Preached at Easton Church of the Brethren on October 22nd, 2023.
Noticing the Simple Wonders
This weekend, I had the opportunity to join a birding group at Camp Mardela. We went to many different locations on the Eastern Shore, and it was the first time I got to spend extended time with such avid birders, and it was amazing to see people who were experts listening with such quiet intent, and identifying birds with such excitement.
What struck me most about these birders was their ability to be still and notice every little thing around them. There were times we arrived at locations and I thought “Well there’s nothing to see here!” and after a few minutes, they had found 10 different species! And even beyond that, they were so excited about everything they heard and saw, even if it was common. They found joy in every robin and ruddy turnstone. To them, even the simple, small things are worth seeing and taking delight in.
There is a time and a place to seek out the ruddy turnstone and appreciate its rare beauty, but more often, we need to learn to see the beauty that is ever present around us. This is true in our spiritual life as well. Sometimes we get bored of hearing the same songs and the same scriptures, and want something more. But sometimes what we need the most is what’s been right in front of us all along. Like the birders, we need to take delight in the simple things as well, recognizing that all are gifts from God.
What is the gospel?
Many of us have grown up hearing the word “gospel” thrown around. If you grew up in a Christian context, this word is like the robin. You hear about it so much you almost get sick of it. But even though this seems so common and basic, it is the most important aspect of our faith. John 3:16 is one of the most commonly quoted scriptures, and is usually the first Bible verse we memorize, but in seeking the rarer beauties of God, we sometimes overlook the simple beauty of this Bible verse.
So let’s take a look at John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If you have grown up in a Christian context, you for the most part understand the implications of this verse. But let’s say I have 0 context for Judeo-Christian religions, and I hear this. I have a few questions. First of all, who is God, and why does He love the world? Who is His only Son? What does it mean to believe in this son guy? Why are we perishing? How and why do we get everlasting life? We may forget that although this seems simple to us, some people have never seen a robin. This simple sentence summarizes the key points of our faith - God’s character, His plan for salvation, and how that relates to us personally - aka, the gospel. So let’s look deeper at this simple beauty, and see the many things that make this 1 sentence such a compelling statement of faith.
“For God so loved the world”
The first question this verse begs is “Who is God?” In just a few words, this phrase points to 3 key attributes of God that are indivisible from one another within God’s eternal character:
God is Holy
God loves the WHOLE WORLD. This means that God must be bigger than the world to love it in its entirety. This also shows God’s relationship to the whole world as its creator. He has a unique relationship with creation - active in it, yet separate from it. The simplest definition of holy is “set apart”. Things, people, and spiritual beings that are “holy” are set aside from ordinary, day-to-day things, and exclusively used for a greater purpose. God is “set-apart” to the n-th degree. The most holy and set-apart being we could possibly imagine as the creator of the universe.
God is Just
Justice in its simplest definition is “fairness”. God, in his dealings with humanity, is always fair. One way I believe God enacts His justice is my making covenants with His people. We are never in the dark about what God’s promises to us. However God, who knows all of our hearts, knows that we don’t get it right all the time. It would not be fair for God to enact swift and uncompromising justice on imperfect human beings who have to learn through making mistakes. This opening phrase indicates that God is about to make a new covenant with humanity, and reveal His intent in doing so. Only a fair and faithful God would take the time to explain Himself to us so that we can worship Him, fully aware of His will in our lives and for all the world.
God is Love
Perhaps most obvious in this phrase is the use of the word “love”. Jesus is establishing that God is greater and set-apart from the world, that He plans to make a new covenant with humanity, and He wants to do this ultimately because of His love for us. The magnitude of God’s love is amplified when we fully understand His holiness and justice that exist within His divine love. It is not simply an emotion. It is active, it is ever-present, it is eternal, and it is the source of all hope in the world. This love has the power to transform lives for infinite generations, and change the world, as this opening phrase is preparing us to hear how radical that transformation is going to be.
The second question brought up from this phrase is “Why does God love the world?” and this question can be answered by understanding these 3 indivisible characteristics of God that are. Quite simply
As the creator, God loves His creation, like a parent loves their children
In fairness, God sees that there is injustice in the suffering of His people and His creation
In compassion, God activates His love to alleviate the suffering of His creation
This shows that God is not distant or impartial towards creation or humanity. He is active throughout history, brings justice to those who need it out of love for every living creature on the earth. The fact that out of His love He would do anything at all to interact with His creation is a unique characteristic of our God, and should give us hope among worldviews that do not see God as love in essence and in action.
“That He gave His only Son”
Then as we look at the second portion of this verse, we are faced with a glaring question that we may take for granted reading this out of context - “Who is God’s Son”? Here’s where the Bible Study answer would be correct… JESUS! But this phrase gives us key insights on the relationship of Jesus to God and to humanity:
Gave
What does it mean that Jesus was given? You give gifts, support, advice, help, etc. Jesus being given shows that God gave Him as a good gift to humanity. This also implies a sacrifice is being made. Something is rarely given without some kind of personal cost. While this simple word “gave” is vague, we can understand that this is describing Jesus sacrificing His life on the cross. In Leviticus, animal sacrifices cover the sins of those who offer them. It is through this act of trust and humility that people’s sins were forgiven. God gave Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice, and in the same way Jesus’s blood covers our sins. But unlike a blameless goat or ram, He is the Son of God, and there is no sacrifice that is more perfect than Him.
Only
The fact that Jesus is God’s “only Son” shows that this act was unique - it has never happened before, and will never happen again in this way. This sacrifice was perfect, and does not need to be done again - only once. A unique feature of the Son of God is that He is fully man and fully God. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was fully man and fully God from inception to death. But because Jesus was also fully man, this means that His existence is historically verifiable. The truth of the gospel stands and falls on the historicity of the events of Jesus’s life - particularly His death and resurrection. While it is very difficult to prove the historicity in miracles, these facts remain virtually undisputed - Jesus was a real person, many claimed He did miracles, He was crucified, His tomb was found empty. These are the facts that the gospel depends on.
“That whoever believes in Him”
So far we have established that:
God is holy, just, and loving, and desires to treat humanity with compassion by making a new covenant. He does this by giving Jesus - fully God & fully man, a real, historically verifiable person - as the ultimate sacrifice to cover the sins of humanity.
Now that we have established these facts, we can begin to address the question of this phrase - “What does it mean to believe in Him?”
Knowledge
The beginning of faith is knowledge. Jesus is not asking for a blind faith here. He is asking us to look at the character of God and the testimony of His life and decide if this is enough for us to place saving trust in Him. We cannot fully put our trust in Him if we don’t know exactly why He is worthy of our trust. Then from there, we put our faith in Jesus by trusting that these facts point to a greater spiritual truth that God’s love for us is infinite, yet personal.
Faith
This also shows a very important characteristic of Christianity - salvation is through faith, NOT works. We can never do enough good on our own to earn salvation. Jesus gave us a way out of shallow legalism, and into a relationship with Him based on love and trust, and not a list of things to do. And the most amazing thing is that this invitation is open to anyone, and it is an individual choice. It is a personal decision - an act of free-will - a gift that God Himself gave us as an extension of His love for us.
“Should not perish, but have eternal life”
This final phrase extends into the afterlife - something we have a very hard time conceiving and understanding. Our initial question here would be “Why are we perishing, and why do we need to be rescued from it?” The answer to this goes all the way back to the beginning in Genesis.
The fall
The ultimate lesson from Genesis 3 is that the original sin of man was pride, displayed in their desire to seek knowledge by their own means apart from God. This is the root of sin and what separates us from God. As a result of this fall, we all have a natural tendency to want to be our own moral authority, and not want to trust God with our lives. Because of this pride, apart from God, we will perish, because we will never be able to reach God by building our own ladder to heaven. We have to trust God is the source of wisdom and hope, not ourselves. Apart from God, our plans will always fall short of His perfection, and therefore, we perish by our own means.
Of course, the flipside is eternal life. But “What is eternal life, and why do I want it?”.
Hope & Heaven
Eternal life gives us the hope that there is more beyond this life. We can trust that there is more that exists beyond this material world, and that the faithful we have lost in death are not gone forever. This hope is also a unique feature of Christianity.
But what exactly is eternal? The little we know is that it is called “heaven” - it will be beautiful, full of light and worship in the eternal presence of God. There will be no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow, just endless joy and eternal paradise. This is why worship is such a powerful force in the church - it is the only spiritual gifts that gives us a glimpse into the glory of heaven.
Why is the gospel important?
So this morning we have disseminated the following from John 3:16 -
God is holy, just, and loving, and desires to treat humanity with compassion by making a new covenant. He does this by giving Jesus - fully God & fully man, a real, historically verifiable person - as the ultimate sacrifice to cover the sins of humanity. He covers our sins not because of our good works, but through grace, extended to us when we believe and put our trust in Him - an invitation that is open to anyone who chooses to accept it. This invitation bridges the gap between our natural tendency towards prideful rebellion against God - a result of the fall - that leads to eternal perishing, and supernatural trust in the creator God - a result of the transformative power of God’s love for us - that leads to eternal life.
All of these eternal truths are folded into each word of John 3:16, and Jesus in His divine wisdom, was able to consolidate all of these things into such simple terms to help us understand the simplicity yet grandeur of His eternal promise to us. This is the beauty of the gospel, and the centerpiece of our faith.
But there are still many people who have never heard the gospel, or worse - have heard it, but rejected it because the lives and actions of Christians did not match the eternal love of God that they preach. What we need to realize is that so many people in the world are working their tails off to be good people and earn the divine favor of other deities, or the earthly favor or peers and authorities, and they don’t have to work that hard. The love of God is ever present in all of our lives, we just have to pay attention to it, and once we see the love of God surrounding us, we can find peace in knowing that we don’t have to work and toil in vain, but that the work of salvation was completed in Jesus, and we simply have to accept it. In order to show people this good news, we must make our lives a testimony to the love of God. And just like the love of God, this love is not simply an emotion, but it is active. We show our faith by serving others in love. We share our faith by not being shy about the transforming hope of Jesus in our lives. We display our faith by singing, dancing, and praying , showing that God’s love brings overwhelming joy, and He is worthy of our devotion. Doing these things helps people to see the divine grace of God surrounding them, and giving them an invitation to join in the song. We can’t always wait for people to notice the robins. Sometimes, by us taking time to notice, share, and take joy in the robin, we help someone else to see the beauty all around them as well.
Don’t take the simplicity of the gospel for granted. Notice the beauty of God’s divine will in our lives. This week, let the robin be our reminder to remember the gospel, and share it with others through our words, actions, and worship.