In his letter to the Ephesians Paul digs deeply into the mystery of Christ. In the realm of the eternal he speaks of four dimensions; height, breadth, length, and depth (Ep 3:18). I’m not really sure what all of these dimensions represent, but I find it interesting that he mentioned four dimensions; which we usually think of as going beyond our three-dimensional world. Since in this passage Paul speaks of the ‘mystery’ of Christ – to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things (vs. 3:9) – it would seem that he desires that we …being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth (vss. 3:17-18)… of this mystery.
Now on one of these dimensions we do quite well, that of breadth. As evangelicals we are focused on service, on spreading the gospel, on increasing church membership. But what about depth? These four dimensions seem to work together to make up a singular spirituality. Just as a three-dimensional object cannot be missing one of its dimensions and remain a three-dimensional object, so in the spiritual sense we need to attend to all dimensions of our spirituality in order to be whole. The point here is that if our Christian service and evangelical witness (breadth) is not rooted in the essence of who God created us to be (depth) then it will be severely lacking.
I don’t know about length and height, but I would invite you to explore with me the dimension of spiritual depth. What we really have to give outwardly into the world around us is not so much our much doing but our essential being. As we explore this dimension of depth I believe we will find some answers to some of our most perplexing questions about our Christian service. How do we deal with ego – pride? How can we be both self-negating and yet be wholly fulfilled? How can we both suffer with Christ and yet find a profound peace? On the surface we struggle with these Scriptural contradictions but as we dig deeper they seem to converge into a revelation of the deep mysteries of the gospel. I therefore invite you to explore with me the depth of the mystery of Christ.
Now on one of these dimensions we do quite well, that of breadth. As evangelicals we are focused on service, on spreading the gospel, on increasing church membership. But what about depth? These four dimensions seem to work together to make up a singular spirituality. Just as a three-dimensional object cannot be missing one of its dimensions and remain a three-dimensional object, so in the spiritual sense we need to attend to all dimensions of our spirituality in order to be whole. The point here is that if our Christian service and evangelical witness (breadth) is not rooted in the essence of who God created us to be (depth) then it will be severely lacking.
I don’t know about length and height, but I would invite you to explore with me the dimension of spiritual depth. What we really have to give outwardly into the world around us is not so much our much doing but our essential being. As we explore this dimension of depth I believe we will find some answers to some of our most perplexing questions about our Christian service. How do we deal with ego – pride? How can we be both self-negating and yet be wholly fulfilled? How can we both suffer with Christ and yet find a profound peace? On the surface we struggle with these Scriptural contradictions but as we dig deeper they seem to converge into a revelation of the deep mysteries of the gospel. I therefore invite you to explore with me the depth of the mystery of Christ.
