|
Ephesians 3:14-21 For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. LOVE is the theme for this last Sunday in Advent. We are rapidly approaching Christmas Day when we celebrate anew the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Anyone who is a parent can appreciate George Strait’s song, “Love Without End, Amen.” In the first two verse we experience love in the midst of growing up and being a grown up. Let me share those two verses with you: I got sent home from school one day with a shiner on my eye Fighting was against the rules and it didn’t matter why When Dad got home I told that story just like I’d rehearsed Then stood there on those trembling knees and waited for the worst When I became a father in the spring of ‘81 There was no doubt that stubborn boy was just like my father’s son And when I thought my patience had been tested to the end I took my daddy’s secret and I passed it on to him The response from both of these scenarios is: “Let me tell you a secret, about a father’s love A secret that my daddy said was just between us He said daddies don’t just love their children every now and then It’s a love without end, amen, it’s a love without end, amen” Then comes the third verse, and it alludes to God, our father and his response to the struggles of humanity. Last night I dreamed I’d died and stood outside those pearly gates When suddenly I realized there must be some mistake If they know half the stuff I done they’ll never let me in Then somewhere from the other side I heard these words again And they said, “Let me tell you a secret, about a father’s love A secret that my daddy said was just between us You see daddies don’t just love their children every now and then It’s a love without end, amen, it’s a love without end, amen” It is a basic human need to be loved unconditionally and with certainty. Love without end, Amen! The psychologist Erickson talked about stages that we go through as an infant relating to basic needs. Trust is an early development. The basic trust that our parents are always here. When the parent is out of sight, the baby instinctively questions whether the parent is accessible. That is one reason that peek-a-boo is such a fun game with children. We disappear and then reappear eliciting joyous laughter. Christmas puts an exclamation point behind God’s love and sure presence! So much in life can, if we let it, separate us from God and God’s love. Let’s hear what Paul says. Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Not our circumstances, or external forces, nor internal struggles can remove God’s amazing love from us. In our passage for today, we find him praying Paul praying for the second time in Ephesians for those he is speaking to. In verses 16-17 we find one long sentence Sentence where he prays that we will all be strengthened by being rooted and grounded in the love of God. Ho goes on, in verses 18-19, to speak of our comprehending that love. It is implying that comprehending is more than head knowledge of God’s love through Jesus Christ, but that our hearts experience it, feel it, trust it. In the Old Testament, in Psalm 136 we find a worship psalm that is designed to remind us of God’s faithfulness. It begins with the nature of God and creation as the Israelites had learned. Each phrase is followed by the identical statement, “for His steadfast love endures forever.” Let’s hear the first couple of verses: 1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 2 O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. 3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; 4 who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; Then, in verses 10-24, still using past tense, the verses tell how God has provided in so many different ways in their history. It is interesting that the Psalm shifts to present tense in verse 25, where the psalmist reminds us that “… [God] gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Think about the many times God has been present in our life as a congregation, in our individual lives, in the lives of our family – for his steadfast love endures forever! All our history is set in the context of God’s love. Let’s look at the Christmas narratives. Shepherds, encountered by angels, begin with a sense of fear. Yet the angels reassure them that they bring good news of great joy (Luke 2:10). God is announcing love come to earth in the form of the baby Jesus. That goal on God’s part is emphasized even more by John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should have eternal life.” I believe that is why God chose to come into the world as a child. There is just something about family, and love, and the immediate love and connection we have with a baby. Who of us isn’t warmed by the cherubic smile of a child? Ralph Martin says of the Epistle to the Ephesians, “Love lies at the heart of God’s nature and purpose in the epistle, and human love in the church answers to it.” We seek the child of God’s love to be truly born in our hearts. That love produces results in us. Early in epistle, Ephesians 1:15-16, Paul says, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I mentioned earlier that our passage today included the second prayer, here is the first for the people of Ephesus and ultimately for us. “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.” With the light in our hearts as we get to know God more and more, we are invited to shine that light where ever we go. In Ephesians 5:1-2, which is at the end of the section on ‘Rules for the New Life,’ Paul says it this way – “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Love is given in the birth of Jesus Christ, and love is expected in our everyday experiences. It is the natural product of God’s love toward us. In Adam Hamilton’s book, “Incarnation”, he quotes Dietrick Bonhoeffer when he says, “Grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it cost a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son: “you were bought at a price,” and what has cost God so much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the incarnation of God.” We are never alone, we are always loved, and the power of God’s love in the incarnation of Jesus calls us to love. My prayer for us today is that God’s love would be born our your hearts anew today and every day. Paul concludes our passage, and the first three chapters of Ephesians, with one of the most beautiful doxologies in scripture. “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Praise God! Amen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|