Week 1 Wrap Up

This last week we looked at:

John 3:16-21 (ESV) 
 “For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

To be honest when the Lord first placed this passage on my heart I was reluctant to use it. John 3:16 is such an anthem verse for Christianity that I think many of us carry it around with an "I got this" mentality and/or have become desensitized to it's power, promise, and life. In my own life I've taken it for granted. It wasn't until I processed through the before and after, the history, the author, the speaker, the audience, and the implications and applications that it has, both then and now, that new life was breathed into me as I saw this passage in a fresh light.

One of the first things that we talked about was some of the back-story of this passage. The book of John was written by John, son of Zebedee, a fisherman by trade, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, and brother to James and Peter. It was written between 70-100 AD to both Jews and Gentiles. This particular passage is an account of part of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Governing body in religious matters. You may recall in Matthew 26:57-67 that Jesus is brought before the Sanhedrin. They were in search of false evidence in order to convict and crucify Him.

Second, we talked of God's love and how He was willing to sacrifice HIS ONLY Son for our Redemption, Restoration, and to so that we could have Relationship with Him. Being a Mom I couldn't imagine sending one of my daughters into a torturous experience to die for people that I love and adore much less people that have rejected me and turned their backs on me time and time again. BUT God in His great love for us DID. He aches to know us, for us to be made whole, and to be Restored to Himself, and to live in the relationship that He originally intended for us to have, as in the Garden of Eden.

Third, we talked about believing. What does it really mean to believe? Would our lives look any differently if we truly believed that He sent His son because of  His love for us and not to condemn us? Would our lives look any differently if we truly believed  that He is the one who saves and gives life? Would our lives look any differently if we truly believed that He is who He says He is?

Fourth, we dove a little deeper into what it is to be condemned. To often we live in a realm of condemnation, I'm not pretty enough, not smart enough, not clever enough, not good enough, not faithful enough.
This is not how God sees us. He did not send His Son to earth so that we might wallow in the mire of condemnation. NO He did so to give us LIFE...ETERNAL LIFE!!! 1 John 4 speaks to the fact that we do not have to fear (condemnation or anything for that matter), perfect love (Christ) casts our fear.

Last, we talked about what it is to be in the light, not just pretending to be in the light, but fully in the light. We shared how we all have places in our lives that we would not want light shined on. I mean for me, I like to watch TV and of course there have been lots of new ones starting up recently and I have to ask myself would I be blameless or embarrassed or ashamed if Christ shined the light on me in this moment watching this. For you it may be a specific type of book, website, gossip column, group of friends, that are not light. Christ is very clear here we need to be fully in the light.

My prayer for us is that we would bask in the FREEDOM we have through the cross, that we would daily live in a way that honors Christ, the gospel, and what was given at the cross. That we would step boldly out in faith BELIEVING in who God is...Believing that He has set us free and live liberated. That we would no longer live in condemnation but in life, being able to pour out life into those around us. That we would be bold enough to look our Savior in the face and ask Him to reveal to us any area of darkness that needs to come to the light and that we would be OBEDIENT to surrender that Darkness to THE LIGHT our Savior...Our REDEEMER...OUR LORD.