Looking Toward Sunday

June 3, 2012 - First Sunday in Pentecost 

"God Loves You - Like It or Not"

This week we look at the story of Jesus' late-night discussion with Nicodemus the Pharisee. (You can read it here.) It's a rather long conversation, but we'll be focusing on only the last two verses. 

The first of those two verses is surely the most loved, most memorized, most often quoted verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (John 3:16)  They're wonderful words that proclaim God's essential quality (love) and God's primary purpose (to save).  God demonstrated the depth of God's love for us by sending Jesus to save us.

It's a verse that should bring great comfort, but it's been used by some Christians to cause great anxiety - a means of judging and condemning those who haven't received God's gift of Jesus. Their assertion is that there are people to whom God's love does not extend. 

Is that really what Jesus meant?  What does John 3:16-17 tell us about God's motive and purpose in sending Jesus?  What does this passage suggest about the scope and reach of God's love?  And who exactly is "the world" that God so loved?  Join us as we explore those questions and reflect on the meaning of the most popular verse in scripture.

See you Sunday!