Deeper than Deep

{CLICK} SCRIPTURE: Ephesians 3:14-21

Ephesians 3:14–21 NIV

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. {CLICK} I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. {CLICK} And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. {CLICK} Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. {CLICK}

INTRODUCTION

Did you ever have news so good that you couldn’t wait to tell others about it - especially your friends and family, those closest to you? (P)

I think this happens most often and with the most excitement when we’re young. As a kid, there was no shortage of exciting things I wanted to tell my teachers about, and whether or not they wanted to know about any of it didn’t matter to me. If I lost a tooth and received something from the tooth fairy, my teacher was the first to know about it. It was especially exciting if I lost my tooth right there in the classroom, because then she could be a witness!

Today, if I lost a tooth, there would be no excitement and no drive to tell anyone about it. (P)

But that’s how it was as kids, we couldn’t wait to tell our special adults what we got for our birthday or what we got for Christmas. When I was in elementary school, three years in a row, I was able to tell my teacher that I had a baby brother or sister coming. (P)

Now, this still happens as adults; we still like to tell people about good things happening to us, but usually not with as many things, and not with as much excitement.

And I think that’s one of the features that Jesus appreciated in children when He said to His disciples in Matthew 18. {CLICK}

Matthew 18:1–4 NIV

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. {CLICK} Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I believe Jesus appreciated not only their humility and their ability to believe without being so analytical, but also the excitement with which they approached life. (P)

So let me follow the first question I had about the good news you wanted to tell others about, with this one:

What would it take for you to become that excited about the Good News we find through Christ? (P)

What if, somehow, we could be as excited to share that news as we are about any of the other incredible things that are happening in our lives? (P)

Could it be, perhaps, that any lack of excitement is because we don’t fully grasp the foundation of that good news - the love God has for each of us? (P)

Starting next week, we will be exploring the Vision and Mission of Codorus in depth, and yes, the first part of those statements is about loving - loving God and one another, and even better, sharing the love Christ has for us with others.

But none of that means anything unless we understand how deep that love really is. And maybe that’s why childlike excitement about what Christ is offering us is at an all-time low among the world population. (P)

So that’s what we are going to discuss today as we unpack these verses from Paul in Ephesians 3.

What we see in this passage is Paul reaching the midpoint of his letter to the Ephesians, and it is here that he feels led to offer a prayer - as though he is wanting what he has said so far to sink in, and then to prepare them for the second half when he would really get into the nitty gritty about how they were to relate to others.

How should they act around and relate with others within their own body, their own congregation?

How do they live with and love the people nearest and dearest to them in their households?

And when they get into the world where Satan is having a field day, how do they use the armor of God to achieve victory in that spiritual warfare?

That’s what the rest of Ephesians is about. And how we relate to others this way, no matter who they are - in the love of Christ and by the power of Christ - is exactly what our mission and vision are all about, and we’ll say a few words at the end to transition into this upcoming series. (P)

But before any of that matters, we have to understand why we even do it. We ask, as Tina Turner once did, What’s love got to do with any of this? (P)

As the two great commandments suggest of loving God and loving others, we can’t do that until we understand the love God has for us. And when we understand the depths of that love - if we truly understand it as we should, that’s where we find the childlike excitement to share it with others. (P)

And that’s what Paul’s prayer here in Ephesians 3 was all about. His deepest desire was that his readers would discover God’s love in these four ways. {CLICK}

1. God’s power becomes our strength

Now my favorite part of this text is these first two verses - 14 and 15, perhaps because it hits me in a special way. {CLICK}

Ephesians 3:14–15 NIV

For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. {CLICK}

You think of how, in most cases, an entire family unit is united under the family name.

The Ritenours, Keeneys, Godfreys, Tysons, Kelblys, and you can insert yours in there. It starts with the father, who marries the mother, usually taking her husband’s name, and any children that come into the family take on that name as well. And often there is a drive to keep that name going, and to make sure the legacy attached to that name is a good one or a meaningful one. (P)

It’s the father and mother of that family unit that are responsible for giving names to the children as they come, often chosen with the greatest of care, and certainly with the greatest of love - just as God does for all those He loves. {CLICK}

Isaiah 40:26 NIV

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

I’m going to talk more about this in a minute, and why this one means so much to me, but if you are a parent, you know that your job is far from over when the baby arrives and the name is given. (P)

Much of what your child will accomplish later in life and the character they possess comes from how they are raised, how they are edified, or built up, and how strength of character is instilled in them through teaching, experiences, and encouragement.

A child is most ready to receive that from their parents because they understand their weaknesses and their limitations.

They are smaller and have limitations in physical strength.

There is so much they don’t know that we have to teach them.

They are still learning how to do a lot of things.

And they want to learn in their quest to grow up and become like us, their parents, and that’s why they are so moldable. (P)

What limitations do you have a hard time surrendering to your Father, so He can help you grow like Him?

Not knowing everything you want to know?

Not having control over everything you want to have control over?

Not knowing how to overcome certain temptations or weaknesses?

Physical Ailments?

Financial Woes?

What else? (P)

Larry King tells this story about baseball great Ty Cobb. When Cobb was 70, a reporter asked him, "What do you think you'd hit if you were playing these days?"

Cobb, who was a lifetime .367 hitter, said, "About .290, maybe .300."

The reporter said, "That's because of the travel, the night games, the artificial turf, and all the new pitches like the slider, right?"

"No," said Cobb, "it's because I'm 70." (P)

As Ty Cobb did, it's important to know our limits.

Paul told the Corinthians the same thing, which is why he, and later James, would coin those annoying words that remind us that we should delight and rejoice in our weaknesses and sufferings that we hate so much. {CLICK}

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. {CLICK} That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And that’s why he could tell the church in Philippi this truth in: {CLICK}

Philippians 4:19 NIV

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

And that’s what he tells the Ephesians now in verse 16: {CLICK}

Ephesians 3:16 NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, (P)

And what he says in the next part of that, in verse 17, is one of the most special parts about this whole relationship we have with God, where, number 2: {CLICK}

2. Our hearts become Christ’s home.

Paul says: {CLICK}

Ephesians 3:17 NIV

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. {CLICK}

The word for dwell in the Greek literally means to settle, to live in, and to reside.

If you think of your residence, the place you call home, it is usually a place where you feel safe, comfortable, and a place you love to be. It’s your security, and if that’s how you feel about home, then that’s where you want to stay permanently...in the place you love with the people you love. (P)

“Where is the dwelling of God?”

This was the question the rabbi of Kotzk surprised several educated men with, who happened to be visiting him.

They laughed at him: “What a thing to ask! Is not the whole world full of his glory?”

Then he answered his own question: “God dwells wherever man lets him in.”

And it’s because that is where He wants to be. {CLICK}

Revelation 3:20 NIV

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

He reminded His disciples shortly before His departure, in: {CLICK}

John 14:23 NIV

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

(P) {CLICK}

3. We become aware of love’s depths.

Paul says it beautifully in verses 18 and 19 of this text. Picking up from the verse before it: {CLICK}

Ephesians 3:17–19 NIV

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, {CLICK} and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (P) {CLICK}

We love big things, and we love to be able to express that bigness in tangible measurements.

How big is the house you want to buy? Oh, about 4,000 square feet.

How big is the car you are looking at? It’s a V8, 500 horsepower, and it seats 6 people.

How much did you run last night? Oh, I nailed 5 miles in 30 minutes.

Tell me about the biggest fish that you caught. That’s a fun one. It’s amazing how a mediocre 12-inch bass can turn into a 10-ton swamp monster when you listen to some people. (P)

How do you measure the love of God? (P)

Well, the real answer is that we can’t, certainly not with human units of measurement - it’s just too big.

But that’s such a clicheish response - God’s love is immeasurable - that Paul wasn’t satisfied with that, so his prayer was bold, that the Ephesians would be able to comprehend how big God’s love is in the dimensions we like to measure, so they can somehow appreciate it. That they could somehow get excited about it with a childlike excitement that would make them want to tell the world. (P)

How big is God’s love? How deep?

Well, the God of the whole universe wants to take up residence in your heart.

He wants to use His time there to instill you with all of his gifts, and blessings, and strength, and everything else you need to grow so you can be just like Him.

He gave you a name, and not just any name, but as we started with in verse 15, we derive our name from His name. We are part of His loving family, just as He wanted it to be. (P)

Here’s why I said verse 15 is so special to me. You know, our Nathanael was not always a Nathanael. He was born with a different first name and last name. There is still a degree of confidentiality with this adoption, so I can’t say it publicly, but it was not Nathanael Ritenour.

We wanted Nathanael to become part of our family, and so his last name is now our last name, Ritenour.

We named him Nathanael after the disciple because of the deep meaning of his story. And likewise with his middle name, Luke, with perhaps a small reference to Christmas - I don’t know why we would want to do that...

It’s the same if we had adopted a little girl, Lydia Noel Ritenour. Lydia, because of her story in the Bible, Noel, because of Christmas, and Ritenour, because she would have been a part of our family. (P)

Having a name that comes from God, being adopted into sonship as Paul says in Romans 8, is not just a small matter. It’s a huge gesture from a God whose love for us is deeper than deep. Why do I say this? Because listen to what Paul says separates us from God’s love - a little later in Romans 8, verses 38 and 39: {CLICK}

Romans 8:38–39 NIV

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.

I mean, we’re already talking about the depths of love - that’s what Paul wanted the Ephesians to be able to contemplate - how deep that love was. And now he says in Romans that there are no depths known to man, the deepest of which are also unfathomable, not even the depths of darkness from the evil one, that can separate us from the deep love of God. (P)

I don’t know if you are getting this picture painted in your brain, but no love exists in the human realms that even comes close.

And if what we talked about isn’t enough, may I remind you of what lengths Christ went to to show you how deep that love is? {CLICK}

John 15:13 NIV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

And so Paul’s hope was that somehow, even by just getting a snapshot of this love, we would then be able to achieve number 4, that: {CLICK}

4. Our hearts become full.

Fullness in the Greek carries the same meaning as complete, so it could also be said that our lives become complete when we allow the love of God to rain over us, because we first allowed Him to dwell in our hearts, and we became recipients of His love. (P)

Paul wishes for the Ephesians in verse 19 of our text: {CLICK}

Ephesians 3:19 NIV

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. {CLICK}

The trick is allowing God to be the sole source of completion. It is so easy to try to define ourselves or our fullness or wholeness or completeness by those things that make up our earthly lives.

In his book Facing Loneliness, J. Oswald Sanders writes, "The round of pleasure or the amassing of wealth are but vain attempts to escape from the persistent ache...The millionaire is usually a lonely man, and the comedian is often more unhappy than his audience."

Sanders goes on to emphasize that being successful often fails to produce satisfaction. Then he refers to Henry Martyn, a distinguished scholar, as an example.

Martyn, a Cambridge University student, was honored at only 20 years of age for his achievements in mathematics. In fact, he was given the highest recognition possible in that field. And yet he felt an emptiness inside. He said that instead of finding fulfillment in his achievements, he had "only grasped a shadow."

After evaluating his life's goals, Martyn sailed to India as a missionary at the age of 24. When he arrived, he prayed, "Lord, let me burn out for You." In the next 7 years that preceded his death, he translated the New Testament into three difficult Eastern languages. These notable achievements were certainly not passing "shadows." (P)

When we understand the depth of God’s love - truly - then a couple of things happen.

First, our excitement shoots through the roof. If you aren’t excited about God’s love, and all that entails, and what that means for you, then you’re missing something. There is nothing about what God does, how much He loves, what Christ did, or what that means for us that is mediocre or boring, so we mustn’t act that way.

It’s the best news we have, and so we should be ready to share that with childlike excitement. (P)

But then next, as we talked last week, the fullness of God shakes, settles, and overflows, so we not only achieve fullness, but it spills over so we can share that love and joy with others.

Conclusion

That, then, is what our mission and vision are all about.

It requires the excitement of God’s love. And, it requires love for others to want them to experience that, too.

That’s the other part of this that can be so difficult: how do we love others, especially those whom we have always classified as unlovable? And so it’s what we will be discussing over the next couple of weeks. (P)

To help us transition to that, I want to leave you with a devotion that Ken shared at our Elder Body meeting this week, and it immediately struck me as a first step to building those relationships needed to do this work God is calling us to do.

This comes from a guy by the name of Paul Tripp; he has a lot of these devotionals, and perhaps you are familiar with him and some of his work.

READ PAUL TRIPP DEVOTIONAL

That’s exactly how God sees you. I mean, He made you, so He already knows everything about you - but now we know He wants to dwell with you and help you and love you like no other, and it doesn’t matter who you are. (P)

You know, this entire concept of faith and God’s relationship with His people began with one group of people, those in the nation of Israel called Jews.

As the influence of Christ spread, Gentiles - the outsiders - became welcome and actually some of the best spreaders of the gospel. That’s why Paul is writing to the Ephesians, one such group of Gentiles, who needed the love of God, too.

Christ intended that the gospel - the good news - would spread throughout the world, reaching every corner and every people on the earth. You were on Jesus’ mind when He said that.

It’s what drove Paul to say to the Galatians in chapter 3 and verse 28: {CLICK}

Galatians 3:28 NIV

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

You were welcomed into that family of God. It should bring you more joy than anything else in this life. Our Vision and Mission Statements we are about to explore were designed to answer one question:

Who’s next?