We must read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure. – J.C. Ryle

It was one of those unforgettable moments in our married life. It’s not often that Jane worries…it’s even rarer that she gets upset. This time though she was nearly beside herself. Somehow Jane had lost the diamond on her ring. No, it wasn’t the end of the world, and it could be replaced. But for a wife, it’s just not quite the same, and it wouldn’t have been for Jane. 

We searched everywhere. Our whole family searched. It just wasn’t there. My theory was that it had fallen down the disposal when Jane was washing dishes…to sadly be lost forever. 

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Luke 15 where Jesus told three parables. They’re often referred to as the “Lost Parables.” Each one is about something very treasured that had been lost. The lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son or what we know as the Prodigal Son. 

In verses 8-10 Jesus said, Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

If you research Jewish culture you’ll find that the ten silver coins refer to a piece of jewelry with ten silver coins on it worn by brides. It was the equivalent of a wedding ring in modern times. That’s similar to how Jane found her diamond. As she was sweeping the kitchen – there it was! 

At our house we know a little bit about the rejoicing of that wife who found her lost coin. It was a day of huge rejoicing in the Carson home. Ever since then periodically we have the prongs on Jane’s ring checked to make sure that her diamond is snugly in place. 

Wedding rings though, especially if you’ve been married a few years or decades become familiar. They’re just there and you don’t really think about them much. It’s like they’re part of your finger…until you lose one.

For most of us, John 3:16 is like that. It may have been the first verse in the Bible that we memorized. If you’ve been a Christ-follower for very long, you can probably recite it verbatim with barely a thought. 

It’s one of the Bible’s most familiar verses. It’s ubiquitous in our culture. You’ll see it emblazoned on bumper stickers and banners. It’s waved on posters at athletic events. It’s even quoted by politicians. It is one of the few verses that many people can identify just from the reference. 

Maybe you remember “the Rainbow Man” from the 1980s. He wore a rainbow-colored wig and seemed to show up at every major sporting event. Somehow he seemed to always get himself on camera holding up a sign that said, “John 3:16.” He’d sit behind home plate, or behind the goal posts, or the backboard and wave his sign. 

John 3:16 has been called the gospel in a nutshell. It’s a summary of Scripture and a blueprint for God’s plan of redemption. And it is all of those things, but it’s also a wonderful verse to reflect on for our salvation. Though it’s often the first verse that a new preacher will preach on, some go years…even decades without ever preaching on it. First, it’s so familiar and the meaning seemingly so clear, what more can you say? 

Personally, I don’t know if I’ve ever preached on it, though I’ve shared it countless times. I did hear of one pastor who preached on it some 600 times. While that seems like a bit of an overkill, with the depth of all that’s in John 3:16, even after 600 sermons, it would still need to be mined. There’s just so much there. It’s just so rich!

Sadly, Christ-followers miss so much of God’s truth because we fall victim to our hurried culture. As a result, we fail to take the time to observe, think and meditate. We neglect asking God to reveal Himself to us in His Word. The Bible is God’s love letter to us and John 3:16 is God’s love note to each of us. We can literally say that John 3:16 is God’s Love Language. 

When lovers receive notes from each other, they read them over and over and over again. They study each word, each phrase. They take them apart and parse them to absorb each ounce of meaning. During the next few weeks, that’s how we want to study John 3:16. We want to take the time to squeeze out the rich and wonderful meanings in this great verse. So, for the next seven weeks we’ll be unpacking the wealth of God’s love for us in John 3:16 by taking it a phrase at a time. 

John 3:16 has so much depth, yet at the same time, it’s so simple. It’s easy enough for a child to understand it, yet it’s deep enough to drown the deepest theological mind. Too many of us miss it because we just rush by and think we’ve got everything there. We don’t. It’s a gold mine that will take us all of eternity to fully engage and discover.  

It’s reported that the Smith House in Dahlonega, Georgia, sat on a gold mine for over a century. During renovation of the landmark hotel back in February of 2006, workers discovered the entrance to a four-foot-wide hole under the concrete floor in the main dining room. The hole went straight down nineteen feet to the entrance to a gold mine under the building.

Captain Frank Hall built the house in 1884. As legend has it, the city wouldn’t permit Hall to dig for gold on the property, partly because it was too close to the downtown square and partly because he was from the North, a Yankee. Apparently, he built the house to cover up his mining operation until his health failed and he sold the land. 

“We never would have known it if we hadn’t chipped up the concrete,” Chris Welch, the owner of the hotel, said. For many years, the owners joked with patrons that they were “sitting on a gold mine.” They had no idea just how true that statement really was.

When it comes to John 3:16, we’re sitting on a gold mine. Let’s let God enrich our souls from His Love Language to each of us!