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Let us pray.

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Lord God, Heavenly Father, according to the riches of Your Glory grant

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that we would be strengthened with power, through your spirit, that

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Christ would dwell in our hearts, through faith.

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That being rooted and grounded in love, we would have power to

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comprehend

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what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of

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Christ, that surpasses all knowledge that we would behold with all

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your fullness. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

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Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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The reading the scripture reading we just had is obviously a prayer.

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And if it wasn't obvious by praying, it should have made it,

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so.

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And what Paul is praying for is in one sense quite straightforward.

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In other words, he's praying that the Ephesians would have strength

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from God in order to grasp

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how wide how long how high, how deep is the love of Christ that they

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would know this love which surpasses all understanding, all knowledge

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that they would be filled with God's own fullness.

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But what were they lacking?

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It turns out something like actually, a lot of you are lacking.

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A certain knowledge of just how what how big Christ's love is.

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Now, the answer to this comes from what Paul had said before the

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pericope is a little misleading because it suggests that the

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reason for Paul's prayer is the fact that he is in chains that he has

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been imprisoned. No,

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the reason that Paul is in chains and in prison is the reason for his

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prayer.

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Because Paul has been preaching, Jesus Christ.

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But his way of preaching Jesus Christ is something big.

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I've been teaching here at Concordia Seminary for over 20 years

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and one thing that I can observe, I can observe a lot of things, but

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we don't have time.

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Frankly, you don't have the interest is.

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Is that

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the usual understanding knowledge

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about God, Christ, creation, salvation

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is kind of small.

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It's not wrong, and I'm certainly not doubting anyone's faith.

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But it is kind of small.

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For instance

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I know that that many of you when thinking about Christ and the law

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would say that he came to keep the law

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or to fulfill the law.

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Now, certainly there is a way in saying that is good and true and

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right.

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But that's not the only way.

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So Paul, when he's speaking to the Ephesians is speaking to gentiles.

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And he's assuring them

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of the love of Christ and doing that by showing them just how far

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Christ went.

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And what Christ did

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was remove

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the barrier. The dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles

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between Israel and the nation's.

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If there was a Divine sociology and there was it was that the people

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of the world were divided into two God's people

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not God's people.

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Jews, Gentiles Israel and the nation's.

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But Christ came to change all of that.

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And he did it by abolishing the law.

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By abolishing the law of Moses, the Commandments, the regulations, the

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code.

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Because what set Israel and the nation's apart

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was the law.

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And as long as it was there, there would be God's people and not God's

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people.

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There would be the Jews and the Gentiles there will be Israel,

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God's Own people with the covenants of promise and then there would be

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the rest without hope without God in the world.

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But Jesus came to change all that.

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So to put it very strongly, since we're trying to talk about something

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big.

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Christ came and broke the law.

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Now, I don't mean by that

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only that he did not keep some features of the law.

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Yes, that's true.

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He touched a leper.

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He touched a corpse.

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He did not really keep the third commandment.

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But no Christ broke the law.

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Like, in smashing it to bits.

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Like in tearing it up into little pieces.

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Like and blowing it up.

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A lot of, you know, this Humpty Dumpty, right

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sat the wall.

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Humpty Dumpty, had a great fall.

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Well, the law before Jesus was a little bit like Humpty Dumpty, except

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he pushed the law over and then he jumped down and stomp down in a

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while.

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He made a wreck of the law.

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Now, in Paul's letter to the Galatians

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what does this mean?

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It means for the Jews, for those who are in Christ, the curse of the

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law was over.

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That was a tough way to live. Do this and 

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You'll live.

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Don't do it, and you will die.

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So in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman

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born under the law to redeem those under the law.

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But in Ephesians, he's talking to gentiles.

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And doing away with the law

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meant that both could come together that there were no longer be two

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different kinds of people

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but one.

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One person, one body.

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Which Christ himself redeemed by his blood.

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In which then the spirit of Christ dwells.

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That's how far Jesus went.

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And he did that

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for the Jews for the Gentiles, for all people for you.

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Because if this is how far Jesus went in his love for you

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any of you, all of you

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can be sure

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Christ loves you.

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Now, that's just one.

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One dimension in this.

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How big the love of Christ is. How big and how great his love is for

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you.

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And there are others and I think Paul was getting at this at the end

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of Romans chapter 8 where he says he's persuaded that nothing.

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Right.

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Not death, not life, not angels,

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not rulers, not things present, not things to come.

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All right, not height

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not depth.

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Nothing in creation can keep us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

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The love of Christ is big.

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Big enough to include you.

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Big enough to include you, your fears, your sins.

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Big enough to include all that endangers you

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Big.

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So then in the first case, pray that you would have the strength

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from God by his Spirit to grasp this.

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Moreover.

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Help to be an answer to this prayer

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with what you do and what you say.

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Help others to know just how wide just how long, how high,

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how deep is the love of Christ.

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Do this, and it will be to the glory of God.

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The God who is able to do

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immeasurably more than we can ask or think.

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Who according to his own power working with in you

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is making something good.

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To him, be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all

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generations forever and ever.

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Amen.