Good Friday morning! The big day has come and gone... and it wasn't so bad after all. That's good, 'cuz I get to do it again next week! I'm speaking of teaching our life group on Thursday evening. The last time I taught a church class was in the age of disco dancing, long hair, Star Wars, and Archie Bunker. That's a long time ago, except for the hair which has made a comeback in the schools around here. Today we have made it to John 3:16. There is probably no more well known verse in the Bible than this one even among those who do not believe in Christ. In this verse, Jesus spells out why he had to be lifted up on the cross, and once more what that price will provide to us, and even better, what we have to do to get it!
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 NLT
We have been using the New Living Translation, but the New King James is closer to the one we remember from our youth.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
The reason Jesus gave his life is the love of God for the world. God loved his creation so much that he was willing to pay the ultimate price. He came down from Heaven as we learned in verse 13; he would be lifted up on the cross in verse 14, and we must believe in verse 15. The part we play in gaining everlasting life is stated again in this verse to make sure we get it - whoever believes in him. As we like to say around the church, "I'm a whoever!" This verse speaks in the face of the claim that Christ is exclusive: Believe in Jesus and you have, not will have, but have eternal or everlasting life. Now since the Bible separates Sheol, what we call Hades or Hell, as the place of the dead, Jesus is not speaking of eternity in Hell when he speaks of everlasting life. So is that all? We simply believe in Jesus and we're in Heaven forever? Last night we had some trouble with "believe in". This I think comes from that changing, growing, messy language we grew up with called English.
In many languages, the word for believing in Jesus is quite different from the one for believing there was a Jesus, or believing there is a God. What we mean by believing in Jesus, as John 3:16 speaks, is the trusting in Jesus to save us through our faith in him. Some use "believe in Jesus" at times to describe the knowledge the demons have of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We know from the Bible that Lucifer and his angels rebelled against God at some point, we can't put a date on it, and have become Satan and the demons who follow him. This group is in complete opposition to God. We know for example that the Serpent in the Garden of Eden was Satan, so the rebellion happened before human history began or at least near the start. It is possible that the love God had for his new creation, Adam, was what caused the rebellion to be acted out, the final straw if you will, but that is beyond my knowledge. We do know from the Bible that the sin of pride was the actual reason for the rebellion in Heaven. The demons and the devil know whom they rebelled against and who they remain in opposition to; there are no atheists among the demons.
Which is kind of odd when you think about how many people decide to believe there is no God at all! Perhaps my sense of humor is what is odd, but I kind of think that it's funny that all the demons know there is a God and Heaven, but people use their God-given privilege of choice to choose not to believe at all. This is not a refusal to believe in Jesus and be saved, but a choice to ignore the knowledge of God that is in all hearts. Did you hear the latest thing from Stephen Hawking? "God is not required to create the universe..." is his latest statement. What is required? Apparently matter and gravity. Of course, we might ask who created matter and gravity, but if you don't want to believe in Jesus, you can always choose to ignore him and what he created with God. So, from the super-intelligent to the downright stupid, anyone can choose to believe there is a God, or choose to believe there is no God. But according to our verse for today, if you don't want to perish, you must believe in the only begotten Son of God. Many people think that is the exclusive part of Christianity, if you don't believe you are condemned to Hell. Jesus will explain that to Nicodemus in later verses. For now, we need to remember that it is not an exclusion, it is a choice. We would think someone off his rocker if he said, "I want all the benefits of being a BigMegaCorp employee, but I'll never choose to work for them!" Does that make BigMegaCorp exclusive and judgmental? We wouldn't think so, but for some reason people want to think of Christ as that way.
When we believe in Jesus, it isn't the knowledge of who The Son of God is or where he came from that saves us for eternity, but that we decide to believe in the sacrifice of Jesus and his resurrection. So does anyone who believes in Jesus have eternal life? Yes, but the better word is just what we read this morning, everyone who believes in Jesus in saved. If we go all the way back to the King James version of the Bible, we get my favorite of the group descriptions, "whosoever believeth in Him..." I am most definitely a whosoever. For those who do not yet believe in Christ, we may want to make sure we separate the "believe there is" from the "believe in" in our witness.
I am sooo late today, but this verse is one of the most important in the whole Bible. And don't 'cha just love this one?
Bucky
No comments:
Post a Comment