Philippians 1:9-11; Gospel Prayer ~ 20230903 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
09/03 Philippians 1:9-11; Gospel Prayer; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20230903_philippians-1_9-11.mp3
Prayer and Praying
We are in Philippians 1, looking at prayer. Paul gave thanks to God in all his remembering of the Philippians, always in all of his prayers on behalf of all of them, making his requests with joy because of their fellowship with him in the gospel from the first day right up to the present, when they sent Epaphroditus to him in prison to minister to his needs. Paul is confident that ‘he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. His confidence in all of them is warranted, btuecause he holds them in his heart; and they all are fellow-fellowshippers with him in this grace in both in his imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Paul calls God as witness that he longs for all of them with the affections of Jesus Christ. Gospel confidence, that grows out of gospel partnership, that expresses itself in gospel prayer.
In verses 8-11 he talks about his praying; who he prays for (all of them); how often he prays (always); and the ground of his thankfulness for all of them (their gospel partnership in God’s grace). In verses 9-11 he gives the content of his prayer for them, and observing the prayers of others, especially prayers recorded for us in the Bible, is a great way to learn how to pray and what to pray for.
Love Abounding
Philippians 1:9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Paul prays for their love to abound still more and more. This means that they are practicing love (and this love is ἀγάπη love; God’s own self-sacrificial pursuit of the greatest good of the one who is loved). But they, like all of us, have room to grow in love, to deepen in love, or as Paul puts it ‘that your love may abound still more and more’. Paul has expressed his own thankfulness, his own joy, his own confidence in them. He has said ‘I have you in my heart’ and ‘I long for you (expressing intense emotional desire) with the affections (literally with the bowels; the gut level emotions) of Christ Jesus. It is clear that Paul loves the Philippians.
And it is clear that the church in Philippi loves Paul. They sacrificed to serve him, to minister to his needs; they sent Epaphroditus, who almost died in seeking to serve Paul. They supported him emotionally, physically, spiritually, both personally and in his gospel ministry from the day they met him.
But we will learn that they have room to grow. In chapter 2 he exhorts them to unity and humility; he warns them against rivalry, conceit, and self-focus. He warns against grumbling and disputing. In chapter 3 there is danger of false teachers who out of pride put confidence in their own performance. There is division in the church; in chapter 4 he even names two ladies and publicly begs them to agree in the Lord.
It is worth noting that love lacks an object. Paul does not tell them to love God or to love Paul or to love each other more. He is praying that their love abound; that they be more characterized by love. Love always has an object, but the focus here is on the one who loves, not on that which is loved. God is love (1Jn.4:8,16), and we are to become more like God.
Informed Discerning Love
‘This I pray, that your love abound still more and more, in knowledge and all insight.’ True love is not blind. God knew what his love would cost him when he set his love on us. Nor is love mere emotional sentiment or even a powerful attraction. Paul expresses a deep and powerful emotional connection with this church, but when he prays for their love, he prays that it would abound not in emotional attachment, but in knowledge and insight.
E.F. Scott wrote in 1955 “Nothing perhaps is more harmful than the easy good nature which is willing to tolerate everything; and this is often mistaken for the Christian frame of mind. Love must fasten itself on the things which are worth loving, and it cannot do so unless it is wisely directed”
Love is not a nebulous nothing open to be defined however we wish; John tells us
1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Love is defined by sacrificial service for the good of others. God loved in this way; that he gave (Jn.3:16).
Scottish minister John Eadie (1858) wrote “We give κοινωνίᾳ a more extensive meaning, and consider ἀγάπη as its root and sustaining power. It is love for Christ’s image and Christ’s work – for all that represents Him on earth – His people and His cause; that holy affection which, while it unites all in whom it dwells, impels them to sympathize with all suffering, and co-operate with all effort, in connection with the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” (p.19).
Love is the root of gospel partnership, gospel fellowship. The Philippians partnered with Paul, sent people to minister to him, sent financial assistance to him, out of love. Love for Paul, yes. But love for the gospel; ultimately love for the God they came to know through the gospel. So Paul prays that their love abound still more and more in knowledge and all insight. In 1 Corinthians 8:1 Paul warns of the danger of knowledge without love; here he prays that their love would be characterized by knowledge. Personal, experiential knowledge.
1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ...16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Knowledge is dangerous without love, but love is fueled by knowledge. The more we know God, experience him, abide in his love for us, the more we will be characterized by love.
Paul prays our love would be characterized by knowledge and all insight. Insight is a word that shows up often in Proverbs. It is a wisdom word, that discerns how best to express and apply love in ways that are most fit to the specific situation. “The combination of knowledge and depth of insight unites the personal knowledge of Christ and a practical understanding of people” (Hansen, PNTC, p.59). And that is what Paul prays next;
Approve What Is Excellent
That by testing you may approve what is excellent. The refiner’s fire proves the genuineness of gold. In this way our love ought to abound in knowledge and discernment, so that we can prove that which stands out as best, even among other good options. What does love look like in this particular circumstance? There may be multiple ways to show love, but which is best? Knowledge and discernment are needed to approve what excels above other choices.
Sincerity Without Stumbling
Paul prays that our love will abound, and he prays that we will be pure and blameless in the day of Christ. Pure, sincere, without moral stain, washed clean by the blood of Jesus and transformed by his Spirit. And blameless, not causing another to stumble, giving no offense (1Cor.10:32). Love must have pure, sincere motives. Love must not put a stumbling block in another’s way.
Paul prays that we would be pure and blameless to the day of Christ. Paul’s desire is:
Ephesians 5:27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Pray for What you are Certain of
I want us to notice something about prayer here. In verse 6 Paul expressed his confidence that the one who began a good work in us would bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. Here he prays that we would be found pure and blameless on the day of Christ. If you are confident that something will happen, do you pray for it to happen? Paul did! He is absolutely confident in the rock-solid theological truth of the faithfulness of God to finish what he starts. So he prays that the Philippians would be pure and blameless on the day of Christ. Paul believes that God will do what he promised, and he asks God to fulfil what he promised. If this doesn’t make sense to us, I think we are misunderstanding prayer! When Jesus taught his followers to pray (Mt.6:9-13), he taught them to ask that God’s name be treated as holy, that his kingdom would come, that his will would be be done. We can be confident that it will! At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. God’s kingdom is among us, because King Jesus is with us, and God’s will will not be thwarted. So praying this prayer is asking God to do what we are already certain he will do. Prayer is not attempting to convince God do to something outside his will and contrary to his character. Prayer is aligning ourselves with God’s nature and will, and inviting him to do what he promised to do. This is what John instructs us to do:
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
This understanding helps makes sense of what James writes:
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Faith is believing God will do what he said he will do. If we think we are asking God to do something contrary to his will or character, then it’s not out of faith, and we can have no confidence.
Paul expresses his confidence in the faithfulness of God, and then he calls on God to fulfill his promises. And then he spends the rest of the letter exhorting and persuading the Philippians to take steps to align themselves with God’s will, because he is confident that ‘he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.’ Paul’s confidence translates into prayer and loving and wise steps to bring about the thing that would bring glory to God.
Filled with Righteous Fruit
‘That you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.’ Pure and blameless are negative; they describe what we must be without. But he describes not only what we must lack, but what we must be filled up with. His prayer is that we be crammed full, completely filled up with, filled to overflowing with the fruit of righteousness. Righteous fruit must be found in us. We could look to Paul’s Galatian letter for a definition of this righteous fruit;
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; ...
Through Jesus Christ
And it is clear this is fruit. It does not originate in us. It is not from us. This is not the works of the flesh. In Galatians it is called the fruit of the Spirit; the Spirit of God generates the fruit in us. Here in Philippians the means through which the fruit is produced is identified; it is fruit that comes through Jesus Christ. Jesus himself told us;
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
In order to bear fruit for God, we must be abiding in Jesus. Our love must abound in knowledge; intimate abiding knowledge of Jesus.
To the Glory and Praise of God
This fruit comes through Jesus, it is fruit of the Spirit, but it is for something, something much bigger than us. We are not meant to be blameless and fruitful so that people look at us and say ‘wow!’ Remember, Paul begins this section by thanking God, because God is the one who deserves to be thanked. He is rejoicing in the Philippians’ partnership in the gospel, but he doesn’t directly thank the Philippians, because this is all grace. They are co-participants with Paul in grace. They are getting what they don’t deserve. The fruit is from the Holy Spirit, it comes through Jesus Christ, and it is to the glory and praise of God. The ultimate purpose of our fruitfulness, is to glorify God. Jesus said:
John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
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1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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2023.09.03 Sermon Notes
Philippians 1:9-11; Gospel Prayer
verses 3-8; about prayer
who? All of them
when? Always
what? Thankful for gospel partnership
verses 9-11; Paul’s prayer
---that love would abound (1 John 4:8,16)
------in knowledge and all insight (1 John 3:16; 4:8-10.16)
---------to approve what is excellent
---that we will be pure and blameless (1 Corinthians 10:32; Ephesians 5:27)
------for the day of Christ (1 John 3:16; 4:8-10,16)
---------filled with righteous fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)
------------through Jesus Christ (John 15:4-5)
---------------to the glory and praise of God (John 15:8; Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:31)
Pray for what you are certain of
Philippians 1:6, 9-10; Matthew 6:9-13; 1 John 5:14-15; James 1:5-8
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org