December 9, 2007 Second Sunday of Advent
Sermon Title: “Three Sixteen”
Series: Love Came Down At Christmas
Text: John 3:16
Dr.
Delivered on December 9, 2007
“For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have
eternal life.”
John 3:16 NRSV
Three Sixteen
“Three Sixteen” is the title to today’s message and it’s my own short-hand for what may be the most famous verse of Scripture in the entire Bible: John 3:16. Not only has this verse been memorized by millions of Christians throughout the world, but it also turns up in the most unlikely places. For instance, did you know that the In-N-Out Burger chain prints “John 3:16” on the bottom rim of their paper cups? Or that the Forever 21 and Heritage 1981 clothing chains both print “John 3:16” on the bottom of their shopping bags? John 3:16 is displayed on license plate frames, billboards, on broken down buses sitting in people’s fields, and in other strange and unlikely places like the Simpsons TV show. John 3:16 has also been seen by billions of people watching sporting events. Some of you know what I mean. There was a time when you couldn’t hardly watch any major sports event on TV without somebody waving a sign reading “John 3:16.”
A guy named
Rollen Stewart started that particular craze. He was the crazy-looking guy in
the oversized rainbow-colored afro wig that would suddenly appear, gyrating in
front of the camera at sporting events, flashing his John 3:16 sign, with his
outrageous wig flopping to and fro. He called himself the “
Yes, John 3:16 is famous, so famous that it doesn’t even have to be spelled out. I mean everybody – even non-believers – know what it says. They may not know any other verse, but they know that one! Maybe you heard the story about the bride and groom that ordered their wedding cake and requested a particular verse of scripture written on top with frosting. The verse they asked for was 1 John 4:18 which says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” Unfortunately the baker didn’t know the Bible all that well, and he used John 4:18 instead, which says, “You have had five husbands and the one you have not is not your husband…” Yikes! If only they’d chosen John 3:16, huh? Everybody knows that one!
But with that fame comes a couple of unfortunate side effects. One is that people have seen it and heard it so much that they become numb to its wonderful message. Oh yeah… “God so loved the world…” yawn… Hard to believe, but it happens.
The second side-effect is worse, and that is that the verse, and what it stands for, is actually held in contempt by some because it’s so “out there.” I ran across several websites researching this sermon where people were blasting Christians for “Shoving religion down my throat with their blankety blank John 3:16 blankety blank.” How sad….that such a message of love could be twisted into a feeling of hate, at least partly because it’s so famous.
And so this morning in the midst of our sermon series called “Love Came Down at Christmas” I’m going to ask you to try to see this verse through new eyes. In case you weren’t here last Sunday, we’re looking at God’s love this Christmas season. At the same time we’re also parsing out the first clause of our mission statement, “Love God.” We’re talking all about God’s love and what it means to us and how if we had to boil the entire Christian message down to a couple of words, it would be “love God.”
So sit back, and try to keep your mind open about John 3:16, and let’s look at four things John 3:16 teaches us about God’s love.
1 – God’s Love is BROAD
The first thing we learn about God’s love from the verse is that God’s love is BROAD. The very first six words teach us that, “For God so loved the world...” It doesn’t get much broader than that does it? The whole world? Well, maybe. The Greek word translated “world” in that verse is the Greek word cosmos. You can’t get much broader than the cosmos. Suffice it to say that God's love is so broad that when Jesus stretched out His arms on the cross He encompassed the entire universe, even me . . . even you.
In August I had
the privilege of driving Amy all the way from here to
You and I need to spend some prayer time about this idea of the breadth of God’s love. God’s love is huge! The next time you stand beneath the canopy of a big sky and look up remember, God’s love is even broader than that!
2 - God’s Love is Giving
The second thing John 3:16 teaches us is that God’s love is GIVING. The nature of God’s love is that it is a sacrificial, giving kind of love. The next clause of the verse says God loves us so much, “...that he gave his only Son...”
In this season of gifts and giving we are reminded how it all began with a gift – the gift of God’s Son, and then with the gifts of the Wise Men. True love, love that mimics God’s love, is always this sacrificial, giving kind of love.
I’ve been reading through a list of classic literature in recent months. A few weeks ago I ran across an old short story I hadn’t seen in a long time. It’s by O’Henry and it’s called “The Gift of the Magi.” You may remember it.
A young couple, poor
but very much in love, named Jim and Della live in a small apartment in
When Jim comes home on Christmas Eve and sees Della’s short hair, he is shocked. To cheer him up, she shows him the platinum watch-chain. Then he silently produces the gift he has bought for her – a set of beautiful tortoiseshell combs to put in her long beautiful hair. He had sold his watch in order to buy the hair combs for her.
O’Henry was famous for the ironic twists at the end of his stories. In this case reason tells us how foolish and fruitless their efforts were – but down deep something else brings tears to our eyes. Each had given sacrificially to the other the very best they had to give. True love – love as God loves – the kind that caused God to send his only Son to earth to save you and me, is always sacrificial and it always costs the giver something. Jim and Della’s love, precious as it was, is but a faint shadow of the love God wants to give us.
3 - God’s love can be REFUSED
The third thing John 3:16 teaches us about God’s love is that it can be REFUSED. The third section of the world’s most famous verse says, “...so that everyone who believes in him...” It would be great if the verse said, “God so loved the world that he sent his Son so that no one would perish.” But it doesn’t. There’s a catch, so to speak. And that catch is that it’s only those who believe in His Son Jesus who gain the advantage of his love poured out to us.
Again, relating this passage to Christmas reminds us that any gift, for it to truly be a gift that benefits its recipient, must be accepted. If I choose to make a gift of this Bible in my hand to one of our youth sitting up here in front, the natural thing for me to do is to walk over here and stretch out my hand with the Bible in it towards that person. But clearly, if he or she does not reach out their own hand to receive the Bible from me, it does them no good. They, in effect, refuse the gift.
It’s like the story about the young man who was getting ready to graduate from college. For months he’d admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted for graduation. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.
Curious, and somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said “with all your money, you give me a Bible?” and he tossed the Bible back at his father and stormed out of the house.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. But before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father's house, a sudden sadness and feeling of regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still gift-wrapped Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt. 7:11, “And if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in Heaven, give to those who ask Him?”
As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words paid in full.
How many times do we miss God's blessings like that young man? How sad it will be on that day when people who have refused God’s love, and his offer of salvation, realize that 2000 years ago God sent his Son to earth to show the full extent of his love. What will those who refuse him think when they discover that it’s true that his sinless Son hung on a cross until he died, right after he said, “It is finished.” Paid in full! The gift can be refused! Don’t let that person be you! Receive his love today. He longs to have you turn to him in full trust and assurance he loves you.
4 - God’s love has a PURPOSE
And that’s the
fourth thing we can learn from John 3:16 about God’s love. God’s love has a PURPOSE. What’s that purpose? It so you and I “...may not perish but may have eternal
life.”
God’s love is purposeful! It’s full of purpose! And that purpose is that you and I might begin experiencing that eternal life TODAY! Not someday when we die. In John’s Gospel eternal life is always stated in the present tense. You don’t have to wait until you die to begin reaping the fruit of the purpose of God’s love. You can start today.
Earlier in this
message I mentioned “Rainbow Man” Rollen Stewart. I did a lot of research on
that guy this week, for some reason his story really piqued my interest. It
turns out that at first Stewart did what he did purely for the publicity he’d
get. His shtick began with fifteen seconds of fleeting fame at a Portland
Trailblazers basketball game in 1977. He didn’t believe in God at all back then.
But on January 20th, 1980, after walking around at the Super Bowl in Pasadena
in a fur bikini bottom with his sign, Rainbow Man went back to his hotel room,
watched a television evangelist preach and then got down on his knees and gave
his life to Jesus Christ. It would be great if the story ended there but it
doesn’t. In time Stewart’s obsession with getting the 3:16 message out cost him
everything; his family, his financial resources, even his freedom. Today he’s
in prison in
What happened? Has the purpose of God’s love in Stewart’s life been thwarted? The more I thought about Rainbow Man the more I began to realize that many of us have gotten off track with our own spiritual lives as well. Maybe not to the extend he has, but we’re missing out on something precious.
Let’s face it;
I’m mainly speaking to Christians this morning. You came in here this morning
as believers, and hopefully you’ll walk out that way as well. But would you
describe your life today as “eternal life?” As a foretaste of heaven? Sure, no
one here deserves to be locked up in a State Prison like Stewart, but are we truly
“living the life” today? Is God’s love doing in us what it should? Are we being
transformed “from glory to glory” as
Paul described it (2 Cor. 3:18)? Or are we still groveling down in the
pettiness and grime of ordinary life, with our concept and expressions of love more
like those you hear about in
God’s love is broad, it is giving, it can be refused, and it is purposeful. What is your response to God’s Love this morning? Will you receive it? Will you then extend it to others? You know, there are only 16 days until Christmas. I challenge you between now and then to start living in the fullness of God’s love – to start living eternal life. That’s our calling. That’s our cure. That’s our only hope. Biblical belief is turning from ourselves and our old ways to God and then trusting Him enough to open our hearts to the gift he wants to give us. The bottom line on “Three Sixteen?” It links what God has done with what we must do. God has provided eternal life in Jesus. Our part is to believe and to receive his love. Will you do that this morning? Let’s pray.