How Paul Prays for the Philippians
Philippians 1:9-11
The Bible teaches that at the end of history Jesus Christ is going to return to planet Earth. And when he does, God’s glory will be shining from him with such intensity that everyone will see that God’s glory in Christ is the most beautiful and spectacular reality in the universe.
And there is a way you can live today so that when Christ returns you will have the joy of displaying the glory of God to all of humanity.
So what is it that you can do so that when Christ returns you will display God’s glory? To answer that let’s turn to Philippians 1:9-11. If you need a Bible please raise your hand so we can bring one to you. Philippians 1 is on page 980 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Remember that this is a letter which Paul wrote to a church in the city of Philippi at around the year 62 A.D.. And in verses 9-11 Paul tells them how he prays for them. Look at what he says –
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 [that’s the second coming of Christ],
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
In verse 9 Paul says he prays that their love would abound more and more. But what kind of love is he praying for? Is he praying that their love for God would abound more and more, or that their love for other people would abound more and more? What kind of love is Paul praying for?
I couldn’t find any clues here in this passage. But I did find some clues in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (987). Turn there, but keep your finger here in Philippians so we can compare the prayers.
Here Paul prays a very similar prayer for the believers in the city of Thessalonica. But here he makes more clear what kind of love he’s praying for. Read verses 12-13 –
12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,
13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Did you see how similar this prayer was to the one of Philippians? But notice that here it’s clear that he’s praying for their love for one another and for all. So because this prayer is almost identical to the one Philippians, it makes sense to think that in Philippians Paul is also praying for their love for other people.
So with that in mind, let’s turn back to Philippians. Here Paul is praying that they would abound in love for other people. The Bible teaches that love for other people means desiring and pursuing their well-being. And we know from other passages that this love is poured into our hearts through faith in Jesus Christ. When we trust Jesus Christ he humbles us and satisfies us so much that we desire and pursue the well-being of others.
So --
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at the end of the day you will ask your wife how her day went, and you will sit down and listen.
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if someone in your home group is discouraged, you might call them to see how their day went.
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if you have a neighbor who doesn’t know Christ, you might invite them over to dinner to get to know them.
So loving other people means desiring and pursuing their well-being. And Paul is praying that these believers would abound in love – that they would desire and pursue others’ well-being more and more.
But there is something this love needs in order to be effective. To see what that is read verse nine again –
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment…
So love needs to have knowledge and all discernment. But why?
Why does love need knowledge and all discernment? It’s because love means desiring and pursuing the well-being of others, and left to ourselves we don’t know what they need for their well-being, and we don’t know how best to pursue their well-being.
So where do we get this knowledge and discernment? Our primary source is God’s word, so study God’s word. We also will be led by the Holy Spirit, so pray for his wisdom and guidance. We can also get counsel from others, so ask others, and listen carefully. As we do that, our love will have knowledge and all discernment.
So let’s say someone moves into your neighborhood. So how can you love them – how can you desire their well-being and pursue their well-being? God’s word tells us that their well-being depends entirely on whether or not they are trusting Jesus Christ – that’s what is most important.
And so you can pray, and ask the Holy Spirit -- “how can I meet them, how can I serve them, how can I share the gospel with them?” And as you pray and ask the Holy Spirit, he will give you specific steps you can take with that neighbor – maybe offering to buy pizza while they are moving in, or helping him unload lumber if he’s building a deck in his backyard, inviting him to church or home group.
So as Paul prays for these believers he’s praying that their love for others will abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.
And how will this sort of love affect us? Too many Christians settle for a kind of love that’s just an obligation, just a duty, just something that they are supposed to do – even though they don’t really want to. But that’s not the kind of love Jesus puts in our hearts. And you can see that in the beginning of verse 10. But to get Paul’s flow of thought let’s read verses 9 and 10 together –
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 …
Notice that the love God gives us approves what is excellent. Which means that we want to walk the path of love, and we desire to care for the well-being of others.
Here is an example. Maybe your home group is planning an activity to which you can invite your unbelieving friends. And it sounds like all of their friends would enjoy playing bocce ball. But you don’t like bocce ball. The old, sinful way of living would think – I just won’t go. But the love that Jesus gives you will cause you to desire the well-being of as many people as possible. And so you will approve what is excellent -- namely, that you should go and play bocce ball and meet all their friends and maybe invite some of yours to come as well.
Or here’s another example. Maybe someone has hurt you. And the old, sinful way of living would think – I’m going to hold this against them. But the love the Jesus gives you causes you to desire everyone’s well-being, including the person who hurt you. And so you approve what is excellent -- loving them and forgiving them and not holding it against them.
So that’s how this love affects us. It doesn’t just put another obligation on us. Instead, it changes our hearts so we approve the path of love -- we desire the well-being of everyone.
But Paul doesn’t just pray that we will abound in this love. He also explains why he prays this for them. So why does Paul pray that they will abound in this sort of love? The answer is in verses 10 and 11, let’s read start in verse 9 to get the flow of thought –
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.
So the reason Paul prays that their love would abound more and more is because then they will be pure and blameless and filled with righteousness at the day of Christ -- which is the day when Jesus Christ brings history to a close.
See, Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He humbled himself to be born of a virgin, live here on earth, and be crucified on the cross to pay for our sins. Then he rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. But one day Jesus Christ will return to Earth with blazing glory and majesty, and he will judge all of humanity.
And whether you died before Jesus returns, or whether you are alive on earth the day Jesus returns, all of us will stand before him as our judge.
And those who have not trusted Christ will be guilty for their sin, and be cast into hell forever. But those who have trusted Christ will be forgiven for all their sin because of Christ’s death on the cross. So the reason we will enter heaven is not because of our goodness, but because we trust Jesus whose death paid for sins. And so at that moment you will be declared “Forgiven!”
But not only will you be declared forgiven. The more you have abounded in love for others, the more you will be seen by all of humanity as pure and blameless and filled with righteousness. To see that, read verses 9-10 again –
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.
To be pure and blameless and filled with righteousness does not mean to be sinless. The Bible says none of us are sinless this side of heaven. And it’s because we are not sinless that our purity and blamelessness and righteousness can’t get us into heaven. The only reason we can enter heaven is because by faith we are joined to Jesus, whose death paid for our sins, and whose sinless purity and blamelessness and righteousness deserves heaven.
But still, the more you abound in love for other people, the more you will be seen by all of humanity as pure and blameless and filled with righteousness at the day of Christ. And why is that so important?
The answer is in verse 11. Read it again –
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
When you are seen by all of humanity as pure and blameless and filled with righteousness – it will bring glory and praise to God.
How will our love and righteousness bring glory and praise to God? It’s because of where our love and righteousness comes from. To see where it comes from read verses 10-11 again –
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.
So when we abound in love for other people, that’s the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ. It does not come from us. It comes from Jesus Christ. And because it comes through Christ, it displays God’s glory, not ours.
Here’s how that works. Think of the condition of your heart before God saved you. Even when we looked pretty good on the outside, our hearts were not loving. Our hearts were proud, sinful, and selfish. We were not abounding in love for others.
But here you are now abounding in love for other people -- serving others, forgiving others, sharing the gospel, pouring your life for people. Where did you get that heart?
You got it because, in great mercy, God sent Jesus who died on the cross, broke sin’s power, and paid for sin’s guilt. And then, because of Jesus, God brought his power upon you and changed your heart, gave you sorrow for your sin, and genuine trust in Jesus Christ. And as a result of trusting Christ, your heart was humbled and filled and you abounded in love for other people. You were filled with that righteousness of love for others.
And none of that came from you. All of that came from God’s compassion, and love, and mercy. What a glorious God! What a merciful God!
And so when Christ returns all of humanity will see what a loving person you were – and how this did not come from you, but came from God’s compassion, and grace, and love, through Christ. And so all the Angels, and all the other believers from every nation tongue and tribe when they see you will give glory and praise to God.
And this will fill you with joy. God is so glorious that your greatest joy is displaying his glory.
That’s why Paul prays this for these believers – it’s because as they abound more and more in love, when Jesus returns their lives will display more and more of the glory and praise of God.
Listen. Jesus Christ is coming again. And the more you abound in love for others now, the more your life will bring glory and praise to God. The more you abound in love for your spouse, for your kids, for those in your home group, for your friends who don’t know Christ, for the billions across the globe never heard the gospel – the more it will bring glory and praise to God.
Let’s live lives of love for the glory of his name.