THE GEOMETRY OF LOVE

THE GEOMETRY OF LOVE

EPHESIANS 3:14-19

I. STRENGTH TO LOVE BEGINS WITH NEW POWER IN THE INNER PERSON

The very best prayer to pray for yourself or your chapel believers is here in Ephesians.

Your lips could find no richer words than these.

This prayer is perhaps the expresses the greatest warmth of feeling, the most thorough, and beautiful prayers in the Bible.

God can give you inner strength to understand His love and to experience the fullness of God.

A. The Power

...necessary to love begins through prayer.

More than anything else, we need a booster shot of the power, might, strength, and force of God.

Paul combines words which emphasize the dynamic energy of God's power along with its indwelling strength.

B. The Place

...in which we need that power is the "inner person."

This phrase indicates our whole, conscious, personal being - the secret spring of action in every person.

We must experience that renewal daily (2 Cor 4:16) "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

Because we are in a war between our inner being an the members of our body (Ro.7:22) "For in my inner being I delight in God's law"

C. The Proportion

...by which God gives strength is nothing less than His "riches in glory."

God does not give in proportion to our capacity or need, but His own perfection.

We should NOT as timidly as if we would strain the resources of God.

D. The Person

...of Christ is truly at home in our heart.

Paul does not refer to His initial, converting presence, but His permanent reigning presence, that He might be truly at HOME and not just a guest.

II. STRENGTH TO LOVE GROWS WITH A NEW COMPREHENSION OF HIS LOVE

A. There is a Necessary Preparation

...before we understand Christ's love for us.

We must be "rooted and grounded" in our love for Him.

We should be rooted like a tree in the soil of Christian love and

founded like a building on the firm ground of love.

Only love understands love.

If you do not love Christ, you cannot understand His love for you

B. There is a Joint Participation

...if all Christians as we understand Christ's love for us "with all the saints."

One who fails to fellowship with God's people cannot grasp Christ's love.

C. There is an eternal Exploration

...of Christ's love for us.

We will spend forever seeking to know the unknowable and to measure the immeasurable.

Paul speaks of the divine geometry of love:

The extent of its breadth

The eternal duration of its length

The divinity of its height

The humanity of its depth

III. STRENGTH TO LOVE FINALLY FILLS BELIEVER W/FULLNESS OF GOD

A. Filled to the Brim

For eternity we are to be "filled to the brim" with the totality of God's riches that can be given to the believer.

B. Take Part in the Divine Nature

We are "partakers of the divine nature"

2 Peter 1:3-4 "His divine power has given us everything we need for life...through these He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

Forever we are to receive of the divine nature until the limit of our capacity has been reached.

Nevertheless, the distance between us and God will still be infinite!