In †he Moment

I can’t seem to get the reference out of my mind lately. Everywhere I turn it seems I’m seeing those numbers.

Maybe the ubiquitous[1] sign in the stadium stands during televised football games has been right all along:

“John 3:16”

Recently when well-known author Max Lucado wrote a book entitled, “John 3:16 – The Numbers of Hope,” I remember thinking that he must have run out of new ideas to be mining such a well-known and well-worn verse.

Then I recalled having read an article earlier this year about a popular college quarterback who had written “John 3:16” on his face during a championship football game. The really interesting thing, this author noted, was that the number one item on Google’s search list the following day was “John 3:16.” The question was raised in the article as to whether people were looking this up on Google as a handy reference or to actually find out what it says.

In responding to some comments posted about his article, the author later made this insightful comment: “Maybe this isn’t just an event to tell us we’ve hit an all-time low in (Biblical) literacy. Maybe it’s also an event that shows we’ve hit an all-time low in our witness, i.e. we’ve gotten to the point where the old school 3:16 actually works again.”[2]

That suddenly confirmed what I was hearing in my spirit. We’re at the point where the “old school John 3:16 witness” will come alive again.

Not that it ever “died”, mind you. It just grew worn and stale in our ears and minds over the years. Many of us considered that we had spiritually matured way beyond the simplicity of John 3:16. We were ready for the “meat” of the Bible and no longer the “milk of the Word.” We were certainly grateful for the anchor of our lives, the Lord Jesus Himself; but now that the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Church, we were ready to sail for the high seas of glorious experience. Consequently, many of us simply cut the anchor and sailed away instead of hoisting the anchor aboard to secure us when those seas got stormy later on.

It’s interesting that John 3:16 appears to presuppose that its readers are aware of two foundational truths: 1) “For God...” i.e. that God exists; 2) “perish” i.e. that apart from Him our lives are in danger of ending in a very terrible fashion. The first truth God Himself has made evident to us in a number of ways, primarily in the witness of His creation all around us including His indelible mark upon our own DNA. And the second truth we have made quite evident to ourselves, as we witness the grim reality of today’s headlines while pondering our own mortality.

What John 3:16 does not take for granted is that people know the good news connected to these two truths: that this God Who exists also “so loved the world that He gave...” And this giving was expressed in the most precious tangible gift of all to the human race: “His only Son,” Jesus Christ. The purpose was simple and all inclusive: “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

“For God...” is not good news to those who are living their lives apart from Him, and who instinctively know their lives will one day perish without Him. “For God so loved...” is the revolutionary good news that He Himself provided the way for everlasting life instead. And this way—and truth, and life, are in the gift of His Son Jesus.

It is as if John 3:16 is reminding us again, “People know the bad news. Tell them the Good News.” It doesn’t get much simpler than that—nor more profoundly life changing.