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INEXPRESSIBLE: The Overwhelming, Never-ending, Reckless Love of God
2025-1-7 | Pastor Stacey Littlefield
If you have been with us a while, you likely know that we center our ministry here at The Grove Covenant Church around three Touchstones: WELCOME, TRANSFORMATION, and PRESENCE.
In one sense, these Touchstones have an order. That is, at first, we are WELCOMED by God in Christ, then we are TRANSFORMED into Christ’s image, so that we can become the PRESENCE of Christ to our neighbors. However, for us to become that PRESENCE and to WELCOME others into God’s kingdom, the one that must rise to the top of our list of priorities is TRANSFORMATION. Only as we are transformed, can we welcome others as God in Christ has welcomed to us. Only as we are transformed, can we be the presence of Christ to the world.
TRANSFORMATION is paramount.
If we are to fully embrace this invitation to transformation, we must come to know and grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is (Ephesians 3.18). Over the next few weeks, our goal will be to explore the love of God as deeply as we can on Sunday mornings, and to encourage and equip you to continue that exploration the rest of the week.
The prayer from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3.14-21 has become our compass for this season of mission and ministry here at The Grove. It helped us to find a new name and we believe that it will continue to form us into the people God calls us to be and our neighbors need us to be.
Paul prays for his readers that, "out of his glorious riches [God] may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith"--so that Christ will truly make himself at home in our hearts and lives, in other words.
In the very next verse, Paul's prayer soars to new heights. His prayer starts firmly rooted and grounded in vv.16-17, but in middle of verse 17, he takes off:
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.
In Christ, we are already rooted and established in the love of God. But there is always so much more to know and experience of God’s love. So, this Sunday, January 12, we will begin an exploration of the love God has for us—of its width, length, height, and depth—a love that creates, pursues, redeems, and sustains us. Join us as we together discover or rediscover God’s overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love for us, and for all creation.