Rooted and Grounded in Love

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Georgetown Presbyterian Church

Rev. Stephen H. Wilkins

From the house on the top of the hill, Manuel could see a field of ripe corn, alongside a field of bean flowers that promised a good harvest. All that was needed was a little more rain. All morning, Manuel had been examining the sky, concluding aloud, "The water will come." During dinner the rain started to fall. Great clouds came from the northeast. Manuel thought, "These aren’t just drops of water falling from the sky. The big drops are ten cents, and the small drops are five."

Then all of a sudden a strong wind started to blow, and giant hailstones began to fall. For an hour hail fell on the house and garden. The countryside was white, as though covered with salt. The corn was destroyed, and the beans were left without a single leaf. Manuel’s heart was broken. "A swarm of locusts would have left more than this. There will be no harvest of beans or corn this year. Our only hope is God."

The next morning, Manuel wrote a letter: "God, if you do not help me, my family will go hungry. I will need $1,000 to replant and live until the next harvest." He put the letter in an envelope, sealed it, wrote the word "God" on the front of the envelope, and put it in the mailbox.

Later that day the mailman picked up the letter addressed to God. He was curious about the faith of the man who would write such a letter, and the letter was un-mailable, so he opened the envelope and read the letter. The mailman was moved by Manuel’s plea to God, so much so that he set out quietly to help raise the needed funds. He wasn’t able to raise the whole thousand dollars, but he did raise more than half. He put the money into the envelope and delivered it to Manuel. The letter had only a one-word signature: God.

He delivered the letter personally to Manuel, and he watched as Manuel opened the letter. Manuel didn’t show any surprise when he saw the money, but he became upset as he counted it.

The next day the mailman opened another letter from Manuel, addressed to God. This time the letter read, "Dear God, I only got $600 of the money you sent. Please send the rest of it again, but don’t send it through the post office, because the mailman is a thief!"

We all have some kind of expectations when we pray to God, don’t we? Sometimes I wish I had the simple faith of people like Manuel. Sometimes I wish I could pray with the confidence of people like Manuel.

Today’s lesson from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reveals the content of a prayer that Paul makes on behalf of the Christians at Ephesus. But you’ll notice that the prayer that Paul makes is different from the prayers that you and I would normally offer. When we pray, we usually give thanks for the food, or for some blessing that has come our way; or we pray for cousin Tina to get a better job, or for Uncle Josh to get well; or we pray for safety and a good learning environment for our children as they start off to school, and for God to bless the educators and administrators as they begin a new school year. Often our prayers have certain measurable results, and they are filled with expectations that God will take specific actions that we request of God.

But Paul’s prayer is different. More than a specific action or outcome, Paul prays that the church that bears the name of Jesus Christ will experience the presence of God and will grow in their knowledge and vision of who God is. More than praying for specific events to take place, Paul offers a prayer that expresses what he wants the people in Ephesus to become.

The prayer serves as a bridge that connects the first half of Ephesians with what will follow. During the first half of the letter, Paul has expounded upon the spiritual blessings that God has granted to us, both as individuals and as the Church. Paul has recounted how God has saved us by grace, that our salvation is not something that has come to us by works on our part; our response is one of faith and gratitude. Paul has broken into unbridled doxology when he considers the providence and sovereign election of God for his people. And Paul has gone to great length to describe the new-found unity that we have with one another because of the work of Christ; no longer need we look upon one another as different due to the color of our skin, or the language that we speak, or the culture from which we emerge, or the socio-economic status of our household--for all are made one in Christ, brothers and sisters in the family of God.

In the tenth verse of the third chapter, Paul writes that it is God’s purpose that the church that bears the name of Christ is to make known the wisdom of God. And then, in the whole second half of the epistle, Paul moves from what God has done for us, to what we are to do in response to God’s calling upon our lives. Here at the end of the third chapter of Ephesians, it would serve us well to take a peek at what lies ahead: in the first verse of the next chapter, Paul says, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. . .

I believe that it is as Paul considers both what it means for the Church to be the bearer of the wisdom of God, and what it means to live a life worthy of the calling that we have received, that he realizes that if any of this is going to be fulfilled then we will need God’s help. It is at this point that Paul begins to pray: For this reason I kneel before the Father. . .

Paul’s prayer is simple. Again, Paul doesn’t pray for an objectively measurable outcome; he prays for us to experience the power and presence of God, and to know the love of God. And the way that we can accurately come to experience these things is through Jesus Christ.

Paul prays that God "may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." To offer this petition is to come to the realization that the Christian life is one that we cannot live by our own power. If we are to live a life worthy of the calling we have received, if we are to be faithful in demonstrating through our corporate life the manifold wisdom of God, then we’re going to need God’s help. This prayer is the reminder that human strength is insufficient to live into the life that is appropriate for citizens of the kingdom of heaven. It goes even deeper than recognizing that we need God’s help, as if we supply 80% of the effort, and God will supply that which we are lacking; Paul also prays that Christ will take up permanent residence at the very center of our being, so that all of life will arise out of a heart in which Jesus Christ is not only Savior but also Lord.

And Paul prays that we come to know the width and the length and the depth and the height of the love of Christ. Do you get the idea that there is no limit to how wide is the love of Christ, that there is no limit to how long is the love of Christ, that there is no limit to how high is the love of Christ, that there is no limit to how deep is the love of Christ? No matter how much we come to know the love of Christ, there is always more.

Never will we exhaust our knowledge of the love of Christ!

You need to realize that when Paul speaks of knowledge, he is not referring simply to information that we store in our brains. He is referring to a level of intimacy with our Savior, a knowing that penetrates every fiber of our being.

I believe that Paul prays for us to come to know the love of Christ, because the love of Christ is everything for the Christian. Without the love of Christ, there is no salvation. Without the love of Christ, there is no relationship with God. Without the love of Christ, there is no basis for our discipleship.

The truth is, the love of Christ is probably the single most influential biblical concept in my own life of discipleship. Of all the ways of ushering people into the kingdom, in my mind love is by far the most effective. Some people favor using guilt as an evangelistic tool; while that can be effective, I believe it’s also manipulative, and it appeals to a selfish motive. Others use fear as a motivator: "God’s just waiting to smite you, so you’d better get your act together." Fear works, but it has the effect of making the kingdom of God the best choice only by default, because you certainly don’t want to end up in that other place, do you?

No, I’m convinced that love is far more effective. It’s how I was brought into the kingdom, and it’s by far the most winsome way that Christians can relate to one another and to the world. It’s Christ’s love for me and his command for me to love others in his name that motivates me and directs me in my Christian life.

And I am convinced that Paul prays that those who bear the name "Christian" be rooted and grounded in love, because the love of Christ is what makes it possible for us to fulfill the command to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. Not guilt, not fear, but love. There is no better motive for our Christian life, than to be rooted and grounded in love.

While my family and I were in Colorado, Stuart and I embarked on a hike that took us from lush forest, to well above tree line. Somewhere around 11,000 feet, the climate will not sustain trees. Right at the edge of that magical line you will find clusters of pine trees. The word to describe them is Krumholz pines. Krumholz is a German word that means "crooked." These pine trees at the edge of tree line stand only a few feet tall, and they have been bent and gnarled by the winds that at times will reach 160 miles per hour in the winter storms. Yet it is remarkable to consider that some of these Krumholz pines are hundreds of years old.

How is it that these trees are able to survive in a climate of wind and snow and ice, at a place that has only 40 frost-free days every year? The answer is simple: their survival lies in the strength of their roots, which seek out every inch of available soil, and which wind their way around and force themselves through cracks in the granite that comprises the mountains’ surface. Without those roots firmly clinging onto every ounce of life-giving nourishment and anchoring steadfastly to the rocks, those trees would not be able to survive.

How about you? What is the anchor point of your faith? Is your Christian life rooted and established in a similar way to the love of Christ? Is it the indwelling love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that gives you hope in the face of uncertainty? Is it the indwelling love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that helps you to stand steadfastly against the winds of a hostile world? Is it the indwelling love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that sustains your life and that gives direction to your discipleship?

Elsewhere, Paul says, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor. . . but have not love, I gain nothing."

Do you get the idea that if we have not love, then our discipleship is nothing?

How deep do your roots run?