For God So Loved the World… A Sermon
Sermon written and delivered by Jay Horton for Liberty Hill United Methodist Church in Canton, Georgia.
John 3:1-17
1 There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.”
4 Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?”
5 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said, “How are these things possible?”
10 “Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? 11 I assure you that we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you don’t receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One.[c] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One[d] be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
When you tell people that you are a preacher or a person who works in ministry, or even simply a Christian in some circles, you get a variety of different types of responses. Some are short and sweet. The conversation killers as I like to call them.
“Oh cool!” Followed by a turn of the head in the opposite direction.
Or a “Sounds interesting” and a diverting of the eyes.
There are also the intrigued ones—Christian-familiar—who want to start a conversation with you. “Oh, that’s awesome! Where did you go to seminary? Do you have a church in the area? I love my preacher currently. You remind me so much of him.” They’re sweet and sincere.\
Then some are more skeptical… the ones who might have had a bad relationship with church or just don’t understand how one could believe in a higher power. They’re the ones who ask questions like… “So do you really believe in that miracle stuff—like Jesus coming back to life and all that?”
The doubts and reservations are always so palpable, often speaking to a variety of underlying feelings. My responses are always similar.
With a grin, I say “Of course! Why wouldn’t I? I’ve seen friends and family in hospital beds with illnesses any number of experts said were death sentences return to full bills of health. I’ve neglected my sourdough starter, seen it turn brown, many a time, and with a little flour, water, and attention been able to see it start rising new loaves again. I’ve watched plants in my yard, gone for seasons, suddenly return with sprouts. Alligators I know can survive a freeze with their nostrils above the ice. Turtles can live being buried for months at a time. It doesn’t seem too far-fetched to me then that the God who returns these living things to life couldn’t do the same thing for his own son. Don’t you?”
Now their wheels will start to sputter and spin and they’ll ultimately say something like, “Yes, but those people, plants, and organisms weren’t completely dead.”
I’ll respond with a wink: “You know, I think we can agree, based on the story, Jesus wasn’t completely dead either, now was he. Actually, in many ways, I believe he is still quite alive today.”
Today’s Gospel lesson tells the story of a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who like so many of us has a lot of questions of our Rabbi friend, Jesus. Nicodemus just doesn’t understand how all of this works—how Jesus can do all of his miraculous signs, healing the sick. So Jesus begins to explain it to him, and he does so interestingly enough through metaphors related to nature, similar to the ones I used before.
First, there is the image of birth—being born anew. “Unless someone is born anew,” Jesus says, “It is impossible to see God’s kingdom.”
What does this mean? One cannot be born twice, can they, Nicodemus says. But Jesus is not speaking of being returned to our mother’s womb. No, he’s speaking about the stamina and strength it takes to move your life in a new direction—to live more holy. It’s not going to be easy just as childbirth is not going to be easy.
For one, it’s going to take a while. You are going to have to work to bring new life into this world. I think that’s why they call it labor. It’s going to make you re-adjust your whole being. You’ll have new schedules and crave new things. It will be exhausting and painful, but also beautiful and joyous.
Maybe Nicodemus didn’t quite get it because he was a man and had never experienced childbirth himself. I imagine we men just can’t quite understand this metaphor as well as women.
So Jesus goes on to speak of water and the spirit, and of flesh. “Unless someone is born of water AND the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom,” He says. “Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. ” You need both the physical and the spiritual to understand the Divine. One creates and one animates. A child with no spirit is no child at all, and a spirit with no body is no human at all. It’s like wind, Jesus says, “You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.” One is not enough. By water and the spirit there is life.
After all this Nicodemus still doesn’t seem to understand so Christ rhetorically asks—I imagine with a little frustration now, “If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”
We know about God because of God’s created the world, Jesus says. “We testify to what we have seen.” The miracles of heaven exist in life all around us. When we come to understand and respect the created world, we will begin to understand and respect God more as well. They are inextricably linked. It is through our life and interactions with God enfleshed in the world that we come to know the enfleshed God himself, Jesus Christ.
“No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, Jesus.” Or as the Common English Bible so appropriately translates, the “Human One.” The grounded one. The one with the earth. The one who knows flesh himself. “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven.”
No one can know God’s kingdom until they know God’s creation!
The scripture says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish.”
The Greek word here for “world” is “kosmos”—the entire created order.
So many times I think people read and recite this familiar verse, but when they read “world” they think “humanity.” “God so loved humanity that he gave his only Son…” but that is not what it says, does it?
The Scripture says, “For God so loved the kosmos…” —all created things that he became creature himself so that all might come to know him better—believe in him.
Now the Greek word here for “believe” is also interesting… it is “pisteuō.” It too has a much deeper meaning than is often conveyed. Pisteuō is less transactional than the English implies. It is about relations and building bonds.
It’s the difference between saying, “I believe in you,” and saying “I believe in you AND here is my investment to back up that belief,” right? One is transactional and the other is relational. One is lip service and one puts money where their mouth is. One is simply identifying as Christian when convenient and the other is embarking on the lifelong journey of discipleship.
As we approach Memorial Day, I can’t help but think about our service members. Their life and witness in the world is one of pisteuō—belief lived out. Members of the armed services that I know believe so deeply in the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that they are willing to fly and sail around the world, putting their very lives at risk, to see that these freedoms are protected at all cost. And many have lost their lives for it, and we remember their bravery and courage this weekend.
I also think about my parents—my personal greatest heroes. Growing up they told my sister and I we could achieve anything we set our minds to, as so many parents do. But that was not enough for them—that simple assent was not enough. They also made sure to put investment behind their actions.
My parents understood kids can be naturally smart, but those, for whom school is more difficult, are not lost causes either. They can succeed with the help of tutors and mentors. They also understood that kids can earn the grades to get into the colleges of their dreams but without the resources to pay for that university, how can they succeed?
My parents sacrificed time, energy, fun with friends, finances, and hours of sleep, to see that we had not only their vote of confidence but also the resources to make our dreams feasible.
This is the difference between belief and pisteuō—between simple accent and dedicated investment.
With this translated understanding, we get a better picture of what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus and all of us— “God so loved the ENTIRE COSMOS that he enfleshed himself to be intimately part of the created order so that all those who INVEST and form bonds with all God’s creation will not perish but have abundant life.”
We live in a time and age where Creation is in peril and needs our help! Overconsumption, exploration, bad policies, and mismanagement of natural resources have destroyed ecosystems. We’ve treated Creation as expendable. Industrialization, deforestation, and our reliance on fossil fuels have led to a buildup of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere causing global warming and climate change. This has led to extreme heat waves, increased flooding, natural disasters, and sea-level rise.
A separation from our food sources has also created an overreliance on meat and meat byproducts. We no longer eat seasonally. We prefer manicured lawns over rain gardens and natural landscapes—calling native species weeds. We spray chemicals on our fields, polluting groundwater, harming wildlife habits, and changing the migratory patterns of insects and birds.
Stuck in front of screens in our homes and offices, we spend so much less time outdoors and in nature than we used to and we have forgotten this is where the miracles of our life come from—God’s creation—and she needs our protection.
From the cleansing, refreshing, life-giving waters of streams and oceans… from the produce and livestock that nourish our bodies… from the air we breathe to the sun that powers our lives, we must invest in their future. Stop pumping toxins and chemicals into the environment and causing harm.
As we restore our relationship with Creation—as we hear her concerns louder—we will come to know God better. God is in the world and so are the possibilities for abundant life for all.
Both your pastor Eric and I served recently as delegates to the United Methodist Church’s General Conference, the global legislative body for our denomination. One of the things we worked on and approved was a set of Revised Social Principles for the church—principles that guide our interactions in the world. The opening sections begin with our understanding of a “Community of All Creation.”
“Human beings, nonhuman animals, plants, and other sentient and non sentient beings participate in the community of creation,” it reads, “and their flourishing depends on the care of all God’s creation. Rather than treating creation as if it were placed here solely for humanity’s use and consumption, we are called to practice responsible stewardship… We are also called to honor the role of every part of creation in healing the whole…” (United Methodist Revised Social Principles)
Healing the whole—this starts with adopting more sustainable habits and practices, things like composting, recycling, and wasting less. It also includes buying locally, and cutting down on the energy it takes to get food to your plate. It includes investing in energy efficiency and solar, voting for climate-smart policies, and protecting and restoring endangered wildlife and habitats.
There are a number of things you can do to make Sacred Earth more livable for all, but like birth—being born anew—they will not be easy. They may take time. They may stretch you and grow you, but this is the call. Investment over simple endorsement. This is the way miracles occur. The way we will see abundant life for all.
It was Mother Teresa I believe who said, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” And those small things matter.
Whatever you do, I promise that as you get closer to the earth you will get closer to God. No one knows heavenly things until they ultimately know and care for the earthly things because they are intimately connected. God so loved the world… Earthly things matter.
