(high pitched beeping) (soft organ music) (humming) (chattering) ♪ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord ♪ ♪ For my soul shall exalt in my God ♪ ♪ For he has clothed me ♪ ♪ With the garments of salvation ♪ ♪ He has covered me ♪ ♪ With the robe of righteousness ♪ ♪ As a bridegroom, as a bridegroom ♪ ♪ Decks himself in the robe, decks himself in the robe ♪ ♪ As a bride adorns herself with her jewels ♪ ♪ Adorns herself with her jewels ♪ ♪ With her jewels ♪ ♪ For as the earth springs forth its sprouts ♪ ♪ And as a garden causes what is sown ♪ ♪ And as a garden causes what is sown to spring up ♪ ♪ To spring up ♪ ♪ So the Lord God, the Lord God, the Lord ♪ ♪ Will cause righteousness and praise ♪ ♪ Will cause righteousness and praise ♪ ♪ To spring forth ♪ ♪ To spring forth ♪ ♪ To spring forth ♪ ♪ Before all our nations ♪ (soft organ music) (muffled choir singing) - Be seated. We have been unwilling to be faithful. We have failed to take seriously our responsibility to other persons, and we ignore the tragedy of human separation. Hear then, oh God, our prayer for forgiveness. Oh God, we depart from what has gone for better or for worse. We strike upon the hopeful opportunities of the days yet to come. However, let us not forget our mistakes of the past. Deliver us, Lord, from the arrogance of prejudice, the delusion of pride, the extravagance of greed, the pity of uninvolvement. Turn not away from us, oh Lord, in the presence of our iniquities. Forgive us, renew us, inspire us, that we may evolve maturely beyond our crooked paths of yesterday. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. May Almighty God, who caused light to shine out of darkness, shine in our hearts, cleansing us from all our sins and restoring us to the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Let us give thanks for God is good and God's love is everlasting. Thanks be to God whose love has made us. Thanks be to God whose mercy forgives us. Thanks be to God whose promise secures us. Amen. We welcome you this morning to the university service of worship here at Duke University Chapel. It is a day of national rejoicing as we welcome home our American hostages from Iran. And we surely join in prayer and thought with these 52 Americans as they return home, and with their families, as somehow they begin now to begin now to, begin to face the future and what lies ahead. Our prayers, our love and thoughts surround them in this reentry time. You will note in the bulletin that the American Cross Bloodmobile will be here tomorrow on campus. We invite you to come and participate. It will be in the chapel basement area, Monday and Tuesday. Please come by if you can be a possible donor to this worthy cause. You will also note that we are receiving applications for Student Preacher Sunday to be March the 1st of this year. We invite any student, undergraduate or graduate, to consider applying for this opportunity to preach in Duke Chapel. You are welcome to submit an application. We will schedule an interview for you and we look forward to meeting with some of you for this very special occasion. - Let us pray. Oh Lord our God, you have given your Word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Grant us grace to receive your truth in faith and love. That by it, we may be prepared unto every good word and work, to the glory of your name. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah chapter nine, verses two through seven. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelled in a land of deep darkness on them has light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation. Thou hast increased its joy. They rejoice before thee as with joy at the harvest. As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the rod for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as in the day of Midian. For every boot of the trampling warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For unto us a child is born. To us, a Son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it. To uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Here ends the reading from the Old Testament. Amen. (soft organ music) (muffled choir singing) - Will the congregation please rise for the reading of the New Testament? The Gospel is from John chapter three, verses 16 through 21. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but should have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned. He who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed that the light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil, hates the light, and does not come to the light. Lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light. That it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. Here ends the reading from the Gospel lesson. Amen. (soft organ music) (muffled choir singing) - In the name of the Lord our God, who creates us, who through Jesus Christ redeems us, and who through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit sustains us. Amen. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, in our Holy Bible, in our holy Scriptures and what we Christians call the written Word of God, there are many beautiful, power-filled, unforgettable passages. Passages that I would call, "passages that preach." You can recall them. 1 Corinthians 13. The 23rd Psalm. Isaiah 6:1 through 8. Mark 16, where the words, "He is not here, he has risen" are found. Luke chapter 15. John chapter one, verses one through 14. The eighth chapter of the book of Romans. Revelation 21 and 22. Passages that preach. But perhaps the best known, the best remembered, the most often repeated passage in all of Scripture is John 3:16. But as I look at that this morning and ask you to look at it with me, I want us always to keep John 3:16 and John 3:17 together. For one feeling I have is that when we think of John 3:16 only, we miss what may be an even greater message, which is found in John 3:17. "For God so loved the world "that he gave his only Son. "That whoever believes in him should not perish, "but have eternal life. "For God sent the Son into the world, "not to condemn the world, "but that the world through him, "might be saved." So for the next few times that I preach, I want to look at some of these passages that preach. These passages that we all know. That have well known, ready made, memorable messages in them. Passages that you could preach about, I have an idea, just as well as I could. Because I feel that now is the time for us within the Christian church to get back to the basics, to see what are our roots, to see what is the faith, what are the passages, what are the words that have made us and that shape us and our lives in Christ. It's like Emil Brunner, the great late Swiss theologian wrote at the beginning of World War II, when he and his people, his country, were threatened, and they knew not what lay ahead. They're drops from everyone of the great words of the Bible. A particularly clear light upon the events of time. We, he wrote in the early 1940s, "we can understand what the issues are today "only when we place ourselves at the highest height. "We can recognize what God requires of us today "only when we reflect upon "the deepest foundations of our faith." He who wants to build a solid house must lay his foundation deep. Superficial things of which there are indeed enough will not really be of service to us today. We want to build our house upon rock, upon God's own Word, upon Jesus Christ and everything that can make God's Word great to us, and that can make Jesus Christ the center of our thinking and our willing. That and that alone is now truly relevant to the times. So for the sermons I preach the next few times, I want to concentrate on those passages that can make God's Word great and can make Jesus Christ the center of our thinking and our willing. Today, John 3:16 through 21. And here we see in just a few words the fullness of God's divine mind and God's divine plan. John wants us to know very simply that God is love. And the first result of God being love is that God sends his Son. And the second result of God's being love is that God is going to save the whole world. John 3:16 or John 3:16 and 17 is everybody's text. This is everybody's favorite passage, or one of them. This is the verse everybody knows and remembers. This is the Gospel in miniature, as Martin Luther once said. All of the Bible's message in just a few lines. The entire Word, if you will, in just a few words. And here, John is summarizing Jesus' message. Here John is also summarizing his own message that he writes in the Gospel. If you read carefully the entire Gospel of John all the way through, there's certain words and phrases that occur over and over. Words and phrases that obviously are John's favorite very special words. And so here, in just six verses, John uses his most important and his choice words several times. He uses them to pull all together here in just a few lines. Surely to emphasize for us that this really is at the heart and soul of the message that God and Jesus and he, John, have to give to the world. For then and for now. Words like "love." "Agape." Which occurs 37 times in the Gospel of John. Words like "the world", (speaking foreign language). Words like "the only son." Words like "believes." Words that come from John like "eternal life" or "be saved." Surely this is the gospel in miniature, this is God's word of home, of assurance, of love, of salvation, of new life for all persons given in just a few lines and what a passage, what a message, what beauty, what a word. Thank God for this incomparable word so rich, so rare, indeed, so unforgettable. These words, if we notice, are put in the context of John's gospel just after the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, the one who came from the Pharisees, who came to Jesus by night, marveling at all the things that Jesus did and exclaiming that surely Jesus was a teacher come from God for no one can do these things that you do, he said to Jesus, unless that one is from God. Jesus then tells Nicodemus that mysterious word that one must be born again in order to enter into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, as most of us would, would naturally responds and wants to know how can one be born again, can one possibly enter a second time into one's mother's womb and be born again? And Jesus replies, "unless one is born of water "and the Spirit, one cannot enter the kingdom of God." And then he goes on in just a few words to explain to Nicodemus what he means about being born of water and the Spirit and being born anew and he finishes his words to Nicodemus with these words: "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, "so must the Son of man be lifted up, "that whoever believes in him, "may have eternal life." Now, those are Jesus' words. I think that John then comes on here with his own words because what Jesus has just told Nicodemus is so important that John wants to be sure that all, all persons hear, and see and understand, and comprehend and believe and thus have eternal life. For these words in this passage this morning are the words of eternal life, my friends. These are the words that show us the way and the truth and the life. These are the words, this is the one who will draw all persons unto himself, Jesus. Jesus who said "so must the Son of man be lifted up "and as the Son of man is lifted up, "he will draw all persons unto him." John. For you see, God loved the world so very much that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. First of all, for God so loved the world, that's what it says. We need to remind ourselves again in this day and time that God does love the world. Surely as the Psalmist wrote, the earth is the Lord's, the world and all who dwell therein, the world, the earth is the Lord's. The way John puts it, for God so loved the world, (speaking foreign language), from which we get the word cosmos, for God so loved everything, the whole universe, the entire cosmos, all that there is surrounding us, all that we have and own and use, all that feeds us, nourishes us, sustains us, all that keeps us going, all animate and inanimate things, there is nothing outside the love of God. For God so loved the world, that is the cosmos. And we need to remind ourselves of that and learn or maybe perhaps learn again how to love and respect and care for the world which God has made and has given us to enjoy. Perhaps the old Genesis concept that we have been created by God to have, you remember the words there? To have dominion over the created order will just not work any longer, my friends. Perhaps even John knew this and John was trying to tell the people in that day and is trying to tell us here, if God so loved the world enough to give the Son, to send the Son and to save the world, then surely we should love the world enough to care for it and to treat it caringly and lovingly and respectfully. There are some frightening words coming to us today by demographers, people who are studying what we are doing with earth's natural resources. Demographers are telling us that we must learn to love the earth. We must learn to be more caring and more careful with the world than we have been for the past 50 years and than we are now. Or the world as we know it, will just absolutely be no more. I was just reading that if we continue consumption at the current rate in the world, many of the natural resources that we have will soon be gone. Aluminum will last 100 years, 2081. Copper will last 36 years. Led, 26 years. Natural gas, 38 years. Zinc, 23 years. Tin, 17 years. Petroleum, 31 years. Or, at the present rate that we are consuming the natural resources, all of the petroleum that demographers estimate that will be at our disposal will be gone by the year 2012. No wonder God loved and loves the world. God knows that the world must be loved and respected and cared for, replenished wherever possible, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. That's how much God loves the world, the cosmos. But somehow rather in our thinking about God and about the world, we think that God is far off somewhere and that the world, the earth, is here and is separated from God, we think that God is way out there somewhere and the world, the earth, is here, not so. Not the God in whom we Christians believe, for God is incarnate, God is in the midst of it all right here in the world. And some poetic lines of G. A. Studdert Kennedy say it beautifully. He says, "how far above the things of earth "is Jesus Christ at God's right hand? "How far away is God? "As far as meaning is from speech, "as beauty from a rose, "as far as music is from sound, "as poetry from prose, "as far as art from cleverness, "as painting is from paints, "as far as signs from sacraments, "as Pharisees from Saints, "as far as love from friendship is, "as reason is from truth, "as far as laughter is from joy, "and early years from youth. "As far as love from shining eyes, "as passion from a kiss, "so far is God from God's green earth, "so far that world from this. "No wonder that God loved the world so much, "for God is as close to the world, "as beauty is close to a rose, "as music is to sound, "as painting is to paint, "as close as signs are to sacraments." No wonder God loved the world that much. But God's loving the world in the second place, I believe. God's loving the world, the cosmos, I believe. Never saved a soul, it never made anyone whole, it never brought anyone into the kingdom of heaven, it never gave anyone eternal life. So, for God so loved the world then must mean that, must mean more than, that God loves the world as the world. And it does. It must. Surely it does. For God so loved the world, yes, sure, absolutely, unequivocally, but how about saying, for God so loved not the world but God so loved all the people of the world? Don't tell me just that God loves the world. Don't tell me just that God loves the world enough to send the Son, for the world is things and elements and creatures and rocks and skies and trees and hills and deserts and stumps and mud and glass and caves and valleys and hills and storms in the night and hail in the rain and fire that burns and wind that destroys. No, please, please, don't tell me just that God loves the world as the world because that really never saved anybody's soul, and it never made anybody whole. So, please, will you tell me that when John says for God so loved the world that what he really meant was for God so loved all the peoples of the world, so much so that God sent his Son that each child who belonged to God might have eternal life. There are times in my life and I'm sure there are times in your life when it is important for us to know that God loves and cares about the world and it is, we must believe that. And we must love the world but there are other times when I really couldn't care less whether God loves the world, what I really want to know is that God loves me. There is a part of me that says yes, it is important to know, that God loves the world. There is another part of me that says, I don't give a damn whether or not God loves the world, what I really want to know deep in my heart and soul is that God loves me and that God loves every brother and sister of mine who lives and walks on the face of this earth, red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight. Jesus, God, loves all the children of the world. Surely it is as Saint Augustine once wrote centuries ago, "God loves each of us, "as if there was only one to love." Each of us surely needs to know and believe that our beginning and our ending are in God, are with God, are in the presence of God, are in the love of God. There's another passage in John where John says, behold the Lamb of God in the first chapter of John where he says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that's beautiful, that's powerful, that's important, that's rich, that's filled with meaning but don't tell me to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world when what I really need is to be told behold the Lamb of God who takes away your sin, and my sin. For God so loved the world, no. For God so loved me, yes. And then in John 3:17, for God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. Would you let me rephrase that? For God sent the son, not to condemn us but that through the son, we might be saved. Not to condemn us, no more condemnation. My friend, if God in Christ is not going to condemn us, who are we to condemn ourselves or, who are we to condemn one another? No more condemnation, not to condemn us. Absolutely beautiful word, that we need today. I know of so many pulpits from which the word, the heavy word of condemnation flows forth Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. But my friends, I, this morning, stand here to tell you I don't know of any child of God this day who needs to be made to feel any more guilty about living the kind of life that he or she is living. I don't know of any child of God upon the face of this earth who needs to be condemned in any way any more whatsoever. Not to condemn us. God sent the Son into the world not to tell us how bad, or evil or wrong or guilty we are, not to condemn us, but to save us. And the Greek word for save here is not "come down that sawdust trail, "and get your heart right with God" or, "fall on your knees and get your soul right with God," it's not many of the things that we often think being saved today really means. What that Greek word means is to be put in, means is to be put in right relation, it is, it means to be made whole again. So, God sent the Son into the world not to condemn you or me, or any other person but that through that same Son each one of us, every one of us, might be made whole. The year I was in Scotland, I had the privilege of working with a man called the Reverend Willy Wright. He was 71 years old at the time I was there, the year I worked with him. He had been at this same church where he was at that time. He had been at this same church for 35 years. There was no man, there was no person, any more beloved in that community of Rutherglen, Scotland than Willy Wright. He married people, he baptized people, he buried people. He visited those who were sick and those who were shut in, he held the hands of those who were dying, and he stood beside the beds of those who were bereaved and grieving. I have known days on which he had as many as three funerals in one day. One Sunday morning, after we had had a particularly heavy week in that steel mill village congregation. Willy Wright stood before his people, and he said, "my dear friends, "the longer I live with you "and the more I share your struggles and your heartaches "and the hard times and the difficulties that you have, "the more I live life with you, "the less I want to speak a word of condemnation of you "and the more I want to speak a word of love "and compassion for you." Will you stand, please? (chattering) In the old days, they used to line hymns and someone would sing a line and then the congregation would respond. I'd like to line this passage of Scripture and ask you to repeat these words after me, if you will. With full voice and with all the feeling that you have, will you respond? For God so loved the world. - For God so loved the world. - That he gave his only Son. - That he gave his only Son. - That whoever believes in him. - That whoever believes in him. - Should not perish. - Should not perish. - But have eternal life. - But have eternal life. - For God sent the Son into the world. - For God sent the Son into the world. - Not to condemn the world. - Not to condemn the world. - But that the world through him might be saved. - But that the world through him might be saved. - And now will you repeat these words with me? For God so loved the people of the world. - For God so loved the people of the world. - That he gave his only Son. - That he gave his only Son. - That whoever believes in him. - That whoever believes in him. - Should not perish but have eternal life. - Should not perish but have eternal life. - For God sent the Son to us. - For God sent the Son to us. - Not to condemn us. - Not to condemn us. - But that through the Son. - But that through the Son. - We all might be made whole. - We all might be made whole. - And that is the gospel truth. Amen. (soft organ music) (muffled choir singing) - Let us affirm what we believe. We believe in God who has created and is creating, who has come in the truly human Jesus to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust God who calls us to be the church, to celebrate life and its fullness, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus crucified and risen, our judge and our hope in life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us, we are not alone. Thanks be to God. The Lord be with you. - And in your spirit. - Let us pray. O Eternal God, you have sent your only Son, Jesus the Christ, to liberate us from the plight of sin and to deliver us from the finality of death. You have clothed him in flesh and invested in him the keys to what is a greater kingdom. Jesus came and lived among us, he identified with us, Jesus gave us love, compassion, joy, peace, and hope. But due to our failure to grasp the spiritual thrust of his message of truth. O God, we have become rich in power and yet poor in spirit. We find ourselves rejoicing in bigotry and yet fail to mourn social injustices. We are deep in pride and yet shallow in humility. We find ourselves inflicting cruelty in our relationships and we stand deficient in mercy. We glutton after iniquity and yet we starve after righteousness. We choose to refine ourselves with false appearances yet remain impure in our hearts. We admit that we are crafty peacemakers around conference tables and yet we are blundering peace breakers in the name of Christian love. We remain complacent in unrighteousness and yet we are unwilling to suffer in the cause of spiritual justice. Lord, on this day, forgive us of our shallow piety and our cushion self-righteousness. Rather, give us compassion, mercy, and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who came and lived among us, who taught us to pray, saying, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (soft organ music) ♪ Behold a star ♪ ♪ From Jacob shining ♪ ♪ And a scepter from Israel rising ♪ ♪ And a scepter from Israel rising ♪ ♪ Behold a star from Jacob shining ♪ ♪ Behold a star from Jacob shining ♪ ♪ And a scepter from Israel rising ♪ ♪ And a scepter from Israel rising ♪ ♪ Behold a star from Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ Behold a star from Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ Behold a star ♪ ♪ Behold a star from Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ Behold a star from Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ From Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ From Jacob's shining ♪ (soft organ music) ♪ To reign in glory ♪ ♪ Over the nations ♪ ♪ To reign in glory ♪ ♪ Over the nations ♪ ♪ To reign in glory ♪ ♪ In glory over the nations ♪ ♪ Over the nations ♪ ♪ In glory ♪ ♪ In glory ♪ ♪ Over the nations ♪ ♪ To reign in glory ♪ ♪ Over the nations ♪ ♪ To reign in glory ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ In glory ♪ ♪ Over the nations ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ Of Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ Of Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ Of Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ The star ♪ ♪ Behold the star ♪ ♪ Of Jacob's shining ♪ ♪ Like some bright ♪ ♪ Morning star is he ♪ ♪ The promise ♪ ♪ Of the coming day ♪ ♪ Beyond the night ♪ ♪ Of sorrow ♪ ♪ Break forth ♪ ♪ O Light ♪ ♪ We, our joyful hearts ♪ ♪ Uplifting with thanksgiving ♪ ♪ Hail the brightness ♪ ♪ Of Thy rising ♪ (soft organ music) (soft organ music) (muffled choir singing) ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ (muffled choir singing) ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ (muffled choir singing) - Eternal God, giver of every good and perfect gift, we ask that you seek above all to give yourself to us and grant now with these token gifts of our hands that we may more fully give ourselves to you in joyous obedience and service through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. (soft organ music) (muffled choir singing) The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord's face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord's countenance be upon you and give you peace. ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ (soft organ music) (chattering)