Good morning.  Today we are going to talk about a topic that we all know something about.  We are also going to use the most well know 3:16 in the world.  That’s right, we are going to talk about Love and we are going to look at John 3:16.  Before we get started though this morning let’s begin with a word of prayer.

Love is the identifying mark of the children of God.  Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”  One of the early church fathers said about the early believers, “Behold, how they love one another.”  It is not that we have that love inherent in ourselves, but the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  And He teaches us how to love people the way we ought to.

Before we get to that verse, turn with me to another 3:16.  This one should be familiar to you as well, it is I John 3:16.  If you remember, we did a Sunday night series on the book of I John.  Anyway, here in I John 3:16 it says, “1”

It is an interesting coincidence, that in John’s gospel, chapter 3:16, and here in his first letter to the churches the same author writes this truth, and not only does it become the 16th verse of the third chapter, but it expounds the same great theme.

The theme: “We know love by this...” Mankind has made so many attempts to define love that volumes upon volumes of books have been written about it.  Over the centuries romantic love has been the theme of the larger part of all music written and sung.

How many of the classic plays, novels, and movies have in some way been based on the theme of love; yet, if you ask 10 people to define love, you’re likely to get 10 different definitions.

But John gives us the briefest and best definition of love right here in this verse.  We could not know love apart from God.  God is love.  And if we do not know love; His kind of love, then we don’t know love at all.

As we look here in I John, we have An Example to Reflect.  Again I John 3:16 says, “1” “He laid down His life.”

John is referring to Jesus.  In this brief statement John tells us three very important things about the death of the Jesus.

1. It was voluntary.  Nobody took His life away from Him, He laid His life down.  Unless Jesus Christ had decided to die on the cross He would never have died.  Life was not taken from Him on the cross, but rather He chose the exact moment of His death.

2. It was Vicarious.  Now for those of us that need dictionaries right now, that word simply means it was a death on behalf of others.  It says, “He laid down His life for us.…”  It means “in place of.”  Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place.

3. It Was Victorious.  The tense of the verb “laid down” in the Greek means “He did it once and for all.”  When Jesus died on the cross He cried, “It is finished,” and once and for all He laid down His life.

Because He did that we ought to lay down our lives to serve others.  He laid His life down to save, we ought to lay our life down to serve.  So many people just live for themselves, everything revolves only around them-selves and they’re interested in what they can get for themselves.

Right after that verse we have An Example to Reject in verse 17.  Here in I John 3:17 it says, “1”

This does not mean one who has an abundance of things but rather one who has the basic necessities of life.  If you see somebody with need and don’t help him or her, or if you turn your back on them, how can the love of God be in you?

Jesus graphically illustrated that in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  We use this word “love” in a lot of different ways.  But when the Bible uses love it always uses it in the context of giving.  Love is a verb.  In the Bible, Love is an active word and where there is love there will always be an outgoing to the needs of other people.

And finally with this passage, look at verse 18.  Here in I John 3:18 it says, “1”

And if we don’t love in what we do it’s not really true love.  It’s one thing to be talking about it but it’s another thing to be doing something about it.  It’s one thing to talk about helping the needy, it’s another thing to help the needy.  It is one thing to talk about winning souls to the Lord, it’s another thing to actually be talking to people about the Lord.

Now, let’s go ahead and turn over to the famous verse, John 3:16.  Why don’t you read that verse with me.  John 3:16 says, “2”

John 3:16 has been called the greatest verse in the Bible.  It is learned in Vacation Bible School, quoted often in sermons, and memorized at church camp.

Many preachers have preached a sermon by taking the verse phrase by phrase.  I read a 13- point sermon this past week using that method.  I find it hard to beat this for clearly telling the gospel in a nutshell, so I will share how they broke it down.

For God - The greatest one
So loved - The greatest degree
The world - The greatest amount of people
That He gave - The greatest generosity
His only begotten Son - The greatest uniqueness
That whosoever - The greatest invitation
Believes in Him - The greatest simplicity
Should not - The greatest certainty
Perish - The greatest possible loss
But - The greatest difference
Have - The greatest possession
Eternal - The greatest length
Life - The greatest gift

A grandmother was going shopping with her daughter and 2 little boys.  The children had discovered a new word to use when upset with each other.  As they started for the stores they suddenly became angry with each other.  “I hate you!” and “I hate you, too!” they yelled back and forth.  “That’s not very nice,” their mother said.  “I’m certainly not going to take 2 little boys who hate each other to McDonald’s for lunch.”  5-year-old Jamie quickly backed down.  “I don’t really hate you, Billy.”  But Billy, with the clear logic of being 3 years old, responded, “Yeah, but I still hate you!  I’m not hungry.”

I hate you: 3 words, so much violence picturing an embittered life.  Human hatred has always been marking people’s lives.  However, an impression that has been stronger and longer lasting was the message of John 3:16, the day God says to people’s hearts, “I love you.”

Here is a working definition of love (the agape’ love found in Scripture):
God’s kind of love is an unselfishness which results in doing the best for another, even at the highest personal cost, without requiring or expecting payback.
Now, frankly, it is difficult for us humans to grasp that, to understand how God or anyone could act in someone else’s best interest without expecting something in return.  I would like to show you this morning through a few statements how that kind of God-love is not only possible, but also how it is vitally connected with the 3 “omni” characteristics about God.  Agape’ love is connected with the nature of God in His omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence.

Statement #1 He loved us in spite of His Omniscience
Omniscience is all about knowing everything.  A pastor visited an elderly couple for dinner.  During dinner the husband always talked so sweetly to his wife.  Each time, he addresses her as “Sweetheart, pass the butter.”  Or “Dear One will you get some more coffee?  Thank you love of my life.”

When the wife went to the kitchen, the Pastor said to the husband, “Bob, it’s wonderful that after more than fifty years of marriage you are still calling your wife by all those wonderful endearing names – love, sweetheart, punkin’.  Then the husband said, “Well, preacher, actually about 10 years ago I forgot her name…can you help me here?”

The point here is that God knew us, and knows us; and He has forgotten nothing about us.  He knows everything and yet He still went to the cross for us.  That’s love!  That’s agape’, the unselfish love.  In Romans 5:8 it says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The love of God is tied to the omniscience of God in that God knows all about everybody.  He not only knows the bad stuff we’ve done, and the good stuff we’ve been commanded to do, but left undone; God also knows our troubles.  He knows when the world has beaten us down and it feels like its time to give up.  He knows when you’re at the breaking point.  That’s why He went to the cross for you.

Statement #2 He loved us in spite of His Omnipotence
Omni-potent, all-powerful; He can do with strength whatever strength can do.  Now you may ask how exactly is this tied to love?  What relationship does love and power have?  Well, it has to do with the cross.  I have heard many gospel songs over the years that state this very well.  One has a phrase, He could have called 10 thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free…but He died alone, for you and me.

The reality is that Jesus stayed on the cross, despite having all the power in the universe at his disposal.  Had He chosen so He could have ended everything in the entire universe with a single spoken word.  He has that power.  But He loved you and me so much that He was willing to die for our sins.

Statement #3 He loved us so we could join Him in His Omnipresence
Follow the love of Jesus in these few verses from the New American Standard Bible.  In Titus 3:4-7 it says,

“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of, regeneration, and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

We are Heirs!  If Jesus is the son, and the Father makes us heirs, what does that make of our relationship to Jesus? He is our Brother!  The Lord wants us to join Him as brothers in omnipresence.  Now I know we cannot be everywhere at once in the flesh.  However, with the indwelling Spirit of God active in my life and yours, we are somehow joined with believers everywhere, bringing the ministry and the love of the omnipresent Lord as salt and light around the globe.

Tony Campollo tells this story about Joe.  “Joe was a drunk, miraculously converted in a street outreach mission.  Before his conversion he’d gained a reputation, as a dirty wino for whom there was no hope.  But following his conversion to Christ, everything changed.  Joe became the most caring person at the mission.  He spent his days there, doing whatever needed to be done.

There was never anything he was asked to do that he considered beneath him.  Whether it was cleaning up vomit left by some sick alcoholic, or scrubbing toilets after men had left them filthy, Joe did it all with a heart of gratitude.

He could be counted on to feed any man who wandered in off the streets, undress and tuck him into bed, when he was too out-of-it to take care of himself.”

Campollo goes on to say, “One evening, after the mission director delivered his evangelistic message to the usual crowd of sullen men with drooped heads, one of them looked up, came down to the altar and kneeled to pray, crying out for God to help him change.  The repentant drunk kept shouting, “Oh God, make me like Joe!  Make me like Joe!  Make me like Joe!”  The director leaned over and said, “Son, wouldn’t it be better if you prayed ‘make me like Jesus?’”

“After thinking about it for a few moments, the man looked up with an inquisitive expression and asked, “Is He like Joe?””

Is He like Joe?  Is He like Judy, Sarah, Sheryl?  Is He like Keith, Ted, Charlie…and on around the room?  The answer should be yes, yes, and yes!  We are called to imitate and to be like Christ, and hopefully that is exactly what we are doing.  Jesus Christ loved us with His dying and resurrection so that we would join Him in His omnipresence all around the world.

In the 60’s movie “Love Story” Ali McGraw turned to Ryan O’Neal and said, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”  Is that the way that we love each other with our actions?  Do we love one another so much that we never have to say I’m sorry?

Well I certainly hope so, and if not, may we strive to make that a goal in our relationships with others from now on.  We need to love others so much that we never have to say, “I’m sorry.”

In closing, Jesus is an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present, and all-loving God.  He offers eternal life with Him.  And guys, that is not just for when we die.  It is the opportunity to immediately experience the power of His death and resurrection and the opportunity to be with Him for eternity from this moment on.  Jesus only waits for those 2 words from you – “Yes, Lord”.  If you respond to this all-loving Jesus who died for you by loving Him back and you will be a part of a great body of believers and a great love.  Will you do that today, and say to Him, “Yes Lord, I love you.”  Or will you continue to say, “No Lord, I hate you.”  The choice is up to you, and I pray that you have chosen or will choose the first answer and Love Him.

Let’s Pray