Love that Surpasses Knowledge

In Ephesians 3:18-19, Paul prays that believers a Ephesus “may have power, together with all the saints, 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.” This idea of being filled with the “fullness of God” also shows up in another letter written by Paul called Colossians, which our church has been studying this summer. He says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” (Colossians 2:9-10)

This is quite a dramatic thought if you believe that God is the Creator of the universe. The Being that spoke and it was so can dwell in His entirety within the confines of your temporal body. Before you start shaking your head, this is what happened with the incarnation of Christ and is why Paul can say that we are to live “in Christ.”

When I read such thoughts by Paul, I struggle with the reality of his words when I look at my life and the lives of those around me. My life rarely, if ever, has felt the fullness of God. But why is this the case? Is Scripture or my life wrong? I cannot tell you how often I hear people’s sin get brushed over in two words and one simple phrase: “Nobody’s perfect.” This is a correct truth, but only a half-truth if you are living “in Christ.” We tend to dwell on Scripture’s understanding of original sin and think far too little of the Bible’s words on the weight of our eternal glory as Saints. Perhaps we rush to say this phrase because we feel inadequate when we look at our lives and the life described by Jesus and Paul in Scripture.

One area in which I know a large number of Christians excel in is knowledge about God and the Bible. This is quite a different thing than knowledge of God. Before, during and after my time in seminary, I have been amazed by the incredible minds that I have run into when it comes to knowledge about God in the Bible. In fact, I can clearly recall just last week at Pre-Teen Camp thinking, “These kids know all of the right answers to the questions we are asking them.” That is why I think by and large we have missed the boat when it comes to what it is that God desires of us. Jesus reminds us of one of my favorite verses in the Old Testament, which is Hosea 6:6, that says, “For I desire mercy (hesed – which means steadfast love or loyalty), not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

As Christians, we live in a subculture that is breeding a mass of people that can say the right answers but fail to embody them outside, or even inside for that matter, the church walls. Is this possibly the reason that we rush to say, “Nobody’s perfect” when we encounter each other’s failures? Is it because so few people who show genuine love and move through life without superiority, insensitivity, or gossip? Or is it because we continue to be impressed by people’s ability to quote philosophy and those who can clearly articulate the Bible as opposed to those who humbly walk in the beauty of Christlikeness by possessing humility and love for God and others? What if we stopped settling for less when it comes to spiritual practice just like we do when it comes to mental knowledge? What would your church look like if less people could win a debate over Calvinists or Arminians, but habitually showed love and kindness to annoying people without even thinking of it as a personal sacrifice? What does someone that knows “this love that surpasses knowledge” even look like? I’m not sure I could tell you. But I know Jesus and Paul would say that it is a sad state of affairs when we know more about God than we do of Him. I believe they would also say we have completely missed the point of being in relationship with God, and I think they are heartbroken over how far we are from experiencing the “fullness of God” in our lives.