Well, we're going to look at another very famous passage of Scripture from John 3. This is verses 16 through 21, although I'm going to just read one verse to you. "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."
Not only is this a precious verse about our salvation, it is a summary of the entire biblical story. You could summarize the whole biblical narrative with nine words: "For God so loved the world that he gave." This passage is about the glory, the beauty, the amazing truth of divine generosity!
God was generous at creation, creating this beautiful world. He was generous at the fall, responding with redemptive promises. He was generous in giving His covenant to Abraham. He was generous in delivering his people from slavery. He was generous in giving them the Law; they did not know how to live. He was generous in giving them the promised land. He was generous in sending prophet after prophet after prophet to call them back to him. He was generous in sending the Savior. The whole biblical story is a story of divine generosity.
Now, that generosity is depicted in three ways in this passage. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. First you see the generosity of God's love. Stop and consider these six words, "For God so loved the world." This is the world that rebelled against him. This is the world that's filled with idolatrous people. This is the world filled with people who steal glory away from God and live for their own glory. But God looked at his world, not with hatred, but with love.
So often our love is reduced down to loving people who we find lovely and who will love us in return. But that's not God's love. God's love is showered on the undeserving, literally on people who are his enemies. God so loved the world--generosity of love.
Second, there's the generosity of God's provision. How much did he love the world? Well, he loved the world enough that he gave his one and only Son. Don't ever let this lose its awe for you. You don't ever have to worry, in your struggle to believe, in your struggle to obey, about the extent of God's love. His love is so grand that he would send his Son to suffer and die so that we would have life--life eternal. It's almost impossible to put in your head, knowing what we generally think about love, to consider the immensity, the infinite nature of God's love. His love is generous. His provision is generous.
And then there's the generosity of his requirement for us. He doesn't require that we work ourselves back into his favor. He doesn't require ten years of perfect obedience before he'll have anything to do with us. He doesn't require a high level of biblical literacy and a high level of theological knowledge. He doesn't require any of those things. He said, "All I require is that you would put your trust in me," "...Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."
God is lavishly generous with his love. He's lavishly generous with his provision. He is tenderly generous with his requirement of us. This is what the biblical story is about. It's not about our righteousness, it's not first about our obedience, it's about a God who's generous in love, generous in provision, and generous in his requirements of us--and the result is eternal life!
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. When you think about God's love, what typically comes to your mind first? How is your perspective on God's love inaccurate when you hold it up next to Scripture (and in particular John 3:16-21)? Where is the gap between your perspective of God's love and what the Bible communicates about God's love? Take some time to pray and ask God to close that gap so that your perspective of his love is in line with Scripture and not your own opinion.
2. Why is generosity such an important part of God's character? How have you experienced his generosity before? Think through and create a list of the ways God has been generous towards you in the past. Then thank him for how he has extended generosity to you.
3. Why is human love not the same as God's love? How does the fact that God showers his love on the undeserving make you feel?
4. How have you struggled to put your trust in the Lord? Do you ever live as if what he requires of you is more than putting your trust in him? In what ways do you live as if God requires you to work yourself back into his favor? How can you be purposeful in recalibrating your perception of God's desire for and requirement of you?
Conversation Prompts to Use with Children
For Younger Children:
• What does it mean to be generous? Why is generosity such a good thing? What are some ways you can think of that God has been generous towards you and me?
• How might God's love be different from human love? What are some examples of God's love that you've seen or heard about?
For Older Children:
• Why do you think it's such a big deal that God's love isn't the same as human love? How does that difference make you appreciate who God is all the more? How can you and I pray to be more loving toward others in ways that we currently are not?
• How have I failed to show you God's love in the past? What are some practical ways (that line up with what we read in the Bible) that I can be an example of God's love toward you?
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