City Life Starter

I. The Word: John 3:16-21 (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

By Stefan Johnsson

One of the most known verses of the Bible and one that sums up the gospel better than most is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…”

Many stops right there. Love is the essence of why God created us, so why should God punish anyone? Does He not love us all? God is Love, this is repeated many times in 1 John among other writings. We hang on this and we preach this to others as if this is…everything. We do not want to get complicated or deep into scripture to see the complexities. That requires reading scripture. We would rather create our own view of God.

Still, others feel that they could never be a Christian because all they ever here is condemnation by believers. Who would love a God that condemns us? Why are these Christians not preaching love, but hate? Many Christians would take the moral high ground over those that do not believe in order to make themselves believe they are better than others. The end result is not a preaching of the gospel, but a message of condemnation to people drowning and being unwilling to save them.

So that brings us to the main point. Both scenarios, both viewpoints, fail to understand the one important word that everything hinges on. God sent his Son to “save” the world. What do we need saving from? That is a question that begs an answer. If God is only love, there would be no reason for the cross or resurrection and no need for us to be saved. God would have just sent Jesus to “chill” with us and help us to live “righteous” lives.

Though our condemnation is evident as verse 18 says and the Holy Spirit comes to convict people of their sin. When this happens, we understand that sin is in our lives and we need to be saved. That’s when we start to realize our depravity as humans and that our pride has separated us from God. He wants us back, but we have to give up our own sinful ways, turn to Him and accept the blood sacrifice of His son on the cross that has paid our debt and set us free. This is what brings us joy and why we sing songs of praise to our glorious Savior and Lord.

I remember going to see “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” play last year. I wanted to see what this play was all about and was not surprised by the view of Christianity that they had. One quote from the play was as follows, “The synthesis of Love and Justice can produce only Mercy and Forgiveness, Your Honor! If a just God sits in Heaven, it can fall no other way!” and another, “The world tells me that God is in Heaven and that my son [Judas Iscariot] is in Hell. I tell the world the one true thing I know: If my son is in Hell, then there is no Heaven–because if my son sits in Hell, there is no God.” This play held the screenwriter’s view of God. Though, the definition of justice was not one that came from an understanding of what it truly means. Justice requires punishment. A just God has to punish sin. Though, a loving God will provide a way in which he can produce mercy and forgiveness. This was done through Jesus’ cleansing blood on the cross as God’s wrath fell on Jesus instead of us.