Jn 3:16 God So Loved the World
I think many of us have witnessed the rapid change in Bankstown area in these days. There are more and more beautiful shopping malls, dirt roads changed to be main roads, and last Tuesday I was surprised to see the how splendid was the Sports Club in our CBD. With all its luxurious interior design and lightings, it shone, as if it wanted to persuade me how magnificent is today’s entertainment life. Thanks to the modern technology and fossil energy. Modern life seems getting brighter and brighter. However, the Scripture tells us a different story. It tells us that no matter now and then, modern day or ancient times, this world is still in darkness! And this darkness will prevail unless there is intervention from the Almighty God. As said in 3:19, Then, what is this darkness? Why loving darkness is evil?
Let me explain this darkness by using again last Sunday’s example, the poster in the London bus. Isn’t the humanist trying to tell people with the poster, saying: “There is probably no God. Don’t worry, let’s enjoy our lives.” Well, I think what it means is “There is probably no God. Then why not ignore the question and enjoy your life without God?” When I read this slogan, I have two approaches to understand it. Firstly, as a long time Christian, I believe I suffer the same pain as many of us do, when we hear this slogan, because it is a sharp attack on the fundamental ground of our faith, the existence of God. However, with my traditional Chinese mind, it doesn’t make sense. To a typical Chinese, whether life is enjoyable is already a question, and when he wants to enjoy life, there would be nothing to do with the question of the existence of God. What I want to say is that in a pure secular and humanist cultural context, the problem of life has already had no relation to the existence of God. Therefore, the slogan is not for the purpose of asserting humanist position, but it is tailored for attacking those who still hold the traditional worldview, i.e., those who still believe in God.
Well, when I say this is an attack, I don’t mean that the slogan has presented a good intellectual argument, but rather, it is a temptation. A temptation which arouses our desire to be free of God, to be autonomous, to be able to do whatever we want without God. I must say that this desire does not just happen to non-Christian, but also Christian; not just happens to those who are in Christian culture, but also to those in secular culture. This desire is common in all human heart, a heart of rebellious to God, a heart of unrepentant, and those with such a heart are certainly having no relationship with God. When St. John says that the world is in darkness, he is telling us the reality of a spiritual darkness, the darkness of rebellion. And according to our human nature, we all incline to this darkness, no matter we are the humans in ancient times or in modern era, men or women. Then we can understand why the word ‘condemnation’ is heard through today’s message. We can also imagine that the wrath of God is behind the scene.
But to our surprise, in today’s message St. John is not just talking about God’ righteous condemnation, but rather salvation, the salvation from the due condemnation which leads to perish. The focus of his message is on Jesus Christ, the only Son of God who was sent by the Father God to this rebellious world. He came to this world with a mission, a mission to save. As in V.17: < For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.> He saves us by dying on the cross for us, in order that those who “believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Well, many people in here have heard about this gospel message, but do we really understand the cost Jesus Christ has paid for us? The Son of God died on the cross for us, the divine innocent died for the sinners, this message is already very shocking; yet there is more, Jesus Christ did that in a very hostile environment. Perhaps we may still remember the stories in the Gospel books about how the Jews opposed Jesus, how they plotted to kill him, and how they accused Jesus in various ways. Perhaps we also remember when Pontius Pilate said: “he has done nothing to deserve death”, people shouted in one voice: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” And again under the cross, how the soldiers and earthly authority mocked him saying: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” Jesus Christ came to accomplish the salvation mission in such a hostile environment. He did that when we are still sinners, still opposing him, when we are still in the darkness, the darkness of rebellion.
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With the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. John explains to us something about God’s love. In V. 16 the Bible reads: Here St. John uses a simple yet beautiful verb to summarize God’s action: gave. The original word of give has a strong nuance of giving up one’s ownership and handing it over to the receiver. That means by God’s giving, His Son is at our disposal. I hope we may be able to understand how much God has sacrificed through His Son’s mission. If not, just go through the stories of Jesus’ life, especially his death, then we will understand more about God’s generosity.
And St. John explains to us the reason of God’s sacrifice: His love to us. He loves us even we are still offending him through our rebellion. When we are in such a dark status, He knew the outcome to us and He sacrificed to save us. In another occasion St. Paul also tells us about God’s love: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Our God does not just stay in his transcendence and glorious majesty, stay aloft and look onto us to see to the end of our self-destruction. He concerns, He cares, and He sacrifices for us in order to save, because He loves us, He wants to resume the broken relationship with us.
Dear friends, as we have already received the grace of salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ, we are urged to take response to God’s love. And our right response is to heed to Jesus Christ’s two commandments, to love God and to love our brothers. Then, isn’t it true that supporting the church work is a good way to show our service to God and also a good way to support the fellowship of our brotherhood?
Heavenly Father, thank you for showing us your love through your Sons’ death. Thank you for your sacrifice to save us. Please let your Holy Spirit enlighten us to understand more about your love, and also teach us how to love you and our brothers. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Let me explain this darkness by using again last Sunday’s example, the poster in the London bus. Isn’t the humanist trying to tell people with the poster, saying: “There is probably no God. Don’t worry, let’s enjoy our lives.” Well, I think what it means is “There is probably no God. Then why not ignore the question and enjoy your life without God?” When I read this slogan, I have two approaches to understand it. Firstly, as a long time Christian, I believe I suffer the same pain as many of us do, when we hear this slogan, because it is a sharp attack on the fundamental ground of our faith, the existence of God. However, with my traditional Chinese mind, it doesn’t make sense. To a typical Chinese, whether life is enjoyable is already a question, and when he wants to enjoy life, there would be nothing to do with the question of the existence of God. What I want to say is that in a pure secular and humanist cultural context, the problem of life has already had no relation to the existence of God. Therefore, the slogan is not for the purpose of asserting humanist position, but it is tailored for attacking those who still hold the traditional worldview, i.e., those who still believe in God.
Well, when I say this is an attack, I don’t mean that the slogan has presented a good intellectual argument, but rather, it is a temptation. A temptation which arouses our desire to be free of God, to be autonomous, to be able to do whatever we want without God. I must say that this desire does not just happen to non-Christian, but also Christian; not just happens to those who are in Christian culture, but also to those in secular culture. This desire is common in all human heart, a heart of rebellious to God, a heart of unrepentant, and those with such a heart are certainly having no relationship with God. When St. John says that the world is in darkness, he is telling us the reality of a spiritual darkness, the darkness of rebellion. And according to our human nature, we all incline to this darkness, no matter we are the humans in ancient times or in modern era, men or women. Then we can understand why the word ‘condemnation’ is heard through today’s message. We can also imagine that the wrath of God is behind the scene.
But to our surprise, in today’s message St. John is not just talking about God’ righteous condemnation, but rather salvation, the salvation from the due condemnation which leads to perish. The focus of his message is on Jesus Christ, the only Son of God who was sent by the Father God to this rebellious world. He came to this world with a mission, a mission to save. As in V.17: < For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.> He saves us by dying on the cross for us, in order that those who “believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Well, many people in here have heard about this gospel message, but do we really understand the cost Jesus Christ has paid for us? The Son of God died on the cross for us, the divine innocent died for the sinners, this message is already very shocking; yet there is more, Jesus Christ did that in a very hostile environment. Perhaps we may still remember the stories in the Gospel books about how the Jews opposed Jesus, how they plotted to kill him, and how they accused Jesus in various ways. Perhaps we also remember when Pontius Pilate said: “he has done nothing to deserve death”, people shouted in one voice: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” And again under the cross, how the soldiers and earthly authority mocked him saying: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” Jesus Christ came to accomplish the salvation mission in such a hostile environment. He did that when we are still sinners, still opposing him, when we are still in the darkness, the darkness of rebellion.
>>
With the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. John explains to us something about God’s love. In V. 16 the Bible reads:
And St. John explains to us the reason of God’s sacrifice: His love to us. He loves us even we are still offending him through our rebellion. When we are in such a dark status, He knew the outcome to us and He sacrificed to save us. In another occasion St. Paul also tells us about God’s love: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Our God does not just stay in his transcendence and glorious majesty, stay aloft and look onto us to see to the end of our self-destruction. He concerns, He cares, and He sacrifices for us in order to save, because He loves us, He wants to resume the broken relationship with us.
Dear friends, as we have already received the grace of salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ, we are urged to take response to God’s love. And our right response is to heed to Jesus Christ’s two commandments, to love God and to love our brothers. Then, isn’t it true that supporting the church work is a good way to show our service to God and also a good way to support the fellowship of our brotherhood?
Heavenly Father, thank you for showing us your love through your Sons’ death. Thank you for your sacrifice to save us. Please let your Holy Spirit enlighten us to understand more about your love, and also teach us how to love you and our brothers. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
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