Open:
There is no truer indicator of spiritual maturity than his or her prayer life. Paul's prayer life reveals more of his spiritual vitality than all of his preaching, teaching, and miracles combined. And we learn as much from what Paul did not pray for as we do from what he did request from God. The recorded prayers of Paul reveal a notable absence of prayer for material things. Instead, spiritual matters on his heart took priority. Our present text presents five specific elements of joyful growth that Paul requested on behalf of his beloved Philippian believers.
I. Growth in Love (1:9)
"that your love may overflow more and more..."
1. Love is at the very heart of biblical Christianity.
- Love is an tribute of God's essential nature (1John 4:8,16) and will be the most obvious attribute of a life that reflects Him.
2. God's love originates in God's Word ("with knowledge") and then applies it in the world ("and full insight").
II. Growth in Excellence (1:10)
"to help you to determine what is best"
1. "To" may better be translated "so that", indicating that the first essential (love) is the foundation of the second (excellence).
2. "Determine" is a word from classical Greek that was used of assaying metals to determine purity. - This means to carefully identify whatever is best, most crucial.
- For the believer, this more than distinguishing good from evil. This is discerning what is best.
III. Growth in Integrity (1:10b)
"so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless."
1. "Pure" comes from a word that reflected the ancient practice of holding a piece of pottery to the light in order to reveal whether or not it had any cracks. Unscrupulous artisans would conceal cracks with a dark wax that made the cracks undetectable in ordinary sunlight. Reputable dealers would often stamp their product sine cera ("without wax") as a guarantee of high quality.
- A pure Christian life is one without deception: Who you are in public is compatible with who you are in private.
2. "Blameless" expresses the extent and goal of integrity -- to influence others positively rather than negatively. "Every believer is an arrow. Which way are you pointing?"
IV. Growth in Good Works (1:11a)
"having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ"
1. This refers to something that happened in the past and that has continuing results.
- Our righteousness will never increase because we already have the righteousness of Christ.
- Our fruitfulness may and should increase as we grow in the previous joyful essentials (love, excellence and integrity).
2. It is God's purpose to produce good works in the lives of all believers. (Ephesians 2:10)
V. Growth in Glorifying God (1:11b).
"for the glory and praise of God."
1. God makes believers fruitful for the sake of his own glory. (John 15:8; 1 Corinthians 10:31)
2. We do good works not to gain God's acceptance, but to honor Him.
Close:
Paul gives us five essentials for joyful spiritual growth as followers of Christ. These are not matters of duty, but joyful delight. There is a God-ordained progression here that begins with godly love and eventually results in glorifying Him. If we have a problem with anynof these essentials, we need to identify the issues and then look to the previous one in order to resolve the failure.
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes, pastor)
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