John 3:16                                         Fourth Sunday of Lent, series B     March 26, 2006

John 3:16 is one of the best-known verses of the Bible. How many of you have memorized it? Let’s say it out loud. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” The first word is “for.” That little word, for, means in order that, the reason that God sent his son into the world. It tell us the purpose and the reason why God did that. What was the reason and purpose that God’s sent his son into the world? Love. “For God so loved the world.”

John 3:16 is part of the encounter of Nicodemus and Jesus. This Pharisee came at night, so none of the other Pharisees would know he was talking to him. Jesus told him in order to enter the kingdom, "You must be born from above" or " be born again" (3:7). I don’t know if Nicodemus ever took up Jesus offer of God’s grace, or if he just went away into the night. He may have thought it was too good to be true. But I know that giving birth physically is very difficult and dangerous for both the mother and the child. A spiritual rebirth is even harder because it entails radical change that takes a lifetime until Jesus brings us into the kingdom. Nicodemus was not ready for that change.

Yesterday Chris South Evelyn Tabor and I went to a stewardship workshop. I learned is that stewardship is a lifestyle, and we have a choice to make a life in scarcity or a life in abundance. That lifestyle is part of the daily regeneration happens when we are born again into our baptism.

There are those who never have enough money, no matter how much they get. They operate our of scarcity. Then there are those who believe that God is so good to them, they are compelled to share what God has given them with the world. They operate out of their abundance.

Scarcity is really two words. Scare-city, and it’s a hard place to live. What happens with those who live in scare city is that they always want more and more, and buy more they the can afford. They fill their garages so full, they can’t park their cars in there. They accumulate debts that they can’t pay off. Then they work really hard at jobs they hate to make enough money to buy more stuff. Then they will fight about money with their spouse, and have a tough time with their marriage, sometimes ending in divorce or bankruptcy. Life is so tough in scare city, they often ask either the government or someone in the family to bail them out.

They are the ones who need most to hear that God loves them so much he sent his only begotten son into the world to save and redeem them. The problem is they are least likely to show up at church because the church is always asking for money. They really don’t like to listen to sermons, so we’ll have to teach them the gospel outside of the church. Here’s the message they will never hear unless you tell them.

While they were spiritually and physically bankrupt, Jesus redeemed us and gave his life for us. He paid off all our debts, forgave our sins, and sent us out to forgive the sins of others. Jesus calls us not to live in the fear of scare city, but to live in the abundant life he wants for us.

On the other hand are those who operate out of abundance. Abundance is a three words put together. A- bun- dance. They are always doing a bun dance. They see what Jesus did on the cross, they look at the all the gifts God gave them in the creation, and say, thanks be to God! They feel compelled to give to the ones that everyone else doesn’t notice, the poor. They get passionate about all kinds of ministries, like Mosaic, the organization that we are offing you the opportunity to support. They help the disabled become specially abled. Or Oaks Indian Mission, which is my personal favorite.

For them, John 3:16 is so important, they are looking for ways to express the gratitude that God has given to them. I can tell you, God so loved the world, that he gave his Son so that all who believe on him will no perish, but have eternal life and eternal abundance. Those who do am abundance even claim that they see Jesus whenever they give to the ministry of the church in any way.

Jesus knew about those who operate out of abundance, and those who operate out of scarcity. Jesus said that in the judgement, he will divide people into two groups, one on his right and one on his left. Jesus knew about those who operate out of scarcity. To the group on his left he said, “Go away from me, and banished them to hell. They had condemned themselves, because they saw the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, and the homeless, and did not recognize him.

To those on his right, who gave out of their abundance, he said enter into my kingdom, for I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, sick and you tended to me, homeless and you gave me a place to live. What you did to the least of these, you did to me.

God wants us to live in the abundance he gave us in Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world, Jesus gave himself and became poor to die on the cross so that we can be new creation, and be born again to live richly in the new creation. In the new creation, there will be no more sickness or death, hunger or injustice of any kind. Jesus will be the king of the whole creation. We can be a part and take our place in that new creation when we love the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength for all that God has done for us.

Tonight, a few of the members and I are going over to Great Commission. Yes, we should be a little envious of a church that grew from less than 60 members in 1993, to a church that now numbers about 4,300. I will predict that they will double in size again in less that five years.

I’m not going to go into all the reasons they might be growing. I’ll save that for the Natural Church Development Program I proposed to the council. But I will tell you this. I can just about guarantee that we are going to hear John 3:16 tonight. The Baptist and evangelical churches have made this teaching there primary mission to win converts to the faith. They mix it with the Great Commission, and teach that God so loved the world so much, Jesus expects everyone who follows him to go and make disciples of all nations, the whole world. They teach that Jesus promised to be with us until the end of this age, until the new kingdom comes to the whole creation.

How can we Lutherans grow as a church? Certainly not by giving up our believe about baptism. We believe that in baptism, God claimed us before we ever did or knew anything about it. By our baptism into Christ, salvation is like a restoration project, for God loves and treasures everyone, even those whom world regards as worthless.

Let me make it plain a simple example. When I was about 16, I had a neighbor named Dave who liked to restore old cars. I thought Dave was cool! One day he told me I had to come over to see his latest car, a model A Ford. He said it was sitting in a barn for fifty years, and that he bought it for a song. He said, “I just love this car.”

When I got to his garage, that car was the biggest pile of rust I’d ever seen. There was no paint, mice and insects had made nest in the upholstery. The transmission, many parts under the hood were gone. I said, “Dave, you’ve got to be kidding.”

But Dave was in love with that car. Dave could see what it would like all painted, engine running smoothly. He replaced a fender, half the hood. He had to rebuild the engine and put in new parts. It took years of hard work and a ton of money to restore that car. But when it was done, it was beautiful. Dave ran it in the Memorial Day parade, with a grin from ear to ear.

Check this out. God looks at the each person in the world like Dave looked at that car. Sometimes I get so angry with people in the world, I’m not sure the world is worth saving. But God loves the world, that he gave his only son to die for us. Whoever believes in him will be reborn, given a new live. By faith, we will be restored to showroom new every day, no matter what condition we are in right now.

Will you let Jesus restore you? Now I warn you, this is a major project. This will require that you will follow Jesus, and do the things that he did. But by faith, Jesus can heal us by his grace and love. Once complete, you and I will be changed. We will begin to love the world as God loves the world. Talk about an attitude adjustment! God wants to make us new, to be reborn by our baptism. Let God change us, and restore us so that when Jesus appears we will be like him. Let God make us part of the next resurrection when Jesus comes again to rule the heave and the earth!

Amen