Ephe.3:18-19, The gift package of boundless love, Jesus Christ

Ephe.3:18-19, The gift package of boundless love, Jesus Christ
"17.so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18.may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."
This is a Sunday filled with the joy of Christmas. Based on the text, we will meditate on the love of Jesus Christ, who came to us as the greatest and most boundless gift.
1. Introduction: "Choosing gifts, it's really difficult, isn't it?"
One of the first things that comes to mind when we think of Christmas is "gifts." But choosing a gift is not an easy task. A husband was struggling to choose a Christmas gift for his wife and asked his friend for advice. "Hey, my wife didn't seem very happy with the diamond ring I bought her last year. What should I get her this year?" His friend gave him a brilliant answer: "Just ask her what she needs."
The husband asked his wife, "Honey, what do you want for Christmas this year?" His wife shyly replied, "Darling, I just want something 'small&shiny' that shows your love."
The next day, the husband confidently presented his gift. With anticipation, his wife unwrapped the package, and what was inside? A "shiny new 10-won copper coin" and "a heartfelt letter from her husband."(No one knows what happened to the husband after that day.) Sometimes we give the wrong gifts because we don't understand the other person's heart, and conversely, we are disappointed by gifts that don't reflect our feelings. But God has given us the most accurate, greatest, and unchanging perfect gift. That gift is Jesus Christ. The "motive" behind this gift from God is His boundless love, and the "result" is eternal life, eternal heaven. John 3:16 says... "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

2. The 'Size' of the Gift of Jesus (Width, Length, Height, Depth)
In today's passage, Paul describes Christ's love like a three-dimensional box. Let's measure the 'size' of this gift:
1) Width: We limit people. "I like that person." But there's a condition: "Only those who are compatible with me." It's similar in church. "That person's personality is a bit... well..." Translated, this means, "They're beyond my capacity to handle." However, the boundless width of Jesus' love has no limits. It embraces Jews and Gentiles, good people and sinners, even those who are new to the church today and those who have attended for decades. Jesus' love is a 'wide-ranging love' that loves even those who are difficult to handle. Be thankful for this boundless width of love.
2) Length: While worldly love changes depending on conditions, Jesus' love is an eternal, unbroken 'long-run' love. The expiration date of Jesus' love is 'eternity'. It's not a love that ends when we make mistakes, but an endless love that extends from creation, from eternity past to eternity future. John 13:1, "Jesus loved his disciples to the very end."
Jer.31:3, "The Lord appeared to me in the past, saying: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.'"
Rom.8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life... nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Our flirtations may be long, but our love is short. The "almost-relationship" stage can last for six months, but once we officially start dating, it ends in two weeks. This means that we linger in the ambiguous "almost-relationship" stage for a long time, but when it actually becomes a formal "love" relationship, it ends quickly.
We often say, "I'll try to be patient one more time." This is almost an ultimatum. But God loves us with boundless patience. There are no transfers or ghosting in His love. Rom.5:8, "While we were still sinners..." He loved us not when we were doing well, but when we were at our worst. Let's live our lives with gratitude for this love.
3) Height: This is a noble love that lifts us out of the pit of sin and raises us to the highest and most honorable status (position) as children of God, even to the heavenly throne. Ephe.2:6, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms." He has elevated us to the boundless, high, and honorable place of the heavenly throne where Jesus resurrected and ascended.
4) Depth: Jesus abandoned heavenly glory and descended to the lowest place (the stable). This is Jesus' "self-emptying." Like Jesus, who lay in a manger in the lowest place, His love is a love of empathy that descends to the deepest depths of our sorrow and pain. Heb.4:16. Phil.2:6-8, Jesus lived his public life in low-lying areas such as the region around the Sea of ​​Galilee and Jericho. "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" Although Jesus was the Son of God, He came down to this lowly and sinful world as a human being. And He became a thoroughly serving servant. And He died as a prisoner, even the worst kind of prisoner, a criminal sentenced to death by crucifixion.
[Question] Do you feel like your life is currently in a "deep" pit? Don't worry. Jesus' love goes even deeper than that, reaching down to hold you.

3. Love that Transcends Knowledge (Knowing the Unknown)
In v.19, Paul says, "to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge." This is quite paradoxical. How can we "know" something that "surpasses knowledge"?
This doesn't refer to knowledge memorized intellectually, but rather love known through "experience." It's like reading 100 swimming manuals versus actually jumping into the water and feeling the coolness – that's what true swimming knowledge is.
Ps.34:8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." Faith is not theory, but "tasting"(experiencing). Christmas is not a day to simply recite the verse, "For God so loved the world..." It's a day to actually feel that love covering the hardships of our lives and comforting our wounds. I bless you to experience that love firsthand this Christmas.

4. Conclusion and Application: Unwrap the Gift!
No matter how expensive or wonderful a gift is, it doesn't become yours if you only touch the wrapping paper. The completion of a gift is in "opening" it.
This Christmas, there are two things we should do:
Enjoy God's boundless gift, Jesus Christ: Pray, "God, thank you for sending Jesus for me. Let me feel and experience the breadth, length, height, and depth of that love today." Share the immeasurable gift of Jesus Christ: 1Jn.4:11, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Share the "free gift" you have received from God with those around you through kindness, encouragement, and small acts of sharing. Because the gift we have received is so great, sharing love with our neighbors is the true fulfillment of Christmas. This is what pleases Jesus, the central figure of Christmas.
This week, may you reflect on the "immeasurable size of God's love" that has come into your heart, rather than the dazzling lights of the world,&may you have a richer&warmer Christmas Sunday&Christmas Day than ever before. I pray this in the name of Jesus.

*"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."(Mt.1:23) 
*"Glory to God in the highest,&on earthpeace to men on whom His favor rests."(Lk.2:14)