|
|
|
Sunday March 22, 2009 "Sacred Living" John 3:14-21 |
 |
|
Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 3/23/2009 12:35 PM | For God so loved the world…
It is a phrase we hear often, and because we hear it so often, we sometimes don’t give it the attention we should. It comes from John 3:16 and I would hazard a guess that for most of us who grew up in the church, that was the first verse we ever memorized,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
For quite awhile beginning in the 1970’s, just about every televised sporting event included someone in the crowd with a rainbow colored wig and a posterboard that said simply “John 3:16” The idea was, anyone who didn’t know the reference would go to their Bible and read this wonderful verse. And it is a wonderful verse. It encapsulates the basic reason that Jesus came to live among us, and it gives voice to what the reward will be for those who follow Jesus.
But too often we concentrate so heavily on the “reward” of eternal life that we forget about the reason Jesus came.
“For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son…”
This is the message of our entire faith history. This is the story that is told from the first word of Genesis to the last word of Revelation. This is what is embedded in our favorite Bible stories: God’s love for humanity.
It was God’s love that brought forth all of creation. All the wonders of our world, all the mysteries of the seasons, all the intricate patterns of life and death, all of this sprang out of God’s love.
It was God’s love that gave humanity dominion over this amazing creation. As a trusting parent prepares their child for independence and success in the world, God trusts us to take care of the marvelous creation that is all around us. That comes from love and nothing else.
It was in love that God responded to the pleading of the enslaved Israelites in Egypt. It was out of love that Moses was called to lead them to freedom and the promised land.
It was the love of God for God’s people that led Moses to construct the bronze serpent to be raised up among the Israelite people when they were angry with God in the wilderness. Crying to Moses that they would surely die, they were set upon by poisonous snakes. Moses raised the bronze serpent and those who had been bitten were saved.
It was God’s love that prompted the many and various prophets to speak out when injustice and unfairness threatened the people of Israel. Likewise, it was God’s love that raised up prophets to discipline the people when they needed it.
During the exile it was God’s love that kept the people safe and focused on their return to Jerusalem. It was God’s love that was celebrated in the Psalms of David, and in the celebrations that ensued when the Temple was rebuilt. It was God’s love that used the witness of so many normal people, some seriously flawed, to show us the breadth and depth of God’s power. People like Joseph, and David, and Job, and Jonah and Peter and Paul and Mary Magdalene.
It was God’s love that sent Jesus into the world who taught us that love was for everyone: not just our friends and allies but strangers and enemies as well.
It was God’s love that built a church that included everyone who would come, not just a small group of followers of Jesus, but all who would come, Jew and gentile, male and female, slave and free. Everyone.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son…”
And here is the question of the hour: What are we going to do about it? During our Lenten journey, this may be the most important, and maybe the most difficult question we grapple with: in light of the message of love that Jesus brings, how are we to live our lives?
Listen to some more of this passage: “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe in him are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
We have heard this part of the passage a lot, too. It sounds like fairly orthodox Christian doctrine. We need, however, to dig a little deeper if we are to get the full meaning.
In the gospel of John, the word “faith” is rarely, if ever used. John is much more partial to the word “believe.” Whoever believes will be saved. Whoever believes will not be condemned.
As we read through the book of John, something else becomes clear. For John, belief is an action, not a passive acceptance of something. Many times in our world, to believe is to simply say, “I agree with that.” For example, I believe the law of gravity is correct. But that is where it ends. I am not called upon to prove to someone else that gravity exists. I do not need to change my life because of this belief. It is passive. I accept it.
In John’s world, belief calls for action. To believe that Jesus is the messiah is to be called to action. To work to help others hear the good news of Jesus messiahship. To live our lives so that our confidence in the presence of God is clear. To live our lives abundantly, joyfully, without fear.
This is one of those passage that gets a lot of theologians arguing. What comes first, belief or changed lives? If we change the way live will God’s grace be made known to us? Or is it the other way around: because God’s grace is made known to us, do we change the way we live? The first scenario that grace follows a changed life, implies that God is waiting for us to earn the grace available to us. But can we ever be worthy of God’s grace, no matter how hard we try to live a good life? In the second scenario, the implication is that God simply extends the grace, and nothing is expected of us. But surely we need to do something to act on such an incredible gift in our lives!
Believe me when I tell you that volumes have been written debating this question.
And amidst all the arguing is a simple truth: we don’t know. We can cull minute nuances and make a case for either side, but in the end, it is a mystery. But the fact that it’s a mystery does not let us off the hook. Like so many of the mysteries surrounding God, this is a mystery that must be pursued through prayer and study and experience. We may never know the answer in this life, but this we do know: the two are definitely intertwined. Whether it is grace that leads to our response, or our actions that lead to grace bestowed, the connection between the two is undeniable.
Personally, if I had to make a stand, I would come down on the side of grace revealed leading to changed lives. I think John would agree with me.
This passage from John starts where it everything starts, with God’s love. Then, it moves on to our reality. If we believe, if we act, if we change our lives, we will feel the warmth of God’s embrace. If we do not, if we do not act, if we do not change our lives, that warmth will be lacking.
An biblical interpretation by Eugene Peterson called the Message Bible gives me some clarity on this point:
“This is the crisis we are in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were really not interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”
Note that none of this is in the future tense. For John, this is all about the present. For John, eternal life refers not only to the resurrection life after our human death, but also to the resurrection life of our present reality. Eternal life exists not only at the heavenly banquet, but in being in relationship with God in this earthly realm, having a vital relationship with Christ as we move through this thing we call life. Eternal life exists not only in some wondrous transformation when we stand before God, but in the powerful transformation that comes when we choose to live for God today. For John, eternal life begins NOW.
Jesus came because God loves us, but the real reward comes when we walk in the light, when we do God’s work, when we change our way of life and we feel the joy of belief!
If you are like me, there have been times when you have not felt that joy. I do not blame anyone else but myself, but in those darkest times in my life, those times when I was angry at God, when I was confused and bewildered, I did not feel that joy. I did not feel God’s presence. And I did not act like someone who did. This is the crisis that John writes about: a crisis of our own making. And this is the judgment that John writes about: a separation from God that leaves us in the dark and cold of a loveless night.
And there is an antidote to that judgment, that crisis. The antidote is to turn toward God and LIVE.
Live without fear.
Live without worry.
Live joyfully.
Live with a generous spirit.
Live with thanksgiving.
Live with abandon.
Live with malice toward none and compassion toward all.
Live with laughter.
Live with love.
Live with God.
How are we to do those things? By simply following the example set for us by Jesus Christ. Several years ago, every where you looked you saw someone wearing a wrist band or carrying a key chain emblazoned with WWJD – What Would Jesus Do? We are not Jesus, and sometimes the question seems trite, but the guidance Jesus offers us in the way he lived his life is exactly what we need to heed. Read through the gospels and you will see that the attitude that Jesus displays is precisely the attitude we need to adopt. But it is not always easy.
I look out over this congregation and I see good, good people. People who seek to follow God and are aware of God’s grace in their lives. But if you are anything like me, you need to be taken by the shoulders every once in a while and be reminded that God is present, and when we give ourselves over to God, we can do anything, we can endure anything and we can honor God the whole time. Why is this true? Because God so loved the world that God gave us…everything.
Go up into the north Georgia mountains or down to the oceans shore and tell me that God doesn’t love us.
Spend the day in a nursery school or a child development center like the one connected to our church and tell me that God isn’t present.
Read the scientific accounts of the intricacies of human life and the miraculous healing powers of the human body and tell me that God is not an awesome God.
Look around this sanctuary and see the examples of grace and dignity and perseverance seated here and tell me God has no sway over our lives.
This is what Lent is all about. Searching ourselves and digging deep to come closer and closer to understanding how we can best live to serve and honor God. Lent is understanding what a precious gift we have received in Jesus Christ. Lent is about dropping to our knees before God and saying, “thank you.”
The gospel of John lays out a recipe for living. Living abundantly. Living in the here and now. The ingredients in that recipe include God’s grace, and our belief. Put the two together and there exists a force powerful enough not simply to change individual lives, but to change the world.
For God so loved the world….
Let us pray:
Loving God, for your love, we give you thanks. For the gift of your son Jesus Christ, we give you thanks. For the chance to live life in all it’s glory, we give you thanks. In Jesus, name we ask it all. Amen. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
|
|
 | |