Advent: Love 2024
Advent Dox
Call to worship / OT reading:
pastor bobby owens
Deuteronomy 6.4-9
NT reading:
pastor zachary mcguire
1 John 4.7-12
song:
Hark the herald
Historical reading:
dr. brett eckel
BOCP Collect
song:
What child is this?
Kids choir
Confession & Pardon
pastor Andrew loginow
song:
O come let us adore him
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Advent: Love 2024
Introduction
I don’t think that means what you think it means – have you ever found yourself either saying the words or receiving the words: I don’t think that means what you think it means. I have. My wife Bethany is smarter than I am; I’m sure you’re all aware of this, but let me tell you a story to illustrate how dumb I am. When I was writing my dissertation Bethany proof read each chapter and at one point she uttered the words: “I don’t think that means what you think it means.” The word was infamous and I was using it as if it meant, “super famous,” as opposed to, “well known for some bad quality.” Literally writing a dissertation and didn’t know what this word meant – this is the level of intelligence I’m working with, fam.
I do wonder, though, if this verse – probably, along with the Lord’s Prayer, the most famous in the all of Scripture – I wonder if this verse means what you think it means. Whether you’ve been in church every week of your life, or this is your 1st Sunday ever in church, I’d bet that you’ve heard of John 3.16; even if it was seeing a John 3.16 sign at a football game or something. But often with notoriety comes misunderstanding. There’s a reason why this verse is so famous – it is an excellent summary of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. And in this verse we see that God’s motivation behind the gospel is love.
This is the 4th Sunday of Advent. We lit the love candle. Every year on the Sunday nearest Christmas the church pauses to celebrate the advent of God’s love. The word Advent is from the Latin, adventus, which means, “coming or arriving;” so the 4th Sunday of Advent is about the celebration of the coming or the arrival of God’s love. And what better Scripture passage to meditate upon today than John 3.16?
God’s Love is the Meaning of Advent
The 1st word of John 3.16 in English is for, it’s actually the 2nd word in Greek because the word γαρ is postpositive, that’s a syntactical term meaning even though it’s 2nd in order you read it as 1st. The word for is a conjunction that’s connecting what is about to be said with what was just said. So in order to understand what John 3.16 actually means we have to understand what Jesus was saying before verse 16. Chapter 3 introduces us to a ruler of Israel named Nicodemus. Nicodemus believes that Jesus came from God, but because Jesus is so unpopular with the Pharisees, Nicodemus waits til it’s dark to meet Jesus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they’re born again. At this point Nic’s confused; how can a man be born a 2nd time, it’s not like you can re-enter your mother’s womb? Jesus explains – this 2nd birth is not physical but is spiritual. When Nicodemus is still confused Jesus rebukes him for being a teacher of God’s Word who doesn’t understand God’s Word. And then Jesus alludes to Numbers 21 and reveals this passage from the Torah is about him – the Son of Man who will come from heaven and be lifted up as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness.
And then verse 16 continues the conversation with the word for – Jesus is going to explain the meaning behind this advent, the meaning behind the coming of God’s Son, who will be lifted up and the answer is God’s love: For God loved the world. God’s love is His motivation for sending His Son. The word loved in John 3.16 is ηγαπησεν, which is the aorist active indicative of αγαπη. The verb is active because in advent, in the gospel, in redemptive history, God’s love is active – God is the initiator; God is the one sending.
God is love; Pastor Zack read it in the Call to Worship this morning. Think about when you’ve experienced love – from a spouse, a parent, a child, a friend – I mean, genuine love. Like, no baggage, no strings attached; the kind of love where you can be yourself, it’s free, it’s comfortable, it’s safe; that kind of love. That love is but a glimpse, a shadow of the very character of God Himself. Because we’ve embraced – and rightly, might I add – the Reformed tradition, we can be prone to emphasize the holiness, righteousness, justice, and wrath of God, and we should because these divine attributes are Biblical and too many throw them overboard, but guys, shame on us if in zeal for God’s holiness we throw God’s love overboard. The motivation for Advent, the motivation for the gospel is God’s love.
God’s Love is the Man of Advent
And what is the result of God’s love? The ESV says for God so loved the world. If you have this verse memorized that’s probably how you’ve memorized it, and that’s fine. I don’t think it’s the clearest translation, but all of the modern translations keep it this way because they’ve inherited the KJV translation and there’s some sentimentality to how it sounds. But a better translation is more like – for God loved the world in this way. The adverb ουτως can be translated, “so, thus, in this way.” John shows us this is the way in which God loved the world.
And the way God loved the world was by sending His only begotten Son. Let’s think 1st about the noun and 2nd about the verb; 1st about the person, 2nd about the work; 1st about the only begotten Son and 2nd about what it means that He was sent. What does it mean that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son? The ESV says only Son, but I’m translating it as only begotten, why? Is there a difference?
We don’t have time to delve too deep into this but if you were interested to learn more I would recommend a paper on the subject written by our very own John Babuka. If you want to read it, have him e-mail it to you. In the paper John argues that μονογενής should be translated only begotten and not simply as only or unique. This is what we confess in the Nicene Creed that the Lord Jesus is “begotten from the Father before all ages…[that Christ is] begotten, not made.” Begotten is familial language meaning, “sired or descended from a father” – begotten is to father as born is to mother. Jesus is the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity; He is the eternally and only begotten Son of God.
And this only begotten Son of the Father was sent by Father. John 3.13 says Jesus descended from heaven. St. John introduced the incarnation at the beginning of his Gospel when he wrote, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1.1, 14). The Father sent the Son to be “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” And what did the Father send the Son to do?
Jesus tells us in verse 14: as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Jesus is alluding to Numbers 21 where Israel was dying because of their sin. They were complaining against God so the Lord sent fiery serpents to kill them. The people confessed their sin to Moses and God told Moses to make a bronze serpent on a pole and all who looked to the lifted serpent would be healed and live.
This story points us back to the beginning where our father Adam and mother Eve were deceived by the serpent and fell in sin. And it points foreward to how the curse of the serpent will be reversed. The Father sent the Son to be lifted up on the cross and die to heal us so we might live. Because Jesus never sinned He was able to endure God’s just wrath against sin – Christ voluntarily took on the judgment of sin – death; but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5.8). And because He is righteous the Lord Jesus resurrected on the 3rd day. Advent is really about Good Friday and Easter Sunday. As the late Dr. Tim Keller said, “Easter proves that Christmas was real.”
God’s Love is the Message of Advent
Because that’s true, the message of Advent is the message of the gospel. For God loved the world in this way that He gave His only begotten Son…what’s next? The Greek word is ινα, it means, “So that, in order that.” In order that what? Everyone who is believing in Him might not die (or perish), but have eternal life. This is the message that we call the gospel – the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s break down what the rest of this verse means because it truly is the most important thing you will ever hear. Everyone who is believing – why am I translating it like that instead of the traditional whoever believes? While I may not be grammatically correct, I’m doing so because the Greek word believe – πιστευων – is a present, active, participle. A participle is a verbal noun and this participle is present active so the emphasis is on a person who is actively believing.
Belief is faith. It is faith in Him (Jesus) that John speaks of here. What is faith? The Reformed tradition has long defined faith as comprising 3 essential components: knowledge, assent, and trust. Faith begins with knowledge – the knowledge that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. To have faith means that you not only know the good news of Jesus, but you assent to the validity of the good news – you confess it and you don’t deny it. Then the final and most crucial element of faith is trust – you transfer your trust to Jesus alone.
If God has given you faith, it will be revealed in your repentance. To repent means to confess your sin and turn from your sin. Confession means agreeing with God about your sin; acknowledging that you’re guilty. And turning means you stop committing that sin and start doing what you’re supposed to be doing – you quit breaking God’s Law and start keeping God’s Law. Of course we never do this perfectly, but we always repent – we confess and we turn.
And we do so, because the text says whoever is believing in Jesus might not perish or die. Why would we die or perish? Verses 17-21 teach us that Christ did not come to condemn us but that we’re already condemned. We’re condemned because our father Adam rebelled against God and God told Adam that if he did so, he would surely die so death spread to all men because all sinned (Rom 5.12). The wages of sin is death (Rom 3.23). The only way to escape judgment, condemnation, eternal death, eternal perishing is believing in the only begotten Son sent by the Father.
Jesus tells us that we must believe so that we might not perish or die eternally but that we might have eternal life. Jesus juxtaposes eternal life and eternal death and the difference between the two is faith in God’s only begotten Son. Through faith in Jesus we have, possess eternal life. What does eternal life mean?
First, eternal life starts when you recieve faith in Jesus. The verb have (εχη) is a present active verb. When God gives you faith through the preaching of the gospel, the Holy Spirit regenerates and indwells you. That regeneration is what Jesus means when he says you must be born again – it’s a spiritual resurrection; an opening of spiritual eyes and ears. Through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, which produces faith, we are made new creation from the inside out.
But lest we fall into the heresy of Gnosticism, we must make clear that eternal life is not merely spiritual. We are not waiting for our souls to escape to heaven and live there forever. This is eternal, and it is also life (ζωην). Jesus is speaking of the resurrection of the dead and the new heavens and the new earth. He’s speaking of how we will live embodied, physical, tangible eternal lives, without sin or death. This is the hope of Jesus’ 2nd advent, His 2nd coming when He will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new.
Don’t you want this? I know you do – everyone does. Whether they admit it or not, whether they have the vocabulary or the worldview or not, everyone wants the forgiveness of sin and the hope of eternal life. Everyone wants to know they’re ok and no one wants to die. Everyone wants to live forever without guilt or shame. And that’s what the good news of Jesus offers.
Conclusion
This is the love of Advent. This is the love of Christmas. This is the love of the gospel. This is the love of God. God loved the world in this way that He sent His only begotten Son in order that everyone who is believing in Him might not die, but have eternal life. I pray that this most famous verse is not infamous to you. It is our prayer that, by God’s grace, you would truly know what that means.