Introduction
Back
in the late 90’s when my kids were small, we all used to watch a show called Touched By An Angel. It was a wholesome family show
about three angels that were sent to intervene in the lives of a variety of
people for a variety of reasons. However, their ultimate goal was generally always
to communicate God’s love to the people to whom they were sent. There are still
some obscure channels that air reruns of the program and a few nights ago I
found a channel running a Touched By An
Angel marathon. I had a little spare
time so I flipped over to the channel to see which episode was running; it was
one of my favorites. For this particular episode, one of the characters was
played by country western music artist Wynnona Judd and she sang the beautiful song,
Testify To Love, popularized by
the Christian music group Avalon; I have loved the song ever since. The song
raced to the top of both the Christian and secular music charts. However, my
fondest memory of the song came during an Easter Cantata at our church were we
sang it as the closing song to the Easter story illustrated through the musical
performance. The song belongs to the greatest story ever told as far as I’m
concerned. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the real testimony to
God’s love for humanity.
I
got to thinking about the song this week amidst some of the worst racial
tensions here in America I can remember in my lifetime. The unrest stems from
last year’s shooting of a black 17-year young man by a 30-year old Hispanic
male, neighborhood watchman during an altercation in which the watchman claimed
he shot the 17-year old in self-defense while the 17-year old had him pinned to
the ground and was repeatedly punching him in the face. Racial tensions boiled
over this past week when the watchman was acquitted by a jury of second degree
murder charges that were filed against him. As you might imagine, someone was
going to be upset with the verdict regardless of the outcome. What has ensued
in the days that have followed the verdict has been the public display of what
can only be described as vile hatred between a growing number blacks and whites
across the country. I can’t remember seeing anything like this in my life or
hearing such unadulterated words of hatred. Instead of seeking to diffuse the
already volatile environment, race baiters and hate mongers, including some of
our country’s leaders, have seized on this opportunity to stoke the flames of
hatred and drive a deep wedge between blacks and whites. These same agitators
are screaming for more dialogue about the racism they insist is rampant among
whites. However, in certain parts of the country, the level of hatred has
reached a level that seems untenable to resolve through dialogue. Instead, I
believe something more dramatic is needed; something more powerful; something
with the ability to crush even the deepest, darkest hatred; something that has
the power to transform lives. I believe what is needed is a profound love; love
that is representative of God’s love for humanity; love that believers can
communicate through their words and deeds. What is needed to combat the growing
hatred is for believers to remember one of the most important commands that
Jesus left us with—to tell the world about Him and invite the world to follow.
Jesus gave us orders of what to do in the face of hatred—Testify To Love.
Subject Text
John 3:16-21
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. 17For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. 18Whoever believes in him is
not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned
already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light
because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates
the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be
exposed. 21But whoever lives by the
truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has
done has been done through God.”
Context
I
think this is probably the most famous text in all the Bible. Thankfully, it’s difficult
to take it out of context although I don’t doubt that someone has at some
point. Nevertheless, there is an important immediate context for these verses
that add to their depth and beauty. We tend to think that Jesus is speaking
these words in a setting like his Sermon on the Mount in front of thousands of
people. However, while the words are applicable to all who read/hear them,
Jesus speaks them in our subject text in a very intimate setting to a very
special and unexpected visitor. At the beginning of chapter three we see a man
by the name of Nicodemus come to visit Jesus. I don’t doubt that Jesus had many
visitors during his ministry but this particular visitor was unique. You see,
Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council; Nicodemus was a Pharisee;
though not in the sense you might be thinking. That word “Pharisee” conjures up
images of evil schemers and plotters wringing their hands trying to find ways
to trap and condemn Jesus. However, we must be careful not to be overly
inclusive in our absolute criticism of all
Pharisees. “Modern study of ancient Jewish sources has rightly stressed that
the composite picture of Pharisaism is highly diverse. It is simply not
fair—and it smacks of anti-Semitism—to tar all Pharisees with the same brush.
In many ways Jesus was closer to the Pharisees than to any of the other Jewish sectarians;
their quarrels were internecine or ‘family’ disputes. Pharisees were the
upstanding ‘conservative evangelical pastors’ of their day, strongly convinced
of the inerrancy of Scripture and its sufficiency for guidance in every area of
life, if only properly interpreted. Yet it is precisely such an environment in
which a balanced perspective on the Bible can easily give way to legalism. Even
the Mishnah [the first major redaction of the Jewish oral tradition] and Talmud
[the central text of Rabbinic Judaism which includes the Mishna and a kind of theological
commentary called the Gemara], reflecting back from a later era on the
diversity of types of Pharisees, admit more bad types than good.”[1]
And, some of these “bad types” were the hate mongers of Jesus’ day.
Nicodemus
went to Jesus in the dark and cover of night not to try and trap Jesus but to
get answers to his questions—questions that must have been gnawing at him since
he witnessed Jesus perform miracles never before done. It is during this
exchange that we first learn from Jesus about being “born again.” You can
almost picture Nicodemus staring at Jesus with a blank look when Jesus explains
that to enter the kingdom of God, “You must be born again.” You see, for
Nicodemus and perhaps most of the religious leaders during Jesus’ day, the
kingdom of God was only for those who were meticulous about keeping the Law.
What was intended to be a relationship between God and his chosen people became
all about elaborate rituals and keeping the Law. Nicodemus didn’t understand;
he thought he was doing what God commanded—keep the Law. Jesus was trying to
explain that there was something else at work the whole time; something the Law
was pointing to, the Holy Spirit had been at work preparing the way for Jesus.
Jesus reveals to Nicodemus that just as Moses lifted up a bronze snake on a
pole in the desert (Num 21:8-9) so that those who trusted in the symbolic
gesture would be saved from the poison of deadly snakes sent by God to punish
the people because of their disobedience, Jesus would be lifted up before the
people and those who put their faith in him would be saved from the deadly
poison of their sins. From the very beginning, God had a plan of salvation and
along the way there were signposts pointing to that salvation. But for
Nicodemus, the signposts must have appeared to him as disconnected events of
God’s activity in Israel’s history. However, Jesus is beginning to open
Nicodemus’ eyes to God’s ultimate plan of salvation and the Spirit’s work to
advance that plan. The salvation of Israel was never God’s final objective.
Instead, Israel was intended to be part
of God’s plan of salvation to point all the other nations and people to God;
that God loved them as well. Nicodemus would soon learn that Jesus had come to,
once and for all, Testify To Love.
Text
Analysis
We
are reminded in v. 16a that God is the God of all people not just a chosen few.
God is not defined by whether or not people recognize him as God. Instead, we are defined when we recognize him as
God; God character, including his love, is the constant in the world while
everything else is the variable—including humanity. “Jesus brought into the
world a new emphasis on love which he demonstrated in his own life and which he
made clear he expected his disciples to produce too. For him love depends on
the nature of the lover rather than that of the beloved. Jesus loved because he
was a loving person, not because he found attractive qualities in those he
loved.”[2]
This is, perhaps, the single most important quality in the transformation of
believers—the ability to love those who are especially unlovable with the kind
of constancy demonstrated by Jesus.
There
is a key phrase with significant theological meaning in v. 16b that relates to
another important phrase from v.15. In v. 15 the phrase is “everyone who
believes” and in v. 16b the phrase is “whoever believes.” These two phrases
establish some very important soteriological parameters. Some believe that
there are only a select few whom God has chosen to be saved (Rom 8:29) and the
rest are, by default, condemned to hell (predestination). At the other extreme
are those who insist that God doesn’t desire
that anyone perish (2 Pet 3:9). Therefore, all people will be saved
(universalism). There is really very little biblical evidence to support either
of these positions, and the positions are ultimately condemned by the aforementioned
two phrases. “Everyone who believes” is the inclusive parenthesis that captures
everyone who believes while “whoever
believes” is the exclusive parenthesis that encloses only those who believe. However, you must remember that our subject
text is not about condemnation because of its exclusivity. Instead, v. 16 is a
promise of hope; the hope of an eternity in the presence of God. There is an
important grammatical shift in the text. “The change in the aorist tense to the
present is to be noted, the utter ruin being spoken of [“perish”] as an act,
[against] the possession of life eternal as an enduring experience.”[3]
The
Jews believed that the Messiah would come to judge the nations, restore order
and re-establish Israel’s prominence in the world. However, v. 17 makes it
clear that this was an extremely narrow and self-serving view of the Messiah.
Instead, Jesus makes it clear that his objective was not specifically for the
purpose of condemnation but to provide the means to salvation. We see in this,
the wisdom of God that he doesn’t give us what we want, he gives us what we
need. What does it matter if the nations are judged, order is restored or
Israel is returned once again to its place of prominence if humanity ultimately
spends eternity separated from God? What the Jews needed was the same thing we
all needed—a way to have our sins forgiven and to be reconciled to God—Jesus
became that way. “Jesus is now the face of the one Mediator of God’s favor. In
John, an encounter with this Jesus determines one’s identity in this life and
future in the next.”[4]
I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people lament that they could never
believe in a God that would send people to hell. The fact that you can rarely
talk someone out of this position leads me to believe that this is just a
convenient excuse not to believe in God by appealing to some imagined
injustice. Let me ask you a question: If you are standing on a railroad track
facing an on-coming train and I told you, begged you even, to get off the
tracks and you refused and were run over by the train, who would be to blame:
Me for not dragging you off the tracks? The train engineer for not stopping the
train? Or you for refusing to simply step off the tracks? We find the answer to
that question in v. 18 when Jesus says that those who believe in him are not
condemned but those who don’t believe in him are already condemned. In other
words, we are all condemned in advance as a result of our sins and confirm that
condemnation by the refusal to believe; we are already willingly standing on
the tracks with the train of judgment heading straight for us. It is up to us
if we want to believe in Jesus and simply step off the tracks or refuse to believe
and get run over by the train. We can whine and complain about the on-coming
train; that there should be some other way to avoid being run over. Some insist
that there must be some other way besides Jesus, but v. 18 insures us that
there is no other name that can save us (see previous lesson: What’s In A Name at: http://seredinski.blogspot.com/2013/04/whats-in-name.html).
“Already in need of a Saviour before God’s Son comes on his saving mission,
this person compounds his or her guilt by not believing in the name of that
Son. As with the arrogant critic who mocks a masterpiece, it is not the
masterpiece that is condemned, but the critic. There is no need to await the
final day of judgment (though it will come, Jn 5:26-29): the person who
disbelieves in the Father’s one and only Son stands condemned already, and God’s wrath remains on him
(Jn 3:36).”[5]
The
feigned indignation by those who refuse to believe in God because “a loving God
would never send someone to hell” is revealed for its insincerity in v. 19-21
when Jesus says that people have an opportunity to avoid condemnation but they
refuse to do so because they don’t want to abandon their sinful and sometimes blatantly
evil lives. Jesus is the Light that has come into a world darkened by sin. We
have a choice to allow our lives to be exposed to that Light so the ugly stain
of sin can be washed from our lives or continue to hide in the dark shadows of
sin and evil. Those who live in the darkness of sin and evil believe that they
can somehow overcome or vanquish the Light so that their ways will remain
hidden. However, I want you to try an experiment: Walk into a dark room and
turn on the light. Now try and darken the room without touching the light or turning
it off. The light will always prevail. Light can vanquish darkness but darkness
has no power over the light. Since Jesus is the eternal Light of God, how long
do you suppose evil can remain hidden in the darkness. A day will come when all
darkness will be exposed to God’s Light that is Jesus. If we allow that Light
to expose the darkness in our lives now, we can avoid any condemnation in the
life to come. Entering the life to come still shrouded in the shadow of
darkness will lead to eternal condemnation when all deeds will be exposed by
the Light of the world that is Jesus. “The Redeemer has come into the world as
Light in a dark place, clearly to bring the ‘light’ of salvation. But before
that Light men separated themselves; they either approach it or move away from
it. The former move in the light of salvation, the latter depart from it into
deeper darkness…God’s great saving act has become a means of judgment through
the perverted reaction of people. What causes the wrong decision? ‘Men loved
the darkness more than the light because their deeds were evil.’ They who love
darkness hate the light. Their deeds express their perversity; hence, they keep
far from the Light to avoid exposure. Conversely the believer, here defined as
‘he who does the truth’ [NIV: ‘lives by the truth’], i.e. acts in accordance
with the truth, comes to the Light, for his acts have been achieved through the
grace of God in Christ, and he would acknowledge it before God and the world.
In short, ‘In the decision of faith or unbelief it becomes apparent what man
really is and what he always was.”[6]
Application
Let’s
go back for a moment to Nicodemus. The text doesn’t tell us what he did after
his conversation with Jesus. Do you wonder if what Jesus said to him ever made
any sense? Did Jesus get through to him? Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark.
He was afraid that someone might find out what he was doing. I’m guessing he
wanted to remain in the dark. The only problem—he walked right into the Light.
So what happens when someone walks into the Light? Nicodemus came to Jesus in
the dark at the beginning of Jesus earthly ministry, he stood up for justice in
front of his peers before the Sanhedrin court when Jesus was being false
accused and condemned (Jn 7:50-52), and finally, embraces the Light when he and
another Jewish leader, Joseph of Arimathea, remove Jesus’ dead body from the
cross, prepare the body for burial and place it in a fresh tomb (Jn 19:38-42);
all during the light of day and in full view of the public. What do you suppose
changed? Was it the treat of condemnation and punishment resulting from
unbelief? Unlikely! If condemnation and punishment were a deterrent to
abhorrent behavior then we wouldn’t have a burgeoning prison system. No, I
think the profound love Jesus talked about when Nicodemus first visited him was
on grand display when Jesus gave himself over to be put to death and was lifted
up on a cross. The tumblers in Nicodemus’ mind must have fallen into place as
he watched Jesus lifted up and a cross, recalling Jesus’ words during their
first meeting. It is likely that something else changed Nicodemus’ heart. I
contend it is Jesus’ proclamation of God’s love that brought Nicodemus into the
Light. Just like light is more powerful than darkness, love is far more
powerful than hate.
There
have been numerous rallies around our country this week in the wake of the
acquittal I referenced above. Hate mongers in many communities stoke the flames
of hatred between the races through false accusations of racism. It is an evil
yet effective strategy. Think about it: There can be few things more
infuriating than being falsely accused. I remember studying race relations
during my time in seminary and one the assigned texts centered around the
premise that whites are unknowingly racist because they reside within a vacuum
of racism. Furthermore, the premise contends, any denial of racism by whites
proves they are racist. This is the argument simplified: If you are white, you
are a racist. If you deny you are a racist, it proves you are a racist. It’s
brilliantly evil really—an accusation that can’t be refuted by the accused
without being condemned by the original accusation. So how do we respond to the
hatred that swirls around us, whether we are accused of racism or otherwise
falsely accused? Well, we can fight back with the same ferocity that we are
attacked. This is the quickest, easiest, and most natural response—return anger
and hatred with anger and hatred, and it feels good! The only problem is that
we allow the evil and darkness to drag us into the evil and darkness. This is
not the way of Jesus. Jesus gave us an example of how to respond to false
accusations, evil and hatred in the immediate and subsequently. Let me show
you: When Jesus was arrested and dragged before the Sanhedrin, Scripture tells
us that he was falsely accused by witnesses who were planted by the council to
give false testimony against Him. How did Jesus respond? Was he angry? Was he
screaming or shouting in protest? Did he try to defend himself against the
false accusations? The answer is, no. Jesus was largely silent except for the
admission that he was the Son of God. Although the council was in an uproar
about his claim to divinity, Jesus gave us an example that our first and
perhaps best response could be silence. This may be the best way to mitigate
the initial cycle of anger and hatred. However, this cannot be our only
response to the darkness of evil and hatred. Evil and hatred must be
confronted. Darkness must be vanquished. And Jesus shows us how to do that in
our subject text. Darkness of evil and hatred can only be vanquished when
confronted with the Light that is Jesus. Evil and hatred cannot be overcome
with evil and hatred. Evil and hatred cannot be overcome with the treat of
punishment and condemnation. Evil and hatred can only be overcome through the
transformation of the heart and only the message of God’s love can do that. Our
immediate response to evil and hatred may in fact be to remain silent. However,
we must keep in mind the words of Sir Edmund Burke: “The surest way for evil to
triumph is for good people to do nothing.” At some point, we must be willing to
shine Light into the darkness of people’s hearts and minds by being faithful
witnesses to God’s love in our own lives. And, we must be willing to love those
who are particularly unlovable; those who falsely accuse us; those who abuse
us; those who hate us. Simply put, we must have the courage to Testify To Love.
[1]
Craig Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels,
(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), p. 48.
[2]
Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshal, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 1992), p. 492.
[3] W.
Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s
Greek Testament, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm., B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1983), p. 717.
[4]
David A. deSilva, An Introduction to the
New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, (Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 419.
[5] D.
A. Carson, The Gospel According to John—The
Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1991), p. 207.
[6]
George R. Beasley-Murray, John—Word
Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), pp.
51-52.
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