"A Prayer to be Experienced!" (Philippians 1:9-11)

"A Prayer to be Experienced!"

Captivated by Christ: An expositional sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Church in Philippi (message #5)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

May 9, 2010 -- Happy Mother's Day!

Our Scripture lesson for today is Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV): ⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. [prayer]

This is a powerful prayer…one that I hope we will both pray over one another in our mission partnerships, but that we will experience in our midst. Let's learn what Paul is petitioning God for the Philippians and through Holy Spirit for each of us today.

First, WE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER THAT OUR EXPERIENCE OF LOVE WOULD OVERFLOW FROM JESUS CHIRST!

The literary context for our passage (vv 9-11) this morning is found in verse 4. Let's look at this context, "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy...And this is my prayer: [Paul is giving us the CONTENT of this prayer that he always prays with Joy] that your love [agape] may abound [perisseue] more and more in knowledge [epignosei] and depth of insight [aisthesei]" (Philippians 1:4, 9).

Immediately, my mind is drawn to the two words: love and abound. Paul is asking that the true essence of God (LOVE) abound in us.

Both the Greek words agape (God's love) and perisseue (abound, overflow) are used together in 1 Thessalonians 3:12, "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you."

In this verse, Paul makes it clear who the object of the love is: this love is overflowing to one another and for all people. This is a love that flowed out of the apostle to the new believers and then through the new believers to one another and their city!

But, in Paul's prayer to the Philippians there is no clear object. Paul does not specify who it goes to because he is focusing on where it comes from! The focus is on the subject—the agape—the source is the God who is love!

The Bible declares in 1 John 4:16 & 19, "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. . . We love because he first loved us."

Agape is the love of God; a selfless love that bears all and forgives all. It is the very character of God and defining reality of who God is. We know the depth and width, the breadth and height of this love through the greatest expression of love ever demonstrated—God sent His son Jesus Christ to us to save us; to redeem and reconcile us; to show us the very heart and character of God!

When Paul prays for the Philippians he is petitioning the One who is love to fill the Philippians to overflowing with the fullness of His presence; and this fullness must be experienced to be grasped! That is why Paul has been emphasizing from the very beginning our intentional partnership in the gospel; our koinonia; our common debt in Christ and our common call to declare the victorious news of God's love!

Paul says in Philemon 6, "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."

This love is an experiential knowing that moves beyond academic pursuit. This is a knowing that impacts all of who we are because this love renews our mind and transforms our lives. This is a love that changes our morality, our ethics, and our very worldview! The Greek word epignosis (translated knowledge in our verse) references a knowing that develops in your life as you are obedient to what you hold as true. So, you know God's love more and more as you are obedient to God's love more and more. This is an experiential love that draws its source of knowing on the testing of that which you know. This is a trusting abiding knowing! Paired with the Greek word aisthesei meaning "experience, insight in all situations," Paul was challenging the Philippians to grow beyond measure in the love of Christ Jesus in every aspect and area of their lives together.

Paul's prayer continues to progress as he does not stop with a petition for an experience of love from Jesus Christ. Next, Paul calls for a repentance of life flowing out of this personal encounter with God.

Second teaching point: WE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER THAT WE WOULD CHOOSE TO LIVE RIGHT FOR JESUS CHRIST!

Paul continues his prayer in verse 10, "so that you may be able to discern [dokimazein] what is best [diapheronta] and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ," (Philippians 1:10). This first phrase, "so that you may be able to discern what is best" has its meaning and origin steeped in the religious backdrop of Judaism. Paul uses the same Greek words highlighted in our sermon notes in his letter to the Romans 2:18, "If you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law." In Romans, Paul is contrasting the Jewish worldview that teaches the Chosen People of God are made righteous by the Law of God, the Torah, versus the Christian worldview that teaches we are made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

The Greek word dokimazein translates in this passage as discern, but in 2 Corinthians 13:5a it is translated, "test."

Paul stated, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves."

Dokimazein means, "to put to the test, to examine as in the testing of metals, or money, or oxen".

When we put this prayer together, it becomes clear that Paul is praying that we will be filled with the source of all love so that we can then test everything in our lives to know what is superior! He is referencing a Jewish mindset focused on the Law, but he then expands it.

I want you to catch something very important in Paul's prayer and more importantly, I want you to catch a bigger view of the love of God manifested in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Greek word "perisseue" from verse 9, that we translate 'abound' and 'overflows' has a deeper connotation. In its usage there is an element of excess and of fullness that overflows the set boundaries. In the process of overflowing, the existing standards and rules are transcended and what was once comparable becomes incomparable.

Here it is: through a personal experience of the love of God we are changed, everything changes, and we are then called to examine everything in our life compared to that great gift of love given to us through Jesus Christ, the One who fulfilled every aspect of the Law and gave us an expanded incomparable standard to base our lives off of!

Paul found this standard for his life and teaches how it applies it in Philippians 3:8, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ." This is how we choose to live right; by allowing the love of God to change us personally and experientially. For a Christ-follower, the basis for choosing what is best (superior, vital) is the presence of the ever-increasing love within us that knows no set limits because He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world!

Holy Spirit, the abiding living presence of God, lives and breathes in each of us through faith! The true test of our motives as Christ-followers, is that we live pure and blameless lives so that we will be found worthy of such a great gift as the love of God through Jesus Christ and be found acceptable on the Day of Christ Jesus! That we should be worthy to be called the hagios, the holy ones, the saints, the church, the bride of Christ! Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are the bride of Christ called together in a covenant relationship established by God the Father and sealed through the blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, on the Cross of Calvary. Holy Spirit is moving in and through us to present us to our groom as an acceptable bride.

Listen to this wonderful reminder from Ephesians 5:25-27, not just of a man's call as a husband, but to Jesus' promise to us, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

Just as Paul is praying for the Philippians to be so radically changed by the love of God as to impact their intimate knowledge of God and their lifestyles, He is teaching us that this is the work of God in our hearts, minds, and souls. This is the ministry of the word of God which "is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart: (Hebrews 4:12). The word teaches and the Holy Spirit convicts! Are you listening?

Husbands, I exhort you to love your wives as Christ loves you and His entire church. Let us each choose to live rightly by testing our daily conduct (seen and unseen) and our moment by moment thoughts.

Life is about choice; let's not make it more complicated than it is! If you know what is right and just, then do it! If you know that it is wrong, then turn away from all unrighteousness; repent, and turn toward right living!

And that leads us to our last teaching point: WE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER THAT GOD WOULD BE GLORIFIED THROUGH OUR LIVES TOGETHER IN JESUS CHRIST!

Paul's prayer ends on the same note it began stating in verse 11, "filled [pleroo] with the fruit [karpon] of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:11). Fruit is the external manifestation of internal repentance; of choosing to live life rightly! From the same source of this great love that bursts us out of the boundaries of our human experience, we receive the fullness of God when He fills us (pleroo is used here just like in Acts 2:2 when God filled the house at Pentecost with a mighty wind!) with His Holy Spirit and gives us the fruit of righteousness. The Greek word karpon is the same usage as in Galatians 5:22-23 when Paul states of this fruit, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

This fruit of righteousness is the fruit of the Spirit because it has the same source. This fruit is the very character of God visible in Jesus Christ that God wants to be made visible in our daily lives for His glory! God is creating in us a reflection of His glory by dwelling in us!

We are going to watch a video of a teaching done by Nicole Johnson called, "The Invisible Woman." This is a tribute to our mom's this morning, but I know that each of us will be blessed and encouraged by this as we learn to reflect Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Show "The Invisible Woman" DVD Clip (you can search YouTube for "The Invisible Woman", but I am using the actual DVD with Nicole's teachings on it)

The Bible declares in Colossians 3:23-24, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Bring to Altar Call and Response Songs… [for my blog readers, know that none of this is possible without Christ Jesus! You cannot simply choose to make better choices...we are lost without Christ; we are dead to our sin! The first step is accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior; this is the best choice you can ever make and until you make this one, all else is a chasing after the wind! Call me or write me if you are ready to make this faith choice...I will personally pray with you to the Glory and Praise of God!]