James MacDonald - The Greatest Verse in the Bible
Summary:
In this message on John 3:16—widely regarded as the greatest verse in the Bible because it contains the greatest news—the preacher highlights its cultural impact through examples like In-N-Out Burger cups, Forever 21 bags, and Tim Tebow’s eye black, emphasizing that its true greatness lies in making God’s love personal. He unpacks the verse phrase by phrase, starting with «For God» as the greatest being who exists and initiates everything, «so loved» as the greatest reason rooted in God’s perfect, selfless decision to act on behalf of humanity despite our sinfulness, and «the world» as the greatest need—a broken, sinful humanity desperately requiring God’s redeeming love. The core takeaway is that God’s astonishing, unmerited love extends to everyone without exception, countering any sense of personal unworthiness, and invites hearers to embrace this truth afresh or for the first time.
John 3:16 in Popular Culture
The greatness of a sermon is dictated by the greatness of the verse, and we have in front of us what is universally recognized as the greatest verse in the Bible because it contains the greatest news in the Bible. So much so that John 3:16 has actually made its way into popular culture, often driven by passionate followers of Jesus. For example, if you’ve ever been to California, I hope you’ve been to the greatest burger place in the universe. I will not debate this; it’s called In-N-Out Burger.
The founders of In-N-Out Burger, many years ago now, are such passionate followers of Jesus that they’ve actually placed on the underside of every one of the drinking cups you can see there the reference John 3:16. What I didn’t know until research provided it to me this week was that I have not personally shopped, you’ll be glad to know, at Forever 21. But I love people that have, and this store is also owned by Christians. On many of the bags you receive when you purchase something there, they also put the greatest verse in the Bible: John 3:16.
Now, what has really driven this into popular culture is the famous quarterback—so popular! What’s his name? I think you know: Tim Tebow. And of course, he doesn’t just put black under his eyes; he actually puts the scripture reference John 3:16. This made such an impact on so many people, I guess, that don’t shop at Forever 21 and don’t eat at In-N-Out Burger, that Wikipedia reports John 3:16 was referenced one hundred eighty-six thousand times the day after Tim Tebow appeared with that on his face. Google reports that John 3:16 shot to the top and remained there for several days as the number one search.
Well, what is it that everyone’s searching for? I think you know the verse. I hope you know the verse; maybe you know portions of the verse. I was surprised this week—I had a chance to go golfing and said to the caddy, «I was kind of curious. Have you ever heard of the verse John 3:16?» He attends a Jesuit university and said he’d just written a paper trying to harmonize the four Gospels, and yet he didn’t know what John 3:16 was. I kind of wonder if maybe not everybody knows the reference, but they don’t know what it contains. Do you know what it contains? Because it’s not the greatest verse in the Bible to you until you’ve made its message personal.
Reciting the Verse Together
Now let’s say the verse together. I think many of you know it. Lift up your voice and say it. We’re not even putting it on the screen, so many know it by heart. Let’s say it: «For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.» New American Standard and New King James say «His only begotten Son.» It means His one and only Son. Again, «For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.»
Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and before I get into why it is the greatest verse in the Bible, I want to take a moment and pray. Now, just to be clear here, I was Tebowing long before it was popular, and I thought it’s good for us all to humble ourselves, so let’s pray together. Father, we bow before You in this moment because we are hopeful that this greatest verse in all of the Bible could become fresh in its greatness to us right here and right now. Stir our hearts afresh with deep worship and appreciation for the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and cause some men and women who are here in this moment on one of our campuses, bowing now as we pray, to come to know Him, whom to know is life eternal. Cause that transformation to happen in their hearts as a result of what they hear now. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Greatest Being: «For God»
Now, maybe you’ve been asking, «Why is this the greatest verse in the Bible?» That’s good. Maybe you’ve been asking, «Is this the right twelve reasons?» All of them are right from this single verse. Here’s the first reason: the first word, «For God.» God! See that first word? The most important word: God. Jot this down: the greatest being. The greatest being—this is the bullseye of ultimate reality. Everything in the universe revolves around and shouts the reality that there is a God. The galaxies, by the billions; the teeming trillions of stars; the solar systems, each one revolving around that star; and the God who spoke it all into existence. If you’ve been around Harvest, you know that I like to research the size of the universe. This is one of the things that blew me away this week. Scientists now say that the actual universe, which they cannot measure, is to the known universe as the known universe is to an atom.
All right, and ever-expanding—behind all of it, a God who spoke and the worlds were formed. I like this: Max Lucado says that the number one missionary in the universe is the universe. Psalm 19:1 says that the heavens are declaring the glory of God, that the universe itself is shouting, «There’s a God! There’s a God!» And John 3:16, of course, begins with the existence of this God.
Now, in messages gone by, we spent a lot of time on arguments for the existence of God. The cosmological argument, as I was just going through, is the fact that what exists shouts the reality of some cause. Every effect must have a cause. Then there’s the evidential argument—that the design shouts a designer. If I were to take my watch and say to you, «Well, this watch came from an explosion in space, » you would say, «That seems somewhat unlikely.» But what if my watch was as big as this room? Well, still, it couldn’t come from an explosion. What if my watch was as big as the state of Illinois? Could it come from an explosion then? Well, what if my watch was as big as and as complicated as the United States of America or the planet Earth? Well, you’d say it doesn’t matter how big you make it; it still seems like it would be less likely to come from an explosion. I agree, and if you agree, you’re supporting the evidential argument for God’s existence.
Then there’s the moral argument. The moral argument for God’s existence is that if there is no God, then there is no evil. If there is no evil, then there’s no right and wrong. If there is no right and wrong, then why do you feel guilty all the time? Why does your own conscience condemn you when you lie or steal? Why do you lay awake when you’ve slandered someone or injured their reputation? In your heart of hearts, you know that you’re wrong. And why do you struggle to admit the wrong if there is no right and wrong? But there is. That’s the moral argument for the existence of God.
I have never spoken before about the ontological argument for the existence of God. This was first made popular about a thousand years ago by a man named Anselm of Canterbury. Anselm argued like this: God is a being of whom none greater exists. That’s God—the greatest conceivable being. Point to God: a being of whom none greater exists necessarily exists. Some being is the greatest. There is a greatest being; God is the greatest being. There must be a greatest being. All right, and so Anselm argued that if God is a being of whom none greater exists, and a being of whom none greater exists necessarily exists, then God necessarily exists.
You can take some time and think about that. All I’ll say is what I always say: the truth of Christianity has satisfied the greatest minds in human history. If you’re one who struggles for reason or rationale to believe in God, it’s all there. Go seek it out. Most people, in fact, know in their hearts that there is a God. Most Americans, even in this dark age, quickly acknowledge that something inside them says there is someone greater outside of themselves. That someone is God—omniscient, that He knows everything; omnipresent, that He is everywhere, here right now, listening to what’s being said, moving in your heart; and omnipotent, that He can take our dark hearts and make them alive to Himself.
Oh yeah, I love where John 3:16 starts: «For God.»
The Greatest Reason: «So Loved»
And then check this: not just the greatest being, but the greatest reason. The good news flows from an awesome motivation—that God who exists so loved. Do you see that? Underline that—you’ll have the whole thing underlined before we’re done. Underline «God» and «so loved» if it isn’t already in your Bible. «For God so loved.» The tense here is past action—decision made because God loved. Now don’t let familiarity breed contempt in your heart. We’ve heard so often, and so frequently, that God loves. It seems to us an intuitive thing; it ought to be. How could it be otherwise? Of course God loves! What else would God do?
I was out for lunch recently with Bill Hybels, who pastors Willow Creek. Many of you know him—another church in our area. He walked me to my car and looked inside. He’s kind of a perfectionist. The carpets in my car were dirty, and he poked a little fun at me, kind of shook his head, and honestly reminded me of Pastor Rick, whose car is always perfect. When he shook his head, I sheepishly got in the car, closed the door, and looked at my dirty car. We all know perfectionistic people, but they’re not really perfect. Turn to your neighbor and say, «You’re not perfect.»
We all know perfectionistic people, but they’re not really perfect. But listen—God is perfect, and we would more rightly assume that God would be deeply disappointed in who we are and the dirt on our carpet and the way that we’ve left things. What is remarkable, what is shocking, what is astounding is this good news in the greatest verse of the Bible: that God—what did you expect it would say? Honestly, I wouldn’t have anticipated «love, ” but there it is—that God so loved. In fact, John later would say in his book, 1 John, later in the New Testament, he would say that God is love.
That all love exemplifies God so we can know it; that love is what God embodies so we can see it; that love is what God expresses so we can experience it. And when the Bible says that God loves, it doesn’t mean exclusively an emotion. We deteriorate love by our romantic notions of it, and actually, what is meant here is the idea—jot this down—by love, here is meant unceasingly selfless action. It’s not referencing really an emotion at all, though there is great feeling behind what God does on our behalf. It’s actually a decision.
What I’m about to unfold for you, if it’s very familiar and we’re reviewing, or if it’s not understood to you at all—like the caddy that I quoted the verse to this week, who stood amazed and surprised at the news of God’s love for him—“For God so loved» means that God has been working unceasingly in selfless action for you. He benefits nothing; He receives nothing; He needs nothing. He’s God, but He loves. He unceasingly acts in selflessness.
Look right now in your mind’s eye and see the peasant girl from Nazareth as she walks into Bethlehem with her rounded belly. God is in there. God is inside that young girl—God who became flesh and dwelt among us, the ultimate expression of the God who loves. Maybe, like so many, you feel that love has eluded you, and you find your way into church this weekend, surrounded by people, but you feel unloved. Through the week, you may have many people near you, but you feel so unloved. Maybe you say love is the last word I would use to describe my life.
Maybe you have been used; maybe you have been abused; maybe you have been neglected or even rejected. What a great privilege I have to proclaim to you the greatest verse in all the Bible, which communicates God’s unceasingly selfless action on your behalf, regardless of others. The message of the Bible is this: that God loves you. Your parents may not have loved you, but God loves you. Your siblings may not have loved you, but God loves you. You may live in a home with a spouse or with children, and you wonder at times if they love you, but the good news of the Bible is that God loves you. And when the sun comes up, it is shining the message that God loves you. And when you hear the birds singing, they are tweeting the reality that you are swimming in the oxygen of a universe that was created by a God who loves you.
It is the one unalterable reality. Nothing can change it. We don’t deserve it; we didn’t earn it—God loves you. God loves you, and God is the greatest being. So loved—the greatest reason—and you need to know it, and I need to know it, and the world needs to know it.
The Greatest Need: «The World»
Jot this down: «For God so loved the world.» The world—the greatest need.
I turned my phone off last night; I wanted to get a good night’s sleep so I would be strong and ready to preach on the greatest verse in the Bible. When I turned my phone on this morning, I found that I had missed an opportunity as a chaplain for one of the local police departments. I had missed the opportunity to drive to the home of the parents whose sixteen-year-old son was shot in the chest and murdered last night. It’s a dark world that we live in, and that will happen again, and nothing will stop it from happening. The Bible indicates that the world is broken; it’s tragically twisted. Everywhere we look, a friend sent me this picture recently. There was a sign near the company of the cab that he rented. He was renting a cab, and the sign said, «Just so you know this before you rent or get in our car, if the passenger becomes sick in the vehicle, there’ll be a fifty-dollar cleaning fee.» Apparently, this is such a repetitive problem that a sign needed to be made, and a policy needed to be instituted.
But really, are we surprised? Does it not seem everywhere we turn that the entire world is vomiting, sick with the substances that are used to dull the sense of our own need for God? Everyone’s searching—everywhere, trying everything to meet the need in their soul that only God can meet. How wonderful to proclaim the reality that God loves the world—a world filled with rape and murder and greed and the effects of all the substances used to dull that pain. The world teeters on the edge of anarchy, and the greatest verse in the Bible says that God loves that world. It’s astounding.
Notice that God does not love the good guys. Notice that God does not love a select few. When Jesus exhorted us to love our enemies, He said, «Love your enemies and so be like your Father in Heaven, who causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.» God is not discriminant in His love. If your theology is distorted, that you feel that a view of God’s sovereignty requires you to qualify God’s love and say that somehow God doesn’t love the world, let me quote your hero, not mine—John Calvin, who said, «The Father loves the human race and wishes that not one should perish.»
In John Calvin’s book, A Harmony of the Evangelist, page 123—look, there is no sound theology; there is no biblical theology that does not embrace the reality that God loves the world. You say, «James, why are you laboring over this point?» Because I know how the enemy works, and I know that there are people listening to me right now—whether I can see you or not, you can see me, and God can see you—and you know that there’s something in your heart that makes you want to dismiss this reality. Life has been like that for you—always someone else, not you. Always someone else’s application is picked from the pile; always someone else is approved and gains entrance to the college. Always someone else gets the break, receives the bonus, seems to have the opportunity, but it’s never you.
And so when someone stands and proclaims to you the greatest verse in the Bible and the greatest news that God loves you and that God loves the world without exception, you think to yourself, «But not me. It’s never for me.» I prayerfully prepared this portion of the message with you in mind. Hear me on this, and may God’s Spirit witness it to your heart: God loves you. God loves you. Yes, He does.