Getting Your Hands Around God’s Love
Ephesians 3:14-21
Ever wonder why it’s so hard to live the way you know God wants you to? You have that one little temptation that keeps getting you, no matter how hard you try? You feel like you could have written Romans 7, where Paul says, “I don’t do what I ought to do, and I do what I ought NOT to do ... What a wretched creature I am!” It’s really hard to follow God sometimes, isn’t it?
I’m going to propose today that the reason we love our sin more than we love our God is that, maybe, we don’t really understand how much our God... loves...us! Could that be true? Consider the example of rebellious teens. The reason they push those curfews and hang around the wrong kids and make bad decisions is because they don’t really get how much their parents love them. In healthy homes, the parents just want their kids to be safe and to grow into healthy adults. They only want the best for their kids. But the kids don’t see that, because they really don’t know how much their parents love them.
If it’s true in our relationships with each other, maybe it’s true for us and God. So today, we’re going to focus on an impossible task: getting our hands around God’s love. Paul’s already told us it’s impossible, because he describes God’s love in verse 19 as “this love that surpasses knowledge.” No matter how hard we try, we won’t get it fully. We won’t understand it all. But he prays in verse 18 that we might grasp more of it. So let’s try to grasp more of it today, as we think about this love that is wide and long and high and deep. I want to focus in on each of those words as we try to wrap our hands around the love of God. First,
God’s love is...
1. Wide – all-encompassing
When I think about God’s love being “wide,” I think of it as all-encompassing. God has enough love for you and for me. God has enough love for blacks and whites and browns and yellows and everything in between. God has enough love for rich and poor, and even for middle class. God has enough love for Americans, and Europeans, and Africans, and Asians. God has enough love for conservatives and liberals. God has enough love even for terrorists. Right here at home, God has enough love for that family member of yours who stirs trouble everywhere they go. God has enough love for that staff member that does not meet up to your expectations. God has enough love for that medical provider who misdiagnosed you. God’s love is all-encompassing. No one is left out.
2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord ... is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” That’s why he is waiting before sending Christ back in judgment. God wants everyone to come back to their creator. John 3:16 starts off, “For God so loved the ... world!” God loves everyone.
We know that, but did you also know that God’s love for YOU is all-encompassing as well? He loves you, warts and all. If you look up unconditional love in the dictionary, God’s picture is there. Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That’s pretty amazing, right? Don’t try to clean yourself up to come to God. Come as you are! He already knows your deepest darkest secrets anyway, and he still loves you.
For each of these words, I’ve put an action statement on your outline. When you consider how WIDE God’s love is, then...
Apply: Pass along God’s love to others; you’ll never run out.
If God loves that other person, then you should love them, too. That’s it. Period. Love people because they carry the image of God. Love people because God loves them. God’s love is wide, and God’s love is...
2. Long - all-seeing
God can see long-range. God knows how things turn out. And you don’t. I don’t. All we see is short-range. We’re near-sighted; God is far-sighted. God knows the rest of the story. God’s love permeates your whole life, from beginning to end. Your creator was there with you when you were born, and he will be there with you when you die. You cannot escape God’s love. In Romans 8:38-39, Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Your future is secure in God’s love. So our action point is:
Apply: Trust your future to the one who holds the future.
You don’t need to worry about what’s going to happen; God has it in his hands! Bill Keane said, “Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.” When you trust your future to God, because God’s love is LONNNNGGGG, you can live fully in the present, enjoying the life God has given you. You still need to plan and save; scripture talks about doing those things, but you can do them without worry. Submit your plans to the Lord, because he alone knows the future. Someone gave me a little plaque in my office with that cute saying: “I don't know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future.” So true! God’s love is wide and long, and it’s also...
3. High – all-knowing
It’s higher than we will ever comprehend. When I think of God’s love being high, I think of Psalm 103:11, which says, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.” God’s love is as high as the heavens. Scientists have determined that we can see out into outer space to about 45 billion light years. The heavens are even higher.
Consider Isaiah 55:8-9, where God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God knows things we do not. God understands things we do not. God is not bound by logic or human intellect, or even the laws of science that he created. Isn’t that the definition of a miracle? Something that defies the laws of science? God’s love is higher than you or I will ever comprehend. What does that mean for us?
Apply: Consider that Father knows best.
Like the old TV show, it really is true in this case: The Heavenly Father knows best. Can I trust God even when I don’t understand what he’s doing? I think of the young timid judge in the Old Testament named Gideon. God raised him up to become a great leader, and prepared him for battle, initially with thousands of troops. But step by step, God whittled down the size of his army until it was only 300 brave souls, against thousands in the enemy camp. All because God wanted it clear that day who brought the victory. (You’ll find the story in Judges chapter 7.)
If you have a word from the Lord, a direction you sense he wants you to go, and his word confirms it, and praying about it gives you peace, and other believers confirm God working in you, continue on. Serve the Lord even if you don’t fully understand how it will work out. Take the next step. God’s love is high; God knows best. And lastly, God’s love is...
4. Deep – all-satisfying
These words today remind me of the old chorus, “Deep and Wide,” from lots of kids camps we led when we were younger with more energy. God’s love is deep. “There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.”
When I think about God’s love being deep, I think how his love can be all-satisfying if we let it. God’s love can make up for the rejection of others. God’s love can feed our lonely souls. God’s love can fill the overwhelming heartache when we lose a spouse of many years. God’s love can bring us purpose and vitality even in the aches and pains of life. God’s love is deep. Our application on your outline:
Apply: Find fulfillment in the one who made you.
There are great things to pursue in this life. Only God brings lasting, eternal fulfillment. St. Augustine wrote in his prayer journal, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Blaise Pascal wrote about mankind, “He tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” God alone can satisfy our deepest needs.
If this is true, then consider that every temptation Satan throws our way draws on a legitimate human need. The temptation is simply to fulfill it in a way that God did not intend. Pornography substitutes for love and intimacy designed for marriage. Gossip substitutes for healthy self-esteem knowing you are God’s child and that’s enough. Greed substitutes for fulfillment in Christ. Uncontrolled anger substitutes for healthy conflict resolution. Satan offers cheap substitutes that never quite deliver; it’s false advertising! God, on the other hand, offers ultimate fulfillment.
When Paul wrote today’s passage, maybe he had in mind one of Job’s friends. In Job 11:7-9, Zophar asked Job, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.” At the end of the book of Job, when Job never received answers as to why he lost his health, his wealth, and his loved ones, the answer he did get was: “I am God. And you’re not. I will take care of you; I will see you through.” And God did. Sometimes we simply have to rest in a love that is beyond our understanding. We can try to grasp it, but we only get it in part. That’s ok. That’s enough. Know that God’s love for you is greater than you will ever understand in this lifetime. And let that love propel you forward, secure in his arms, as you live for him, by him, and through him. Let us pray:
Thank you, Lord, for your love that goes beyond our understanding. Help us to grasp it just a little more today, as we ponder how much you truly do love us, sin and all. Help us to grow closer to you and to love you more than our sin. Help someone today to accept your love for the very first time, seeing your love complete through a Savior, Christ our Lord, who died for us and rose again. In his name we pray, amen.
