For God So Loved the World

That You Might Believe

Aug 7

Written By Noah Gwinn

August 7, 2022

Preached by Noah Gwinn

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Scripture Reading

John 3:16-21

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

We’ve mentioned throughout the past two months that we’ve suspended Elementary and Youth Sunday School for the summer, which is a really sweet thing for both our teachers and for our students. Our volunteers get some rest, and students get more time in the service worshipping with their families, which I think is super, super important. We’ve been encouraging the kids in here (and the adults too) to draw a picture of what they’re hearing in the sermon. So we’re going to do that again today, and if you would like to draw a picture, there should be a piece of paper in the back of the pew where the Bibles are. If you aren’t sure what to draw today, draw a picture of the world and write “For God so loved me.”

But first, before we get too far, let’s pray.

Heavenly Father…

INTRODUCTION

Chances are, the name Rollen Stewart means nothing to you. But as I describe him, he may sound more familiar. Believe it or not, Rollen Stewart was one of the most iconic figures of the 1980s. First coming into the spotlight as “Rainbow Man,” Stewart would wear a huge rainbow afro wig at a ridiculous number of televised sporting events. As the story goes, after attending the 1979 Super Bowl in Miami, Florida, Rainbow Man went back to his hotel room, turned on the TV, and heard a Christian message, prompting him to begin using his platform for God’s glory rather than his own fame. So, he added to his wardrobe a shirt that read “Jesus Saves” and a sign that simply read “John 3:16,” which he would proudly display at whatever sporting event that he made it to. Rainbow Man ended up not just making his mark in the end zone at football games, but also at the NBA Finals, the Kentucky Derby, the Olympics, and he even managed a surprise appearance at the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

This sparked a movement of making John 3:16 the most famous verse in pop culture. From other sporting events, like Football player Tim Tebow wearing John 3:16 on his eye black during the College Football championship in 2009, prompting 94 million internet searches of the verse, to John 3:16 being printed at the bottom of Forever 21 shopping bags, this verse has taken our world by storm. Even if you’ve ever been out west and gone to In-n-Out Burger, you might have noticed the verse printed on the bottoms of their cups.

All of this to say, it is likely that whether this is the first time you have ever stepped foot in a church building, or if you have been coming to church all your life, you are probably familiar with John 3:16. Maybe you have it memorized, or maybe you don’t, but regardless of your spiritual history, you are likely well aware that Christians are really, REALLY into John 3:16. But what is it about this verse that has made it so famous? What is it that has led people to call it “the golden text of the Bible”? Well, if you give me 30 minutes of your attention, I think you will see why. But one thing we need to come face to face with right off the bat is that it is a true blessing from God that John 3:16 has become the most popular verse in the Bible, but ironically, one of the few negative things about our familiarity with this verse is that I don’t think we’re as surprised as we should be by how glorious the passage is. If it is at all possible, let’s come to this text this morning with fresh eyes, fresh ears, and fresh hearts so that we can see all of the beauty that this passage holds for us. We think we’ve got these verses figured out, but God has so much more for us in this text, if we would only allow ourselves to be surprised. My goal for us this morning is to see that this passage shows us the surprising good news that needs to break into our reality, specifically, that God loves people more than we think, and he went to the ultimate lengths to prove it.

In order to do that this morning, we are going to look at three things that should surprise us about this verse. First, we’ll take a look at a surprising love, then a surprising gift, then the surprising way to receive it.

A SURPRISING LOVE

Let me just read the first few words of verse 16: for God so loved the world. The fact that God loves the world doesn’t surprise us. We hear this kind of thing all the time. In fact, for so many of us, we struggle to know what could possibly be surprising about that phrase. But if we sit with this phrase, we’ll see that it turns our typical view of God’s love on its head, and certainly the view that the Jewish readers of this text would have had about his love.

The Love of God

Let me read it again, this way. For God so loved the world (v. 16). This passage intentionally goes against the grain of the way we naturally think of God, apart from the Scriptures. That is, there is a lie that we believe that tells us that God is a condemning God who only loves us because of the work of Jesus. That the Father can only stand us because of his Son. Somehow, Jesus had to convince the Father to love us. In reality, it is true that as sinners, we cannot be in the presence of a holy God. But we should not go so far as to say that this means we are no longer loved by the Father because of our sin. Far from it. His love for us, seeing us in our sin, is the very thing that compelled God to send his Son. Christian, this passage corrects our wayward hearts at this point by telling us not that “the Father loves us because Jesus died for us,” but rather that “Jesus died for us because the Father loves us.” Friends, Jesus didn’t have to strongarm the father into loving us, into loving you. He didn’t back God into a corner with theological gymnastics so that the father now has to love us. I don’t want you to miss this, God actually wants to love you. It is not our loveliness that makes God love us, but our unloveliness. It is not because of our sufficiency that Christ stepped down from heaven but our need. It is not because of anything that we bring to the table but simply because God is love.

I think we see glimpses of this sort of thing even in our own lives. When I was very young, my family and I were visiting some cousins in Florida. One day, we were sitting by the pool, and I, confident youngster that I was, decided to go for a swim even though I had no idea how to swim. I jumped in, but quickly began to sink and panic when I realized that I couldn’t keep myself afloat. I’m sure my arms were flailing and that there was much splashing. But then my dad jumped in the water, scooped me up, and lifted me to safety (and signed me up for swimming lessons shortly thereafter!). In that moment it wasn’t my sufficiency that allowed my father to show his love to me, but my need. How much more is this true of our heavenly Father?

God’s Love for the World

Let me read that same portion of verse 16 again, just with a different emphasis this time. For God so loved the world.

We could be confused about what “the world” here means. Is this the earth itself? Is this God’s chosen people all over the globe? Is this something else? In this passage, and in John’s gospel generally, the Greek word for “the world” is primarily in reference to creation, most specifically mankind, in rebellion against God. Take, for example, John 15:18-19 which reads,

18“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

This particular passage tells of the world’s hatred for both Jesus and his followers, and yet these are the people that the heart of God was drawn out toward in love in John 3. How counterintuitive to our limited minds! This would have been especially subversive for the Jewish people when John was writing his Gospel. They had been told for centuries about God’s love for them. The Old Testament is full of evidence of God’s love for Israel. But somewhere along the line, there developed a false idea of God’s love that limited it to extend only toward Israel. Scripture again corrects that thought here and says, in a sense, “for God so loved not just Jews, but Samaritans.” God so loved not just Israelites, but Gentiles. God so loved all people. God so loved you, yes you! And God ALSO loves people who look different than you, talk different than you, vote different than you, and prefer different music than you. God loves Africans, Asians, Hispanics, Europeans, and even Americans. He loves the gay pride activist and the protester. He loves unborn babies and abortion doctors. He loves republicans, democrats, and people who really don’t care at all. He loves people that abuse their money and people who don’t have money to abuse. He loves the weak, wounded, and the wayward. We say that all the time, but do you have room in your theology for that? Does it make you uncomfortable to think that God loves people who don’t share your outlook on parenting? On sexuality? On abortion? On Christianity? Do you believe that this is true? That’s what this passage tells us. God loves all people, without distinction. Do we? Do you?

Now, it would be helpful here to make a caveat. I do believe that the Bible teaches a particular, special kind of love that God has for his people throughout history. But this passage isn’t talking about that special love, this passage is talking about a love of compassion, a love of pity. This verse is not teaching that because God loves every person, every person is automatically saved. We’ll get into more of the details of how we are saved later in the sermon, but for now I bring this up not as a distraction, but to help us see that while this special kind of love isn’t automatically applied to everyone, anyone can get in on that special kind of love. It isn’t just for a particular group of people, but for all kinds of people.

A SURPRISING GIFT

So we see that this verse should already surprise us in the love of the Father for the whole world, but the next surprise comes to us in the form of the gift that he gave the world because of that love. This is verse 16 and 17.

16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

When someone doesn’t like you and wants nothing to do with you, what’s your response? What about when a group of people feel this way toward you? If you’re anything like me, it isn’t a great response. But what is God’s response? When the people that he made hated him and wanted nothing to do with him… what does the passage say? He sent the fiery hammer of justice?! He got angry?! He realized he made a mistake in creating people?! No. He gave. This is our second surprise. We should be taken aback that God’s gut reaction to hate and rebellion from the very people that he created is not judgement but radical generosity.

Throughout the Scriptures, we see God giving all kinds of gifts. Through the book of Exodus, which we just finished teaching through, we saw God give his people food, deliverance, angels going before them in battle, and we even spent a couple months teaching through the law that God had so graciously given his people. But this gift is something different. God gave his only Son. This wasn’t God giving his leftovers, this wasn’t him giving a gift to get recognition, this is radical generosity. He gave the best resource that he had available – his only Son.

But in giving us Jesus, God didn’t simply give us his son. He gave us himself. If we go back to John 1, this is what we read, starting in verse 1:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Word, Jesus, was God. The one through whom all things were made. The radical generosity of God is that in giving his Son, he was giving himself. One of my favorite songs that we sing here at church is called Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me, and it begins this way: “What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer / there is no more for heaven now to give.” God, the limitless, all powerful, creator God used the single greatest resource at his disposal to put his love on display for us – himself.

Here we see that God gives of his greatest treasure for people who could never pay him back. Is this the way we think about generosity and giving? How do we use our gifts, our money, our schedule, our home? God is not stingy with us. Are we stingy with each other? We have no idea the testimony that our radical generosity could have on a watching world. These are opportunities for us to think critically about our lives.

What does this passage teach us about the work of Jesus? What do we learn about the gift himself? Again, we might think God’s impulse is judgement and condemnation, and this was what many of the Jews in the first century expected as well. They expected the messiah to come and bring judgement on the world. And yet this passage shows both the Jews of the first century and us today that God’s impulse is not judgement or condemnation but salvation. Christ brings forgiveness, not the hammer of justice.

So we should be surprised by God’s gift because it is so extravagant – he gave us his only son. We should also be surprised by God’s gift because it is so gracious – he came to save us while we were still sinners, not bring judgement.

Pastor Dane Ortlund says it this way in his book, Gentle and Lowly. This is a bit of a longer quote, so listen closely.

God didn’t meet us halfway. He refused to hold back, cautious, assessing our worth. That is not his heart. He and his Son took the initiative…. When we, despite our smiles and civility, were running from God as fast as we could, building our own kingdoms and loving our own glory, lapping up the fraudulent pleasures of the world… it was then… that the prince of heaven bade his adoring angels farewell. It was then that he put himself into the murderous hands of these very rebels in a divine strategy… to rinse muddy sinners clean and hug them into his own heart despite their squirmy attempt to get free and scrub themselves clean on their own. Christ went down into death… while we applauded. We couldn’t have cared less. We were weak. Sinners. Enemies (p. 191-192).

Do you see the surprising beauty of the gift? God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son to a world that couldn’t have cared less. He gave him not to condemn the world, but to save it. God could not have given the world a better gift than Christ.

A SURPRISING WAY TO RECEIVE IT

All of this is great, but what do we do with it? God loved the world so he sent his son to save the world. Does that mean that all people are saved? How do we think about this? I’m going to read verse 16 again, and as I read, I want you to listen for two groups of people, both starting with the letter w.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Did you catch the two groups of people? The world and the whoever. They represent two very different types of people.

The World

If you remember, near the beginning of the sermon we said that the world is those in rebellion against God. This is who all of us are born as – we are all born into rebellion against God. It doesn’t matter who your parents were, it doesn’t matter what you have done or not done, it doesn’t matter where you’re from or how many times you’ve been to church. This is who we all are apart from Christ.

Verses 19 and 20 give us a more robust understanding of the world.

the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

The world, God’s creation in rebellion against him, denies the light. The light has come into the world, but the world is obsessed with darkness. But why? Because if they stepped into the light, their works will be exposed. I wonder if you have ever felt this way. Afraid to step into the light because you didn’t want your works to be exposed. I’ve sure experienced this.

The Whoever

But the other group of people is the whoever. Whoever believes in the name of the only Son of God. Verse 21 gives us a picture of what marks these people.

21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

While the world hides from the light, the whoever runs to the light. Why? So that it can be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Those who do not love the light are like those who are experiencing a physical ailment but refuse to see a doctor for fear of learning something uncomfortable about their health. Those that love the light are like those who, when experiencing a physical ailment, will seek out a doctor because they know that it is only through the doctor that they can be made well. The light is shining, and the light will expose the truth for both the world and the whoever. When the light of Jesus shines on your life, what does it expose? Do you desire to come to him so that he can heal you, or to shy away into the shadows?

So let’s return to the question – God loves all people, so are all people saved? We mentioned this earlier, but these verses tell us no. Not all people are saved. But if not all people are saved, does that make God the one responsible for all of those who are not saved? Is his love for the world not enough? Again, these verses tell us no. Salvation is not something that depends on whether or not God loves us. This passage is clear that God loves all people. But this passage also tells us that the difference that leads some to love the light and some to reject the light is their belief in the only Son of God. This is our third surprise – the surprising way that we receive the gift of God’s love is simply belief. Belief in what? Belief in the Son of God. Belief that Jesus is who he says he is and has done what he says he has done. But belief doesn’t stop there. Even the demons have an accurate belief of who Jesus is and what he has done (James 2:18-19). Belief, if we understand it rightly is not just intellectual acknowledgement of truth, but delighting in that truth, embracing that truth. In true belief we not only accept that Jesus is the son of God and died for a sinner like me, but also that you begin to desire Jesus himself more and more. That is what it means to be in the whoever. And once you are in the whoever, there is no turning back. He will not let go of you.

We don’t need to fear that God’s posture toward us will change. God’s love is constant. We are the ones that change. Our lack of belief keeps us from him. Our darkness keeps us from the light. Think about it this way. If we walk outside at nighttime and we experience darkness, do we experience this darkness because the sun has stopped shining? Of course not! We experience darkness because of the posture of the earth in relation to the sun. Similarly, when we have not experienced salvation, this is not because God’s love has turned off, but rather because our desire is to pursue the shadows rather than his marvelous light.

CONCLUSION

This passage ought to be a great comfort to us. We should not trouble ourselves wondering if God actually loves us. This passage tells us so, and Jesus has shown us so. We can take comfort in the fact that God’s love is constant, and that we do not need to convince him to love us. We should also take comfort in the fact that the only bar to get in on the salvation that God brings is belief. The only requirement is that when you hear of the Father’s heart overflowing with love and sending the best gift that he had to the world, you say “that gift is for me. I believe that Jesus died so that my sins would be paid for, that my price would be paid, and that I could walk in newness of life.” That’s all that’s required. This is the surprising way to receive the gift. But it’s also the only way to receive the gift. There is no other way to eternal life than to believe in the only Son of God.

What we have here is an invitation to move from the world to the whoever. From the darkness to the light. And so I’ll ask you – have you moved from the world to the whoever? Do you love the light? If you would say, “you know what, I actually haven’t moved from the world to the whoever” you must know, Jesus has come to bring salvation, not judgement or condemnation. But one day he will. One day he will judge the living and the dead (2 Tim. 4:1). But that day is not today. Let me say to you now, along with the Apostle Paul, “today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). The eternal life that God gives in his one and only Son can be yours today. God loves you more than you think, and he went to the ultimate lengths to show it. That’s surprising good news.

This morning, not only do we get to learn about God’s abundant blessings, but we get to experience it in coming to the Lord’s table together. What seems on the outside to be a simple meal is actually an image of something far greater. In this meal, we see the outworking of John 3:16 on display in full. When the Father sent his Son into the world, he didn’t send him to simply be a great moral teacher, or to simply show us the way to live, although those things are true. Primarily, he sent his Son into the world to be the sacrifice for sin. To bear the wrath of God. And in this meal, we get to taste of his body, which was broken for sinners like you and me. And we get to drink of his blood, which was poured out for the forgiveness of sins. And if that isn’t surprising to you, it should be, and I pray that you would begin to have the light shine into your darkness and surprise you with his Love, his Gift, and the way that that Gift can be yours.

Before we go to the table together this morning, let me give some brief instruction. There will be people up front on either side of the stage with bread and juice for you to receive. You will come up the front aisle, receive the elements, and then walk back to your seat along the outer aisles. When you are finished with the cup, please keep it with you at your seat. There will be people at the door on your way out to collect the cups. If you aren’t able to come forward, but would still like to take communion with us, flag me down and I’ll make sure you’re able to receive the elements where you are at.

Finally, I’ll say this. Different churches do communion differently, so if you are not a member of our church, you are welcome to partake of the meal with us. The only thing that I will say is that we ask that you only come up and receive the bread and the juice if you would say “For God so loved me, that he gave his only son, that because I believe in him, I will not perish but have eternal life.” If you are not a Christian, communion could be your chance to come into the light. This could be your very first act of faith. If so, we welcome you. Come to the table. But if you are not ready to do that just yet, we are so glad you’re here, and would love to talk to you more about Jesus and what it would mean to receive his grace. We would just ask that you stay seated.

I’m going to pray, and the music team is going to come up and sing a song over us as we receive the bread and the juice. Once you sit down, please wait to take communion until we can all partake together.