Lent 2
February 24, 2002
Text: John 3:1-17 (focus on John 3:16)
Title: “The Sign”
CJM
I. It’s not uncommon for us in the church to talk about signs
· Often when we talk about signs, we’re talking about biblical signs
o Signs are abundant in the bible
· At Christmas, we read, “This will be a sign for you”
· There are all kinds of passages that refer to signs
o Signals
o Indicators
· Prophets foretell of signs
o “You will see signs of the times”
o signs of things to come
· Signs are abundant in the bible
o Signals – guideposts – indicators
§ Tell us what’s going on, what to expect
· In the church, we speak of biblical signs
o But they’re not the only kind of signs
o There are all kinds
§ On the way to church this morning, I’m sure you had at least one encounter with the most common of signs
· The traffic sign
· Stop – yield – speed limit 30 or 40 or 50
· We see these signs all the time
o In fact, we see them so often that, well, …we begin to ignore them
o We ignore them
§ Not notice anymore
· First time we saw that red octagon that said STOP, we probably took it pretty seriously
o After 15 or 20 thousand of them
o Don’t have the same impact they once had
o We still stop, usually
§ Sometimes though, we just slow down
§ Once in a while, drive right through
· I didn’t see the stop sign, officer
· We’ve seen them so many times, we begin not to notice
· It’s not that they’re unimportant
o We’ve just seen them soooo many times
o We get to where we pay less and less attention to it
· Biblical signs not the only kind of signs
o Dumb signs
§ London museum - exhibits with small brass plates with Braille writing that says, “do not touch”
§ Catholic elementary school – Jesus is coming! No bingo Sunday.
§ Presbyterian church – Come join us for Sun worship
§ Small town cemetery – directional sign along road pointing down that says, “one way”
o We often speak of biblical signs
§ This morning, let’s talk about a real sign
· Actual sign
· You know, a big poster with words on it
o A sign
· When you ask a group of people what is the 1st thing you think of when you think of John 3:16
o Invariably, someone will tell you
§ The sign
· The sign
· A biblical sign?
o Sign of God’s love?
o Sign of salvation to come?
o Sign of the light?
o Sign of the spirit, of rebirth?
§ Signs that Nicodemus couldn’t understand
· No, a sign
o You know, a poster with big words on it
§ The sign
§ The John 3:16 sign
· You’ve probably seen it
o Watched football game, hockey game, on TV
§ Anything with a big crowd
§ Probably be at the big race at Texas Motor Speedway
o Probably seen it
§ There used to be this guy with this crazy rainbow colored wig
· There in the stands
§ And whenever the camera was pointed at him, he’d hold up this sign
· The John 3:16 sign
· For a while, he was the only one you saw
o Then other people began to do the same thing
§ Thankfully, they didn’t all have the same wig
· But they had the same sign
o John 3:16 sign
§ How many of you had someone ask you
· John 3:16?
· What does that mean, anyway?
· What does it say?
· How many even knew it was from the bible?
o How many of you went back to your bibles to find out?
§ Oh yeah, that “God so loved the world” thing
§ I remember
§ What’s the score of this game, now?
o How many times have we seen that sign
§ The John 3:16 sign
· Seems like hundreds
o Maybe thousands
· Maybe so many times that we start to ignore it
o Don’t notice it like we once did
o People aren’t asking us what it means anymore
o We aren’t getting up at halftime to fetch our bibles and look it up anymore
§ We see it and say, “I remember what it means”
· It’s that, “God so loved the world” thing
o Hey, we’re out of pretzels here
· We’ve see it so many times
o We’ve begun to ignore it
§ No longer has same impact
· Words are so familiar
§ I wonder
· Is it worn out?
· Would it help if I got one of those rainbow wigs?
· Is John 3:16 ruined for us?
· Does it have anything left to say, or have we heard it all
o John 3:16 has been so heavily advertised for so long
· For some, it has become old
o Passé
o Like an old TV commercial or antiquated radio ad
o We thought it was cute at first
o Then it began to get on our nerves
§ Tired of hearing it
§ Resented it
§ Complained
· “Why do they have to show this all the time?”
· And then slowly, we simply begin to ignore it
· Don’t even notice anymore
o Ad? What ad? I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention
o John 3:16? I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention
· Oh, I remember
· It’s that “God so loved the world” thing, right?
o Yeah, I’ve heard that before
o I’ve seen that sign a hundred times
o So many times that we forget
· We forget that John 3:16 is the only place in the 4th gospel that says God gave his Son to the world
o Everyplace says Jesus was sent to us
§ Sent on a mission
§ It was Jesus’ job
o But here in John 3:16
§ God shows us God’s own heart
§ I give you that which is precious to me
· I’ve already given you the earth, the sky, the sea, the stars
· Already given you all I have created
o Now I give you my Son, my only son
o And I know what you’re going to do with him
o And if we’re quiet, we might just hear the sound of God’s heart breaking
o God has just given God’s Son
§ Only Son
§ To a world that will crucify him
§ Given him for a reason many can’t even remember
· Because we’re tired of it
· We seen it referred to so many times
· In so many places
o Even on those signs
o The John 3:16 signs
· So many times, so many circumstances, so many quotations, so many materials, so many places
o We don’t care anymore
o John 3:16? Yeah, it’s that “God so loved the world” thing
o I must have seen it/heard it/read it/had someone tell it to me a hundred times
§ Ironic, isn’t it, that the more we see it/hear it, exposed to it
· The less we actually perceive it
· More exposure – less attention
o We’re still early in Lent
§ But the cross is growing larger and the light of the Lenten wreath now grows dimmer
· Before we go further, perhaps we ought to look at that sign once more
o The John 3:16 sign
o Not as if it were just a sign in the crowd in the background
§ But for once as if it were the main event
o Like it was the 1st time
§ Instead of the 101st
· “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
· What if I just showed up next Sunday and held up a sign that said, “John 3:16”
· Would you hear God’s heart breaking?
· Or would you just change the channel?