Pastor’s Note: This post/sermon is a revisit of a message I gave about a year ago. I did post the original message on a separate blog page I have (Grocery Gospel) but have not posted there with the regularity of this Blog. I note the additions further on in the message. You can listen to the recently presented sermon by clicking HERE to listen on Spotify or follow us wherever you get your podcasts.
“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.”
John 3:16 NIV
Yogurt. Eggs. Butter. Milk. Tortillas. What do they all have in common?
Besides that they are edible, they are included in a sub-department in my grocery store called “Perishable.”
Now, strictly speaking everything in the store is perishable. Or having the ability to perish. But certain items have longer shelf lives. Things on the pantry aisle like canned goods can have a year or two, chip aisle maybe 3-6 months. But perishable? Most items are 2 – 6 weeks!
This got me thinking about this verse from the gospel according to John. Jesus is explaining spiritual things to a very spiritual Nicodemus. Nicodemus is not exactly following.
The Why and the How
Jesus speaks of eternal life, healing coming from the uplifted Son of Man back in verses 14-15, and then he takes these following verses to explain why and how.
- Why? Why did God send this son? Because God SO loved the world
- How does this all work out? Believe in the Son and you’ll not perish.
Whether we’d like to admit it or not, we all have an expiration date. There will be a day where we will draw our last breath OR the other option…you may have heard of it – Jesus comes back before you die and the dead in Christ rise first. Then we’re caught up with him in the air, (1 Thes 4:17). All that to say, our time will come one way or another.
When I’m working in the perishable part of the grocery store, I’ll pick up an item on the front of the shelf and look at its expiration date.
If it expires in the next 4 days, I’ll get a sticker gun – a labeler of sorts – and mark down the price of the item. I want to sell that item before the end of its expiration date, or else I can’t sell it.
Sometimes I don’t get to the item before they expire. One day, I stumbled upon a great number of items that had spoiled out. I needed to make a record of them and give them to staff, food pantry or throw them away.
This very concept made me stop and think about our personal expiration dates. Time for you and me is shorter on this earth than it was yesterday. That seems depressing, but for the Christian, we have the hope of the resurrection and the promise of eternal life with Christ.
You might think, “Well it’s a good thing I do have Christ, I am serving and loving Christ. It’s great I have my eternity planned in a no-smoking section.” But this should also motivate us.
There are TONS of people we meet EVERYDAY who do not know/love Jesus. Are not serving Him. Are not fully surrendered.
One Step Further – 2023
(The following material was added to connect this message with what we’ve been studying the past several weeks.)
We’ve been studying a few of the Pauline Epistles. Letters from the Apostle Paul. A couple of weeks ago we started Ephesians and even though we are not focusing on it specifically today, I want to note a few things he says in Chapter 3.
The Children of Israel
All throughout the Old Testament it seemed the Children of Israel were the only ones God intended to include and draw to Himself. Certainly, in the New Testament, that is the sentiment of the Jews, Priests, Teachers of the Law, Pharisees and Sadducees.
“4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 3:4-6 NIV
Before this message- this revelation to Paul and other Apostles in the New Testament– the Gentiles would have had to convert to Judaism in order to be accepted into the community and share in the promise to the Children of Israel. We learned in Galatians, a much earlier letter to a Gentile Christian Church, Circumcision didn’t mean anything. It did not graft gentiles into the promise, (as it was supposed) but made them slaves of the Law like the other Jews. They put their faith in the wrong thing. Paul says here, it is not circumcision, but that through the gospel, the “gentiles are heirs together with Israel.”
Perhaps some people missed out on the following verses from Genesis, but God told Abraham all about his blessing for the whole wide world.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”[a]
Gen 12:3 NIV
God talking to himself before the destruction of Sodom and Gamorah reflects about this blessing once again:
“Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.[c]”
Gen 18:18 NIV
And right after Abraham attempts to sacrifice his son and God stops him,
“15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”
Gen 22:15-18
Paul says in Ephesians these things were hidden, but it seems as though God’s plan to bless all nations was hidden in plain sight.
Application & Motivation
If you are a Christian, please don’t rest on your laurels.
Christian: there are people out there that are expiring without being saved.
Without knowing Jesus.
Without being shaped and changed by him.
Do you think that God loves the “pre-christian” less than the Christian? Certainly Not. We must live in such a way that shows the grace of God, the desire of God to have everyone come to him through faith in Jesus Christ.
What are you going to do about that?
Challenge
Option 1 – PRAY for 1 person specifically. BE OPEN to share the good news with them as God gives the opportunity.
Option 2 – INVITE 1 person to come to church next Sunday morning
Option 3 – Both!
Option 4 – SHARE this blog post or podcast with a friend or on social media.
Remember, people are a precious commodity. Jesus died to purchase our salvation! We shouldn’t just slap a discount sticker on someone that’s going “bad”, leaving them to their perceived- eternally hot destiny. There’s still hope for them. You and I can introduce them to that Hope.
We need to reach people with the good news that God Doesn’t want them to perish. That If they come to Him, they can have everlasting life.
Viroqua Naz 