Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 14, 2021
Primary Text: John 3:14-21
Big Idea of the Message: Again & Again, God Loves First
After inviting Nicodemus to be born anew, Jesus tells him in John 3 that God so loved the world that God sent his son to restore it. Therefore, when we read John 3:16, we remember that Jesus is speaking in metaphor and poetry. Ultimately, love is where God begins and ends. This love, like grace, is a gift we do nothing to deserve. Again and again, love is our refrain. Before we act, think, or believe, can love be first for us too?
Discussion Questions:
Primary Text: John 3:14-21
Big Idea of the Message: Again & Again, God Loves First
After inviting Nicodemus to be born anew, Jesus tells him in John 3 that God so loved the world that God sent his son to restore it. Therefore, when we read John 3:16, we remember that Jesus is speaking in metaphor and poetry. Ultimately, love is where God begins and ends. This love, like grace, is a gift we do nothing to deserve. Again and again, love is our refrain. Before we act, think, or believe, can love be first for us too?
Discussion Questions:
- What associations or memories do you have related to John 3:16? In the past, perhaps when you first encountered this famous verse, what was the meaning you gleaned from it? What meaning do you glean from it now?
- Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night. What questions, longings, or wonderings stir you awake in the night?
- What is God’s redeeming light exposing in the world right now? What is it exposing in your community, your church? How are we being drawn back to love in the midst of being exposed?