Back to Church Sunday

Week 2: Together We Experience Love ~ September 22, 2015

 Good morning folks, and welcome. We’re happy to have you with us as we continue our series and celebration of Back to Church Sunday. The theme we’re exploring over these four weeks is Together, and we’re drawing lessons from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

As we start out today, I’d like to play a little word game. Some things just go together. I’m going to say a word or phrase, and I want you to say the first word or phrase that pops into your head. You can just call it out. Ready?

Hot…

Salt…

North…

Peanut butter …

Batman …

Adam …

Hide …

Pros …

Mario…

Sponge Bob…

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We could probably go on all day, demonstrating the power of things that have become so closely associated that they are nearly inseparable. Now, what do people think of when they hear the word church? Does that question stump you?

You may have a word that comes to mind, but it’s not likely the same for everyone. There is no one obvious association. Depending on your experience, the association could be positive, negative, or somewhere in between. But what if the word that automatically came to mind with church was love? I want to challenge us as a church to consider what it would take to build an inseparable link between church and love so that when our community hears the word church, their immediate association is love.

That’s a tough challenge, so how do we get there? Perhaps the first step is that, together, the church must experience love.

Last week our focus was on Paul’s message that together we find peace. Today we’ll explore the idea that together we experience love. Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, addressed this idea of how believers can experience love.

If you weren’t with us last week for Back to Church Sunday, we talked a little bit about the church in Ephesus.

• This group of believers faced challenges not unlike the ones we face today.
• They were a group of people living in a place, surrounded by powerful religions and various philosophies.
• They were a diverse, multicultural group, trying to figure out how to live out their faith in Jesus.

In light of those challenges, Paul emphasized over and over again the importance of togetherness in understanding the gospel and how that gospel impacts our lives and changes the world. It wasn’t an easy topic for the folks in Ephesus, but they read and discussed and studied and wrestled with Paul’s words together, so that they could figure it out.

Like the believers in the church at Ephesus, we are committed to journeying together. We read and discuss and study and wrestle with the Paul’s ideas (and with the ideas in the rest of scripture) so that we can figure things out and be a welcoming place of love and acceptance where people can find grace and healing as they are reunited with God and his family. Because we’re on this journey together, we encourage and support each other and work together to discover the purpose and calling of God in our lives.

That’s part of the beauty of the letter to the Ephesians. In the first half of the letter, Paul primarily deals with God’s plan of salvation throughout history. Because of that plan, he says that…

• Together, we can experience God’s presence in amazing ways.
• Together, we can experience peace.
• Together, we can experience the love of God as we walk in relationship Him and other believers.

As Paul wraps up his description of God’s plan of salvation, he writes the words that are our main focus for today, Ephesians 3:16-19: (page 828)

“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. 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 3:16-19, NIV)

Let me point out two things about these words from Paul: (1) He wants us to grasp God’s love and (2) he wants us to know God’s love.

The imagery Paul uses here to convey God’s vast, limitless love is interesting. Since we’re playing word association today, let’s do a little more here. Fill in the blank for me.

• Wider than ______________?
  • The ocean?
  • The universe?
  • No matter what you can think of, God’s love is wider still.
• Longer than ______________?
  • Time?
  • History?
  • No matter what you can think of, God’s love is longer still.
• Higher than ______________?
  • The highest mountain?
  • The moon up above?
  • No matter what you can think of, God’s love is higher still.
• Deeper than ______________?
  • The deepest sea?
  • No matter what you can think of, God’s love is deeper still.

Now, when I was working on this part of the message, my love of country music came out and I couldn’t help but think of Randy Travis’ song, Deeper than the Holler: My love is deeper than the holler / stronger than the river / higher than the pine trees growing tall up on the hill / my love is purer than the snowflakes that fall in late December / honest as a robin on a springtime window sill / and longer than the song of a whippoorwill.

It doesn’t matter how you fill in the blanks, God’s love is wider, longer, higher, deeper still. It is eternally vast and powerful. Paul says, it surpasses knowledge. That’s his way of saying it blows your mind. And this is the love we can experience and share together in the church.

Together is the thing! The thing about love is that it’s relational. It is meant to be shared. It is meant to be experienced together.

• It is together that our ability to grasp God’s love deepens.
• And together is a reflection of God’s relationship with us.
• God lives with His people, so His love is present when we come together.
• As we gather, we experience His love in tangible ways.
• We find support, belonging, acceptance, encouragement, and strength from others.
• We see love in other people’s lives when it can be cloudy in our own.
• Coming to church isn’t about coming to a building or even a group. It’s about coming together into the shared expression and transforming experience of God’s love.

If all we do is show up here once, maybe twice, a month, walk in, sing a few songs, smile and nod and shake a few hands or share a few hugs, then walk back out into our lives like nothing is different, then we’ve missed the point. We might as well drop in at the fraternal organization, or the PTA meeting, or the bar.

But…

• If we gather here together with expectation, and openness, and grace
• if we to let down our guard before God and other people, then we’re getting somewhere.
• If we’re willing to humbly recognize our need for help, forgiveness, strength, and a deeper kind of life, then we’re reaching a level that allows us to be known and to know God and others authentically.
• if we’re willing to acknowledge our own needs and weaknesses, then we’re able to receive support and encouragement when we need it—and to offer support and encouragement to others when they need it.
• In all these ways, we can experience the transforming power of God’s love individually and corporately.

When we do these things, we are tapping into the very nature of God. The Apostle John wrote these important words, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). God doesn’t just have love or show love, He IS love. To be in relationship with God through Jesus is to be in relationship with love itself.

All of history, from creation to revelation, was born from and is being shaped by that love.

• Love drove the creation of the world and continues to drive God’s relationship with humanity.
• Love fuels God’s care for His people through the daily grind of a world broken by sin.
• And love brought the way of salvation and redemption in the person of Jesus Christ—who became one of us, suffered as one of us, and took the place of all of us on the cross so that we can respond to God’s love.
• Love is not a side note.
• It is God’s nature and His plan for the world.

Jesus said it best: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). It’s not our buildings or programs, or hard work, or success, or happiness, or even our generosity that show us to be God’s people; it’s our love for each other that shows us to be God’s people!

It’s important to remember that love can’t be experienced alone. Love must be given and received; it must be shared. And in sharing, it brings us together. Jesus knew this and prayed that His followers would experience the same kind of oneness that He and the Father have: “I pray…for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one…just as you are in me and I am in you.” (in John 17:20-21, NIV)

I talked about this last week when talking about peace. I told you that there is peace in unity. There is peace when we lay aside secondary differences and commit ourselves to the purposes of God for the church.

Such unity is often difficult for us to grasp. We live in a world of connection, but research shows that we feel more and more alone. Technology has increased our ability to connect, but it has decreased the depth and authenticity of connection in a way that leaves us feeling isolated, empty, and hopeless. And if we’re honest, it’s not just the world of technology that is to blame. How many people go to work, family events, and even church but never feel connected? We can be physically together but lack true connection and community.

That reality stands in stark contrast to the love Jesus wants for us. The love between Jesus and His Father is love without separation, without boundaries, without end. And while we cannot perfectly display that kind of love, taking our best shot and experiencing it together is a reason we come back to church again and again.

That leads us back to the question I asked at the beginning of this message: How can we create an inseparable association between church and love? What does that look like here among us, to our community, and to the world? How do we experience love together, and how do we share that love with others?

There is no single right answer, but as we come together in smaller groups and as the whole church body, I hope this question comes up in our conversations and our plans. But let me add a word of caution here. Just as I reminded you from last week’s message that there is peace in unity, let me also remind you from last week’s message that unity does not mean uniformity. There will be differences of opinion and differences of perspective that we must work through and lay aside so that we can fulfill God’s purposes for the church. Christian maturity demands that I not insist everyone agree with me on everything.

Today, I want to suggest three ways we can experience God’s love together. They are three Cs—connection, comfort, and collaboration—and they can be doors to relationship and impact through the love of God.

(1) Connection: Where are you plugged in? Where would you like to be? As a church, we are good at offering opportunities to get together for various reasons—small groups, studies, classes, events, ministries, and more. Relationship is always a goal, but just showing up somewhere doesn’t mean relationship will automatically happen. Folks must step away from themselves and make an investment in getting to know and getting connected to others.

Let me encourage and challenge all of us: If you’re just filling a seat on Sunday morning, try showing up at other times also—find a place of belonging, growth, service, and common purpose. If you are already involved in some way, let me encourage and challenge you to look around, open yourself up, and reach out to those who are looking for their place. Let’s all look for ways to better love each other and to share that love through connection.

(2) Comfort: We could go around this room and hear stories of pain, struggle, and heartache this morning. Life isn’t easy, and we all experience seasons of difficulty and need. In those times, we need each other. As a church, we want to be there for each other, whether it’s a shoulder to cry on expressions of tangible support. We are on this journey together. Love brings us together, binds us together, and gives us opportunities to care for each other in times of need.

When we do that here, we’re preparing ourselves to offer comfort to our community.

(3) Collaboration: working together for common purposes and towards common goals. In so many ways, we have the ability and opportunity to serve and make a real difference in people’s lives—whether it’s through a small group, ministry project, or other activity. It might be focused around a shared interest like music or art, a shared experience like a conference or mission trip, or a day like be the church Sunday. In collaboration, together, we are greater than the sum of our parts. We can find meaning and fulfillment by using our God-given gifts and talents for a purpose that is bigger and greater than any single one of us.

However we choose to get connected, love guides and unifies our efforts. And it’s Christ living in us that allows His love to grow in us and flow through us. It has always been God’s plan for His people to experience love, to be bound together in love, and to share love.

We cannot underestimate the importance of love in the church, in our community, and in the world. In another of Paul’s letters to the early believers, he wrote, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Let’s carry that thought with us as we leave this place and strive to live, act, and respond in such ways that when people think of the church, they think of love.

Prayer