Philippians 1:1-11
Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
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 offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
A boy chose to walk to a house. He chose a small street instead of the main road. He found an old newspaper in the street, chose to take it, and read a story in it, which gave him an idea. He chose to study that topic in college, got a degree, made a project from that idea, and then got a top job in the largest company in the world. It happens all the time. Small ideas and choices we make in our lives have big consequences. Just as a massive ship is guided by a tiny rudder, our whole life is guided by the small decisions and choices we make.
Our lives today are nothing but a reflection of the choices we made in the past. We make decisions and choices every day. Today, you made a choice between waking up and coming to church or sleeping nicely in bed. You made a choice whether to pray after waking up or just wake up. To come on time or come late? To take a shower or not? To eat breakfast or not? How to get to church: walk, take an auto, or a cab? While coming, were you praying or just wasting time looking at the streets? Whom will I greet or whom will I not? When prayer is led, will I join from the heart or not? When the Word is preached, will I listen with rapt attention or pretend to listen but keep thinking about what to have for lunch? What will I see, what will I talk about, and what will I do when I go home? What phone calls will I pick up? Will I read the Bible or waste time on the phone? What videos will I watch or skip? How will I talk and behave with my wife or husband today? How much time will I spend with my children? How will we raise our kids? How will I work?
On and on the questions go. Thousands of choices, little decisions made on the fly every day. We like to think those decisions don’t matter. No, our life is nothing but a reflection of those small decisions we make. Each decision is connected to every other decision, like so many links in the chain of life itself. There is a profound sense in which you are nothing but the sum total of all the choices you have made stretching back to your childhood. Each little decision connects you to the past and leads unstoppably into the future. Every small decision we make today in life has enormous consequences for tomorrow. Daily, we face 100 options; we choose one among them.
As believers, the question is, if our life is nothing but the choices we make, how can we choose the right things so our life is pleasing to God and a blessing to others? In today’s passage, we are going to look at Paul’s prayer, and as a practical result of his prayer, we will see that this is what he is praying for.
We have seen verses 1-8, Paul’s thanksgiving for the Philippians. We learned seven secrets of joy from those marvelous verses. Just as James says, you will not be blessed just by hearing them, but you will experience joy only when you look intently, see your lack, and abide in those secrets. Now, this morning, the second section of this epistle is verses 9-11. After his thanksgiving, Paul begins his petition for the Philippians. You will notice the transition in verse 9: “And this I pray.” So, from verses 9-11, we have Paul’s petition prayer.
When we pray, we have a list, a prayer list of 10-15 items. If you see most commentaries, they say Paul is giving a list: first, I pray for love, second, knowledge, then discernment, excellence, sincerity, and fruits of righteousness. That would be easy for me to preach about 5-6 things, but if you actually look closely at the verses, it is not a list. Paul is praying for one central thing. In English, look at verse 9, “And this I pray,” which is singular, not “these I pray.” His great, passionate prayer is for one thing that is needful. He connects everything to that one request. This is a prayer for the spiritual growth of the church in Philippi, but here he says that if you earnestly pray for this, grow in this, and focus on this, you will truly grow in everything. What is the one thing Paul wants for the Philippians and all Christians? One great central passion in verse 8 is “that your love may abound still more and more.”
I spent hours laboring, and I was so joyful in spirit seeing the depth of this prayer. I have realized there cannot be a greater, better prayer than this. Of course, the Lord’s Prayer is the topmost; no one can touch that height as a broad sketch for all ages. But as a branch of that, I felt a challenge to all of you: once you understand this, let me know if there is a better prayer than this.
So let us understand this marvelous prayer of Paul in three headings and their applications:
- Central prayer for the growth of biblical love.
- Two inseparable elements of biblical love.
- Practical results of biblical love.
Central Prayer for the Growth of Biblical Love
His prayer, remember, is not superficial like ours. Our prayers have neither deep, fervent feeling nor deep thought; they are very superficial. The great heart of the Apostle, filled with a fervent, deep ocean of emotion with Jesus Christ’s overflowing compassion and his keen mind like an eagle capable of thinking lofty and expansive thoughts, just as his thanksgiving had so much depth, likewise, with his petitions, there is great depth. Out of that deep heart filled with passion and a high mind comes one great central, one-thing-is-needed prayer: he prays for the growth of love. Then he also reveals grand reasons and motivations that lie behind that prayer and the practical results of that prayer.
Now, let us look at the main prayer. Let me make it clear step by step; first, the central prayer. Verse 9: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more.”
This is the one central passion of his prayer: abound in love. The word “abound” has many shades; one used here is “multiply,” as in what the Lord told Adam: “Be fruitful and multiply.” The same word is used when our Lord multiplied the five loaves and two fish to feed thousands of people. “Let your love abundantly grow and multiply.” The second shade is “overflow.” When a big water tank is filled, it fills and overflows. We have a sump in our house, and once the motor is on, I forget myself in reading a sermon and forget everything, and then it overflows onto the whole street as if it rained. So Paul prays, “Let your love fill your heart and overflow, not only onto the street but all the streets of Bangalore.”
The word “love” conjures up warm, fuzzy, sentimental feelings of being nice all the time to everyone, smiling, talking softly, being good to others, and never rebuking or speaking in a firm, high voice. You have to understand what the Bible calls “love” is not what we see in the sinful world: selfish, lustful, mindless animal emotions. When the Bible says “love,” it’s lifted totally out of the category of its cheap usage in the sinful world, such as parents’ love, pity love, or lovers’ love. It’s sad we only have one word in English. There are seven different words in Greek for other loves: parents’ love is storge, friends and brothers’ love is philia, lovers’ love is ludus, lustful love is eros, and deep pity love for the poor and suffering is splagchnizomai.
But the category of love the Bible talks about is different. In Greek, it uses a completely different word: agape. It is unconditional, divine love. This is not from a human source. The source of this love is not emotional attraction or pity. The source of agape is God, and God alone can give this love. This flows from God only to His children as a grace in our heart. John tells us that God is love. The source of this love is God, and note that is why Paul is praying to God because God alone can not only give it but also make it grow. So when Paul says, “I pray you grow in love more and more,” he’s not asking you to stir up your human love; he’s not asking the Philippians to try to be more sentimental or more emotional.
Agape love, the highest divine love, is not object-driven but is a love of choice, a love of will. It doesn’t depend on the object. It is not an impulse, emotion, or sentiment. It is not drawn to something because of its beauty, its attractiveness, or pity. That’s the world’s love. God loved us not because we were attractive but as a choice. “I will love you whether you are good or bad, friend or enemy, whether you can give me anything or take away everything, I will love you.” 1 Corinthians 13 explains this love.
Note that he doesn’t pray that God should give them that love. They already have that love as believers. Romans 5:5 says the love of God is shed in our hearts. It is already there in a believer’s heart. He prays that the love that is already there needs to grow. He prays for a greater expression of that love. He prays that their love may more and more abound. This agape love is a growing love; although it starts in a small measure, it keeps growing forever.
The great apostle knew that when God saved these Philippians from the first day, he knew their love. When their hearts were opened, as was Lydia’s, she not only believed the gospel but expressed love by opening her home to the servants of Christ and gave her home for church gatherings. The Philippian jailer showed how he served Paul. That love kept growing for God’s people. That is why their church grew, and they continued to support the gospel for ten years in their constant fellowship. No matter how much love we have, our love can always increase. Paul prays that their love would increase in depth and in extent. This is the chief petition to God for them.
He does not state the object of love. If we ask Paul, “Love to whom—to God or men?” then Paul will tell us, “You have not understood love,” because love for God and love for others can’t be separated. “If he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20). It is both love for God that increases and love for others that will increase.
Central prayer for the growth of love. Why does he pray for that as one thing? How many of us pray for our love to increase? I don’t remember hearing anyone praying for this. You come here with so many prayer requests. What is this? Are there no other requests? Because we are so low in our Bible knowledge. Why is this so important?
Just as in the thanksgiving, he kept telling us about the secret of his joy and finally revealed the big and greatest secret is love. He knew this is the greatest secret of all Christian joy. Here he starts with a prayer for love and shows that if we can only grow in love, focusing on that, the glorious things that will flow out of this ocean are amazing. Why is love so important?
The central doctrine of the Bible is love. The Bible shows love is the greatest grace among all the graces of the Christian life. Love is the queen of all the graces of the Christian life.
- The entire Old and New Testaments. Scripture says, “He that loveth hath fulfilled the law, for love is the fulfilling of the law,” and the great duty that God has laid upon man, when reduced to its most simple summary, is what? What is the first and great commandment? To love God with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love one’s neighbor as himself.
- 1 Corinthians 13 says love is the queen or mother of all other graces, making this abundantly evident. The Apostle says if people have gifts of knowledge, gifts of utterance, and gifts of sacrificial service, if they have not love, they are nothing. He closes the chapter by saying, “Now abideth faith, hope and love, these great graces, but the greatest of these is love.” Love is the queen of all the other graces.
- Galatians 5:22. The first fruit of the Spirit is love. Among the ninefold fruit of the Spirit, love stands first in order of mention and importance. Love stands, as it were, as the root and seed out of which all the other graces flow. And joy, and peace, and longsuffering are simply manifestations of the grace of love.
- Paul, after planting churches, his greatest burden is for churches to grow in spiritual life and gospel witness. You know the only way a believer and a church can grow in Christian life is by growing in love. Paul knew this, and that is why almost all of Paul’s prayers in the New Testament begin with a petition for love. If you are not growing in love for God and others, you’re not growing. John says it is a sign that we are truly saved, it is a sign we have eternal life, and in fact, our Lord said, “This is how the world will know you are my disciples,” by how you grow in love for one another. It’s the single greatest testimony to the world.
So the great passion of the Apostle is that the Philippians might abound in love yet more and more. That is the central, one-thing-is-needed prayer.
Two Inseparable Elements of Biblical Love
Notice verse 9: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.”
Knowledge and discernment. Paul’s central prayer is that love should grow, but not love in isolation. True biblical love will grow with these two inseparable elements: knowledge and discernment. Your love should always have these two elements. If I can use a picture, this love is the central body, and this love should always have two hands: knowledge and discernment.
Now, what did he mean by using those words? The first word, “knowledge”—the Greek word is epignosis—stands for true knowledge. The word refers to intensive or deep, true, full, and advanced knowledge. It is not false or superficial knowledge but a true, inward, certain knowledge of spiritual realities. This true knowledge comes from deeply, systematically, and accurately grasping truths revealed in God’s Word. We can call this a deep theological understanding of Scripture truths. This is not a knowledgeless love. This love is controlled and guided by a true knowledge of the Scriptures, a revelation of who God is and who men are. Not superficial but advanced knowledge, real knowledge, full knowledge. This love is not blind, but a love controlled by conviction and knowledge of the truth in Scripture. How many atrocities happen in the name of love? All worldly love is out of control and has no knowledge. Bible love is not like that. “I love that unbeliever guy; I think God gave me that love.” That’s wrong; true love is guided by the knowledge of Scripture. “I love my children, so I will do whatever for them.” That’s wrong; true love will not cross the line of Scripture knowledge. This true knowledge of God as revealed in His Word is essential if you want to grow in love. We can’t know love by looking at our world or our culture.
Paul knows that where there is ignorance and a wrong understanding of God and Scripture in the heart, where there is no deep, true, and advanced knowledge of Scripture, about God and man, true biblical love can never be found in that heart. If there has to be genuine love, it should always have the right hand of increasing measures of knowledge of God’s truth. So he prays that their love may abound yet more and more in all knowledge so that they may know more and more with systematic accuracy the knowledge of God, his great love for sinners through Christ, and his grace and mercy for us in Christ. For to grow in such knowledge is to grow in genuine love.
Not only the right arm of knowledge, but the second word is the left arm of “discernment.” This is the only place in the New Testament we see this, but we see a similar word in Hebrews 5:14, where the writer speaks of solid food as being the portion of “full grown men, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” The word for “senses” here obviously refers to the ability to make proper moral judgments, to discern between good and evil.
The original word used for “discernment” is aesthetics, the sense to appreciate beauty or art. Someone having a good aesthetic sense. In dressing, some people can dress well and decently, but some people have the best clothes from top to bottom, with their hairstyle, shave, tie, watch, shirt neatly ironed, and belt and socks clean, and shoes neatly polished. Not just good or better, but the best of all items. They have a sense of aesthetics in dressing. That can be in music, too; some simple singing or music is okay, but some have a high sense of aesthetics and will notice a little mistake. Like a song teacher who finds out small mistakes that we have been making for years.
Paul uses that word here. “I pray that your love may grow more and more in knowledge of God on one side, and on the other side, with that knowledge, and a second arm of discernment, so you have rationally contemplated, examined, studied, and analyzed everything from start to end, where it comes from and where it will go, so that you not only know what is good from the bad, but the better from the good, and the best from the better.” You may spiritually have a highly cultivated sense of moral aesthetics. The word speaks of moral discrimination, the ability to look at various options and say, “This one is good. That’s not so good. This one is better. That one is best.” That’s his prayer.
If knowledge is knowing deep theology of Scripture, discernment has to do with the practical application of that deep knowledge, okay? So he is saying that your love is controlled by your theology and your discerning insight in the application of that theology, how you apply it. It’s truth applied.
William Hendriksen, for example, wrote, “A person who possesses love but lacks discernment may reveal a great deal of eagerness and enthusiasm. He may donate money and efforts to all kinds of causes. His motives may be worthy and his intentions honorable, yet he may be doing more harm than good. Because he lacked discernment.” I’m amazed, to pick up on Hendriksen’s illustration, how many well-meaning people, trying to show their love for God, serve God and do things without discernment, and give money to people who work against the Kingdom because they don’t discern. They haven’t learned how to apply their knowledge. We must—we must be discerning.
Practical Result of Biblical Love
What is the practical result of such love with two arms of knowledge and discernment? Verse 10: “that you may approve the things that are excellent.” The NIV translates, “to discern what is best.” Moffatt paraphrases, “enabling you to have a sense of what is vital.”
You see the practical goal of his prayer. If our life is based on our knowledge of knowing right from wrong, and best from better, Paul knows it can only come from true biblical love. He prays that if God will give them this abounding love with two hands of knowledge and discernment, he says this practical goal will be seen in their lives. There will be this ability to approve the things that are excellent. This means that when you face 101 choices and decisions every day, you may be able to distinguish not which is right but what is good, better, and excellent. When we say “excellent,” there is nothing better than this. You will know the excellent thing to do in every situation of your life. What a prayer!
“So that you may be able to discern what is best,” “that you may learn to prize what is of value.” Paul prays that the Philippians would have such love and insight that they would continually make wise choices in life. He is praying that they would not be satisfied with the status quo or with spiritual mediocrity but would push on to true spiritual excellence.
If I have to summarize this great apostle’s prayer: Paul prays that the love of the Philippians may grow more and more, accompanied by abundant knowledge and with all delicate moral perception so that in everyday life, when they face 101 choices and decisions, they may have the ability to try or test, and know the excellent things to do to glorify God and do good to others.
He is not talking about discernment between sinning and not sinning, or serving God or serving the devil. The Philippians had already decided clearly and irrevocably long ago to live holy lives and serve God alone; that is why they are the best and even an eminent church and Christians in the New Testament. Paul has in mind the discernment of distinguishing true Christian graces and good works from all of their counterfeits, of seeing and distinguishing better from good, and best from better, in all their duties and decisions of life.
In their daily lives, where should they draw the line? Which is useful, and which is useless? What is the present duty in a situation? Which will lead them to greater holiness? Discerning when and where an excess or limit begins in that which, up to a certain point, is innocent or useful, and beyond that, may lead to temptations. Of deciding accurately which of two ways of pursuing Christian work is better, of avoiding moral dangers, no matter how carefully they may be disguised. So that their life, habitually in all their saying and doing, is the right thing at the right time in the right way and thus steadily growing ever more like Christ.
Someone said, “The degree to which this faculty of discerning is possessed determines very largely the beauty of a Christian’s character and the breadth and depth and permanence of his influence for good and for the gospel.”
Think of the wisdom of this prayer. In the Old Testament, when God led the people of Israel, He had given detailed instructions for every aspect of life. There was a manual that covered almost every facet of life, right down to personal hygiene, and it was easy because they all had one culture, one nation, one land, one place. But as the gospel spread, the gospel went into a vast array of cultures, each with its own peculiar dominant aspects of sin. This complicates the problem of giving specific directions as to how they are to live. People also have a big baggage of past sins.
The Philippians, and we today, are living in a pagan culture, in a different land, a society soaked in superstition, paganism, and idols, with all kinds of pressures we face in society, at work, with friends, and even in our families. Most of our parents were not Christians; we are first-generation Christians. Most of us don’t have deep Old Testament roots. Yes, with the whole Bible, Scripture gives us broad principles for life, but we don’t have specific directions for every detail of life, for each situation we will face tomorrow. Now we don’t know how to handle children in some situations. We don’t know how to handle family problems, husband and wife problems, financial problems, health problems, or job problems. We have to take some decisions, and we don’t know what to do.
How do we know the best thing for the glory of God and the spread of the gospel in a given situation? Living in a land of idols and paganism, the apostle is concerned for the glory of God in the church at Philippi. They should live to bring glory to God.
And so the great passion of his heart is, firstly, “Oh, God, may their love increase yet more and more, may they love you more and more.” Because without that love for God, they’ll be selfish and foolish and do wrong things and be unconcerned about how to please Him in all the details of life. For the great dictate of love is to please its object. So he prays that their love may abound more and more so they please Him in everything. Likewise, they won’t be concerned as to how they relate to their fellow men, husbands, wives, parents, children, employer, and employee unless there’s love for their fellow men. So he prays, “Lord, may their love abound yet more and more.”
Secondly, but if they have this passion to please God and also to live and do good to their fellow men, what good will it do unless they have knowledge—knowledge of God that will regulate their relationship to God, knowledge of man in society, and knowledge that comes from God through the Word of God? So he prays for knowledge to increase.
Thirdly, and what good will all that knowledge do if they can’t distinguish in the concrete situations of life what the best thing to do is? So he prays that their love may abound with the two hands, on the left, knowledge, and on the right, moral and ethical perception. This discernment, this ability to distinguish from all the things and know the best thing to do in any situation.
To make it simple: Paul wanted the Philippians to have a burning heart full of love for God and men, a head full of knowledge of God, and accompanied by a piercing and sensitive eye. And when all of those things come together—the burning heart beating with ever-increasing measures of love for God and man, a clear, well-instructed head, and a discerning, piercing, and sensitive eye able to make proper judgments in the situations of life—when no apostle is there to give counsel and no elder is over the shoulder to give counsel, they will know what to do and fulfill the very end for which they were redeemed, namely, bringing glory to their God and Savior.
If we love God and love our fellow men, we want to do the right thing. When that heart of love is joined with knowledge and keen moral perception, we will approve the things that are excellent, and we will be able to make the right choices and decisions and thereby glorify God and walk in peace and joy in our own hearts.
Can you imagine how our life will be? What will happen if we have this love with knowledge and discernment, to know the best? How will our life be? The next verse tells us. I don’t have time today, please come next week. I will tell you. I have to stop here. I’ll finish with some applications.
So we have seen the central prayer for the growth of biblical love. Two inseparable elements of biblical love. Finally, what is the practical result of such love with two arms of knowledge and discernment?
My thoughts run in many ways; let me give some bullet points.
- Notice the balance of belief in God’s sovereignty and prayer. There are people who say, “We believe God’s sovereignty, and God will save his people, so why struggle, pray, or put in effort? We can sit back and watch.” In verse 6, Paul expressed his confidence that God, who began a good work in the Philippians, would complete the job. But that belief didn’t make him lazy; he was still actively involved in the process of getting that work done! A proper belief in the sovereignty of God never leads to stoic passivity but rather to diligent, fervent labor. And it never leads to prayerlessness. Rather, understanding God’s sovereignty should move us to pray, since God uses prayer to accomplish His sovereign purpose. Do we believe our prayers are a great means in God’s sovereign working? It has the power to bring about miracles. God, in mysterious ways, makes use of our prayer.
- Do you see the great depth and great necessity, the comprehensive relevance of this prayer? Can there be a better prayer for us? See the importance of this prayer. If our life is a reflection of our choices, and our choices are dependent on our love, knowledge, and discernment of knowing the best, how important it is that we should pray this. Martyn Lloyd-Jones comments, “The difficulty in life is to know on what we ought to concentrate or focus. The whole art of life, I sometimes think, is the art of knowing what to leave out, what to ignore, what to put on one side. How prone we are to dissipate our energies and to waste our time by forgetting what is best or vital and giving ourselves to second and third-rate issues.”
It is the answer to this prayer, when we have this biblical love with LKD, that we have a kind of inner vision that enables us to properly evaluate all the choices we face every day. The small choices we make today may seem small but may be of enormous consequence tomorrow. We need discernment to make the best choice. Not every choice is a good choice. Not every word used is the best word. Not every action we do is the best action. Not every relationship is a good relationship. Not every friendship is good for us. Not every job is a wise career move. Not every purchase is a wise use of our money. We make our choices, and then our choices, in turn, make our life.
- We often pray for 101 superficial things without any thought and wonder why God doesn’t answer. This is a Holy Spirit-inspired wise prayer. If you pray this from the heart, God will answer. I hope we clearly understand Paul’s wisdom in making love central to this. Since we live in a fallen world, we will often find ourselves surrounded by irritable, petulant, cranky, stubborn, annoying, aggravating, frustrating, unreasonable, and cantankerous people. And that’s on a good day! Sometimes people will say or do foolish things to deliberately irritate us. And let’s face it, some people are just very hard to love.
What do we do then? We pray many prayers, such as, “Lord, get this fool away from me before I say something I shouldn’t.” If you are coming from church, it’s a different thing to pray, “Lord, please change this person so they won’t be so obnoxious.” But you know what prayer God will readily answer? “Lord, I really don’t care for this person. I don’t like this person. He is so irritating; he gets on my nerves; he is a total jerk. I don’t even want to talk to him. Please forgive me. Please increase my love in knowledge and discernment and teach me how to deal with him in the best way.” That’s a prayer God will be glad to answer.
- See the necessity of this prayer. So let me encourage you to make this a regular prayer for yourself. Fathers, we don’t know how to raise our children daily in the discipline and instruction of the Lord without making them angry. “Lord, I need to increase my love in every situation. Give me knowledge and discernment so I know the best thing to do.” Mothers, “Lord, this is the situation with my children. I get very upset and irritated so many times; they come and irritate me 20 times a day. I get frustrated with anger; give them two.” “Lord, increase my love, knowledge, and discernment. Fill my heart with a love that’s determined, even though it’s contrary to my flesh, to stop in the middle, to be inconvenienced, and to have my schedule interrupted 20 times a day if necessary. Give me spiritual aesthetics so that I won’t be overly harsh, or I won’t refuse to exert the kind of discipline or pressure needed to deal with the issue.”
Husbands, “How do I relate to my wives? It is my covenant responsibility before you. Lord, how do I love her like you loved the church? Lord, every time I say something, there is a problem. Sometimes I am so insensitive. Sir, how do I manage these wives?” “Brother, you need love, knowledge, and discernment. Lord, increase my love, knowledge, and discernment, so I know the best way to treat my wife.” Wives, “Lord, how do I manage this family, and how is it my covenant responsibility to submit to him as to the Lord? Lord, increase my love, knowledge, and discernment.”
In a job situation, my boss always gets upset and tells me to do wrong. “Well, at what point do you say, ‘Thus far and no further?’ At what point do you submit without compromise? At what point do you rebel? Lord, give me discernment.” See how practical it is. Make the apostle’s prayer for the Philippians a model for your own prayers. Young people in college, that’s what you need. At what point do you speak up in a class when godlessness and sinful talk are being openly discussed? At what point do you quietly swallow? How do you know? Well, you need to cry out that God will give you a love that is strong enough to bear the reproach of Christ if necessary.
Paul says our love should grow. Church members, our love for one another should grow. Husbands, are you working at loving your wife? Wives, are you working at loving your husband? Parents, are you working at loving your kids? Kids, are you working at loving your parents? Singles, are you working at loving your roommate? It’s a lifelong process.
- We struggle not knowing what to pray for others. “Lord, bless… Robert… Grace, Asha.” If we just remove the word “bless” from our prayers, we actually don’t have any prayer. What wonderful content to pray for any believer. This is the prayer we should pray for one another. Let this be a guide and use it in any situation. “Lord, that brother has a financial problem, this sister has a health problem, and that problem…” “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.” They may know what to do in that situation.
- Not only should we pray this for ourselves and others, but just praying without using the means is hypocritical. We should use every opportunity to get the knowledge of God through the Scriptures. Some of you say, “That problem and this problem.” Can I tell you, most of the problems you have today are because of wrong decisions you have taken without knowledge and discernment? How long will you continue in that ignorance? If you want wisdom to solve the current situation, seek God’s knowledge through the Scriptures. We have weekly meetings to help you grow in knowledge. Some of you think you are so full of knowledge that you don’t need that. You don’t attend evening meetings, and if you are not able to attend, you don’t listen to the recorded sermon and grow in knowledge. I need to grow in knowledge every day, whenever I get time, every time I have the opportunity. I feel so lacking that I don’t know enough. But some of you are so advanced; all you need is one dose a week. How will God bless you with discernment? The Bible is infallible. It says if you stay close to me and read me day and night, you will be blessed. If you keep it away, its curse will fall in your life. Don’t you realize it is because of poor knowledge that you take wrong decisions, you behave wrongly, you do wrong things in life, and you cannot control your heart, anger, and emotions?
Stop that foolish way of living. I pray that God will smite you with conviction, make you realize your sin, and humble you this morning. May He give you discernment this morning and make you realize how wrongly you are living without knowledge. That is the best way. Make it your great aim to read the Bible and grow in Bible knowledge through the means we have. I have always seen in my experience that those who make knowing God’s Word a priority, how beautifully their lives are changed and how wisely they live. There is so much joy. It only comes from growing in the knowledge of God’s Word.
- Behold in this prayer a description of our own growth in grace. What does it mean to grow in grace? Well, it means to grow in love. Oh, behold in this prayer a prescription for your growth in grace. You must seek the face of God for increased love. You must avail yourself of all the means of grace for increased knowledge. And then you must in every circumstance seek to act in a manner according to knowledge that will glorify God, exercising yourself in discerning good and evil.
There is no grace in growth in the mere acquisition of head knowledge. Some of you are full of that knowledge, but why doesn’t it result in blessing others, teaching others, and serving others with knowledge? Because you are not abounding more and more in love. This true knowledge he prays for is a heart-felt, experimental, true, full, inward, operative knowledge. We must constantly grow in love and cry to God for love. It is the love of God, wanting to please Him, that compels you to put the knowledge you learned from His book into practice so you may please God and put it into practice in concrete situations, and there you cultivate discernment, spiritual aesthetics, that ability to make sound and proper decisions and judgments as a husband, as a father, a mother, a parent, or a worker. Each of us is placed in situations in life where we need the wisdom of God to shine in our own sense of right and wrong. When we practice it, that is when we grow in spiritual life.
In essence, Paul wants the Philippians to learn to think “Christianly” in every situation. Second, we get it from the Lord in answer to our prayers. So if you are confused or if you find yourself in a deep hole because of wrong choices made over and over again, humbly ask God for the insight to make the right choices in life.
Finally, for those of you who have not come to Christ, this prayer reveals your horrible condition. If all wisdom and discernment can flow from love for God and love for man, then you can only choose excellent things. You don’t love God, so you cannot love other men. You will be filled with hatred for others. Is that not your heart today—full of pride, envy, hatred, and bitterness? You love your own self and your idols. Your heart is a house of all kinds of demons and is full of frustration and discouragement. Can you imagine that without the love of God in your heart and without his knowledge, you may hear Bible stories, but you will not have true, real knowledge of God, so you will not have discernment? What will you do? You will choose all the wrong things in life; things that are poison will be sweet to you. Things that are bitter for your soul, hell will be heaven. Your whole discernment will be twisted.
Believe me, soon that will be reflected in your life. Your life will be so horrible and wrong. It is all because your knowledge is wrong, your decisions will be wrong, and your life will be wrong. If Christians who know God and the Philippians who have grown so much need to grow in knowledge, how much more do you need? Our decisions make our life. The greatest decision you can make that can completely change your life is coming to Christ.
Oh, heart without a drop of love. You will never know love until you seriously see the love of God for sinful man like you. God sacrificed His own Son on the cross, allowed Him to shed all His blood to wash away your heart full of filth and sin. Until you see God’s love in Christ, you will never know what selfless love is. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Until you realize that love in your heart, which is the first seed of love, there is no love in your heart. I pray that you see that melting love of God for you, and may it make you repent of your sin and believe in Christ, so you also grow in love, knowledge, and discernment, and live an excellent life for God’s glory.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 