Enough
Watchman
Nee, a church leader in China during the first half of the 20th century, faced
serious illness his whole life. He pleaded with God daily for healing from a
chronic stomach disorder and heart disease. One night, he had a dream. In the
dream he was crossing a river by boat. But suddenly, a massive rock appeared in
his way. He prayed, “Lord, please take away this rock!” But he heard the
voice gently respond, “My beloved son, do you want me to take away that rock?
Or do you want me to make the waters rise so you may pass over it?” He
answered, “Lord, please help me pass over that rock.”
Watchman Nee’s illness was not cured, and each day, he had to lean fully on God’s strength. Through this, he discovered that God’s grace was always enough for him to live fully and abundantly.
The
Power of the Gospel
Life is hard.
Franciscan priest
Richard Rohr shares five core truths about life that resonate deeply with Scripture.
He says:
1. Life is hard.
2. You are not that important.
3. Your life is not about you.
4. You are not in control.
5. You are going to die.
All
these truths rooted in the Bible, especially in the wisdom books. Solomon, in
Ecclesiastes, declares, "Meaningless! Meaningless!" Utterly
meaningless! Everything is meaningless." (1:2) He goes on, “For a man may
do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he
owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great
misfortune… All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind
does not rest. This too is meaningless.” (2:21, 23) James echoes this, saying, “Yet
you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a
mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14)
God often does not remove all our sufferings, pains, or struggles in this life; but instead, God redeems our life from them (cf. Ps 103:4):
· Life is hard, but it’s worth living.
· I am not that important, but I’m precious in God’s eyes.
· My life is not about me, but it’s all about Christ.
· I am not in control, but I am free.
· I am going to die, but I will live.
God
accomplished this redemption by sending Christ to die for us, so that we might
truly live a rich and satisfying life. Paul understood this, and in today’s
passage, he bows his knees and prays for the Ephesian Christians and for us. He
prays that God may strengthen us in our inner being by the Spirit, so that we
will be rooted and grounded in Christ’s love (Eph 3:16-17). In other words,
Paul wants us to know that salvation is not just about forgiveness of sin, but
it’s about growing in strength, being deeply grounded and maturing until we fully
know Christ and become more like him.
With All the Saints
So
here’s the question: “How do we grow in the knowledge of Christ and become
more like him?” Paul gives us the answer in the next verse. He continues to
pray, saying, “I pray that you may be able to understand, with all the saints,
how wide and long and high and deep is Christ’s love” (v. 18).
Each of us can know something of Christ’s love. But our individual understanding and experience are one-dimensional. Only “with all the saints” do we begin to grasp the full dimensions of Christ’s love. It takes the whole family of God – “the church” – to fully experience and understand the whole love of God. Together, with all the saints, men and women, young and old, with all different backgrounds and experiences, we come to know Christ’s love more completely.[1]
How do we discover the fullness of Christ’s love? Through the church, with all the saints! How do we grow and become more like Christ? Through the church, with all the saints! Rick Warrens puts it well this way:
The
local church is the classroom for learning how to get along in God’s family. It
is a lab for practicing unselfish, sympathetic love… Only in regular contact
with ordinary, imperfect believers can we learn real fellowship and experience
the New Testament truth of being connected and dependent on each other.[2]
Yes, church life can be messy. But the local church is God’s design for us to grow and experience the full dimensions of Christ’s love. For me personally, I can say I’ve come to know Christ’s love intimately through our church. I still vividly remember the day my family and I moved into the parsonage. It was on June 25, 2014. Over these past ten years, we have welcomed new members, baptized babies and new believers. We sent off those who were moving or leaving the church. We also buried quite a few beloved church members. So many times, we have worshiped together, shared meals together, met in small groups together, served in mission together. Through all of this, I believe we have become stronger, more resilient, and more loving like Christ – as a church.
Our God Is Able
Let
me share a picture of God’s healing that speaks to us today. Kintsugi is the
Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold. When a pot is broken, the pieces
are carefully glued back together, and each crack is filled with gold. Rather
than hiding the damage, this art makes the object even more beautiful than it
was before, as each gold-filled line tells a story of restoration.
Imagine a broken pot, shattered and seemingly beyond repair. In the hands of a kintsugi artist, though, every single piece is seen with care, and each crack is carefully filled with gold. What once looked like a useless, broken vessel becomes a beautiful masterpiece, telling a story of resilience and transformation.
This is exactly what God does with our lives and with us as a church. We have faced pain and loss – whether from the pandemic, the challenges from decisions made at the general conference, or the loss of beloved members. These experiences can make us feel fractured, as if parts of us have broken. But our God doesn’t see our cracks as shameful; he sees them as places where his grace can shine. Our God is able. He takes our brokenness, our struggles, and our traumas and fills them with his love, making us stronger, more united, and deeply beautiful. Together, in our gold-filled scars, we see how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Christ’s love truly is. You need the church, and the church needs you.
So in one spirit and with a grateful heart, let us join the Apostle Paul in his doxology to God: “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever!” (vv. 20-21, NLT) Amen.
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