Daily Scripture: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved.
Reflection Questions:
This is perhaps the most well known text in the entire Bible. We do not often think of it, however, as a passage that talked about the meaning of Advent and Christmas. Yet that’s precisely what it did: it said that in Jesus, God expressed in a personal, redeeming way the depth of God’s love for the whole world. God’s love did not mean wishing the world well from afar. Instead, God’s love led him to become one of us in the person of Jesus.
- It never occurred to Canaanites, Greeks or Romans to write about how much their gods like Baal, Zeus or Mars loved them. They usually thought their “gods” demanded sacrifices as a kind of bribe to get the god to send rain or protect them from harm. But God gave himself, in Christ, as a sacrifice to save us, because God loves us. To which kind of God would you rather give your allegiance and service?
- John 3:16 was not the end of a passage. It went right on to the following verse: “God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Have you ever imagined God angrily “watching you like a hawk,” just waiting to catch you doing something wrong? How can verse 17 reshape any unloving mental images you might carry about how God looks at you?
Lord Jesus, I’m often aware of an inner sense that I’ve blown it, that I deserve condemnation. But you came to save, not to condemn—thank you for your wonderful love. Amen.
---------------------Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
John 3:16 is likely the most-quoted Bible verse in the world. It’s often used to draw a dividing line between the haves and the have-nots in regards to salvation. Most people don’t know the context. These are the words Jesus spoke just a few verses before:
“No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man.”
John 3:16 has come to be known as exclusionary, but it was meant to be inclusionary. Jesus lived in a time when it was believed to be very hard to get into heaven. The determiners of that were the religious leaders of the time, who believed that deliverance came through following the law down to the letter. Their law was harsh and difficult–the only ones who were able to keep all of the laws were the religious leaders who set them.
But Jesus alludes that humanity hadn’t even come close to the presence of God on their own. Keeping all of the rules was nearly impossible, and even that wasn’t enough by Jesus’s word. The idea that simply believing that God loves you was the missing key to salvation was a radical one at the time, and it’s just as relevant today in a world where we’re constantly trying to figure out who are the haves and the have-nots of righteousness.
This Christmas, we celebrate the message of John 3:16-17: that God sent His son into the world not to judge it, but to set it free. We’re called to follow that example: not to judge the world, but to set it free. This should be the time of the year when we set people free from guilt, shame, and feelings of inadequacy–and that needs to show in how we treat others.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
John 3:16 is likely the most-quoted Bible verse in the world. It’s often used to draw a dividing line between the haves and the have-nots in regards to salvation. Most people don’t know the context. These are the words Jesus spoke just a few verses before:
“No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man.”
John 3:16 has come to be known as exclusionary, but it was meant to be inclusionary. Jesus lived in a time when it was believed to be very hard to get into heaven. The determiners of that were the religious leaders of the time, who believed that deliverance came through following the law down to the letter. Their law was harsh and difficult–the only ones who were able to keep all of the laws were the religious leaders who set them.
But Jesus alludes that humanity hadn’t even come close to the presence of God on their own. Keeping all of the rules was nearly impossible, and even that wasn’t enough by Jesus’s word. The idea that simply believing that God loves you was the missing key to salvation was a radical one at the time, and it’s just as relevant today in a world where we’re constantly trying to figure out who are the haves and the have-nots of righteousness.
This Christmas, we celebrate the message of John 3:16-17: that God sent His son into the world not to judge it, but to set it free. We’re called to follow that example: not to judge the world, but to set it free. This should be the time of the year when we set people free from guilt, shame, and feelings of inadequacy–and that needs to show in how we treat others.
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Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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