Easter Special: For God so loved the world...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

These are probably some of the most famous words in the Bible.  This Easter Sunday, I want to reflect on this beautiful truth.

For God so loved the world…

God loves you and he loves me.  He has loved us from the beginning (Ephesians 1:4).  He saw all that was created and declared it very good (Genesis 1:31).  The one who set the stars in the sky (Genesis 1:16), we can call Father (1 John 3:1).  But this love is more than we can imagine.  We get to catch a tiny glimpse of what love looks like in our human relationships, but it is but a tiny fraction of the love of a God who is immeasurable in time, power and wisdom (e.g. Isaiah 40:12-14) and yet who is love itself (1 John 4:8,16).

…that he gave his only son…

We don’t have to look far to see our broken relationship with God, with each other, and with the earth (Genesis 3:16-19). We try and try to fix the problem – but try as we might, we are still part of the problem.  Or to put it this way – if we were to try to create Heaven on earth we would fail.  Even if the earth were to be made new, all wealth re-distributed and we all started again, and all who had committed crimes against the laws of our land banished, we would not create Heaven.  It would not be long before in-fighting would begin and before we would start to try to make ourselves gods.

Whether we try to ignore it, are simply unaware of it, try to fix it, or simply feel defeated by guilt and shame, there is a gulf between us and the author of life itself (Romans 3:10-12, 23).  In this world it can manifest itself in many ways – guilt and shame, the pain and decay we feel in our bodies, the search for purpose and the feeling that it is all meaningless – but in the end all these things culminate in the same thing – death (Romans 6:23).

This would be the end of the story, if it were not for this fact: God loves us. 

And God had a plan, and that plan was Jesus.  Jesus chose to go to the cross – to take all of our sin and brokenness upon himself – so that we could be free.   No one else could pay the price, no one else was good enough (Hebrews 7:26-28) – no one else was perfect God in human form (Hebrews 2:14-15).

He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14).   God didn't just overlook our sins, but took them away, putting them to death.

But it cost him – on that afternoon on Good Friday, the trinity, love itself, was ripped apart.  Darkness covered the entire land and Jesus cried out Eloi Eloi lema sabachthani?  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  (Matthew 27:45-46).

Trying to wrap our heads around the theology is sometimes mind-blowing, so God does not give us a theology lesson, but a picture instead, of how much he loves us.  Love is Jesus in agony on the cross, beaten and broken, for us, crying out it is finished! (John 19:30)   Jesus did that for all of us, and with him took away everything that separates us from the love of God.

…that whoever believes in in Him... 

When Jesus was asked: “What must we do to do the works God requires?”, he answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28-29). But what does this mean? It means that when we stand before God at the end of our lives, we have two choices.  Imagine you are standing on a small rock in the sea and the tide is coming in and a storm is brewing - your sanctuary will soon be lost.  But you have two options: there is a boat you can get in and it is made from your own life. your own achievements and your own goodness.  You can try and navigate that boat to safety using your own skill, your own knowledge and experience to find that safe shore.

The other option is Jesus' boat.  It means you have to leave that boat you've made there on your rapidly vanishing rock.  You cannot claim any glory - you are not being saved by your own strength but by that of Jesus.

The vanishing of your temporary safe point in the middle of the sea is death, and safe, permanent shore is God the Father, in whom is life and safety.  But Jesus says: I am the way, the truth and the life: no one can come to the Father except through me (John 14:6).  In other words, your own ship will fail.  Even if it were strong enough to withstand the storm, our relationship with God is so damaged that we do not know the way back.

...shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Eternal life.  Life to the full (John 10:10) - what does that look like?

It looks like being free from shame and guilt – from knowing that Jesus has taken that away, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).   It’s knowing that God looks on us as restored, not because of our own actions, but because Jesus has made us clean (Ephesians 2:8-9).  It looks like no longer being slaves to other things that come out of our guilt, shame and judgement, but being free.

It looks like knowing that we are children of God. John writes: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1).And it looks like, slowly, starting to be changed to be in his image as we get to know him.

It looks like have a purpose and being part of a story that means something.  Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20).  Many of our endeavours on earth will come to nothing: even when success is obtained, it does not last forever.  But Jesus invites us to take part in building his kingdom, his family - a mission that truly will have eternal consequences; and he promises to be with us to the very end of the age - we're not doing this alone, but with creator of the universe.

And most of all, it means having a hope for the future.   Jesus promises that we shall not perish, but have eternal life with him.  Paul writes: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  Our bodies may be slowly decaying and death in this world may be inevitable, but redemption and renewal are coming.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5).