"Can Love Win?"

Sunday Mar. 18, 2012 Sermon                                                                                               

John 3:13-21

Prayer:

Pr. Dick Wills of Christ’s Church, Ft Lauderdale, Fl tells a Winnie the Pooh story, “Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.”Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you." "I will not drag you along; I will not leave you alone; I will stand by you and have my hand there for you to hold when you need to." Wills continues by saying, Love is never more significant until you need it.
With thanks to Dick Wills, dwills@christchurchum.org, May 2, 1998, personal e-mail.

This should be a message that is a no-brainer, but it’s also a message that asks a question… “Can Love Win?” You may think this is an easy question to ask, but it depends on whom you ask. Some… maybe many may say, “NO” Love can’t possibly win. They say, “Look around and see all the hurt, pain, suffering, abuse, and injustice in the world… where do you see love winning. If there is a God of Love where do you see love winning… there simply is too much hurt in the world.

For others… Yes!!! Love is winning and making a difference. For them, life has been a loving experience… loving parents, friends, God… love came when it was needed. You can look all around you and see love winning.

I’ve often wondered can love really win. Rob Bell in his most recent book, “Love Wins” attempts to answer the question.

He states, “Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite torment for things they did in the few finite years of life? This is a disturbing question about God. Is God a God of love or a God of Judgment? If so… why for some? Why you? Why me? Why not him or her or them? Are there only a select few who go to heaven? How does a person end up being one of the few? By chance? Luck? Random selection? Being born in the right place, family, or country? What kind of faith is that? Or more important; what kind of God is that?”

In deed there are many questions and one can only wonder where it will take you. In our gospel story from John today the context of the story is most familiar.

The story of Jesus and Nicedemus in where Jesus challenges this quite religious Pharisee into thinking out of the box of his religious experience. Jesus says, “You must be born again” or as we may like to say it, “Born Anew” all of which blows Nic’s mind wondering how this is possible. Then Jesus says something we all acknowledge as good and true, but find difficult to grab hold of many times. Often times we totally miss this when Jesus says, “For God so loved the world he gave his son for whoever believes will have eternal life.” Or as I like to say…“God loved you and me so much he sent Jesus to make that love known.”

But, there’s a dichotomy here as there often is when Jesus speaks. Vs 18… Jesus says, “Everyone who doesn’t believe in him is condemned.” Jesus often says things one way, and then says the complete opposite. It is confusing to say the least and often puts us in the position of wondering what to believe. I find this difficult to understand… didn’t we just hear Jesus say that God loved the whole world? How can we reconcile these seemingly opposite statements?

You may find this strange when I say, “I don’t know” OK…You’re thinking… a pastor with all kinds of education about the bible and theology and you tell us you don’t know!! What kind of pastor are you? What I will say, as I found myself preparing for this I must try to convince you of God’s love. Come up with three points that would make you believe… that God loves you… it’s the basis of our theological Christian belief… right! Every time I looked for those convincing passages in the bible, the context of those passages were stories of Jesus where of loving and of judging or condemning, much like our story today. Of course, you could just believe what I said was true… after-all I’m the pastor. But you know… someone like Bob would go and look the passages up, then come back to me and say, “Pastor something doesn’t make sense…. So… convincing you of God’s love seemed futile.

But… what I will say, in my experience, I believe God loves me mo matter what or where I’ve been or done. Why do I believe this? Because when I experienced the depths of despair, when I was at the bottom of life, when things seemed to be going all wrong, I looked up and experienced Jesus extending his hand grabbing hold of me and inviting me to the table of forgiveness and grace.

You see… I can’t tell you of God’s Love. I can’t convince you that God loves you… You must experience God’s love for yourself. You must experience God’s grabbing hand and invitation to forgiveness and grace. No one can tell you that… you must experience it. Then… and only then… whether or not you believe, and only then maybe you will pay attention.

In the end…I believe God loves you and me so much that he sent Jesus to make that love known…and then you can experience “Love Winning.”