Understanding Spiritual Growth - Lesson 8

I. The Ineffable Sea of God’s Love

The early church talked some about the ineffable sea of God’s love. Look at this beautiful word, I-N-E-F-F-A-B-L-E. Now what does ineffable mean? There is no limit to it, there is no bottom. And it completely circumscribed, I mean it just completely engulfs us, encompasses us. Now this ineffable sea of God’s love is what every single one of us is invited to be captured by. Okay, what do I mean by this and what did the early Church mean by this? Well the great invitation to all of us from the Lord Jesus himself is not to lose ourselves in some bottomless sea and thus find nirvana or whatever else you want to find. 

No, the invitation from our Lord Jesus to us was to receive the love of God in our own hearts and then to return that love and to love him with all of our hearts, our souls, our minds, our strengths, and then to turn around and love our neighbor as ourselves. I mean all the Law, all the sum of the Prophets was wrapped up in that.

So here we are, sunrise in the Atlantic ocean right on the coastline, hearing the break of the waves breaking over the beach, being summoned yet again to say yes to God’s love. And to step into the historic processes he has given us to know the fullness of what it means to be enveloped by him and loved by him. To find the fulfillment we were all destined to have in the image of Christ, to grow up into the full maturity of the Son of God, even Jesus our Lord. 

He’s given you a longing for this or you wouldn’t even be watching this right now. He’s put it deep in your heart. And so what do you want to see in your ministry? Now, please take ministry in a biblical New Testament understanding and that is every Christian is called into full-time ministry, not just the pastors. So whether you’re a pastor or a lay person, this is an invitation to you to step into the processes of God’s love to bring not just yourself, but those that you’re called to disciple and shepherd. We bring them—look, we bring them by the Sea of Galilee so we can walk with Jesus along the shoreline; so we can see his miraculous actions in our lives and in their lives. Now, over the centuries, God has shown us how this can be done. It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to start from scratch. Listen, you don’t even have to be innovative. All you’ve got to do is be humble enough to trust and to follow the example that Jesus himself gave and then to see how others through Church history have brought the sheep they are responsible for into the fullness of living that Jesus wanted for them.

How did Jesus do this? All right. He loved everybody. Just think about being at the Mount of Beatitudes and with the Sea of Galilee behind him, the people up on the shore. He taught the whole crowd. He freely gave of himself to the whole crowd. No reservations there about loving the whole. In fact, the New Testament makes it very clear that he loves the whole world. But at the same time, I think we can see that he was highly, highly intentional on pouring his life and all that God had, not just for him, but for the disciples.

So he loved the whole, but he gathered the few. And that’s where he spent the majority of his ministry. That’s what he counted as success. I mean, that was faithfulness to his father, to raise up those few. And how long did it take him to get 11 of them to the finish line? Two and a half, three years. Lived with them, walked with them, taught with them, ate with them. He’s bound to have played games with them, laughed together, cried with them, mentored them, pouring his life into them for those two and a half to three years.

Well after that, we see all sorts of examples in Church history about how we can bring people into the fullness of life that God has for them. It was done always, always by of course, preaching and teaching the gospel to any who would receive, to the crowds or to a few. But it was done by taking a small group of people, such as in the desert community in North Africa and all the way around the Mediterranean. People would gather and live together in community, and they would submit their lives to the teachings of proven elders in the Church. 

This was the beginning of spiritual direction, where they would allow those who had the authority of God given by God, not by anybody else, invested upon them. And they would allow those elders to speak into their lives. And they would be obedient to the Word of God because of that.

Or then think about the Celtic renewal, the Celtic Christianity and the movement that started in Ireland. It started with family systems. As a family—families, they gathered together, discipling children, adults, and reaching out to the community. That system spread into Scotland and to the Isle of Iona. It’s one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever go, the other side of the Atlantic here. And what did they do? They discipled a few. And from the Isle of Iona, the whole of Scotland was evangelized. And then they were able, they moved out after that and went down to Northumbria or Northeast England. 

Movements, movements, how do movements start? You take a few under your wing. You love the few. You care for the few. You shepherd the few. You pour your life into the few. And you allow them the space they need. And you give them the disciplines they need from the Word of God. And you teach them through prayer. And you lead them to serve others. You lead them to worship the Lord their God with all of their hearts, mind, soul, and strength in daily worship and in weekly worship. You lead them in the disciplines of fasting and gathering in community. You lead them to be the people of God. And then you put the ministry right back in their hands. And what does it do? It jumps the ocean. It goes worldwide. Now you can’t orchestrate that. You’ve got to let the Lord Jesus do that for you. So there’s a great invitation for spiritual direction on the Church today to direct souls into the fullness that God has for them. 

There’s a great yearning in God’s Church. There’s a huge need in God’s Church for people to be sunk down into the ineffable sea of God. Not to lose themselves, but to find everything. To find Jesus. And in finding Jesus, to find themselves and to know their unique place in the kingdom of God. 

This is the day, dear friends. This is the day to be serious about the prophet’s call. Dallas Willard, the great prophet, who said “The lack of discipleship in God’s church is the great elephant. It’s got to be approached now to hear, to see, to follow all that the Lord God has for us in terms of following him.”

Now let me love you pastors. Pastors, preaching and teaching is incredibly important. God’s church needs the best that we have of preaching his Word, teaching his precepts, living his doctrines. But it’s never enough on itself, or in itself. Just look at the example of Jesus. You know, he did preach. He did teach. But then he discipled. So there’s a call to you church leaders, to us church leaders, to get the balance here. Get the balance. Preaching and teaching, yes. Knowing God’s Word, yes. Making sure our people know the great doctrines of the faith, yes. 

But then integrating it. Look, letting it come and be who they are. Letting the people of God walk in the fullness of the doctrines of God. This will bring more joy to your life than any great building that you might build can ever bring. It is a value of our Lord himself. It is, in my opinion, the greatest dashboard figure that we need to be looking at. Not how many conversions, though that’s incredibly important. I’m not downplaying that at all. No, it’s how many full-grown disciples walking on the seashore with Jesus, living their lives as ministers of the gospel. It’s how many people are brought into that fullness of life. 

And so it’s going to take both your didactic teaching, your information about who we are as the people of God given to them. But at the same time, it’s going to take your efforts, your love to walk with your people in order to get that gospel into their hearts and lives on a daily basis. Do you hear the great call coming from the gospels to disciple the people? 

Now for you, laity, God bless all of you. We thank the Lord for you. You are the people of God, and you have the great privilege of taking up all of the things of God. I want you to have all of the things of God in your life. I want you to know the gifts that you have that he’s given you. I want you to be able to serve with those gifts. I want you to be able to worship him with all that you are. And then I want you to walk out on the seashore with him and serve the people that you are called to serve. 

Do you hear the call? It’s your birthright. It’s your privilege to walk in the fullness of God and live a consonant life. Coming from that wonderful Latin word consonari: con -  with, sonari - to sound. Sounding together in harmony with God, yourself, with others.

Now, it’s a process y’all. It’s not a program. It’s a process. And that process is worth a high commitment of your time. The process of immersing yourself in the Word on a daily basis, praying on a daily basis, being with the people of God, praying for the people of God on a daily basis, being highly committed to the worshiping community, fasting, serving, and however you are called to do service, learning how to be a steward of all of your life. If we own nothing, it’s all his. How do I manage that for his glory? 

Friends, that’s going to bring you the fullness of the gospel life in your life. You’re going to know this ineffable sea. You’re going to live in it. You’re going to be blessed by it. Now, blessed be the name of the Lord for his call to pastors, to church leaders, to all of the people of God. Lord, give us your courage to step forth and say yes and to come on into the ocean. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.