There is a story of two men who were on a plane together. They got to talking and one asked what the other did. The man replied that he was a minister. “Oh, I don’t go for all that God stuff, it’s for children, you know, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The minister didn’t know quite how to respond to this man so he asked the man what it was that he did. The man replied that he was an astronomer. “Isn’t that kind of childish,” the minister replied, “you know, twinkle, twinkle little star…”
There is another story about one of the great theologians of the 20th Century, Karl Barth. He was visiting New York for a conference and at the end of his talk he asked if anyone had any questions. He got a few questions about what he had been talking about, some theological questions that, quite frankly, were really boring. And then someone asked him what the greatest theological discovery he had made in all his years of studying the Bible was. He thought for a moment and responded that there was one truth that really had become real to him as he spent more and more time studying scripture and trying to know God better. And that truth was, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
A simple truth, one that it can be argued is for children. But one that has so much meaning and power to it that one of the great theologians of this last century claimed it as central to his whole understanding of theology. So today we are going to look at this simple truth that comes to us as a children’s song, Jesus loves you.
I. Back to the Basics
It’s interesting, but there are some parts of the Bible that are known much better than other parts. I can guarantee you that there are places in Numbers for example, or perhaps some of the prophets at the end of the Old Testament where the vast majority of us have never gone. But there are other parts that jump out and have become a part of our culture, they have become a part of the world of Christianity. The 23rd Psalm is one of these. “The Lord is my shepherd” There’s books out there that approach that psalm from a Christian, Muslim and Jewish perspective. There are books that approach it from an atheistic perspective, but they all look at how it helps us to work through difficult times. John 3:16 is another of these. Whether it’s written on a sign at the Superbowl or on a t-shirt walking down the street. John 3:16 is one of those scriptures that Christians have realized summarizes the Bible so very well. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” It’s such a great summary of the Christian message, for it tells us of God’s love, it tells us of what that love did for us, and it tells us how we are able to receive that love.
“God so loved the world.” We believe that this world is something that God created. And we believe that, though he is disappointed in some of the things that go on in this world, he loves it. Just like a parent can be disappointed in things that their children do and yet continue to love their children. So often, the disappointment is precisely because of the love. So we begin with the truth of the children’s song. Jesus loves me, God loves the world. This is the starting point of our faith. This changes everything. It changes the way that Christianity can be seen. It changes the way we view God.
We all have different views in our head about who God is and what God is like. For some reason, growing up, God always looked to me a lot like Charlton Heston’s version of Moses: an old man with a white beard who holds on to thunderbolts. The God I grew up imagining looked a lot like Zeus. For some reason, there was always anger or terror in this version of God. For some reason he was someone that I worried about, that I was afraid of. Maybe it was those lightning bolts that I pictured him throwing around. Others see God as a stern disciplinarian. Others see God as this happy-go-lucky guy who will let anything go. None of these characterizations are true to who God really is, though.
God does reveal himself to us throughout the Bible and we learn a few key things about him. We know that he has a bit of the disciplinarian in him. He has suggested certain things that people should do if they want to live good and healthy lives. He gave us the Ten Commandments. He set up rules for his people to live by. Again, I like to think of this as good parenting. Sometimes parents have to set down rules for their children that the children don’t understand at the time. When a parent tells a kid that they cannot play in the street it might feel to the child like the parent is just trying to put limits on the child, but in truth, the parent is thinking about the safety of the child. God’s rules and laws do much the same thing. Not only is adultery something bad and against God’s law, it is something that is bad for you. God also tells us in the Bible that he is a jealous God. He wants his people to follow him. God also tells us in the Bible that he is all powerful, but that he gives us control of our own lives. And again and again, he tells us that he loves us.
“that he gave his only begotten Son” Jesus came into this world for a reason. It wasn’t just a fluke, and Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher. Jesus tells us himself that he was the Son of God. And Jesus did things that only the Son of God could do. But again, Jesus being the Son of God and Jesus coming to this world is a sign of God’s love. Jesus was special. And his coming to this world, which we celebrate each and every Christmas, and his living in this world and teaching us how to live, and his dying for our sins and rising on the third day which we celebrate at Easter time, all were done out of love.
“that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” Here is the hope and the part where we come in. If we believe in Jesus, if we accept him as our Savior and Lord, then we shall not perish but have everlasting life. We’ve spent some time at this church talking about what it means to “believe in” Jesus. It’s important to realize that to believe in Jesus doesn’t just mean that we are to accept some facts as true. Instead, our actions and our faith are much more connected. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we discover that our lives are changed, we discover that we are not living for ourselves anymore but living for him. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. It means that we are to follow him and love him and submit to him.
II. Not to Condemn
John 3:17 continues by telling us that Jesus did not come into this world to condemn the world but to save it. This, I believe, is where a lot of people get mixed up. When people look at Christianity, they see a group that claims absolute truth. They see a group that claims to be on the inside, saved by God with everybody else around them condemned to hell. People think that by putting this choice of heaven and hell in front of them, whether to follow Christ or not, God is condemning them for who they are. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. And this is the thing that I believe non-Christians sometimes don’t get about Christians. When Christians tell you about the need to repent and turn to God, it’s not out of spite, it is because they love you, it is because they are following the God who loves you and wants you to be saved.
Billy Graham puts it this way: “No matter how bad you are, how evil you are, or how sinful you are God loves you. God is crying out to your soul and heart. "I love you. I love you. I love you." What is your response to the love of God? Will you say no and laugh in the face of God? Will you refuse God's love and spit into his face? Or will you say yes to God, yes to Jesus, and yes to the Holy Spirit? Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Trust Jesus to save you and let him be the boss of your life. What will it be? The decision is yours! Are you on the side of God or are you his enemy?”
III. What God Offers
Let’s go back to the beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. When God looked at the world that he created, he spoke out and said that it was good. God created this world, God created people to be good. He created us all to live in relationship with him and with each other. But God didn’t want robots who followed him because they had no other choice, he needed to give us free will, so that we could choose whether to follow him or not. And he did that very thing. And humanity discovered sin, we discovered unfaithfulness, we discovered selfishness, and we discovered the things that go along with this like pain and death. And we can see throughout history and even in our own lives that these things have a control that sometimes seems overwhelming. We condemn ourselves by living lives of selfishness, by refusing to love our neighbors, by letting pride and fear rule our lives. When these things are in control in our lives, our relationship with God is hurt. There is a divide between us and him that these things cause. And the fact is that we cannot cross that divide. But God, in his wisdom and in his love, sent his Son to cross that divide and show us that we don’t need to let pride and selfishness and fear rule our lives. Instead we can follow him. Instead we can live again as his children and have that good relationship that he created us for. Instead we can allow him into our lives to change our lives. But these things, pride, selfishness, sin, they have power over us, they have a hold on our lives that they aren’t ready to give up. And so there needed to be a sacrifice to conquer that power that sin has over us. So God himself offered the sacrifice, in the death of his own Son. And because of this, the condemnation can end. Because of this, the death and resurrection of Jesus, not only can our sins be forgiven, but their power over us is gone.
This is the freedom that God offers. This is the power that God has. This is the love that God shows. We all have sins, we all have things that have power over us, even today. We all have problems that we cannot work our way out of. Don’t be ashamed of this, for you aren’t the only one like this.
Instead, give God power over the things that have power over you. Let him work his healing and his love in your life.
God created you to live in a special relationship with him. He created you to have a special purpose, a special meaning to your life. He created each of us for this. You don’t need to work yourself to a certain point before he will have anything to do with you. Give him control. Allow him in. He will fill you, he will make the changes he needs with you. You don’t need to get to a certain point before he will say yes to you. He’s saying yes to you right now. He loves you.
It is truly that simple. Accept Jesus, allow him into your life, and you will find salvation, not only from hell, but from the sins and trials that plague you here on earth. God is offering this to you out of love. He is offering this to you because he wants you to live a better life, because he wants you to know the joy that his love brings.
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