John 3:16 – What the World Needs Now – Bible study

John 3:16 What the World Needs Now I have been feeling for several days that I should speak on love today. You might think that would narrow down the subject matter but love is a big topic. I could preach on: The Power of Love The Effect of Love The Definition of Love Gods Love Examples of Love The Gift of Love Or about a dozen other topics. After much consideration, I feel lead to speak on a very narrow topic, the need for love. I. Everyone Needs Love A. I think most of us would accept that statement. 1. Both sinners and saints need love. 2. Both the young and the old need love. 3. Both the good and the bad need love. 4. Both the educated and the ignorant need love. 5. Every color needs love. 6. Every nationality needs love. 7. Every time period needs love. 8. Everyone needs love. B. We all accept that statement as being true but is there any evidence it is true? 1. I think there is. 2. John 3:16 – God gave everyone love. 3. I dont see God giving some thing that is not needed. If God gave everyone love, then everyone must need love. II. Everyone makes up everyone. Who Makes Up Everyone? A. Sinners make up everyone. Sinners need love. 1. \#John 8:3-11\ This woman was a sinner. This woman needed love. 2. I am hesitant to mention her because I did not very long ago, but I do so because she was unique. a. She was not unique because she is a sinner. All of us are. b. She was not unique because she got caught in her sin. 1. We have all been caught, whether we know it or not. 2. Not only have we been caught, we have been caught by the only One that matters. Lu 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. 3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. c. She was unique for several reasons: (1) She is unique because her life illustrates how badly we can sink if we are not loved. (a) The Bible does not tell us anything about this womans life but I cannot believe a woman who is loved by her parents, loved by her husband, and loved by her children would ever turn to adultery. (b) Granted. I am naive in this field, but that is what I think. Huffington Post printed an article dates 2/4/2013 and entitled Why Women Cheat: 5 Reasons For Female Infidelity. All five reasons seemed to me to say she was unloved. 1. She feels unappreciated, neglected, or ignored. 2. She craves intimacy. 3. She is bored or lonely. 4. She feels unloved. 5. She was abused as a child. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-weiss/women-cheating-5-reasons- for-female-infidelity_b_1936934.html (2) She was unique because all Jesus gave her was love. (a) There is no miracle in this text. (b) Certainly, Jesus knew the hearts of the men who brought her to Him and what they wanted to do. (1) Although that is miraculous, that does not mean it affected the outcome. (2) Jesus did not heal anyone, raise the dead, calm a storm, or even change the crowds mind. (3) He did not even argue for the woman. (4) He made one statement and wrote in the dirt. (c) What did Jesus do? (1) He loved that her. (2) He did not condemn her or insist she be condemned. (3) His lack of condemnation itself was considered care for her both by the crowd and the woman. (3) She was unique because her story points out that it does not matter that a sinner may have done to cause their condition, they still need to be loved. (a) Was this woman where she was because of her own decisions and actions? (b) Certainly, but it doesnt matter. She still needed to be loved. (c) Neither does it matter that a drug addict put himself where he is. He still needs to be loved! (d) It does not matter that a person killed someone or even someones. Use common sense in dealing with people, but everyoneeven killersneed to be loved. (e) Terrorists, homosexuals, God-haters, even our own personal enemiesthey all need to be loved. Lu 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, (f) Let me add here to love someone does not mean that we excuse or accept their wrong. (1) That is another of our cultures many lies. (2) To love someone is to stand for right even if it hurts them. (3) Why? Because we do love them. (4) Most punishmentsespecially those given by the lawstill need to be executed. B. \#Job 1:13-19\ The suffering make up everyone. The suffering need to be loved. 1. Most know Job as the man with great patience, but we need to remember that it was his great suffering that demonstrated his patience. 2. This man suffered in ways few on earth will ever know. a. \#Job 1:14-17\ He lost his wealth. b. \#Job 1:18-19\ His children were taken. (Job did not lose his children for they were taken to heaven.) c. \#Job 2:7-8\ He lost his health. 3. Job stayed in this condition for weeks, maybe months. a. \#Job 2:11\ His friends heard and came at an "appointed time" to mourn with him. b. \#Job 2:12-13\ They were so shocked at Jobs condition that they just sat and stared at him for a week. 4. \#Job 3:1-9\ Then Job mourned aloud. a. I wont read any more of Jobs words but you can. b. It is chapter after chapter of Job and his friends arguing about whose fault all of Jobs suffering was. c. His three friends figured Job had offended God. d. Job said he had not. e. Job even implied that God had failed him; that is, that God had let him down in allowing such evil to come upon him. 5. Lets step aside and answer Jobs rational. a. Was God responsible for Jobs suffering? b. Yes. Read the story and you will see that God put the devil on Job. c. In fact, everything that ever happens is either caused directly by God or allowed by God. d. How can God be so cruel? e. God does not care about our bodies, but He does care about us. (1) Even Christians forget that we are not a body. We are a soul. (2) When you get sick, get cancer, get abused, get attacked, get persecutedthat is not you. (3) That is your body. (4) While we are very attached to our bodies, they are temporal, fragile, and totally unimportant in the scope of eternity. f. There is a verse in Luke 21 that used to puzzle me. (1) Jesus was telling the disciples about how they were going to be persecuted and killed for Him. (2) They He said, Lu 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish. (3) That is a little confusing. How can you be killed like some of them were killed and no hair be lost? (4) That lead me to a conclusion and a hope. (5) The conclusion is that Jesus was talking about our soul not our body there. (6) The hope is that I my soul still has all of my hair! 6. But lets go back to the reason we came to Job. a. Job begins to mourn aloud and even wishes he had never been born. \#Job 3:11\ b. What did Job need? (1) His friends thought he needed correcting. (2) They thought he needed spiritual counseling. (3) He did not. He needed to be loved. (4) Job was suffering and needed to be loved. (5) Job a great, spiritual man of Godbut he was suffering and he needed someone to love him, to weep with him, to encourage him. 7. Sinners, the suffering, make up everybody. They need to be loved. C. \#Lam 1:4-5, 8-13, 16\ The saints make up everyone. The saints need to be loved. 1. Jeremiah wrote two books in the Old Testament: Jeremiah and Lamentations. a. Jeremiah describes Jeremiahs ministry as a prophet. b. Lamentations describes Jeremiahs brokenness once his prophecies have been fulfilled. c. Jeremiahs message as a prophet was that his entire nation would be destroyed and conquered, with perhaps as much as 2/3s of the population being killed. 2. Notice as Jeremiah documents what is left. 3. \#La 1:13, 16\ Notice Jeremiahs reaction. 4. What does Jeremiah need? What does this strong, prophet of God need? He needs to be loved. 5. Even Gods peoplethe strongest of Gods peopleneed to be loved. a. There is no hidden message here. Just a statement of fact. b. Those who seem to be the strongest for the Lord, those who stand like a rock for Jesus at work, in your family, in your churchthey need to be loved. III. Everyone needs to be loved so badly that God made Christians. A. Someone might ask, "If everyone needs to be loved, why doesnt God demonstrate His love to everyone?" 1. He did. 2. He gave the world the two greatest gifts He has. a. His Son b. His church B. Christian are here not only to love the world but to demonstrate Gods love for this world. 1. We are Gods heart of love. a. Remember, love does not mean we have to compromise with wrong or accept it. b. In fact, love demands we stand against it. c. You cannot love someone and encourage them to hurt themselves. 2. But we are also Gods hands and His feet to demonstrate that love. 3. And while love may not be the cure for every problem, it can be the comfort for every problem! The topic of love is large but today just one thought. Everyone needs to be loved. Who has God placed in your life that you can stand in Gods place to love them today?