Rooted in Love
A Sermon on Ephesians 3:17
Originally preached Feb. 3, 1957
Scripture
17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Sermon Description
How can one have an abundant life in Christ? What is the secret to living life to its fullest? In this sermon from Ephesians 3:17 titled “Rooted in Love,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones takes the listener through a section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians to answer these questions. In this section, Paul is praying that Christians will know and seek Christ Himself, not solely the blessings that He offers. The Christian’s primary ambition in life, Dr. Lloyd-Jones says, should not be to aim merely at a good life since all religions have a version of this. Rather, the Christian should have a holiness that flows out of their relationship with Him, and this happens when He dwells in the heart. What occurs when the Christian allows this to take place? As Paul prayed for his readers, they become rooted and grounded in love. The language he uses reminds the readers of a tree and just like the roots of a tree, their love is to grow deeper and stronger every day. “Knowledge,” Paul says, “puffs up, but love builds up.” One’s knowledge of God must drive them to an increased love of God since God is love (1 John 4:8). Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones encourages Christians to grow in love and reminds the listener of why this is so important for the Christian life.
Sermon Breakdown
- The sermon is based on Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians.
- Paul prays that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith.
- The result of Christ dwelling in our hearts is that we become rooted and grounded in love.
- Paul uses the metaphors of a tree and a building to represent being rooted and grounded in love.
- A tree and building share the qualities of depth, firmness, strength, permanence and durability. However, a tree also represents life, vitality, growth and blessing. A building only represents stability.
- Love is the soil in which our Christian life grows. Love alone builds up the Christian life and makes us like Christ.
- Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. Knowledge should lead to love. The test of our Christian life is love.
- Love gives us power and strength in living the Christian life. Faith works by love.
- Love was Christ's motivation. It should be our motivation in all areas of life including holy living.
- Our work and activity is of no value unless rooted in love. Without love, we are nothing.
- God judges our actions by our motivation and love, not by amount or appearance.
- The Christian life arises from love, is energized by love and constrained by love.
The Book of Ephesians
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.