NO Greater Love!

NO Greater Love! (John 3:16)

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

A gem dealer was strolling the aisles at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, "You want $15 for this?" The seller, realizing the rock wasn't as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10. The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million. It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire's worth. It took the Lover of Souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us. The love that God has for us is summarized in a nutshell in this well-known verse of the Bible. If there was one verse that summarized the heart of the Bible, this would probably be the verse. All of the highways of divine truth meet in this metropolis. John 3:16 is the hub of revealed truth. For this reason it is one of the first verses translated into other languages of the Bible.

• English: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
• French: Car Dieu a tant aimé le monde qu'il a donne son Fils unique, afin que quiconque croit en lui ne périsse point, mais qu'il ait la vie éternelle.
• German: lso hat GOtt die Welt geliebet, daβ er seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab, auf daβ alle, die an ihn glauben, nicht verloren werden, sondern das ewige Leben haben.
• Spanish: Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna.
• Russian: Ӣбо так возлюбил Бог мир, что отдал Сына Своего Единородного, дабы всякий верующий в Него, не погиб, но имел жизнь вечную.
• Greek: Οὕτω γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸϛ τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υὶὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶϛ ὁ πιστεύων είϛ αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ ἔχῃ Ϛωὴν αἰώνιον.
• Vietnamese: Vì Đú̕c Chúa Trời yêu thương thế gian, đến nỗi đã ban Con một của Ngài, hầu cho hễ ai tin Con ấy không bị hư mất mà được sự sống đời đời

Gaylord Kambarami, the General Secretary of the Bible Society in Zimbabwe, tried to give a New Testament to a very belligerent man. The man insisted he would roll the pages and use them to make cigarettes. Mr. Kambarami said, "I understand that, but at least promise to read the page of the New Testament before you smoke it." The man agreed, and the two went their separate ways. Fifteen years later, the two men met at a convention in Zimbabwe. The scripture-smoking pagan had found Christ and was now a full-time evangelist. He told the audience, "I smoked Matthew and I smoked Mark and I smoked Luke. But when I got to John 3:16, I couldn't smoke anymore. My life was changed from that moment." Aren't you glad God's book is more than just words on paper? A number of wonderful insights are revealed in this verse about the love of God.

We find that the greatest lover of all lovers here in this verse. It is God. The greatest degree of love is revealed. He SO loved us. "So loved" shows His magnitude of love for us. God is the lover and the giver. Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In the December 4, 1989, issue of Newsweek magazine, there was an article about a little known mental disorder called erotomania. It is a mental illness in which a person has the delusion that he or she is the object of someone's love. Some imagine love affairs that continue for years, yet it all exists only in the imagination of the sufferer. The title of the article was "The Delusions of Love." While romantic love may have many delusions, there is no delusion about God's love. He loves you. The Bible has much to say about the love of God. As a man who expresses his love in a letter for the woman he loves, God has expressed much about His love for us in His Word.

Bible Insights on God's Love
1. It is Universal in its offer. "He so loved the world."

2. It is Unknown in its fullness.
Ephesians 3:19, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

3. It is Unbroken in its ministry.
Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

4. It is Unending in its character.
Jeremiah 31:3, “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

5. It is Unrivaled in its example and challenge to us.
I John 3:16, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

Prayer, Father in Heaven, thank You for loving all the world, not just some of the world. Help me to continue to grow in my love for You and for everyone else.

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