God So Loved the World...

GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD...

Meet Roberto...A kid we've known for nearly 10 years now. In his darkest hours, we remind him that God loves him so much...even when he is hostile to God

John 3:16 was the first Bible verse I memorized as a child.  I can recall how this verse brought me comfort and hope as a young kiddo.  Today, it still brings me comfort and hope. In the face of death, it has brought me comfort and hope. In the face of disease, it has brought me comfort and hope. In the face of confusion, it has brought me comfort and hope.  In the face of failure, it has brought me comfort and hope. And, I have witnessed how it has brought comfort and hope in the face of addiction and depression.

Who is this "world" that Jesus loves?  I first want to point out that it may be helpful to remind you that the Greek word for “world” – kosmos – designates throughout the rest of John’s Gospel a group of people that is hostile to God (see, for instance, John 15:18-25; 16:8-10, 20, 33; and 17:9-16). This means that we might actually translate these verses, “For God so loved the God-hating world, that he gave his only Son…” and “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn even this world that despises God but instead so that the world that rejects God might still be saved through him.” 

When I began to understand who the world really was, I began to witness that God’s love is audacious and unexpected. (Which is why, according to Paul, it probably seems both scandalous and a little crazy – see 1 Cor. 1:18-25.) And that audacious, unexpected, even crazy character of God’s love is exactly why it saves!

As Christians we must remember that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing in their sins - their self righteousness, their hate, their idolatry, their addiction - but to us who understand that God's grace is available to all people even those who are hostile to God - it is the manifestation of the power of God.