Good afternoon New Life,
I hope you’re all well especially on this fine Wednesday afternoon! It was really cold at the end of last week and beginning of this week but has been “heating up” lately…looks like we might even hit the 50s later this week. I’m still new to this crazy Colorado Climate/Weather so thanks for hearing me out while I ramble on.
Pastor Tim in his latest sermon preached from John 3:16-21. Five short verse and really just one paragraph. But…as P. Tim mentioned in his sermon many people believe John 3:16 is the “center” of the Bible. Again, the gospel according to John is still one of my favorite books of the Bible. I really enjoyed the sermon this past Sunday and I hope you did too. Here are the point that P. Tim went over for your recollection….
1. God’s Love
2. God’s Purpose
3. God’s Fruit
Again, I don’t want to talk about all the section but just one point that really hit home for me. P. Tim spent a good amount of time on the word “So”. Such a good point, why? Here are some questions to ask why the word “so” in this context is soooo important. Why does God the creator of the universe ever have to emphasize anything? Everything He says is all powerful and is truth and becomes reality, is reality. I think this is on the same lines as God’s promise. Why does God who is in complete control need to promise anything? Since He is all powerful He could just do it without any promises. Think about those 2 things. Why would you need to express anything when you can simply do it for the benefit of the receive (is that a word)? But, before I go there. I did look up the definition of “So”.
Adverb:1. To such a great extent. “The words tumbled out so fast that I could barely hear them”2. To the same extent (used in comparisons). “He isn’t so bad as you’d think”Conjunction:1. And for this reason; therefore. “It was still painful so I went to see a specialist”2. With the aim that; in order that. “They whisper to each other so that no one else can hear” Based on the definition above clearly Pastor Tim/John the author of this gospel is talking about Adverb 1.
So, with that said, here is why I think He does it….both God’s promise and His emphasis on His love for us is for us because we are not all knowing and all powerful, because we are finite and easily forget. He cares about the relationship He established with us. He promises and uses the word “so” for our sake. And ultimately He does it for His glory and our blessing. He wants to show us that He is not just the creator of the universe but that even though He is, He strongly (because of the word So in John 3:16) desires to have a relationship with us, to love us. He is the God of Love!
I’ll leave you with this…God “SO” (Adverb 1) loved you, “SO” (Conjunction 1) that you may believe!
Sincerely,
Elder Jim
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