Driving through town today, I passed a man carrying a sign that simply read “LOVE,” with the reference, “John 3:16” under it. It pleased me as I thought about it. I have seen lots of John 3:16 signs at sporting events, and other large gatherings — even embedded in the black patch some football players wear under their eyes — but I can’t recall ever seeing that reference coupled with the word “love.”

Now I’m not a big fan of “witnessing” with signs and placards, but if you are going to do it, putting love with John 3:16 is a good addition to the reference. Making love the theme of John 3:16 is a good way to understand it. “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.” Love is the whole point. Love was the reason. This is the highest expression of love known to the universe — that God would give up His only Son to pain and suffering and humiliation and death so that the whole world could be saved is more than anyone can fathom. And it was love that made Him do it. Because God loved the world … that’s why He did it.

But there’s one more thing about John 3:16 — in many ways the most important verse in the Bible — and that is the fact that it is followed by John 3:17, perhaps the second most important verse in the Bible especially today. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Why do you suppose it was important for God to include this verse in His message to us? Because it is so common for people to think that God is out to get us. We all know intuitively that God is perfect and righteous and holy, and we also all know that we all fall short of that perfection. So we all start out with an assumption that God is not very pleased with us. And going before God is like going before the judge. Who wants to do that when they know they’re guilty?

But God knows this. That’s why He sent us this message. That’s why He follows up the most important verse about His love for us with an announcement that He didn’t send Jesus to earth to condemn us but to save us.

That is huge. Jesus was perfect, He was truly God Himself. He had every right to judge us and condemn us all to hell. But that’s not why He came. He came with another agenda. He came to save us. That’s why He was full of grace and truth and love and mercy and compassion. No one would have expected God to come to us in this manner, knowing God and knowing us. No one would ever imagine a God like this if He hadn’t come this way and told us why.

Now let’s look at this through the lens of the mind and the heart. Certainly there is much to satisfy the mind — the theological reasons Christ had to die to pay for the sins of the world so He could love the world. But that’s just theology. You can understand that intellectually, and never have it touch your heart. You can go to seminary and study all the books about theology, Christology and soteriology, and never have it permeate your heart — never experience God’s love or the forgiveness of your sins. We can understand the mind of God but we can also experience the love of God through the heart of God. What Jesus did on the cross was driven, not by some intellectual necessity, but by the heart of God. God’s love drove His Son too action on behalf of the whole world.

I think we should start a new campaign for John 3:17. Get football players to put John 3:17 under their eyes, hold up John 3:17 signs — make everyone find a Bible and look it up. This is the time to learn that God does not judge or condemn us. He forgives us and saves us — a loving message to a hostile world from the heart of God `.

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. John 3:16-17