Third, God Promises to Give Us a Commission— a
Special Job to Do
Remember Margaret Deeney's poem, "Proud Words":
'Tis sweet to hear "I love you"
Beneath a giggling moon;
'Tis fun to hear "You dance well"
To a lilting, swinging tune;
'Tis great to be proposed to
And whisper low, "I do";
But the greatest words in all the world,
"I've got a job for you!"
This is one of God's greatest promises and greatest gifts to us. God says:
I've got a job for you.
You are valuable to me.
There is something special I want you to do.
Take up this torch, take up this ministry, and I will help you.
Late one night in Paris, Albert Schweitzer came home, exhausted and weary, from the university where he was a professor. Hurriedly, he looked through his mail so that he could get to bed. But a magazine with a green cover caught his eye. Feeling drawn to it, he flipped through the pages and suddenly was captivated by an article titled, "The Needs of the Congo Mission," written by Alfred Boegner.
"As I sit here in Africa (Boegner wrote), it is my prayer that the eyes of someone on whom the eye of God has already fallen will read and be awakened to the call and say, 'Here am I.' "
Moved by Boegner's earnest appeal for someone to help him in the Congo, Schweitzer bowed his head and prayed, "My search has ended, I am coming."
Thus awakened, Schweitzer studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg, and in 1913, sailed to French Equatorial Africa, where his first jungle hospital was a chicken coop in Lambaréné.
When he made that decision to answer God's call to become a medical missionary, Albert Schweitzer was. . .
. . . a noted author,
. . . a highly respected musician,
. . . an established theologian,
. . . the pastor of a church,
. . . principal of Saint Thomas Theological College at the University of Strasbourg, and
. . . the greatest living organ interpreter of the works of Bach.
(Pulpit Resource, Oct./Nov./Dec. 1989)
But Schweitzer had felt God calling him to a special job, so he turned his back on the prestige, power, and promise that were his and gave his life to God's work in Africa. The rest is amazing history—all because he heard the call of God and said, "Here am I, Lord, send me." Some could not understand how Albert Schweitzer could leave behind "the good life" in Europe, but somewhere in heaven, God was smiling.
What great promises! On page after page of the Scriptures, God promises to be with us through the Holy Spirit—to give us comfort, courage, and a commission. And as we study the Bible closely, we discover that many other great promises are recorded in the Scriptures—generous and gracious promises from God, promises that we can claim and rely on and trust. But still, the question is: Are we standing on those promises, or are we just sitting on the premises?
1
The Promise of God's Love
The Greatest Gift
JOHN 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Bennett Cerf was a respected publisher and author for Random House a few years ago. Because of his keen intellect and warm sense of humor, he was often featured as a panelist on numerous television and radio programs. Some of you will remember seeing him on those early popular TV shows like "What's My Line?" and "I've Got a Secret."
One evening he appeared on an NBC radio program called "Conversation." The panelists on this particular show were asked to spend the entire thirty-minute program that night discussing just one question: "What Are You Most Afraid Of?" The panelists went at it, dialoguing and debating that topic for more than twenty minutes. They talked about a wide range of fears, but finally they decided on the one thing they were most afraid of: "annihilation by the nuclear bomb."
After the panelists had reached that consensus, the moderator, Clifton Fadiman, noticed that Bennett Cerf had been unusually quiet throughout the vigorous discussion. In fact, he hadn't said a word. When prodded, Cerf replied in a humble voice that he had hesitated to answer the question truthfully because he was afraid that his concern would seem so trivial beside the vast issues that others had introduced.
But he went on to say that since the point of the program was to share what you really thought, he might as well admit that what he feared most was "not being loved." Bennett Cerf was a smart and honest man. He knew about the importance of love. And he was right on target that night. For there is nothing more destructive to the human heart than to live without love. As Dr. Smiley Blanton once put it: "We love or we perish!"
Now, if I were to ask you to write down what you consider the single greatest verse of Scripture in the whole Bible, what would you put down? Of course, there would be a variety of answers given, I'm sure, but in all likelihood, the verse most written down would be John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
With good reason, many people would select John 3:16. This single verse is a magnificent summary of the gospel, the message of the Scriptures in capsule form. It is the story of God's seeking, redeeming, reconciling love, all in one sentence. It has been called "everybody's text." Here, for every simple heart, is the essence of the Christian faith and "good news," and God's greatest promise.
This verse reminds us that we are indeed loved and that God himself is the one who loves us; that God seeks us out, that God values us, that God graciously reaches out to save us, and that when we (in faith) accept God's love, we can have life eternal. We see this verse acted out dramatically during Holy Week.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides triumphantly into the Holy City. He is received as a king, with palm branches strewn before him and loud Hosannas ringing in the air. But he comes to establish a surprising kingdom, one different from anything our world has ever seen—one built not on power and violence and might, but rather a kingdom built on faith and hope and love. Through the days of Holy Week, he teaches the people, heals the sick, helps the needy, cleanses the Temple, and withstands, with amazing spiritual dexterity and wisdom, the tricky, loaded questions fired at him by the chief priests and elders who are trying to entrap him.
He tenderly takes the disciples through the last supper, and then he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. There he is betrayed by one of his closest friends, arrested on trumped-up charges, rushed through a hurried fixed trial that takes place illegally in the middle of the night, and is sentenced to death by crucifixion by a waffling Pontius Pilate.
And then on Good Friday (which, by the way, originally was called God's Friday), in the greatest act of sacrificial love this world has ever known, he goes to the cross and dies there for you and me. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
No question about it, John 3:16 is one of the greatest statements ever spoken, because it describes, defines, and outlines the fullness of God's redeeming love. The verse falls neatly into three parts, showing us the width of God's love, the depth of God's love, and the power of God's love.
First, We See the Width of God's Love