We’ve been examining Ephesians 3:14 – 21 for the last six weeks. We considered Paul’s posture in prayer as he kneels before the Father of every family in Heaven and on Earth. We looked at the reasons Paul prayed in light of our identity in Christ. We thought about our source of true spiritual power in the riches of God’s glory. We discussed what it means to have Christ settle down and dwell in our hearts through faith. We examined what it means to be rooted in the love of Christ like a tall tree with deep roots, strong character and godly fruit. And we studied what it means to be grounded in the love of Christ like a tall building with a solid foundation.
As we move forward, we see Paul building on everything else he’s previously prayed for in relation to us experiencing the love of Christ. Think about your experience of Christ’s love. Not Christ’s love for others. Not Christ’s love in a headspace sort of a way with bullet points. Not Christ’s love like a cool Sunday school topic.
Think about Christ’s love for you in an experiential sort of a way.
Where were you the first time you experienced Christ’s love? What was happening in your life when you first experienced his love? When was your most recent experience of Christ’s love? What was that experience like for you? What did that experience produce in you? Press pause and think about these questions and then read Revelation 2:1 – 9.
Think about what Paul prays for in his letter to the Ephesians against the backdrop of what John writes to the Ephesian believers in Revelation 2. The Ephesian believers were being rebuked by John because they had forgotten their first love. They had become spiritually adulterous. One night they appeared to be intimately in love with Jesus and the next night they were in bed with a new lover. How does this happen? How do you go from being someone who appears to be intimately in love with Jesus to being someone who needs to be rebuked and called to repentance for spiritual adultery?
The Ephesians could spot a spiritual phony a mile away. They hated spiritual cults the same way God hated them. But they were lacking one thing. They had become spiritually adulterous. They loved their thoughts about Christ’s love more than they loved Christ himself. They loved their war against cultural evil more than they loved Christ himself. How can this be? How did they get to this point? The answer is they hadn’t comprehended or experienced the love of Christ personally. Heaven forbid if this is true of us today. This is why this prayer from the apostle Paul is so critical for us. Press pause and think about the seriousness of the last two paragraphs and then read Ephesians 3:14 – 21 paying special attention to verses 18 – 19.
1: Paul prays that we would have the strength to comprehend the love of Christ
The Scriptures teach us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. We are adopted in Christ Jesus. We are priceless in Christ Jesus. We are not forgotten and we are not outcasts. We’ve been loved since before the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus. And nothing in all of creation can ever separate us from the love of Christ.
Do you have the strength to comprehend or experience the love of Christ? Or is this an area of weakness for you? Have you settled for the weak version of Christ’s love as fire insurance that keeps you out of hell? Or are you experiencing a vital and growing experience of Christ’s love as you mature in your relationship with Christ?
2: Paul prays that we would comprehend the love of Christ with all the saints
Why does Paul pray that we would experience the love of Christ with all the saints? The Scriptures teach us not to stop gathering together like some people have. We are instructed to continue gathering together for the purpose of encouraging one another in love and good works. We also have the example of the early church in Acts where believers gathered daily to eat meals together, study the apostle’s teaching and provide care for one another. No person was in need in these communities. The love of Christ was on display towards other believers in front of an unbelieving world. No person was more important or more holy than the next. Every person had the opportunity to experience the love of Christ regardless of ethnicity, social and economic status, religious background or messy life.
We are designed to experience the love of Christ in community. Has your experience of Christ’s love in gospel community become all about you? Have you decided to stop gathering, as is the habit of some? Have you decided to stop listening to the counsel of other believers in your community? Have you traded the love of Christ in community for some other cheap substitute like an image on a screen, or an inappropriate relationship or the pursuit of vocational goals?
Conclusion:
The Spirit of the living God who left the tomb empty on Easter Sunday can open your heart to the love of Christ at the cross. The Lord can give you the strength to experience the love of Christ and help you to return to your first love. Only the Spirit of God can help you forsake other cheap substitutes that have filled your heart. The love of Christ is big enough to overcome your biggest failure and it’s always available to you. Christ died on the cross so that you could have the opportunity to be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Application and Discussion Questions:
- What caught your attention in this study?
- What substitutes do you need to resist as you continue to repent and return to the love of Christ?
- How has gospel community served in helping you to experience the love of Christ?
- Have someone pray for the Lord to strengthen you and help you to resist the temptation to chase substitutes for Christ’s love.