Introduction
Let me share with you a definition of Christianity in one sentence.
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
I know nothing about cars, and so when I go to a garage and the mechanic starts telling me the tracking is off, I thought he was speaking about the built-in sat-nav.
When they tell me that my back end has gone, I turned around and said, ‘no it’s still attached to me’.
And so when we come to John 3:16, I’m going to break this verse down, so we have a clearer and deeper understanding of its meaning as a whole.
God
‘For GOD so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
The Creator of the universe, the all-powerful One. The One who created you and me, the One who is all-knowing and all-seeing.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God we come to worship and serve. The God we committed our lives to, that’s the God that John is speaking about here.
How do you feel when someone loves you?
Most people have a happy childhood being raised by loving parents. And when our parents love us, we feel cared for, respected, valued and protected.
How Much Does He Love?
‘For God SO LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
If we can feel those things when we are loved by earthly parents, we certainly should feel the same way when we know that our heavenly Father loves us even more.
It is not just that God loved the world, but that He ‘so’ loved the world. The word ‘so’ may only have two letters in it, but in this passage, it implies that it has to be one of the longest words we have in our Bibles. ‘For God ‘soooooooooooo’ loved the world’.
He doesn’t love us because we loved Him, it was God who made the first move.
‘We love because he first loved us.’ 1 John 4:19
Our love for Him only exists because He first loved us.
Who Does God love?
‘For God so loved THE WORLD that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
The word ‘world’ is the Greek word Kosmos, which means an organised society. In other words, the focus of God’s love isn’t planet earth, but the people who live on planet earth.
Do you live on planet earth? Of course, you do, and so God says, ‘He loves you’.
A. Carson says, ‘God’s love in John 3:16 is not amazing because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad.’
Now think about those words for a moment. The world is full of murderers, rapists, drunkards, thieves etc, yet He still loves us. The world is full of sinners like you and I and yet He still loves us.
He loved us so much, He made the first move, and His love for us motivated His Jesus to die for us so that we can be saved.
The Greatness Of His Love
‘For God so loved the world that HE GAVE his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
Notice that God didn’t lend His one and only Son, He gave His one and only Son.
What’s the difference between lending and giving?
Lending is when you give someone something for a period of time, and you expect them to return in a period of time. Giving on the other hand means you are giving something to a person, and you don’t want anything back, it’s a gift.
Felix Wantang says, ‘only a fool will accept a gift you cannot keep. You can’t keep anything from the world but salvation is wise and everlasting.’
God gave us a gift we can keep for eternity, He gave us something very personal to Him.
What Did He Give?
‘For God so loved the world that he gave HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
Because Jesus is God, we could say that God gave Himself.
I love that story about the minibus driver who was driving a bus full of school children down a country lane. As he was making his way through the winding roads, he noticed that his brakes weren’t working.
He was at a loss as to what to do when all of a sudden, he noticed a gate which ran into a farmer’s field. He was left with no choice but to drive through the gate in the hope that the muddy field would stop the bus in its tracks.
But as he got closer and closer to the gate, a young boy stood at the gate. Again he didn’t know what to do, to save all the children. He decided to drive through the gate knowing he would kill the young boy.
When the bus finally stopped and everyone got out of the bus, the ambulance and police arrived. Everyone wanted to thank the bus driver for saving their children’s lives, but they noticed he had his arms wrapped around the young boy he had just run over. Someone asked, ‘who was that young boy?’ And someone else said, ‘it was the driver’s son.’
Make no mistake about it, God sacrificed His one and only son, so that we don’t have to pay the penalty for our sins.
‘But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Romans 5:8
God sacrificing His own Son is the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever known. God didn’t wait until we were good enough to send His Son to die for us. We could never be good enough, and God says, sinners are the object of His love.
Yes, the world is full of hypocrites, liars, addicts, war mongers etc, yet He still sent His Son to die for us. Yes, the world is full of sinners like you and me, but He still sent His Son to die for us anyway. He did that regardless of who we are or what we’ve done.
Why Did He Give His Son?
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.’ John 3:16
God’s abounding love for mankind, even in their sinful state, was so great that He sent His Son so that we can have the gift of eternal life.
Wait a minute, we’re sinners, we’ve offended God, broke His commandments and He still wants to offer us a gift!
‘And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.’ Ephesians 3:17-18
No wonder Paul speaks of God’s love as being immeasurable. God’s love is greater than our failures and our issues. God’s love is greater than the love your parents have for you.
It’s just too high, too long, too wide and too deep to measure.
Who Is This Eternal Life For?
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
This gift of eternal life is for whoever believes in Christ. But this belief isn’t just a mental activity, it’s believing that Jesus is who He claimed to be.
He is the Messiah, the Son of God, He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
‘If you love me, keep my commands.’ John 14:15
‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.’ Mark 16:16
It’s more than saying, ‘yes, Jesus is who He claimed to be’, it’s about obeying His commands, one of which is baptism.
This Is Personal
‘For God so loved (INSERT YOUR NAME) that he gave his one and only Son, so that (INSERT YOUR NAME), believes in him, (INSERT YOUR NAME) shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
This isn’t about your mother or father; this isn’t about your brother or sister. This isn’t about your neighbour or work colleague; this is about you.
Whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever your background. God loves you sooooooo much, that He gave His one and only Son to die for your sins and if you believe in Him, you too can have the gift of eternal life.
Are you willing to have your name written in the greatest sentence ever written?
