Immeasurably More
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Well, it isn’t every day I get to officiate my dad’s wedding!
It is an honour!
It is also doesn’t happen unless something doesn’t go according to plan (acknowledge the loss of Mom)
One of the ways God shows His love towards us is in redeeming broken situations
More than just stop bad things from happening; God can create something new and beautiful from hardship
This wedding is one such example of God’s redeeming love
Dad and Bertha have asked me to preach about God’s love from Ephesians 3:14-21.
This is a prayer (from Paul to the Ephesian church) that Aubrey just read
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength 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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
You are Loved by God
You are Loved by God
This is the simple, profound, beautiful heart of the passage: You are loved by God
You don’t need a pastor to tell you, or a degree, or training or expertise: this passage is all about the existence of (and importance of) the love of Godo
Yet what do we mean by love? It can mean so many different things
Dad has told me he loves Bertha… also that he loves tacos
The love of God is a Trinitarian love (v. 14 - 17)
Starts with the Father of fathers
God is the source and example of all fatherhood and family
Also the source and example of being a husband and wife (family)
Flows through the power of the Spirit
How powerful? Resurrection power, strengthening you
Which you can rely on in your marriage together
Dwells in us by the Son
Christ dwells within you; you take the love of God wherever you go
Holds you together even when apart
It is this Trinitarian love of God that is our foundation
As Paul declares, we must be “rooted and grounded” in this love
Dad and Bertha; not your love, but God’s love
The love of God is what keeps us grounded in all our life and relationships
Cf. Jeremiah 17:7–8 ““Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.””
Refer to roots of shallow tree on top of rocks
It is a celebration today, but your life together will include drought and storm; stay rooted in God’s love
You are Loved by God Without Limit
You are Loved by God Without Limit
God has unlimited resources at His disposal (v. 16)
He is filthy rich in all the ways that matter; He gives perfect gifts
As opposed to the limitations of my gifts
Talk about going to the LEGO store and coming away with small sets
The greatest gift - the love of God - is unfathomable (v. 18-19)
“How wide and long and high and deep...” (v. 18)
Not a physics lesson! Paul is describing that the love of God is so immense that we can’t even understand it!
Share about Eli going to Chase Field for the first time
Don’t settle for a watered down version of God’s love
The end result = “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (v. 19)
Picture a vessel filled to overflowing
Perhaps the greatest declaration of the limitless love of God is in verse 21, “him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think”
I’m not sure about you two, but I have a pretty vivid imagination; I can imagine quite a lot of things I would love for God to do
And He can do MORE
Dad and Bertha, hold on to your hopes and dreams for your life together
And get ready for God to blow them away with His limitless love
Pray