Ephesians 3:14-21
“God in 3-D”
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge UMC, Chattanooga, TN
A number of years ago, the band Crosby, Stills and Nash wrote these lyrics for a song:
“There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I’ve got to beware
I think it’s time we STOP!
Hey what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down…”
According to a news source this week, “A safe found in the home of a slain Florida couple known for adopting special-needs children contained about $100,000…
…the source said the suspects in the…shooting deaths believed the safe was the mother lode of valuables at the house, but were unable to get into it.
[The slain couple] had adopted 13 children, and each had two biological children. Police have said nine of the children were home at the time of the invasion…”
“I think it’s time we STOP! Hey what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down!”
It has been said that inside each of us is a God-shaped void, which, if it is not filled by God—will be filled by something!
And I believe this to be true!
The “something” which we fill our “God-shaped void” with will determine our happiness, the happiness of those around us, our salvation, and our ability to make a positive difference in this world!
There is a certain “incompleteness” about we humans.
There’s something missing, and most of us can’t seem to get a handle on it.
I spent a bit of time with some college students this past week.
I hadn’t been in a situation where I was just “hanging around” college students for a long time.
As I listened to them talk, I was reminded of how difficult it is to be in your late teens or early 20’s.
So many of these students sounded somewhat lost or incomplete.
The topic of conversation seemed to stay on course—“What am I going to do with my life?”
One young man spoke about being a psychologist so he could: quote: “mess with people’s minds.”
A young lady said she was going to take a course on the construction of fireworks.
When I asked her the reason for taking this course, she said that it would be fun to open a wedding chapel which lights off fireworks after the couples’ “tie the knot.”
This has nothing to do with her major which is zoology!!!
I’m glad I am not at that age any longer.
These were just normal college kids…
…and not bad kids…
…just normal human beings…
…and I remember…
…I remember well what it was like to feel directionless, lost, and incomplete…
…I was no different.
And there are still times now when I have a little taste of those same feelings.
There is an incompleteness about this life…
…there is a void.
And that void can only be filled by the love of God which comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ!
Killing the parents of 13 children for $100,000 dollars in a safe is definitely NOT the answer to our problems.
Drugs, alcohol—all those things—these are not the answer!
“There’s something happening here…
…Everybody look what’s going down…”
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning, the Apostle Paul is writing to the Church in Ephesus, and he shares with them a pray he prays for them.
I like the way the New Revised Standard Version reads this: “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 the fullness of God.”
Isn’t this the answer to the world’s problems and pain?
Isn’t this the answer to my problems, to yours’?
We need to experience God in 3-D –God in all God’s dimensions, love and fullness!!!
To be filled with the love of Christ and all the fullness of God is what the world needs now!!!
It is the only thing which will ever satisfy!
It is the only thing which will give our lives meaning, direction, and joy!!!
In our Scripture passage Paul is praying for salvation in this present life, and for a unified Church.
His prayer reveals to us that God desires us to experience the fullest form of a truly Christian life!
Perhaps some of us have been going to church our entire lives.
Maybe we have served on numerous committees…
…but deep down inside we know that there continues to be an “incompleteness” about our journey with God.
Maybe we are not experiencing the peace of Christ.
Perhaps our zeal for the Lord has waned.
Maybe we no longer have a strong desire to live into God’s calling on our lives.
Has life lost some of its luster?
Do we find that we are just “going through the motions?”
When we are asked to take part in a ministry of this church, do we search for excuses as to why we will not take part?
If so, we are missing out!
God never stops working, creating and saving human kind.
God never stops calling you and I into God’s service.
God never stops, through the Holy Spirit, nudging us to strengthen the dimensions of our lives which have been redeemed through God’s work of reconciliation!
God has claimed you and God has claimed me to be a new humanity by overcoming the fracturing forces of sin that cause our lives to be less than God intends them to be!
The only way we can come to know the “love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” is to allow God to renew us again, and again and again!
One of the best ways to be renewed by God is to be active in God’s work in this world.
For example, this church will be housing the homeless August 2nd through August 8th.
Volunteers are needed to provide food and to be evening and overnight hosts.
What an awesome opportunity to meet God face to face—in 3-D!
Jesus makes it clear, that whatever we do for “the least of these” we do it unto Him!
We are being given the great privilege to serve and mingle with Christ Himself next week!
We have a number of folks who are members of this church, but are unable to attend any longer.
Some are in nursing homes, others are living with their children.
Jeanetta does a fantastic job of organizing information about the folks who need visits.
There are manila envelops in the chapel with easy to follow instructions and information about our shut-ins.
We are blessed beyond measure when we bless others by our presence, our love, and care.
For when we make visits to these saints—we are visiting with Christ!
We are experiencing God in 3-D—God takes on dimensions—breadth, length, height and depth!!!
We also encounter Christ when we study God’s Word, both during individual devotion time and together as the community of faith.
We will begin a new Wednesday evening Bible study a week from this Wednesday at 6:45 p.m.
This is an awesome opportunity to be “rooted and grounded” in our faith as we fellowship with our fellow Christians, dig into God’s call on our lives and learn more about the love of Christ with “surpasses knowledge.”
Christ’s love is to be the center and source of stability for our entire lives!
The images of roots and grounding are here to give us an idea of the importance of grasping the immensity of this love—even though this is an attempt at knowing the unknowable!!!
God’s love for you and for me knows no bounds!
As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then [when Christ returns] we will see face to face.”
Being actively involved in God’s work in this world enables us to get a glimpse of God’s fullness.
And this is what motivates us.
This is what fills the God-shaped void!!!
When has God done the unexpected or unimaginable in your life?
When have you seen God do this in the lives of others?
It’s happening all the time!
“I think it’s time we STOP!” and exclaim to the world: “Hey, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down!”
A few years ago I received a surprising, but most exciting email from an old high school acquaintance.
Brian and I had been on the high school basketball team together.
And I remember one night, in particular, when another team mate had to leave practice early due to a function at his church.
Brian taunted and made fun of the other boy by saying: “You go to church? God is for wimps!”
I remember that vividly because I had never heard anyone say that before.
Brian was a troubled kid.
Little did I know that his mother had died from cancer when he was very young, and this most likely played a big role in his acting out.
I can remember the time Brian was asked by a neighbor to watch his home while he went on vacation.
During that time, Brian took his trusting neighbor’s new sports car (which had no mileage on it—for it had been delivered to his garage)…he took the car out for a joy ride in the snow, and messed it up a bit.
Brian also stole $3,000 in cash from the man’s dresser.
One time Brian bragged to me that while hanging out at another kid’s house, Brian had stolen $20.00 from the kid’s room.
I remember making a mental note…
…never allow Brian out of my sight if he ever comes to my house.
Anyhow, I received this email from Brian.
And in it he told me how, since high school he had followed the band the Grateful Dead around for several years and attended hundreds of their concerts.
He also told me that he and some friends of his used to pass a certain church on their way to band practice.
Brian said that he used to make jokes when passing the church: “Oh, man. I wonder how many snakes they’ve been handling this week!”
He proceeded to tell me that he had surprised himself by meeting and eventually marrying a young lady who attended that very church, and he wrote, “They don’t handle snakes after-all!”
He is also now a member of that church—and wrote to me: “Ken I have found the love of God through Christ Jesus!”
I now receive from Brian pictures of he and his family on various mission trips.
He is happy and living a full life!
Who knew?
Who would have guessed?
God is constantly working the unexpected and unimaginable in the lives of people!
The most exciting thing is that God calls us, not only to experience this for ourselves…
…God calls us to take part in the transformation of the lives of others.
Does Christ “dwell in your [heart] through faith” ?
Are you being “rooted” and “grounded” in God’s love?
Are you at a stage where you are getting a glimpse of God in 3-D as you experience the infinite dimensions of God in your life?
Do you “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge”?
Are you being “filled with all the fullness of God”?
Paul begins to conclude this passage of Scripture…
…this prayer for the Christians in Ephesus with the assurance that God “by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine…”
What are you asking God to do?
What are you imagining?
God can do THAT and so much more!!!
Finally Paul prays, “to him be the glory in the church an in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
As members of the community of faith we find our meaning, our strength, our security in the power of Christ’s own selfless love!
When we allow God to become real in our lives, we—ourselves are brought to a new awareness of the magnitude of God’s purposes for our lives!
And when we do this, that God-Shaped Void—becomes filled with love for God and love for others!
Our ministry becomes vital, and amazing things begin to happen in our midst!!!
May this church and thus—the community of people living outside this church begin to sing:
“There’s something happening here!
Stop! Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look what’s going down!!!”
