Jump Start # 1874

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Our verse today, so well known and at one time, seen on signs held up at ballgames, painted on posts and highway overpasses, speaks of God’s great desire to save us. This verse is what the Bible is all about. This verse is found in prophecy, all the way back to the garden when Adam and Eve hid themselves because of their sin.

This verse speaks of a two directional hope. First, and most obviously, our hope. Our hope in that God is giving us a second chance. Our hope in that while we are unable to clean up the mess that sin has caused in our lives, the blood of Jesus cleanses us. Our hope in that flawed and broken as we are, we can spend eternity with God in Heaven. It is that hope that compels us to fall to our knees and change our ways. It is because of that hope that we open God’s word and fill our hearts with His truth. It is that hope that leads us to run toward God in praise and thanksgiving.

But there is another hope that is not as obvious, nor spoken about very often. God had a hope in us. God was hoping that someone, anyone, would believe what He had done and follow Christ. How terrible all of this would have been if the entire planet turned their backs on God. What would happen if no one believed? What would happen if God’s only choice was to make everyone perish because no one was interested and no one cared? Did God know? Did God hold His breath, hoping that someone would become a disciple?

God’s hope in mankind was not just a dream. There were certain things God set in order so that we would and we could believe.

First, God made the life of Jesus believable. Jesus wasn’t a story that fell from Heaven. Jesus came and dwelt among that first century world. He was seen, touched, heard and witnessed. The miracles that Jesus did were visible. He cured the lepers. He raised the dead. He cast out demons. Didn’t anyone have cancer in the first century? How about bad heart values? Why didn’t Jesus cure those things? We don’t read of any specific cases of that. Could it be that those are hard to see with the naked eye? Miracles were not just to heal sick people, they were pointed at Jesus to prove who He was. Blind eyes, deaf ears, crippled limbs—all easy to see and easy to verify. God made the life of Jesus believable. He was God on earth. He was perfect.

Second, God made the message of Jesus plain. I was watching a special about the music of the Beatles the other day with my wife. She knows music. The narrator was a music historian and a composure. I was lost in what he was describing and the terms he was using. It was very complicated to me. The message of Jesus was not like that. One doesn’t have to hold a dictionary in one hand with the Bible in the other hand to figure out what is going on. The message of Jesus is plain. God has authority. His message cuts through the fog of our culture. God wants us to be righteous. God wants us to be like Jesus. We are to forgive as Jesus forgave. We are to be pure as Jesus was pure. We are to suffer without threats as Jesus did. We are to walk in love as Jesus did. We are to obey as Jesus did. The message of the Bible isn’t hard. Our issue isn’t understanding it, it’s a matter of doing it. Imagine how complicated God could have made the Bible. Words that only a few could understand. Concepts so detailed and hard that most would have walked away from that. God’s hope was in us. He gave us a clear message that we all can follow.

Third, what God expected was doable. This also illustrates God’s hope in us. Not everyone can whistle. Not everyone can hit a golf ball straight. Not everyone can play the piano. Not everyone has a green thumb. Not everyone knows their way around a kitchen. Not everyone is a fixer upper. We are all so different. Yet, God made a plan in which all of us can not only follow, but all of us can make it. When a person declares, “I can’t do what God says,” he really hasn’t grasped what God is expecting. We all can become what God says. The guy who is so talented, can do it. Also, the guy who seems to have very little talent, he too can do it. That’s the hope that God has in you. All of us can walk by faith. All of us can please Him. It’s not too hard for any of us. God is not asking the impossible. Had He wanted us to climb small mountains, many of us couldn’t. Had He wanted us to learn a foreign language, some of us just couldn’t do that. Had he wanted us to come up with a certain amount of money to be saved, there are those who could not do that. But He never expected those things. He wants us to hear that Gospel about His Son, Jesus. Believe it. Obey it. Change your life. Follow Him. Trust Him. Become like Him. This is something that we can do. The big time shaker and mover can do that. The housewife can do that. The college student can do that. The college professor can do that. We all can.

God has not put before us the impossible. God is not looking for the few and the good. His call is for all of us. Broken, flawed as we are, God hopes that you will follow Him.

What a great thought: Just as we have a hope in God, God has a hope in us. God has a hope in YOU.

Roger