Principles to Remember in Crisis: God loves the world and desires them to be saved

In today’s post we continue on Principles to Remember in Crisis. Today’s principle: God loves the world and desires them to be saved.

Recently in the first post of this series, we revealed that the Apostle Paul provided two vital steps to persevere in trials or crisis. The first step, in a world with false teachers, false belief systems, and false hope, the Apostle reminds us to stand firm in what we know. The second step is to hold fast the traditions which we have been taught or learned from the Word. We simply identified those steps as: (1) Remember key principles and (2) Obey practical steps to encourage our perseverance.

This is our sixth principle to remember.

God loves the world and desires them to be saved (John 3:15-21).

We now turn our attention to the story of Jesus and Nicodemus. In this story, we learn a valuable lesson to keep in mind as we go through crisis. This lesson, when observed here and applied to our various circumstances, helps us to keep focused as we strive to respond in crisis.

Nicodemus as a leader of the Jews, comes to Jesus by night with questions concerning faith. Jesus explains to him that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. This transitions into a longer conversation where we hear Jesus’ heart for the Gospel. John records:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:14-21)

In this episode, John makes it clear that Jesus came to save people. Jesus entered into the world as light into darkness. He came offering eternal life to those who would believe, all the while both understanding and accepting the fact that similar to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, He was willing to be lifted up on the cross as well. In other words, Jesus willingly came as the God-man with the intention of taking individual followers’ sin upon Himself, so that those of us who accept Him would no longer be condemned. Why? Because God loves the world and desires them to be saved.

Why is this particularly important for you to remember in crisis? The Apostle Peter helps us understand this connection.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed (1 Peter 3:15-16)

Peter, who knew God’s passion for seeing folks saved through Jesus, gave specific instructions to us whenever we are in the midst of a crisis. As we respond in ways that glorify God (cf., 1 Peter 2:11-12), we provide opportunities for those around us to consider the message of the Gospel. Our lifestyle, specifically in the midst of suffering, opens the door for the kinds of observations by those who do not know Jesus Christ to inquire about the hope that lies within us. Specifically, as we respond in Christ-centered, God-glorifying, and Spirit-empowered ways, our response to crisis encourages the inquiry of others as to our motivations and strength for doing so.

The Apostle Paul provides us further help in considering this issue. Paul explains that he rejoices in suffering for the sake of the body of Christ.

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, (Colossians 1:24)

He welcomes suffering because of his commitment to its benefit in the body of Christ. Paul understood and rejoiced in the role suffering played in his life for the greater sake of the gospel. This should be true for each of us as well.

Every crisis brings with it an opportunity to consider those around us for the purpose of sharing the Gospel.

Every crisis brings with it an opportunity to consider those around us for the purpose of sharing the Gospel. It happens in two ways. First, going through the crisis in godliness potentially delivers an opportunity to share the hope that is within each one of us. As others around us see our response to crisis, they are encouraged by the response and seek to know more from us (1 Pet 3:15). In this way as we keep this in mind during our crisis, we mimic the passion of God in Christ toward those who need Jesus. Just as Jesus’ suffering opens the door for the salvation of others, our suffering opens the door for the hope of Jesus which resides in us.

Secondly, when seeing others in crisis it should provoke us to share the Gospel with them as possible. Since we understand the passion of God for the salvation of people in the world, when we see those world’s people in crisis, it ought to provide us a greater burden to share with those individuals about the hope we have in Christ. Just as our suffering opens the door for us to share our hope, according to Peter, the other person’s suffering can also crack the door of opportunity for us to share our hope.

As we go through life, in the middle of crisis, we have the hope of living and sharing the Gospel.

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