“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, 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.” (Ephesians 3:17-19, NIV)
I love Paul. He packs a so much into every sentence he writes. This fifty-six word prayer is full of good stuff.
What is his desire for the saints? That they will be rooted and established in love. That at the very core of their being – as a church – there will be nothing but the love of God. The love of God at the heart of every gathering and love feast. The love of God in the reaching and ministering hands of Jesus. The love of God pouring forth from mouths in fervent, passionate prayer. The love of God guiding the teaching and preaching of the elders in Ephesus.
Every church, every gathering of saints, must have love at its core. And let me up the ante. I don’t think I’m going to far when I say that the church is either rooted and established in love or it is not the church.
Listen to what John wrote concerning this matter in his first letter to the church. John agrees with Paul saying, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7, NIV)
A few verses later there’s this: “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:11-12, NIV)
And finally, John says, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, NIV)
“And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:21, NIV)
You and I are rooted in God’s love. We are established in his love. We are his church.
Paul prays about the roots of the church, love, then he asks God to help every saint, together “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
He wants the church to understand how amazing and expansive God’s love really is. I would venture to say that even if we put all of our ideas of God’s love together into one pot we would still have plenty of room left to pour in more ideas. God’s love is far greater than you or I will ever know in this life. It is, as Paul said, a love that “surpasses knowledge.” It is beyond us to comprehend God’s love, but we ought to try to know as much of it as we can.
Reading words about his love helps.
Romans 8:38-39, “…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.” (NIV)
Psalm 103:8-12, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (NIV)
1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” (NIV)
Can you sense God’s Spirit using those words to help you grasp how large, how infinite is his love? If not, grab your Bible, turn to the concordance and start reading every reference to our Father’s love. Read until the joy of your salvation, purchased by Jesus who loved you enough to die in your place, returns. Read until you know this love that surpasses knowledge. Read until you know it in your own heart and know it is real and it is directed toward you.
Being rooted and established in love. Grasping how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. Knowing his love that surpasses knowledge – that is how you and I together can “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” When you grasp a little more of God’s love, it changes you and you love me better. When I know more of His surpassing love, it changes me and I love you more like he loves. When we are together then, we are filled up more with God’s love, with God himself really, because God is love.
I urge you once more. Go after God’s love. Try to grasp how wide it is! And how long! And how high! And how deep!
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