God’s Gift to God: John 3:1-21

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16, NASB).

When our children were young our family had a tradition for opening our Christmas gifts. One of the children, Jamil or Abra would select a gift, call out the name of the recipient, and give the gift to the one whose name was on it. Now, in our tradition all four members of our family received gifts. All the members received gifts from all the members in the family. Jamil would get a gift from his sister Abra, a gift from mom, and a gift from Myles/daddy. Now in this arrangement it sounds like Jamil and Abra gave gifts to mom and dad. That’s what was written on the gift—from Abra to mom, From Abra to dad, and from Abra to Jamil. There were also gifts that said to mom from Jamil, to Abra from Jamil, and to Myles from Jamil. Abra gave mom and daddy gifts and Jamil gave mom and daddy gifts. The truth to matter is this: The gifts that said to mom from Jamil and Abra were really gifts from mom to mom.

You see, it was mom who decided what she wanted to receive as a gift. It was Myles who decided what he wanted as a gift. Jamil and Abra could not buy a gift. They had no money to buy a gift. They did not even know the price of the gifts. They could not drive a car so they could not go to the store to purchase a gift. Jamil and Abra did not even know how to get to the store. They often did not know which store had which gift. You see, the card said to mom from Jamil, but the reality is this: Jamil’s gift to mom was really Mom’s gift to mom. Mom decided what gift she wanted. Mom paid for the gift. Mom wrapped the gift, and mom put gift under the tree. Mom did everything so that mom could get what mom wanted. She allowed her children to share in the giving. She allowed them to write their names on the gifts. The reality is that the gift was mom’s gift to mom.

In our text today we learn that everything that we give to God is not from us. Everything that has our name written on it is a gift from God to God. If we give God our praise, our praise comes from God. If we give God glory and honor, our glory and honor comes from God. Everything that we give to God is something that came from God and God allows us to write our names on the gift card. Let us look at our text, John 3:16-18.

In this text one of the teachers of the Jews, Nicodemus, went to Jesus at night. Nicodemus wanted to ask Jesus some things about His ministry. Nicodemus knew that Jesus could not do the work that He was doing if what He was doing was not of God. Now, the text does not say this, but this is what I think. Nicodemus wanted to know the secret that allowed Jesus to perform miracles. I think that Nicodemus wanted to be able to do perform the same miracles. You know Nicodemus was described as a teacher of Israel. Jesus was just an ordinary man doing some extraordinary things. I think that Nicodemus along with his friends on the Sanhedrin Council were troubled that this son of a carpenter could do some things that they could not do.

Jesus did not allow Nicodemus to continue with his questions. Jesus simply told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” You must be born of water and spirit.” The problem that Nicodemus had was that he did not know how he could be born again. So, after some dialogue with Nicodemus, Jesus explained how one could be born again, what a person had to do to be born again, and the cost to be born again.

Now John 3:16 is one of the most known verses in the bible. We learn it in Sunday school. We hear it repeated all the time. John 3:16 is used to make us feel good about ourselves. We get happy when we think about Jesus’ love for us. We feel special because we sing the songs: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. But you see, our text tells us that God loves more than people. It tells us that God loved the world—the entire world that God created. Romans 8:18-25 tells us that because of sin there is the absence of the Spirit. God created everything by the power of His word and His word is communicated through the Spirit. So then, God was motivated by His love to save the entirety of His creation. God desired to restore His creation, God wanted to be reconciled to His creation. However, God would have to do everything so that the whole world, including the human family, could be with Him forever. This we call eternal life.

Everything that we give to God is not our gift to God. Every gift that has our name on it is a gift from God to God. You see, you and I are like the children. We do not know what God wants. We do not have the resources to pay for the gift that God desires. God wants us to be saved from our sins, but we cannot save ourselves. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we cannot pay for our salvation. Salvation is not based on what we do—not of works. Salvation is the gift of God. What is the gift?

Again, our text tells us that God gave His Son so that everyone who believes in Him will have everlasting life. Like the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness to save the people from snake bites, the Son of Man was lifted up on the cross to save us from our sins. Why did God send Jesus to die on the cross? It was because Jesus had to shed His blood for the remission of sin. The scripture says. “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin” (Heb. 9:22, NASB).

Jesus was God’s gift to God. Jesus was the gift that God wanted; that God required. Jesus was the gift that God paid for. Jesus was the gift that God wrapped and placed under the tree. “She wrapped Him is swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk. 2:7). Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season. But the birth of Jesus was not the end of the story. You see, it was not the baby in the manger that saves us. It was not the sweet little Jesus boy that saves us. It was the man that was made flesh and dwelt among us. John said: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14, NASB). God gave God a gift. God gave His Son for the salvation of the world. God gave His Son to God to show us the love of the father. Yes, “God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NASB). When we are forgiven of our sins we can be reconciled to God. We can be restored to the place that God created us to be. You see, when we are saved by the blood of Jesus, we become God’s gift to God.