[NOTE: This sermon is the last in a four-part sermon series entitled, "The Prayers of Paul." The scriptures and inspiration for this
sermon were from a similar series preached by Craig Groeschel, LifeChurch.TV.]
19 July 2015
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Philippians 1:9-11
Philippians 1:9-11
(NIV)
And this is my
prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and
blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that
comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
-- this
morning we are finishing our four-week sermon series on the prayers of Paul -- in the first message, we looked at Paul's
prayer from Ephesians 3:14-21 and talked about praying for power and about
praying bold and specific prayers into that power that God has given us -- in
the second message we looked at Philemon verses 4-7 and talked about our need
to pray that we would be active in sharing our faith and how that means more
than evangelism -- it means true koinonia -- the sharing of our lives with each
other as we live out our faith in true community
-- last
week, we found ourselves in Romans 15:5-7 looking at Paul's plea for unity in
the church -- it was his prayer that we would come together with one purpose,
one heart, and one mind -- channeling our individuality towards the common goal
of bringing glory to God and fulfilling His calling on earth -- if you missed
these messages, I'm going to do my best at having them posted online at our
blog site for you to look at this week
-- the
prayer of Paul we will be looking at this morning can best be described as his
prayer for the culmination of a life well-lived -- it builds on the other
prayers and helps us to discern what is the best direction for our life within
the will of God -- this is the prayer for us to be all that we can be -- to
live the life that God intends for us to live -- and it encompasses and builds
on all the other prayers we have looked at
-- Paul's
prayer for meaning is especially relevant for us today -- as Aldous Huxley
predicted in his book, "Brave New World," our modern society in
America has become intoxicated with entertainment and self-focus -- living
lives of superficiality rather than lives of meaning -- we have reached a point
in our society where the daily happenings of the Kardashians and Caitlyn Jenner
are more important than the events in Greece or Iran or Chattanooga
-- but the
good news is that there seems to be an awakening occurring among this younger
generation -- after having fed on a diet of junk entertainment for years and
living lives without meaning or purpose, there seems to be a growing awareness
among the younger generations that perhaps they have been wasting their lives
by focusing solely on themselves and their own pleasure -- I did a Google
search for the term "Am I Wasting My Life?" and I had over 24 million
results, including this one
-- people
are worried that they are wasting their lives, but that is a good thing --
because this awareness has led to a desire to do something more with their
lives than just fill their days with entertainment -- they want to live lives
that matter -- they want to do things that matter -- they want to make a
difference in the time they have here on earth
-- and that
is the heart of Paul's prayer for the church at Philippi -- don't just be
satisfied with where you are now, but grow into the life to which God has
called you and make a difference in this world -- don't be just another
self-focused Christian who carries the name of Christ but does nothing with
their life
-- let me
give you an illustration -- the other day I read an article about the heart
healthy benefits of pomegranate juice -- so I went to the store to see if I
could buy some, just to try it out -- I couldn't find straight pomegranate
juice, but there was a bottle on the shelf that said, "Blueberry
Pomegranate, 100 percent juice, all natural." -- and it had a picture of a
ripe pomegranate cut open and mounds of blueberries -- so I went ahead and got
it
-- put it
in the refrigerator and the next morning, I poured a glass -- it was so sweet, I
couldn't hardly drink it -- and so I looked at the ingredients -- "Filtered
water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, grape juice
concentrate." -- Where was the blueberry? -- Where was the pomegranate? --
Finally I found them, fifth and seventh on a list of nine ingredients, after
mysteriously unspecified "natural flavors."
-- the
label may have promised pomegranate and blueberry, but the actual product
didn't fulfill that promise
-- that's
what Paul's concern is for the church at Philippi -- he knows these men and
women there are Christians -- they have been saved through grace by faith in
Jesus -- they have put on a label that says, "Christian" -- but his
concern is that the life they live truly reflects the label they have put on --
that they're not just "Jesus-flavored," but "Jesus-filled"
and live lives of meaning and purpose for Christ1
-- so as we
look back again at this passage, ask yourself these questions as we go through
this: What am I doing as a Christian? --
How am I living my life? -- How should I be living my life?
II. Scripture Lesson (Philippians 1:9-11)
-- verse 9
Philippians 1:9 (NIV)
9 And this is my
prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
insight
-- when
Paul wrote this letter, he was in chains in a Roman prison waiting for an
audience with the Emperor -- for all he knew, this would be the last day of his
life -- and so he puts pen to paper and writes this heart response to his
friends in Philippi
-- what
would you tell someone if you knew it was the last words you would ever say to
them? -- what would be important to you? -- what would you want them to know?
-- Paul's
prayer was that the seed he had planted in them would continue to grow -- that
they would continue to mature in the grace of God -- that they would come to
know God and His love more and more -- that His love would abound in them and
that God would complete the good work He began in them on the day they
responded to the gospel
-- what
does Paul mean by "abounding love?" -- he means a love that is
overflowing -- a love that so completely fills the lives of the Philippians
that they can't help but give it out to others -- a love that defines who they
are and what they do
-- Paul
prays that their love would abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
insight -- Paul is praying here for more than just emotional love -- he is
praying here for experiential and relational love -- he is praying that the
Philippians would know and experience the love of God in their lives in a real
way -- that they would wake up in the morning knowing that God loves them and that
they would experience God's love in their lives every moment of every day
-- but
knowing and experiencing God's love is not enough -- Paul prays the Philippians
have depth of insight, meaning wisdom -- knowing what to do with their
knowledge of God's love -- the question he is asking them through this prayer
is "Okay, you know how much God loves you, now what are going to do with
that knowledge? -- what difference is it going to make in your life?"
-- look
back at verse 9 again
Philippians 1:9-11
(NIV)
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 until the day of
Christ,
11 filled with the
fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise
of God.
-- "so
that" -- once again, we see Paul's pray with purpose -- I pray that your
love may abound more and more -- that it may grow larger and larger in
knowledge and experience and depth of insight -- So That you might be able
to know what to do with the rest of your life
-- Paul
prays that the Philippians would know God's love and understand God's love and
let that love help them make a choice in the direction they were going to go
and the things they were going to do
-- we are
constantly faced with choices in our lives -- the world offers us myriad
choices every moment of every day -- we are constantly coming to forks in our
lives where we have to choose which direction to go -- and instead of following
the wisdom of Yogi Berra, who said, "When you come to a fork in the road,
take it" -- Paul says, "When you come to a fork in the road, discern
what is best for you to do based on God's love"
-- don't
just follow the easy path -- don't just go with the flow and follow the crowd
-- but stop and ask yourself, "What would God have me do? -- is this the
direction I should go?"
-- there's
a point we need to make here in regards to choices -- in order to choose a
direction, we kind of need to know where we're going in the first place -- when
I pull out of my drive each morning and come to the hard road, I have a choice
of direction -- I can go north or I can go south -- those are my only two
choices -- but the direction I turn in is based on the place I need to go
-- in other
words, we have to know where we're going in order to choose the path to follow
-- our destination as Christians should be determined by God's will for our
lives -- there are many forks and many choices in life -- and sometimes it's
not a matter of choosing good versus evil, but choosing the best over better --
our decision must be based on our ultimate goal for life in Christ
-- Paul
prays here the Philippians discern and choose the path that leads to pure and
blameless lives -- lives that fulfill the call of God for them and produce
fruits of righteousness for His glory
-- by
relying on our knowledge and experience of God's love, we can discern the
direction He is leading us and choose the right path He has for us -- the path
that will grow us in grace and make us into the people He has called us to be
-- in my
office, I have a list of questions that I refer to from time to time when I
have a decision to make -- whether it's what to say in response to something or
whether it's what to do when confronted with a decision
-- these
questions answered in the light of God's love will help you discern the right
path to take:
1) Is it helpful -- physically, spiritually, and
mentally? -- 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, "Everything is permissible for me,
but not everything is beneficial"
2) Does it bring me under its power? -- the second part of 1 Corinthians 6:12
says, "Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by
anything"
3) Does it hurt others? -- 1 Corinthians 8:13
says, "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will
never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall"
4) Does it glorify God? -- 1 Corinthians 10:31
says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the
glory of God"
-- Christian
love is purposeful -- it has direction -- it leads us towards our ultimate goal
and destination with Christ -- a Christian matures in love as they grow in
their knowledge and depth of insight of Jesus and move towards obedience and bearing
fruit as an offering for Him
III. Closing
-- okay, so
let's bring this home -- let me summarize Paul's prayer for us today:
-- first,
he prays that love may abound -- that the love we have will grow more and more
expansive and that that love will overflow our hearts and direct our paths in
the future
--
secondly, he prays that we would discern what is best for our lives -- not just
what is good or what is better, but what is best -- what God wants for us -- He
prays that the love and understanding of God that changes our lives would help
us make decisions on the actions we undertake -- on the paths we choose to
follow
-- and,
finally, Paul prays that we would live pure and blameless lives -- filled with
righteousness and overflowing with the fruit of good works done to bring glory
and praise to Jesus
-- to make
progress in life, we have to know where we are going -- we have to choose
between the good and the best -- we have to make sacrifices to achieve and to
become all that God wants us to be
-- so, in
addition to praying on a daily basis for power and boldness in our lives --
that we would be active in sharing our faith -- and that we would be one as
Christ is one in complete unity -- let us also pray that we would become more
loving, more discerning, and more righteous as we move forward towards God's
heavenly reward
-- let us
pray
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1 Modified from article in publication Kyria, © 2009
Christianity Today International, Kyria.com, based on personal experience
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