Ephesians 3:18

“... may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”

Paul continues his prayer for the Ephesians (and us) that, having been grounded in love, they may have power to grasp how big is Christ's love.

Paul's desire is that “ all the saints” should grasp the magnitude of Christ's love. This is not a journey of discovery just for the church in Ephesus, but a necessary understanding for the church everywhere and throughout history.

when Christians fail to grasp the love of Christ, we can be fearful about our future. We worry that we may have committed the unforgivable sin. We fret to make sure that all of our sins, no matter how trivial, we confess, keeping short accounts with God, as the saying goes.

For christian leaders, uncertainty about Christ's love can lead us to legalism. It is so easy to define rules of outward behaviour, dress codes, and language usage in order to keep the flock under control. We don't want our people to sin so we define the boundaries of acceptable behaviour to keep everybody safe. This was the sin of the Pharisees.

Sin and righteousness are not really about behaviour derived from morality codes. The real issue is abut our love for God, and His love for us. All sin is relational.

When we grasp the magnitude of Christ's love, it changes everything. We no longer act from fear but from faith. Anxiety is replaced by joy.

to know that I am not just accepted by Christ, but loved by Him, means that I do not have to fear ever being rejected by Him. I can rest, knowing that I don't have to prove that I am good enough.

knowing that I am loved by Christ means I can be relaxed about my sins. That is not to say that I should be complacent about sin - Paul has something to say about that in the next verse. It does mean that when I do trip up in some way, I don't have to expect a punishment. I don't have to fear missing out on heaven. He does not reject His children.

to grasp the magnitude of Christ's love is not about mental or cognitive knowledge. Love is experiential; it is revealed in its activity and understood in relationship.

i could read in the Bible that Christ loves me. it has to go far deeper than that. The knowledge has to go past the theoretical and be received in my heart. While ever the love of God is just a chapter in the Bible I have not taken hold of it.

when I think of the word grasp, it makes me think of a rock climber holding firmly to the face of the rock, or a person in the water clinging to a floating object. In both cases, the person holds on confidently and desperately. To cling means safety, but to let go means death.

our experiential knowledge of Christ's love is a life and death matter. In faith, we hold on to him because letting go results in death.

how big Is this love? Paul describes a four-dimensional measurement. Can we come to the end of Christ’s love in any direction? Of course not! it extends as far as we can imagine in any direction we can consider .

we cannot go around the love of God. We cannot go under it or over it. It surrounds us, as God Himself surrounds us, in every direction. If we want to escape His love we have to construct a bubble around ourselves that cuts us off from it. That bubble is called unbelief.

key points in this verse

• we are on a journey of discovery of the love of Christ

• if we fail to grasp God's love for us we will be led by fear or legalism

• understanding God's love brings joy and freedom

• this is heart knowledge not head knowledge - relational not theoretical

• understanding of Christ's love is a life and death issue

• we cannot get around God's love