Here’s a thought – John 3:16 is for the church, not the un-churched.
Uh?
That was my first reaction when a friend approached me with that idea. Yet, as I looked at the context of John 3:16, I came to agree with him.. 
Here’s the set up:
Jesus is hanging out one night when a teacher of the law, Nicodemus, came up and begins to talk to him. It was during this inter change that Jesus mentions one of his more quotable lines:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
Still tracking with me? Ok – try this:
Here is the worldview behind my thoughts – There were Christians before Jesus. [@more@]
What?!
There was a group of Jews during the time of Jesus who where followers of God before Jesus came onto the scene (think OT heroes). In reading the whole chapter (or at least John 3:1-21), it sounds like Nicodemus was one of those people.
He was a teacher of the law (not all Pharisees were bad) who recognized that Jesus was sent from God – that being the reason he came to talk with him.
So….if John 3:16 was to the church, why do we, in 2009, fling it before every unbeliever on the planet?
Maybe, the CHURCH should listen to the words spoken by Jesus before verse 16: "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again
Are you tracking? No?
Hmm…let me put it this way. Sometimes the hardest place to see the truth is when you are stand right next to it…
Chew on that a bit. 
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