God So Loved
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Happy Christmas Eve everybody, my name’s Louis I’m the lead teaching pastor here at City Awakening, it’s great to be with you on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is a time where we celebrate a gift that changed the world, which is the gift of Jesus. It’s about the gift of Jesus and how Jesus chose to enter human history, he chose to enter our world as our Savior, and tonight we’re gonna study Jesus’ famous words in John 3:16. Jesus said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” and even if you’re not a Christian you’re at least somewhat familiar with John 3:16, because it’s the signs you see sport fans holding up at sporting events. Well today you’re gonna learn what those signs actually mean, and my hope is all of us would walk away knowing the God of Christianity isn’t a hater, He’s a Savior. Some of you’ve encountered condemning Christians or grew up in condemning legalistic churches over the years, and it’s caused you view God as a hater waiting to point a condemning finger at you. But Jesus is gonna teach us that’s not true. He’s gonna teach us God’s not a hater waiting to point a condemning finger at us, He’s a Savior wanting to save us, and that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. So let’s turn to John 3:1-5, we’ll start there, and get to John 3:16 later. The title of today’s message is God so loved, and here’s the big idea. The birth of Jesus was an act of love. He came to save you, not point a condemning finger at you...Jesus came to save you, not point a condemning finger at you.
Context:
Here’s your context. When Jesus says what he says in John 3:16, he’s actually in the middle of a conversation with a guy named Nicodemus, and historically we know Nicodemus was a Pharisee, which was a Jewish religious leader kind of like a pastor. But Nicodemus isn’t just any Pharisee, he’s considered a ruler of the Jews, meaning he’s a part of an elite group of Pharisees called the Sanhedrin, and to be a Sanhedrin he would’ve been considered highly intelligent, and highly respected as one of the holiest men in Israel. He also would’ve put a lot of stock in living out the laws of God to keep his relationship with God in good standing. So let’s see what happens when this highly intelligent, highly respected religious leader, meets Jesus.
The Word:
John 3:1-5 states this, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’” Notice Nicodemus has been watching Jesus, he’s been observing Jesus like a scientist observes an experiment, and he says the evidence points to Jesus having come from God. He says he knows Jesus must’ve come from God, because nobody can do the signs, the miracles, the things Jesus is doing. But he’s hesitant to publicly admit it, so the text says he comes to Jesus at night. Its because he’s worried what the other Sanhedrin leaders will think if he admits his observations are that Jesus has come from God. It’s like the pressures scientists feel today in the scientific world, if they publicly admit creational evidences are pointing more and more to an intelligent designer. Nicodemus says he knows the evidences point to Jesus coming from God, but he’s afraid to publicly admit it so he meets with Jesus at night, and here’s what Jesus says to him.
Vs. 3, “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 4 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” Okay so Jesus busts out with a weird comment telling Nicodemus he needs to be born again, and Nicodemus is like “You want me to do what? You want me to enter my mother’s womb and be born again? First of all that’s just awkward! Second it’s impossible! How in the world am I supposed to be born again?” Don’t you love how Nicodemus isn’t a blind faith kind of guy? I mean he’s asking some legit questions here. But again Jesus tells him he needs to be born again, he needs to be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God, and for a lot of us that phrase “born again” makes us feel a bit uncomfortable. It makes us think of pushy, hard core, Christians who try to push their faith and politics on people in unloving ways. People like that have tainted the phrase “born again,” so let me explain what Jesus means by it.
When Jesus says we need to be born again, he’s saying we need a new birth, a spiritual birth with new hearts. It’s because in our first birth, our physical birth from our mother’s womb, we’re born with a sin nature that causes our hearts to beat for sin. For example you don’t have to teach a child to sin, their sin nature automatically leads their hearts to sin. A parent doesn’t have to teach their child to rebel, throw tantrums, throw spaghetti O’s on the floor when they’re asked to do something, their sin nature automatically leads them to do such things. It’s no different for us adults. Christian or not, there’s things, some deep rooted things in your life you’ve wanted to change, but you’ve been powerless to change them, and it’s because of your sin nature. Jesus is saying you need God’s help, you need God’s power to change those things. God the Father loves us, wants what’s best for us, wants to help us, but we’re like rebellious little children who think we know what’s best, who think we don’t need God’s help. Jesus says we DO need God’s help! We need to be born again so our sin nature can be changed, and we can have new hearts that’ll beat for God over our sin. He says we need to be born again, but how? How can Nicodemus, how can we be born again? Jesus tells us in John 3:16, and he’s about to teach us 4 things about God’s love, especially for those who aren’t born again yet like Nicodemus. Let’s check it out.
John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world...” There’s the 1st thing Jesus teaches us about God’s love, he teaches us: #1 The quantity of God’s love is massive = Jesus teaches us the quantity of God’s love is massive. Notice he didn’t say “God loved the world,” he said “God SO loved the world.” That little word “so” expresses quantity. It’s expressing God doesn’t just love the world a little, He loves the world SO much, He loves the world massively! Now what’s so great about this is he’s saying God had a massive love for the world, before anyone was even born again. He’s saying God SO loved the world, while we were still sinfully rebelling against Him. Because of our sin nature we don’t start with a massive love for God, it’s God who starts with a massive love for us, and it’s a much greater love than our culture’s love, which is #2.
#2 The quality of God’s love is deeply committed = Jesus is teaching the quality of God’s love is deeply committed, and we need to be careful not to cheapen the love he’s talking about by equating it with our culture’s understanding of love which is primarily rooted in happiness. We’re like “You make me happy, so I heart you, I love you,” but if you don’t make me happy “I’m out, because I deserve to be happy.” A love rooted in happiness alone is a cheap, shallow, selfish love that only lasts if the person makes you happy...and we’ve cheapened the word love even more by how loosely we use it. We’re like “I love Taco Tuesday, I love Twistee Treat, I love 4Rivers, my dog, my cat, and my spouse.” We put our spouse in the same category as a cat. 4Rivers maybe, but not a cat...Yet this is what we’ve done with the word love, we’ve used it so loosely applying it to so many things, that we’ve made its meaning a mile wide and an inch deep. The word love has very little depth in our culture today, and if we view John 3:16 through that lens of love, we’ll have to constantly worry about making God happy, or else He’s out and we’re not getting into heaven. But God’s love is much more deeply committed than that. See back then the Jews used different words for different types of love, and the word Jesus uses in John 3:16 is the Greek word agape. It’s a deeply committed love that entails happiness, but isn’t rooted in happiness, meaning it’ll still be there in times of unhappiness. It’s the type of love that says “I’m not happy over your sin, but I’m not out because of your sin.” It’s exactly what we’re celebrating on Christmas Eve. We’re celebrating Jesus not abandoning us because of sin, instead he plunged into the world through his incarnational birth to save us from sin. It’s because God so massively loved the world with a deeply committed love. It’s a far greater love than our shallow culture’s love.
Again John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son...” This is the 3rd thing Jesus is teaching us. He’s teaching us: #3 The giving of God’s love is generous = Jesus is teaching us the giving of God’s love is generous, the giving of his only son is extremely generous. I’ll put it like this. Bill Gates is considered one of the wealthiest and most generous men in the world. He’s currently 63 yrs old and has a net worth of over $93 billion dollars. That means by the time he reaches his 90th birthday, he could spend $9 million dollars A DAY, for the next 27 yrs, and he’d still have $6 billion dollars left over. That’s how wealthy Bill Gates is. But he’s also known for being one of the most generous men alive, and over the years he’s given away more than $30 billion dollars. Now as wealthy and generous as Bill Gates is, it’s nothing compared to God’s wealth and generosity. I say that not just because of the quantity of God’s wealth and generosity, but also because of who God extends His generosity too. Remember Jesus said God’s given His love to us despite being sinful, non-born again, rebellious people. It’s what makes God’s generosity so much greater than Bill Gates generosity. It’s because God extends His generosity even to His enemies. You know who Bill Gates isn’t giving to? Apple...He’s not giving to Apple, pumping in billions to Apple...Yet God continuously pumps His common grace into the world allowing even His enemies to enjoy His creation, and He pumps His special grace into the world through Jesus so we can be saved from our sinful rebellion, and be born again.
Again John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There’s the 4th thing Jesus is teaching us, he’s teaching us: #4 We have to believe to receive God’s saving love = Jesus is teaching us we have to believe to receive God’s saving love, to receive the quantity, quality, and generosity of God’s love beyond common grace. This goes back to what Jesus said in vs. 1-5 when he told Nicodemus he MUST be born again, or else he can’t enter God’s kingdom. Eventually God has do something with those who don’t believe, because God’s not gonna allow somebody to enter His kingdom who hates Him and what His kingdom stands for. I know some people are like “It doesn’t matter what you believe. As long as you’re a good person and do good deeds you’ll get to go to heaven.” But there’s two issues with that thinking. First Jesus says it DOES matter what you believe, because what you believe determines where you spend eternity. Second we need to remember who Jesus is talking to. He’s talking to Nicodemus, a highly respected leader who’s known for his holy living. Jesus tells him his deeds aren’t good enough to get him into heaven, he has to be born again, he has to believe in who Jesus is and what Jesus came to do on the cross.
Look if the requirement for getting into heaven is good deeds, then nobody’s getting into heaven because our imperfect sinful lives is evidence against us getting into heaven. But Jesus’ perfect sinless life is evidence he’s our Savior who’s come to take us to heaven. I mean there’s not a single credible historical document that points to a time when Jesus sinned. No murder, no sex scandal, no WikiLeaks, none of that. Even Roman Governor Pontius Pilate said he couldn’t find any faults in Jesus, but he crucified him anyways to appease the Jews. There’s not a single drop of ink that’s been spilled pointing to a time when Jesus sinned. It’s he’s our perfect sinless Savior who came to live the perfect sinless life we haven’t lived, and die the death we deserved to die for our sins. The requirement for eternal life in heaven is belief in Him and His works, not you and your works. Jesus said it’s about “Whoever BELIEVES,” not “Whoever DOES.”
Again John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus didn’t come as a hater wanting to point a condemning finger at the world, he came as a Savior wanting to save the world. That means if you’ve ever had a condemning Christian or a condemning legalistic church point a condemning finger at you, Jesus is telling you they gave you the wrong message. He didn’t come to point a condemning finger at you, he came to save you and give you a way of out of your sin nature so you don’t perish. He came to give you a new birth, with a new heart, so you can enjoy eternal life with him in the future, and an abundantly full life with him now in the present. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” It’s an abundantly full life with him now in the present, and in the future. It’s an abundantly full life that Jesus said is available, for anyone who believes.
So what about Nicodemus, does he believe? Does he end up believing the words of Jesus at the risk of losing his reputation? Scholars believe he eventually does, and here’s why. History tells us after Jesus was crucified, there were two people holding Jesus’ beaten, bloodied, dead body...and Nicodemus was one of them. John 19:38-40 says, “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” Nicodemus is right there at the tomb helping to bury Jesus, holding Jesus’ body in his arms. Nicodemus is holding Jesus in his arms, but on the 3rd day it’ll be Jesus who holds Nicodemus in his arms. It’s because he finally believed that God really did, so love the world, that he gave his only Son...
The Big Idea:
Let’s have the worship team come up and get to the big idea. Here’s the big idea. The birth of Jesus was an act of love. He came to save you, not point a condemning finger at you... The birth of Jesus was an act of love. He came to save you, not point a condemning finger at you, and so here we are on Christmas Eve, with our sins and all the other junk in our lives. We’re here with our sins, worries, anxieties, depression, doubt, some even disbelief, yet still SO loved by God!..Even with all your baggage you’re still SO loved by God, and here’s how you know. Because Jesus said whoever believes, that’s you...It’s an invitation to you...He says whoever believes, meaning the same invitation he gave Nicodemus, is the same invitation he gives to you.
The danger for non-Christians is to gamble your eternal life by dismissing this invitation. The danger for Christians is to yawn at this invitation because we’ve heard it many times before. Its like forgetting the beauty of a picture on a wall. You know it’s there, but you forget its beauty unless you pause to dwell on it. City Awakening let’s not do that to Jesus. Let’s not dismiss him or yawn at him, instead let’s be captivated by the masterpiece of love he displayed through his birth, life, death, and resurrection. Let’s BELIEVE in him, and the loving invitation he’s given us in John 3:16. It’s an invitation that doesn’t say God so HATED the world! It says God so LOVED the world! It says God...so...loved...you! Let’s stand and worship Him, because He did.
