“For God So Loved the World”

John 3:1-17

Tom Johnson, May 31, 2015

Ginger was our yellow lab. When we first met her in Kansas, she was the first dog to greet us at the rescue. She had large wound on her ear. It took weeks to heal. The people at the rescue said that it was from a gun blast while her previous owner was hunting. At first, Ginger did not trust me. In fact, she did not like men in general. I had to earn her trust—speaking to her, feeding her, playing with her, taking her into the garage during storms and the cold. Soon, Ginger wagged her tail in excitement when I came home. She trusted me. She believed that I was on her side. She had faith that I wanted her to live and live well. She loved the kids and Johanna. She was excited to greet women but she was always distrustful of men and saw them as a threat and would bark and growl. And so, we painted a portrait of Ginger’s former owner in our minds. He must have been an unloving master. He carelessly used shotguns around her. He must have abused her because she so consistently distrusted adult males.

As Christians and as members of the Church, we may have been responsible for how the world outside thinks of God, the Master of Creation. Is our message that God is Judge and that his plan is to pour down his wrath upon sinners? Do we portray God as Supreme Being who is deeply disappointed in humanity, and has a fiery furnace burning for the vast majority of us? Have we painted a portrait of God as passive aggressive—carelessly waiting on us to seek him out—giving us the silent treatment until we make the first move toward life change—wondering when we will repair our broken lives before he takes notice? Have we promoted a concept of God as the cosmic police officer—waiting on the side of life’s road to catch us in our next move, ready to wave us by with a blessing when we’re good or stop and punish us when we are bad—a god who always looks at the world with a critical eye—not ever fully happy with us sinners down here on planet earth?

May I vent some of my frustration to you this morning? Is that ok? I need to express my deep disappointment in our beloved church body in recent days. It seems to be more and more popular to express our fear of the sinful world around us. “The world’s sin will encroach upon our lives and religious freedoms!” we cry. “We must hire lawyers! We must fight them—the dreaded they—those whose behavior is despised by God—those who are not us but them—those who do not value life like we do.” Perhaps we are not aware that out of our fear we have rewritten redemptive history. We have perverted Jesus’ mission to the cosmos. We have twisted God’s vision of what he intends to do for this world. And we have made the world an enemy of God and us. If we were to write John 3:16 today, perhaps it would sound like this: “For God so distrusted the world—for God so feared potential for evil in the world—for God was so disgusted with the world that he sent his Son as a wager: “turn or burn,” “don’t infringe upon the rights of my people,” “leave my people alone,” “you need to change to accommodate me and my people and then we may accommodate you!”

No, no, no: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Jesus’ words remind us that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all united in their love for the cosmos. Our Triune God loves the world. And his love is not mere warm feelings but action—he sent the Son. He sent his Son as pure Gospel—100% good news—out of deep love and concern for his creation and his creatures. God has taken the initiative to mend our lives and relationships. He sent his Son—not to judge or to condemn—but forgive us and assure us of eternal life. It sounds like to me that God even likes the world. He is a friend of sinners, Scripture says.

The time was soon approaching to move from Kansas to the Chicago area. We needed two bids from movers. A man came from the first moving company came in the front door, looked over all our stuff, and then asked to go out through the garage. I warned him about our dog. I took her into her kennel. And sure enough she growled and barked at him as he passed by. The next day, a man from the second mover came. He also came in the front door, looked over all our stuff, and then asked to go out through the garage. I gave him the same warning about our dog’s dislike for adult, human males. No matter what I said, the mover insisted it was ok. He was a life-long dog lover, he said. I was more nervous than he was as we walked out through the garage. Without a growl or a bark, our dog walked up to the man calmly, slowly, and put her cheek and head against his thigh adoringly. I was shocked. The man looked down at her and said, “Ginger?” “How do you know her name?” I asked. “When did you get her?” he asked back. Soon we put our stories together and he said, “Ginger was our dog since she was a puppy.”

He explained how she kept breaking free of her kennel while he was away at work. After she broke free and tore her ear on the fence and was hit by a car, he felt he had no choice but to surrender her because he could no longer ensure her safety or the other dogs at his home. He hoped Ginger would find a good and caring home. We both were stunned at the intersection of our stories. I was blown away by the realization that the animal rescue and I had it all wrong about Ginger’s former master. The kids asked what her middle name was and he said she had none. He called the next day to say that his children gave her the middle name “Snap.” Neither of us could figure out why Ginger always distrusted men. But one thing is for sure: it wasn’t because of this adult human male who had previously owned her. That is for certain. He was a dog-lover after all.

There is a lesson here in these words of Jesus. He wants us to join him in stunning the world—to blow those around us away with the good news: the triune God has acted in love. His plan is to heal, forgive, restore, and build us up. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” He is a loving Creator. He is a people-lover after all.