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The third chapter of John contains some of the most familiar,  most beloved,  most memorized and quoted words in all of scripture.   

 ‘God So Loved'

The third chapter of John contains some of the most familiar,  most beloved,  most memorized and quoted words in all of scripture.   In fact,  there is a Lenten Study group here at Cicero focusing on John 3: 16, based on a book by Max Lucado.

This morning, I want to dig into these verses to see if we can determine all of what is being said----rather than just focusing on those familiar words that we know by heart .  Perhaps we can learn something new this morning,  or see these verses in a new way..

Verses 14 through 21 conclude Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus---who has come to see Jesus at night.   He comes under the cover of darkness.----and Jesus tells him that ‘those who live by the truth' have to come into the Light.

But let's deal with Verse 14 first...because I think it is the most obscure.    Jesus has been speaking about the necessity of being born again, and then he gives an example.

The example he holds up is that of Moses and the bronze serpent lifted over the Hebrew people in the wilderness.  It's a strange story, and a strange sight.     The Hebrew people had been wandering around in the wilderness for 38 years.   They had received everything they needed from God....daily manna.....and they hated it.   They were tired of manna and had had all the manna burgers and casserole they could stomach,  and wished they had never left Egypt.  

And God had had all the moaning and ingratitude he could take, so God sent fiery serpents among the people and some people were bitten and died.

Then a strange thing happened.  Moses was directed by God to make a bronze snake and fasten it to a pole so that everyone who looked at the bronze serpent might live.

Now that was a pretty simple solution, really, and the followers of Moses probably expected something else, something more.  What could they do?  They thought to themselves:   Let's manufacture an ointment.   Or invent a therapeutic lotion.  Or at the very least,  beat off the snakes with sticks and stones.

But God commanded that they look up at the bronze serpent so that they could live.

Now there's no magic power in the bronze serpent.  The Hebrews needed a visual aid to help them grasp the unseen power of God.    The serpent was only a symbol, a pointer that turned their thoughts and faith toward God.   Whenever they caught glimpses of the bronze serpent,  it called them to trust in God,  whose Word it was that whoever looked a the serpent would be healed.   This act of looking, and remembering, and believing raised those people up to new life.    The power was in the TRUST,  not in the bronze serpent.

That's really a strange story, but Jesus refers to it as an example, because it is clearly connected to the story of Christ himself,  who was lifted up on the cross.....who used the very words:   "So must the Son of Man be lifted up."

There is an amazing thing going on here with the people in the wilderness:

God did not set up any requirement.  The people are delivered simply by looking at the bronze snake.   God did NOT say:    ‘You will be able to live'

"when you prove yourself again"

"if you quit your complaining

"If you show me you're really sorry."....Or

When you show sincere thanks, then I will heal you and give you new life.

There was a re-birthing promised to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness.....and it was an act of pure grace on God's part.   The re-birth that God offered was completely his gift.   Anyone who looks at it will live.

And as strange and odd as that verse seems to be......it illustrates the precise point of the gospel.    The continuing experiences of rebirth that God brings to bear in our lives are unearned gifts that cannot be repaid.

Not even with acts of repentance

Not through our prayers

Not by going through some ritual of guilt

Not because of self-inflicted punishment

And certainly not because of our own attainments and accomplishments.

The gospel message is so difficult for us to hear because it means we have to allow something to be done for us which we don't deserve and can't do for ourselves.   That's the crux of the matter.  And that is very hard. We'd rather focus on what WE can do.  Our ego and pride get in the way of God's grace.

You know,  ultimately the Bible is the story of God's love affair with the world God created.    It involves countless people who lived over hundreds of years, and culminates with the story of Jesus,  but first and foremost it is God's story.    It is the story of Jesus only inasmuch as Jesus brings God to us, reveals God to us.

Whatever Jesus says and does through this Gospel in particular---the Gospel of John--- is to be seen as an expression of who God is.       

Each one of the four gospels has a different perspective and begins in a different place.   Matthew begins with the account of the genealogy.  Mark begins with the story of the baptism.  Luke begins with the story of the birth.  And John begins with the God of Creation.  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the word was God.     The way this Gospel begins is a big clue to the kind of slant is has.

Another way of saying all of this is:  Jesus becomes the vessel through which God expresses love for the whole created order.

‘For God so loved the world.'  The whole world.   All the people.  Not just some of the people or part of the world.    

God's love is all encompassing and constant.   God who is the alpha and the omega, the creator and the sustainer,  loves the world.  

God loved so much that he gave his only Son.....the greatest gift he could possibly give...so that those he loves so much may not perish,  but have eternal life.

So far, so good.   Loving God,  reflected in a willing Son.

But then we get the discourse from John about condemnation.   There is some danger in there of reading into that---the creation of a kind of exclusive society.  In order to distinguish, we need categories. And these verses provide the categories.   There are the saved and the condemned.

But the words are clear:  God's purpose is not to condemn the world,   but so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

I feel pretty confident in saying that the intent behind these words is the love.....the grace.....the gift.

God wants us to know that through the Light of Christ, we have eternal life.

God wants to save the world from its own self-destruction,  and God knows full well that we cannot save ourselves.

Here is an important point. Whoever does not believe,  condemns themselves by their own unbelief.    They are worried about their evil deeds being exposed.....and shun the light of truth.  God doesn't do the condemning.  We do it-through our choices and their consequences.  By separating ourselves from God.

I believe that the main elements that God wants to communicate through these verses---are his love,  his grace...and the gift of eternal life.

And what do we do with them?   Sometimes, we make it all about US, and not about God.

Unfortunately,  too many folks are eager to take these very verses and use them as a yardstick by which they presume to make evaluations regarding who is and who is not in God's camp.

That is arrogant and dangerous and dicey business.  For who can say where and in what form the Spirit of God is at work in the hearts of people?   We are not capable of even remotely imagining the power and light of God's grace,  and therefore not capable of determining the state of another person's soul.

Biblical truth can be found throughout scripture.  The Bible is God's story of salvation.   But You can't hang the entire salvation story on just one verse or one creed, or one interpretation, or formula.   You have to take it in its entirety.

Many people are attracted to certain Christian traditions specifically because ----given our complex world,  people want their faith straight and simple.    In a world accelerating at the rate of change ours is,  people are hungry for statements that are easily digestible.  

But I think it misses the mark to reduce Jesus to a formulaic creed...by which someone is going to judge whether or not we have access to the love and forgiveness of God.

That is too limited an understanding of the greatness of God.

There is another kind of label that is often used to distinguish certain Christians from other Christians.---and that is the label,  "born again".    Some who use that term actually claim to be "more Christian" than other Christians.

But it is important to be reminded that God acts in many ways to bring rebirth.    Some people experience an abrupt conversion.   For others, it may be very gradual.  For some a raging fire, for others hearts strangely warmed.  And some would say that a Christian is not born once,  but many times.

There is one label,  one category,  into which all men and women can be lumped together,  and that is....we are sinners.  

But God does an astonishing thing.   He brings the light anyway.   He erects a cross of death,  that we might look up and live.  He leads us out of the darkness.  He loves the world and does not condemn it.  He does not condemn you or me.   

We do the dividing of ourselves into the categories of darkness and light.   Some do not want to be exposed because of what they have DONE.....and therefore they remain stuck in DEEDS.....rather than being able to move out of that darkness into the Light of Grace.  

Now I don't want you to mis-understand me.....I definitely Do Believe that Jesus is the way, the only way that leads to Life.

My concern is how one uses that truth....what they do with it,  how they interpret it.   It is very easy to get sidetracked and focus on human accomplishment rather than God's grace.  To make the gift all about who's in and who's not.

Unfortunately, I have had experiences in my life where I've seen these words used as a wedge rather than a bridge......   Or as a hammer rather than a helping hand.

To believe in Jesus is to choose life.   The cross is our reminder.  

The cross looms above the world, not to condemn, but that all might be drawn to him. It is a constant reminder that we can NOT save ourselves.  

God gave Jesus over to death,  a criminal's death.   And that is one of the most amazing aspects of our faith----that a loving God would sacrifice the one he loves the most,  so that the children of his creation might live.

When any of God's children whom he loves look up at the cross,  and their hearts are changed and opened---then God knows that the death of Jesus Christ was not in vain.

When it comes to human beings,  it's really not as simple as:    There are those who are evil and those who are good.    Rather, there are those who choose the darkness and there     are those who are willing to be exposed to the power of the light.  

Here is a  good illustration.   Police in California were staging an intense search for a vehicle that was stolen,  even to the point of placing announcements on a local radio station to contact the thief.

The reason for the intensity of the search was not about the car itself, but what lay on the front seat of the stolen car.....a box of crackers that were laced with poison.  The car owner had created the poisonous crackers intending to use them as rat bat,  but of course this was unknown to the thief.

The thief was running from the police,  who were much more interested in saving his life than recovering the car.  

So often we run from God..... primarily because we want to escape his imagined punishment.....when all we are actually doing is eluding his rescue.

The truth is--we have to be willing to go through a rebirth.....and learn to live.....not by our own efforts.....but through the grace of God.

In closing, I would like to share with you a paraphrase of words about grace from Lewis Smede's book,  How can It be All Right When Everything Is Wrong? He says:

Grace is not a ticket to Fantasy Island.   Grace is not a potion to charm life to our liking;  Grace is not a cure all for diseases,  nor does it turn us into a high flying success.

Grace is rather an amazing power to look earthly reality full in the face,  see its sad and tragic edges,  feel its cruel cuts and outrageous unfairness,  and to know in the deepest part of our being that  life on this earth is ultimately good and right.

Grace is power to see life very very clearly, and admit that sometimes things are wrong, but still know at the very center,  everything is all right ---because God sent his Son that we might be saved.   Grace is the best word we have for all that God has done for us,  through the love and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.                         Amen.