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Sermons

"FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD"
GOSPEL SCRIPTURE TEXT:
JOHN 3:16(A)

DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 10, 2008

The Word of God: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."--John 3:16 (King James Version)

Prayer: "Lord, I've selected the very heart of Your Word to bring to Your people this morning. Help me to present it Your way -- with love. Amen."

Message: Martin Luther, that Bible-thumping sixteenth-century reformer whose radical break with the Roman Catholic Church began what we call Protestantism, was once asked what he felt to be the single most important truth to be found in the entire Bible. "Take away the Old Testament in its entirety," he replied. "Remove the letters of Paul and the others -- the Acts, the Revelation; yea, even the Gospels of Matthew, and Mark, and Luke. The gospel of John -- take that away also, yet leave me but one verse thereof, and I shall be able to know the true Gospel." That verse, for Martin Luther, was the essence of the entire Bible; he termed it "the Gospel within the Gospels." Tens of thousands, perhaps even millions, of Christians have felt the same. Of all God's great Word to us, the words of John 3:16 are the greatest: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!"

In this, the opening decade of the third millennium A. D., the Christian faith once again faces the situation it faced when it began, two thousand years before. In the contemporary Western world, Christianity is a minority movement attempting to impact a majority culture that is very different from us. If there ever really was a time when the U. S., or England, or Italy, could be termed "Christian nations," that's certainly no longer the case. Today we are faced, realistically, with a mission situation. Missions is no longer something we support in faraway Asia or darkest Africa -- missions is what we must be about right here, right now.

Faced with a mission situation, Christians -- if we are to be effective -- must focus tightly and intently upon what is really important about our faith. We don't have sufficient time, or money, or energy for frills. We don't have the luxury of being sidetracked by matters of trivial importance, like whether to receive communion from a common cup or many little cups, or what color of carpet to put in a Friendship Center, or whether people should or shouldn't raise their hands in a worship service. There are matters of life and death before us today: Precious people in our own neighborhoods are dying and going to hell -- while we hoard for ourselves the truth that can redeem them unto eternal life.

Beginning today and continuing on the next two Sundays I'm going to preach on the heart of the Word of God: John 3:16. With God's help, I'll try to amplify this, the greatest verse in the Bible. And I'm trusting that, by sticking to this most basic of all Biblical truths, the Holy Spirit will call each and every one of you out of complacency, compelling you to move out into the world immediately surrounding -- as a 21st century missionary for Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world. For God... In the most important statement of the divine Word to humanity, God is the first significant word. And God is, rightly, the first and most significant concern of human life. In teaching their faith to their children, the ancient Hebrew people admonished generation after generation to think and to talk of the things of God at all times: "...when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise." (Deut. 6:7) That's the way it was for the Hebrews, and that's the way it ought to be for us all -- God the first and foremost concern of life itself.

Being honest with ourselves, however, that's not really how we live -- is it? If God gets any attention at all, even among most who would call themselves Christians today, He's pretty far down the priority list of our lives. Earning a living, raising children or grandchildren, watching our bodily health, maintaining financial stability, staying happy and enjoying life, participating in or watching sports, wandering the Web, feeding the dog: these are the priorities of American life today. If there is time or energy left over, and if the mood strikes us, well -- then God might get a few moments of our, oh, so very valuable time.

As a pastor I am sometimes called upon to counsel persons in difficulty. I don't particularly like to counsel; I'm not gifted at counseling. But I'm occasionally forced to do counseling. Whatever the problem brought to me, at a point early in the initial discussion I inform the persons who come to me that a key step in getting out of their troubles is to put God first in their lives. I guess that's why I'm not a good counselor, because it's at that point that most such people lose all trust in my competence and intelligence, looking at me as though I just rolled into town on a wagonload of pumpkins. And, of course, the most ironclad of our thousands of reasons for bumping God to the back of the bus is, for many, the necessity of earning a living. "Can't come to church next Sunday, preacher. Gotta work!" That sounds important -- but is it really? With an eternity to account to God, what's truly more significant --our jobs, or our souls?

Jesus came down from the heavens and lived among us, sharing our lives, our concerns, our difficulties with limited time and priorities. He had but 33 short years -- more or less -- to live. And He put God first, every hour of that time. For God so loved the world.

For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world. For God so loved... Here is the second "key word" of the greatest statement in the Bible: love. There are many characteristics and titles which are used to describe God in the Bible: power, knowledge, justice, mercy, grace; the same yesterday, today and forever; Creator, Father, Spirit, Lord. Each of these tells us something about the nature of God. But nothing else more fully or more accurately portrays God than that characteristic termed "love." To the Jew, God is first a god of law. To the Muslim, a god of righteousness. To the Buddhist, a god of truth. But to the Christian, God is most fully known as a god of love. A God who loves each and every work of His hands: every flower, every bird, every tree, every human.

However, we do need, as Christians, to exercise care when we talk about God's love. God's love isn't just anything and everything we might think --or want -- it to be. It's not a sticky-sweet covering that somehow flows over the earth, like chocolate syrup poured on an ice-cream sundae. It's not a blind, foolish love that puts up with and overlooks all manner of hatred, evil, and sin, never making any sort of response. It is not an ethereal cosmic "force," a vague "spirituality" that causes one to feel tingly in the toes, like a pre-teen girl experiencing her first crush.
Instead, God's love, as described in the Bible, takes on concrete, discrete form. It issues forth in specific acts of love -- at times and in places when such love is most needed. God's love rejoices in the happiness of His creations, and cries at their misfortunes. His love guides His chosen people throughout history; gently at times, but also roughly when such is called for. God's love acts, does, works -- in order to ensure the best for His creation. And ultimately, God's love is focused in the nature of One Man. One, who comes to die, in order that the entire world might live. Whenever we say that God is love, we must remember that the proof of that statement is Jesus Christ: crucified, dead, and buried -- and risen to provide eternal life to all who will accept Him. For God so loved the world.

For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world. The world. The world is God's concern in sending Christ. Not just a few who somehow earn or prove worthy of God's love, if that were possible. Not just the "good guys and gals" with the white hats. Not even just the Sunday morning pew fillers, like us, at Los Alamos First United Methodist Church. Certainly, God loves us; make no mistake about that. He loves the whole world, and we're very much a part of that world. The problem for many of us is: We're not willing to allow for the fact that God loves anybody else besides us.

He does, you need to know. I want you to think for a moment of the person, or maybe the group of people, that you like least in all this world. That shouldn't be a hard task -- everyone has somebody else that they just plain can't stand. Or maybe I shouldn't put you on the spot, so I'll just pick a name that is pretty well-known: Usama Bin-Laden. Just about everybody in the U. S. of A. thinks Usama Bin-Laden is a real rat. Or how about Hugo Chavez, the pompous socialist president of Venezuela who loves to run down America on worldwide television? They don't get much nastier than that turkey. But guess what? God loves Bin Laden -- and He loves Hugo Chavez. He loves them so much that He sent Jesus to die on a cross for their sins.

From time to time, folks actually complain to me that God's standards for receiving His love are too low. But I say "Praise God!" that they are, because that means you and I can be sure that we're included, too. And now comes the hard part -- if God can love the world, can't we try a little harder to do the same? For God so loved the world.

There's no concluding remark nor an "Amen" at the end of today's sermon, because it's only part one of a three-part sermon miniseries. Next Sunday, God willing, I plan to continue this message as we consider "That He Gave His Only Son." I invite you to "tune in" then -- same time, same place -- for a second "episode" of the greatest drama of all time --"John 3:16."

Would you repeat the scripture aloud with me as we conclude today's installment? "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE."

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