John 3:1-21 on January 25th, 2026
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
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So what a glorious day. Never mind the Pennsylvania-esque wintery mix outside. And while the weather did freeze out our bishops' visit, we still have a lot to celebrate today. We will soon dedicate this renovated space to the glory of God. We have a brass quintet here to help us honor the day so you know something special is going on. Plus we had a baptism. I mean babies and joy and celebration. On top of that, we read John 316, the most famous Bible verse in the world. I mean how much bigger can you get? It is almost enough to make a preacher want to say amen and sit down. Almost.
So I'll just say a little more about that. To pull in a theme from last week when we hear the famous Bible stories or read the famous verses, we tend to stop paying attention because we already know what it means. And many of us have probably memorized this Bible verse before we could even look it up in the Bible ourselves. And maybe we do have a sense of its meaning, but like most things when it comes to the gospel, it is always good to be reminded again. This verse is so famous that many people see it as a summary of the gospel message. It is almost a shorthand or a slogan. But this verse is so much more than that. It is not a slogan. It is a promise. It is a claim about God and who God is.
And the thing about this verse is that it all starts with God. Those who have been around St. Philip long enough have heard me say that good theology always starts with God. God is the subject of active verbs. God creates God calls God forgives God sends God does stuff. And here God loves for God so loved the world. God loves this world so much that God gives. God gives the sun. God's love comes to this world by God giving us exactly what it is that we need. God's love comes to us through God giving. That is the promise that is the claim that is the gospel. We don't start with us or what we do. We start with what God has done and God has loved. God has given before we are even mentioned. Before we've gotten organized, before we made plans, before we fixed, believed or done anything. God loves God gives. And then we respond to that love that God gives to us, to the world.
We respond in faith with trust by believing that God loves and gives not so that we would be condemned, but so that we would be saved so that we would live the life that God provides for us so that God's love could change us so that God's love would change what it is that we care about. And on such a celebratory day, that is good news that we need to hear. It reminds us of why any of this matters at all. Our response to God's love for the world over the past few years has been to do our best to help others get a fuller sense of that love to. And to accomplish that, we did some pretty ambitious things.
We wanted to have a space to better help people experience God. The whole mantra that drove us forward together was worship and welcome. And in this space, God will be glorified. God will be praised. God will be worshiped. That stained glass window, it makes a dramatic impact from the moment that one steps through the doors. There's this moment of awe when the sun shines brightly through. The narthex has created a more welcoming space to tilinger, to chat, to support each other. And even there, even in there, the time and the space are holy. And with these physical changes, we are able to include more, more people because of the way we reconfigured, but also more voices, more gifts, more leaders, more ways to worship, welcome and serve.
It is one step, one faithful and hopeful step in expanding God's table for all, which is a pretty ambitious thing in and of itself. This building is not an ending. It is a beginning. A place that helps draw us closer to Jesus and to each other. A place that stretches our imagination for who belongs and how wide God's welcome truly is. A place that helps us to tell the gospel, which is why, in the midst of aligning our space with who we are, we also reoriented ourselves in the mission that God has put before us. Expanding God's table for all in spirit, song and service. This is our calling. This is our mission. This is who we are and who we are becoming.
As people say by grace, we live as people who are already left, already forgiven, already set free. So the table expands not just because we knock down some walls and flip things around. God's table expands through us by how we speak. Who we notice and how we welcome. It means intentionally embracing all people as beloved children of God, helping them to see and feel God's love given to the world. And to go back to the gospel language, God didn't wait for the world to first be perfect. God acted first and God's first action is love. So we respond with the same love, the same welcome, the same grace that we have been given.
We've done a lot. We have planned a lot and we have endured a lot. And so thank you. The gifts, the giving, the generosity in this place, it amazes me. The forward together capital campaign money has been and is still being given. You all have sponsored pews and chairs. You're all doing what you said you would do and more. So thank you. Thank you for your patience. For hanging in there three months, three months longer than we told you. Thank you for your vision and your visioning. Thank you for moving forward together. And mission, ministry, and the gospel.
And while today feels a little bit like the clothes of a long process, it is far from that. The verse doesn't say, for God so loved a building renovation. For God so loved a strategic plan. For God so loved the world. So we should remember that this building exists because God loves the world. The mission exists because God loves the world. We exist together because God loves the world. Everything we are, everything we do flows from that love that has already been given to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so let's respond to that love by expanding God's table. Not just thankful for where we are but hopeful for those who will be welcomed here. Let's respond to that love with with a spirit of energy and passion with the song of praise and community with a service that embodies the love of God for the world. For God so loved. For God so loves us that God gives us Jesus, shaping who we are and who we're becoming. All for the life of the world. Amen.