3:16 and Counting

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Perhaps you have seen bumper stickers that simple display the numbers "3:16."  To many Christians, this designates the chapter and verse from John's Gospel that describes their faith.

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.

If you are not a Christian, or even if you are, and you come upon this, you might not know it refers to a verse in John's Gospel.  It could mean something else, like 3 minutes and 16 seconds, for example, and that would be just as confusing.

So, why would I put this on my car?

Perhaps I want people to know how knowledgable I am.  I know my Bible!  Do you?

What it doesn't do for me is share the Good News, which is what it could do.  Now, if I am told that it refers to the Gospel of John and I search for it on the Internet, I might read on and come to this verse.

Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. - John 3:18

This follows right after the verse that says God did not send his son into the world to condemn it, and here we have a statement of condemnation.

That doesn't sound like good news to me, and I am afraid it won't to a lot of people, if they happen to take the time to search out the meaning of my bumper sticker.

We are encouraged to spread the good news of the Gospel, but we are not told how, so we plaster symbols and cryptic references in plain view and hope people get the message.  Or not.

When I see someone wearing a cross, or displaying a tattoo of a cross, I think, "There goes a Christian."  But I may be wrong.  I am probably just as likely to receive a blank stare if I confront that person and ask about Jesus as I would if I asked for directions to the River Styx.

If we are going to take on the ministry of spreading the Good News of the Gospel, we need to be equipped, we need help.  Just because we see signs of our faith everywhere doesn't mean we are among the faithful.  These signs may just be fashion accessories.

There is no getting around the fact that when we share the Gospel of John, we are telling people they will are condemned.  And they will continue to be condemned for eternity if they don't accept Jesus as their savior.

Now if that sounds harsh, welcome to the club.  It has always sounded harsh to me too.  And that's why most of us shy away from talking about our faith.

In fact, many Christians don't believe that, or they don't buy it completely.  They (We) may believe 3:16, but have trouble with 3:18.

So, let us toss the silly bumper sticker and try a different approach.  But before we do, maybe now is a good time to read John's Gospel again, just to familiarize ourselves with what it is really saying about our faith.

We may just gain a little insight into our own beliefs, and that is what we need to know before we start sharing with others.

More to come...