One Focus
John 3: 16
Introduction
I
have been talking a lot about One Focus over the past few weeks…And, it is
finally here. Today is our first day of
One Focus.
Is
there someone in your life who does not know Jesus as their Lord? Do you know one person who is not a
Christian? Do you know one person who is
not affiliated with any church in our community?
I
want to challenge you to identify one person who (as far as you know) is not a
Christian and is not affiliated with any church. I want you to pray for that one person. I want you to love that one person. I want you to serve that one person and show
them the love of Christ. Then, I want
you to invite that person to come with you to church.
Our
church staff is going to plan several events over the next year to share the
Gospel with the one person you are praying for and showing the love of
Christ. We promise that we will not
embarrass you. The first event will be
the choir’s musical presentation Christmas on First Street. The second event will be the Sunday morning worship
service before Christmas (December 23).
The theme for that day will be “How Christmas Changed the World.” Again, we promise not to embarrass you in
front of your friends.
Allow
me to emphasize what I am NOT asking you to do.
I am NOT asking you to knock on doors and speak to people you do not
know. I am NOT asking you to be
confrontational—to walk up to everyone you meet and ask, “Are you going to Hell
when you die?” I am NOT asking you to
stand on the street corner with a Bible and a bullhorn, preaching “Get right or
get left…Turn or burn.” No. I want you to pray, to love, to serve, and to
invite.
Since
I have been talking about One Focus for a long time…And since today is the
first day of One Focus…It is possible to think One Focus is a new emphasis for
our church. A new emphasis…A new
initiative…A new direction… But, that is
not the case. One Focus is as old as the
Gospel itself. This is not a new
initiative for our church. Instead, I
like to think of this as “getting back to the basics.” This is what we should have been doing all
along.
I
have been a Baptist all my life. And,
this is what I have been taught all my life.
We are supposed to tell others about Jesus and give them an opportunity to
be saved. We are to share the Gospel
around the world and around the block.
The Gospel is the Good News about Jesus.
The Gospel is fully expressed in John 3: 16.
John 3: 16, “For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (NIV).”
I
believe this one verse is important enough that all Christians ought to be able
to quote it. It is important, because it
contains the essence of the Gospel message.
God loves us so much that he provided the only way for us to be
saved. God sent his only Son, Jesus, to
die on the cross and rise again. Anyone
who believes (has faith) in Jesus will be saved…saved from sin, saved from
judgment and saved from death.
This
is the Gospel (Good News) message. It is
the message of salvation. It is
available for all. But, I wonder… How is the world going to hear this Gospel
message?
On
one hand, John 3: 16 is a complete statement of the Good News. On the other hand, it does not tell us how
that message is going to get out to the world.
This leads me to believe we ought to think of John 3: 16 as the BEGNNING
of the Good News.
At
the end of the Gospel of John, we read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and
resurrection. When Jesus rose from the
grave, he appeared to his disciples and gave them these instructions…
John 20: 21, “Again
Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the
Father has sent me, I am sending you (NIV).’”
This
is significant for a couple of reasons.
First,
we know from history that Jesus remained with his disciples for forty days
after the resurrection. Then, Jesus
ascended into Heaven. As a result, Jesus
gave his disciples a job to do. Jesus
sent them just as the Father had sent Jesus.
Jesus gave them the same assignment the Father had given him. The disciples were to demonstrate God’s love
and to preach the Good News of God’s salvation.
Second,
it is significant that Jesus gave this assignment to his disciples. We know that some of the disciples were
fishermen, and at least one disciple was a tax collector. They were not the most educated men in their
community. They were not trained as
preachers, theologians or philosophers.
They were ordinary people who had faith in Jesus. Therefore, we should not think of evangelism
as the work of trained professionals. Evangelism
is something Jesus asks each of his followers to do.
Ordinary Disciples
There
are some people who do not believe God can use them in the work of
evangelism. Some people think they do
not have the proper education to tell others about Jesus. Some people think their past has disqualified
them from ever being used by God. Some
people think they are not perfect enough to tell others about Jesus. At best, these are just excuses we give ourselves
for not doing what Jesus told us to do.
At worst, these are lies the devil has told us, and we believe.
The
disciples were not trained as preachers, theologians or philosophers. They were common and simple fishermen. But, they had experienced Jesus. They did not speak with eloquence or
rhetorical skill. All they did was tell
others what Jesus had done for them.
They were like beggars telling other beggars where they could find some
bread to eat. Perhaps you don’t think
you have the education or the biblical knowledge to talk to others about
Jesus. But, you do have an
experience. You can tell other people
what faith has done for you. You can tell
others about how Jesus gives you peace in the midst of grief and
suffering. You can tell others about the
joy and confidence you have in knowing God has a plan for your life.
The
disciples did not have perfect pasts either.
We can think of Matthew, the tax collector, as an example. Tax collectors were employed by the Roman
Empire. Even though they were citizens
of the nation of Israel, they were loyal to their Roman bosses. Tax collectors were notoriously dishonest—setting
high fees so they could collect what Rome required and keeping a profit for
themselves. Yet, none of this
disqualified Matthew from being a disciple of Jesus or prevented him from
telling others about Jesus. Perhaps your
background is as ugly as Matthew’s. God
can still use you.
Of
course, the disciples struggled with their faith and with their behaviors even
after they had experienced Jesus in their lives. Thomas was a doubter, and then there was
Peter. After Jesus was arrested by the
Jewish religious leaders, Peter cursed and denied that he even knew who Jesus
was. But, God could still use Peter…And
God did use Peter. Peter shared the
Gospel to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost.
Peter was the first disciple to cross over ethnic boundaries and share
the Gospel with a Gentile (Acts 10).
So,
what is your excuse? God does not expect
you to be the smartest or most eloquent speaker. God can overcome your past sins as well as
your present fears to use you. The fact
is, there is no one else like you. God
has given you specific talents, gifts and passions. You have been uniquely designed by God. And, even if someone did have the same gifts,
talents and passions as you…No one has the same set of friends and relatives
that you have. God has prepared you
uniquely and wants to use you uniquely.
I cannot reach the same people you can reach. Even if you don’t think you are the best
choice, you are still the person God wants to use in your sphere of influence
to share the Gospel with people who might not otherwise be reached with the
Gospel.
Love
John
3: 16 gives us a summary of the Good News of God’s salvation. And it also tells us how and why God was
motivated to offer this salvation. It is
because God loves. God is motivated by
love.
I
suppose there are two ways we can talk about love. There is love as an emotional feeling. And, there is love which is expressed in
actions. Both of these connotations are
found in John 3: 16.
In
John 3: 16, we read about what God feels toward us. Even though we are sinners by nature and
sinners in our actions, God loves us.
Sin prevents us from having a relationship with God, because God is holy
and perfect. We are so affected by sin
that we are completely unable to keep God’s righteous commandments. We are so affected by sin that we do not
pursue a relationship with God. However,
God was not satisfied with that broken relationship. God wants to know us and to be known by
us. God wants to be in a covenant
relationship with us. So, God put his
love in action by sending Jesus to live as an example of what that relationship
with God looks like. Then, Jesus died on
the cross and rose again to bring us into that relationship with God. Jesus demonstrated God’s love in action.
Remember
what we just read about Jesus’ sending us?
Just as the Father has sent Jesus, Jesus is sending us. Jesus sends us with the same mission the
Father gave him. Jesus’ mission was to
share the love of God with the world and to tell the world about God’s
salvation. Our mission is the same…Show
the love of God and tell others about God’s salvation.
The World
At
this point it is important to note that John 3: 16 tells us God loved the
world. I think we need to keep in mind
the personal nature of God’s love as we interpret John 3: 16. Either this is a reference to an impersonal
world—created order—or this is a reference to the people of the world. It seems more likely that it is a reference
to people. If it does refer to people,
then it says that God does not discriminate in his love. God does not love ONLY the saved, or ONLY the
Baptists, or ONLY the Jews. God loves
all the people of the world and does not discriminate.
We
see this lived out in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus demonstrated God’s love by showing
compassion for the Jews and the Gentiles.
Jesus performed miracles for both men and women. Jesus healed the sick and touched people who
were considered unclean by the religious folks of his day. Jesus shared the message of salvation with
people who were wealthy and with people who were poor. (If anything, the Gospel seems to tell us
that Jesus spent more time with hurting people than with people who had
everything going in their favor.)
If
John 3: 16 is the beginning of the Gospel and John 20: 21 is Jesus’
instructions for us to continue the ministry he started, then we need to take
seriously the way Jesus viewed lost people.
Jesus did three things for the lost people in his world: (1) Jesus ministered to hurting people; (2)
Jesus showed compassion to those who were needy; and (3) Jesus provided spiritual
nourishment from God’s Word.
These
are the same three things we are to continue doing in our world today: minister to hurting people; show compassion
to the needy; and provide spiritual nourishment from God’s Word. If God can do this for the entire world, he
expects us to do the same for just one.
Can you find one person for whom you can minister to them in their pain;
meet their physical needs; and provide spiritual nourishment from God’s Word?
Conclusion
In
January 2008, Howard Schultz became the CEO of the Starbucks Coffee Company for
the second time. Schultz was the entrepreneur
who started Starbucks, but he stepped aside in 2000 to grow the company into
new markets. From 2000 – 2008, Starbucks
thought they could grow their business and their profits by opening new stores
all over the country. (There was even a
time when it was a common joke to talk about a Starbucks on every street corner
or new Starbucks opening up across the street from another Starbucks.)
Ironically,
Starbucks’ plan for growth did not work.
By 2007, they had over 9,000 stores in the United States. But, they were losing customers, and their
stock values had plummeted 42%. That is
when Schultz became CEO for the second time.
In
Schultz’ first month as the returning CEO, he made a couple of bold moves. First, he closed approximately 1,900
Starbucks stores. This was a difficult
move, but it was not unheard of in the business world and nothing like what he
did next. His second move was to find a
way to retrain every Starbucks employee.
The only way to do this was to close every Starbucks location for three
hours of training.
On
Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 7,100 Starbucks stores closed to retrain their
employees. In their pursuit of growth,
they had lost sight of their purpose.
Their employees did not know how to make a proper shot of espresso.[1]
Starbucks
had learned the hard way that by focusing on reaching the masses they had lost
their focus on the one. For Starbucks,
the only way to fulfill their mission was to focus on one perfect shot of
espresso for one customer at a time. For
a church, the only way to fulfill our mission is to focus on making a
difference in the life of one person at a time…
Helping one hurting person…
Meeting the physical needs of one needy person… Providing spiritual nourishment for one
person who has not heard God’s Good News of salvation…
We
may never reach the masses, but we can reach one. And this is God’s plan… One Christian reaching out to one other person.
[1] Summarized from Howard Schultz, Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul (New
York: Rodale, 2011).
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