Scripture John 3:16-17
VIDEO: Master Card – the Dog one.
VIDEO: Master Card – the Dog one.
(PIC A – leave up till
changing to PIC B) Everyday we
wonder what something is worth. Is my job worth me staying there? Is this
relationship worth my emotional energy? Is a steak at these prices really worth
it? Is voting worth standing in line for an hour? Is not sleeping in on Sunday,
so I can go to church, worth it? Am I really worth anything to
anyone else?
The answer to some of those questions really doesn’t matter much, but some of them, especially the last one has a great impact on your well-being. The other day, my brother mentioned that my son knows his worth – that he is so self-assured. I agreed then later thought about it – he is Christ assured. Yes, Nathan has a confidence about himself, but I know that his greatest worth is found in Christ, as is true of most everyone in my family. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.”
Like most, I grew up confident in some things, intimidated by others. But when I came to faith in Jesus and his words, I had a new found confidence that was not limited by what the world thought or said about me or what I perceived other people might think. In light of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, I discovered my name is on the Master’s Card and that I am priceless in his sight. Let’s look at what it says on the back of the Master’s Card…John 3:16-17 NIV (PIC B)
The answer to some of those questions really doesn’t matter much, but some of them, especially the last one has a great impact on your well-being. The other day, my brother mentioned that my son knows his worth – that he is so self-assured. I agreed then later thought about it – he is Christ assured. Yes, Nathan has a confidence about himself, but I know that his greatest worth is found in Christ, as is true of most everyone in my family. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.”
Like most, I grew up confident in some things, intimidated by others. But when I came to faith in Jesus and his words, I had a new found confidence that was not limited by what the world thought or said about me or what I perceived other people might think. In light of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, I discovered my name is on the Master’s Card and that I am priceless in his sight. Let’s look at what it says on the back of the Master’s Card…John 3:16-17 NIV (PIC B)
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17 THE MESSAGE (PIC C)
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.
Wow, there is a lot there to unpack. What does it mean that God loved the world? Is that the earth? All the people who were alive at that time; or of all time? Does it mean the systems that make the world function; natural – like the elements of our solar system or our governmental systems? I think we can easily agree, it is primarily, if not completely concerning people. However, what people? All people of all time? Or was it meant for the one person Jesus said it too? This was not the sermon on the mount to thousands of people – this was a private conversation late at night with a member of the Jewish ruling council named Nicodemus. That encounter was a single conversation on a single night in Jerusalem, Israel. However, Nicdodemus not only represents himself, or the Jewish ruling council, he represents anyone and everyone who would inquire of Jesus, and therefore Jesus’ response is meant for anyone…everyone.
To make it personal, you could say, God so loved “my world”…my life…me that he gave his one and only son. Recognizing you are not the only reason, but you are a reason. I think people can read John 3:16 and not know this was spoken BY Jesus to AN individual while including all people of all time.
Jesus sees you as a person of great worth – he created you – he wants you to know him and experience his love. Consider how he prayed for the disciples and know he would pray the same way for you:
John 17:9-11 Jesus prays for us – “Father protect them”
I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one.
*Matthew 12:9-13 Healing the shriveled hand on the sabbath.
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
Jesus was willing, at the risk of his own safety to care for people because he loved them:
Matthew 12:14-16 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was.
Three young men who were visiting Washington went into the National Museum. On one of the glass cabinets was a label that read: "The body of a man, weighing one hundred and fifty-four pounds." "Where is the man?" asked one of the young men. No one answered him. In the cabinet were two jars of water and other jars in which were phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, potassium, sodium, and other chemicals. Another section held a row of clear glass jars filled with gasses—hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The materials in those cabinets were given in exact proportion as combined in an ordinary man. After looking at the assortment for some time in silence, one of the young men said: "And that is what I am made of? That is all that is needed to make me?"
"That is all," said a bystander as he smiled and walked on.
But the young man did not smile. "If that is all that is needed," said one, "so much lime, so much gas, so much water, we should be exactly alike. There is something more which they cannot put into cabinets."
"Yes," said another, "that which God added after the elements were all in place, God breathed into those elements his very own breath which gave each of us a living soul." They passed on in silence, their souls and their God suddenly becoming real before those cabinets filled with all the material essentials for the making of a man.
Now we come to the end of the sermon with the story of Jesus and another individual who is not given a name in scripture, but is given the name Dismas in a writing that was not included in the canon of scripture – that work just happened to be called, the Gospel of Nicodemus. And so here is the story of that individual, from Luke 23 – the end of Jesus ministry should be read beside the story of the other individual and we will know our individual worth when we see how Jesus views Nicodemus and dismas.
CONCLUSION
*Luke 23:32-34, 39-43 “Today you will be with me in paradise”
When Jesus was dying on the cross and he said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Who was the they he was talking about – who should God forgive. We assume he meant the ones crucifying him, therefore we are off the hook. Let’s read it and see:
Luke 23:32-43
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals — one on his right (apocraphal – his name is Dismas), the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." 38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
The greatest obstacle to being physically or mentally challenged, is not the condition but the stigma society still associates with it. The truth is we are valuable because of who we are, not because of how we look or what we accomplish. And that applies to all of us, the disabled and the temporarily able-bodied alike. A female author wrote, I'm convinced God didn't turn His back at the moment of Jeff's conception, who had both mental and physical challenges form birth. He is still the God of miracles, but in this instance, the one who received healing was me. Our Lord is still in the business of changing lives, but not always in the ways we expect. Several years ago, Jeff played in a special Little League for kids with disabilities. After many seasons of watching from the bleachers and rooting while his big brother played ball, Jeff's opportunity finally arrived. When he received his uniform, he couldn't wait to get home to put it on.
No comments:
Post a Comment