The phrase “Jesus Loves You” is powerful. Never has there been three simple words that have the ability to break bondages and transform lives like this one phrase. I have been in situations where this one simple phrase has totally delivered people, broken down emotional walls and set captive hearts free. And I have also been in situations where the phrase has been mocked, snickered at and downplayed to be less than what it is. The sad reality is that much of the latter, has actually happened by church-goers.
In many Christian-circles, we have reduced the powerful phrase “Jesus Loves You”, and we see it is something less, because our own vision and understanding of it has been lessened. I have talked to believers who respond to the phrase “Jesus Loves You”, with a “Yeah but…” – I know He loves me, but I still need more, kind of mentality. We fail to see the vastness of His love, and all that it includes. Today we will be looking at the wonder and majesty that is the love of God, demonstrated in Jesus Christ, and by seeing the truth, we can receive it for all that it is.
As we begin today, let’s read Ephesians 3:14-19:
“For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
This is Paul addressing the church in Ephesus, and we see something very interesting here… that Paul prays for something that we may not expect him to at first. In verse 14 he says that for this cause, he bows his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then in the following verses, he proceeds to tell us what the reason is, and for some people it may be a surprising revelation.
In verse 15 we see that the whole family in heaven and earth is named or assigned to Christ – this is more than just taking the name “Christian”, this refers to a royal appointing, and it’s not a cold, working relationship – it’s a family.
Verses 16 through 19 are where Paul lists the reason behind his prayer, and this is so vital because most people don’t realize that they are lacking this. The whole reason why so many people are in search of love is because they have not been receiving the perfect love of God; and in many cases they do not even know that such a love exists! We sing songs about the love of God and the reality of what He has done for us, but in any ways the personal reality of that is darkened to us, we only see it dimly or hardly even at all, because we filter His love through the lenses of our life experience rather than the truth of God’s Word and the very thing which matters most. And if we aren’t guarding our heart we can start to become cynical and sarcastic and say “yeah, God loves me, sure! Look at what just happened in my life!”, and then we start to allow that painful experience to speak louder than truth and we make our emotions and our feelings our focus instead of truth, and since it’s truth that makes us free, we place ourselves in bondage as well… and it’s all based on a lie.
That’s not too strong, I have grace to say that because I’ve been there. I’ve had a number of very painful experiences in my life, and the temptation was there each time to use that experience as a proof of why God couldn’t possibly love me. And at each crossroad I had a choice of whether I was going to listen to my feelings and my emotions and become bitter and take life personal and let my experience define me instead of the truth of Christ, or to stand against the reaction of the flesh and the carnal nature and realize that who I used to be is dead, and my life is hidden with Christ Jesus, and the only reason I can even admit that is true is because He absolutely loves me, and His love was for all time demonstrated on the cross.
You see, when people hear the word carnal and the word flesh, they have been conditioned to think only of sinful actions and sinful behaviors. That conditioning is of the world and it creates confusion. Where carnality and flesh really live is in your thinking and your mindset. And when I was going through my painful life experiences and no-one else was there, let me tell you that the carnal mindset and fleshly emotions were screaming at me to reject God because obviously He rejected me or this wouldn’t have happened – and there I was faced with the choice of believing the lie, letting my experiences speak louder than Jesus on the cross. And everyone faces the same crossroad. And if you don’t listen to what I am saying right now, then you will just shut down, close yourself off, become resentful, and nothing will change in your life… tomorrow will be the same as every other day.
However if you are listening, then what Paul says next is going to shake up your life, and chains will be broken off.
Verse 16 says that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory… so something is being granted, and this something is not being granted (or given) according to the standards of the world or the measuring line of the world, but by the riches of the glory of God. This thing being granted is the power of God by His Spirit. The old-English translations say “strengthened with might” however a more accurate translation from the Greek is to be “empowered with God’s miracle power” – and this comes by His Spirit, and it happens in your “inner-man”, on the inside of you. You’re about to see why this is so important and how this connects with the Love of God for you, and why knowing that is key.
Verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith. Now remember, we studied this not too long ago – your heart here is not the physical muscle that pumps blood in your body, this is actually your soul which comprises your mind and your emotion; this is your thoughts. Like when we would say today “you will always hold a place in my heart” what we are really saying is that the person we are speaking of will always be thought well of and we will always keep their memory alive. Also this same Greek word is used by Jesus to refer to thoughts when He asked the Pharisees why they were reasoning in their hearts in Matthew 9:4, Mark 2:8 and Luke 5:22.
This is the point: the truth of Christ should always be shaping your thoughts and emotions, not the things around your; not your own experiences. The truth of Christ sis powerful, the truth of Christ is what the Holy Spirit reveals on the inside of you, the truth of Christ is the very reason why you can be strengthened and empowered with the power of God, because if Jesus didn’t die on the cross and take your sins upon Himself, and give you His righteousness then the Spirit could never indwell and empower you. Let’s make sure that we are hearing the right message, which is the message of the truth of Christ. The whole point of why we study our Bible and listen to messages at all is so that we can see more of Jesus and what He has done, and in seeing Him the Spirit transforms us from the inside out (2nd Corinthians 3:18). If we aren’t doing that, if the message we are hearing is not edifying us in Christ and what He has done and who we are in Him, then we are not hearing the Gospel, we are being deceived and wasting our time. Let’s make sure we don’t let religion creep in and try to mix old wine with new wine and cause us to become self-focused and works driven instead of the perfect work of Christ which was born from His love (Proverbs 23:29-30). That’s why verse 17 continues on to say that you, being rooted and grounded in love. That is Greek, agape, the divine love of God for you demonstrated in Christ and His finished work. You are to be rooted in that, you should be drawing strength from that and everything you do should be fueled by that. You are also to be grounded in that love, meaning that the love of Christ is the solid foundation for your entire life. Not how you feel, not what things look like, and not a works-mentality or a legalistic message. The love of God was demonstrated in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8), so if Christ came and demonstrated His perfect love for us while we were dead in our sins, what makes you think that anything you do now could change His love? Sounds like we’ve really sold His love short! Let’s make sure that we don’t become deaf and complacent to this truth and that we guard this truth and that we own this truth personally because it’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Verses 18 and 19 continue, that one of the effects of the empowering of the Spirit and being rooted and grounded in the love of God is that we are able to comprehend (grab hold of) the breadth, length depth and height and to know the love of Christ. Now this is not saying that His love has limits – but precisely the opposite… He wants us to know how very vast and limitless His love for us really is! His love is beyond knowledge, you will never fully know how great His love for you is, except you look at the very demonstration of His love on the cross, and let His Spirit show it to you.
And as verse 19 concludes, as you let His Spirit empower you, and you receive the love of Christ you will be filled with all the fullness of God. Does that sound limited and weak? Does that sound like a life with high and lows and sometimes and maybe?
To me, that sounds like a life of sureness, a life of power and divinity, that sounds like a full and complete life filled with the love and power of God! That’s an exciting and vibrant life!
If your life isn’t lining up with what we’ve read in the scriptures, what I just described, then it’s time to re-evaluate. So many people have replaced the relationship of God with religion. They have reduced the love of God to just “going to church” – which is nothing but a man-made building because today we are the church (Ephesians 1:22-23), and they live life carnal, and fleshly – and remember what that means; it’s living by your human thoughts and feelings, rather than the truth of Jesus Christ – but hey they went to church, attended a conference, read a book, so they’re good; they completed their checklist of “Christian duties”. If that is the driving force of our life, then we’ve missed the point. Remember what we read… we are to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, not works, not duties, not the law of Moses.
As we close today, turn to 1st Timothy 1:3-5:
“As I sought you to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that you might charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
Now the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”
No-one should be teaching any other doctrine… unfortunately many are. However verse 4 gives us some markers by which we can recognize what real doctrine looks and sounds like: godly edifying which is in faith. The genuine Gospel builds people up in the faith of Jesus Christ. Acts 20:32 says that the real Gospel will build you up and give you an inheritance. God says in Jeremiah 23:4 that when real leaders, when God appointed shepherds lead the flock, they will feed the flock and the people will not fear or lack anymore, neither will they be discouraged. That is the mark of the Gospel; and it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how He demonstrated His perfect love for you, and who you are in Him. This is why verse 5 concludes by saying the goal of this charge, is love, with a pure heart, a good conscience, and true faith.
You will have these things when you are filled with the love of Christ. You will have a good conscience, rooted and grounded in the love of God. You will not have a condemning conscience, marked by sin as explained in 1st Timothy 4:2 (that is an evil conscience). You will be able to have a good conscience because you will know that Jesus has finished His work and that you are safely tucked away in Him and His love having been perfected in you, you are secure and no-one and nothing will be able to lay any accusation against you (Romans 8:33).
And you will have true faith, because you will be grounded on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, knowing that God will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), and that you can come boldly before His throne today (Hebrews 4:16).
And knowing this and how much He loves you, you can be free from your self (your old way of thinking, your emotions, your feelings) you can be free from every false idea that tries to exalt itself against the knowledge of Christ (2nd Corinthians 10:5). And you will know who you are and your identity in Christ and how much He loves you, you will no longer try to draw love from others, and you will be able to love them freely.
Knowing this, Jesus loves you, even when you don’t feel it. Don’t let anyone or anything ever rob you of that truth. It’s the truth of the Gospel, and it makes you free.