John 3:1-17
Now
there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish
ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you
are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are
doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus
replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
unless they are born again.”
“How
can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot
enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus
answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but
the Spirit gives
birth to spirit. You should
not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear
its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it
is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s
teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I
tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but
still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly
things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly
things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from
heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the
wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may
have eternal life in him.”
For 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.
John 3:16 may well be the single
most familiar verse in the Bible. “For
God so loved the world that he gave only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.”
There is a restaurant chain
throughout California
and the other Western states. In-N-Out
Burger. Inside the bottom rim of their
paper cups you can find printed the words of John 3:16.
Forever 21 is a chain of clothing
stores with locations throughout the world.
At the bottom of their shopping bags you can find the words of John
3:16.
Tim Tebow is known as a Heisman
Trophy-winning football quarterback who played for the University of Florida
and was later with the Denver Broncos.
You know the way football players black out the area below their eyes as
a way of reducing the glare of sunshine?
Tebow often used his eye black to spell out the reference “John 3:16.”
At many sporting events, you will
see someone holding up a poster that simply reads, “John 3:16.”
This text has become so much a part
of popular culture, that it is no surprise that it has been parodied by
comedians. In a Family Guy Episode,
Chris Griffin makes a John 3:16 sign for a Boston Red Sox game, and one of the
characters, Brian, does not know what that means, so he looks it up and –
according to that television episode - it says, “And the Lord said, ‘Go Red
Sox.’”
Well, of course that is NOT what it
says.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved
the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him would not
perish, but have eternal life.
In the 2011 Super Bowl, one of the
great ads was about John 3:16. It was a
well done commercial showing a group of men and women viewing a televised
football game in a living room. As the crowd cheers a play on the field, the
camera focuses in on a player with the Scripture reference “John 3:16” written
over the black under his eyes. When one of the group asks his buddy what the
phrase means, someone reaches for a cell phone and says, “I’ll look it up,” as
the ad fades to the phrase, “A Message of Hope.”
What
a simple message. I dare say that many
non-Christians and people not well versed in the Bible would have been prompted
to finally look up to see what that phrase meant – John 3:16. For God so loved the world…
This ad was
controversial at the time, and more than one person said it was offensive
because it was viewed as an exclusive statement – meaning some people get left
out.
But it is not in
itself exclusive. It is, perhaps, the most inclusive statement of all time – “For
God so loved the world” – and that means everyone.
It becomes
exclusive when we decide to reject it.
“For God so loved
the world that he gave his only Son so that – whosoever believes in him would
not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I am sad to say
that many wonderful people have indeed chosen to exclude themselves from God’s
love.
And that brings us
to the question we should be asking about this verse. In the past, God was
often seen as vengeful and terrible, but today it is generally accepted that
“if there is a God, he would be a loving God.”
The question for
us is NOT, does God love us – the question is – so what?
What do we do with
this information?
What is our
response to “God so loved the world that he gave his son…”
First – we need to believe.
So here I am,
preaching to the choir – both literally and figuratively. You are probably here today because you
believe. But not necessarily. You may have come here this morning because
you have recently become open to this good news. Or you may be here against your will – your
wife made you come or your parents made you come.
You need to
believe and accept that God loved the world so much that he gave his son for us
– for you - and for our salvation.
On August 30, 2005
Coast Guard Lieutenant Iain McConnell was ordered to fly his helicopter to New Orleans and to keep
that machine flying around the clock for what would turn out to be a heroic
rescue effort. None of his crew were prepared for what they were about to see
in the aftermath of a terrible hurricane. They were ahead of every news crew in
the nation. The entire city of New
Orleans was under water. On their first three missions
that day they saved 89 people, three dogs and two cats.
On the fourth mission,
despite twelve different flights to New
Orleans, he and his crew were able to save no one.
None! These people all refused to board the helicopter. Instead they told the
Coast Guard to bring them food and water. Yet they were warned that this was extremely
dangerous. The waters were not going to go away soon. Sadly, many of those
people refused to believe there was danger.
Their helicopter ride to salvation was viewed as robbing them of their
opportunity to stay with their homes to salvage their property. Many of them died because of their refusal to
be rescued.
In our Gospel
lesson today we come face to face with the Son of God and with the greatest
rescue effort of all time.
So what do we do with this John 3:16
passage? We start by believing it and accepting
it.
Second – it is not enough to believe – we also have
to live it. For John, to believe was to live
it out. In the book of James, we read,
“Faith without works is dead.”
In the
Presbyterian Church we do not often talk about saving souls, we talk about
making disciples. Making disciples is
about saving one’s soul, but in more ways than one – it is not just about the
after life, it is about the present life – the here and now. Being a Christian should make a difference in
how you live.
And again, I may
be preaching to the choir – most of us are here because we are trying our best
to live out the Gospel.
I’ll tell you
where we fall short –
We fall short in our third response to John 3:16.
We need to believe
it, we need to live it – but we also
need to share it!
And how many of us
are sharing the Good News?
On the front of
the bulletin each week there is a list of seven marks of discipleship. We are very good about service in this
church. We did a great job a couple of
weeks ago raising money for a school in Haiti.
We are good about
enjoying spiritual friendships. If there
is a dinner, we show up and enjoy the food and fellowship.
We are good at
coming to worship, reading the Bible, praying – but…
When it comes to
sharing the Good News of the Gospel? Not
happening. Or at least, not happening
enough.
We live in an age
in which we share so much – we go online and write reviews about the
restaurants we visit. We post comments
on Facebook about politics. We tell our
hair stylist deep, dark secrets.
If we have good
news about a new pizza place – we share it.
If we have an
opinion about a politician – we share it.
If we like a new
television show, book or movie – we share it.
If we go to a
great ball game – we share it.
If we go to a
lousy ball game – we share it.
But when it comes
to the greatest news of hope for all people – we are silent.
It’s time for us
to post it on Facebook, tweet it on Twitter, put it on our bumper stickers –
but for better than that – to tell people face to face.
It’s time for us
to find times and ways to tell others – “I’m loved by God and so are you –
wouldn’t you like to experience that love?
I mean, if we
can’t keep good pizzas, movies and books to ourselves – why is it that we try
to keep Christ to ourselves?
Now at this point
I have to share with you that the other day I was at home, enjoying a day off,
and even though I woke up early, there I am 11:30 in the morning and I’m still
in my PJs.
The doorbell rings
and I go answer it and find two Jehovah Witnesses looking me in the eye with
the expectation that they are going to save me from the fires of hell – or
whatever it is that think I need.
I have to wonder,
is there a household in this country where anyone welcomes a knock at the door
with an excited shout – “the Jehovah Witnesses are here! The Jehovah Witnesses are here! Yippeee!”
I don’t think so.
Now, these people
were very courteous and gracious and when I politely thanked them and suggested
their time would be best spent finding someone else to talk to, they
happily went on their way.
But we all know
that there are ways that have become very common ways of sharing our faith that
more often than not produce a negative response. Door to door evangelism is one. Handing out tracts and pamphlets produce only
one thing – lots of trash on the streets.
Are those methods
EVER helpful? Yes.
But is this the
way we are likely to share the Good News effectively?
Maybe not.
In Matthew’s
Gospel, we read, “Let your light shine before others, that they
may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
St. Francis of Assisi may have been the first to say, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.”
We need to
practice what we believe – and for John, when he said “whosoever believed” he
meant believe and live it out.
It is okay
to share our faith in conversation. We
can do this without badgering people – just work it into the conversation. Let people know you go to church, read your
Bible, pray for others. I love seeing
people post on Facebook comments about what is happening in our church – or
with those friends who don’t come to this church – to see what is happening in
their churches.
Don’t keep your faith a secret –
let your light shine.
And live out your faith. Let them see your faith not only with words,
but more importantly, with actions.
Because in the end, whatever words
we share, without having the actions that should correspond with those words,
become hypocrisy.
We don’t agonize how to share our
opinion about our favorite restaurant – we just do it.
We don’t agonize how to share our
passion for a certain basketball team – we just do it.
Let’s not agonize how to share the
good news with others – let’s just do it.
Copyright 2014, Dr.
Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
For copies of other sermons, visit www.Pittendreigh.com