The Simplex Faith of 3:16

The Simplex Faith of 3:16
Sermon Starter
by Leonard Sweet
If I were to say three numbers, "3:16," what would you say? Wow! Some of you didn't even say "John 3:16," you just started quoting the verse: "For God so loved the world . . . " If there is one Bible verse both locked down and totally lapsed Christians might know, it is John 3:16. Thank you, Tim Tebow. John 3:16 is held up at half -time in sports arenas. It is flashed on cardboard placards on freeway off-ramps. Tim Tebow found a creative new place to assert John 3:16 when he scraped out the three numbers in the black-out smears he made on his cheekbones before every one of his college football games. We all know John 3:16. But let me try again. Who can tell me John 3:15? Or John 3:17? Or John 3:14? Or 3:18? If you can, you are the exceptions that prove the rule. You are a minuscule minority. If you don't know, it is not because your faith is fainthearted. Not because your Sunday school failed you. Not because of any form of faithlessness. If you don't know what John 3:15 or John 3:17 say, it is because of a common disease that has affected many Christians. It is a malady perhaps best described as "versitis". No, I didn't say "bursitis." I said "versitis". Anyone remember "sword drills" in Sunday school? Or did you ever earn "jewels in your crown" in Awana classes? If so, then you have a good number of Bible verses committed to memory. Both "sword drills" and Awana prizes reward children for committing Bible verses to memory. But knowing individual Bible verses, as helpful, hopeful, and healing as they might be, does not mean that you know the Bible, the story of the scriptures. The whole story. The big story. The back story. Both the huge moments and the hidden asides. All of the components of God's story are necessary in order to comprehend the whole, unfolding drama of the divine words and work that are found in scripture.

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