03132021 – Jn3.14-21 Lent IVB
I tried my best, NOT to talk about “LOVE.”
I do not like sweet, schmalzy, syrupy messages.
BUT no matter how hard I tried…I always came back to LOVE.
As if, someone NEEDS to hear this.
Someone NEEDS to be REMINDED.
Someone, somewhere, maybe (HERE) or perhaps (watching at home) NEEDS to hear these words.
So, IF it HAS to be, it HAS to be.
According to John’s Gospel:
God LOVES the world SO MUCH that he sent his Son to live as one of us.
The “Good News” is about God’s DEEP and ABIDING LOVE for the entire WORLD…the entire COSMOS…
What I like about it is – this: WE DO NOT get to pick and choose WHO God loves.
God WILL LOVE, whom GOD WILL LOVE.
WE are entirely OUT OF the equation.
We do not get to DECIDE. (Which of course, some of us, still attempt to do anyways…) YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!
GOD decides.
NOT US!
It is not an extremely popular notion, because WE WANT TO CHOOSE…we want to DECIDE who God loves…
And maybe somewhere in that craw of yours, you were taught JUST THE OPPOSITE.
MAYBE you have even made a list or two. A mental check list of those whom God approves or disapproves.
Do you really think you can DICTATE who God is to love?
I was always taught…God loves us, sins, flaws, love-handles, bumps and bruises, warts, and all.
Again, I was always taught…we have ALL fallen short of the GLORY of God, but God LOVES each and every one of us no matter WHO we are, WHAT we have done, WHAT “other people” THINK or SAY about us or HOW WE FEEL about ourselves.
THAT is powerful.
That is HUGE.
I wonder how many of the people who live in the condos or the apartments behind us – think they are NOT GOOD ENOUGH for God to LOVE them, DIE for them or to SAVE them?
I wonder “how many folks” we pass at WOODMAN’s, PICK N’ SAVE, SENDIK’s, or TARGET think they are NOT WORTHY or are NOT LOVABLE enough to go heaven?
I worry about WHAT the church has taught…
I worry about what “other clergy persons” have planted in your consciousness…
I wonder how many folks think they are TOO SINFUL, have done TOO MANY terrible things in the past, have had TOO MANY uncharitable THOUGHTS – so much so – that GOD COULD NOT possibly ever LOVE them?
Or, that he could never possibly FORGIVE THEM?
For “how many years” did the church (and its clergy) try GUILTING people into being better human beings?
And the only thing – that was accomplished was: to cause individuals to ABANDON GOD, flee the CHURCH, stunt a person’s SPIRITUAL GROWTH, contribute to mental illness and disease, trigger depression and add to anxiety disorders.
IF you DO NOT think you could ever go to heaven, be reunited with loved ones again, or see the BIG GUY face-to-face, WHERE IS THERE HOPE?
No wonder our world is filled with so much anger, hurt, rage, violence, and hopelessness.
People believe they are WITHOUT HOPE, they are HOPELESS and UNLOVABLE…besides…
“GOD SO LOVED/LOVES the world.”
Do you know that GOD LOVES YOU?
Do you really know it?
Do you believe it?
Because knowing it and believing it changes everything. EVERY THING.
Guilt kills.
Love and Grace and forgiveness bring NEW LIFE.
Make sure you read the small print: “God did not send his SON into the world to condemn the world, but to SAVE the world through him.”
Jesus came offering a lifeline.
Jesus came into this world on a LIFE-GIVING, LIFE-SAVING mission.
It was not a “rejection mission.” It was a “rescue mission.” He came to rescue you and me.
When I was a kid growing up in Racine there was this huge lighted sign right off of main and sixth streets, that had two words on it: JESUS SAVES. (It was an advertisement for the Racine Rescue Mission.)
That is what this season is all about. Jesus came that we might have life…and have it abundantly…
God LOVES you and he always has and always will. And that is the gospel of the Lord. Amen.