Of all the expressions of the limitless riches of Christ, the greatest is love. We know that the motive behind God sending His Son into this world was love. Much of the limitless riches of Christ are found in His boundless love.
Ephesians 3:14–19 NKJV For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Being rooted and grounded in love is another expression of the limitless riches of Christ.
God wants you to “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.”
We are delving into the depths of Christ’s love.
The fullness of God is related to the expression of Christ’s boundless love. In this text, we are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ.
Our God is very passionate. The Bible teaches us “God is love.”
His zeal or intense emotion is expressed most clearly by His love. The love of God is the driving force behind the passion of the Christ. When we become fully rooted and grounded in His love, we may be able to comprehend what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.
We are considering the limitless riches of Christ’s boundless love.
Ephesians 2:4-5 NKJV But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
God’s passion for us is demonstrated to us in the passion of the Christ.
To comprehend His boundless love we must see what He has done for us when we were dead in trespasses.
Ephesians 2:1 NKJV And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
How did He make us alive, or give us life?
John 3:14-16 NKJV And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The incarnation of Christ is an integral part of the manifestation of the love of God.
God has revealed His love in various ways. God’s lovingkindness is known by His watchful care and supply. The clearest expression of God’s love is revealed in the birth, life, and sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Romans 5:8 NKJV But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 4:9 NKJV In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
The incarnation of Christ is the unmistakable expression of God’s boundless love.
Jesus was anointed to demonstrate the extent of God’s love, thought, and plan. Within the expression of His love, God sent His Son into this world. The entrance of Christ into the world was an unveiling and revealing of the depth of God’s love. We cannot know the depth of God’s love without the revelation of His Son.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His Son.”
This is a tremendous testimony of width and length and depth and height of the love of God. The extent of God’s love is measured by the greatness of the gift of His Son.
To comprehend the width and length and depth and height, we must be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ.
Rooted suggests the plant world.
A tree must get its roots deep in the soil for nourishment and stability.
Our neighbor was attempting to dress up their property. A tree in their back yard had one large root that was mostly above ground. The root was headed toward their patio and was beginning to crack the cement. In an attempt to save his patio, he cut off the root. I suppose he thought that the tree had a larger root system. He was surprised the next morning when the tree was laying on his house. There were no other roots strong enough to support the tree.
We must have spiritual roots that go deep into the love of Christ.
Our roots into Christ’s love introduce us to the life and substance of His fullness.
Psalm 1:1–3 NKJV Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
Where do you get your nourishment and stability?
Make sure that you are rooted down into the rivers and life of God’s love. If we are going to survive the spiritual heat and drought that is in this world, we must go deep into the love of Christ. When we go deep, we will not only be sustained, we will be filled with His blessing and strength that produces fruit. Joy, peace, contentment come from being rooted in His love.
When we are rooted and grounded in His love we produce fruit in its season.
That vital connection changes us.
Ephesians 3:19 NKJV to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The Amplified says: That you may really come to know through experience for yourselves the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience; that you may be filled through all your being unto all the fullness of God and become wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!
Being “rooted and grounded in the love of Christ” causes us to be “filled with all the fullness of God” and “strengthened with might.”
The only way a tree gets nourishment and strength to stand is by going deep.
If you want to be strong in the Lord, you must go deep into the love of Christ. This is how we get filled up and strengthened in the power of the Spirit “according to the riches of His glory.”
Ephesians 3:17 NKJV That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love…
“Dwell” literally means, “to settle down and feel at home, to live in.” Your roots must be soaked in Christ’s love. Paul is praying for an increased spiritual depth. This spiritual depth is into the love of God. Nowhere is the love of God more known than in Jesus Christ. God is revealing to us the depth of His love for us in His Son.
When we are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, we produce fruit that testifies of Christ in us.
The fruit testifies of the root.
Ephesians 5:2 NKJV And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Watch this verse closely. Christ’s love for us caused Him to give Himself for us.
That offering and sacrifice was a sweet-smelling aroma to God.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15 NKJV Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
This is no small undertaking.
When we are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, the fragrance of Christ comes out of our lives. This goes beyond a surface expression of Christ, it involves the power we need for living. It is the strength that holds us up and produces the abundant life of God working in us. This is where miracles and life come from. It is the source of grace and the flow of the Holy Spirit in us. The fountainhead of God’s power comes through His love.
We comprehend the boundless love of Christ by being rooted and grounded in His love.
Ephesians 2:4-6 NKJV But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ …
God included you in His rich mercy and love.. You can never know the fullness of His love until you are rooted and grounded in His love.
