For example, there are many ways, and things I do, to try and show my wife that I love her. But I spend more time praying for her than I do talking about my love for her, or buying her chocolates. And she doesn’t necessarily know what I pray, or when I pray for her, but she knows that I do pray for her. And to a believer that’s encouraging, as well as humbling. For that reason it’s good to let people know that you’re praying for them; it lets them know that you love them, and that you’re willing to petition God on their behalf.
By necessity prayer is a completely selfless exercise. It involves admitting your own inability to solve a problem, and relying on God to provide. Therefore praying for those that you love is good for you, and for them. And like I said, I think it is one of the deepest expressions of our love for someone, and it will only strengthen that love, because it is making God central to that relationship.
Husbands, if you want a strong relationship with your wife, you must pray for her. Wives, if you want a close relationship with you husband, you must pray for him. Church members, if you want a strong relationship with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, you must pray for them!
In verse 8 of Philippians chapter 1 Paul speaks strongly of his love for the Philippians. There he says:
“For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.”
Here he calls God, in a judicial sense, to witness just how strongly he longs for the Philippians. Only in the most solemn statements would Paul call God to witness, but here he needed to, because his love was so great.
This is not the way I would long after a good hamburger, and I really enjoy my hamburgers. Rather, this is the way that a soldier who has been off fighting a war for years would long after his wife and family, the ones he loves.
During the American Civil War a soldier named J.C. Morris wrote a letter to his dear wife, in it he says:
“My Dear Amanda,
It has been a long time since I had an opportunity of writing to you, and I gladly avail myself of the present opportunity. I am not certain that I will have a chance of sending this but I will write a few lines any how and try and get it off to let you know that I am among the living...
I am in hopes that I will get a whole package of letters from you in a few days. I never wanted to see you half as bad in all my life as I do now. I would give anything in the world to see you and the children. I have no idea when I will have that pleasure. We can't get any news here - do not know what is going on in the outside world...
Write often I will get them some time. I will write every chance, do not be uneasy when you do not get letters, for when we are scouting around as we have been it is impossible to write or to send them off if we did write… My love and a thousand kisses to my own sweet Amanda and our little boys. How my heart yearns for thou that are so near and dear to me. Goodbye my own sweet wife, for the present.
~ As ever your devoted and loving Husband, J.C. Morris.
It is that “I would give anything in the world to see you” kind of love that Paul had for his fellow believers in
The sacrificial love for the brethren that Christians are capable of is a mighty testimony to God’s work in their lives. I wrote in the last post on Philippians about how a love for the brethren is an evidence of salvation, and this is just one example of how powerful a testimony that is. Love will literally transform our lives. But Paul, in this declaration of his affection for the Philippians, is careful to give credit where credit is due: Namely, to Christ. He says: “I long for you all with (or in) the affection of Jesus Christ.” Paul’s love for the Philippians was born out of a love for Christ. Because he loved Christ so much, he loved the Philippians as Christ did. Paul had learned to love what Christ loves. In our walk with Christ we need to be sensitive to the heart of God, we need to love Him so much that it becomes natural for us to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates. We must love the things of God.
As an outflow of Paul’s love for Christ, and for the Philippians, we see that he prayed: Which shows both his love for Christ, because that is who he is praying to, and his love for the Philippians, because that is who he is praying for. In verses 9-11 Paul tells them the content of his prayers for them; and I don’t think that this is one of his prayers written out as an example of exactly what he prays for them. Instead, I think it is Paul telling them, in general, what He is praying for God to accomplish in their lives. In verses 9-11 he says:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
In verse 9 we see that the first thing Paul prayed for was that their “love may abound still more and more.” Why is this the first thing he prayed? Because everything else that God wanted to do in their lives needed to flow out of a love that was abounding still more and more. And this principle is the same for us. God won’t do a mighty work in our lives if we won’t first learn to love as He loves. That is what is meant by love abounding “still more and more.” An overflowing, controlling, love that is from God. 1 John
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
You see, love not only proves our salvation, but it provides for our sanctification. God works on us, sanctifying us, because He loves us. In turn, we desire to be sanctified, to be set apart for the Lord’s purposes, because we love Him.
You cannot live the Christian life without love, and you cannot live the Christian life to its full potential without a love that is abounding still more and more. And that love comes as we learn to abide in God, who is love.
But Paul doesn’t stop there; he doesn’t want them to exercise careless love. Rather, he wants them to have an overflowing love, but he wants it to be controlled by “knowledge and discernment” as it says at the end of verse 9. What Paul’s saying to them in this verse is that he wants their love to be tempered by a knowledge of God that has been gained through real life experience with Him. And because of that knowledge of God, they are able to use discernment as they act in love.
Question: Are you growing in experiential knowledge of God? Do you know what it means to trust Him, more today, than you did last year? Do you know the presence of God as you worship, in a greater way than ever before? Are you more consumed with the beauty of the Lord than ever before? And finally, do you know the heart of God, because of time spent in prayer and in reading His Word, better than ever before?
That is what I mean by experiential knowledge of God. Knowing Him, because you speak with Him daily, knowing Him, because you know His Word, and knowing that you know Him, because you practice what His Word teaches. That is how love is exercised “in knowledge.” The better you know God, the better you know how to work where He is working, and how to act as He would act.
Love cannot freely express itself without the proper boundaries of knowledge and discernment.
Discernment, the ability to see the difference between ‘good and bad’, or ‘better and best’ is one of the most necessary things for a proper walk with the Lord, but sadly, nothing is lacking as much in North American Christianity today as discernment: it is a lost art. The vast majority of people no longer know how to tell the difference between ‘truth and error’ or ‘truth and half-truth.’ All they know is what they’ve been told, or what they “feel” is right. There are countless examples I could give you, of areas in our own lives, that we don’t have a clue why we believe, except that we were told, or feel, that it’s right. And neither of those are good enough reasons.
In Acts
Just because I or anyone else in any position of authority tells you something, it is not automatically true. So I challenge you, make sure that what you are being taught is from Scripture, and that it remains true to Scripture. And then, make sure that the decisions you make in your life are guided by a knowledge of God, and a knowledge of Scripture.
You must be full of overflowing love that operates within the bounds of “knowledge and discernment” so that, verse 10:
“… You may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.”
Love, operating within the bounds of knowledge and discernment, will enable you to choose the things that are the most excellent. There are many “good” things, but often “good” is the enemy of “best,” and to have an effective life you must be able to discern between the two.
Basically the opening of verse 10 is just taking our need for discernment one step further. It’s talking about the ability we need in order to discern between two seemingly, equally, good things. Or the ability to discern what the heart of God is on an issue that may not be spoken of clearly in Scripture.
To “approve the things that are excellent” is moving beyond simply a knowledge of what to do, and what not to do. It is confidently placing your stamp of approval on something because you know that it is right in the eyes of God. And you know that it’s right in His eyes because you have an intimate knowledge of Him and His Word.
I cannot belabour our need for discernment enough. The vast majority of North American “Christians” make a mockery of God and His Word because they cannot discern the truth! They don’t know His Word, they don’t know His heart, and so they live like fools. We must be able to discern the Will of God with confidence! Especially in this world that seeks to destroy the very idea of Him. We must show discernment in all of our choices. Why? “That you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” You will live a life of discernment so that God will be glorified. Anything less and you are serving yourself.
By the way, it’s very easy to make good moral choices for selfish reasons. For example: what is the reason that you don’t smoke? Because it glorifies God in your body, Or because you don’t want to take the health risk? Or why aren’t you out late at the bars with strange women? Is it because God sees that as wickedness, or is it just because you have a reputation to uphold?
What it comes down to is this: Do you make the proper moral decision because it honours you? Or because it honours God? And actually, it’s pretty easy to tell. If you live like the rest of the word, or like the majority of North American Christianity, then you’re probably only making your choices so that you look like a “respectable” citizen, or a “good” Christian. But if you live a life that is extremely devoted to Christ, a life that the world thinks looks stupid, then chances are, you’re doing it for the glory of God.
Having said that, there are benefits for us as well when we live a life of discernment, namely: “that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ…”
The word “sincere” literally means “judged by sunlight” the way you would hold something under a bright light if you want to be sure that it is genuine. Likewise, a Christian who shows discernment will have a life that is free to be examined. If you show discernment, you can live your life like an open book, without fear of being “found out” or “caught” in some sin.
Then it goes on to say “without offence until the day of Christ,” Not meaning that if you show discernment you’ll never sin, but that you’ll sin a lot less, and when you do, you will repent and be restored into fellowship with God, being preserved until the day of Christ, until we are with the Lord and are rewarded according to our works.
Then verse 11 says:
“Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
I find this to be a neat verse because it shows how similar God’s plan for believers is in the New Testament, to what it was in the Old Testament. Isaiah 61:3, talking about God’s plan for believers, says:
“…That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
Now let me parallel those for you:
Isaiah: “That they may be called trees of righteousness”
Philippians: “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness”
Isaiah: “The planting of the LORD”
Philippians: “which are by Jesus Christ”
Isaiah: “that He may be glorified.”
Philippians: “to the glory and praise of God.”
God’s plan, from the beginning, is that our lives should be full of righteousness, “filled with the fruit of righteousness” and that they should be lived “to the glory and praise of God.” Which we know can only be done because of what Christ has done for us.
In closing I want you to remember some of the things we talked about.
First, has God given you an overflowing love for Him and for others? If not, why not? Because it’s not that He’s unwilling, but it could be that you are, or that you’ve never asked.
Second, do all that you can to grow in experiential knowledge of God. Absorb His Word! Apply it to your life! And consistently seek His face in prayer.
Third, discipline yourself to learn discernment. The only way that you will be able to honour your saviour is if you are able to discern what will bring Him honour. Never make an uninformed decision. Instead, know the Scriptures, and know God, so that you can know His will. Two very important questions that you should ask yourself before you do anything are these:
1. Is this God’s will or my own?
2. Am I doing this for God’s glory, or for my own?
If it’s of God, then do it! But if it’s of self, flee from it. Don’t entertain any more thoughts about it!
Fourthly, pick someone, your spouse if you have one, and model a prayer off of verses 9 and 10, and pray it for them daily. Pray that your spouse would abound in love, would grow in knowledge and discernment, would approve the most excellent things, and would be preserved blameless and pure until the day of Christ. Don’t be ritualistic and pray the same words over and over again, but if you commit to pray daily for your spouse with this as the spirit of it, you might be surprised what God does in their life. And also, pray these things for yourself. Pray that you will live in this way, and that you will live for the glory and praise of God.
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