"Knowing" the Love of God (Eph 3:14-21)

"Knowing" the Love of God (Eph 3:14-21)

Tony Tan. 4 March 2016

Ephesians 3:14-21
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.


1) The immensity of God's Love (vs 18 - breath, length, height, depth)

God’s greatness & beauty:
Hubble telescope – a “rose-shaped” galaxy

Hymn - The Love of God

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall for evermore endure
The saints' and angels' song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.


3rd stanza from the Jewish poem had been found penciled on the wall of a patient’s room in an insane asylum, the general opinion was that this inmate had written this in an epic moment of sanity.


2) The mystery of God's Love (vs 19 - surpasses knowledge)

- Intellectually, we can acceded to the understanding of it
- Experientially, we need a supernatural act of God through the Holy Spirit (vs 16 grant strength)
- Experience of this love resurrects the life of God in us from within (filled with all the fullness).
- This does not happen through human effort, teaching, study, argumentation, persuasion. It is a miraculous work of God - salvation, spiritual desire & appetite.
- Prayer is the key. Time set aside for God spent in communion, conversation, worship.

3) The power of God's Love (strength, power)

- Experience of the touch and reality of God changes us and transforms our minds & perspective. Helps us to cease being conformed to the world's patterns & standards.

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

- Attitudes, desires, priorities, preferences
- Gratitude, gracious, positive, optimistic, generous with time & money, less critical & demanding
- Enjoy life & people more; love, forgive, give more freely


4) The community of God's Love (vs 15 - family, vs 18 - all the saints)

- Experience is individual and also in spiritual community
- Family first, then larger community of believers, then overflows to pre-believers
- God did not bless us to satisfy our own consumption. We are to be channel of blessing.
- As we get older (Act3) there should be more urgency to ensure we are ready to meet our Maker and account for all the resources (time, talent, treasure) He has entrusted to our stewardship.


Conclusion

Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." - Mark 12:29-31