The Particulars of Christ's Amazing Love

Ephesians 3:14–21 

Subject: Love for our Church Family

Relevance:  The Spirit makes continuous and genuine Christian expression possible by enabling us for supernatural Christian living, loving, and laboring so that our Father is glorified.

Theme: We need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural strengthening for Christlike loving to the credit of our Father. Beloved, this is a prayer for strength to love each other.

Introduction: Paul had been affirming the unity of a local church made up of many differing individuals. Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be strong inwardly through Christ's Spirit.

QUOTE: “This deeper experience will enable them to "apprehend" (get hold of) God's great love, which will result in their being "filled unto all the fullness of God." So, then, Paul is praying for strength, depth, apprehension, and fullness.”— (The Bible Exposition Commentary) 

Message:

I.               The Particulars of Christ’s Love (Eph. 3:17-19)

A.    Dwelling (Eph. 3:17)

                                                    i.     What are the hallmarks of our church when we each build our lives on love, as Paul prayed?  (Eph. 3:17)

                                                  ii.     Deepening Fellowship with Christ, “Dwell.” The result of this strengthening is that this faith in Christ may dwell in believers’ hearts, our whole personalities. “Dwell” is not to the beginning of Christ’s indwelling at the moment of conversion, but to Christ being at home in, the very center of and deeply rooted in, our lives. We must let Christ’s loving character become the dominating factor in our attitudes and conduct.

                                                iii.     Quote: “this is a request that He might have full access to every room and closet; that He might not be grieved by sinful words, thoughts, motives, and deeds; that He might enjoy unbroken fellowship with the believer. The Christian heart thus becomes the home of Christ, the place where He loves to be—like the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. The heart, of course, means the center of the spiritual life; it controls every aspect of behavior. In effect, the apostle prays that the lordship of Christ might extend to the books we read, the work we do, the food we eat, the money we spend, the words we speak—in short, the minutest details of our lives.”^[1]

                                                iv.     Paul is praying for a deeper experience between Christ and His people. He yearns for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts - not a surface relationship, but an ever-deepening fellowship.

B.    Rooted (Eph. 3:17)

                                                    i.     Nourished, Supported, and Stabilized by Christ’s love, “Rooted.” Now we move into the plant world.

                                                  ii.     The tree must get its roots deep into the soil if it is to have both nourishment, support, and stability, and the Christian must have his spiritual roots deep into the love of God.

                                                iii.     Ps 1:1-3, describes this reality, and Jer. 17:5-8, further comments on it. So, "From what do I draw my nourishment and my stability?" If there is to be power in the Christian life, then there must be depth. The roots must go deeper and deeper into the love of Christ.

C.    Grounded (Eph. 3:17)

                                                    i.     Built upon the best foundation (2Tim 2:19; Heb. 11:10; Rev. 21:19), “Grounded.” Grounded is an architectural term referring to the foundations on which we build.

                                                  ii.     ILLUSTRATION: “In the first two churches I pastored, we were privileged to construct new buildings, and in both projects it seemed we would never get out of the ground. In my second building program, we had to spend several thousand dollars taking soil tests because we were building over an old lake bed. For weeks, the men were laying out and pouring the footings. One day I complained to the architect, and he replied, "Pastor, the most important part of this building is the foundation. If you don't go deep, you can't go high." That sentence has been a sermon to me ever since.”  —W. W. Wiersbe

                                                iii.     Quote: “To be rooted and grounded in love is to be established in love as a way of life. The life of love is a life of kindness, selflessness, brokenness, and meekness. It is the life of Christ finding expression in the believer (see 1 Cor. 13:4–7).”^[2]

                                                iv.     The trials of life test the depth of our experience. If two roommates have a falling out, they may seek new roommates, for after all, living with a roommate is a passing experience. But if a church member, who loves the fellowship, has a disagreement, the trial could deepen their love as they seek to resolve the problems. The storm that blows reveals the strength of the roots. Jesus told the story about the two builders, one of whom did not go deep enough for his foundation (Matt 7:24-29). Paul prayed that the believer might have a deeper experience with Christ because only a deep experience could sustain them during the severe trials of life.

D.    Experiential (Eph. 3:18-19)

                                                    i.     In this manner, spiritual growth and transformation, we can “know” Christ’s love, even though we don’t fully understand it (Eph. 3:18-19)!

                                                  ii.     The purpose is to have power (“have inherent strength”), together “with” all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is. These measurements most likely describe not the thoroughness of comprehension but the immensity of the thing to be comprehended.

                                                iii.     Comprehensively we are to “know” experientially the love of Christ that supersedes all knowledge (see Phil. 4:7). The more a Christian knows about Christ, the more amazed he is at Christ’s love for him.

                                                 iv.     Paul prayed that it might be experientially realized in each person (cf. Eph. 4:13). Experiencing God’s moral excellence and perfection causes fellow believers to love each other. Positionally, we are one in Christ; experientially we are to love each other as one in Him.

                                                  v.     But, what about our differences? Professional differences? Social differences? Social Media differences? Collegiate differences? Political differences? Team differences? Ethnic differences? Occupational differences? We can dilute Christ power in our experience if we elevate these things above loving each other with Christlike love!

 

Conclusion:

All this is possible only because God is more than able to do immeasurably more than all we could pray for or even imagine possible, because it is according to His power that is at work within us as believers.

The Lord Jesus was a master at communicating love and personal acceptance. He did so when He blessed and held … little children. But another time His sensitivity to touch someone was even more graphic. This was when Jesus met a grown man's need for meaningful touch, a man who was barred by law from ever touching anyone again.…

To touch a leper was unthinkable. Banishing lepers from society, people would not get within a stone's throw of them. (In fact, they would throw stones at them if they did come close!) … With their open sores and dirty bandages, lepers were the last persons anyone would want to touch. Yet the first thing Christ did for this man was touch him.

Even before Jesus spoke to him, He reached out His hand and touched him. Can you imagine what that scene must have looked like? Think how this man must have longed for someone to touch him, not throw stones at him to drive him away. Jesus could have healed him first and then touched him. But recognizing his deepest need, Jesus stretched out His hand even before He spoke words of physical and spiritual healing.  — (From The Gift of the Blessing by Gary Smalley and John Trent)

Please keep uppermost in mind that this concerns our perception of God’s love, not whether he loves us or not. While the choices we make will affect that perception, there is nothing a believer can do to remove themselves from it. Romans 8:35–39 reminds us that nothing, absolutely nothing, in heaven or on earth can separate us from the love of God.

How can we live our lives so that we are most likely to experience the love of Christ?

Pray daily: We’re not perfect, Father, but we are yours…the throne of our heart belongs to you. We acknowledge your salvation and your grace, and your great love. We ask you to make us every day into the image of Jesus Christ…including Christlike love. Manifest your love through us in the form of kindness, selflessness, brokenness, and meekness. May the life of Christ find expression in us habitually. Help us to live with our church in love every day as you do. We are amazed at such love and mercy that forgive us time and time again. Help us to live this way towards each other. Thank you.

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^[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1930.

^[2] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1930.