Discipleship. Love. and the Glory of God - Philippians 1:9-11

 

Discipleship, Love, and the Glory of God

Philippians 1:9-11

Introduction: “A little girl was sitting by her grandfather, studying his rough, wrinkled face. She felt her own face with her hand. And then reached over, and touched grandpa’s face. She asked, ‘Grandpa, did God make you?’ He replied, ‘Yes he did dear, a long time ago.’ Then she touched her own smooth face and asked, ‘Did God make me?’ The old man replied, ‘Yes dear, just a little while ago.’ She finally said, ‘He’s getting a lot better at it, isn’t he?’” We love children, and we are thankful for the families in our church who are seeking to raise their kids in the way of the Lord!  The apostles had that kind of love for the people under their care. Our series in Philippians today continues as Paul prays for his friends in Philippi. Paul at times called the believers he discipled his children in Christ. The Apostle John seemed to use that metaphor even more frequently. He wrote in his old age, in 3 John, verses 2-4,  

² Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.  ³ For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth.  ⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

      I’ve titled this message, “Discipleship, Love, and the Glory of God.” In our series on Philippians, we’ve seen that Paul is writing a letter of friendship and encouragement to a church that he knew well, a church that was doing reasonably well. Even so, the substance of his prayer in these verses is a reminder to them, and to us, not to be complacent in the Christian Life. There were apparently no glaring heresies in the Philippian church, no real crises that they were facing in terms of living out their faith, but he is urging them not to be complacent, but to continue growing in their love for God, growing in their understanding and discernment of truth, and in living out their faith day-to-day.  There is an interesting contrast with 1:6, where God’s sanctifying work in them comes to the forefront. There he said, “…being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion in the Day of Christ Jesus…” In contrast, we see here our human responsibility: in the light of God’s work in us, how should we then live?  Philippians 2:12,13 will put this tension, the indicative and the imperative, together again… 

“Therefore, my beloved… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,  ¹³ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

We need to pursue intimacy with God, receiving His Word and opening our hearts, allowing his Spirit to fill and control our lives.  We need to follow Christ’s example of servanthood, and reflect his character more, allowing his love to flow through us as we relate to our neighbors. Do you long for more in your Christian life? Paul himself describes his own pushing ahead to grow in Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  There was no complacency in Paul’s walk with the Lord, nor should there be in ours! 

The BIG Idea: Pray for growth in love, knowledge, and holiness, for the glory of God. We’ll consider that from three perspectives…

I. A Prayer for Love to Abound (9a).

II. A Prayer for Light and Discernment (9b-10a).

III. A Prayer for a Life that Glorifies God (10b-11).

I. A Prayer for Love: “…that your love may abound still more and more…”  Increasing in love is the idea here. The object of love is not specified – I think because love for God and love for my neighbor really can’t be separated. Jesus called loving God the greatest commandment, and then put loving our neighbors beside it. “To love the world is really no chore, my only real problem is my neighbor next door.” Right…

⁹ And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment…

       Paul implies here that the Philippians are already characterized by love.  He prays that that love wouldn’t stagnate, but would abound still more. Love defines authentic Christianity. 1 John talks a lot about that. We read for example in 1 John 3:10b-11,  

“…anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.  ¹¹ For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another…”

Why do you love your kids?  Because they are yours!  It’s love that never stops, never fails. God is our Father. CS Lewis said, “On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for him.” How great the Father’s love for us!

       The Philippian church was characterized by love, but they were not without problems (cf. Phil 4:2,3). So, Paul urges them to abound still more in love.  There is always room for growth in the Christian life! The starting point is God’s love for us… Augustine grasped God’s love, and responded, “You called, you cried, you shattered my deafness, you sparkled, you blazed, you drove away my blindness, you shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath, and I pant for you.” That kind of genuine love for God overflows in our love for one another.

       As John wrote in 1 John 4:10-11, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” An unbelieving Greek writer from the 2^nd century said, “It is incredible to see the fervor with which the people of that religion help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first legislator [Jesus] has put it in their heads that they are brethren.” The church father Tertullian observed,: “It is our care for the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. “look!” they say. “How they love one another! Look how they are prepared to die for one another!” That is not radical Christianity, it is normal, biblical Christianity. Pray for growth in love, knowledge, and holiness, for the glory of God. So, we pray for love, and we see…

II. A Prayer for Light: Knowing God and discerning his will “…in all knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent…” (9b-10a).

“…with knowledge and all discernment,  ¹⁰ so that you may approve what is excellent…”

       Where are you in your Christian life? Some of us are like Christopher Columbus: “He didn’t know where he was going.  He didn’t know where he was when he got there. He didn’t know where he had been when he returned.” I have been there… I think! Paul is praying for growth in the life of the Philippians. What does that look like? The previous petition sets the foundation: ever growing love. And that is rooted not in mindless emotion, but in deepening knowledge of the truth. When it comes to our relationship with God, to know Him, is to love Him.

       Paul prays for increasing knowledge of God - Our sure knowledge of God is based on His revelation, the Bible. By all means, read it, learn it, hide it in your heart! But our goal is not merely academic, it is knowing God personally, intimately. “There is a big difference between knowing about God, and knowing God!” The word employed here is a less common word for “knowledge.” Paul used the word “gnosis” repeatedly in the Corinthian letters. Now, ten years later or so, he prefers this compound word, epignosis, which may serve to intensify its meaning (the NASB translates, “real knowledge”). Some commentators suggest it alludes to a depth of knowledge that comes from experience or personal relationship.  We don’t need to simply know facts about God, we need to know him personally, intimately.  To know Him is to love Him. It’s not merely emotion, but emotion based on the joy of knowing truth.

          “…real knowledge and discernment…” Ever increasing moral insight - Discerning truth from error.  “…in order that you may approve the things that are excellent…” Paul’s prayer for the Philippians is that they would be able to discern the things that really matter – that they would have perspective (I Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6). We tend to focus on the surface and neglect the heart, Paul says to discern what really matters.

 But even discernment is not an end in itself. Paul prays that our love will abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment in order that we might approve what is excellent. It's not enough just to know something, neither is it enough to just know whether something is good or bad. Verse 10 is the goal of knowledge and discernment. What God wants and what Paul is praying toward is that the Philippians, and you as well as me, approve what is excellent, the things that really matter. I think the NLT get the sense here,

“For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ's return (Phil 1:10, NLT).

       God wants our heart. “Approval” is a matter of the heart agreeing with the head that something is valuable and that you want it—that you prefer it to things of lesser value, that you perceive it to be excellent and you love its excellence. Later in this letter Paul says knowing Christ is the heart of the matter.

       Do you long for more in your Christian life? Paul did, and so should we. We should desire to grow as his disciples: *Pray for growth in love, knowledge, and holiness, for the glory of God! So we see a prayer for love and for light leads to…

III. A Prayer for a Life that glorifies God: We are changed by God, and our life is to bring glory to God. “…in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ…”

“…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.”

       We see Paul remembering again the truth that this story is moving toward a conclusion: Twice in this opening he refers to the “Day of the Lord.” Jesus is returning.  Eschatology is not an abstract concept in the NT: because Jesus is returning, we need to be faithful, pressing on in the mission he has given us, striving to know Him better and love Him more.  Be watchful, be ready, be faithful. In this case the result will be for Paul’s readers to “…be pure and blameless…” on that day. Ray Stedman made an interesting observation about the word translated “pure,” which occurs here, and only one other time in the NT. He says,

In the ancient world often… they made little images or pottery which would develop cracks. In order to pass these off as perfect, some of the merchants would fill the cracks with wax so the crack was not observable. There was a way of find out. They put the item out in the hot sun for awhile. If there was wax, the sun would melt it and the crack would become visible, so it was "sun tested". Paul is saying that the Christian life ought to be one without hypocrisy, without wax, so constantly exposed to the light that is in Jesus… that it is continually Son tested. This is where the Christian lives, in the light of the glory that streams from the face of the Father in heaven. If in our lives before Him we hide nothing we are then sincere, blameless, and as a result we are filled with the fruits of righteousness.

       Maturing and persevering “…having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ…” The evidence of our genuineness, the proof that our approval of what is excellent is more than lip service, more than mere mental assent, is that we will have been filled up with the fruit of righteousness. What does that look like? Our lives will show forth the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  ²³ gentleness, self-control… (Gal 5:22-23).  Our choices and our deeds will substantiate that we really did approve what is excellent.  It comes through Jesus… (Cf. Eph 2:10, Phil 2:12,13). It comes through knowing who you are in Him.

On March 11, 1830, a little English girl was doing her lessons with her tutor, and the lesson that day was on the royal family. As she studied the genealogical chart in the book, she became aware that she was next in line for the throne! At first she wept, and then she looked at her tutor and said, “I will be good!” The fact that little Victoria would one day be queen motivated her to live her life at a higher level.

Let’s remember who we are and who’s we are! We are children of the King! As our love abounds, as we abide in Christ, our hearts are changed. Our love grows. We more and more put off the old man and put on Jesus. We are changed by being close to Jesus.

Dr. Charles Weigle composed the favorite “No one ever cares for me like Jesus…” One day he visited Pasedena, CA to go to a Bible Conference.  Early that morning he had the opportunity to walk through some of the famous rose gardens as the roses were in full bloom and their fragrance filled the air.  Later he arrived at the hotel where the conference was being held.  As he took his seat a man turned to him and said “Dr. Weigle, I know where you’ve been.  You toured one of our lovely gardens, I can smell the roses on your clothing.” He replied, “My prayer is to walk so closely with the Lord that the fragrance of His grace will pervade my being.  I want them to know by my words, actions, and songs that I have been with Jesus…”

Our life should be so changed! Hudson Taylor said, “If your father and mother, your sister and brother, if the very cat and dog in the house are not happier for your being Christian, it is a question whether you really are.” That’s convicting!

       Because the fruit of a changed life comes through Jesus, God gets the glory. We’ve looked back to 1:6 in the beginning of this message, let’s look ahead to 2:12,13: “…Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” We seek Him, we pray for growth, but God is at work in us, so He gets the glory. Notice in v.11, our Goal: The glory of God “…to the glory and praise of God…”  The fruit of righteousness comes through Jesus, so God gets the glory!

What is God saying to me in this passage? It is easy to lose the joy, the excitement we had when we first believed. Don’t be complacent, or lukewarm in your faith. Pray for growth in love, knowledge, and holiness, for the glory of God.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? 

1) Is it your desire that your love abound more and more, your love for God, and your love for others?  Seek intimacy with God – the more we know Him, the more we’ll love Him. The more we Love Him, the more we’ll love others and discern the things that are excellent, the things that really matter: Guarding our tongue, being quick to forgive, seeking the best for our neighbor. By this men will know we are His disciples!

2) We should pray this for ourselves, and we should pray it for others. The goal of our mission is worship… to God be the glory!

3) As we prepare our hearts to continue in worship in Communion, remember what the elements symbolize: His body given, His blood shed… for us!  Don’t fall into the trap of knowing about God, reciting right doctrine is good, knowing the Bible is important, but remember God is real, He is the Creator, the King of the Universe, and He has spoken. He has revealed Himself in His Word and in history. He spared not the Son, but delivered Him up for us all… God commended His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is the God we worship. This is the Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we remember at the Table. AMEN.