WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:10.620 Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. 00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:17.140 I'm excited to be back in Ephesians with you this morning. I've had a little bit of a break 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:23.620 the last few weeks and I've been anxious to jump back into this with you. Before we dive into 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:30.620 Ephesians, this is a good time, I think, to mention at least in part why we regularly, not always, 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:37.060 but regularly preach through books of the Bible. Why is it that we often do that? There's at least 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:43.600 a couple reasons why that's our regular habit here. The first is that it helps us to hear from 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:50.060 God's Word rather than man's ideas. There's that temptation in all of us to just say the things we 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:56.200 want to say. And it doesn't guarantee that that won't happen, but it helps us follow God's agenda 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:03.100 and avoid our hobby horses and pet things that we'd like to talk about. A second reason is that 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:08.780 it keeps us centered on preaching the text of Scripture. And when we do that, that's good news 00:01:08.780 --> 00:01:14.719 because it's always about Jesus, isn't it? Jesus tells us that. Every passage of Scripture that we 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:19.159 turn to, it's going to be about Him. And in some way, it's going to teach us about Him. It's going to 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:25.359 offer us good news. When we drift away from that, sometimes we can devolve into good advice 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:32.079 or bad advice, but at best, good advice. And that distinction between good news about Jesus 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:36.939 and good advice from a man is an important one that we talked about a few weeks ago. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:42.759 So we're back in Ephesians this morning and excited about that. We're in chapter 3, 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:53.960 in case you've forgotten, at verse 14. Ephesians 3 verse 14. Read with me God's inerrant, infallible 00:01:53.960 --> 00:01:54.340 word. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:01.000 For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:07.280 derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:14.180 His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that 00:02:14.180 --> 00:02:20.960 you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:29.840 wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:35.879 that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:41.400 immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:48.780 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:50.780 Pray with me. 00:02:54.780 --> 00:03:00.539 Father, we're opening Your Word and finding that we're talking this morning about 00:03:00.539 --> 00:03:10.659 things that surpass knowledge, things that are beyond our imagination. And so we're especially 00:03:10.659 --> 00:03:20.459 aware of our need for You to speak to us, for You to give us eyes to see, that we might wonder and 00:03:20.459 --> 00:03:30.419 marvel this morning at who You are, what You have done for us, at how You love us. Father, we plead that You would do that. 00:03:30.419 --> 00:03:34.319 This morning, in this hour, in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:41.639 Haven't you always wanted to do something great? You know, something that really mattered, 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:47.959 that lasted well beyond your life and really impacted people and made a difference, 00:03:48.799 --> 00:03:55.599 really matter long term? I've always wanted that. I've wanted to do something that really mattered, 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:02.659 mattered even when I was gone. But the problem is that most days I really feel fairly ordinary, 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:11.039 even small. I'm not really sure how I'm even going to get through the day or what the next thing I 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:17.800 should do is. And as you read Ephesians, you realize that Paul has this grand vision for the 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:23.879 church. He's writing to them and he says, there's great things that I want to see happen that I look 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:29.740 forward to. He wants to see them doing pretty incredible things like having lifelong enemies 00:04:29.740 --> 00:04:36.620 live at peace with each other. To have spouses who are demonstrating to the world the incredible 00:04:36.620 --> 00:04:45.360 love of God as they love each other. To have liars become truth tellers. To have people be angry and yet 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:52.819 not sin. To deal with their anger appropriately. To have the church reflect the glory of God in every 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:58.899 aspect of life. That's Paul's vision for what's going to happen. Pretty big goals for sure. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:05.500 And our passage this morning ends with that glorious benediction and doxology that promises 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:10.659 those things and much more will actually happen. They will actually be accomplished in the church. 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:17.159 Look at verses 20 and 21. Now to him who's able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:23.800 according to his power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus. He's going 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:33.040 to do these immeasurably more things. He promises to do the inconceivable. God will do beyond what we 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:41.260 could ever imagine and he'll do it in and through us. His people. His power is at work within us it says 00:05:41.259 --> 00:05:47.159 and his glory is going to be evident among us. It's going to happen among people who can hardly 00:05:47.159 --> 00:05:54.500 imagine doing something that lasts past their children or grandchildren. Among people who are 00:05:54.500 --> 00:06:02.339 barely getting through the next day. God's going to do inconceivably great things and transform lives. 00:06:02.819 --> 00:06:10.199 Change the world. If you're anything like me that's exciting. I want that. I want to be a part of that. 00:06:10.199 --> 00:06:18.379 Of something bigger and greater than myself. But how? How's that actually going to happen? 00:06:18.899 --> 00:06:26.259 Where would the power come from for that to occur? Stop and ask that question. What's going to change 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:33.759 us and the world through us? I want you to picture in your mind the church that God would use like that 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.759 in those incredible ways. Picture what does that church look like? 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:47.420 It's probably got a pretty dynamic person or people leading doesn't it? The one in your mind right now. 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:52.120 They're doing pretty well on financial resources. They've got money they can do stuff can't they? 00:06:53.459 --> 00:06:57.899 If I'd given you a little longer you're Presbyterian enough there would have been at least a couple of 00:06:57.899 --> 00:07:02.759 committees formed to figure out how it was going to happen. There would have been a cool conference 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:09.500 to go to. The church certainly would have hosted such a conference. And all those things that we 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:14.639 think about. We think if people are going to change and the world's going to be impacted. We just assume 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:20.959 it's going to involve new vision and plans and efforts on our part. And none of those things are 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:27.980 necessarily bad. God often uses them. They may be a part of what He does. But none of them is essential. 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:34.540 Those things actually all trend towards things that we're prone to take credit for. Don't they? 00:07:34.900 --> 00:07:41.319 Think about those things. We'd probably take credit if that's what it was that happened. And God says 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:50.600 verse 21 that the glory is all His. To Him be the glory. God says there's one essential thing 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:59.060 that always happens where He does great things in an individual or a community. That one essential 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:08.960 thing is this. It's an enlarged vision. A renewed experience of God's love. That's where the power 00:08:08.960 --> 00:08:18.700 comes from. It seems simple and it is but it's glorious too. A great vision of the love of God 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:27.339 is what enables great actions for God. A big clear vision of His love empowers world-changing 00:08:27.339 --> 00:08:35.620 churches. That's always true, God says. Paul uses more superlative and super superlative words in this 00:08:35.620 --> 00:08:41.860 passage than you'll ever come across in one place. So to say the same thing with bigger words, 00:08:41.860 --> 00:08:51.440 this passage teaches us that God does the inconceivable as He helps us survey the immeasurable 00:08:51.440 --> 00:09:01.039 and learn the incomprehensible. His love. The way to the great things God promises is not first 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:08.820 organizing better, working harder, or being cooler. It's renewing our vision of His love. 00:09:08.820 --> 00:09:14.960 Let's go back to the beginning of this passage. I want to show you how Paul says this, not just me. 00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:23.240 Look at verse 14. He says, for this reason I kneel before the Father. He's coming to God 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:27.980 pleading for something that's of utmost importance. Paul usually would have stood to pray. 00:09:28.740 --> 00:09:33.560 So the fact that he's kneeling, he's saying, God, I'm pleading with you for this. What is it that I 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:41.779 need to see happen in this church? And he prays that God would bring His glorious riches to them 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:48.699 so that they'd be strengthened through His Spirit that's living in them and through the Son in whom 00:09:48.699 --> 00:09:55.439 they put their faith. He's calling all the members of the Trinity, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son, 00:09:56.099 --> 00:10:01.500 to this end that something would happen. It's that important that they're all going to work towards 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:08.059 it together because Paul has great things in mind for these Jews and Gentiles united to each other 00:10:08.059 --> 00:10:15.259 in Christ. They're one body, one temple that God is building. He's going to say in verse 19 that they 00:10:15.259 --> 00:10:22.600 together need to be filled up with the fullness of God to be like a perfectly holy God in every way 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:31.840 possible to live up to this high calling. And then right between verse 17 and verse 19 is the way that 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:38.659 God will work for this to happen. All the members of the Trinity, Paul's pleading with them, come and do 00:10:38.659 --> 00:10:45.620 this. How is it going to happen? What's the key to his power enabling them to do great things? How will 00:10:45.620 --> 00:10:54.039 the mighty Godhead work in otherwise weak Ephesian believers? Look at verse 17. 00:10:55.179 --> 00:11:03.860 I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:13.899 grasp what? How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that 00:11:13.899 --> 00:11:20.779 surpasses knowledge. That's how this is going to happen, he says. That you'll know the dimensions of 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:29.179 God's love. God's power working to give them the renewed and enlarged vision of God's love. It's 00:11:29.179 --> 00:11:36.840 width and breadth and height and depth. Let me give us an image for what this would mean. 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:44.680 Some of you lived when televisions were black and white. You remember that? Yep, some of you remember 00:11:44.680 --> 00:11:51.120 that. Some of us remember when there were color televisions with the little knob on the side where 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:56.960 you had to turn the knob to change the 10 or 12 channels that you got, but it was color. You just 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:03.259 didn't have a remote. Some of us remember the televisions that were big enough. It took three or four 00:12:03.259 --> 00:12:09.580 grown men to lift them off the ground just so you could get a good picture. But in the last few 00:12:09.580 --> 00:12:14.840 years, there have been a lot of developments, of course, in technology and in television. You've 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:24.039 heard a lot about HDTV, high-definition television on a flat screen, right? A new development. And I 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:28.259 remember when those started coming along, you'd see commercials about them all the time. And the 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:32.879 commercials were interesting because what they tried to do was they were telling you not just 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:37.220 something would be a little, you'd see it a little bit better. What they were telling you was you'd get 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:43.200 a completely new experience, right? They would even start you inside the TV and some of them and come 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:46.559 out and you would actually be in the living room, but you thought you were there in the midst of what 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:52.799 was on the screen. You wouldn't just see the laces on the football a little bit better. You'd actually 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:59.460 feel like you were in the stadium, right? You wouldn't just see the colors on the fish a little bit 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:06.680 clearer and brighter. You'd actually feel like you were scuba diving in the ocean. That was the HD 00:13:06.680 --> 00:13:14.860 experience that was being sold, a new experience altogether. When Paul talks about grasping the 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:21.379 dimensions of love or knowing love, that's what he has in mind. Not just something you might think 00:13:21.379 --> 00:13:26.879 about or see a little bit differently, but an enlarged vision, a renewed experience that 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:33.820 transplants you to somewhere else, that alters your reality, that impacts everyday situations 00:13:33.820 --> 00:13:41.500 where you're living. But let's be clear on one thing. While that change that happens in your 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:47.939 experience is a substantial difference, it's not because you're experiencing something different, 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:54.059 is it? The HD experience didn't happen by changing the channel from cartoon to live actors, 00:13:54.059 --> 00:14:03.839 right? It was the same thing you were watching, just in a new and better way. And that's true for Paul. 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:13.259 Paul uses two metaphors in verse 17. Rooted, he says, that's an agricultural term, 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:20.459 and established, that's an architectural term. Somewhat surprisingly, he left out the television 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:26.860 metaphor. I'm sure he would have used it if he could. But an architectural one and an agricultural 00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:35.620 one. And what he says in both of them, he's saying, rooted and established in love. His prayer is not that 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:42.420 the tree with its root in love needs something else in order to grow. It's not that the building founded on 00:14:42.420 --> 00:14:49.600 love will grow tall, built with something else besides love. It's actually sinking roots deeper 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:57.639 into love. Building walls higher with love. That is his prayer, isn't it? He's not suggesting we move 00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:02.879 beyond the love of God that we sang about in Jesus Loves Me, and now we need to talk about something 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:09.960 serious now that the kids have sat back down. What he wants us to grasp more fully and know more 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:18.220 personally is that same love that we have known and found in Jesus. That's where your power source is, 00:15:18.220 --> 00:15:25.600 he says. Church, that's the only place that you'll find power for what God's talking about. That doesn't 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:33.259 change. It's the same source of our power. It never changes. We don't need a new vision, a different plan. 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:41.820 Rather, we need an enlarged vision, a clearer HD picture of what we already know that will impact 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:50.300 our lives. We need a 4D height and depth and breadth and width experience of God's love. 00:15:52.040 --> 00:15:57.860 Let's look at God's love in that way for just a few minutes this morning. What's the experience of love 00:15:57.860 --> 00:16:07.020 in 4D in Paul's terms? The width and breadth and height and depth. Most scholars agree that Paul's not 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:12.299 getting at one particular thing for each of those dimensions. In large part, what he's communicating 00:16:12.299 --> 00:16:20.740 to us is how immeasurable and how far beyond our ability to conceive God's love actually is that it 00:16:20.740 --> 00:16:27.159 can't be contained. We're never going to describe it. All this passage tells us that, right? That it's 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:36.799 surpassing knowledge. But let's flesh it out just a little bit. How big is it? Where does God's love reach? 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:42.679 In the book of Ephesians alone, we find God's love stretching all the way back to eternity past 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:49.500 before creation, remember? He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless 00:16:49.500 --> 00:16:57.220 in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as sons. All the way back to eternity past, 00:16:57.319 --> 00:17:04.160 bringing us all the way through to a glorious inheritance in eternity future. In chapter 2, God's love 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:11.779 is there in verse 4. His great love for us that does what? It reaches all the way down to hell 00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:18.000 and the grave where people are dead, chapter 2 tells us. And then in verse 5, it does what? Makes 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.960 them alive. It takes dead people and makes them alive and not just alive for a little while, but 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:27.920 exalts them all the way up to heaven from the lowest depths to the highest heights, verse 6. 00:17:29.080 --> 00:17:33.160 And then in chapters 2 and 3, He keeps going and says, it's going to reach all the way over to these 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:38.200 Gentiles way over here and bring them to people on the farthest end of the spectrum, the Jews, and it's 00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:45.500 going to bring them together, crushing the barriers that were between them. That's what His love is like 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:51.380 just in Ephesians. Through all of time to plan our salvation, from the lowest depths to the highest 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:58.500 heights to secure our salvation, smashing through the strongest barriers to unite former enemies, 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:07.099 the width, breadth, height, and depth of God's love. Let's expand to the rest of Scripture for a minute. 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:16.039 In the Old Testament, we read of the steadfast love of God. His chesed is the Hebrew word used over and 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:22.539 over. It's His faithful, covenant-keeping, loving kindness. Whenever you read words like that in the 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:29.500 Psalms or the Old Testament, God's loving kindness, steadfast love, goodness, mercy, many of those, it's the word 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:37.980 chesed for God's love. He's a God who pursues His people doggedly through some of the most heinous and 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:47.139 grievous sins ever committed, His love pursues them. God's love, sometimes very firm in discipline, pursues them 00:18:47.140 --> 00:18:54.480 through exile to restore them to the promised land to a hope and a future. Just as He promised He would, 00:18:55.220 --> 00:19:04.680 the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Chesed, the width and breadth and height and depth, 00:19:04.780 --> 00:19:09.920 it's the reason that Sally Lloyd-Jones in her Jesus Storybook Bible gives one of my favorite 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:18.700 descriptions of love. Many of you will recognize it. She calls it God's never stopping, never giving up, 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:29.279 unbreaking, always and forever love. It's so expansive and beyond measure that Romans 8 tells us 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:34.279 nothing at all can separate us from it. No matter where we go or what happens to us, we won't escape 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:41.299 God's love because it doesn't end. We can't be snatched out of His loving hand. Romans 8 at verse 38, 00:19:41.899 --> 00:19:46.399 for I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor 00:19:46.399 --> 00:19:51.779 the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to 00:19:51.779 --> 00:19:58.160 separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It never ends so you can't be 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:07.240 separated from it. Let's look at it poetically in words nearly a thousand years old translated into 00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:17.279 English for us. A great old hymn. Could we with ink the ocean fill? Were the skies of parchment made? 00:20:17.460 --> 00:20:25.740 Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of God above would 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:33.160 drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. 00:20:34.059 --> 00:20:44.160 I love that image of the ocean for God's love. If it were full, it couldn't contain God's love. It's a 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:48.740 little bit when I think about that like looking at God's love through the eyes of a child and I think 00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:55.420 that's helpful for us because it helps us to think about it being beyond our comprehension more than we 00:20:55.420 --> 00:21:02.279 could imagine. And we talk to our kids about loving them like a hundred million elephants to use just big 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:10.380 words and big numbers so they can't comprehend. We say things like right up to the moon and back. I love 00:21:10.380 --> 00:21:15.960 the ocean in that context that it's a picture of God's love stretching as far as the eye can see. Have you 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:21.240 ever been out there where all you can see is ocean? We were standing on the shore of the beach a couple of 00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:28.640 weeks ago. One of my girls was next to me and she said, Daddy, how big is the ocean? I thought, 00:21:28.700 --> 00:21:33.259 how big is the ocean? And she looked down and from where we were, you could kind of see Panama City, 00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:38.400 I think is what it was, jutting out a little bit. And from our perspective, it looked like the ocean 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:42.940 could have stopped right there where that land came out further than it did at other places. 00:21:42.940 --> 00:21:53.940 She said, Daddy, is that where the ocean ends? And I thought, wow, I don't even know how to tell you 00:21:53.940 --> 00:21:59.559 how much bigger it is than that because that looks like as far as you can imagine. And yet it's not 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:08.640 even a small bit, a small bit of how far the ocean stretches. God's love is like that. We'll never plumb 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:16.640 the depths of it because it will never run out. None of His children has ever exhausted His love. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:23.400 Isn't that good news? None of His children has ever exhausted His love. We've rebelled, 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:33.860 and yet He still loves us. We've pouted, and yet He loves us. We've told Him we don't love Him, 00:22:33.859 --> 00:22:44.199 and yet He loves us. The width and breadth and height and depth of God's love. Because that's 00:22:44.199 --> 00:22:49.979 the beauty of it, isn't it? That it's not just poetical or theoretical, but it's intensely personal. 00:22:50.459 --> 00:22:57.399 It is true for us personally. I want you to take a minute this morning and write something down for me. 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:02.820 Seriously. You know, pen, paper, bulletin will work. I want you to write something down. 00:23:04.700 --> 00:23:11.800 I want you to think of just one way that God has showed His love to you. Just one. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:22.000 What is one thing in your life that reminds you of God's love for you? Write one thing down. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:35.319 Now, I want you to write down one more thing. I thought about having you trade, but I didn't 00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:41.079 because I love y'all. I know you didn't want to do that. But I want you to write down one way that 00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:47.359 you've seen God's love for someone else. Have you seen God show His love to someone else? Preferably 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:51.519 somebody in this room, but you may not know anybody else in this room. If so, that's fine. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:58.099 Pick anyone. Anyone besides yourself. How have you seen God show His love to them? 00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:17.119 You should have or might have at least two specific instances of God's love written down. 00:24:17.500 --> 00:24:21.500 Imagine you stacked all of those up this morning. Imagine we passed them all in. We won't. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.740 Imagine we stacked all those up and just started reading through them. One after the other, 00:24:26.859 --> 00:24:34.039 after the other, after the other. Different unique evidences of God's love in His people's lives. 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:40.639 How much bigger would God's love start to feel to us? What if we added examples to our stack from 00:24:40.639 --> 00:24:47.639 all the Christians worldwide alive today? A little piece of paper with them. Just two examples and stack 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:54.720 those in. What about those who lived in the last hundred years? Since Jesus, the Old Testament 00:24:54.720 --> 00:25:00.980 faithful? Can you imagine if we started building that stack? Ways that God's love has been demonstrated 00:25:00.980 --> 00:25:07.600 to people. One of my favorite phrases in this passage and in all of Scripture comes in verse 18. 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:18.179 Paul prays that the Ephesians would have power together with all the saints to grasp the dimensions 00:25:18.179 --> 00:25:24.579 of God's love. You know what he's saying there? He's saying that you need to look back at the two ways 00:25:24.579 --> 00:25:31.059 you've written down to experience God's love. And I know you could come up with more, but you may never 00:25:31.059 --> 00:25:36.940 have seen the love of God in some other ways that it's true and that He's shown it to people. 00:25:37.220 --> 00:25:41.839 You may have never seen the love of God build up a church in the midst of poverty. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:48.339 For you to appreciate that dimension of God's love and the power it has, you may need to hear from 00:25:48.339 --> 00:25:55.720 Justin Houston, one of our members and mission partners who's been in South Sudan. I got to talk to 00:25:55.720 --> 00:26:01.740 Justin on the phone a couple of weeks ago from Kenya. What a treat. And Justin, who was just 00:26:01.740 --> 00:26:08.319 recently then evacuated from South Sudan because of threats of violence in his very village there, 00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:13.759 called from Kenya and as we chatted he said, you know, one of the neatest things about being here 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:20.160 is to see God work in the same ways in a different context. To see that the needs are the same, 00:26:20.500 --> 00:26:25.460 that people's idols are the same, their struggles are the same, and the answer is this. 00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:31.039 God's love works here. It's what transforms things here too. 00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:39.160 You may never have seen the love of God work through your faithful and your failed parenting. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:46.720 You may not have parented long enough. You may be struggling to hope for your kids. For you to 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:52.059 appreciate that dimension of God's love and the power it has, you may need someone twice your age in 00:26:52.059 --> 00:26:58.480 your small group to tell you how they've experienced it, to tell you how it's played out in their lives. 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:03.440 You may never have seen the love of God grow the church in the midst of persecution. 00:27:05.299 --> 00:27:09.899 And you may be watching the news right now and thinking, where's God's love here? And for you to 00:27:09.899 --> 00:27:15.339 appreciate that dimension of God's love and the power that it has, you may need to learn from believers 00:27:15.339 --> 00:27:21.759 throughout church history to see where time and time again the blood of the martyrs has been the seed 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:30.039 of the church over and over. You may never have seen the love of God overcome your sin struggle that 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:38.299 seems to be there year after year after year, and it never goes away. For you to appreciate that 00:27:38.299 --> 00:27:43.819 dimension of God's love, the power that it has, you may need to talk to a recovering addict and 00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:51.419 hear his story. Or you may need to find yourself and experience a community that loves and welcomes 00:27:51.419 --> 00:27:59.180 you in the midst of your ongoing struggle to feel the welcome and love of God. Whatever the case is for 00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:07.339 you, and we could multiply those examples, you cannot appreciate God's 4D love the way He wants you to 00:28:07.339 --> 00:28:15.740 alone, by yourself. He wants you to begin to see its width and breadth and height and depth 00:28:15.740 --> 00:28:23.639 enlarged by seeing His love transform the lives of other believers. As you get a clearer vision of 00:28:23.639 --> 00:28:31.059 that, you'll begin, you'll start to survey the immeasurable a little bit more. You'll start to learn 00:28:31.059 --> 00:28:36.939 the incomprehensible a little bit better because you'll be able to touch it, to see it, to hear it, 00:28:37.339 --> 00:28:45.639 right in front of you. And that, when that happens, when you begin to get a handle on that just a 00:28:45.639 --> 00:28:54.539 little more, that's when, remember, God does the inconceivable in you. Is God's love growing in your 00:28:54.539 --> 00:29:00.039 mind this morning, even just a little bit? Has He pulled the curtain back for you to see just a little 00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:06.180 bit more of the dimensions of His love? Is it actually going to alter your experience tomorrow? 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:11.059 Is it going to change reality when you wake up in the morning? Is it something that really matters 00:29:11.059 --> 00:29:20.539 where you are? Southwood, this is what we need. We need a renewed experience of God's 4D love. 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:28.319 That's the most important thing, right? Officers, be honest. What's more at the forefront of your mind 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:35.000 as you lead this church? A strategic vision or a vision of God's love? Because we need not merely 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:41.159 a vision for programs and finances, but more importantly, a vision of God's overwhelming love 00:29:41.159 --> 00:29:49.240 for us. Search committee, we need not merely a man with a plan, but more importantly, a man with a big 00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:56.980 vision of God's love in Christ. Congregation, we ought to be praying not merely for a man, but for God to 00:29:56.980 --> 00:30:05.480 give all of us a renewed experience of His love, a larger vision of His love in all of our hearts. 00:30:07.099 --> 00:30:13.460 Because that's the thing God uses as His power works in us and through us to do immeasurably more 00:30:13.460 --> 00:30:20.099 than all we ask or imagine. One last point of application there before we come to the table 00:30:20.099 --> 00:30:26.699 together, go back to where we started. Don't you want to do great things? Don't you want your church 00:30:26.699 --> 00:30:36.659 to do great things? Isn't that something you long for? When I read of a promise like that, of the hope 00:30:36.659 --> 00:30:42.859 of God doing immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, usually what I think of is extraordinary 00:30:42.859 --> 00:30:50.339 deeds, doing something nobody ever thought I was capable of, right? God can do immeasurably more. 00:30:50.500 --> 00:30:56.919 Well, He can do extraordinary things. Starting a non-profit that saves thousands of lives around 00:30:56.919 --> 00:31:05.119 the world. Speaking to a football stadium full of people. Something extraordinary, right? And that's 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:12.740 true. God's 4D love has the power to do the inconceivable, the immeasurably more than all we 00:31:12.740 --> 00:31:19.099 ask or imagine through things that matter a lot, and we're sure they would, but we can't imagine doing 00:31:19.099 --> 00:31:26.779 them. It does that. It takes people who think, I could never do that. And some of us in this room 00:31:26.779 --> 00:31:33.079 need to have such a grand vision of God's love that it moves our family overseas to share that love with 00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:40.440 others. That kind of extraordinary alteration of reality ought to happen for someone in here. I'm sure 00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:47.620 of it. In a room this size, God will move someone. His love is so great that those types of things will happen. 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:55.220 His love is that great. But this verse works equally, I think, and perhaps even more so is intended in a 00:31:55.220 --> 00:32:04.200 different direction. Because God's the one doing the work, and His is the glory, and so I believe it mostly 00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:15.100 is talking about in the very ordinary deeds. The mundane of life. Changing diapers, and diapers, and diapers. 00:32:16.380 --> 00:32:26.500 Repenting and forgiving daily sins. Disciplining children. Doing honest and excellent work. 00:32:26.500 --> 00:32:35.900 Something very ordinary. Something you already do, perhaps. And God's 4D love has the power to do the 00:32:35.900 --> 00:32:42.660 inconceivable, the immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine through things that we do that we already 00:32:42.660 --> 00:32:50.279 know we're capable of doing by His grace, but that we can't imagine mattering a lot or at all. 00:32:50.279 --> 00:33:00.660 Have you been there? Have you ever feel you work so hard every day? You get nowhere? 00:33:02.920 --> 00:33:10.220 What's really the point? What difference am I making? Could this possibly matter? God has called most of us 00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:17.660 in this room not to extraordinary deeds, but to ordinary faithfulness. His love is so great that it could 00:33:17.660 --> 00:33:24.740 motivate you to do something extraordinary, but it can also do incredible things with your ordinary, 00:33:25.700 --> 00:33:31.160 with where He's already placed you and called you. He can change the world through your faithful 00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:38.540 conversation with a neighbor or co-worker. He's that great. He can do it through the 50th load of laundry 00:33:38.540 --> 00:33:46.300 because His love is that big. Through the consistent presence of a forgiving spouse or friend. 00:33:47.660 --> 00:33:54.300 Think of how He might do it in where you already are. And then realize that way you're imagining, 00:33:55.380 --> 00:34:00.920 that yes, someday possibly could God use this to do something. You know what? It's bigger than that. 00:34:01.940 --> 00:34:07.940 The verse tells us He'll do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. So whatever it is you have in 00:34:07.940 --> 00:34:15.559 mind, His love can do more. His love is bigger. It can work beyond that. That's how great His love is. 00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:20.559 That's how immeasurable its width and breadth and height and depth is. 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:29.559 In the 1800s, the Napoleonic armies came into Spain. And as they conquered territory there, 00:34:29.699 --> 00:34:33.599 they came across a prison that had been used by the Spanish Inquisition. 00:34:34.539 --> 00:34:40.179 They found the body of a prisoner still in one of the cells. Just a chain around his ankle 00:34:40.179 --> 00:34:47.359 identified him as a prisoner. And on the wall of the cell was a cross etched in the wall 00:34:47.359 --> 00:34:59.339 with the words for width and breadth and height and depth at the four end points of the lines of that 00:34:59.339 --> 00:35:06.559 simple cross. That he'd etched in the wall to remind himself in the midst of a very, very dull, 00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:15.199 disappointing, ordinary life where God's love was shown to him in its fullness. 00:35:16.900 --> 00:35:25.159 He began to see it. And the cross was a visible picture for him of that. And we come to this table 00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:33.019 this morning to see in HD, as it were, the full dimensions of the love of God. Oh, we won't comprehend 00:35:33.019 --> 00:35:39.159 the whole thing. But God's actually given you something more effective than my coming up with 00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:47.119 descriptions or reading poetry or telling stories. He's given us this table yet again to come back 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:54.619 and see his love in a new and fresh way that it would be bigger in our minds. Jesus came and God's 00:35:54.619 --> 00:36:00.820 word tells us that at that night where he shared the supper with his disciples, he began to show them 00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:08.300 the full extent of his love. He started by washing their feet. And then on his way to the cross, he gave 00:36:08.300 --> 00:36:15.420 them this meal. And he wanted them to celebrate it, to renew their vision of his immeasurable love 00:36:15.420 --> 00:36:19.519 for them. Paul records the institution of the supper this way. 00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:25.740 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was 00:36:25.739 --> 00:36:31.879 betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for 00:36:31.879 --> 00:36:38.719 you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup 00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:44.979 is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as 00:36:44.979 --> 00:36:50.759 you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:59.280 This is the Lord's table, not a Southwood or Presbyterian table. And so as we come to proclaim 00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:05.540 the Lord's death until he comes, we're coming to proclaim and see again the dimensions of his love. 00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:12.600 If you know that love for you, if you're part of a community where you're learning more of that love 00:37:12.600 --> 00:37:18.740 together with all the saints, then come. Come to this table and have its dimensions enlarged 00:37:18.739 --> 00:37:27.339 in your heart as you feast. Kids, many of you don't yet come and take and eat the bread and the 00:37:27.339 --> 00:37:34.299 juice when we have the Lord's Supper. For some of you, children, this will be your first time this 00:37:34.299 --> 00:37:40.319 morning because you've just recently joined the church. And so we're so excited about that. For 00:37:40.319 --> 00:37:46.739 those of you who don't, you'll get to do that yourself when you embrace Jesus for yourself and when 00:37:46.739 --> 00:37:53.339 you become a full member of the church. But listen, I want you to know, even if you don't take the bread 00:37:53.339 --> 00:38:00.059 and juice this morning, you can still come up with your parents. Because this is where we regularly 00:38:00.059 --> 00:38:08.799 remind ourselves and each other how much Jesus loves us. We do this for that and his love is for you too, 00:38:09.279 --> 00:38:15.439 not just for your parents. So come and watch them and listen as we talk and as we celebrate this 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:27.300 together. Let's pray. Jesus, as we come to this table, we do proclaim your death. 00:38:28.679 --> 00:38:37.280 We proclaim that it shows us your love in new and fresh ways. We ask, Father, that you would pull back 00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:45.079 the curtain this morning so that we could marvel again at your love. Use this as you promised to use 00:38:45.079 --> 00:38:50.940 it to strengthen us for doing more than we could ever ask or imagine. Would you take very ordinary 00:38:50.940 --> 00:38:57.059 elements and as you are so capable of doing, would you do extraordinary things? Would you take ordinary 00:38:57.059 --> 00:39:03.819 people with ordinary struggles and weaknesses and failings and would you do beyond what we could ever 00:39:03.819 --> 00:39:12.079 imagine? Father, feed us that you might use us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:19.659 Amen. The Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. He broke it and gave it to 00:39:19.659 --> 00:39:26.420 his disciples as I ministering in his name. Give this bread to you. He said, take, eat. This is my body 00:39:26.420 --> 00:39:35.059 broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he took the cup after giving thanks as 00:39:35.059 --> 00:39:41.380 we've done in his name. He said, drink from it, all of you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood, 00:39:41.480 --> 00:39:49.179 which was shed for many for the remission of sins. Drink from it, all of you. Host team members will 00:39:49.179 --> 00:39:54.039 usher you forward and back to these tables and we will celebrate God's love together. 00:39:54.039 --> 00:40:02.759 For more information, visit us online at southwood.org.