3/4/12 “Love of Christ: How Wide!” Ephesians 3:14-19
I. Introduction
A. March series on the breadth, length, height and depth of the love of Christ in Ephesians 3:18
B. Ephesians 3:14-19 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
1. (Abridged) I bow my knees before the Father that he may grant you to be strengthened with power, so that you may comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of] the love of Christ, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
C. “breadth and length and height and depth” — Not just superlatives which reflect on how excellent and enormous His love is.
1. “Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough, to keep me from gettin’ to you, Babe!”
2. “So low, can’t get under it; so high, can’t get over it; so wide, can’t get ‘round it; O rock my soul.”
3. “How high and how wide, how deep and how long, how pure and how strong is Your love.”
II. Explanation
A. Jesus’ wide love
1. It’s not enough to summarize Jesus’ ministry by saying He loved people, you must also say something about the wideness of His love. The wideness of His love can be seen by the fact that He loved people that had never been loved before.
a. Women
b. Children
c. The deformed (man with the shriveled hand in Mark 3:3)
d. The blind (As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” John 9:1-2)
e. The lame
f. The sick
g. Lepers
h. The poor
i. Sinners: Luke 7:36ff.
j. Tax collectors
k. Criminals
l. The demon-possessed
m. Gentiles
n. Roman soldiers
o. The types of people who had never been loved by ANYONE before suddenly were being loved by Jesus.
2. The great breadth of Christ’s love can also be seen in things He said:
a. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
b. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High [i.e. you will be like God your Father]; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” (Luke 6:35)
c. Luke 15 — leaving the 99 in order to pursue the lost sheep
(1) His love doesn’t just extend to the ones gathered, but even to the one who’s way over there beyond that ridge, who has wandered off from the others.
(2) Not satisfied with loving the 99, He loves even that one.
(3) The celebration of the recovery: “the angels of heaven rejoice in the repentance of one sinner”
(a) Why do you think the angels rejoice? They are following His lead.
d. The parable of the prodigal son presents the radical truth that the father actually accepts the humble outsider more readily than the insider who feels entitled.
e. This is why Paul quotes God saying through the prophet Isaiah, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he [God] says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” (Rom.10:20-21)
f. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel!” Mark 16:15
g. “Go and make disciples of every nation!” Matt.28:19
h. “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth!” Acts 1:8
B. Indeed God’s love in Christ is broad enough to include all mankind.
1. “The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all his works.” (Psalm 145:9)
2. God does love all men. He is kind and good toward all men: He does good things for them (Acts 14:17), He is patient with them (Romans 9:22), He provides for them (Matthew 5:44-45), He sustains them (Psalm 36:6), He gives them life (Acts 17:25), He makes Himself known to them in the creation (Romans 1:19-20).
III. Application
A. Not only does Jesus have wide love for sinful mankind, but He wants to give us that wide love as well.
1. This is the key to loving our neighbor.
2. This is the key to how a Samaritan can show compassion to a beaten-up Jew on the roadside.
3. This is the key to how a Jewish fisherman can walk into the house of a Roman soldier and bring them the greatest gift ever.
4. Are we going to despise those whom God loves? Are we going to scorn those Christ treasures?
5. Strangers
a. Realizing you are the same as them, that you are just as strange to them as they are to you
b. Being looked at in Kenya: They didn’t stare at the native with painted face and bone in his nose.
c. The spirit of welcome
d. They are just as important as you. There is a me inside them just like you!
6. Going through my dad’s stuff: What I want is the stuff he made.
B. It even extends as far as you and me!
1. “He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” (Acts 14:17)
2. No matter what country you’re in or what people you come from, the Lord loves all peoples and every ethnic group!
a. Ps.117:1-2 “Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.”
3. Wherever you go, He is there too. If you’re up in an airplane, He is there. If you are spelunking down in the depths of the earth, He is there. If you travel across the sea to a far-off land, still He is there. (Psalm 139:8-9)
4. That doesn’t mean you realize He’s there. But He is! He is never far from us. And actually we live and move and have our being in Him.
5. You are one of His masterpieces! He is the One who made you, who fashioned you in your mother’s womb, who carved your finger prints, and carefully selected the perfect shade of hair color. He designed your personality; He determined your time of birth; He chose your parents and your siblings. He created your inward body parts, even ones you’ve never heard of before.
6. He arranges every day of your life, and guides everything around you.
7. And He did all this that we should seek after Him, in the hope that they might feel our way toward Him and find Him. (Acts 17:27)
8. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
9. “So wonderful is His love towards mankind, that He would have them all to be saved, and is of His own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost...God is ready to receive all to repentance.” (John Calvin on 2Peter 3:9)
10. It doesn’t matter how far you’ve strayed away or run away. His love is wide enough to extend to where you are.