Sermon preached by

The Rev. Dr. Fulton L. Porter, III

at

St. Thomas Church, Chicago 

Lent IV, 3/22/09

John 3:14-21

God Uses Four Letter Words

Let your loving kindness be upon us, O Lord, as we put our trust in you.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Amen.

Have you ever heard people use four letter words? (Of course you have never used them yourself). Often those who used the four letter words were trying to make a point, under score a truth or simply insult someone else. Four letter words are what we generally call “expletives.” An expletive is an outburst that is obscene, vulgar or in extremely poor taste. Four letter words generally express an emotion of anger or frustration.

The phrase “four letter word” has become a generic way to describe every possible way that a person could refer to an entity in a negative or obscene way. Many recordings that are played on popular radio and television broadcasts are sprinkled with “bleeps” which take the place of actual words.  Four letter words are everywhere.

Sometimes four letter words are used to show how frustrated we are. There is the story of the student who studied every possible answer to a test about birds. Confident that he had covered every possible scenario about birds, the student approached his classes proudly. He was ready and he knew it without a doubt.  He entered the auditorium and took a seat in the front row. On the table in the front was a row of ten stuffed birds. Each bird had a sack covering its body and only the legs were showing. When class started, the professor announced that the students were to identify each bird by looking at its legs and give its common name, species, habitat, mating habits, etc.  He looked at each of the bird’s legs. They all looked the same to him. He started to get angry.  He had stayed up all night studying for this test and now he had to identify birds by their LEGS? The more he thought about the situation, the angrier he got. Finally he reached his boiling point.  He stood up, marched up to the professor’s desk, crumpled up his exam paper and threw it on the desk. “What a ridiculous test!” he told the professor.  “How could anyone tell the difference between these birds by looking at their legs? This exam is the biggest rip-off I’ve ever seen!”

He began to spout out four letters words as he spoke. Then he turned and stormed toward the exit. The professor was a bit shocked and it took him a moment to regain his composure. Then, just as Joe was about to walk out the door, the professor shouted out, “Wait a minute, young man, what’s your name?” He turned around, pulled up his pant legs and hollered, “You ought to be able to look at my legs and figure that out. Otherwise get the (bleep) out of my face and leave me alone!”

Did you know God has some choice four letter words that he uses? The four letter words that God uses have nothing to do with expletives. In fact, God’s four letter words are often spoken in frustration over our failure to be obedient. However, instead of stooping to obscene guttural responses, God uses a different set of four letter words that show us how he really feels about us at any given time in our life’s experiences. God takes words that negatively describe us and turn them to our good. When there is despair, God gives us the four letter word called HOPE. When there is fear God uses a four letter word and tells us to be BOLD. When the world tells us to look at our loss, God uses a four letter word and shows us our GAIN.  Sometimes it takes a four letter word to describe our God because, “God is GOOD” all the time.

This text focuses on Jesus as he explains that God’s response to the world’s sin was send love.  Jesus is the Word of God personified. He is God’s response to his frustration and disappointment over the way mankind has responded to his directives and laws. If someone responds to frustration with four letter words, then Jesus is the way God responded to the world in his disappointment.  God’s response is a guideline as to how Christians ought to respond to people who do not know God, who frustrate us and are living careless, indifferent, and sinfully wretched lives. We ought not to come shaking our finger at them, pointing out how terrible they are and what evil things they are doing to themselves. We ought to come sensing the agony, the hurt, the inward shame, the loneliness, misery and anguish they are going through. That is the way God feels and that is the way we should feel too.

John 3:16 has four words that indicate God’s response- “Loved, gave, have, life.” These four words summarize the way God has responded and continues to respond to his wayward children.  He loves us. He provides for us and he wants us to have life!  Paul puts this very beautifully in his second letter to the Corinthians: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,” {2 Cor 5:19}. That is why, in every vignette we have of Jesus in the gospels where he is dealing with acknowledged, open, blatant sinners, we never hear a word of condemnation. Witness the woman taken in adultery or the woman at the well of Samaria. She had five husbands and was now living with a man outside of marriage. Jesus was courteous to her. He did not attack her, blame her, or judge her. There is no condemnation.

Today there are many who respond to the failures of others or themselves with a plethora of four letter words. However, this text seems to highlight a few words that should be important to every Christian. The central part of the text is God’s love. God’s love is AGAPE. It is unconditional love that goes beyond mere mutual respect and courtesy. When the world snubbed its nose at God and disobeyed his commandments and precepts, God’s response was to us a four letter word...Love! The world cursed God and he made the sun to rise everyday anyway! The world ignored him, but he put food on their tables every day! The world rejected God but he continued to shower blessings upon them daily! There is no doubt God was angry with the world. Once God became so angry that he flooded the earth with water, but his overall response to the world has been a four letter word called “love.” We must learn to do the same. We must assume the AGAPE love attitude of our Lord. It is easy to use this four letter word with those that love us, but it also applies to those who do not love us.  Jesus showed us the way when he told us to love our enemies and pray for those that spitefully use you and then he turned around and said of his oppressors, as he hung suffering at their hands, “Father, forgive them.”   Love.

A central truth of life is that God provides for those who trust in him even though there are times when God is not pleased with our behavior. Just as there are times when children disappoint their parents but the parents continue to give to them, God’s response to God’s children is the same. God continues to provide. The parable of the Prodigal Son makes this very clear. A father had a son who insulted him, but he gave him his inheritance anyway! He gave him the opportunity to lead his own life! When the Son failed, the father also gave him a chance to return home.  Today, God continues to do the exact same thing. He gives! He provides! Every time we turn around God is making away! Despite our wayward actions, God continues to give! Despite our mean spirit, God keeps making a way!

One of the main truths of our faith is that God responds to us with the four letter word “Have.”  It is a truth that God wants us to have. What is often confusing to some is determining exactly what God wants us to have. Jesus says, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The context of “Have” from God’s perspective is that God wants all of h us to possess the essentials to joyful and fruitful living. Unfortunately, some have interpreted “have” to mean God wants you to have “things.” Therefore anything they see they feel that God wants them to have it. Just as a wise parent cares for a child by seeing that they have what is necessary for their growth and well being, God insures believers that they will have the essentials to joy and fruitful living. We cannot have everything we see just because it is there. What God does is to make our lives rich and fulfilled, regardless to our physical state. We count on God to provide us with all of our needs knowing that he will also supply many of our wants. Psalm 23 puts it simply, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!”

Among the greatest gifts that mankind has received from God is a four letter word called, “life.” God’s response to the death that this world offers is “life.” Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”   Life is a four letter word that comes directly out of the mouth of God. It involves more than just living and breathing literally, but it also involves the entire process of energizing humanity. Our God can give new life to withered dreams, failed quests, crumbling marriages and broken relationships. God’s response to the death of an aspiration is to remind that we should not write our epitaph when there is a failure. Instead of saying, “I could just die” we should say, “I believe I can fly!” God gives life to those who are dispirited. Its one of his favorite four letter words.

There are many today who are overwhelmed by four letter words, but for every four letter word that the world has, God has an answer.  The world curses us and tells us we are DEAD, but God has his own four letter word called, “Live.”  I hear him asking Ezekiel, “Son of Man, can these bones live?” They can live but only by the word of God.  The world hits us with the four letter word PAIN, but God has his own four letter word called, “Gain.”  That’s why James says, “My brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of any kind to count it all joy!”  The world hits us with the four letter word “LOST” but God has his own, called “Save.” That’s why Romans  says, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  The world hits us with FEAR, but God answers with “BOLD.” We are bold because the word teaches us that, “Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear. The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid!”  The world hits us with SICK, but God answers with “HEAL.” That’s why 2 Chronicles says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  The world hits us with DEAF, but God answers with “HEAR”  God hears and answers prayer. That’s why the song writer wrote, Jesus is on the mainline, tell him what you want!”  The world says ball up your FIST, but God answers with KNEE. Prayer changes things! Not by might, but by my word says the Lord!

 About 2000 years God decided to send the world a four letter word that had been around for a long time. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  This four letter word which was spoken out of the mouth of God became flesh and dwelled among us!   This is the Word that was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth!  This is the Word that picked up an old rugged cross and carried it to Calvary!  When he dropped his head, Satan claimed victory and used a four letter word and exclaimed he DIED!  But early Sunday morning I see an “R” meeting up with a “I” and a “S” and an “E.”  Early Sunday morning he arose from the grave with all power in his hands!   Today he has one final four letter word:  Come!  Come!  Come!