By Rich Christianson
* The following is a slightly edited version of the message Rich delivered at the funeral of his father-inlaw, Joe McDowell. Joe was ninety four when he passed.i
If I were to ask you what you think the best-known verse in all of the Bible is, which verse comes to mind? I think that for very many of us, that verse would be John 3:16. And, as it turns out, John 3:16 was Joe’s favorite verse in the entire Bible.
Now I’m not surprised that John 3:16 was Joe’s favorite verse, nor am I surprised that John 3:16 is the best-known verse in all the Bible. That’s because, in one way, the Gospel of John is the most important book in the Bible, and also because the central message of this important book is summarized perfectly in the sixteenth verse of its third chapter. Think about that! In one verse, John 3:16, we have a concise summary of the central message of the most important book in the Bible.
Now why is the Gospel of John so important? Well, Joe’s recent passing is a stark reminder that because of sin, each of us is facing death. But ever since sin entered the world––and death through sin––God has extended to mankind His offer of eternal life. And nowhere is this offer presented more clearly than in the Gospel of John. In fact, John’s Gospel is the only book in the Bible which expressly states that it was written for the purpose of leading its readers into possession of eternal life, the very life of God (John 20:30-31). Perhaps you’ve seen people at one time or another handing out Christian tracts. Well, the Gospel of John is the only evangelistic tract that was written by God Himself! And so we certainly need to pay close attention to what it says!
And as important as it is for us to read the whole of John’s Gospel, we can understand the central message of that Gospel by considering carefully just one of its verses: John 3:16. Before we look briefly at that one verse, though, I want to encourage you as strongly as I can to read the whole book! You owe that to yourself!ii But now, here is John 3:16, Joe’s favorite verse, as it appears in the NASB:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Notice that the first line of the verse says that God loves the world, and that’s a good thing because, as we’ve already noted, the world has a huge sin problem, and the solution to that problem is rooted in God’s love.
Notice next the word everyone in the third line of the verse. This word lets us know that the verse is relevant to everyone who lives in the world. Therefore this verse is relevant to you, and it is relevant to me.
Now we need to consider the world’s big problem. Notice the word perish in the last line of the verse. Because of sin, everyone who lives in the world is in danger of perishing––that is, of being separated from a perfectly holy God for all eternity. Think about what that means. When you die, your body goes into the ground, but your spirit continues to exist forever. And if you are separated from God forever, then you exist forever completely separated from the only One who is able to give meaning to existence. Now that is terrible! But remember: God loves the world. And so perhaps there is something He can do about our sin problem.
And indeed, God has already done something. Long ago, He sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to deal with our sin problem. As the Son of God, Jesus lived a perfect life and then died on a cross to pay for our sins. He was buried and then rose from the dead on the third day. His payment for sin on the cross and His resurrection from the dead are two major proofs that He is able to save you from being eternally separated from God. And there is only one thing required of you: You need to believe in God’s Son, Jesus. And believing in God’s Son means believing what He says.
Now what He says in John 3:16 is that the one who believes in Him will not perish––will not be separated from God for all eternity––but will instead have eternal life, the very life of God, life that goes on with Him forever, even after our time on earth is over.
And having eternal life means not only living with God forever, but also being rightly related to God right now, from the very moment you believe that Jesus will give you eternal life freely. In fact, the Bible repeatedly calls eternal life a gift (John 4:10, 14; Eph 2:5, 8-9; Rev 21:6). Believe that Jesus will give you eternal life, and the moment you do, you have it. And eternal life can never be lost, no matter what happens in your life. Because you do nothing to earn it, nothing you do can cause you to lose it.
Now that does not mean that a person who has received eternal life can then live in open and flagrant sin without any consequences. God, as a perfect Father, knows very well how to administer corrective consequences to His children whenever such consequences are needed, but those consequences, severe though they may be, never involve retracting His gift of eternal life. Remember that it is, after all, a gift. Remember, too, that the gift is not called probationary life––“We’ll have to see how you’re doing!” God’s gift does not depend at all on how you are doing, but wholly on Jesus and what He has already done. God’s gift is not probationary life; it is eternal life.
Now if you understand what I am saying, surely you will agree with me that the message of John 3:16 is stunning and incredible and hard to believe. But many other verses in John’s Gospel convey exactly the same message! For example:
“Most assuredly I say to you, the one who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and will not come into judgment, but has already passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).
“Most assuredly I say to you, the one who believes in Me has eternal life” (John 6:47).
Please note that in these three verses in John’s Gospel––and indeed in every other passage that presents eternal life as a gift––there is only one condition for receiving eternal life, namely, believing Jesus’ promise to give it to you freely. Nothing is said about committing, nothing is said about submitting, nothing about following, nothing about confessing, nothing about obeying, nothing about repenting, nothing about being baptized. While all those things are important for one who has already received eternal life, they often become huge barriers for the person who has not yet received it. Receiving eternal life is the first priority, and there is only one condition: believing Jesus’ promise to give it to you freely.
Very often, people try to substitute something they can do for their seeming inability to believe Jesus’ promise. They’ll say, “Well, I really am sorry for my sins and I am willing to try hard to obey Jesus from now on and I’m even willing to be baptized. Surely, that’s good enough, isn’t it?” And the Biblical answer to that question is a resounding No. There is no substitute for simply believing Jesus’ promise, for simply resting on His word alone.
Now you might say, “Well, how can I come to believe Jesus’ promise?” The answer is: by immersing yourself in God’s evangelistic tract, the Gospel of John, and asking God to open your eyes to see that Jesus’ promise really is true. God will always honor that kind of immersion in His Word and that kind of request for His illumination.
Now as we finish, let me also mention that God graciously offers so much more than eternal life to those who have already believed Him for it. Jesus says in John 10, verse 10: “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” And that abundant life is described in some detail in the later chapters of John’s Gospel. But once again, first things first: Abundant life is available only to those who have first received God’s gift of eternal life by simply believing Jesus for it.
Hopefully, we all understand now why John 3:16 was Joe McDowell’s favorite verse in the entire Bible. In his early teenage years, Joe came to believe that Jesus’ promise of eternal life in John 3:16 was true for him, and so he knew that his eternal destiny was certain and secure. And everyone who, like Joe, has believed Jesus’ promise of eternal life will see Joe again one day in a transformed body, overflowing with joy and gratitude and praise for our gracious and loving God.
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Rich Christianson is a retired community college mathematics professor who lives with LeAnne, his wife of fifty-two years, in Lee’s Summit, MO, a suburb of Kansas City.
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i Editor’s Note: Rich credits Lucas Kitchen for the approach he used to explain John 3:16. See Chapter 36 of Eternal Life: Believe to Be Alive.
ii Following the funeral service, twenty-five attendees chose to take with them a free copy of Living Water: The Gospel of John with notes.
