***Power to Grasp Christ's Love (Ephesians 3:17b-19)
by Bob Morris
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. "
We are profoundly, relentlessly loved by God. It is impossible to describe its extent or mark its limits. Quite simply, God’s love surpasses knowledge. Yet Paul prays paradoxically that we will know this love that surpasses knowledge. It implies going beyond what we know by experience or by thought or even by imagination. All we can do is continuously live in that love and daily grasp to an ever-increasing extent what it means. God’s love is one of those wonders that we will explore forever in eternity yet never exhaust.
In the meantime, Paul implies two factors in grasping the extent of God’s love here and now. The starting point is being rooted and established in love. The care groups in our church are called REAL groups, an acronym taken from Rooted and Established in Love. That is where understanding begins.
The second factor in comprehending the love of Christ is having power “together with all the Lord’s people”. This is not the quest of individual believers; it is pilgrimage we walk with all God’s people. As we see the diversity of God’s family, the variety of experiences we have, and the different ways we have of understanding God’s love, we begin to approach the dimensions of the love of Christ.
Tragically, in the West, where so many of us developed our worldviews, we are profoundly individualistic. Just one small indicator is our hymnody. Even in the corporate setting of our worship services we sing songs with exclusively personal pronouns. “When I survey the wondrous cross…” “I’m forgiven because you were forsaken…” “Be Thou my vision” “Purify my heart…” “I stand, I stand in awe of you…” “…you took the fall and thought of me above all.” “You alone are my strength and shield…” As an experiment, the next time you are singing with others, see how many songs use singular pronouns, and whether they could as easily be sung “plurally”.
The only hope we have of being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God is together -with all God’s people/the church, as we were reminded in Eph. 1: 23. Every person who becomes a new believer adds to our greater understanding of the extent of Christ’s love.
What does it mean to be filled with the fullness of God? In the context of this passage, it means to be recipients and sharers of God’s love, because God is love. To the extent we are filled with God’s love we reach out to others – each other, neighbours and enemies – with Christ’s love.
Loving Father, we confess that we don’t always feel loved nor loving. Help us by your power to know your love beyond what we feel emotionally or know intellectually.
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. "
We are profoundly, relentlessly loved by God. It is impossible to describe its extent or mark its limits. Quite simply, God’s love surpasses knowledge. Yet Paul prays paradoxically that we will know this love that surpasses knowledge. It implies going beyond what we know by experience or by thought or even by imagination. All we can do is continuously live in that love and daily grasp to an ever-increasing extent what it means. God’s love is one of those wonders that we will explore forever in eternity yet never exhaust.
In the meantime, Paul implies two factors in grasping the extent of God’s love here and now. The starting point is being rooted and established in love. The care groups in our church are called REAL groups, an acronym taken from Rooted and Established in Love. That is where understanding begins.
The second factor in comprehending the love of Christ is having power “together with all the Lord’s people”. This is not the quest of individual believers; it is pilgrimage we walk with all God’s people. As we see the diversity of God’s family, the variety of experiences we have, and the different ways we have of understanding God’s love, we begin to approach the dimensions of the love of Christ.
Tragically, in the West, where so many of us developed our worldviews, we are profoundly individualistic. Just one small indicator is our hymnody. Even in the corporate setting of our worship services we sing songs with exclusively personal pronouns. “When I survey the wondrous cross…” “I’m forgiven because you were forsaken…” “Be Thou my vision” “Purify my heart…” “I stand, I stand in awe of you…” “…you took the fall and thought of me above all.” “You alone are my strength and shield…” As an experiment, the next time you are singing with others, see how many songs use singular pronouns, and whether they could as easily be sung “plurally”.
The only hope we have of being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God is together -with all God’s people/the church, as we were reminded in Eph. 1: 23. Every person who becomes a new believer adds to our greater understanding of the extent of Christ’s love.
What does it mean to be filled with the fullness of God? In the context of this passage, it means to be recipients and sharers of God’s love, because God is love. To the extent we are filled with God’s love we reach out to others – each other, neighbours and enemies – with Christ’s love.
Loving Father, we confess that we don’t always feel loved nor loving. Help us by your power to know your love beyond what we feel emotionally or know intellectually.
posted by Evergreen @ 2:13 PM
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