Knowing How Much you are Loved by God (Eph 3:14-21)

New Testament Theology, Relationship with God
  • The greatest joy in the Christian life is to feel and know the intensity of the love of Jesus, that surpasses knowledge.

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Goal

  • That each of us would feel and know
    the intensity of the love of Jesus,
    that surpasses knowledge.

Knowing How Much you are Loved by God

  1. Jesus’ Love for his Friends and Followers
  2. Paul’s Experience of Being Loved
  3. John’s Joy in Receiving Love

1. Jesus’ Love for his Friends and Followers

  • Jesus used an extraordinary expression, speaking to his disciples before the last supper:

Luke 22

  1. Then he said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”
  • In Greek fervent desire is the same word as lust but does not have negative connotations like it does in English
  • Jesus is someone who loves deeply.
  • That love is extended to all who want to be his disciples today
  • Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father
  • This is the same love he has for you now
    • he desires to spend time with you
    • he enjoys your company, even though he knows you sometimes behave badly
  • One of the best examples of this is for one of his disciples – Peter!

Jesus and Peter

  • Wanting to call fire down from heaven on the Samaritans
  • Asking for a promise that he could have the best seat in the kingdom
  • Ordering Jesus not to go to Jerusalem
    • “Get behind me Satan”
  • Cutting off the hight priest’s servant’s ear
  • Incident at Jesus’ transfiguration
  • Boasting that he would be more loyal than all the other disciples
  • Did Jesus love him?

Jesus loved Peter

  • He didn’t ignore his failures
  • But his love was 1000 times greater
  • says “Satan wants to sift you Peter, but I have prayed for you”
  • He was committed to restoring Peter (and did!)
  • Jesus loved his disciples passionately
  • When he was arrested—“leave these alone, its me you want”
  • Peter’s story was given to encourage us
    • It’s not like Peter was an exception
    • Is he the only person who every messed up that Jesus still loved?
  • So Jesus’ love for us is one based in reality, not denial.
    • He knows every stupid thing that you have done, and will do.
    • Yet he is still committed to you with passionate love!

Another example: the woman who washed his feet

Luke 7

  1. Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
  2. You gave me no kiss of greeting, but from the time I entered she has not stopped kissing my feet.
  3. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil.
  4. I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven…
  • This is the answer to shame
    • To be so intensely loved by someone who knows you completely and utterly.
  • But how do I know if I am one of his disciples?

Am I a disciple, loved by Jesus?

  • Being a follower of Jesus is about receiving his teachings and acknowledging he is your Lord
  • It is not about how perfectly you do them

2. Paul’s Experience of Being Loved

  • Paul seems to have so much drive and determination
    • But he tells us it is “The love of Christ” that is the source of energy, deep in his being

2 Corinthians 5:
His love for us is our driving force

  1. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
  2. For the love of Christ compels us…
  • He concludes the first part of Ephesians with this prayer—and it’s my prayer for all of us…

Ephesians 3

  1. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
  2. from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
  3. that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
  4. so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
  5. may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
  6. and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
  • You can’t love others unless you are loved yourself
  • And that leads us directly into John’s experience of Jesus’ love:

3. John’s Joy in Receiving Love

  • Love casts out fear

1 John 4

  1. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
  2. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment…
  3. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
  4. We love because he first loved us.
  • What is the fear that love casts out?

One final teaching from John—the Bride of Christ

  • From the very beginning, the plan was that the Son should have a bride

Isaiah 62

  1. …As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,
    so your God will rejoice over you.

Revelation 19

  1. Let us rejoice and be glad
    and give him glory,
    because the wedding of the Lamb has come,
    and his bride has made herself ready.
  • Is this real? Does Jesus really want me forever in an intimate relationship with him?

Hebrews 12:
We are his joy!

  1. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
    who for the joy set before him
    endured the cross, scorning its shame,
    and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
  • What was the joy that was set before Jesus?
    • It was you! You are his joy!

God really does love me!

  • God can see right into you, sees the core “you” and loves you.
  • He sees your failures, but they are nothing compared with how much he loves you.
  • He does care about the mess but loves you far more
  • He sometimes does not like what you do, but his love is 1000 times greater
  • “fix your eyes on Jesus” now [Heb 12:2]
  • For many of us, our experiences of broken relationships here on earth can make it very hard for us to receive this love
  • We need the power of the Spirit to enable us to receive!
  • Let’s close by reading these words together as a prayer:

Ephesians 3

  1. that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
  2. so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
  3. may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
  4. and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.