Loving Our Enemies and The Snowball Effect

Review Luke 6:27-38 and Ephesians 3

My thoughts on sermons at Andover Baptist.

Loving Our Enemies
Who do we love? Most of us love many people. Friends and family. But if we carefully think about who we love, we may realize that we don't love many people that don't give us some advantage.  Think about it - who do you love with no advantage to yourself? It is a tough question because it is unpleasant to admit that mixed in with our good and sincere feelings of love are usually selfish motives as well.

For instance, maybe the love we have for our parents is tinged with a selfish emphasis on what we can get from them. Or maybe our love for our children is mixed with a sinful pride in how they positively reflect on us. We would be naive not to admit that our hearts are filled with these sorts of mixed feelings.

But how does God love us?

Preview - Ephesians 3

I am not sure what to expect regarding a sermon on this text (Ephesians 3:14-21) and all of the great truths regarding the "love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." This reminds me of Jeremy Walker's comments regarding our failure to understand the lovingkindness of God here. 

But it will be exciting to be sure. 

Every "family" in heaven and on earth is named after God the Father.  Does that mean every family in the sense of those who follow God's will and love Him, or is it more of a broad meaning speaking to God being the author of all creation?

"The riches of His glory" is a frequently used phrase in Ephesians.  This could be a preamble to any benefit that the Christian receives - for it is all from the incredible riches of God's grace and to the praise of His glory (or glorious grace).

Paul is praying that we would know the unknowable.  This is a paradoxical tension, but one that Christ can increasingly reconcile. Perhaps in reference to our sanctification it can be said that we know more of the infinitely unknowable riches of God's grace now than we did when we first believed.  And in this way we may be always approaching full knowledge.  And yet only in heaven can we hope to have this unknowable knowledge in full.

I am still mulling over the concept of infinite desires from last week's sermon. Our infinite desires can only be satiatied by an infinite God.  And in the context of Ephesians 3, it stands to reason that the intellectual desires of those made in God's image are also infinite.  We want to know all things. We want deep and profound knowledge. And yet the noetic effects of the fall, our weaknesses, our simplicity, and our sin all conspire to prevent the satisfaction of these desires. But in Christ we can begin to understand the deepest and most profound knowledge of all time.  While we can't understand the love of Christ completely, we can know the mystery - thank God the Gentiles are fellow heirs! This will be one of the many things to keep our minds bursting at the seams with activity through eternity - to understand and know the deep love of Jesus.

Vista

According to the purpose of Him

Who works all things according

To the counsel of His will

We were predestined as sons

Before the foundation of the world

That we should be Holy and blameless

Before Him

Holy and blameless

We will be like stars in the heaven

Burning bright forever in the night

What shall we be? You and I?

Accelerating light forever - infinitely?

The sound of our music echoes

Off the universe: Eternal Cathedral