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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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The Unbounded Love of God |
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Ephesians
3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12 First
Sunday after Epiphany January
10, 2010
It is estimated that the circumference of the earth is about 24,900
miles at the equator. The sun
in our solar system is about 93 million miles away from us.
The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, is also thought to be
the closest star to us, other than our sun.
Sirius is estimated to be a mere 8.5 year journey, if you are able
to travel at the speed of light which happens to be 186,000 miles per
second, or 16 billion miles per day, or 5,869,696,000,000 miles per year.
That means Sirius is about 49 trillion miles from earth. It is estimated that our galaxy is 100,000 light years in
diameter, that's 600 trillion miles, give or take a few trillion. Our
closest large galactic neighbor is thought to be Andromeda, at 2.5 million
light years away. And it is only one of billions of other galaxies in the
universe.
So our universe is immense beyond our ability
to imagine, yet it is nothing compared to God. God, "spreadeth out
the heavens," says Job 9:8. The
moon and stars are the work of His fingers, says Psalm 8:7.
"He telleth the numbers of the stars; He calleth them by
name," says Psalm 147:4. We can't even count the galaxies, but God knows each and
every star. We don't know where the boundary of the universe is.
But we do know that, no matter how big it may be, it is less than a
drop of rain in the ocean, compared to God.
God is infinite. He is infinite in time and He is infinite in His being.
I use the word, "being" in place of "size"
because size is an irrelevant word when talking about God.
Size is only relevant when speaking about things that exist in time
and space. They have "size" because they take up space.
God transcends both time and space.
Time and space exist in God; He does not exist in them.
So all we can say about the being of God is that He is infinite.
But, as infinite as God is, God's love is just as infinite.
It is as infinite and unbounded as God Himself.
The love of God is so big earth cannot keep
it out. We tried. We
kicked God out of this planet eons ago.
We told Him to keep His narrow minded, bigoted rules and ideas to
Himself. We told Him we were
going to do things our own way, and we didn't want Him around interfering
with us. We were convinced
that we were on a quest that would reward us with happiness, joy, and all
good things. Instead we have
found strife, and suffering and grief.
The trail of broken lives that marks the history of our quest is
ample proof of this.
Yet our quest could not keep the love of God
out of this world. He is
unwilling to let us continue to reap our harvest of tears.
While we have madly gone our own way like a dog chasing a car, God
has continued to call us, to invite us to come home, to come back to Him,
to come back to real happiness, and joy.
He called a people out of the nations of earth to be the recipients
of His Law and the heralds of His grace. He
named them Israel, "Prince of God," and told them they were to
be a light to the nations (Is. 42:6-7).
He sent prophets and wise men to them, to teach them His laws and
lead them in His ways. He
stood by them and worked with them, even though they were often more
obstinate and wicked as the other nations around them.
And finally, He came to earth Himself.
We all know the story of Christmas.
We all know how the Lord all of creation was made flesh and dwelt
among us. We all know He came
to seek and to save that which was lost (Lk. 19:10).
We all know that "God so loved the world that He "gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life" (Jn. 3:16).
Love came to earth that first Christmas in Bethlehem.
Love came down from Heaven; love so great it became a human being
to speak to us in our language and in ways we could understand.
Love came not to tell us everything is "O.K."
It came not to tell us to continue on as we have been, and it will
all be fine in the end. Had
it said that it would not have been Love speaking; it would have been
Hate. It would not have been
Truth, but Lie. We all know
everything isn't "O.K."
Everything is terrible. We face drought, hunger, earthquakes,
disease, war, crime, oppression, drug abuse, spouse abuse, child abuse,
abuse of power... and death. The
things we sought for happiness and meaning have been shown to be prisons
of the cruelest sort, and the things we thought were pleasures unlimited
have been shown to be instruments of sorrow with which we torture
ourselves day and night. Love
speaks Truth to us. Love
tells us we are imprisoned in our desire for freedom.
Love tells us sin hurts. Love
calls us to come out of our sin and into God.
I said the Love of God is unbounded.
By this I do not refer primarily to the limits of time and space.
God is not limited by time and space, neither is His Love.
I refer to other kinds of bounds that often separate people from
people. I refer to barriers
that are more mental than material. In
other words, I refer to attitudes and ideas we use to exclude ourselves
from one another. God's love is not limited by our boundaries.
Nationality, race, gender, social status, wealth, and poverty are
no barriers to it. It is open
to all people of all times and all places.
Most importantly, it is not limited by sin.
There is no sinner outside of the reach of this Love.
There is no sin that cannot be washed out of God's remembrance. There is no sinner who cannot be completely forgiven and
entirely restored to full participation in His Love.
The coming of the Wise Men shows the unbounded Love of God.
These men were from the east.
They were from Babylon, the ancient enemy of Israel.
They were from a nation that conquered Israel with brutal war,
destroyed the Temple of God, executed the priests, and mass murdered the
Jewish people by the thousands, finally taking them into captivity and
subjection to a foreign land. But
even the Babylonians were not beyond the reach of the Love of God.
Somehow, during the Jewish captivity in Babylon, a spiritual seed
was planted in the Babylonians that led them to expect a King to be born
in Israel, who would be King of the Jews, and King of all people.
This King would in fact bring people together out of their worldly
kingdoms and into the Kingdom of God.
The only limit to this Kingdom is the limit we place on it in our
own hearts. The only limit is
our unwillingness to receive it.
You may be concerned about the spiritual
condition of a friend or family member. Do not despair. Be
an example to them, and pray in faith that God will yet bring them to
Christ. Do not despair even
of those who have already been taken from this world.
God can save anyone, and the person who is truly converted is
saved, even if that conversion occurs in the very last moments of life.
You may be concerned that your sins are too
bad to be forgiven, or that you need to do something more than simply
believe in Christ to be saved. Not
true. The love of God is
greater than all of your sin. The
blood of Christ is strong to save. The
worst sin and the vilest sinner are as nothing compared to the infinite
love of God. "This Man
receives sinners." To you, as to all, the word of God is,
"believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"
(Acts 16:31). And, if you believe, in true and biblical faith, He has
removed your sins as far away as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12,
Rom. 8:1). Let
us pray. Holy
God Thou art of purer eyes than to look upon sin, yet Thy love is great
enough to overcome our sin and present us to Thyself clean and pure and
Holy, because the Sacrifice of Christ is able to cleanse all who believe.
Cleanse us, dear God, and we will be clean. Amen. "Now
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, power and dominion, both now
and ever. Amen" (Jude 24-25).
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