“...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge...”
That’s a pretty ambitious title for a sermon, isn’t it? Some might even say ‘presumptuous’.
To understand the love of Christ? That love which has inspired so many giants of the past to pen stanzas such as this:
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me,
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love;
Leading onward, leading homeward, to my glorious rest above.”
-S. T. Francis
And of course, I could just go on and on with that. More of our hymns deal with the love that saved us than any other theme.
“Jesus, Lover of My Soul”. “Jesus Loves Me”. There’s even one called “Love Is The Theme”!
But the point is, men and women keep trying to describe this love, to plunge its depths, because it is indescribable to the human tongue, and unfathomable to the human mind.
Charles Wesley asked the question that baffles us all, when he wrote,
“Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
There is a sense though, in which we can understand it, can comprehend it, grasp it, and that is by the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit.
We can understand it, not by study, not by meditation ~ although it certainly inspires meditation ~ and not by attaching ourselves to our favorite preachers and picking their brains; no, we preachers are as confounded as the rest, as to why God would deem to send His only Son to rescue such sorry stuff as ourselves.
It is a spiritual comprehension that gives birth to praise and adoration and worship and obedience in faith. I know that it is possible, because I know that I understand His love for me so much more than I did years ago. He has taught me through trials and grief and loneliness and rejection, for those are the times I most needed His love.
The thing I want to make clear in your thinking today though, is that we do learn of this love in degrees. When the convert first comes to Christ he may have a feeble sense of the fact that God loves him. On some infant level he may remember having heard, “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son...”, and he will say, “I am a Christian now, and I know that God loves me because He died for my sins”
But that is a far cry from the understanding that Paul is talking about in Ephesians 3:18,19.
Let’s take it one step at a time. Paul said, “...that you...may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth...”
So first of all, let’s clarify what he meant by:
ALL THE SAINTS
Any Bible teacher worth listening to will be careful to make his students understand that saints are not exceptional Christians of the past, who have been canonized by the church and granted this title of ‘Saint’. Saints are not marble statues lining the walls of cathedrals.
The word ‘saint’ comes from the same root as the word, ‘sanctified’. It means to be set aside for honor. We also get the word, ‘sanitize’ from the same root word.
Therefore we understand when New Testament writers use the word ‘sanctified’ or ‘sanctification’ in reference to the believer, that they mean the believer has been cleansed, purified (from sin) and set apart to God for His own possession and use.
A person is not a saint because he acts saintly; rather, he acts saintly because he is a saint. And he is a saint simply because he has put his faith in the shed blood of Christ.
Having said that, look back at Paul’s words now; “that you...may comprehend with all the saints...” and we understand that he is not wishing for us that we might understand something as deeply as those saintly men and women who have manifested superior faith and had their names written in scripture and are now gathered in heaven with God.
He is not saying, “My hope for you is that you will come to the same deep understanding of Christ’s love as the really great believers, and thereby attain to some higher status and rank”.
His prayer is that those who are reading the letter, and all believers everywhere, will by faith, and being rooted and grounded in this same love, be strengthened in the inner man to more fully grasp and comprehend this great and marvelous love!
Now we have to remind ourselves that Paul chose his words carefully and did not just ramble on like a lot of preachers do these days. He was brilliant, he was educated, he was articulate and meticulous and conscientious, ... and divinely inspired. So we have to look at every word and be sure his meaning doesn’t pass us by.
He prayed that we would comprehend:
THE BREADTH OF CHRIST’S LOVE
When we use the word ‘breadth’, we think ‘wide’, don’t we? ‘Breadth’, ‘broad’, ‘wide’. ‘All - encompassing’ may come to mind.
I think maybe unless we are forced to give it our conscious attention, the tendency is to think of how much Jesus loves me; and then gather together in church or at a bible study and think about how much Jesus loves us.
And then some preacher like me says, “Well, what about the people meeting right now in that church down the block?” And the congregation says, “Well, yes.”
“And what about the people gathered to worship Him in that town to our North, and that other one to our South?” And as we deliberately expand our thinking in ever-widening circles, we realize that all over the world, in churches, in homes, in hospitals and prisons, in places of business and places of recreation; no matter where, there are people who are all encompassed as one by the mind-boggling breadth of this great, unfathomable love.
The Jews never caught on to this. They thought it was for them only, and all others were excluded. And I am afraid that the church has often been guilty of demonstrating that same attitude of elitism. But we go to Colossians 3:11 and read:
“...there is no distinction between Greek and Jew; circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”
And we remind ourselves that He has “...purchased for God with (His) blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9) and we realize that one day we will stand with the saints of not only all nations, but of all times, praising Him before His throne, and our imagination fails us when we try to take in the breadth of this Love that can wrap itself around so many.
Paul said,
“...the love of God has been poured out within our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
-Romans 5:5
This is the breadth of His love; it goes wherever men may go. Under the sea, in the deepest caves of the earth, on the highest mountain peaks, and if Christians go into space, it will be there, because His love has been shed abroad in our hearts and it goes where we go, who carry the Holy Spirit with us and are carried by Him.
Then Paul brings in the next dimension and wants us to see,
THE LENGTH OF CHRIST’S LOVE
Have you ever thought about the eternal dimension of Christ’s love for us? One of the High School students in my class just a few weeks ago, asked the question, “If God knew from eternity past that we would sin, and knew everything about the whole world and everything we would do, why did He create us at all? Why didn’t he just create people who wouldn’t do those things; who would always just obey Him and not sin?”
Who can answer that question? Who can comprehend God enough to adequately respond to that very honest and sincere question?
The only answer I can think of, is that His love determined that it must be just this way.
Absolute power might create a puppet people, but absolute love cannot. Love has to allow its object to be what it is, and love it no matter what.
Absolute knowledge might reason that it is best to avoid all the disasters that man’s sin would unleash on creation, but absolute love designs a plan to overcome and purchase back.
Consider the length of Christ’s love.
“...who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity...” II Tim 1:9
And you may remember back to the beginning of this study, when we looked at Ephesians 1:4 and saw that He “...chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”
Who can even begin, much less go very far, but even begin to wrap their brain around this? The length of Christ’s love, who loved us literally, from eternity past, and even then, loved us perfectly for all of eternity.
“And I am God. Even from eternity I am He...” He said of Himself through the prophet Isaiah (43:13), and the Psalmists heart was enlightened to sing, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God”
And we stop to think that Christ’s unconditional, redeeming love is from eternity to eternity, and we begin to get just an inkling of why Paul knew we could never comprehend it without the Holy Spirit’s strengthening of the inner man, and His divine enlightening of our hearts in faith.
Rejoice, believer, as you remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, yes, and forever. He does not change, and like Himself, His love for you is from everlasting to everlasting.
This is the One who promised, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you”.
No wonder Augustus Toplady was inspired to write,
“Things future, nor things that are now,
Not all things below or above,
Can make Him His purpose forego,
Or sever my soul from His love.”
Take encouragement from this today believer, and remember that this love transcends by virtue of length, every sad, dark, sinful rebellion of your life. It has never faltered, nor will it fail. It will carry you through, made pure and whole and fit to stand in the presence of very God.
Then Paul wants us to think about and comprehend
THE HEIGHT OF CHRIST’S LOVE
If the breadth of Christ’s love encompasses all of mankind throughout history, and the length of it is anchored at both ends of eternity, then the height of Christ’s love can only mean that it reaches us all the way to Heaven.
This has to do with the heights to which He has raised us. We’ve discussed this in earlier sermons of this study, actually. He chose us before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and blameless before Him.
His very purpose was to raise us from the fall to a plane higher than man ever could have been had he not fallen at all.
We’ve seen that He has given us access to the Father, and made us citizens and family, of God’s household.
The love of Christ wasn’t sufficient only to forgive us of our sins and set us back on a path of Godly living. It is sufficient to make a new creature. To redeem and regenerate, and make us spiritual people, no longer earth-bound, but more than mere man; glorified and made perfect, and destined for everlasting life in an entirely different realm; as Peter stated it, “...a new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells”.
“Signs of His coming multiply,
Morning light breaks in eastern sky,
Watch, for the time is drawing nigh,
What if it were today?”
- Morris
We’ve been made for it in the dimension of the height of Christ’s love, and He has filled us with His Holy Spirit who causes us to wait and look eagerly for it.
THE DEPTH OF CHRIST’S LOVE
Ironically, it is only by the Holy Spirit, that we can even begin to comprehend how powerless we would be to plunge the depths of Christ’s love without the Holy Spirit’s help. And that’s just a beginning!
Contemplate with me once more, these words from Philippians 2: 6-8
“...who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
None of us has seen Heaven. I know one lady has written books claiming that in the spirit Jesus has taken her both to Heaven and to Hell so she might describe them to people. And if anyone is helped by those books than that’s fine, I suppose.
Although I do have some serious difficulty reconciling the whole idea with what the scriptures say concerning walking by faith and not by sight.
Nevertheless, I think I’m on safe ground in contending that no man or woman walks this earth who has gone to Heaven and has come back to talk about it. I do not listen to stories of bright lights at the end of a tunnel, and loved ones’ voices calling and all that tripe.
An acquaintance emailed me once, saying she believed she had a ‘near death experience’. I responded with one line. “Life is a near-death experience”.
She dropped the issue and pursued it no further with me.
We have a hint from Paul that at some point he was taken up in the spirit and shown some things, but the only thing even Paul had to tell us about it was that this unnamed ‘man’, “...heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.”
(II Cor 12:4)
That’s it. No descriptions of heavenly glories, no mention of the gold and jewels and radiant splendor made reference to in John’s revelation; nothing.
But if we let our imaginations wander for a while, we can probably all agree that our expectations of Heaven would be that it transcends any earthly beauty we’ve ever beheld or imagined. And that it is a dimension with characteristics and qualities that our minds could never conjure or comprehend until they are glorified.
After all, we do know that the Bible says “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (I Cor. 2:9)
So as feeble and inadequate as our minds are to grasp those things, still, it should fairly take our breath away to think that the very one who shared all that from eternity past with the Father, who sat His own throne, who spoke all things into existence and roamed freely through His creation, unhindered and unchallenged, lay it all aside to condescend to manhood.
As most of you have heard me phrase it in the past, He temporarily laid aside the independent exercise of His own divine attributes.
Read Psalm 104 in your devotional time and discover His greatness there.
“He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind..”
Yet He willingly descended to the earth with feet that could get dusty. A brow that could perspire. A back that could ache and a stomach that could hunger. Hands that could accept spikes and a heart that could be pierced.
And are those the depths to which His love went for us? No. He went down so far as to momentarily experience estrangement from the Father, as the burden of sin was placed on Him and He felt the fiery wrath of righteousness burn it away.
He descended to Sheol where He took away from the devil all the power of death and the grave. He preached to the captives in Paradise and led them to glory, but only after descending to the lowest parts of the earth.
That’s how deep is the deep, deep love of Jesus. He joined us in the pit in order to raise us to the highest Heaven. He took our guilt and washed away our shame in His own blood. He paid the penalty, and then declared us to be holy and blameless before Him, and gave us a place, eternal in the Heavens, there to dwell with the Most High forever.
Can you see, as you consider the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, why Paul would call this a love that surpasses knowledge?
“...to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge...”
On the surface that sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? How can I know that which cannot be known? If it is above knowing, then why does Paul pray that I might know it? Isn’t that an exercise in futility?
Not at all. Because once more, there is a distinction being made here between the mind and the heart; between the flesh and the spirit; between the fallen and the regenerate.
Jesus promised His apostles and therefore all of us,
“I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.”
-John 14:16,17
That promise was fulfilled on that first day of Pentecost after His ascension to Heaven, and that same Holy Spirit has indwelt and empowered believers ever since.
This wide and long and high and deep love of Christ can never be fathomed by the fallen, human mind. That kind of knowledge it surpasses eternally.
But the spirit within man after rebirth from above, because of the Holy Spirit in him, can progressively fathom this love because it is the same love Paul was talking about when he declared that it has been ‘...poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us’. (Rom 5:5)
I say progressively, because as in any relationship, knowledge and understanding of the one you love comes that way, as you go deeper and deeper and more intimate with that one. It is true in friendships, it is true in marriage, and it is most certainly true in our relationship with our God.
Paul has prayed to the Father for us, for you, that your inner man would be strengthened with power, the Holy Spirit’s own power, that you might begin to comprehend with all of God’s holy ones the grand dimensions of His great love for you, not in your head, but in your heart.
I believe what prompted Paul to pray this, is that he had plunged those depths and knew that no man could ever follow unless totally given over in the spirit to his Lord, so that he might be filled up to all the fulness of God.
Believer, how much do you want this kind of fellowship with your God? How hungry are you, to know this love which surpasses knowledge? Neither Jesus, nor Paul ever prayed for something for us, that was impossible to have. Neither of them ever prayed for something that God was unwilling to give.
Have you been cheating yourself; cutting yourself short from having all that God wants you to have, because you’ve allowed the enemy of your soul to deceive you into thinking you’re not worthy? Or that there are things in this world, this life, that are too precious to let go, and you’ll lose them if you surrender too much to the will of God?
I declare to you today that you will lose nothing of value, and that which is Godly and of God in your life will only become more yours than ever, if you seek Him.
Diligently, ravenously, unquenchably, pursue Him just for who He is, and in order to more fully comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of this surpassing love of Christ, and let Him fill you up to all the fulness of God.
“I love those who love Me, and those who diligently seek Me will find Me.”
- Proverbs 8:17
This is not fantasy, Christians. This is available, and it is free, and you and I are called to it. To comprehend with all saints, being strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, the unsearchable love of Christ.
Why would we delay any longer?
