Today we are looking at Philippians 1:1-11 and focusing on verse 9. Let’s turn there.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving and Prayer
3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may 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.
Background and History
Most commentators believe that Paul wrote Philippians during his first imprisonment in Rome from AD 60-62. This was where Paul was at the end of the book of Acts. Paul founded the church in Philippi on his second missionary journey in AD 50. Acts 16 recorded how Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke tried to go to Mysia and Bithynia and God did not let them go there. So they went down to the Aegean port of Troas. It was there that Paul received the “Macedonian Call” during a dream were he saw a man of Macedonia begging him to come and to help them in Macedonia. So they went west and set foot on what is today Europe. They realized that this is God’s will and went to Philippi. By the river they preached the gospel to the Jewish women there and a businesswoman named Lydia believed and later her whole household. From there they met a girl possessed by a spirit and her masters used her to tell fortunes and after casting out the spirit they were imprisoned for ruining her master’s fortune-telling business. BTW, do you pray for the fortune-tellers you see in the neighborhood? God displays His power in prison. During the night, while Paul and Silas was worshipping the Lord, there was a big earth quake, the jailer thought they all escaped and wanted to kill himself. But they saved his life by telling him that they are all there and told him how he can be saved. They told him to believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. The happy ending was the jailer and his whole household was saved. This was the beginning of the Philippian church. Look at how the Philippian church have grown in these 10 years! Now Paul and Timothy the original church planters are addressing the saints there along with their overseers and deacons. Overseers or bishops are the same as the elders mentioned in the other letters. They are the pastors/elders/overseers of the church. Note that there were plural pastors in the early church. Also they had deacons who helped with the other functions of the church, such as the distribution of aid to the widows. This letter is also a thank you letter for the financial support of the Philippians. That’s why Paul is calling them his partners in the gospel. Paul also sees them as under his spiritual care and guidance. Even though they have grown spiritually and numerically in these 10 years, but Paul wants them to grow even more in their spiritual maturity. In verse 9 we see his prayer for them.
He prays that their love would overflow with knowledge and insight. Paul did not just list this prayer just as a FYI. Paul shares his prayer to the Philippians because he knows this is what they need. The Philippians have love for Paul and God, no doubt. This is evidenced by the way Paul calls them partners in the gospel. But they need more true knowledge and discernment in their love for God and others. He shows them this kind of love in his letter. He even says that he loves them with the affection of Christ Jesus. Can we have this kind of love that we can say to someone that I love you with the affection of Christ Jesus? How can our love increase more and more with knowledge and discernment?
Today we will look at 7 things that can help our love to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
- We need to know God’s love
To abound in love we need to first know God’s love. This word “knowledge” is defined as precise and correct knowledge or insight. It is used in the NT of the things ethical and divine.
How do you know God loves you? Have you experienced God’s love through reading the bible? Have you experienced His love through other believers? We can see and experience God’s love through Paul’s writings. Just as Paul expressed his love for the believers, we know these feelings are from God. Therefore, we can be sure of God’s joy in our partnership with Him in the gospel. We can be sure of God’s faithfulness to carry us through to the end. We can be sure of God’s good purposes in our life. God is not like an anxious parent watching his children ride the bike for the first time. God’s love is confident and God’s love gives us confidence. His love gives us confidence in our present situation and in our future situation. God’s love is constant and affectionate. We can be sure just as Paul has the Philippians in his heart, God has us in His heart. We can be sure of God’s affection for us, just as Paul has affection for the Philippians.
Knowing God’s love is the greatest of all knowledge we can possess. Karl Barth, was one the most influential theologians of the 20th century. He fought vigorously against the Protestant liberalism in the universities and seminaries . Several years before his death the Swiss theologian Karl Barth came to the United States for a series of lectures. At one of these, after a very impressive lecture, a student asked a typically American question. He said, “Dr. Barth, what is the greatest thought that has ever passed through your mind?” The aging professor paused for a long time as he obviously thought about his answer. Then he said with great simplicity:
‘Jesus loves me! This I know For the Bible tells me so”
This is Karl Barth’s conclusion after all these years of study, research, and living for the Lord. We don’t need to be a great theologian to know this. But we can take this thought with us as we go to our school, our work, our family. What is the driving force of your life? May our life be driven by the knowledge of God’s love.
2. We need to know God’s will
God has made His will very clear on many things through His Word. There are even verses that says directly, “It is God’s will that…” For example, take a look at 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. These are good verses to memorize.
As Christians sometimes we can have trial and errors in seeking God’s will, but we can still walk in discernment. Even in the founding of the church of Philippi, it was after a couple of trial and errors that Paul and his companions finally found out where God wants them to go. They were stopped by the Holy Spirit from going into the places they think they should go at first. After they discerned the will of God through trial and error, they experienced the spiritual harvest in Philippi and the gospel was established in Europe to eventually spread over all across that continent. To be discerning, we must first have the knowledge of God’s will through His word. Then we can pray for God to show us what to do. For example, we see at the beginning of the book of Acts the disciples faced a problem. Peter told them that according to the Scripture in Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8 that they need to find a replacement for Judas. This is clearly the will of God that God revealed to Peter through His Word. But how do they choose the replacement? They know that the criteria are the person has to be with Jesus from the beginning. So, God lead them to select 2 people. But then they don’t know which of the two they should choose, so they prayed. God lead them to cast lots. Casting lot has biblical precedence. For example, Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” The lot fell to Matthias, so he was added to the eleven apostles. When we know the will of God – such as the Great Commandment to love God with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength and to love others as ourselves and the Great Commission to go make disciples of all nations, then we can pray and ask God to show us how He wants us to live this out. God will give us understanding and insight. In 2 Timothy 2:7, after Paul compared the Christian life to being a soldier and a farmer, he said to Timothy: “Think about what I am saying and the Lord will give you understanding of all this. “
Brothers and sisters, what are the things that you know are clearly God’s will? How is your life aligned to God’s will? What are things you need wisdom from God to carry out his will?
3. We need to grow in wisdom
Let me share with something I do for my morning devotions time. You know there are 31 chapters of Proverbs. Since they are 30 to 31 days in a month usually, I can read through Proverbs once a month. Proverbs contains so many words of knowledge and insight. It’s a good reminder everyday. I believe reading it will increase your wisdom and insight. This is how Proverbs describe itself:
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight; 3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young— 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance— 6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
Footnotes:
- Proverbs 1:4 The Hebrew word rendered simple in Proverbs denotes a person who is gullible, without moral direction and inclined to evil.
- Proverbs 1:6 Or understanding a proverb, namely, a parable, / and the sayings of the wise, their riddles
Verse 7 tells us the foundation of our wisdom is to fear God above all other things:
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
I can’t say I feel wiser after reading Proverbs in my devotions for a couple of years now. But I know that reading it reminds me to walk in wisdom. We need this reminder constantly because it’s so easy to fall into our old sinful nature when we forget to keep God’s Word in our mind. Proverbs will remind us to keep wisdom in mind, stay humble, fear the Lord, and walk with integrity.
4. We need to know the boundaries
As Christians we all know that we should be loving people. We know that God is love and being in Christ means we should love not only God but also other people. However, knowing how to love with knowledge and discernment is so needed in our lives today. That’s why when the book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend came out in 1992 it became so popular. Because Christians were confused about what it means to love others. They need knowledge and discernment. Some of the things this book addressed are: How do we love someone who constantly hurt us? When to say yes? When to say no? Can I set limits and still be a loving person? What are legitimate boundaries? How do I answer someone who wants my time, love, energy, or money? Aren’t boundaries selfish?
The book tells the story of Stan, a believer who tries to do everything people want him to do. He told the author that his problem is “loving too much”. He says, “I do far more for people than I should. And that makes me very depressed.” The author replied to him, “I’m not quite sure what you are doing, but it certainly isn’t love. The Bible says that true love leads to a blessed state and a state of cheer. Love brings happiness, not depression. If your loving is depressing you, it’s probably not love.” As it turns out Stan did things for others not out of love, but out of fear of other’s anger. This fear kept him from saying no to others. It is important that our love is truly from God and is based on God’s love. Who here likes people to be mad at you? But if Jesus came not to offend anyone, how would it be like? If Paul and the apostles are afraid of people being mad at them, how will the history of Christianity be like? As Christians, we can’t let the fear of people’s reaction keep us from doing what is right. Being loving means we walk in both grace and truth.
5. We need to learn from our experiences
As our love grows more and more in knowledge and insight, we will be able to love according to God’s will, and not according to our own flesh. Remember how Peter tried to show his human concern to Jesus by discouraging Jesus from going to the cross and was rebuked directly and firmly by Jesus in Matthew 16?
16:21 From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 16:22 So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!” 16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”
We see that Jesus didn’t even respond with a parable. His quick reply to Peter shows the seriousness of Peter’s sin. Peter may have said this out of ignorance, but Jesus knows that the source of this earthly love is from Satan and not from God. Sometimes we also need to confront in love as Jesus did. Do you find it easy to love others when it makes others feel good, but you can’t seem to show the same kind of love when you need to confront someone? I hope that I can have such a quick response when I need to confront someone or take action. I remember when I was helping in youth ministry, how many times I just stood by when I should have said something or acted to address a situation. Sometimes it is out of fear of doing something wrong, sometimes it is not being sensitive to people’s needs. I remember one time I went with some parents and youths on an outing to do paddle boating. There were 2 youths in front of us, a brother and sister, and I was in a boat with a dad and his 10 year old daughter. As we paddled, there was a place where there is a slight drop and there were some rocks. I saw the 2 youths in front of me got into trouble and their boat turned over. I didn’t want to jump in to help them because I was afraid my boat with the little girl might turn over also. Since the water was waist deep, I thought that they should be ok. So I paddled by them as calmly and carefully as possible to get to the shore. However, later, one of the youth came up to me and told me how traumatic it was for her to see me calmly paddle by without seeming to care about them. I guess for her that was as bad as seeing their boat turning over. I didn’t know how my lack of action had affected them. I learned that I should show my concern for the other boat even though I didn’t think I could help them at the time. How about in our lives? Have we been so focused to keep our own boat afloat that we failed to care for the plight of others? I’m not saying that the wisest thing for me is to jump out of my boat to help them at that moment, but at least I should called out to them and ask if they are ok or need help. Sometimes that is all we can do and all we need to do at that moment.
We can’t grow in our knowledge and discernment without practice. Therefore the more we attempt to be loving in Christ, the more we will learn how to love in Christ. As we see how imperfect we are in loving others, let us not get discouraged, but be encouraged that the more we love, the more we will learn how to love with more and more knowledge and insight. For it is God who is working in us to love others. To Him be all the glory.
6. We need to learn from others
So how can we distinguish between the love from God and the love from our sinful flesh? James gives us insight into the differences.
3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. 3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. 3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.
Here James asked the question: Who is wise and understanding among you? You probably have seen this kind of wisdom in the life of mature godly believers. Learn from them. They are living examples God has given to you. I remember when I first became a Christian, how I long to exhibit the qualities of those mature believers I see at church. I tried to copy the way they talk, copy the way they act. But spiritual growth takes time. We may see a new believer being very zealous for the Lord, very passionate, but there are still many thing God need to work in them – like the selfishness, pride, envy, and immorality. We are all growing in these areas and we should pray for God to keep growing us in these areas. As we mature in our walk with Christ and our knowledge of His word, let us not lose the child-like zeal and passion for God that we had when we first believed and when we first tasted how good God is. As you learn from other mature believers how to love as a Christian, other believers will also be looking at you to learn how to love as a Christian. With such a great privilege and responsibility, let us offer ourselves to God’s leading so that we can grow more and more mature in our love.
7. We need to be lead by God’s Spirit
Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to know that having the knowledge and discernment from God doesn’t mean it will be smooth sailing. Look at Paul. What happened to him? In 2 Corinthians 11:24-25 he says this to them:
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,…”
Abounding in love is what the Christian life is about. We are called by God who is the source of love to love Him and others. Yet this is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. As you yield to the Holy Spirit your life, your life will have more and more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The way you love God and others will grow in these qualities of Godly character and discernment. This is the fruit of living a life surrendered to Christ. So that you can choose what is the best and to keep a pure and blameless conduct as you live on earth awaiting the return of our Savior. You will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. This is all to the glory and praise of God.
Brothers and sisters, I see myself falling short so much in loving others. How many times have I failed to love others with God’s love out of fear or out of selfishness? Such as failing to share the gospel to someone from another religion out of fear. May God help us all to fill our minds and hearts with the knowledge of God’s word and His love for us and others. Let us pray for our love to abound more and more in the knowledge of God’s word and in the insight of God’s will, so we can produce the fruit of righteousness in our life for His glory. Let’s pray.
