Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Seminary Senior Ben Sadler
3rd Sunday of Lent
March 7,8, 2010
John 3:14-21

It pains him, but the father knows he must. He places his hands on his son’s arms, and he holds him tight. This son needs a spinal tap. The doctor circles around the table, pulling the long syringe from its sheath. Right before he pricks his patient, the young boy looks into his father’s eyes. The boy’s eyes are welling up with tears. And he says, “Why dad?! Why are you letting them prick me?!!!” The father knows his son doesn’t understand, but he whispers back, “It’s because I love you.” The doctor pricks his patient and the boy screams. “Why!” That scream reverberates all the way here, all the way to our hearts. And we echo his words to our Father in heaven, “Why do you let the evil prick me?!! Why does life have to hurt me Father?!” Our Heavenly Father knows that we don’t always understand, but he still whispers back through his Word, “Because I love you.”
God loves you. This isn’t a new teaching. God has always loved his people. Do you remember the first verse in our reading? Jesus mentions Moses and the Israelites who lived in the desert. God showed his love to them even 3000 years ago. I wish I had a time machine so that I could go back 3000 years ago to see all that the Lord did for Israel. To walk with Moses and God’s people. To see God parting the Red sea. To taste the daily manna, the bread that God gave them. To drink fresh water in the middle of the desert that came from that rock. When we think about how the Lord provided for hundreds of thousands up his people in the desert, we realized God’s love is not a new idea. God loves his people.
Yet, there are parts of Israel’s history that just plain sad. If you could go back and walk with the people of Israel you would see what the Bible says: “the people grew impatient on the way” You would hear the people say to Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There’s no bread! There’s no water! And we detest this miserable food!” The irony is, they did have food. They had manna. They did have water… from the rock. Yet, like a spoiled child they whined and complained, even while they were enjoying the goodness of God.
The people didn’t see their sin. They couldn’t see their complaints as sinning against God, so the Lord allowed snakes to crawl into their camp. The snakes bit them. And many of them died. They had told God, “You aren’t taking care of us. You don’t know what you are doing.” So God let them see what life was like with out him. He pulled back his protecting hand. In love, God let them experience a prick of pain, so that they would see their sin.
We don’t live in a desert, but the blessings we enjoy are no less miraculous. Israel got daily bread from heaven and fresh water from a rock. Yesterday, I got fresh pancakes and a cold glass of milk. It is still crazy to me that we can adjust the temperature in our homes. It’s 72 degrees. Well, I’d rather have it be 71 degrees. I think I’ll change the temperature. I think it is safe to say, we live the most comfortable lifestyle in the history of the world. Look around. God loves his people. God loves this world.
Yet, what is the world’s overwhelming response? Just read the front page of the news paper. Doesn’t sound an awful a lot like Israel’s complaints? There’s no bread! There’s no water! And we detest this miserable food! Those complaints don’t just happen out there, do they? They happen in here. What comes out of our mouths sounds all too similar to Israel, except we say: There’s no money! There’s no jobs! And we detest the houses we live in! Maybe you disagree with me. Maybe you think we are much different than ancient Israel. But what do you often talk about at work? I’m not getting paid enough for my job. What do we talk about at school? School is boring and my teacher stinks. When I read how Israel complained to Moses about their situation, I was ashamed because it sounds like me. And worse of all is that Israel wasn’t just complaining about Moses, they were complaining about God. When we complain about our lives, we are complaining about God. It is as we were saying, “God, you don’t care about me! God, you aren’t given me the kind of life that I want! God, you don’t know what you are doing!”
Even worse we don’t even realize we are doing this. And so some times the Lord has to get our attention. Some times he allows us to suffer. He sent snakes to Israel. He sends hardships to us. It hurts to be hurting for money. It hurts when our health takes a turn for the worse. We can’t say we always know why God lets us suffer. But some times he lets us hurt so that we can hear our own complaints, so that we can wake up to see our own sin.
When the LORD sent those snakes to Israel, they realized how wicked they had become. God had been more than loving to them, but they spit in his faith. And they realized it. So they said, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And in love, the Lord sent them a solution. He had Moses make a bronze snake, and everyone who looked at that bronze snake would be healed. God loved them enough to let them suffer. God loved them enough to send them a solution. God loved them enough to lead them to repentance. God loved them enough to restore them with his forgiveness.
That’s really what Jesus is talking about in our reading from John 3: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” One reason that the Lord allows us to suffer hardships, the job loss, the heath issues, and those difficult days, is so that we would look to Jesus who was lifted up. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, Jesus was lifted up on a cross. God has been working in your life so that we would look at Jesus lifted up on that cross.
Why did Jesus do that? Why did he let himself be lifted up? That brings us to the verse we have all been waiting for John 3:16: “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. I bet this isn’t the first time you’ve heard this verse. Even if it is, let’s think about what it says. Let’s think about what it means for you. God so loved the world. God loved this world. The world. All people of all time. The people that make the news and the headlines, even the people that fill the history books, the Peter’s and Judases, the Hitlers and Stalins. God loved the world. And he even loved you. Yes, you. If you think, God couldn’t love me. You don’t know what I have done. Then listen to this verse. God loved the world. Are apart of this world? Then God loved you.
He gave his one and only Son. God is serious about sin. He hates sin. You can see how serious he is about sin, when you look at Jesus suffering on the cross. But God the Father gave up his Son for you. Jesus, God the Son, gave up his life for you. He gave his one and only Son.
Whoever believes in him. We believe in Jesus. This is not just some “faith” or any type of faith. This is not Oprah’s view of faith. We trust in Jesus as our Savior. We believe in Jesus who was lifted up.
Because Jesus says, we Shall not perish but have eternal life. Have you ever been afraid to die? You shall not perish. Have you ever wondered what will happen on judgment day? You shall not perish. If you wonder what the whole point of Lent, Good Friday, and Easter are, listen to me. You shall not perish.
You who are young, let me say something that has always helped me picture death. Have you ever fallen asleep in one room, but then in the morning you woke up in your bed? I remember that happening to me when I was younger. I would fall asleep in the living room and wake up in the morning in my room. While I was sleeping my parents carried me to my room. That is what death will be like. At the end of your life, it will be like you fall asleep in this world, but you will be woken up by Jesus. You will pass away in this world, but the angels will carry you to Jesus, and you will wake up in heaven and see Jesus. That is a fact. Do you know why? John 3:16 says, you shall not perish but have eternal life.
But maybe there is still someone here who was like that girl in my catechism class. She was scared about Judgment Day. She wondered if she was going to have to stand before God, and if so, would she say the right answer. I wish I would have had this next verse on my mind: John 3:17. “Whoever 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.” As serious as our sins are we don’t have to worry about judgment Day. Jesus was judged, you are not. You are innocent before God in Jesus.
God so loved the world, and we see it. I know that because of how you carry yourself during those difficult days. When you lose that loved one, you won’t grief like the rest of the world. When money gets tight, you won’t worry like the rest of the world. And why? Why do we look at suffering differently? It’s because as Jesus says, We come into the light of God’s Word, and see that what is being done in our lives has been done through God. “We come into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what is being done in our lives is done through God.” With God’s help, God working in us we will not complain like the rest of the world, but rejoice in his love. God loves us. I know it. Because he is on a cross. God loves us. I know it. He rose from the dead. God loves us. I know it. He is working all things out for my ultimate good. What do I have to complain about?
Whenever this world sees pain, many people ask Christians, “Why would you believe in a God who would allow people to suffer?” Now, we have to be clear, we don’t always know why God allows people to suffer. But the Bible tells us one reason why the Lord allows us to suffer. It really has to do with how we answer this question: What is our greatest need? Is our greatest need to be without pain? Is our greatest need to be financially free and always emotionally happy? If that is true, then we have a cruel and unloving Father because look around God doesn’t always give us those things. But isn’t our greatest need bigger than those earthly issues? Isn’t our greatest need forgiveness? Yes. Our greatest need is forgiveness. Well then, you really do have a good Father in Heaven. Because your Father is willing to do anything to take our eyes off ourselves, so that we might look to the cross. I don’t know why God would allowing each specific hardship to come into you life. But I know what he says in his Word: I so love you that I gave my one and only Son, and through believing in him you shall not perish but you will have eternal life. Amen

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