IN CHRIST, WE ARE DEEPLY LOVED BY GOD Rodolfo Rodriguez Struck Ephesians 3: Ephesians 3:14-21 New King James Version. Prayer for Spiritual Power

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1 IN CHRIST, WE ARE DEEPLY LOVED BY GOD Rodolfo Rodriguez Struck Ephesians 3:14-21 Ephesians 3:14-21 New King James Version Prayer for Spiritual Power 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. We have heard many times about the love of God, in verses like: 1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You are probably familiar with the idea that GOD LOVES YOU. But how deeply does God s love penetrate? At the core of your being, are you rooted and grounded in the love of God? Trees in Baja s soil are a good example of being well rooted, aren t they? Right now, after the rainy season, the hills are green and each tree is full of leaves. Soon, however, they will all look dry, without a single leave on them. If you go the hill and dig into the soil then, you will find out that it is not only bone dry, but rocky underneath. The trees are well rooted and grounded through it all, that s how they can stay alive during the inclement drought and heat that reign for most of the year, and that s how they withstand hurricane winds when they come. Drought, heat, hurricanes and such, for a tree, are like conflict, temptation and trials for us. How deeply are you rooted and grounded in the love of God? Is it hard for you to accept God s love? When you are stressed, or troubled, or discouraged, or tempted, are you grounded in the

2 unshakable love of God? When you fail to live up to your God-given potential, does God s love give you the strength to try again? When you doubt that anyone could love you, are you secure in knowing that Someone does? When stress come, it becomes clear how deeply we are grounded in the love of God Our text begins with, For this reason For what reason? If we read the preceding section, we realize that Paul wrote this from prison. Ephesians 3:1, 13. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. When life is good, and our prayers are answered as we want, it is easier to believe that God loves us. But when life is in turmoil when there is disappointment, confusion, or discouragement we might doubt God s love. Stirring the pot brings up parts of us that we don t know very well, depths of our soul that are hurting, insecure, angry, or alone. Does God s love penetrate there? Paul is talking about the depths: our inner being, our hearts, the place where we are rooted and grounded. Do we grasp the love of God there? And if we grasp the love of God in our inner being, what impact will it have on us? HOW DO WE GRASP THE LOVE OF GOD? It is impossible to truly know love by reading a definition in the dictionary. Love is experienced personally, and God s love is experienced personally and relationally. 1 John 4:8 says, God is love. That is not an abstract statement; it expresses how God relates to people. God s love is personal. In the Bible, the love of God is expressed in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three persons are united in love for each other, and they share a common love for people. Verses give a description of how they work together: Ephesians 3: that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, Notice how all three persons of the Trinity are focused on getting God and his love into the depths of us.

3 The Trinity is a mystery that is beyond the capacity of our minds to comprehend, and it is not our goal today to explain exactly how one God is essentially three persons. Our goal, and Paul s goal in this text, is more practical: We want to know the love of God as Father, Son (or Christ), and Holy Spirit. It is one love, expressed and made personally real to us in three persons. GOD LOVES US AS THE FATHER. Ephesians 3: For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, Mothers and fathers give children a solid foundation of love and security. They provide for their needs, they delight in the uniqueness of each child, they guide their children, and they celebrate their growth and success. God is the ultimate Father. Parental love was his idea, and when parents love their children, they are reflecting the love of God. Paul says that the whole idea for fatherhood, or family love, originates in the love of God. As Paul says in verse 14, whole family, gets its name from God s fatherhood. Some people have a hard time thinking of God as Father, because their earthly fathers did not give them the love that they needed. Others have an image of father-love which is not really very loving. Of course, none of us had perfect fathers. Some may have had the impression that the love of their fathers had to be earned that it was conditioned upon being obedient, or measuring up to an impossible ideal, or making their father proud. God s father-love is perfect. His love is pure, faithful, and strong. He provides for his children, he is compassionate and gracious, he disciplines them for their good, and he never gives up on them. The Old Testament gives several descriptions of how God acted as a father to the people of Israel: Brothers and sisters, do you understand that? God will never give upon you! Hosea 11:1-4 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son...i taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. Like any good father, God does not let his children run wild: Proverbs 3:12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights. When his people failed to obey, God s love was gracious:

4 Psalm 103:8, 13 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. Jesus revealed the love of God the Father in new ways. He was, of course, the eternal Son of God, and he described their relationship when he said: John 5:20a For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does. Jesus was a man as well as God, and he taught his disciples that they could also call God Father. He told them to pray in the Lord s Prayer, Our Father in heaven After giving that prayer, he said to his disciples: Luke 11:11-13 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! Then, of course, there is the unimaginable sacrifice of the Father, as he gives his one and only Son, so that we can be adopted as his children: 1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. How does God love you? With the same kind of love that the Father loves his one and only Son. GOD LOVES US AS THE SON. Ephesians 3: that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- The sacrifice of the Father was matched by the sacrifice of the Son, as Jesus willingly laid down his life for us.

5 1 John 3:16a By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. Many people struggle, at the core of their being, with a deep sense of unworthiness. Deep down, they feel that if people really knew them, they could not love them. Strangely, some even feel that if God really knew them, he could not love them. To keep their feelings of unworthiness hidden, some people try to hide their thoughts and feelings, from God, and certainly from other people. They go into a state of denial, or they make excuses, to convince themselves and others that they are really not that bad. Yet the sense of unworthiness persists, resulting in fear, depression, or being hyper-critical of other people. The good news of God s love is that he loves unworthy people! The Son loves unworthy people enough to die for them! Brothers and sisters, God loves us as we are! Romans 5:6, 8 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The Son of God loves people who don t deserve it! Brothers and sisters, God loves us! Christ s love frees us! We don t need to pretend we are perfect; he gave his life for imperfect people. We don t need to give excuses for our sins; Jesus already took care of them on the cross. We don t have to try to justify ourselves; Jesus makes us righteous in the eyes of the Father. GOD LOVES US THROUGH THE SPIRIT. Ephesians 3:16 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, Paul says something that is hard to understand: I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power [or strength, ability] to grasp the love of Christ. Why do we need God s help to grasp the love of God? God s love is perfect, but our ability to receive his love, to grasp his love, is broken. When we read the Bible, we learn about the love of God, expressed through the Father and the Son. That should be enough to convince us, beyond any doubt, that God loves us! Yet it is not enough! We can know, in our minds, everything the Bible teaches about God s love as Father and Son, but it will not penetrate to the depths of who we are, unless God repairs our broken lovereceptors. Because we are broken, God s Spirit penetrates deeply, to repair our brokenness, so that we can receive his love. Paul says in verse 16, I pray that out of his glorious riches he [the Father] may

6 strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that you can grasp the [full extent of] the love of Christ. We need the Holy Spirit to grasp God s love, because God s love goes deeper than knowledge. Paul says the love of Christ is a love that surpasses knowledge, which we can only understand as God opens our hearts to His love. The love of God is revealed in the persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God reaches out to us, but we must accept his love. WHAT CAN WE DO TO RECEIVE GOD S LOVE? Ephesians 3: to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. From the Bible, we can know about God s love: how the Father loves, how the Son loves, and how the Spirit loves. But Paul implies that this love is a love that surpasses knowledge. It is experiential: that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. How can we experience the love of God? PRAY FOR OURSELVES AND OTHERS. Paul says, I pray for you. Paul was praying that God would connect with them in love. At its core, prayer is relational. Maybe you can remember a time when you wanted to develop a love relationship with a special person. What did you do? You spent time together, you talked and listened, you shared thoughts and activities, hopes and dreams, and frustrations and desires. Love developed in the relationship. The amazing message of the Bible is that God wants us to know His love. What should we do? Spend time with Him, talk and listen, share thoughts, hopes, dreams, frustrations, desires, and everything else. If we pray like that, our love relationship with God will grow. BELIEVE. Paul prays that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Faith is key to accepting God s love. The Bible tells us about God s love, and we should believe what it tells us. Faith goes beyond that, however. We need to trust God when He says that He loves us, and we need to accept His love. Then, we need to depend upon His love, as we live with confidence. 1 John 4:13-16 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit, and we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. When we rely on God s love, we find that His love is real and powerful.

7 LOVE AS GOD LOVES US. Paul says that the result of knowing God s love is to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. The best way to see God s love is to let it flow through us. How do we know God s love? The Bible tells us about the love the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We take hold of His love in prayer, trust, and action. In closing I want to remind you that: God loves you! God will never give up on you! God loves us as unworthy as we are! God loves us even when we don t deserve it! We are so blessed, brothers and sisters, let God s abundant love flow through you into others. God bless you all! Lets pray Benediction: In case you were wondering what happened to verses 20 and 21. Well, I saved those to be our benediction: Ephesians 3: Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.