Rooted in love
Series: Metamorphosis | Bible text: Ephesians 3:19
The foundation in our Christian life is the deep knowledge of God’s love. This being loved is the breeding ground for a close and deep relationship with God. This relationship changes us, brings growth and enables us to pass on this love.
It was a cool, foggy September morning in 1963. The seats on the plane were all filled with expectant, excited travellers who had been looking forward to this day for a long time. Then, finally, at 7:13 a.m., the two turbines howled and lifted the 80 passengers into the air. Many were excited, nervous, thrilled and at the same time overjoyed, it was going to be the best day of their lives. But this joy lasted only a short eight minutes. After they were able to take off despite the fog, the pilot realised shortly afterwards that they were in enormous trouble and spoke into the microphone of the radio: «Swissair 306, mayday, mayday, no more, no more.»
Those were the captain’s last words, no more, no more, translated into German means «den Flug gibt’s nicht mehr».» A few seconds later, the machine drilled eight metres deep into a field at the edge of the village of Dürrenäsch at high speed. An enormous tragedy began. 43 people from the small village of Humlikon with its 220 inhabitants lost their lives. This was 1⁄5 of the population who lost their lives. Left behind were 40 orphans and 8 half-orphans. In one fell swoop, 20 farms out of 25 had no owners. The pain of the traumatised children of each family was unimaginable.
The whole village was in shock. The other day we watched the documentary film on this event at home. One interview in particular caught my attention. A woman, she was still a child at the time, said: «Before the departure, the whole village was in an uproar. The whole week and also the evening before the flight they had all prayed that everything would go well, and then this horrible crash.» And she continued: «Since that moment I have not prayed once.» Wow, what an incredible tragedy this must have been for this woman. It is hard to comprehend what she went through as a child. I will go into more detail about this story later.
The Parable of the Sower
Today I would like to pick up where I left off last time in the Bible, namely with the unique parable of the sower. This tells not only of divine truth, but of the whole process full of divine wisdom. It describes the human metamorphosis. Last time I preached about the seed that falls on the path. Today I would like to look more closely with you at the next verse. It is in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, verse 20: «Another teail the seed stands out rocky Ground. This means: Someone hörtakes the word and immediately embraces it with joy, but he is a fickle person, a plant without Roots. As soon as he is in Distress or is even persecuted, he turns away from it again». (Matthew 13:20–21 NGÜ).
Jesus makes a comparison. Some people are like a plant that has weak roots and cannot survive. Usually we don’t see the roots. But I think that each of you has seen a fir tree that was blown down by a storm, along with its roots. This shows that its roots were not strong enough. Three months ago I received such a tree as a gift, it was standing in the middle of the forest and was uprooted by a storm. In the meantime I have cut it up and made firewood out of it. In our lives, too, we can be blown over along with our roots.
I would like to come back to the girl who lost her earthly parents in the crash. At the same time, she lost her relationship with her heavenly Father, her Saviour Jesus and the helping Holy Spirit. Her young faith, symbolic of her growing tender roots, could not withstand such a violent storm. Not only this girl, no, we all experience smaller and bigger storms. We all struggle with our expectations and disappointments. Maybe you have lost a loved one, had a serious accident or experienced a bad illness, lost a job or didn’t get one. You may have prayed for years for a marriage and it still fell apart. It may be that because of your inadequacy someone else has suffered a serious loss. There are many events in life that are so powerful that there is a danger that they could cut us off from our faith.
It is important to recognise this danger and to become aware that we have strong roots in God. This does not always seem to come easily to us. To remind us of this, the Apostle Paul wrote down the following prayer. «That is why I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every fatherhood in the heavens and on earth is named: May He give you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ dwells in your hearts through faith and that you are rooted and grounded in love, that you may be able to fully comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to recognise the love of Christ that transcends knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God». (Ephesians 3:14–19 ELB). Paul prayed that we might know something beyond our comprehension. In other words, he prayed that we might understand what is incomprehensible, the love of God. We struggle to grasp the infinite height and depth of this love.
Recognising God’s love is of utmost importance, only then can we fully engage with Him, only then will deep roots grow. These are the roots that make deep close relationships possible in the first place and from which we can draw strength. It is crucial that we can see and experience this love again and again and be grateful for it. That is why we always turn our eyes to Jesus. «To fix our gaze on Jesus, the forerunner of faith, who preceded us to the goal. Because Jesus knew the joy that awaited him, he took death on the cross upon himself, and even the shame that came with it could not deter him». (Hebrews 12:2 NGÜ).
Jesus could have acted selfishly and avoided the cross. He did not seek the comfortable way, but endured everything with dignity. Because he had a vision of what was waiting for him behind the cross. He took all the pain and ridicule upon himself because he saw you and me, all of us, behind the cross. His love is so infinitely great. The apostle John describes it as follows: «No one loves his friends more than he who lays down his life for them» (John 15:13 NGÜ).
We may all orient ourselves to Jesus» love again and again. This is the basis for a deep love relationship. We do not get stuck in tragedies or the cross, but we look at what can come or arise now. It is the love of God that enables us to feel carried and held even in unpleasant, difficult situations. It is precisely this love that stands by us in stormy times, when we find ourselves in the middle of a tragedy. We do not repress the pain, because it is important to process a crisis in order to leave it behind. Deeply rooted in faith, we trust that God is always with us, no matter what has just happened. We can always bring God’s love before our eyes. We have many different ways to do this. I would like to give you some examples:
- when we sing praise
- When we give or listen to testimonies of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
- when we keep a diary of our dialogue with God.
- or when we learn a Bible verse about the love of God by heart. Memorising a Bible verse is currently experiencing a renaissance. These verses radiate so much strength and hope that we should joyfully use this opportunity.
Bible verse about the love of God
I suggest today that each of you choose a Bible verse about the love of God and learn it by heart. In this way, they will accept the gift of the enormous power that is within them. I would like to share with you my favourite verse about God’s love: «Look how the Father has showered us with His love. His love is so great that he calls us his children – and we truly are» (1 John 3:1 Free translation). I would be delighted if everyone could share their favourite Bible verse after the service. I’m sure we’ll come up with some wonderful verses. If you like to go online, you can also just google a verse, or choose one from the Bible in the old fashioned way. And remember «a thousand mile journey starts with the first step.» I’m already imagining someone from seetal chile memorising a verse on the way to work. Or now it’s holiday time, how about using this great opportunity together as a family?
The most important conversation we have every day is the self-talk. We all do it. Scientists think that we have between 3,000 and 5,000 conversations with ourselves. And that brings up the question: What record or CD is constantly spinning in our heads? In the words of Pastor Matthias: Are we listening and dancing to the music of heaven? I certainly hope so. And for those who want more of this heavenly music in their head: how about a Bible verse about the love of God?
In summary
The foundation in our Christian life is the deep knowledge of God’s love. In a beloved heart grow the roots of the plant that bears fruit. Interesting to know that this seed, which is or will be planted in our heart, has a new DNA with new genetic material. This grows and brings divine life. When we speak its words they bring life, what we touch brings blessing and what we think brings healing to us and to this world. Through this new DNA in our hearts, we can live divine love and bring it out into the world. We Christians should be known for all the wonderful things Jesus does through us. Out of this divine love relationship in our heart comes blessed life.
Jesus came so that we might live. In John’s Gospel we read: «The thief comes to steal, slaughter (kill) and destroy. But I bring life – and this in abundance» (John 10:10 HFA).
Possible questions for the small groups
Read the Bible text: Ephesians 3:19
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What triggers a tragedy in you?
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Do Christians need to suppress pain, doubt and disappointment?
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Have you ever doubted God’s love?
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How have you experienced God’s love?
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Do you give free rein to negative thoughts or meditate on how much God loves you?
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The foundation of our Christian life is the deep knowledge of God’s love. What do you think about this statement?
