Incomprehensible

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for this morning's message is the epistle lesson, which was read from the lectern. Is it safe to say that there are things in our day-to-day life that are incomprehensible? That we just cannot understand? Yeah, lots of things, like how that smartphone comes up with all those answers.

For me, the incomprehensible is how typing on a keyboard sends a signal to my monitor. And then also sends a signal to my printer so that what's on the monitor - most of the time - prints out of the printer. Now, somebody could explain all of that to me, how it all happens. But that does not mean I'm going to understand it. I simply take it by faith, that when I click on the keyboard, it's going to do what I want it to do. Just like those electronic starting cars, you know, you don't have to plug a key in, you just have to have that thing in your pocket, how that works? Beyond me, I just know when it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

But there are things about our faith, too, that we just cannot grasp, can we? And certain things that we take by faith, the world outside, the unbelievers just find completely incomprehensible. Like how God's name spoken over ordinary water makes that water a powerful washing and cleansing a way of sin and entry into God's family. Or that through Bread and Wine, our Lord, Jesus comes to us with His very body and blood

Incomprehensible.

And then, if we look at the universe in which we live, and as we learn more and more - because our technology has enabled us to learn more and more about space - for some, it's just incomprehensible that, you know, God should create this. For others of us, who by faith think that's pretty easy to take that God created this, there are those who just think it all sort of happened, which is really incomprehensible. How did everything happen?

How, how can there be such a order and structure to happenstance?

But our faith is what helps us comprehend, at least even in a small way, what is incomprehensible concerning our faith, our relationship to God and our relationship in this universe.

I remember my nephew coming to me he was about 3 or 4 years old with a burning question that somehow Dad couldn't answer but Uncle Kevin who's the Pastor can answer. And he says okay, Jason, ask Uncle. Kevin your question. Jason's question: Where did the trees come from? I said, God made them. He said let there be trees and there were trees. Oh, okay!

My brother goes if I'd have known the answer was that easy, I could have answered it. Well, of course.

And by faith, Jason, accepted that answer. Faith created in him at his baptism by God, but then also trust that I don't think Uncle Kevin is going to lead me down the wrong way.

One of the things that Paul lays before us, this morning in our epistle, is that he wants us to comprehend the full dimension of God's love. He puts it in terms of breath, length, width, depth. I just summarize that as the full dimention of God's love.

And is it possible for us as God's people to comprehend the fullness of God's love? The full dimension of it?

I'll say that depends. It depends are we trusting upon our own strength, our own wisdom, our own knowledge to understand and grasp that full dimension of God's love? Or are we going to allow God to enable us to grasp the whole dimension of His love?

Paul understands, we can't do it on our own. In fact, it's part of his prayer here in Chapter 3, verse 14 through 21. That according to God's riches and of His glory, that He, God, may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being. God working through the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our inner being that is our soul, our spirit, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts, through faith.

That price wells in our hearts, through faith. God's gift to us - that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints, the full dimension of God's love. So can't happen unless we're being rooted and grounded in love, but let us not be blue spruce. They look nice in the front yard, don't they? Especially at Christmastime with the decorations and the lights. But a storm comes through, and what happens to the good old blue spruce? It tops over. Because its root system is only about that deep. I don't think I'm exaggerating that their root system is about that deep. Easy to dig out a spruce.

But what about a dandelion or a thistle? They have long roots, don't they? In fact, you get one of those long things that has a poker on it to pull up the root cuz if the root doesn't come out, the dandelion or the thistle's going to come back. Or the root system of a giant oak tree. That goes down, very deep. When the storm comes, it can stand the storm. It can withstand the wind, and likewise, when were grounded and rooted in faith deeply, we find that we can weather the storms that come our way in life. At the time, we might think, boy, this is going to take me over. But afterwards, because of the faith God worked in us, we find ourselves standing strong, and sometimes stronger for having gone through the storm.

So, the given is that we have to have faith in order to begin to understand the fullness, the full dimension of God's love. But what happens when we set faith aside and rely up on our own natural being?

We say, God can love some people, but He can't love other people. Who might those people be that God can't love? Well, probably some diabolical sinner.

Let me just throw out some names and you'll get the point. Adolf Hitler. Benito Mussolini, Idi Amin. Baby Doc. They're all despots. They're all horrible. People did horrible things, and then naturally, the question rises even within Christians: can God really love a person like them? So terrible, so mean so ungodly?

And we may, by our very nature, say, of course not. God can't possibly love somebody that terrible.

And in thinking that way, guess what we've done? We cancel God's love for us. Because God simply sees sin. He doesn't look at your or I and say, well there's a grade A sinner for you. Well, I'll give that person a double A.

No, in God's eye, sin is sin, and the answer can God love someone like that? Is exactly the word: yes. God has to be able to love a person like those men. First of all, because it's God's nature to love. And, in God's eyes, they're no different than you or I.

And so, maybe for you and I to begin to understand and grasp the full dimension of God's love, maybe we first have to answer the question: can God really love a person like me? With my sin? With my guilt? My shame? My disobedience?

Not just by the things I've done, but by the things I haven't done. Not just by the things I have said, but the things I haven't said. And by the things I'm not supposed to think about. And not thinking about the things I should be thinking about.

You see the moment we cancel somebody and say, God can't love that person, well, then we're saying He can't love me either. And for some even in the household of faith, it's hard to believe that God would love a person like me. I mean, like you. But you get the point.

There are times when we find it may be difficult that God could really truly love us. And the reality that Saint Paul would have us believe is that yes, He does. He does love us. And He loves the people of the world that don't yet believe in Him.

And maybe that just blows our mind that God can be so loving, because the world in which we live - even the people of God in this world - can sometimes be quite unlovig, can't we?

And yet, God loves us. So maybe to begin to comprehend that we have to simply look at "God loves me." He claimed me as His own in baptism. He forgave me my sin this morning. In a moment, He's going to extend the very Body and Blood of His Son, Jesus to me. As a reminder that my sin is forgiven and that I have a place with Him in Heaven.

There are a lot of things about our faith that are beyond our understanding. We simply accept them by faith. Based upon God's promises to us, more so than those who speak them to us.

You know, the whole idea of God being three persons but one God? That doesn't make sense in my head. If it makes sense in your head, then I'll be happy to have you come and explain it to me afterwards.

Or that in the Bread and Wine, our Lord's body and blood come to us.

We simply accept that by faith. And when I'm instructing young and old, I sometimes have to say, you know, this doesn't make sense but we have to accept it simply by faith. And that's what faith is: trusting what we can't see.

The young people, sometimes I give them an opportunity to stump the pastor with a question. And not that I know everything. But I think I at least have a pretty good handle on many things. One young lady asked a question: yeah, I have a question, Pastor, why didn't God create woman first? I said, I do not have the answer to that, you'll have to wait till you get to heaven and you'll know the answer. Of course, after church this morning at Kellner, somebody says, well I know the answer: you save the best for last. Whatever works. I'll remember that for the next time that question comes up.

But God's love for us. You know, Paul wants us to understand the full dimension of it, and then he wants all of the fullness of God to dwell in us. And we think how is that possible?

You know, elsewhere in scripture, we read it and we confess it, you know, the whole universe can barely contain God. How is it possible that the fullness of God can dwell in us? And we simply have to bring it down to the realization that the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus Christ. The fullness of all of God, dwelt in Jesus Christ.

And the demonstration of all the full dimension of God's love is demonstrated at the cross where His Son gives His life as a ransom for sinners. It's that, then, that enables us to comprehend, begin to comprehend the fullness of God's love. And He asks us to dwell in that love.

In the early church, the people of the community didn't realize or didn't recognize the people of God as: oh yeah, those are the ones that go to Immanuel, and those are the ones that go to Saint Vincent, or Our Lady Queen of Heaven, or First English, or any other of othe congregations. They recognize the followers of Jesus, the people of God by their love. By their love. And Paul knows we can't do this on our own, so he's praying, he's praying that God would manifest this in the lives of those Ephesian Christians who he loved. But he also prays that for those who would believe in future generations.

And yeah, it's pretty hard to comprehend the fullness of God. As Paul says, it surpasses knowledge. But day by day, as we experience more and more of God's love in our lives, as we realize that, yes, He can love a person, a sinner like me, even with the grievous sin that I've committed that I keep only to myself. Yes. God can love a person like me.

And He demonstrated that by giving His Son up to die for me.

It doesn't have to get any more complicated than that. Any more than explanation of "where did the trees come from?" has to be any more complicated than "God, said, 'let there be trees.' And there were trees." Or "Where did man come from?" As simple as "God formed the dust of the earth and breathed life into the man. Put the man to sleep and pulled the rib out of him and created the woman."

And so, God's love for us is demonstrated in this. Not that we loved God first, but that He first loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sin.

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. And simply put, the most profound theological thought is this: Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Amen. Now, may that peace of God, which surpasses our understanding and our knowledge, keep our hearts and our minds in faith in Christ Jesus onto life everlasting. Amen.