God’s Love for the World March 10th, 2024
Gracious God, open our minds to understanding, teach our hearts to love, and strengthen our wills to carry out the mission of your Word. Amen.
After passing through the cold and the darkness and the snow of another winter it can become quite easy to feel distant from the love of God. A lot of us may be feeling weary and discouraged by the trials and tribulations of this world. You may be wondering where God is in the midst of your suffering and pain. You may be longing for a sign of his presence and his care during these times. You may be feeling like you are walking in a valley of shadows, without hope or joy.
But I want to remind you today that God has not forgotten you. He has not abandoned you. He has not left you alone. He is with you always, even when you do not see him or feel him. He is working in your life, even when you do not understand his ways or his plans. He is still loving you, even when you do not love yourself or others.
And how do we know this? Because God has shown us his love in the most amazing and wonderful way. He has sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and to rise again for our salvation. He has given us his Holy Spirit, to comfort us and to guide us. God has given us his Word, in the Bible, to teach us and to inspire us. He has given us his Church, to support us and to encourage us. He has given us this world and our family and friends for our enjoyment and fellowship.
And our Gospel reading today is well chosen to highlight the gift of God’s love, and not just for us, but for his whole world. Contained in it is probably the best known passage of the Bible, one that appears almost everywhere you look, “‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’” In those words, lies the heart of the Christian message. God loves us so much that he does not want us to be separated from him by our sins. He wants us to have a relationship with him that lasts forever. He wants us to share in his own life and glory. That is why he sent his Son, who is one with him, to become one of us, to live among us, to teach us, to heal us, and ultimately, to die for us.
Our reading this morning came from the third chapter of the Gospel of John, which began with these words, “Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’” (John 3:1-2) The Pharisees were one of the most conservative sects of the Jewish faith and were known for strictly following the Old Testament Laws. This Nicodemus was interested in the teachings of Jesus, but he didn’t want his fellow Pharisees to know this as they were strongly opposed to Jesus and his message. That’s why he came and spoke with Jesus under the cover of darkness.
During their conversation Jesus told him that in order to have eternal life with God he must come to believe that he, Jesus, was the Son of God and that he had come to earth as a man to offer himself as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of mankind. Jesus then used a quote from the Old Testament as an example of how he was going to be sacrificed by being lifted up on a cross. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “‘And just 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.’”
This is a quote from the Old Testament book of Numbers and refers to an incident during the time when the Israelites were in the desert after having escaped captivity in Egypt. They had been freed from slavery, but they were not yet in the promised land. They had to endure many hardships and challenges along the way. And they became impatient and grumbled against God and Moses. They said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food."
And that wasn’t the first time they had grumbled against God. Not long after they had escaped from slavery in Egypt and were out in the desert, they became discouraged and said to themselves, “‘…If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.’” (Numbers 11:4-5) How quickly they forgot that they were living as slaves in Egypt, being worked to death by their Egyptian overlords!
When the Lord heard their grumbling, he knew he had to correct their behaviour and so we’re told, “Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.” This is what happened next, “The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.’ So, Moses prayed for the people.” The people realized their sin and asked Moses to pray for them. Moses did so, and the Lord instructed him to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. Anyone who was bitten by a serpent could look at the bronze serpent and live. Despite how quickly they had forgotten that he had freed them from captivity in Egypt and had given them water to drink and manna to eat during their time in the desert, God forgave the Israelites. This is a perfect example of God’s enduring love for his people.
And an even more powerful example of God’s love for all of us is shown in him sending his only begotten Son to die on a cross for our sins. God's love is demonstrated in the most amazing way through the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus came to this world not to condemn us, but to save us. He took our sins upon himself and died on the cross as our substitute. He rose again from the dead and offers us eternal life through faith in him.
God's love for the world is the most profound and powerful reality that we can ever encounter. God's love is not based on our merit, our performance, or our condition. God's love is unconditional, unchanging, and everlasting. He invites us to receive his love by faith and to enter into a personal relationship with him. He promises to never leave us nor forsake us, to guide us and protect us, to comfort us and heal us, to forgive us and transform us.
God calls us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. He calls on us to share his love with others and to make disciples of all nations. He assures us that nothing can separate us from his love, and that one day we will see him face to face in glory. God's love for the world is the greatest news that we can ever hear and the greatest gift that we can ever receive.
So, what can we learn from the story of Moses and the poisonous snakes? First, we can see how easy it is to forget God's grace and mercy when we face difficulties and trials. The Israelites had witnessed God's acts of deliverance when they had escaped from slavery in Egypt, but they still doubted his goodness and faithfulness. They focused on their problems rather than on God's promises. They blamed God for their situation rather than trusting him to lead them to their destination.
Have you ever grumbled against God about your circumstances? Maybe right now you aren’t happy about some difficult things in your life. Perhaps you’re facing overwhelming financial problems. Maybe you’re battling a health problem that grates on you every day. But even though you have turned away from God, God has not turned away from you. God forgives. God still loves you. God is still reaching out to you as he reached out to the whole world in Jesus Christ.
So let us not lose heart. Let us not grow weary in doing good. Let us not give up on God or on ourselves. Let us remember that after every winter comes a spring, after every night comes a day, after every cross comes a resurrection. Let us trust that God is with us always, and that nothing can separate us from his love.
Let us pray that we may always choose the light over the darkness, that we may always believe in Jesus, the Son of God, who was lifted up for us, that we may always receive his love and share it with others, that we may always live in him and have eternal life. Amen.
Let us Pray:
Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the gift of your presence in our lives. You are the source of all goodness, mercy, and grace. You have shown us your love in countless ways, through your creation, your revelation, and your salvation. You have loved us even when we were unlovable, and you have forgiven us even when we were unworthy. Help us to accept your love for us, and to share it with others. Help us to trust in your promises, and to live in your peace. Help us to grow in your likeness, and to glorify you in all that we do. Amen.