Ephesians 3:8
“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
Focus Thought
Paul writes that the riches of Christ are unsearchable. In essence, God and His riches are unlistable; they are too big to be contained. God does not break down to fit into the neat and clean parameters of our world and God should never become just another item on the inventory list of our lives. Knowing God is more than just listing concepts and ideas about Him, it is knowing Him intimately in His Fullness by way of relationship.
The Next Step
One of my current favorite worship songs is “How He Loves Us.” I say “current” not because I think I’ll change my mind about it in five minutes, but because it is a fairly recently-written song that I have been enjoying a lot lately. I love the lyric that says, “When all of a sudden/I am unaware of these afflictions, eclipsed by glory/And I realize just how beautiful You are/And how great Your affections are for me.” I don’t know for sure, but I think that pretty well describes how Paul felt when he wrote Ephesians 3:8.
He starts off saying he is less than the least. He isn’t just the least of the least, he’s smaller than that. He is smaller than the small. It’s interesting that a verse beginning with a statement like that would end by talking about the unsearchable riches of Christ. But it happens and it’s awesome. It’s awesome because God uses the “less than the least” to preach the message of “more than the max.”
The Greek word Paul chooses to use to describe our riches in Christ–the one translated “unsearchable” in the KJV–literally means “so vast that it can’t be comprehended.” Another way to put it is “unable to be listed.” It means that if we were to try to list all of the riches, all of the blessings that God has poured into our lives, we could go on forever and never reach the end. And if we ever did find a good stopping point, it would be because we either left some things out or failed to realize just how blessed we really are.
We serve the unlistable God. I say this because lists, by definition, limit.
Let me say that again: Lists limit.
The whole point of a list is to break down what you do or do not have and make it manageable. We make a grocery list to say, “This and only this is what I want.” We make an inventory list to say, “This and only this is what I have.” Lists set limits. Lists cause everything to fit into certain parameters. Lists create categories. And one of the biggest mistakes Christians make is trying to fit God onto the list of their lives. Yes, I said it. God should not be present on the list of your priorities in life.
It’s time to cross God off of your list.
God should not be present on your list, He should permeate it. God should not be separate from your home, He should feel welcome to dwell there. He should not be separate from your workplace, He should be your source of strength and wisdom as you work. He should not be separate from your family, He should be the glue that causes it to stick together. He should not be separate from your church, He should be its driving force. God should not be a separate category of life, He should be…your…life.
In Hosea 4:6, God’s man of the hour writes that his people, God’s people, are destroyed for their lack of knowledge. But the knowledge Hosea refers to isn’t knowledge as we think of it. He isn’t referring to facts or figures or an IQ level. Instead, the word he uses is found all throughout the Old Testament and it refers to the knowledge that comes from a relationship. Relationship as in “And Adam KNEW his wife…” (Gen. 4:1)
Hosea writes that his people are destroyed because they lack an intimate relationship with their God. They had all the rules and regulations. They had religion. They had tradition. They had their lists, but they lacked relationship. And because they lacked relationship, they lacked the intimate knowledge of God that comes through that relationship. Knowing God is more than quoting facts and figures about Him. It’s knowing Him. Not just His commands, the “thou’s” and “thou shalt not’s” of life, but even knowing His preferences, His likes and His dislikes.
When David repented for his sin with Bathsheba, he fell on his face before God and rehearsed God’s own preferences back to Him. He said, “…A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17). David wasn’t drawing on his religion; it said his sin merited death. He wasn’t drawing on the traditions of his people; they said that because of his sin, he couldn’t have access to God. Instead, David drew on his past experiences, his relationship, with God. He said:
“God, you’ve seen me broken before and I remember that even back then, you didn’t leave me. Yes, this time it’s my fault. Yes, this time it’s my own sin that’s put me where I am, but I know You personally, I know Your preferences, and I know that you have a soft-spot for brokenness. So, here I am, broken, at Your feet.”
And the God of the Universe, the God Who does not have to bend His Will, the God who was usually so cut and dry with his madates, speaks to David through his prophet and says, “I have taken away your sin. You shall not die” (II Samuel 12:13, paraphrased). God reaches down and breaks His own law. He shows David grace 1,000 years before it is accessible to everyone else. And He does it because of relationship.
I don’t know about you, but I think the prosperity preachers have it all wrong. Who cares about the blessings of God, when you can have access to the “God Who Blesses”? Who wants things that are limited and can be broken down, dissected, and listed, when we can have access to the unlistable, unlimited God? God is greater than our little lives with our little lists. It’s time to cross God off of the list and give Him free reign.
Here are some things to do this week to put this lesson into practice:
1. Read
Read Psalm 51 and as you do notice how personal the Psalm is. David isn’t just writing a flowery song or praying some pre-written prayer, he’s pouring out his heart. Notice how well he seems to know God and His preferences (vs. 16-19).
2. Reflect
Is your relationship with God like David’s? Can you honestly say that you know Him personally? I don’t mean as your Savior or like Christians are expected to know Him, but do you really KNOW Him? Could you honestly say you know His preferences, not just because of passages you read in a book, but from personal experience?
3. Reflect Some More
How have your past experiences with God helped shape your relationship with Him? For example, do you see God as a Healer because the Bible says so or because you’ve also experienced that in your own life? Do you see Him as Savior because you read it or heard it somewhere? Or do you call Him Savior because that’s what He is to You? Yes, the Bible is our authority on God and what He says, but what instances in your life have made those concepts come alive? Let’s move beyond facts, figures, and clichés and make it personal.
