Love Lived Out

Last week we talked about the difference between knowing the love of God and experiencing the love of God. Key to this is how God has chosen to show his love through humans. Specifically, through the relationships between people.

God has charged his people, his church, to bring this into the world. And this makes sense.

You don’t need to teach people how to hurt each other, we seem to have that figured out.

Next week we will see that this very tension between hurting and abusing others and loving others is something that is built into the fabric of all creation. Not just the earth, but in the heavens as well.

I think we all know this to some extent. We all have a sense of wonder about our world, our universe and the world beyond. That said, let’s continue on with what Paul has to say about experiencing the love of God that is “too great to fully understand.”

SLIDE:

Ephesians 3:20–21 NLT

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Paul left us with this love that is “too great to fully understand.” And as it turns out, this might power at work within us is this love for one another and love for God. And when we live out that love of God, it has the power to accomplish, or act, or do things that are “infinitely” more than we might ask OR think.

You know what Paul is saying here? He is saying that we think impossible thoughts. As in, this need in my marriage is impossible. This problem in my family is unsolvable. This trouble with a person at work cannot be fixed. Impossible thoughts.

But, did you notice something about where the power is at work? In US.

Paul sees you as the agent of change, the one in which the power is at work. We get this backwards. We pray for others to change, for our world to be better, for leaders to fix things. We expect God to just arrive on the scene and sprinkle the magic dust over everyone else and fix the world.

But God has put this power in you. It starts with you and what you ask or think for YOURSELF.

It might mean that you have to look inside and figure out what needs to happen so this power of God can erupt through you. Because it is not anyone else who is holding you back. What God can work in your life that brings love to others is BEYOND what you can imagine.

And that does not mean that you control or manipulate others, that is not what love does. That is what evil does to others.

And more than that, it is this very thing that Paul says brings Glory to God and is the very purpose of the church on the earth. And because Paul has aligned himself with this purpose he can say the following:

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Ephesians 4:1 NLT

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

Paul has recognized this mighty power at work in him. Can you imagine what this change has been for him? The words he has heard his whole life “Love God and Love your Neighbor” have come alive in him and he has witnessed all the ways in which this power has transformed people all around him.

And in that, he has totally subjected himself to this power, to this mission, of living out the love of God towards others. He does all he can to lead a worthy life.

And he shows no hesitation in calling each and every person who follows Christ to live life the same way.

The word used here is “calling”, as in “worthy of your calling.” But it means more than just that.

Calling is really the “state” or condition you find yourself. It is your status and position.

Not position as in where you rank, but position as in “purpose.”

SLIDE:

The verse could be read this way, “I beg you to walk among other people according to your purpose, because God your purpose for being here is critical to God’s plan.”

And that is a much different way to read that message from Paul.

He is tying together the experience of God’s love with living out this purpose, a much bigger purpose than you can think or imagine.

Now, how do we do this, walk according to this universe size purpose?

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Ephesians 4:2–3 NLT

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

Always be humble and gentle. In the original there is no sentence break. Remember how the word calling was like a “state” or “purpose”? This is a continuation of that whole theme. Your “state” or purpose is humility and gentleness. In other words, it is like your DNA has been modified to one that is gentle and humble. This should be a flag for you. When you move out of the love of God, you move to the opposite of humble and gentle.

What is the opposite of humble and gentle? Pride, ego, narcissist and harsh, hurtful. When you see yourself moving to that space, you know you are breaking free from being a prisoner to God’s love.

And what a metaphor. People are always thinking about how it would to be free from prison bars, as a metaphor. Yet Paul sees himself as a prisoner to this love. As in, he always has something inside of him that wrestles against the love. He wants to respond in pride and hurt towards others, that would be breaking free from Christ.

SLIDE:

Be Patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Patience, allowing others to be wrong and living among them. Patience is tricky. Patience implies there is an eventual change in the other person. But the original word is worse.

The original word is “to bear” or “to endure”. Endure is about bearing the weight of another faults, and I think that is more inline with the image. You see, you can run out of patience. And it is as if you said, “well, I waited as long as I could, but I cannot wait any more.” Endurance or bearing with another implies it is a shared burden. And when you see the other person starting to falter, that is when you might say, “we can do this,” “we can do this.” And if the load becomes to heavy, you both go down together. That is more like the image here.

SLIDE:

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. United, Spirit, Binding, Peace. Those are interesting terms to use in this verse.

Making every effort is to read as being “eager” to do this thing. Have you ever thought about what it takes to be eager to do something? Stop for a moment and try to remember what it felt like to be eager to do something. What was it you wanted to do? What was it that you could not wait to do? Now remember how that felt.

When was the last time you felt that about staying united with another person? Or even about God?

It is hard to be united with other people. Have you ever asked yourself why?

Of course, it is because of the other person, and sometimes it is.

Yet you have this power of Christ through love that is able to do more than you can think or imagine, overcoming all the impossibles in your life.

And it starts with you.

You should be eager to start today.

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