I once read that the printing press was one of the greatest inventions ever. Up until that time, all books were painstakingly printed by hand - which made books very rare and very hard to find. But the Printing press changed all of that. Information was suddenly made available to 1000s of people. And (pause) one of the most significant accomplishments of the printing press was that it allowed people to have their own copies of Scripture.
That was a major focus of Martin Luther. He employed numerous print shops in Germany to create Bibles in the language of common men so that people could read God’s Word for themselves.
The story is told of one of the print shops that Luther used for that very purpose. During one of the printings, one of the Bibles had been ripped and a scrap of paper from that Bible ended up on the shop floor where it was found by the daughter of the owner. And on that scrap of paper… were these words, “For God so loved that He gave...” The rest of the verse was missing, but that simple phrase moved her, and the rest of the day she went around with a smile on her face. Her mother noticed … and asked what had made her so happy? The girl pulled the crumpled paper from her pocket and showed it to her mother. The mother read it and asked, "What did He give?" And the girl replied “I don’t know, but if God loved us enough to give us anything He must love us deeply.”
John 3:16 is perhaps one of the most beloved verses of the Bible. You’ll see it displayed on billboards, on bumper stickers, on paintings and statues. And you’ll see it a lot at sporting events (my apologies to those who believe Soccer is the only real game of “football”). But we Americans had a football player who had this verse printed beneath his eyes.
(PAUSE) “For God so loved the world that gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Preachers love that verse. In fact, on sermoncentral there are 1000s of sermons (where I post all of my sermons) dedicated to that one verse alone. There’s even one preacher who claimed that he could preach every Sunday for the rest of his life simply on John 3:16. But what’s so special about that verse? Why should so many people love that one verse in Scripture.
Well, there’s several reasons. 1st – it’s simple. Even the smallest child can understand the idea that God loves them. There’s a favorite Christian song that’s been translated into numerous language that we’re going to sing together now. I’ll lead you in singing the first verse… and then our Spanish translator will lead the Hispanic audience in singing that verse… and then our Creole translator will lead the folks from Haiti in that verse. THEN we’ll sing the chorus together. (This is our Unity Sunday where those 3 languages gather to worship God together)
1ST VERSE: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong” (then Spanish/ then Creole) ALL TOGETHER ON CHORUS: Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so!” (Chorus is NOT sung until AFTER the 1st verse is sung in each language)
That song has been so popular that it’s translated into several languages, including Spanish and Creole. And that simple song illustrates the power of ONE simple idea: “Jesus loves me!” That’s what that young girl in the print shop understood when she said “If God loves us enough to give us anything He must love us deeply.” That’s such a simple message that it speaks to everyone in every language: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” And it’s that message that gives us our UNITY as believers.
It doesn’t matter where we were born, what language we speak, or what we look like, or whether we’re male or female. WE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST
And it doesn’t matter what we’ve done with our lives before we became Christians. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that WHOSOEVER believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
There are people who struggle with that “whosoever” thing. There are people who believe that only “good people”, the only righteous people who are going to make it into heaven. And, of course, these folks think they are righteous enough to make it.
Jesus told a parable about a man like that. (Luke 18:9-14) There were 2 men that came to the temple to pray. One man was a sinner (tax collector)… the other was a Pharisee. And the Pharisee listed why HE was righteous/good man: ‘I fast twice a week; I give You a 10th of all that I get… and I’m not like THAT man over there. But THAT MAN (the sinful man) stood before God and beat on his breast and he said ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ And Jesus said “I tell you, that sinful man went home justified, because HE wasn’t like that Pharisee.
God had mercy on a sinful man… the tax collector. He showed love to a person who didn’t deserve it. Paul wrote a letter to a church like that… and this is what he told the Christians there “You were dead in the trespasses and sins… (You) lived in the passions of (your) flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1 & 3
In other words… THEY (just like you and me) didn’t deserve God’s love. We didn’t deserve His love because we’ve all been children of wrath – God had a right to be angry with us. We were filled with sin; We had fell short of God’s morality; We didn’t deserve for God to even look our way; BUT HE DID!
And Paul continues: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5) GOD SAVED US… not because we were righteous; not because we deserved it. No, He saved us because He loved us. He loved us with a GREAT LOVE. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”
He sent His Son to die on a cross to pay the price for our sins. Jesus was mocked, and beaten, and whipped and He had nails driven into His hands and feet. His cross was lifted up, and then He shuddered as it was dropped into place. For 6 long and miserable hours Jesus hung between heaven & hell and suffered unimaginable pain & agony. WHY WOULD HE DO THAT? Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
ILLUS: There’s an old poem that says it this way: "Jesus paid the debt He did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay; I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song, "Amazing grace" because Jesus paid the debt I could not pay."
Someone once dreamed a dream, where he saw Jesus. And He asked Jesus if He loved him. And in the dream… he saw Jesus stretch out His arms on the cross and said “I LOVED YOU… THIS MUCH.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
But why would God do that for folks who were such losers? We’ve been called “Children of wrath”! Why would God send His only begotten Son to die for people who basically didn’t deserve His love? A people who – if other folks knew what you and I have said or done or thought… they’d know you and I were really kind of worthless. In fact, there are people who really think that way about themselves. They think they have NO WORTH. They know what kind of lives they’ve lived and they can’t hardly stand themselves; so how could God possibly care what happens to them? They see themselves as having no worth.
My daddy used to say – something is worth whatever somebody else is willing to pay for it.
For example: how much would you pay for a used toothbrush? Personally, I wouldn’t give you a plug-nickel for a toothbrush like that! I tend to want buy my toothbrushes brand new (and still in package). But would you believe that someone actually paid $21,000 for a used toothbrush? Why on earth would they pay that much? Well, they paid that much because of who it belonged to. That particular toothbrush once belonged to a man named… Napoleon Bonaparte. It was only a USED toothbrush but it was worth $21,000 because that’s how much someone was willing to pay for it.
ILLUS: Back in 2009, a show called Pawn Stars that debuted on the History Channel. It’s been so popular that it’s run now for 23 seasons. It’s a reality show filmed in a pawnshop in Las Vegas, NV and each show had someone bringing in rare coins, guns, or books. Many of these people would walk up to the counter wanted $1000s - even millions - of dollars for their items. The Pawn Shop owner (usually a guy named Rick) would look the item over and would usually admit that he had no clue what the item was worth, and so he’d ask permission to bring in an expert who knew these things. So, the expert would come in and spend a few minutes explaining the history and background of the gun, or the book or the coin; and when that expert was all done, Rick would pause and ask him:
So, what is it worth?” and the expert might say $35,000. Then Rick will turn to the seller and “How much do YOU want for this?” They’d sometimes reply “Well, you heard the expert say it was worth $35,000… so that’s what I want - $35,000.” And Rick will reply “It’s not worth $35,000 to me. I have to make a profit. I can give you $25,000 for it… but that’s the highest I can go.”
What was Rick saying was this: the object was only worth so much to him. It might be worth more to someone else… but not to him. The object was only worth so much, because that was all HE was willing to pay for it.
Now, here’s my point: What are YOU worth? Are you worth SOMETHING… or are you worth NOTHING? Like I said before, there are folks who don’t think they’re worth much at all. They know what they’ve done and thought and said - and they often despise themselves. They hate who they are, and they think God hates them too! They don’t think they’re worth very much at all.
BUT I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU’RE WORTH! I don’t care what you THINK you’re worth - I KNOW how much you’re worth; because I know how much God was willing to pay for you. God so loved YOU that He gave His only begotten Son. You were so valuable to God… that He gave the most valuable thing He could. He gave His only begotten Son so that He could “buy” you and I … and we could then belong to Him.
Whether you know it or not – you’re worth what God was willing to pay for you and He was willing to pay… with blood. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20). You have been redeemed. GOD paid for you with the precious blood of Jesus - Jesus (who was God in the flesh) died for you so that you could live for Him.
INVITATION
