Agape 4 The Height of God's Love

I want to go into today Part 4, the final chapter on Agape.

Not only the width, the length, the depth, and the height of God's love that we read about in Ephesians 3 and verse 18 that I have covered here the first three parts, but the Scripture tells us or asks us a question or poses a question really to us hoping that we can comprehend the depth, length, width, and now the height of God's love. Can we understand that? I would like to focus today not only on the height of God's love, but on the word comprehend and the meaning to grasp because comprehend also means to grasp. So truly, can we grasp the height of God's love for His creation, especially for us in our individual lives? Have we seen it? I think most of us can say we have. If not, perhaps we need to take some scales off of our eyes. One of the things is thanksgiving that takes place this week. How thankful are we for God's love, the agape? So I'm going to ask you to grasp the ungraspable to the human mind. How do we do that? How do we grasp something like that? 1 Corinthians 2.9. Most of you know it from New King James Version. I has not seen nor hear heard, nor has entered the heart of man. The things that God has prepared for those who agape Him is what it means. For those who love Him. So He's saying we've never seen anything so great. We've never heard anything as great as what He will come to fruition. But then He says our minds can't grasp. Our minds, our hearts, we can't even dream it, is what He's saying. I have a gift today only for the ladies, so I'm going to it's part of my sermon. So if I get my wife to come up here and she's going to hand each of you ladies something very special. And I do this because it brings something to my mind, because it is hard for us to grasp how much God loves us, the height of His love that I'll be going into today.

I want each of you ladies to have a necklace, a beaded necklace. They're not anything that you might call fancy. In case you want to know, for those who have not received their necklace yet, it's not gold. Not solid gold. They're not pearl. They're not colored pearls. It's not silver. But they are necklaces. I happen to have some people here today. Many of you have helped, but specifically a couple people here that helped with not only the care that was given or is given and continues to be given, but the love that is shown to the members and the people of Haiti.

These necklaces that you women are wearing are that you're being given now. Mary and I traveled to Haiti. She was there two or three times with me. I've been six times as we were trying to help people build a church. It also became a sanctuary built strong enough to withstand hurricanes and the like. And I'll take one if you've got one, Mary. Not that I'm going to wear it. I have to put it on. I don't think my wife has that much power over me because that goes better with my shirt.

See what I deal with? I guess it does match. We went, the first time Mary went with me, and in our little church there with probably 40, 50 people at the time. And we just took, Mary wanted to take something for the kids. We had Dollar Tree, went there and got some cookies and candy. And then she thought about these for the little girls in Haiti and thought, you know, they might really like that. So she bought 20 or so. And so as we were after services, they were fixing some food we bought. But the box came and Mary took these things out of a box, and she started giving them to the little girls from this tall to teenage. And they just thought this was, wow, never seen anything. That was very touching, but not as much as when we saw the ladies, the women, the mothers, the grandmothers come over and say, can I have one? Can I have one? And they would put it on and just walk around like it was gold. Why? It never received any type of jewelry before in their life. As you know, and many others who had been here, they do good to eat every day. This was so high above their thinking. One of them actually commented, the next time I went, Mary didn't go to bring any of those nice necklaces.

They're plastic. In this country, what do we do with plastic? I has not seen nor hear heard nor is enter the heart of man the things that God has planned for those who love Him. We can't grasp it. Do you think they can? They just know there's a better life than what they've living now in Haiti. And they've lived even better because of what we've been able to do. But small as it is, it makes a difference. Grasp the height of God's love. This, if you gave them gold, they wouldn't be able to grasp it. To this, to them, this was as if you'd given them a hundred dollars. Imagine a woman being 50, 60 years old. If she made it to her grandmother, 50, 60 years old, as one of them did, she got two. She was wearing it the next time I came. She never had any jewelry. See, this is what God is wanting us to see. Through His love, He's wanting to give us something our minds cannot even begin to grasp. As a matter of fact, let's go there. If you go to 1 Corinthians 2, I didn't turn there. You may have turned there, but I didn't. I know that verse by heart because it means so much to me because I need to make sure I can grasp it. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 10. Let's go read this incredible set of verses. So He said, it's not entered into a man's heart of what God has planned or prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. We can grasp. We can grasp the height of God's love for us so high that His plan dwarfs any preconceived idea we may think. Because of these tabernacles every year, and it's like, wow, it's thrilling nothing. It's just a sliver, not even there, for what God has planned for us. Verse 10. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. So He's telling us that we can, through the Spirit, understand even the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of a man, which is in Him, even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. We can know those things. We can know those things. Deep things of God. And one of those, I must say, is truly understanding Agape. I had somebody ask me this week, you ever going to get done with the Agape series? I want a prophecy. I need prophecy. And you don't need love.

Wow. Something to think about. Let's finish these verses here. Verse 12. Now, we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us. That's a big deal. Whether you want to say it or not, it's a big deal. The biggest deal you may ever get in your lifetime is to understand the love of God, because His love never fails. Remember the love chapter? I read it at every wedding that I do, because that's what a husband and wife there to have. The Greek translated, there's no Eros. There's no Filio. It's only Agape. That's true love. That's God's love, and He wants us to have it in our marriage. He wants us to have it in our life. He even wants us to have it with our enemy. Incredible. Verse 13. These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with the spiritual. Yes, people can't understand. Well, even that simple statement, love your enemies. Christ even quoted on the Mount. He read and said what? He said, I hate your enemy. He said, no, I want you to love it. That is totally a spiritual concept, because human nature is going to say, no way, I'm going to stick it to them. You stick it to me, I'm going to stick it to you. That's the humanity that God is trying to replace with a spiritual mentality, because it's easy to be human, isn't it? It's easy to just do what we want to do. And God says, no, I want you to become like my son. He walked on this earth for 33 and a half years. He showed it. He manifested agape on this earth. And then what happened to him? He was killed. And he says, they're probably going to treat you just as bad as me. They hated me. They're going to hate you too. And he says, the answer is agape, love. And that is difficult to understand. You won't understand it. You can't understand it without understanding God. Verse 14, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. And then he says this incredible statement in 16, but who, for who, has known the mind of the Lord? That he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. We can have the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ is about what? Agape. So God wants us to come to that hype that Jesus Christ exemplified for us on this earth. It's just hard for us to understand. Nor has entered into the heart of man. Holman's Christian Standard Bible says, never comes into a man's mind or heart. The ESV says, a heart of man never imagined what he has planned. The NIV, no human mind has conceived. New Living Translation, no mind imagined. The CEB, that haven't crossed the mind, because that really hasn't crossed the mind of any human being. Because you can't. And the GNT, the Good News Translation, what no one ever thought could happen. Can you grasp it yet? Is it impossible to grasp? Nope. We just have to have the mind of Christ. Which means we just can't do what we want to do when we want to do it. The hype of God's love. Grasping it. Hype. What's the highest you've ever been? And no, Frank, I'm not talking about college. Or Woodstock. Or anything like that, where you had an artificial high, or you might say a natural high. What's the highest you've ever been? I've been on an airplane. I've been on an airplane. I've been on an airplane. You've been at 40,000 feet. I've only been to 33,000 that the pilot told me.

Anybody been on an airplane that high? I've been 40,000. How high have you been? Yep. Going to look at that. Matter of fact, Dale brings it up because he was a pilot. So he should know something about flying. But the highest they say they can take most planes is 42 to 44,000 feet. But the most airlines are 33,000 to 35,000 feet, as you will hear the pilot going, Excuse me now. We are now cruising at 35,000 feet. That's high. What's the highest you've ever been with no mode of transportation? Anybody? You said you've been to a mountain. How high was the mountain? Don't have a clue.

Mount Lemmon. Never heard of Mount Lemmon. Outside of Tucson. Outside of Tucson. I thought it was next to Mount Orange and Mount Tangerine or something. Okay. Mount Lemmon. Anybody? Continental Divide, however high that is.

Yes. Mauna Kea. That's what Mauna Kea is. It's the highest I've ever been. 13,803 feet. As a matter of fact, it's the tallest mountain in the world. Higher than Mount Everest because 18,000 feet of this mountain is underwater. So, it's 13,000 feet above. And we've been to there. I guess you have too. If you've been to Hawaii, other people might have been up there. Last time I had a little height sickness when I went because I went too fast up there. Didn't stay long enough at base camp. She was okay, but she weighed half what I do.

But we think about heights, and that's an incredible view from up there as we look down and where you've been and where everybody's been. Even 8,000 feet as you look down. And that's incredible. Go with me to Isaiah 55.

Isaiah 55, verse 8. God is telling Isaiah, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my way, says the Lord. We all know that. We've quoted that many times, haven't we? Well, look what he says in verse 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. So is his love than our love. Does that mean it's impossible so we don't try? Nope. He wants us to. That's why he gives us Holy Spirit. He gives us a piece of him in us so that we can become and grow that spirit. So that we can become more like his son. And the closer we become to his son, the closer we come to him. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Hmm. Beginning to grasp. Anybody know what the Carmen line is? Besides Dale. Carmen line? Carmen line? Carmen line? Carmen line is a line, an imaginary line, that science uses and that pilots use it. And that pilots use it. NASA uses it. The Carmen line is an imaginary line in the sky that starts at sea level and goes 62 miles straight up. That's what they call the Carmen line. That's where outer space begins. It's where everything changes. Imagine. 62 miles up, but you haven't even begun. To go where God is. Because we're talking about billions. Billions of light years.

12 light years at the speed of 12 light years at the speed of light is 208,000 of our years. 12. That's how far it is. And we're talking billions of light years to where God is. How did Christ ever get down here?

So this makes us think He knows something about heights and why this Scripture is so important that we would grasp the height of His love. Because He's willing to love. It's easy to love somebody that you can see, that you can hang around, that you can actually touch, that you can become involved with. We can't touch Him. He doesn't touch us except through His Spirit. But He is so far away from us that our minds, the science, can't even go there. Because you have three, you have the clouds, first level of heaven, and then you have the stars, and then past the stars you have God, the third heaven. And yet He loves us. That He says, think on that. Think on that. And no matter how deeply you love, you're not even close to my love. But someday you're going to find out. And now I just want you to try to grasp it. Grasp that. God's love is going to take us to an out-of-this-world height. The more we can have mentally and spiritually. It's going to transform us into a more spirit-like being. But I go back to grasp.

Feast of Tabernacles one year had the opportunity to meet a church of God, an evangelist, black evangelist. Never met one before. Met an evangelist, never met a black one. Then I got to hear him speak, and he was incredible. And the most incredible part about it was that he was sent to Africa. And that was where he did a lot of his work. And he told a story, true story, of going and baptizing people at one time, scattered out through all Africa, just so far away. But they would find a way, and then they would have baptizing tours, and they would visit all these places for people who had heard of the truth, come into it. And so here, a couple years after those tours, he went over to Zimbabwe to conduct Passover services in the days of Unleavened Bread in a kind of central part of Zimbabwe, so that people from all over in the churches that we had there could travel there, and they would then be able to keep the days of Unleavened Bread. Harold Jackson was the evangelist name. Mr. Jackson then told the story of getting there, and they had rented this building, almost from what he describes, similar to the size of this room right here. It was a building, but it had running water, and had a little porch out there. This is where they would have services, Passover services. And he said he got there the evening before Passover service to go in, as typically ministers do, and he set up the chairs and set up a table with the cups and the bread. And as he was starting to set up, this young black man came in and said, I remember you. He wanted to baptize me. And he said, well, yes. And they started talking, and he said, would you like to help? And he goes, yes, that would be great. And so they started talking and come to find out. The young man had spent nine days getting to this little building. Three days walking, three days to a little raft or boat like to go down the river. Two days on a bus and then one day walking to the building. And he was the happiest, he said. And what touched Mr. Jackson the most was that his attitude and forth and that night as they passed the plate and the bread. He got him to help hand these things. And he said his hands were shaking as he was handing them out. And he told him after services, told Mr. Jackson, I didn't feel worthy to even have those in my hand. He said, I had a hard time because I'd never had anything silver in my hand.

And so Mr. Jackson said, where are you staying? He said, right out here. He said, I got a bedroll. He said, right out here. He said, why don't you come? No, no, no. He said, I, man, this is this is a very nice place. And he said, you have running water. And so he said, well, we'd like to take no, no, no, no, I stay here. And so after that day, they had the night to be much observed and was just just couldn't believe. That people were able to eat this type of food and have all this and celebrate the next day. The next day, he said, was was people came in and he got to meet all his family. He had never met before. And he just he said, he just couldn't couldn't think enough. And so after that day, everybody met him. I was so impressed as he was just so authentic. And he said, I'm just going to stay right here. And Mr. Jackson goes, well, we're going to have a Bible study in the middle of the week. Some people will be coming. He said, I'll be right here. He said, because some of my family might come by. Did they know they were miles away to him? It didn't mean somebody might come by. He could talk about the truth. He could talk about God. And so at the end of Days of Unleavened Bread, the last day, people were so moved by him. His story, they said, well, we've collected this money so that you can take a bus and not have to do all the stuff that you did, not have to walk so much. Because they asked him if he had enough money to get back, and he said, yeah, I got just enough. I can get back. When they gave him all this money, he said, I can't. I can't do that. He said, my eyes have been opened. And he said, I have a young man in our village I've been studying with and working with, and I'd like to bring that money back to him so that he can come here. So he can come to the Feast of Tabernacles, and I know it can be nothing like this, but I'd like him to see a little bit of that. The love of God is in us. For that young man, it is. He saw. It's so far removed. But this is what God has promised us. It's so much greater than these little trinkets, this gold you might have, this nice house you have, this car that we just so enjoy that most people, third world countries don't even think about.

Who's going to be the most grateful when the kingdom is here? Can you imagine him telling a young man about that and then sending him to the Feast of Tabernacles? The stories that young man would have brought back to his village. Go with me to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. Most of you know this. It's kind of the declaration to us as John is trying to teach us. 1 John 3 and verse 1. Behold what manner of...what's the word? Love. Starts out with a, Behold what manner of love. What does that mean? Manner. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us so high above our thinking that we should be called the children of God. As I said this morning in my sermon, we're not called to be angels.

That's too low. Not high enough. He said, children of God. The Scripture says, which of the angels did he say said at my right hand?

We're made after God's image. Jesus Christ's image, not an angel. He's promising us this. Bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God. He has to say it twice. He wants us to grasp that. And there is an apparent here that doesn't love his child. Deeply. Most parents would give up their life for their children. This God did.

That's deep love beyond even our comprehension. Beloved, now we are the children of God. It has not yet been revealed to us, that is, what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, when he comes to this earth, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And at that time, we will fully grasp the height of God's love. Because this is not going to be this anymore. This is going to be Spirit. I'm going to finally be like Christ. This is what he's promised. Powerful. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 says what? Talks about us being a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, a special people, a holy nation. Why? That you may proclaim the praises of him, because we know it. We are to be of the Melchizedek priesthood, as the book of Hebrew says so many times. I think it's actually seven or eight times. The Melchizedek priesthood, where it's not the Levitical priesthood, that's a physical priesthood. Melchizedek priesthood is a spiritual priesthood. It's what we will be. It's who we are training to be now, an eternal priesthood. God has been dreaming of this for a long, long, long time. Remember Exodus 19? Yeah, that's the chapter before Exodus 20 with the Ten Commandments. Remember it? He says it starts out in 19.

In verse 6, he said, okay, they weren't there yet. They hadn't been given, because in Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments and all the commandments he was guiding with the people, that was just given orally. That wasn't written at that time. It's not written until he goes up. But Moses is to give that to the people. But before he gives this, God is explaining something to him that this is what I want from people. I want a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. This was before the cap, this was before the stones, this was any... This is what he was telling Moses. I want this. Brethren, that's what he wants from us. A kingdom of priests of the Melchizedek priesthood, because that priesthood will never end. It's eternal, just like Jesus Christ, just like Melchizedek was. How important was it? How important is it to God? Jeremiah 29 in verse 11.

He says, I know the things I have for you. Right? Is that up there? Yeah. I know the thoughts I have towards you. Thoughts of what? Peace and not of evil. It's not just to Judah that Jeremiah was writing to. It's to us. He wants peace. We are the Israel of God, as Galatians 6 and verse 16 tells us. That's his church. That's what we are. So as I start to wrap this up today, there's two sets of scriptures we're going to have to go to.

And they're in Romans, my favorite chapters, the Bible many times, because they show truly the height of God's love. They show us something that we don't even think about much. If you go with me to Romans 8, let's go down to verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, for our change, the whole creation. And as the Moffat translation says, universe, because God did create everything.

It's waiting for us. Verse 20, for the creation, the universe, was subjected to fertility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. The plan of God was going to happen. It didn't matter what Satan did. The revealing of the sons of God are coming. That's us.

The eternal Melchizedek priesthood. That crowning will take place. Verse 21, because the creation or the universe itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, handed to us, and delivered from the bondage of corruption. Because the plan is, there's no little green men out there.

This says it. This proves it. No! Everything, the whole universe, everything is waiting for Christ to return. That kicks it off. Everything is deteriorating. It's corruption. Things are burning up, we can see in the sky. Comets burn up. Various things take place. There's no men on Mars. There's no habitat for us in Mars. If there was, he would say it. He said, no, this is where I start. And God says, that's where I'm coming to in a little over a thousand years. And it will no longer be light years away, but it will be here, here, when he comes to live with man.

Verse 22, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth bangs together until now. It's in motion. It's going to happen. Go with me to verse 28, that set of scriptures here. We all know this verse. As a matter of fact, it's quoted on walls. It's quoted on internet all the time. And I don't know if people really grasp it or not, but it's like, it sounds good. That's my kind of God. Verse 28, for we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to, that's what most people don't realize, that last verse, to His purpose.

It's not about us. It's not about what we think, oh well, I think I'll join this church. No, it's not about that. We are called for His purpose, and His purpose is to make us holy. He says, be holy as I am holy. He's been waiting for people to want to do that. But it's not easy, is it? It isn't for me. I have some really holy days. Then I have some really unholy days and sometimes weeks where I'm like, where is my mind at? And I got to fight to get back to my purpose. Verse 29, For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn of many brethren.

He has his plan. He wants us to be. Moreover, whom he predestined, he looked down and said, they can make it. There's something in them I know. I know their DNA. I knew their DNA before they even knew they had a DNA. For whom he predestined, these he also called. He knew who he was going to call, who has the best chance of being that priesthood now. They won't get lost out into this wilderness of spirituality today. He knew. The calling part is when he calls you, our part is do we answer?

No, God, I know I kind of got other things to do. Oh, thank you, God, but next year, we have to answer the call when we know that he's called. And whom he called, he also justified. Whom he justified, he also glorified. Are they glorified yet? Not quite, but they're set to be glorified.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Daniel, all these people, just like us when we pass. Next moment, we're glorified. glorified means to praise, to honor, to admire. We all like that. Yes, I like to be praised. Wonderful sermon you gave there, Pastor Smith. Well, I thank you. Thank you very much. But it's usually not me. Anything we do good, it's because of a team.

Between that woman and that man back there, and that other woman, helps power points and helps everything that gets done. I just happen to be the beneficiary of it. But it's him that makes everything possible. The Greek word for glorified is dakadzo. Dax-adzo comes from the root word dakse.

And dakadzo means to be with dignity, to have dignity, to be shown honor, praise, and wait for it, because it's not done yet, to be worshiped. To be worshiped?

I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. Yes, we will be like him. We're coming here not to just sit there and go, okay, we're good. Life is good. Got plenty of turkey on Thursday. It's more than that. It's what he's saying. People have a hard time imagining and even going, wait a minute. We can't go there. We're going to be gods. Yes, I didn't say it. The Bible said it. I'm just telling you what it says. Christ even told the leaders of the day you were gods when they were going, oh, no, you don't do that today. You go, wait a minute, what are you going to be when you die? I'm going to be an angel. I'm going to be like one of these TV shows where I'm going to come down and torment my sister. No, that's not what it says we're going to do. We're part of the God family, and so we're going to be glorified. And even to the point of worship, because we'll be spirit beings, we won't be these corrupt physical beings we are now that has a little bit of the spirit. Well, all of a sudden, it'll be no longer a little bit of the spirit, be all spirit and no flesh, unless we want to make one. Just look and see what Christ was. That's what he says he wants you to be. We weren't made the image of an angel, made in the image of God to fulfill his destiny for each and every one of us. So when we understand that, the height of God's love, that he's willing to turn us into a God, because I guarantee you he's doing it. We're not. He's doing it. Is it any wonder humility is so important to God for us now? The height he is taking us, because it's his level. It's on the God plane. We have to make it part of our nature, the humility of Christ, the love of Christ. And without humility, you can't have a lot of love, because love encompasses it all. The height of God's love, brethren, it doesn't get any higher. Than where he's wanting to take us. His promises.

So the width, the length, the depth of God, height of God's love. The last I use is height, because he did, because we really have to understand God, to understand the height, and to comprehend and to grasp what his gift to us will be. And it all starts with a Gopi.