John 3:16-21 Love Came Down At Christmas

Rev. David Holwick ZO Christmas Cantata

First Baptist Church Sermon at 8:30 only

Ledgewood, New Jersey

December 13, 2015

John 3:16-21

LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS

I. A verse even non-believers know.

A. Like many, Tim Tebow said it was his favorite Bible verse.

Early in his career he famously wore John 3:16 on his eye black

paint.

In a 2012 playoff game against the Steelers, Tebow led the

Broncos to a spectacular victory in overtime.

In this game, Tebow passed for 316 yards.

His average yards per completed pass was 31.6

CBS, who broadcasted the game nationally, had a peak audience

rating of 31.6

It came to be called the "3:16 Game." [1]

B. Something even more remarkable about the verse.

1) In 33 years of preaching, I have never done a sermon on

this passage.

2) I have preached on verses before it, and after it, but

never right on it.

a) Perhaps it was just too obvious.

b) And think about this - the second service people will

miss it! They have a cantata instead.

C. The verse is famous because it puts the Bible in a nutshell.

1) It is positive.

2) It includes God and people, love and faith.

3) Don't just memorize it -- understand it.

II. Love is at the center of God's being.

A. God loves the entire world, people like us and unlike us.

1) It is not limited to some ethnic or racial or social groups.

2) We do tend to think that believers are pretty much like us,

but many are quite different. God loves everybody.

B. What is God's love like?

1) It is epitomized by a gift.

a) We tend to evaluate gifts by their value.

1> Engagement rings should not be made with glass,

but diamonds.

2> I gave Celeste a ring that had a high rating.

Years later, it popped out and she vacuumed it.

She immediately realized it and dug through the

vacuum bag until she found it. We had it reset.

The next year, she did it again.

This time we didn't find it.

Now she has a glass ring from Walmart. Seriously.

b) God is not as cheap as me.

1> He "so loved" - not ordinary love, but one that is

defined by the sacrifice of his one and only Son.

2> The costliest Christmas gift is not the gold,

frankincense and myrrh, but Jesus himself.

2) God's love is incarnational.

a) This is a big theological word that means he took on

a body.

b) It is what happened Christmas morning -- actually,

it was obvious that morning but really took place

9 months previously, at the annunciation.

c) It was important for Jesus to be like us.

Plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz tells the story of a man

who'd been severely injured while attempting to rescue

his parents from a fire.

His heroic efforts proved to be in vain, though.

His mom and dad died in the burning house.

During his rescue attempt the fire had scorched his face

and disfigured it.

He was so ashamed of his appearance after that he refused

to allow anyone - including his wife - to see his face.

For help, she went to Dr. Maltz.

"Not to worry," he assured her, "I can restore his face."

Despite the good news, the wife still felt disheartened.

Her husband had always refused any medical treatment.

Assuming he wouldn't change his mind, she said to Maltz,

"I want you to disfigure my face so I can be like him!

If I can share in his pain, then maybe he will let me back

into his life."

Maltz tried to mask his horror at the request and refused

to perform the operation.

But he was so moved by this woman's love for her husband

that he went to visit the man.

Through a closed door, Maltz yelled, "I'm a plastic surgeon.

I want you to know that I can restore your face."

There was no reply.

"Please, won't you come out? At least let me see your face.

At least talk to me."

Silence.

Still speaking through a door, Maltz told the man of what

his wife wanted to do.

"She wants me to mutilate her face in order to make her

face like yours.

She hopes that you will then let her back into your life.

That's how much she loves you."

Ever so slowly the doorknob turned....

#33388

1> Jesus ended up mutilated, out of his love for us.

2> No matter what scars you have, he understands --

he has been there.

III. God's love calls us to believe.

A. We have to respond to what he has done.

1) It is offered to everyone -- "whoever."

2) Many choose not to believe, which is their right.

a) But there will be consequences -- condemnation.

b) That may not sound very loving, but real love has to

include a choice.

B. Our belief must be in Jesus.

1) We are not called to believe in God's existence, or

in a generalized spirituality.

2) God calls us to believe in his Son.

a) We acknowledge that he died for us.

b) We acknowledge that we should put him in charge of

our life, and obey him every day.

C. We must believe even when it is hard.

1) True love often contains a test.

A few years ago Nayel Ashkar, a New Yorker, won $5 million

with a scratch-off lottery ticket.

He waited five years to collect his winnings from the state.

He did so just twelve days before the lottery ticket would

pass its expiration date and became worthless.

Why did he wait five years?

Because he wanted to take as much time as possible to make

sure his fianc�e really loved him for who he was, not

what he had.

Sara evidently passed the love test because he married her.

She didn't even know she was being tested.

Upon learning of her husband's hidden fortune she said:

"It's crazy. Hard to believe. It's still sinking in."

#63781

2) Do you really love God?

The sincerity of your love for the One who first loved you

is tested daily.

God has the riches to answer your every prayer and to fix

your every woe.

But the experience of every single Christian proves that

God often does not intervene.

How are you doing with God's test?

Do you love Him even though, for a time, he withholds

his great wealth from you? #63781

IV. Why do we doubt God's love?

A. It can be hard to square it with our experiences in life.

1) We don't like some of the things he sends us.

When New York pastor Timothy Keller was diagnosed with

cancer, the question "Why me?" was a natural one.

Later, when he survived but others with the same kind of

cancer died, he also had to ask, "Why me?"

Keller knows that suffering and death seem random, senseless.

The shootings in Paris and the shootings in San Bernardino

were meticulously planned, but the victims were random.

They just happened to be there.

The question "Why did God let this happen?" is asked by

most of us at one time or another.

You have also heard the possible answers.

Each is wrong, or at least inadequate.

The first answer is "I guess this proves there is no God."

But the problem of senseless suffering does not go away if

you abandon belief in God.

A better answer to suffering says that God is all-powerful

and knows what he's doing, so be quiet and trust him.

This is partly right, but inadequate.

It is inadequate because it is cold and because the Bible

gives us more with which to face the terrors of life.

God did not create a world with death and evil in it.

It is the result of humankind turning away from him.

We were put into this world to live totally for him, and

instead we began to live for ourselves.

So everything began to fall apart -- physically, socially

and spiritually.

#63669

2) The divine insight.

But God did not abandon us.

Only Christianity of all the world's major religions

teaches that God came to Earth in Jesus Christ and

became subject to suffering and death himself.

Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment our sins

deserved.

This way he can return to Earth to end all suffering

without having to end us.

We don't know the reason God allows evil and suffering to

continue, or why it is so random.

But now at least we know what the reason isn't, what the

answer can't be.

It can't be that he doesn't love us.

It can't be that he doesn't care.

God is so committed to our ultimate happiness that he was

willing to plunge into the greatest depths of suffering

himself.

Someone might say, "But that's only half an answer to the

question 'Why?'"

Yes, but it is the half that we need.

If God actually explained all the reasons why he allows

things to happen as they do, it would be too much for

our finite brains to handle.

#63669

B. God's love is steady.

1) Our circumstances may seem dicey but God is constant.

The Victorian British Baptist Charles Spurgeon told the

story of a preacher who was walking in the countryside.

He stopped by a farm house for a drink of water.

The old farmer who lived there went out to talk to the

preacher as he drank.

As they were talking, the preacher noticed that the barn

had a weather vane on it that was spinning around in

the wind.

On the weather vane the words "GOD IS LOVE" was engraved.

The preacher said to the man, "I don't think that is a

very good way to talk about God's love.

Are you saying that God's love is wishy-washy and changes

depending on the way the wind blows?"

"No, no" said the farmer.

"That weather vane is saying, "No matter which way the wind

blows, God is Love."

#30704

2) Do you see God's love in the circumstances of your own life?

3) Perhaps you are the one who is wishy-washy and he is trying

to bring you back to the right path.

V. God's love calls you to the light.

A. His love is a moral love.

1) It is not just a feeling in your heart, but obedience

in your soul.

a) You are doing more than just accepting something as

being true.

b) You are saying I believe it is true, so I will mold

my life around it.

c) "Easy-believism" is popular in America - make a

decision, pray a prayer.

1> It is popular, but wrong.

2> Belief in Jesus means making yourself a disciple.

2) The actions in your life - not just past actions, but what

you are doing right now - show whether you are attracted

to God's light, or not.

a) Many people actually prefer the darkness.

b) They would rather have their sin, than salvation.

c) That is their choice...

B. Light is dangerous. It exposes things.

1) Investigations of New York politicians.

Sheldon Silver is the most recent and dramatic sinner.

He has been convicted gaining millions of dollars by

political corruption.

But he is not alone -- investigative reporters note that

one third of the New York assembly has had to get

themselves defense attorneys.

2) What would God's light expose in you?

a) Repent now.

b) Turn to the light.

c) Surrender to God's love for you.

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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:

1. “The Eerie Statistics of Tim Tebow,” by TruthLamp Editorial Staff,

September 8, 2015; <link>.

#30704 “No Matter Which Way the Wind Blows,” contributed by Larry Jacobs,

March 6, 2006; <www.sermoncentral.com, newsletter>.

#33388 “She Offered To Take His Disfigurement,” by Rev. Karl Haffner,

<http://www.gleaneronline.org/>; original source is Maxie

Dunnam, This is Christianity (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994),

pp. 60-61.

#63669 “The Danger of Asking God ‘Why Me?’,” by Timothy Keller, Special

To CNN, August 4, 2012; <link>.

#63781 “The Love Test,” by Stephen Kingsley, October 25, 2012;

Illustration Exchange; <www.IllustrationExchange.com>.

Original source is Opposing Views, October 18, 2012.

These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be

downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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