In Christ, I Am...deeply Loved By God Series

IN CHRIST, I AM…DEEPLY LOVED BY GOD—Ephesians 3:14-21

(Series on Ephesians: In Christ, I Am…) Read the sermon title from the card.

I suppose you have heard many times about the love of God, in verses like, “God is love,” and John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” 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?

Our house is only a year old, and we have a newly-planted tree in the front yard. It is a beautiful tree, but in late summer last year, it dropped all of its leaves. We figure that it didn’t get enough water, and it couldn’t handle the Texas summer heat. Well, we were delighted this spring to see the tree full of leaves again. We took extra care to soak it with water, but when I dig into the soil, it is bone dry! We give the tree plenty of love, but the tree is on a hill, set in red clay, with hard Texas gumbo below that. Our love doesn’t penetrate deeply enough to handle the stress of Texas heat. So we persist, until our love soaks in deep enough to keep most of the leaves from turning yellow and falling off. Eventually, the tree will become rooted and grounded.

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 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. Read Ephesians 3:1, 13.

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 16-17 give a description of how they work together: “…[the Father’s] Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts…” Notice how all three persons of the Trinity are focused on getting God and his love into the depths of us.

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. Read Ephesians 3:14-15.

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, “all family,” or “all fatherhood,” gets its name from God’s fatherhood. (Note to preacher: Translations vary; in Greek, Paul’s usage of patria and pater together suggests a close relationship between family and father.)