John 3:16 is a Creedal Statement of Faith

The Second Sunday in Lent
March 16, 2014

GOSPEL LESSON: John 3:1-17
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

APOSTLES’ CREED (congregation, in unison)
I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

John 3:16 is a beloved Bible verse. People love it because it is a short and easy to understand summary of our Christian Faith. It is like a creed, almost a short Apostles’ Creed. Let’s compare the two:

God so loved the world. I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. God loves the world he created.

He gave his only Son. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He gave his only Son. He gave his beloved Son to this world which he loves. And this Son was conceived, born, suffered, crucified, died, was buried, descended into hell, and rose on the third day. The word “gave” means that the Father sent Jesus as a gift to the world to be a sacrifice. This was so that Jesus could “give his live” to save the world.

Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring the message of the Gospel into our hearts through Word and Sacrament. And when we believe in Jesus as our Savior, we are in the Holy Christian Church, we are part of the communion of saints, and our sins are forgiven. We do not perish, but our bodies are resurrected and we have life everlasting. Amen.

The whole Apostles’ Creed is in the 26 words of John 3:16.

If a person at a basketball game holds up a sign that reads “John 3:16,” or if someone has that tattooed on their arm, then they are making a confession of their faith. They are saying that they are a Christian, and so they publicly say that they will live their lives as a Christian: the belief, the morals, the hope, the love toward others, the charity, and the joy and humble and thankful pride of having Christ as their Savior.

If a person holds up a sign that reads “1776,” they are declaring their allegiance to America. They are saying that they believe in the freedom that was declared in the Year 1776, and so they will live their lives in that American freedom: freedom for their selves, freedom for others, fighting for the freedom of others, opposing the oppression and bullying by schoolmates, coworkers, bosses, corporations, and government officials. “1776” expresses their hope, their morals, their charity, and the joy and humble and thankful pride they have.

In Japan, it would be like waving the flag, wearing traditional clothes, eating Japanese food, and the like. They are almost statements of national pride, and say they will live according to the standards of their country. It is almost like a creed.

But such confidence and dedication are not natural. It comes from experience and trust. This is especially true of Christian faith. Some people simply accept the Creed and John 3:16 and come to joyous faith really easily. Other people struggle with the teachings of the church for years before confessing their faith and being comfortable with their faith. One such person was named Nicodemus. He was afraid of what other people thought, and so came secretly to Jesus at night. Nicodemus had many questions for Jesus.

Who is Nicodemus? He is you and me, and everyone who has had questions about Jesus and wanted to learn more about Jesus. (He is you and me, and everyone who has been afraid that someone else might know about their Christian faith.) We cannot ask Jesus directly like Nicodemus did, so we ask the pastor or Sunday school teacher, or we look it up in a Bible dictionary. Some of the answers are hard to understand. We understand the vocabulary, we understand the grammar, but we still do not understand. We are like Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus was serious and wanted to understand. Vs. 4, “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Vs. 9, “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. One thing I like about Nicodemus was that he was not afraid to ask, even if it showed his ignorance. He wanted to know the truth; he wanted to know about salvation. But it was hard for him to understand. It was hard because he was thinking of worldly things and Jesus was speaking about heavenly things. Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, of spiritual rebirth, baptism, faith, and the Holy Spirit. These are things that are hard to understand. No, they are things that are impossible to understand. Jesus said, Vs. 3, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Vs. 5 & 6, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

In other words, unless someone has the Holy Spirit, they cannot understand the Holy Spirit. If someone is still living in this world, all they can understand is worldly things. To understand heaven, we have to have a rebirth from heaven. To believe in your heart, God has to be in your heart. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to believe in Jesus and have eternal life. The Holy Spirit does not zap people with faith. “Poof, you are a Christian.” The Holy Spirit works in the proclamation of the Gospel and through the sacraments. He works through the words of the Bible stories. He shows us Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross. And in that we see the love of God. In the cross we see the love of God.

We see God torn between two loves. First, He loves this world. He loves you and me. We humans can understand the love of a father. A father can love his children even if they are bad kids. It is the father’s goal to raise his children to be mature people who can return his love and love each other in the family. The world is God’s family. He loves us. But he was torn between the love of the world and the love of his “one and only Son,” “his only begotten Son,” Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus rose on the third day, according the plan of God. But that time in the grave was not an easy time. Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To put it in terms of a child crying to his father, “Dad, do you love those sinful people more than you love me, your one and only son?” Here we see the sorrow of Jesus, and the grief of God.

But God did not love the world more than Jesus, but as much as Jesus. His love was shown in that he raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. His love is the same for us, in that we too shall be raised on the last day at the end of the world. In that same love, we too shall not perish but have eternal life.

We see this love when the Holy Spirit gives us new birth. When we see that love, we have eternal life. We believe that Jesus is our Savior. We believe that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sin.

Nicodemus had lots of questions, and so do we. Some answers we will not receive until we get the chance to ask Jesus personally in heaven. I am looking forward to that! But meanwhile, I know the answer to the world’s biggest problem. The big problem is the hate and sin of the world. The answer is in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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