how they make them feel. But God shows us that true love has nothing to do with what you can do for me, but everything to do with what I can do for you.
And what are the results of God’s sacrificial love? I read a story written by Stuart Briscoe which illustrated this point well when he wrote:
As written by David Stuart Briscoe “Years ago when I was a young banker, we used big leather ledgers where all accounts were entered by hand. I remember daydreaming about those ledgers and God’s ledgers in heaven. We are told those books will be opened. I imagined my name, David Stuart Briscoe, and God adding up the sum total of my indebtedness against him. I could never cancel the overwhelming indebtedness. In my mind’s eye, I saw God take his pen and transfer the sum total of my indebtedness to the account of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the account of the Lord Jesus, he wrote, "Transferred from the account of David Stuart Briscoe."
I thought God was finished. But then I saw him do something incredible. He added up the total righteousness of Christ and against it wrote these words, "Transferred to the account of David Stuart Briscoe." That’s love.
3. THE LOVE OF GOD IS VALUABLE. (His only)
Here we see the value of the Father’s love for us. Not only was he willing to give, but we see here that he was willing to give the only one he had. When you give to someone out of your abundance that is one thing, but when you give out of your poverty that is quite another. If you had several vehicles it might be seen as a noble thing if you were to give one of them to a family who had none. But if you were to give them the only vehicle you had that would be seen as something more than noble – something above and beyond the call of duty – it would be seen as real sacrifice. Like in Luke 21:2, 3 but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others
How many times have we heard or even said yourself: “I can’t give you that because it’s the only one I’ve got.” We’ve probably all said that. But we learn here that God didn’t have a back up. God didn’t have a spare. But he loved us so much that he was willing to give us the only one he had. “The power and passion of God’s love comes across, not through a supposed special meaning of the Greek word involved, but through the length to which God was willing to go for the sake of the world.” To give his “one and only”.
4. GOD’S LOVE IS PERSONABLE. (Son)
God’s love is not merely some abstract concept. It isn’t just a philosophy or a theological construct. God’s love was made manifest in this world through the person of Jesus Christ the only Son of the Father. Jesus Christ came into this world to reveal to us the love of God in human form.
A child was once trying to quote from John 3:16 in one of the version of the Bible, which says, “his only begotten Son.” But the child misquoted it and said, “his only forgotten Son.” It was one of those slips of the tongue that carried more truth than we would care to admit. For most people in the world today Jesus Christ is truly forgotten. His life is forgotten. His love is forgotten. His sacrifice is forgotten. It is our job as Christians – as God’s ambassadors – to help them remember.
Illustration: The Blind Boy Selling Apples
I once read a story of a football player. He had made a commitment to His wife that after the game he would be home for dinner. But on his way back, as he was rushing to catch the train he bumped into a boy selling apples. He dropped his cart & all the apples fell over the place. His prompt decision was to forget about this boy and board the train. But his conscience would not let him, so he told his friends to tell his wife that he would be late for dinner. He missed the train & began helping this boy by carrying the apples. As he was carrying the apples, he realised the boy was Blind.. The boy asked him “Are you Jesus”? This boy had heard the story of Jesus that very morning from someone who was sharing Gospel tracts at the railway station. He had heard that Jesus is Kind, Loving, Compassionate & Forgiving. This football players witness helped him experience the love of Jesus.
God’s love is personable on the one hand because it was made manifest through a person – Jesus Christ – but also because it is bestowed on a person – you.
5. GOD’S LOVE IS ACCESSIBLE : (that whoever believes in him)
The really good news about God’s love is that it is not limited to a select few. It is not available only to those who were born with the right colour of skin or intellect or family background. Nor is it difficult to obtain. No, the love of God is accessible to “whoever believes in” Jesus – the only Son of God.
An author once wrote in his book: From the human perspective, when you compare [God] to the other gods of the other religions in the world, you have to say our God is really sort of odd. He uses the most common of people, people that aren’t any different from any of us here; he comes in the most common of ways, when by his Spirit he chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus . And the strangest thing is that he comes at all … He comes down to us. This God’s love is so immense that he wants to come down. And he has proven his love by the fact that he did come down and touch our ground.
God has come down to our level. Not in the sense that he has lessened his holiness or lowered his standards. But only in the sense that he has made his love accessible to the average, ordinary person like me and you. He is not a distant God who loves us only from some mystical, faraway place that is completely removed from us. Rather he has entered into our world and he longs to enter into our lives.
Will you believe in his Son who made the ultimate expression of God’s love by giving his life on the cross for your sins? By choosing to believe in him you access the love of God, the grace of God and the forgiveness of God. By believing in him you access the new life that only he can provide.
6. GOD’S LOVE IS NONJUDGMENTAL. (should not perish)
God’s goal in sending his Son from heaven to earth was not to condemn you or to show you how bad you are, how unworthy you are or how hopeless you are. God’s only desire in sending his Son was to show you his love and draw you into a love relationship with himself. Jesus didn’t come into the world in order to rebuke you. He came to rescue you. He didn’t come to criticize you. He came to cleanse you. He didn’t come to punish you. He came to pardon you. He didn’t come to destroy you. He came to deliver you.
However this does not mean that God is not a God of judgment. For there is a huge difference between recognizing right and wrong and being judgmental. There is a difference between judging the unrepentant sinner and being judgmental. Being judgmental means that one has a critical spirit that only looks for the bad in people and then is quick to condemn them when it is found. God on the other hand will judge us for our sins and even sentence us to hell, but only as a last resort – only over his Son’s dead body – only if we refuse to accept his offer of forgiveness. Another way of looking at it is that it isn’t so much that God sends us to hell as that we choose hell over heaven – we choose Satan over God – we choose sin over righteousness.
7. GOD’S LOVE IS BENEFICIAL: (but have eternal life).
More than fifty years ago, at a University in USA, a young sociology professor assigned his class the project of interviewing 200 city youth residing in downtown slums. He asked them to predict their future. Students predicted that ninety percent would serve time in prison. Twenty-five years later the same professor asked a class to track down the original boys and discover what had happened. One hundred eighty were located and only four had ever been in jail. Why were predictions so far off?
Looking for common factors, over 100 of the boys mentioned the strong influence of a teacher they all had in common. They then located the teacher, a seventy-year-old Sheila who was now in nursing home. Puzzled by the interest in her, she could only exclaim, “All I ever did was love each of them.” That is the power of love. If that is the result of being loved with an imperfect, human love what must be the results of being loved by a perfect, divine love? As a result of this teacher’s love each of these boys had a life. But as a result of God’s love each of us can have an eternal life.
CONCLUSION:
Years ago a young man who had quarrelled with his father left home. He continued to keep in touch with his mother, and wanted very badly to come home for Christmas, but he was afraid his father would not allow him. His mother wrote to him and urged him to come home, but he did not feel he could until he knew his father had forgiven him. Finally, there was no time for any more letters. His mother wrote and said she would talk with the father, and if he had forgiven him, she would tie a white cloth on the tree which grew right alongside the railroad tracks near their home, which he could see before the train reached the station. If there were no white cloth, it would be better if he went on.
So the young man started home. As the train drew near his home he was so nervous he said to his friend who was travelling with him, “I can’t bear to look. Sit in my place and look out the window. I’ll tell you what the tree looks like and you tell me whether there is a white cloth on it or not.” So his friend changed places with him and looked out the window. After a bit the friend said, “Oh yes, I see the tree.” The son asked, “Is there a white cloth tied to it?” For a moment the friend did not say anything. Then he turned, and in a very gentle voice said, “There is a white cloth tied to every limb of that tree!”
In some sense, Jesus Christ is the white cloth our heavenly Father tied to the tree – to the cross of Calvary – signalling that it was safe for us to come home to his love. Are you willing to come ?...