Introduction
Sermon #7 in a Series on the Gospel of John
One Thursday the mailman delivered an unusual item from the Northend Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Seattle, Washington. An announcement card (show sample) listed the special things which would be done for everyone who attended church on the upcoming “no-excuse-to-stay-at-home-Sunday.”
“Cots available for those who would sleep-in on Sunday. Eye drops supplied for eyes red from late night Saturday TV shows. Steel helmets for those afraid the roof will cave in if they ever show up at church. Blankets for those who find the church too cold. Fans for those who feel it is too hot. Scorecards for those wishing to note the lineup of hypocrites present. TV dinners for those who cannot go to church and cook Sunday lunch. Finally, The sanctuary will be decorated with Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never see the church without them.” (Green, Illustrations #169).
Not real funny, but a slightly humorous dealing with a serious problem. The church has trouble attracting and keeping committed members who attend regularly. Some people even say, “Why bother? Why labor to keep the church up and running? Let it fail – and invest your time and talent in work that helps people.”
The problem is especially acute for denominations like the one of which we are a part. Anyone seeking to join a PCA church must take membership vows! You want to talk about old fashioned and out of date – compare the promises we require to the standard fare at most churches. Many modern congregations have done away with membership entirely – certainly they do not require the swearing of a public oath.
Listen to the PCA Membership Vow #4: “Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?”
Do you promise to support the church? Not simply to “love God” (the spirit of the age might concede to such an ideal); but to “support the church…to the best of your ability” – what are we thinking? Here is what we are thinking – the church is the only institution created by Jesus to model and multiply his message.
Organizations like the Red Cross help many when disasters strike and wars destroy. But the Red Cross, for all its kindness, cannot offer eternal life. Radio and internet broadcasts of sermons and Bible teaching preach a fine message. But for all their educational efforts, they can never personally model the present and powerful work of God in the life of a believer. The church alone both multiplies the message through her preaching and teaching and models the message through visibly transformed lives.
So we unashamedly require all followers of Jesus to promise to support the Church in its worship and work.
In the paragraph we are studying this morning, God explains three things: first, how great is our need; second, his solution – a Savior; and third, his motive for giving his Son – his great love. Together these reveal the importance of the church.
Before we consider those, let’s take one side road. You may have a footnote in your Bible that says, “Some interpreters hold that the quotation ends at verse 15.” That may concern some of you, because your red letter Bibles clearly show Jesus’ words. But the manuscripts (copies handwritten between 200 and 1200 AD) have no sign given to show where a person’s speech begins or ends. (I have given you a handout with two manuscripts of John 3.15-16. One is from around 200 AD, the other from about 500 AD. I marked where John 3.16 begins. You will notice there are no punctuation marks, no spaces between letters, no red letters to mark Jesus’ words and no paragraphs.
Two quick observations. 1) The Bible is God’s word. It is probably not best to imagine that Jesus’ words are different (somehow better) than the rest – than, say, Paul’s words. The (whole) is God’s Word to you. 2) Though it may seem strange to us, the handwritten manuscripts of the Bible which were circulated in the early days of the church had the text and nothing else. There were no signs to tell where a person’s speech began (as opposed to other writing). The Bible student herself must interpret where Jesus stopped talking and where John started narrating. It seems to me that this paragraph is John’s commentary and explanation of Jesus’ speech to Nicodemus. But others believe it to be a continuation of Jesus’ speech. I think it does not affect the content or application to us either way.
1. Because of the Great Need, We Support the Church (John 3.18-20)
When Helen and I lived in Jackson, Mississippi, we were forced to deal with cockroaches, disguising little insects. Memphis (where we were both born) is enough north of Jackson that if you keep your house clean and work hard, you can pretty much avoid them. It is much harder in Mississippi. It almost never freezes that far south and even a good housekeeper has an occasional problem. (For example, you never bring paper bags or cardboard boxes into the house – they are almost always carrying the eggs.)
One of the strange characteristics of the roach is that there can be several running around in the dark, but the instant a light is flipped on, they seem to vanish. [It is, of course, one of the cardinal rules of preaching, that you never compare the congregation to a cockroach.]
Yet notice how negatively God describes our inner passions and desires apart from faith in Jesus: we love the darkness and avoid the light lest our deeds be exposed. Is God too harsh? Are people really that bad?
A father was trying to teach his son to throw a baseball. The little boy throws it hard, but it flies far from the target. The kid then complains that his dad must be too far away. So dad comes in 10 feet or so, but this time he throws off in the other direction. “Come closer dad; you’re too far off.” The dad comes to about 15 feet. The boy tries to throw but the ball ends up behind him. “Come closer daddy.” Finally the father is less than a yard out. The boy throws, but he has not learned to aim and the ball sails off at a 30º angle.
The problem is not the distance, is it? Our natural direction is not toward God.
Friday’s Wall Street Journal had an editorial I thought very insightful. In 1900, Thorstein Veblen introduced to the world the phrase, “conspicuous consumption,” and suggested that people will spend money on things which demonstrate that they have money to spend. One can easily boast of his wealth by an expenditure greatly in excess of need.
Obviously there is truth to that observation. But the article noted that a much greater issue today is not conspicuous consumption, but conspicuous virtue. Joseph Rago, “Increasingly many consumers are not seeking an outright demonstration of wealth. Instead, they consume to demonstrate their innate goodness. They spend not to suggest the deepness of their pockets but the deepness of their hearts.”
Rago offers, as an example, the 60 million “Live Strong” wristbands which have sold in the last 3 years. Obviously, it is a fine thing to give money to cancer research. But Rago observes that the surge of giving was driven by this: “It allowed people to make a show of their virtue. They could give to a good cause, and they could advertise their caring to everyone else. Not for nothing did John Kerry flaunt a Live Strong when he reported for duty at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.”
Contrast that with the challenge of Jesus: Matthew 6.1-4: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Conspicuous virtue draws adherents by claiming our hearts are good. The church exists, in part, to point out they are not.
J. C. Ryle, “The whole verse is a deeply humbling one. It shows the folly of all excuses for not receiving the Gospel, whether they are drawn from intellectual difficulties, from God’s predestination, or from our own inability to change ourselves. People do not come to Christ, and do continue unconverted, just because they do not wish and want to come to Christ. They love something else better than the light. The elect of God prove themselves to be elect by ‘choosing’ the things which are according to God’s mind. The wicked prove themselves to be only fit for destruction, by ‘choosing, loving, and following,’ the things which must lead to destruction.”
Some may suppose God unfair. But note well, God is not condemned in the damnation of sinners; sinners are condemned in our unwillingness to come to the light. We support the church because she, as an institution, shines the light of God’s truth into dark hearts.
2. Because of the Great Savior, We Support the Church (John 3.17)
You may have heard this common complaint against the message of the church and the ministry of Jesus: “People everywhere are happy and content until the preacher arrives. Then, if a man rejects Jesus, he is condemned. That’s not fair; people should not be judged simply for rejecting Jesus.” They imagine that Jesus came into the world to condemn.
But note well that this text insists that the exact opposite is true. How does such confusion arise when God so clearly insists that he sent his son to save, not to condemn?
The problems is caused by the prevailing assumption that humans are born morally neutral. People imagine that we start out neither good nor bad, and God keeps track of who is naughty and nice. Then those who do more nice than naughty are welcomed into heaven. Conspicuous virtue is the key to salvation; and in this system, Jesus’ role appears to be twofold: first, he is a motivator for doing more good things; and second, he condemns those who do not quite measure up. Nothing could be further from reality.
Look at verse 18 again: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already….” Why would anyone be “condemned already”? It is because we are born sinners. We are not naturally neutral. We begin life bent toward evil. God is not too far away, for he has sent his son to come near. But our aim is off. Our throws are in the wrong direction.
Yes, I guess you could say that God keeps track of who is naughty and nice – but all are naughty! “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Jesus need not come into the world to condemn it – we were condemned already. The Son has come to save!
Not the Jews alone, but everyone can know God and fellowship with him.
• Every guilty conscience can be cleansed
• Every bitter spirit can be healed
• Every angry heart can be calmed
• Every broken life can be restored
All in this life, and eternal joy and happiness in the next, because God has sent his Son to save the world through him. We support the church because she, as an institution, tells the world about so great a Savior.
3. Because of the Great Love of God, We Support the Church (John 3.16)
D. L. Moody was a famous Chicago preacher in the late 1800s. Early in his career, he had to attend some meetings at the same time a preacher from England happened to be visiting Chicago. The church agreed to let the young man preach for Moody, and Moody left town. When he returned on Friday, he asked his wife how Moorhouse had done.
Moody’s wife said, “Oh, he is a better preacher than you are. He is telling sinners that God loves them.”
“That is not right,” said Moody. “God does not love sinners.”
“Well,” she said, “you go and listen to him then. He has preached every night.”
“What do you mean?” said Moody. “He was supposed to preach Sunday. Do you mean to tell me he is still preaching at my church?”
“Yes, he has preached all week, and he has only used one verse for a text: John 3.16.”
Moody went that night and Moorhouse again use John 3.16 as his launching point. Afterwards, Moody said it was that night that he first understood the greatness of God’s love.
• God is the greatest lover: “God…loved”
• His love is of the greatest degree: “God so loved”
• His love is for people with the greatest need: “God so loved the world”
• God’s love inspired the greatest gift: “God so loved the world that he gave his only son”
• God’s love provides the greatest opportunity: “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him”
• God’s loves rescues from the greatest danger: “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish”
• God’s love secures the greatest possession: “God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
We support the work of the church because she, as an institution, proclaims the greatest love the world has ever known. God’s love is astonishing, not primarily because the world is so big, but because people are so bad. “One will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5.7-8).
The church has many failings, apparently caused by an infiltration of sinful and selfish people – like me. But there is a great need for her message of a great Savior sent by a God of great love. Is that not worthy of the best of our ability?
4. Conclusion (John 3.21)
The verse does not end as expected; the parallel is not maintained. Look at the first half of verse 20, “Whoever does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light.” That matches the first half of 21, “Whoever does what is true come to the light.” So far it makes sense. But look at the second halves of both verses. Verse 20 says that those who do wicked do not come to the light “lest his [wicked] deeds should be exposed.” We expect verse 21 to say that those who do what is true come to the light “so that his [good] deeds will be seen.”
But notice what 21 actually says: “so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”
Donald Carson writes: “While the lover of darkness shuns the light out of fear of exposure, shame and conviction, the lover of light does not prance forward to parade his wares with cocky self-righteousness, but comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. This strange expression makes it clear that the lover of light is not some intrinsically superior person. If he or she enjoys the light, it is because all that has been performed, for which there is no shame or conviction, has been done ‘through God,’ – i.e., in union with him, and therefore by his power…. The one follows his course because his deeds are evil; the other, not because he deeds are righteous, but because he longs to show that his deeds have been done through God.”
Whether this section of Scripture concludes the speech of Jesus to Nicodemus or contains the commentary of John, the sharpness of verse 21 must not be avoided. The message to Nicodemus is not, “Do good so God will accept you.” The message is “Quit thinking you are doing good, so that you can accept the goodness of Jesus as a gift of God’s love and grace.”
In Romans 3, Paul carefully explains why message of faith in Jesus is so offensive – there is now no place for boasting. Peace and fellowship with God in this life and the joy of a sinless paradise with God in eternity are not by birth and not by works – they are the gift of God’s grace received by faith in the birth and work of Jesus.
Believe and do not be condemned.
