This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough (8.15am, lay-reading), and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers (9am).
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Prayer: May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O
Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Our Gospel today is very well-known, and contains the
most famous bible verse, John 3:16. Our reading speaks about faith, but then
also it speaks why faith is actually needed. It says: Whoever believes in
him should have eternal life. And also: Whoever believes in him is not
condemned. We have here a positive thing: the gift of eternal life.
But also, we are saved from eternal death, from condemnation,
from judgment.
Our text today begins where
Jesus says: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. In
the book of Numbers, there are many different occasions where the people of Israel
were grumbling against God and complained. On this occasion, God sent to them
fiery serpents which bit them, and many people died. When the people repented,
God told Moses: Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who
is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. All they needed for being healed
was not to crawl up to the serpent, but simply to look at the serpent.
Now Jesus compares himself to this bronze serpent: As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. The
serpent was put up on a pole, and also Jesus was put up on a cross. The
serpents were the people’s punishment, and a serpent just like the one that
bit them was put on that pole. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, he took
our punishment with him, so that when we think about Jesus on the cross, we
should remember that it is both him and our punishment that was nailed
there. In Colossians, it says that God set aside the whole record of our sin by
nailing it to the cross.
Jesus says: Whoever
believes in him may have eternal life. The Israelites only looked at the
bronze serpent and they were healed. As long as they looked at their wounds,
they would die. Now we have been bitten by Satan, who has led us into sin, and
now our whole thinking has been corrupted and tainted by sin. When we are
convicted by the Holy Spirit, we see that we have a mortal wound inside killing
us from the inside out. But if we look to ourselves to be saved and our own
wounds, we die. But when we look to Jesus, we live, trusting that he has borne
our sins for us. The Israelites simply looked and were healed for this life.
But when we hear God’s perfect word about his only Son Jesus, and trust
that word, we are healed for the whole of eternity.
And so Jesus says: For God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. It’s an amazing thing that God not
only created the world, but he also loves the world. And his love is not just a
feeling, but he actually did something and acted upon that love:
he actually gave his only Son. The human race had fallen into sin and
separated itself from God. But God was not content to leave it like that, because
he loved the world. It is so much a part of God’s character and being
that he should love us, because as John writes, God is love.
Now we might imagine many
ways that we might show love to the world. But we are not God, but God is. God
knows the best way to show it: He gave his only Son. All of that
wonderful, pure love of God is tied up in this one person: his only Son. If
you want to find God’s love, you must find his only Son. St Paul
even describes Jesus’ life as that time when the goodness and loving
kindness of God our Saviour appeared. Now why only one Son? Because God
doesn’t want to split up his love. He pours it all out in full into this one
Jesus, and then offers him up as the one perfect sacrifice.
Now at the beginning of the
bible, God said to Adam: You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day
that you eat of it you shall surely die. This doesn’t seem like a great
moral issue, whether or not to eat a piece of fruit. But it’s important simply
because God himself commanded it—that’s it! And in advance God said what would
happen if they disobeyed it: you shall surely die. But they did
disobey, so they did die. We have also broken God’s law, and so
we are also worthy of death, and will die.
Paul says in Romans: The
wages of sin is death. Death is the payment we get for our sin. Just as a
worker gets his wages at the end of a day’s work, so also the wages at the end
of a life full of sin is death. And we also read in Romans: We have all
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But then, it says: but the
free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are
justified by his grace as a gift. Whoever believes in him will not die but have
eternal life. God’s gift is life that extends beyond this life and
into his wonderful presence for ever.
And everything simply depends
of faith. It says: Whoever believes in him. It doesn’t depend on your
works at all, because none of your works are perfect. Even your good works are
corrupt. It doesn’t depend on your choice. Choosing is still something
that you do. Faith is simply receiving the gift that God gives you. Faith says:
God’s word says that he so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
This word is true, and God never lies. He said it, and that’s it. If he
says he loves “the world”, then I know he loves me, because I am part of the
world, and he gave his only Son for me, because he gave his only Son for sinners
like me. That’s faith.
Now so far in our reading,
Jesus teaches us about things in pairs: he teaches one thing over here,
and one thing over there. He says: Whoever believes in him should not
die, but have eternal life. He talks here about death, and
then about eternal life. Now we come to the next part of our reading,
where Jesus says: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order than the world might be saved through him. Here he
talks about judgment or condemnation, but on the other hand salvation.
God did not send his Son into the word to condemn the world (on
one hand), but (on the other hand) that the world might be saved
through him.
And so we read here that
there is death (and eternal death) and there is also eternal life.
God condemns and he saves. Later Jesus speaks about whoever
believes in him and whoever does not believe. He
talks about light and darkness. When Jesus talks about death, he
is speaking about hell. When he speaks about eternal life, he is speaking about
heaven and the resurrection. There is no half-half. There is no half-death,
half-life. There’s no half-light, half-darkness. There’s no half-heaven,
half-hell. There’s no purgatory or half-way place. There is only death or
life, condemnation or salvation, believing or not
believing, light or darkness, heaven or hell. Shakespeare
wrote: To be or not to be, that is the question. Jesus says: To believe
or not to believe, that is the question.
One thing that many
Christians today talk about is whether everyone will be saved. If God so loved
the world, why isn’t the whole world automatically saved? Why did God need to
send his Son into the world? Why can’t he just forgive us without Jesus needing
to die? These are important questions.
One of the things that God
speaks to us is his law, or his commandments. He says: You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind… and You shall love your neighbour as yourself. This
is God’s standard, and on the basis of this standard he promises to reward
those who obey that standard.
But God also threatens to
punish those who break his law. We read in 2 Thessalonians: God considers it
just to repay with affliction those who afflict you…when the Lord Jesus is
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance
on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord
Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
However, in our culture, we
have a lot of difficulty with this. Many people almost don’t really believe in
justice. If a criminal commits a crime, he or she is often imprisoned not so as
to punish them, but to rehabilitate them, and make them better
people. Many people think that the purpose of prison is to fix
people, not punish people. We even call it “correctional services”.
However, “justice” means that a person is punished in proportion to their
crime. A murderer gets a heavier punishment than someone who steals a loaf
of bread. And God threatens punishment, because his law is holy and he
cares about his law. James says: Whoever keeps the whole law but fails
in one point has become guilty of all of it.
So God is a strict judge, not
because he is a mad tyrant, but because his law is a good and beautiful thing
and it should be kept. The book of Exodus shows us what God’s justice is: a
life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn
for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. But doesn’t Jesus say that we
shouldn’t demand justice? Doesn’t he say turn the other cheek?
Yes, and yes! But that’s because Jesus has now taken all of the justice
against sin on himself, and when something isn’t done justly, we don’t
need to sue people and demand justice. Jesus says: You have heard
that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to
you, Do not resist the one who is evil.
So God is a strict, just
judge, but he is also a loving Father. Our reading today teaches both: God
so loved the world. And it also says: He gave his only Son. He gave
his only Son, because of his love, and because he wants to show to us
his justice which has been dealt with. On the cross, we see God enacting
his justice: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We deserved
curses, punishment, death. But God puts all of his righteous curse, his righteous
punishment, and the righteous death penalty on his Son. And when Jesus
took all of this, and was about to die, he said: It is finished.
And so we read: Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For our sake
[God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God. When we look at God’s law and we realise that we haven’t
kept it, and that we deserve punishment and justice to be
carried out on us, we can still go to our heavenly Father, knowing that he has
loved us so much that he even sent to us his only Son. And the sentence that
was carried out upon Jesus is completely sufficient to pay the price of all the
sin in the world. All that is required of us is that we look up from our
snake-bites to Jesus and all our wounds, our sin, our guilt is completely
healed for all eternity.
So the reading says: For God did not send
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that might be saved through
him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of
God. We learn that God threatens to punish sin because he cares about his
law. His good and perfect law matters. But also, God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, because he cares about sinners. Sinful human
beings like you and I matter to God and he wants to save us. But why
does it matter whether or not we have faith?
We might think: If God so loved the world, and
those who don’t believe in Jesus will be condemned, why does he condemn
those who don’t believe in Jesus? Paul wrote to Timothy: God desires all
people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Why doesn’t he
just save everyone automatically? Because he cares about his Son,
and his Son matters. God’s law matters, we sinners matter,
and also Jesus matters. And so we read: And this is the judgment: the
light has come into the world. (This is talking about Jesus! He is the
light who has come into the world). And people loved the darkness rather
than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked
things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be
exposed.
We Christians know what a wonderful Saviour
Jesus is! And if only everyone knew, and if only everyone believed. Our faith
shouldn’t make us proud, but should fill us with compassion for those
who don’t believe, and for a desire to pray for them and share the Gospel with
them as we have the opportunity. But many people harden their hearts to God’s
word, and to the Gospel. Jesus is the light of the world, but they prefer
darkness instead. Because of our sinful nature, and our corrupt hearts, many
people refuse to listen to Jesus and to bask in his light. They are afraid of
being found out and exposed for who they really are.
But Jesus knows who we really are. He knows
our sin, he knows our shame, and our corruption. And it is a shameful thing for
someone to know our deepest, darkest secrets. Imagine if all your thoughts were
projected for everyone to read on a screen! And yet, when we are with Jesus in
his kingdom, he covers over everything. He has died for everything, he has
rescued you from darkness and brought you into his light.
We read: But whoever does what is true
comes to the light, so that it may clearly seen that his works have been
carried out in God. We might think: “but my works aren’t true! Many of them
are evil! I’ve done no better than the next person!” And you’re right! But
there is something that God has worked in you that is better. Jesus
says: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom you have sent. God
has revealed Jesus to you in his word. And when Jesus covers over all you sin
and forgives it, as he has promised, then there is nothing to be afraid of
when we come into the light. It will be revealed that God has sent you his Holy
Spirit and worked his gift of faith in you.
And so we read: God so loved the world that
he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life. God loves the world, and that he means he loves you. He shows
you that your debt has been paid for and your account has been cancelled by
giving his only Son. Jesus has died on the cross, and he has offered his life
for you, and shed his blood for you. And this word is true, and God does not
lie. Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. We
are spared from death, judgment, and darkness and are given the free gift of
eternal life, not because of any good thing that we have done, but because of
what Jesus has done. He is our Saviour, and so we put our trust in him. Amen.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your great
love, for the wonderful gift of your Son, and for your promise of eternal life.
Amen.
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