Love Does: Becoming Love

Bob Goff’s daughter Lindsey is a kindergarten teacher.  Instead of handing out traditional letter grades to measure the children’s progress, she has a different letter system: She gives M’s for those who master the material; she gives G’s for those who show they are at grade level for their age; but for the students who haven’t quite wrapped their minds around an idea, those kids receive a “N.”  Do you know what that stands for?“Not yet.”

That’s a pretty loving way to measure the progress of children.  After all, they’re just starting out and sometimes it takes awhile for them to catch on. In fact, when you were raising your children, chances are you took the same approach.  They just weren’t there yet.  But we knew that with time, support and some good instruction, they’d get it.  And what I like about that way of thinking is that’s pretty much how God sees us. Now Jesus doesn’t give out any grades.  He doesn’t measure us with the same standards the world does.  He doesn’t see some people as better than others.  He doesn’t measure us by how many rules we keep or break. And He doesn’t grade on a curve.

Take this subject of love we’ve been digging into the past few of months.  Ask yourself when it comes to loving others as Jesus loved you, how are you doing?  Have you mastered love?  This is how you can know:  If you’ve mastered love, you never get impatient with difficult people. You never get disappointed when someone fails you. You always pay attention to the needs of others and meet their needs. You are always selfless, always forgiving, and you’re always there for anyone who needs you. Does that describe anyone here this morning? Anyone here who’s mastered love?

Well, there might be a few of us who are tempted to give ourselves a passing grade in some of these aspects of love. But my guess is, that if we’re truly honest, most of us would be happy to receive an “N.” We’re all a bunch of “not yets.”

And I’m pretty sure that’s okay with God. Because the passage we’re going to look at today was written to a church full of “not yets” when it comes to loving like Jesus. So if you’re feeling like you’re not quite there yet, then let me encourage you to open your Bible to Ephesians 3:17-21, where God shows us how He makes it possible for us to become love. In fact in these verses we’re going to look at three ways GOD WORKS to help us BECOME LOVE.  For here Paul prays a prayer for all the“not yets” who are still learning to love.  And His pray goes like this:  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:17-19

Now what’s so great about this prayer is that it reminds us of the first way God helps us become love.  And that way is this: We become love when Christ’s love takes root in us! Look again at the first part of that prayer:And I pray thatyou, being rooted and established in love…  Did you hear it?  He isn’t praying for us to be rooted and established in love.  He’s saying that has already taken place. God has already rooted you in love the moment you believed.  At that moment, God gave you the spiritual DNA to love like Jesus. God’s love has beenpoured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  Romans 5:5

So the moment you PUT your faith in Jesus, God PUT the Spirit of Jesus in you so you could begin to love just like him. But here’s our problem:  Many of us have never learned how to let Jesus PUT DOWN ROOTS and make himself at home in our hearts. Sure, God’s given us the spiritual DNA to love like Jesus, but many of us are still trying to live the Christian life in our own strength. You see, that’s what the first part of this prayer addresses.  Go back a few verses and this is what Paul prays: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  Ephesians 3:15-17a.  You see, the Ephesians had the same problem many of us have today.  They received Jesus by faith, they received His forgiveness, rejoiced in the gift of eternal life, but were ignorant of the power and potential of having Jesus actually reside in them so He could live through them.

It’s like this: I’ve got a some apps that I’ve downloaded to my phone that I’ve never taken the time to get familiar with.  Some of them I’ve never even opened.  In the same way,God downloaded His love app into your life when you received Jesus.  In other words, God rooted His life is in you, but you’ve never learned how to activate His life, establish his life in your heart or learned how to tap into the riches of His grace that enable you to live His life with power and love. That’s one of the reasons why we are starting a new series called “Rooted” next week.  So we can learn or relearn how to activate the love of Jesus that God has already placed in us.

But the good news is this:  God put the life of Jesus in you.  He has already rooted you in love.   So now Love is the soilin which our roots can grow deeply and find spiritual nourishment.And as Christ becomes more and more at home in our hearts, the more Christ’s love will flow through our hearts.  That’s God’s plan.  We will become love the more we become like Jesus.  But we are not there yet.

So Paul continues his prayer: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”

Do you hear what he’s asking in this prayer?  Paul wants all of us to grasp how great God’s love is.  In fact, the NIV uses the word “grasp” which means to “be made strong to comprehend.”  If we were talking about a joke, we might say, “Do you get it?”  When Louis Armstrong was asked to explain jazz he said, “Man, if I’ve got to explain it, you aint got it!”  But God wants us to get it.

That leads to the next way He helps us to become love: We become love as the vastness of Christ’s love takes hold of us!  We become love when we get it!  When we get how amazing, how powerful, how life changing, how all encompassing is the love of God.  And when we get it, God’s love will take such a hold on us, that His love will change everything about us.  So how great is God’s love? How wide and long and high and deep is this love of Christ?

It is WIDE enough to reach the whole world! God’s love is wide enough to reach people from every tongue, every tribe and every nation. In fact, the Bible tells us that one day multitudes from every nation will bow the knee and worship the lamb (Revelations 8:9).  Right now, the Church around the world is experiencing explosive growth in places like Asia, Africa and South America.  Right now, the love of Christ reaching people in Africa is jaw-dropping. In 1900 there were fewer than 9 million Christians in Africa.Today there are more than 541 millionChrist-followers in Africa. In the last 15 years alone, the Church in Africa has seen a 51 per cent increase, which works out on average to around 33,000 people eitherbecoming Christians or being born into Christian families every day…1949 there were 1.2 Million Christians living in China.  Today it is estimated there are over 100 millionChristians.  But it’s not just China that’s experiencing explosive growth.  There are now approximately 30 million Christians in India. In 1989 in Mongolia, there were only 4 Christians, but today there are over 20,000 people following Jesus in Mongolia. But some of the fastest growing conversion rates to Christianity are taking place in Muslim majority countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with United Arab Emirates growing at an even faster rate than China.  In fact, in the US, here’s a startling number: 20,000 Muslims are coming to Christ every year. The Love of Christ is wide enough to reach the whole world.

This is the power of God’s love.  Jesus’ love is touching lives all over the world. And that means His love is wide enough to reach any and every sinner.  No one is too far gone to be out of the reach of Christ’s love.  We saw that this past weekend in Ocean Beach. God’s love is reaching into the lives of the substance addicted, the divorced and depressed, and He’s giving them new life.  Just seeing the joy in Shane’s face, who only a year ago wouldn’t darken the door of a Church is an amazing thing.  And when we start to get this – that God’s love reaches anywhere or anyone, then our faith grows, our potential to love grows and we start believing we can love anyone or go anywhere with the love of Jesus – and we become love. His love is wide. But it is also long.

It’s LONG enough to stretch from eternity to eternity!   What I love about God’s love is that He has always loved us.  He’s loved you since before you were born.  He has always loved you.  He’s always wanted you. That’s what His Word teaches.  And we need to be reminded of His love daily.  Because His love for you never changes.  Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.  That means that no matter what crisis your facing, no matter what sin you’re struggling with, no matter what illness has you down, you will never cease being the object of His love.  His love is even long enough to reach those who run from him, hide from him, and say they have no time for him.  You see that’s just the thing about God’s love.  He is always pursuing us with His love.  And He will pursue you with His love as long as it takes. Doesn’t it inspire you to love when you know God is still bringing people to faith in Jesus in their 60’s, their 70’s or even their eighties?  If you are here today and you’ve never received His love, He’s pursuing you.  He wants to forgive you, remove your sin, and welcome you home. And He will love you as long as it takes. His love is long. It’s also High.

It’s HIGH enough to raise us to heaven! Jesus didn’t just die to give you forgiveness, but to bring you to God.  He didn’t just die to deliver you from judgment, but to give you new life. Christ’s love for you is so great, that the moment you receive His love by faith, he makes you a member of His family and gives you a place in heaven for all eternity.  His love lifts you up, holds you up and never lets you go. That’s the love of Christ.  His love is High! His love is deep.

It’s DEEP enough to rescue you from sin’s damage and Satan’s domain! Jesus left heaven and descended to the depths of mankind. He became friends with whores and rip-off artists, the broken and lonely, the unloved and unforgiven.  And he reached into the depths of our despair to rescue us from our sin. And because His love is deep, now no one can say “I’m too far gone”… “or I’ve done too many wicked things for God to love me.” Now no one can say, “I’m not worthy,” because Jesus love makes you worthy. You may even say, “You don’t know the depth of my sin.” Butthere is nothing, literally nothing so horrible or wicked that you have done that can keep Him from loving you.  That’s the depth of His love. His love is wide. His love is Long. His love is High. His love is deep. This is the limitless scope of God’s love that He wants us to grasp!

Because when we get it; His love will take hold of us, and we’ll never be the same.  Because the more we experience the vastness of His love, the more we will know His love.  And the more we know His love, the more we will become love.

That’s the goal of Paul’s prayer: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

This is the final way God helps us become love: We become love as the knowledge of Christ’s love fills us!   What Paul is praying for here is transformation.  That we would be changed by the love of Christ ourselves: That the more we experience Christ’s love in our own lives, the more we will be filled with the love of Christ.  And when we are filled with the love of Christ, we become love.  That’s the goal: that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  For God is love! It’s not knowing about God that changes us, it’s knowing His love for us that changes us.  This is the love that surpasses knowledge.  This is why John wrote to us about God’s kind of love: We love because God first loved us.1 John 4:19

This is why the world is coming apart at the seams.  It doesn’t know God love.  In fact, it can’t know God’s love apart from knowing Jesus Christ.  You see, worldly love is based on attraction and therefore lasts only as long as the attraction.  Whereas, Christ’s love is based on His own nature and lasts forever. Worldly love lasts until it is offended or rebuffed.  But Christ’s love lasts despite every offense and every rebuff.  Worldly love loves for what it can get.  But Christ’s love loves for what it can give.  What is incomprehensible to the world becomes normal for those who know the love of Christ.

So then, the more we know the love of Jesus, the more He will help you become love.

What will change in you when Christ’s love takes hold of you/changes you?      

1) You will start seeing yourself differently You’ll come to grips that God really does love you no matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve fallen.  And you will stop listening to the voices that tell you that you’re worthless.  You’ll start believing God can use you.  You will see that you were redeemed by love to this life of love. That will be your new reality.

2) You will start seeing other Christians differently You’ll see that God love each one the same. You’ll see that God’s love is not just for the Christian who’s got it all together; but for the flawed, the difficult, the immature and irritating.  And such a perspective will set you free.  You’ll be free to love in ways you never thought possible.

3) You will start seeing the world differently   When God’s love for the world takes hold of your heart, you’ll start seeing people from every race and religion differently.  You will see that Muslims or Mexicans have the same hungers and hopes as you.  You will see those on Wall Street or the streets of Ocean Beach with new eyes – as people who need the love of Jesus.  For when God opens your heart with His love for the world, He will open your eyes to a world in desperate need of His love.

And finally when Christ’s love fills you… You will start imagining what God can do through you:  You’ll no longer be limited by your fears, your limitations, or you lack of ability… because you will know that there is nothing that can defeat the love of God, and your faith in God loving through you will grow, because the last part of this prayer will become yours: Now to him whois able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

So yes. You may not there yet when it comes to loving like Jesus.  But God’s not done with you.  He is at work in you. He wants to fill you and me with the love of Jesus.  This is my car-washing bucket.  It’s a little beat-up and right now it’s empty, like us. But God is eager to fill our buckets with His life, His love.  He wants us to learn how to fill our buckets with His patience, His kindness, His love, His grace.

Bob Goff understands this, so in his book, Everybody Always, he tells a story of how he went out and purchased a little tin milk bucket that he decided to carry with him wherever he goes to remind him of how he needed to fill it up with God’s love; especially the patient love of God.  Well, it turns out that he travels a lot, but always makes it a point to make it home the same day no matter where he might be.  On one occasion he was asked by a friend to speak at his church on Super Bowl Sunday.  He went to that church, spoke in its services, then made a b-line to the airport to return his rental car, hop on his plane and make it back to his wife so they could catch the end of the game together.  But once he got in the rental car return line, the line was taking forever.  And his patience was wearing thin.  What was taking this guy so long?  He looked up, and he just knew, he had one of “those guys.”  And now he was starting to get angry, realizing that he was going to miss his plane, and he was formulating just what to say to the guy who was making him late.  Then he looked at his bucket sitting next to him, and he realized he needed to fill it with patience.  So while he waited, that’s what he did.  Then finally, some twenty-five minutes later when the slowest rental guy in the world began to check him in, and asked, “How was your experience?”  Bob replied, “It was great, you are great!  I hope you have a great day.”  To that the man replied, “Oh thanks, it was so great hearing you at church this morning.”

Boy was he ever glad that God helped fill his bucket with love.  And that’s what God wants to do for us.  And He is able to do more than we ask our imagine to help us become love.  Let’s pray.