SURPASSING LOVE EPHESIANS 3:14-21

 Adapted from a Jim Black sermon

http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/surpassing-love-jim-black-sermon-on-gods-love-

55127.asp

Ephesians 3:14 NET For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every

family in heaven and on the earth is named. 16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 17 that Christ may dwell in your

hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love,

18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length

and height and depth, 19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses

knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or

think, 21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations,

forever and ever. Amen.

Paul prays for the church that we would know the love of Christ that surpasses

knowledge. His love empowers His people to live holy lives and to be the church!

Today we’ll see the love of God illustrated from Scripture and be challenged with the

question: Do you know the love of God?

That’s the dilemma that Paul faces in today’s text! How do you express the love

of God in mere ‘words?’ To this point in Ephesians Paul has been

building for us a theology of the church. He has revealed the mystery of what God has done for us in Christ by tearing down the Dividing Wall that has separated us from

Him and us from one another!

We are now ONE in Christ! He has elaborated on the fact that God has given

us “every spiritual blessing…in Christ!” Ephesians 1:3 NET Blessed is the God and

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in

the heavenly realms in Christ.

He has emphasized how God has empowered us from above to change our hearts and lives as he would have them

changed. God has made us new creations, having died to sin and born again to

righteousness! God did all of this for a purpose?

Ephesians 3:10 NET The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in

the heavenly realms.

If we think of the first part of Ephesians as Paul constructing his church, we might pause here to think of this text as his “Dedication Ceremony.” When a new

building is built, or a new ship is constructed there is usually a ‘dedication ceremony’, right? It’s a time to stop, reflect on the

purpose for that building, our hopes for it and perhaps ask a blessing on it.

This text is Paul’s prayer for the church, his ‘dedication’ prayer over it.

14 For this reason... WHAT REASON? Paul is pointing back to the salvation and the

privileges he described way back in Chapter. 2

…I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is

named.Again, we are FAMILY,

Let’s look back in chapter 2 & get a glimpse of what “For this reason...” is.

Ephesians 2:19 NET So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you

are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,

Continuing in chapter 3:

Ephesians 3:16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit

in the inner person, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and

grounded in love, 18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be

filled up to all the fullness of God. What an amazing text! This is another one

of those passages that’s almost TOO BIG to preach on! I can’t do it justice by trying to make it conform to three points and an

illustration!

But, what I do want to pose to us this morning is the question, “Do You Know the Love of God?” Perhaps you know

the love of your spouse because you got a box of chocolates for Valentine’s day.

Perhaps you know the love of your children because they were especially

nice to you for a day.

Maybe you know the love of your dog because whenever you come home it’s so

excited to see you.

But, do you know the love of God?

As Paul has gotten to this point in his letter, he knows that THIS is the fundamental

question!

If you don’t know the love of God, then the rest of his letter won’t make sense to you! That will be about how to live holy lives,

lives that bring honor & glory to God. But if you don’t know His love, you don’t have the power within you to live holy, and changed

lives. THIS question means EVERYTHING!!!

Do You Know the Love of God?If you don’t know it from Paul’s words here,

what more can I say? Let’s look at some other texts. God’s love, goes out of its way!

One time Jesus was teaching and had attracted a large number of folks that most of us would consider ‘undesirables.’ the tax

collectors and ‘sinners’ as the Pharisees referred to them.

In fact, it was a cause for the Pharisees to grumble about this man eating and

welcoming ‘these kind of folks.’ So, Jesus takes the opportunity to tell them a parable- aimed squarely at the high brow teachers of

the law.Luke 15:4 NET "Which one of you, if he has

a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost

until he finds it?

5 Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 Returning home, he calls together his friends and

neighbors, telling them, 'Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was

lost.' 7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who

repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

God’s love goes out of its way to find you! Even when there are 99 others back in the flock, God isn’t satisfied with 99, because

he has 100! And even the loss of that one is too great a loss to bear! Are YOU that one, this morning? Have you left the 99? Have

you been afraid to come back?

Good news: You don’t have to go searching to find the way home, because God has

come looking for you! All you have to do is turn around and ask his forgiveness! He’ll bring you home. That’s the love of God!

(But let’s read on!)

God’s love absolutely rejoices over you!

Luke 15:8 NET "Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does

not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it? 9 Then when she has found it, she calls together

her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is

joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents."

God goes out of his way to find you, he leaves the 99, he turns on all the lights, he

sweeps the house and he searches CAREFULLY & thoroughly until he finds

YOU! And when he does, he throws a party! He rejoices! And he invites all of heaven to rejoice with him! Have you ever considered

that picture? Think about that, when you first came to Christ, God was throwing a big

celebration in Heaven over YOU!

That’s the picture, too, in the next story of the Prodigal Son. When the son returns

home, the father kills the fattened calf and throws a party! He says, “This son of mine

who was once lost is now found!” Has there been applause in heaven over you? Have you come home to him, or are you still in

the far country searching?

What are you looking for? Pleasure? Wealth? Contentment? Happiness? Love? “There is rejoicing in the presence of the

angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

That’s the love of God!

God’s love always takes action!

It’s awful easy nowadays to say the words, “I love you” but what do those words really mean if you don’t put them into action? I might say, “I love chocolate”, but I’m not

going to shell out $12 bucks for a tiny little box of Godiva! I don’t love it that much! I

might say, “I love my neighbor”, but I’m not going to go out of my way to share the good news with him, I’d hate for him to think I’m

some religious nut.

I might say, “I love my brother”, but I’m not going to admit that I was wrong or try to

work out my differences with him. We might say, “I love you” to our spouse, and then think nothing of a little flirtation with that

person at work. Words are easy to say-but action takes COMMITMENT! God’s love ALWAYS takes ACTION and ALWAYS

shows COMMITMENT!

In the Old Testament, the Jewish people knew that they were God’s chosen people NOT just because He had told them, but

because He had showed them!Deuteronomy 4:33 NIV Has any other

people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?

34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders,

by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome

deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God;

besides him there is no other.

36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved

your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out

of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your

inheritance, as it is today.

God had set aside his people, chosen them, and then consistently showed them his

love, by bringing them up out of Egypt, by providing for them in the desert, by guiding them by his Presence, by defeating their

enemies in the Promised land, & on & on & on.

He continued by sending them prophets to call them back to Himself whenever they

stumbled right up until the time of the Messiah when he finally sent them Jesus! And he continues to show His love for us today, we have his Word, we have ‘every

spiritual blessing…in Christ’, we have salvation, and he continues to work out all things together for good for those who love

Him. (Rom 8:28) That’s the love of God!

God’s love demonstrates the ultimate sacrifice!

John records Jesus’ words for us in his gospel.

John 15:13 NET No one has greater love than this — that one lays down his life for

his friends.

“God would rather die than spend eternity without YOU.” Its true! He did! His love demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice, the

laying down of his life for us. There’s a lot of confusion in the world today about Jesus of Nazareth. The Jews admit he was a good

teacher, but not the Son of God. The Moslems believe he was a great prophet,

but second to Mohammed.

The fact is, he did leave the world some profound teaching. He did live an exemplary

life and set a tremendous standard by anyone’s standards! But what did he

ultimately come here to do? Was that all? Ultimately his life was lived for the purpose

of going to the Cross!He lived to die!

You know, on the beaches of Normandy (and countless others places around the

world) soldiers died in battle fighting for this country. It is said that they ‘paid the ultimate sacrifice’ in giving their lives to the cause of freedom. Jesus paid the ultimate of ultimate sacrifices! We’ll never know what it was like for him to take OUR SIN to the cross with him to face God and to lay down his life.

That’s the love of God!

Finally, nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Paul wrote to the church in Rome, 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will

trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written, "For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were

considered as sheep to be slaughtered." (Psalms 44:22)

37 No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,

nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor

powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to

separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8 NET

His point: Nothing in the world is going to come between you and God’s love! Family troubles won’t. Tragedy & heartache won’t.

Unjust suffering won’t. Poverty won’t. Terrorist alerts won’t. War won’t. Nothing will! The government won’t. Even demons or angels won’t. The Devil, himself won’t. Not even death can separate you! There’s nothing you can do to make him love you any less than he does! That’s Gods’ love!

Again, Do you know God’s love?Knowing God’s love empowers us to be the

church! Ephesians 1:23 NET Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.If the church is the body of Christ, how can we be the church without knowing God’s

love?

How can we feed the hungry without knowing God’s love for them? How can we clothe the poor without knowing God’s love for them? How can we worship God without knowing His love? How can we truly share

in fellowship with one another without knowing God’s love for each of us? How

can we share with a lost & dying world the good news of Jesus without knowing that

love for ourselves?

Knowing God’s love empowers us for Holy Living.In light of what God has done for us in

Christ, how do we then live? But, as I said before, it is impossible to live holy &

transformed lives without knowing the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

Have you been struggling with living a holy & transformed life? Do you know the love of God? I hope this morning, you have heard the Scripture speak to you God’s ultimate

Love. “You are Loved!”

“You are Special to me!”

“I would, & did, die for you!”

“Will you be mine?”

Paul concludes his prayer. 20 Now to him who by the power that is

working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, 21 to him be the

glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

What can we do to encourage you this morning, if you don’t know the love of God,

respond to him in trusting faith and obedience acknowledging your sin and

confessing that you want to be a child of God!

This morning, as we sing the invitation song, if you are not a Christian, let me

plead with you to make that commitment right here and now! You know God loves

you.

You know what you need to do to respond to that love. You know you need to turn

away from the sins of your past and commit your life to him in baptism. We’re going to sing to encourage you, but not just you.

We’re also going to sing to encourage those of you who have left the ‘99’ to wander off on your own. You know God is out there looking for you, waiting for you to come back to him. What is holding you back?

And now these three remain:

faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these

is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NET