07 Surpassing Love Ephesians 3:14-21

Adapted from a Jim Black sermon
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/surpassing-
love-jim-black-sermon-on-gods-love-55127.asp

Ephesians 3:14 NET For this reason I kneel
before the Father, 15 from whom every
family in heaven and on the earth is named.
16 I pray that according to the wealth of his
glory he may grant you to be strengthened
with power through his Spirit in the inner
person, 17 that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith, so that, because you
have been rooted and grounded in love,

18 you may be able to comprehend with all
the saints what is the breadth and length
and height and depth, 19 and thus to know
the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge, so that you may be filled up to
all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who
by the power that is working within us is
able to do far beyond all that we ask or
think, 21 to him be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.

Paul prays for the church that we would
know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge. His love empowers His people
to live holy lives and to be the church!
Today we‟ll see the love of God illustrated
from Scripture and be challenged with the
question:
Do you know the love of God?

It‟s wonderful this time of year, a husband
walks into a card store on Valentines‟ day
and all he can see is row upon row of
anxious men trying to pick out just the right
card. Where are the women? They were
there two weeks ago! The shelves are
almost empty, all of the best cards have
already been nabbed. Husbands, have you
left frustrated not being able to find the right
card?

I suppose it serves us men right for waiting
till Feb. 14th to think about it.
The dilemma: How do you communicate the
love you have for your sweetheart through a
card or a box of chocolates or a bouquet of
flowers? What card, what chocolate, what
flower could adequately express my love?
Here‟s where your wife would chime in, “I
don‟t know, but at least you could give it a
shot!”

That‟s the dilemma that Paul faces in
today‟s text! How do you express the love of
God in mere „words?‟ In my opinion, Paul
does a pretty good job. Remember, to this
point, Paul has been building for us a
theology of the church (so to speak.) He
has revealed the mystery to us, of what
God has done for us in Christ by tearing
down the Dividing Wall that has separated
us from Him and us from one another!

We are now ONE in Christ! He has
elaborated on the fact that God has given
us “every spiritual blessing…in Christ!” (Eph
1:3) He has emphasized how God has
empowered us from above to change our
hearts and lives as he would have them
changed. God has made us new creations,
having died to sin and born again to
righteousness! God did all of this for a
purpose, “through the church the
multifaceted wisdom of God should now be
disclosed.” (Eph 3:10)

If we think of the first part of Ephesians as
Paul constructing his church, we might
pause here to think of this text as his
“Dedication Ceremony.” When a new
building is built, or a new ship is constructed
there is usually a „dedication
ceremony‟, right? It‟s a time to stop, reflect
on the purpose for that building, our hopes
for it and perhaps ask a blessing on it.

This text is Paul‟s prayer for the church, his
„dedication‟ prayer over it. You remember
that he started it out last week, but
interrupted himself to talk a little bit about
the „the divine secret‟ that had been
revealed. He‟s back to it today.

14 For this reason... WHAT REASON? Paul
is pointing back to the salvation and the
privileges he described way back in
Chapter. 2
…I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom
every family in heaven and on the earth is
named.
Again, we are FAMILY, Ephesians 2:19 NET
So then you are no longer foreigners and
noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with
the saints and members of God's
household,

16 I pray that according to the wealth of his
glory he may grant you to be strengthened
with power through his Spirit in the inner
person, 17 that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith, so that, because you
have been rooted and grounded in love, 18
you may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth,

19 and thus to know the love of Christ that
surpasses knowledge, so that you may be
filled up to all the fullness of God.
What an amazing text! This is another one
of those passages that‟s almost TOO BIG to
preach on! I can‟t do it justice by trying to
make it conform to three points and an
illustration!

But, what I do want to pose to us this
morning is the question, “Do You Know
the Love of God?” Perhaps you know
the love of your spouse because you got
a box of chocolates for Valentine’s day.
Perhaps you know the love of your
children because they were especially
nice to you for a day.

Maybe you know the love of your dog
because whenever you come home it‟s so
excited to see you.
But, do you know the love of God?
As Paul has gotten to this point in his
letter, he knows that THIS is the
fundamental question!

If you don‟t know the love of God, then the
rest of his letter won‟t make sense to you!
That will be about how to live holy lives,
lives that bring honor & glory to God. But if
you don‟t know His love, you don‟t have the
power within you to live holy, and changed
lives.
THIS question means EVERYTHING!!!

If you don‟t know it from Paul‟s words
here, what more can I say? Let‟s look at
some other texts. God‟s love, goes out of its
way! One time Jesus was teaching and had
attracted a large number of folks that most
of us would consider „undesirables.‟ the tax
collectors and „sinners‟ as the Pharisees
referred to them.

In fact, it was a cause for the Pharisees to
grumble about this man eating and
welcoming „these kind of folks.‟ So, Jesus
takes the opportunity to tell them a parable-
aimed squarely at the high brow teachers of
the law.
Luke 15:4 NET "Which one of you, if he has
a hundred sheep and loses one of
them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the
open pasture and go look for the one that is
lost until he finds it?

5 Then when he has found it, he places it
on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 Returning
home, he calls together his friends and
neighbors, telling them, 'Rejoice with
me, because I have found my sheep that
was lost.' 7 I tell you, in the same way there
will be more joy in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
people who have no need to repent.

God‟s love goes out of its way to find you!
Even when there are 99 others back in the
flock, God isn‟t satisfied with 99, because
he has 100! And even the loss of that one is
too great a loss to bear! Are YOU that one,
this morning? Have you left the 99? Have
you been afraid to come back?

Good news: You don‟t have to go searching
to find the way home, because God has
come looking for you! All you have to do is
turn around and ask his forgiveness! He‟ll
bring you home. That‟s the love of God!
(But let‟s read on!)
God‟s love absolutely rejoices over you!

Luke 15:8 NET "Or what woman, if she has
ten silver coins and loses one of them, does
not light a lamp, sweep the house, and
search thoroughly until she finds it? 9 Then
when she has found it, she calls together
her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice
with me, for I have found the coin that I had
lost.' 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is
joy in the presence of God's angels over
one sinner who repents."

God goes out of his way to find you, he
leaves the 99, he turns on all the lights, he
sweeps the house and he searches
CAREFULLY & thoroughly until he finds
YOU! And when he does, he throws a party!
He rejoices! And he invites all of heaven to
rejoice with him! Have you ever considered
that picture? Think about that, when you
first came to Christ, God was throwing a big
celebration in Heaven over YOU!

That‟s the picture, too, in the next story of
the Prodigal Son. When the son returns
home, the father kills the fattened calf and
throws a party! He says, “This son of mine
who was once lost is now found!” Has there
been applause in heaven over you? Have
you come home to him, or are you still in
the far country searching?

What are you looking for? Pleasure?
Wealth? Contentment? Happiness? Love?
“There is rejoicing in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner who
repents.”
That‟s the love of God!

It‟s awful easy nowadays to say the words,
“I love you” but what do those words really
mean if you don‟t put them into action? I
might say, “I love chocolate”, but I‟m not
going to shell out $12 bucks for a tiny little
box of Godiva! I don‟t love it that much! I
might say, “I love my neighbor”, but I‟m not
going to go out of my way to share the good
news with him, I‟d hate for him to think I‟m
some religious nut.

I might say, “I love my brother”, but I‟m not
going to admit that I was wrong or to work
out my differences with him. We might
say, “I love you” to our spouse, and then
think nothing of a little flirtation with that
person at work. Words are easy to say-but
action takes COMMITMENT! God‟s love
ALWAYS takes ACTION and ALWAYS
shows COMMITMENT!

In the Old Testament, the Jewish people
knew that they were God‟s chosen people
NOT just because He had told them, but
because He had showed them!
Deuteronomy 4:33 NIV Has any other
people heard the voice of God speaking out
of fire, as you have, and lived?

34 Has any god ever tried to take for
himself one nation out of another nation, by
testings, by miraculous signs and
wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm, or by great and awesome
deeds, like all the things the LORD your
God did for you in Egypt before your very
eyes? 35 You were shown these things so
that you might know that the LORD is God;
besides him there is no other.

36 From heaven he made you hear his
voice to discipline you. On earth he showed
you his great fire, and you heard his words
from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved
your forefathers and chose their
descendants after them, he brought you out
of Egypt by his Presence and his great
strength, 38 to drive out before you nations
greater and stronger than you and to bring
you into their land to give it to you for your
inheritance, as it is today.

God had set aside his people, chosen
them, and then consistently showed them
his love, by bringing them up out of
Egypt, by providing for them in the
desert, by guiding them by his Presence, by
defeating their enemies in the Promised
land, & on & on & on.

He continued by sending them prophets to
call them back to Himself whenever they
stumbled right up until the time of the
Messiah when he finally sent them Jesus!
And he continues to show His love for us
today, we have his Word, we have „every
spiritual blessing…in Christ‟, we have
salvation, etc. And he continues to work out
all things together for good for those who
love Him. (Rom 8:28) That‟s the love of God!

John records Jesus‟ own words for us in his
gospel.
John 15:13 NET No one has greater love
than this — that one lays down his life for
his friends.

“God would rather die than spend eternity
without YOU.” Its true! He did! His love
demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice, the
laying down of his life for us. There‟s a lot of
confusion in the world today about Jesus of
Nazareth. The Jews admit he was a good
teacher, but not the Son of God. The
Moslems believe he was a great
prophet, but second to Mohammed.

The fact is, he did leave the world some
profound teaching. He did live an exemplary
life and set a tremendous standard by
anyone‟s standards! But what did he
ultimately come here to do? Was that all?
Ultimately his life was lived for the purpose
of going to the Cross!
He lived to die!

You know, on the beaches of Normandy
(and countless others places around the
world) men died in battle fighting for this
country. It is said that they „paid the ultimate
sacrifice‟ in giving their lives to the cause of
freedom. Jesus paid the ultimate of ultimate
sacrifices! We‟ll never know what it was like
for him to take OUR SIN to the cross with
him to face God and to lay down his life.
That‟s the love of God!

Paul wrote to the church in Rome, 35 Who
will separate us from the love of Christ? Will
trouble, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, "For your sake we
encounter death all day long; we were
considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
(Psalms 44:22)

37 No, in all these things we have complete
victory through him who loved us! 38 For I
am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things
that are present, nor things to come, nor
powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor
anything else in creation will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Romans 8 NET

His point: Nothing in the world is going to
come between you and God‟s love! Family
troubles won‟t. Tragedy & heartache won‟t.
Unjust suffering won‟t. Poverty won‟t.
Terrorist alerts won‟t. War won‟t. Nothing
will! The government won‟t. Even demons
or angels won‟t. The Devil, himself won‟t.
Not even death can separate you! There‟s
nothing you can do to make him love you
any less than he does! That‟s Gods‟ love!

Knowing God‟s love empowers us to be the
church! All of these things that we‟ve talked
about over the last few weeks about the
church is all wrapped up in our knowing
God‟s love! If the church is the body of
Christ (1Cor 12:27, Eph 1:23) then how can
we be the church without knowing God‟s
love?

How can we feed the hungry without
knowing God‟s love for them? How can we
clothe the poor without knowing God‟s love
for them? How can we worship God without
knowing His love? How can we truly share
in fellowship with one another without
knowing God‟s love for each of us? How
can we share with a lost & dying world the
good news of Jesus without knowing that
love for ourselves?

Paul ends here the first section of his letter.
Next he‟ll turn to what I‟ll call the „ethical‟
section, where he‟ll discuss what difference
all of this makes in our real lives. In light of
what God has done for us in Christ, how do
we then live? But, as I said before, it is
impossible to live holy & transformed lives
without knowing the love of Christ that
surpasses knowledge.

Have you been struggling with living a holy
& transformed life? Do you know the love of
God? I hope this morning, you have heard
the Scripture speak to you God‟s ultimate
Valentine,
“You are Loved!”
“You are Special to me!”
“I would die for you!”
“Will you be mine?”

Paul concludes his prayer.
20 Now to him who by the power that is
working within us is able to do far beyond
all that we ask or think, 21 to him be the
glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.

What can we do to encourage you this
morning, if you don‟t know the love of
God, respond to him in trusting faith and
obedience acknowledging your sin and
confessing that you want to be a child of
God!
This morning, as we sing the invitation
song, if you are not a Christian, let me
plead with you to make that commitment
right here and now! You know God loves
you.

You know what you need to do to respond
to that love. You know you need to turn
away from the sins of your past and commit
your life to him in baptism. We‟re going to
sing to encourage you, but not just you.
We‟re also going to sing to encourage those
of you who have left the „99‟ to wander off
on your own. You know God is out there
looking for you, waiting for you to come
back to him. What is holding you back?

And now these three remain:
faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is
love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NET

07 Surpassing Love Ephesians 3:14-21

07 Surpassing Love Ephesians 3:14-21

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