Paul’s Gospel-Centered Prayer
Text: Philippians 1:9-11
Core Idea: May Paul’s prayer for the Philippians be our prayer as well – that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that we may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Let’s learn to put the priorities of the gospel at the center of our prayer life.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, Lighthouse. It is delightful to see you. Well, we are going through the Book of Philippians – reflecting on what it means to press on with joy in all circumstances. Last week, we saw Paul as an affectionate pastor whose heart was exploding with joy for three reasons. First, because of the gospel partnership he had with the Philippians – he was encouraged to know that there were others who were as passionate as he was in advancing the gospel. Second, because of the growing affection he had for them. There was this deep friendship that had been formed between them as they did life together – and now that Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he longed to be with them even more so. And lastly, because of the confidence he had in the One who always completes the work that He begins. No matter what the Philippians were going through, Paul knew for certain that God was plotting for their joy and that He was for sure going to carry them home one day. Their partnership in the gospel, his growing affection for them, and his confidence in the Lord – these three things moved Paul to pray for the Philippians with joy. When you love people, you pray for them. And when you pray for them, you love them even more. This is the secret to cultivating a deep friendship with others. Then friends, let’s remember that what will hold us together as a church isn’t necessarily location or affinity but our prayers for one another – which is why I’m inviting you to pray for each other more intentionally and consistently. We need to cover each other with our prayers. Then what should we pray for? Of course, we can pray for many things, but today, we’re going to learn from Paul how we can make our prayers more gospel-centered by tuning into the prayer that he prayed for the Philippians. But more importantly, as we eavesdrop on his prayer, I pray that we’ll be inspired to actually pray – that we won’t just learn how to pray but that it’ll move us to pray. Then please turn your Bibles to Philippians 1:9-11. Let me read this for us.
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.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
In verse 9, Paul begins by praying that their love may abound more and more. Now, even though Paul doesn’t necessarily provide a specific object for their love, it would be safe to assume that he’s referring to their love for God and their love for one another. Paul prayed for this because he didn’t want them to be satisfied with where they were – he didn’t want their love to be stagnant. Instead, he wanted their love for God and their love for others to keep on growing. Then let me ask you, “Is this something that you’re praying for yourself today – that your love for God and others would increase day by day? Are you praying this for your family and for others in this community?” Brothers and sisters, may we never be satisfied with where we are in our faith – that we’ll never come to a place where we say, “I think I’ve done enough. I think I’m giving enough. I think I’m loving enough.” No, I pray that we would want more – that there will be this consistent, steady, discernable growth in our love for God and our love for others every single day.
Now, if we were to pray for our love to increase, we would typically pray like this, “God, help us to grow in patience, in kindness, in self-control, in humility” – and so on. Of course, this is a perfectly good prayer, and we should definitely pray this way. But Paul says something interesting here – he prays that their love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. Why? How are they related? Well, this knowledge that Paul references here isn’t mere information. He’s referring to the knowledge of God – the knowledge about God and the knowledge from God. In other words, he wanted their love to be biblically informed – to be rooted in the knowledge of God. This is because Paul knew that the knowledge of God instructs and empowers our love – apart from the knowledge of God, it would be impossible for us to love in a way that pleases God because it is through God that we learn what it means to serve, forgive, lay down our lives for others, and more. In other words, we must know God deeply so that He may teach and enable us to love wholeheartedly. Our love must be constrained by the Word of God.
Then what does this mean for us? It means that if you feel like your love for God and others is diminishing, it could mean that you haven’t been devoting yourself to growing in the knowledge of God. Of course, there could be many other factors – but considering what Paul says here, if your love for God seems to diminish in your soul, if your affections for others seem to diminish in some way, it would be wise for us to examine ourselves to see if we’ve neglected giving attention to the Word of God recently. Now, I get that this is nothing new – which is why it’s most definitely possible for you to respond by saying something like this, “I know, I know. I need to read the Word.” But I pray that you would take this a little more seriously because this really is how you can grow your love for God and others again. Have you been feeling distant from Him recently? Do you feel like your passion for God is nowhere to be found today? Are you lacking patience for the people you love? Well, Paul tells us that it’s not that complicated – it’s not a mystery. If you want to increase your love, you must endeavor to know God. Then I wonder how many of us are praying like this – “God, help me to know You better so that I can love better.” Brothers and sisters, are you in the Word today? Are you giving yourself enough time to slow down so that you can reflect on the Word? Are you growing to know Him better, to love Him more passionately, to trust Him more? Friends, to give attention to God’s Word is not a waste of time – it will make a difference in your life. As you immerse yourself in the Word, your progress will be evident to others – your love for God, your love for your spouse, children, friends, co-workers, and others will abound more and more. Then let’s turn to the Word and get to know God because this is how your love will increase and mature. Now, if you haven’t noticed, even though Paul prays for their love to abound more and more, this love that he prays for is not an end in itself but a means to an end because verse 10 begins with the words, “So that.” Paul’s basically saying, “I’m praying that your love will grow for these reasons.” What are they? Three things:
· WISDOM
· HOLINESS
· WORSHIP
1) WISDOM
Paul says in verse 10, “[I’m praying] 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.” Now, what are the best things that Paul refers to here? Well, it would be helpful to point out that Paul’s not talking about distinguishing what’s good and what’s bad. We know this because first of all, he talks about that right after this – he prays that the Philippians would remain pure and blameless (referring to holiness). But second, because the word “best” implies a choice. Out of many options, you can choose what is bad, what is okay, what is good, and what is best. In other words, Paul’s talking about wisdom here – this ability to discern what is best in every aspect of our lives. The truth is that we face countless decisions every single day – but it’s not always easy to make the best possible choice that will please and honor God every time. There are many reasons for this. It could be because we’re scared, lazy, distracted, or hungry for worldly things. But it could also be because we’re just not sure. It’s not always clear what is best in certain situations – at work, in your dating relationship, in parenting, and so on. Then here, Paul’s praying for this ability to decide excellent things in life (not according to our cultural standards but excellent in the eyes of God) – learning to conform our lives to that which is most important.
Now, some practical examples may help us understand the significance of Paul’s prayer. Some questions for you to consider. What do you do with your time? What would be the best use of your time at home? Do you intentionally carve out time to spend time with your spouse or with your children? How much time do you spend on social media or other forms of personal relaxation? What are you feeding your mind? Do you often find yourself mindlessly scrolling through videos on YouTube or are you intentionally reading to deepen your knowledge of God? How do you decide what to do with your money? Are you delighted when you find yourself able to give more to the work of the Kingdom – or are you quick to use the extra money you have for yourself? [Again, it’s not wrong to do that – it’s completely fine to do that as long as you’re faithfully honoring the Lord with finance. But I’m just talking about what could be the best way to use our money.] Are you thinking of ways to better serve the people in this community? In different aspects of your life, are you trying to do what’s wise in the eyes of the world or in the eyes of God? Are you aiming to pursue comfort or the gospel ways? When you make a decision about your work, your school, your children, your vacation, your relationships, your marriage, your ministry, are you able to discern what is best? No wonder Paul prayed for wisdom. Friends, we’re desperately in need of wisdom today because we continue to find ourselves at a crossroads in life. We need His help to do this well. Then let me ask you, “Is this something that you’re praying for yourself, your family, and others in this community? Are you praying that their love for God will inform their decisions so that they will always choose what is best in the eyes of God?”
Now, isn’t it interesting to see that Paul connects wisdom to our love for God and our knowledge of God? How are they related? Let me explain. Many of you know the five love languages. If you’re not familiar with them, it’s something that has been put together by Gary Chapman who shares that there are five major ways that people express and experience love – words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. Now, it’s true that everyone receives and gives love in all five ways, but Chapman explains that most of us have one primary love language. My primary love language is words of affirmation. It’s natural for me to express my love through words and I feel incredibly loved when others affirm me with words. Now, early in our marriage, I wanted to show how much I loved Alicia. So, I encouraged her. I affirmed her. I shared verses that strengthened me – hoping that it would do the same for her. But later I learned that her primary love language was acts of service. Now, it doesn’t mean that she didn’t feel loved when I shared words of affirmation (I hope not) – but this just taught me that there was a better way to express my love to her. So, not that I didn’t share words of affirmation from that point on (I still do because that’s natural to me) but I’m more intentional to express my love for her through my acts of service. Now, am I not loving Alicia if I express my love only through words of affirmation? Of course not. But because I got to know more about her, I was able to discern the best way of loving Alicia. In the same way, if we want to discern what is best in the eyes of God, we must grow in our love and knowledge of God. So, next time you pray for wisdom, pray that your love for God will abound more and more. As your love for God grows, discerning what is best will become clearer to you.
Friends, Paul was never satisfied with where he was – he was always after what was best. So, he pressed on. Then this is what we should be doing as well. Where do you need wisdom to discern what is best in your life today? Let’s not be content with where we are. Let’s not be okay with being mediocre. When a choice is before us, let’s never settle – no, let’s go after what is best. Let’s pray that we’ll have the wisdom from God to always discern what is excellent.
2) HOLINESS
Paul says in verse 10, “[I’m praying] 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 for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” Here, Paul prays for three things. First, purity. The word “pure” in the original language meant “to judge by sunlight.” In the first century, fine pottery was incredibly fragile – which meant that it easily developed cracks. So, to hide those cracks, people often covered them up with wax so that they could sell them in a marketplace. And the only way to judge the condition of a pottery was to hold it up to the light which would often expose the cracks. In other words, to be pure means that there is no cover-up in our lives. It means that there are no cracks that we’re trying to hide in our lives – instead, we’re on the inside what we are on the outside. There’s no difference between what we say and how we live. We’re not one-way on Sunday and completely different on Monday. No, there’s this authenticity to our lives. Second, blamelessness. Now, let me first point out that this word doesn’t mean sinless – rather it means “to live without stumbling.” It means not allowing anything to hinder us but faithfully moving forward in our walk with God. And lastly, the fruit of righteousness. We know that we’re declared righteous through Jesus Christ – because of His work on the cross, we’re considered righteous before God. All that to say, God puts us in a position of righteousness. Then the fruit of righteousness is the life that comes out of this positional righteousness. Since we have been made holy before God through the work on the cross, we ought to be holy as well – or at least, grow in our holiness. Think of it like this. Since we’ve been engrafted to Christ, the fruit of our lives should reflect who the vine is. Then here, Paul’s really praying for a life without hypocrisy – a life that is sincere in their pursuit of holiness. He prays that the Philippians would hate what is evil and love what is good in the eyes of God – that they would be intentional in their fight against sins and passionate in their pursuit of holiness knowing that the day of Christ was coming. Now, he wasn’t using this as a threat – he wasn’t saying, “You really need to start growing in holiness because if you don’t, you might face horrible judgment.” Instead, he was telling the Philippians that they must live their lives every single day with a view of eternity in mind because he wanted them to reorder their priorities in light of this future reality.
Now, let’s be honest – this is not easy. Because we live in a sinful and broken world, because we’re still contaminated by failures, rebellion, and self-centeredness, pursuing holiness is a struggle. Whenever we fall into temptation, we’re freshly reminded that we’re not yet what we ought to be. But brothers and sisters, don’t let this discourage you because though we may not be close to what we will be, by the grace of God, we are not what we were before. You may think that there’s no difference, that you’re the same person as before, that you’re not growing – hence, “Why continue with the fight?” But that’s just not true – in fact, I firmly believe that this is just a lie from the enemy. Satan wants you to believe that there’s no progress because he wants you to be discouraged, because he wants you to give up. But the truth is that we are growing – we are changing. Just the fact that we desire to be here proves that. Just the fact that we feel guilty over our sins proves that. Just the fact that we’re trying to fight against our sin proves that. And even if you do feel like there hasn’t been any movement in your walk with God, remember what Paul said in verse 6, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Then place your confidence in the Lord today. He will carry you home – in fact, He’s carrying you home right now. Today, you are one step closer to being who you were meant to be than yesterday – not because of your commitment and willpower but ultimately because of His faithfulness in your life. So, don’t give up. Continue your fight. But more importantly, pray for this holiness because this cannot happen apart from Christ. That’s exactly what we read in verse 11, “The fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” Yes, we’re called to pour our energy into the task of pursuing holiness, but we must understand that the bearing of this fruit is only possible through Jesus Christ. He alone makes our progress possible. Listen to what D.A. Carson says regarding this, “When Paul prays this prayer, he is praying that Christians might be, right now, what we ought to be, what we certainly one day will be. But Paul is not simply exhorting people to be better. What he is doing is praying for revival. He is praying because only God can produce transformation; only God can grant a revival.”
Brothers and sisters, we must pray for revival. Yes, revival in number because we want to see more people come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. But more importantly, revival in our souls – that there would be this radical transformation of our hearts and lives so that God will be glorified, and the world will know that there’s power in the gospel. D.A. Carson explains, “It does not take much reading in the history of revivals to discover that when true revival dawns, resentments are dissolved. When revival comes, self-promotion is seen to be ugly and withers away. When revival comes, men and women are concerned to be holy, they are serious about integrity, they embrace genuine self-denial and learn to love. When revival comes, our worrying sense of unreality disappears, and heaven seems more real, and certainly more important, than this transient world order. When revival comes, worship is no longer an exercise but one of the chief characteristics of our lives. Out of this fresh experience of the grace of God powerfully working in our lives, evangelism becomes not only a passion but immeasurably more fruitful.” Do you long for this kind of revival in your life, in this church, in our city today? If so, are you praying for revival knowing that only God can produce this kind of transformation? Who knows? God may hear our prayers – and turn our lives upside down, this church upside down, this city upside down. Don’t you want to see that happen? Then let’s put our hearts together and pray. Let’s pray that our conviction for the gospel will be recovered. Let’s pray that He’ll wake us up. Let’s pray that we’ll be convicted of our sins and repent. Let’s pray that He’ll move us out of our comfort zone. Let’s pray that He’ll fill us with courage to do unthinkable things for His Kingdom. Let’s pray that there will be this renewed desire to make disciples. Let’s pray that He’ll use us to accomplish great things for His glory.
3) WORSHIP
Verse 11 – Paul prays all this “to the glory and praise of God.” Paul prays that they would grow in love, wisdom, and holiness not for their own reputation but for the honor of God. The glory is entirely and exclusively His because this growth is possible only through Him. In fact, apart from Him, we can do nothing. Now, there’s a story that helps us understand this better. Lawrence of Arabia once brought a group of poor Bedouins to London and housed them in a beautiful hotel. Now, the only kind of dwelling they had ever lived in was a tent in the desert. So, they quickly became fascinated with the faucets in the hotel. In the desert, water was hard to come by – but in the hotel, they merely had to turn a knob to get all the water they needed. So, when Lawrence helped them pack up to leave, he discovered that they had taken the faucets off all the sinks and put them in their bags. Why? Because they believed that if they possessed the faucets, they would also possess the water. Friends, we must remember that we’re only faucets. Unless we’re connected to the pipeline of living water, we’re as useless as the faucets the Bedouins had in their bags. We must stay connected to the source of life – no wonder we should give Him the glory that He deserves. Then brothers and sisters, is this the motivation that’s driving your life today? Are you living to give God the glory that He deserves? Think about all the decisions you make every single day. Is your desire to honor God controlling those decisions or are you often driven by your own comfort and convenience? Friends, let’s fix our eyes on the Lord. Let’s tie our joy to the Lord. Let’s stay connected to Him and open our faucet so that the living water would flow to us and through us to the world. And most importantly, let’s give Him the glory that He deserves as we endeavor to grow in our love, wisdom, and holiness.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, may Paul’s prayer for the Philippians be our prayer as well – that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that we may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Let’s learn to put the priorities of the gospel at the center of our prayer life.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Paul moves from expressing his love for people to praying for them. Are you expressing your love for others by praying for them? If not, why not? What’s hindering you from praying for others in this community?
2) Paul puts knowledge and love together in this prayer. Why is it important to keep these two virtues together? How does our knowledge of God deepen our love for God and others? Are you submitting your relationships to Scripture and asking how you should love others based on the Word? Why or why not?
3) Where do you need wisdom today? Pray for each other so that they will discern in their context what is best in the eyes of God. Pray for our church that we all may be passionate about the things that really matter.
4) Pray for purity in your life and the life of our church – and pray that we as a community will be filled with the fruit of righteousness.