A PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL PROGRESS—Philippians 1:9-11
Proposition; For more spiritual growth to take place in our lives, we need to pray that others may experience spiritual progress now in their spiritual life.
Objective: My purpose is to challenge people to make progress in their spiritual life by growing more like Jesus.
INTRODUCTION:
The story is related of old Bro. Jones. He would get up and repeatedly testify in church services: "I’m not making much progress, but I am established." Over and over again, he would give this same testimony until i really got boring to hear him. Well, one day it rained and rained, and old Bro. Jones took his team and wagon and got a load of logs, or something that was really heavy. As he started home, he went down a road that was saturated with rain water. That road had turned into a bog, and the wheels of Bro. Jones’ wagon sunk in clear down to the wagon bed. He tried and tried, but his horses just couldn’t get that wagon unstuck. Wouldn’t you know it? The preacher happened by, and after he saw the situation, he said: "Well, Bro. Jones, I see that you are not making much progress, but you are established!"
We note that Paul has previously shared with the Philippians his deep love and continuing concern for their spiritual welfare. Paul was very thankful for the Philippians. He summarizes his joyful attitude with his praise for their constant witness by saying: "I have you in my mind" (vvs. 3-6). He was thankful for their fellowship in the Gospel. He shares his praise for their concern and love by saying: "I have you in my heart" (vvs. 7-8). He is thankful for their fearlessness in the Gospel as they shared in the Gospel ministry with Paul since their hearts were united in their love for Christ and for each other. He was especially grateful for their friendship. God’s grace had given them this place in his heart and they had evidenced their participation with him in that grace. Because of this Paul shares in his prayers for their spiritual depth and a continued growing in the Lord. He says (vvs. 9-11), “I have you in my prayers (vvs. 9-11). This is a prayer for their spiritual progress. He finds joy in remembering them to the throne of grace. Here is a deep Christian fellowship that he enjoys at the throne of grace as he prays with and for others.
Paul is praying that the believers would continue to grow. They are sure of their destiny but they should also be progressing in the faith. The Christian life is not static . . . it is growing. We experience joy as we see ourselves becoming more and more like Christ. But do you see how unusual this is? This is not the experience most Christians have. For most of us we begin our Christian life in a cloud of joy and then it gradually dissipates. By the time we have been a believer for a couple of years we are often just "going through the motions". Faith has become lifeless. That’s why Paul’s prayer is so significant for us.
What do you pray for others?
I. A PRAYER THAT CHRISTIAN LOVE MAY GROW (v. 9) “abound more and more”—A prayer for the heart—abounding love-- Therefore, Paul’s injunction means that one should be constantly conscious of one’s full depen-dence upon God. It is important in our "me centered" society to note that Paul didn’t pray for physical needs, success, or "blessing" in general (e.g., "Lord bless the saints at Philippi") in this prayer or for that matter anywhere else in his epistles. His attitude of reverential prayer for the spiritual growth of the saints should motivate all saints to be imitators of Paul for all the saints in their sphere of influence. It’s one thing to have someone in mind but quite another to have them in your prayers!
1. An appeal “And this I pray”-- A prayer for the heart—We will hear the substance of his praying and concern for them. Paul proceeds to enumer-ate the blessings which he sought for them; and it is worthy to note that he did not ask riches, or worldly prosperity, but that his supplications were confined to spiritual blessings, and he sought these as the most desirable of all favors.
Illus: “You can only go as far as you go on your knees.”
2. An advancement “that your love may abound”—Here is a call to love. “Abound" means to "overflow (like a cup or river), to superabound and thus to go beyond measure." He prays that they might live full lives. His prayer is for a love without limits. The men who had owned that poor demonic slave girl needed to be loved. The city magistrates who had unjustly beaten Paul needed to be loved. The Philippians had neighbors, friends, work-mates, acquaintances, relatives and other brothers in Christ who needed to be loved with the love of Christ. Paul prayed for this love to “abound”—not a one-time overflowing, but a continual activity (Rom. 5:5). This is an others-centered love. It looks for needs in the lives of others and seeks to meet those needs with no thought of returned favors.
Illus: The Bible expositor Donald Grey Barnhouse once met a Japanese woman who worked at an airline desk in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. She spoke fluent Chinese, Japanese, and English, and was obviously from a very cultured background. In his open and unique way, Barnhouse asked her if she was a Christian. She replied that she was a Buddhist. When he questioned her further, he found out she had heard of Jesus Christ and about a sacred book called the Bible, but she had never read it and knew nothing about Jesus Christ personally. Barnhouse then asked her, "Do you love Buddha?" She was startled and replied, "Love? I never thought about love in connection with religion." That challenged Barnhouse and he proceeded to unfolded to her the beautiful reality of the love of Christ in contrast to pagan religion, whose gods are hated and feared. He told her that the only God in the entire world who is truly loved is the Lord Jesus Christ. He pointed out that in her country are statues of fierce monsters guarding the temple gates, and the people burned incense and offered sacrifices in attempts to appease their angry deities. Then he told her how Jesus Christ came to die for all mankind and how Christians love Him in return. He told her how Hindus do not love their gods and Moslems do not love Allah, and remarked again on how she did not love Buddha. He arranged for a missionary to take a Bible to that young Japanese woman and show her how she might know the Christ of God and enter into His love.
3. An abundance “more and more”—The opposite of life is self-centeredness. This is not a prayer simply for more quantity, but for a richer and richer love to be manifest, lives less and less undermined by “selfish ambition and vain conceit” (2:3). One minister says, “I find it easy to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ but difficult to love one another.”
Illus: It is said that one day Michelangelo entered his studio to examine
the work of his students. As he came to the painting of one of his favorite pupils, he stood and looked at it for a long time. Then, to the utter surprise of the class, he suddenly took a brush and wrote one word across the canvas. That one word he splashed on the picture was amplius, meaning "larger." Michelangelo was not rejecting the work, for it exhibited great skill and was good as far as it went. But the small size of the canvas had made its design appear cramped. It needed to be expanded. The Lord may have to write the word amplius across many of our lives. Our spiritual outlook becomes confined, and our vision of what God wants to do in and through us gets restricted by our small faith and limited spiritual growth. He wants to increase the dimensions of our spiritual lives, widen our outreach, and strengthen our witness. Our limited vision needs continual revision!
4. An awareness “in knowledge and all discernment”-- This love is also characterized by knowledge and discernment.
1). Apprehension “in knowledge” – This is spiritual knowledge based on moral principles revealed in scriptures.
2). Approval--Spiritual insight—Discernment--Abound in all discernment which is the use of wisdom to apply knowledge most effectively. Many people today want to focus on love with no discernment. From their perspective, love means tolerance, accepting anyone and everything, like the song that says, “If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.” But love must be based on truth." Paul is not praying for knowledge which puffs up, nor a knowledge that is ‘knowledge about’ God, but rather a full and innate knowing that comes from our covenantal relationship and experience with God. He also prays that our love would grow richer in wisdom or all discernment, an ability to apply the love of God ethically in all kinds of situations. Our love is to be very rich and very practical – just like the love of God. Paul now tells us how that love for God is over-flowing the boundaries of our lives as evidenced in our lives. He says by our knowledge or in particular spiritual knowledge. Where do we get this spiritual knowledge? It is for the Bible and our relationship to Him. Jesus tells us what is right. We are to love our enemies and pray for them who do us harm. He tells us to treat others the way we want to be treated. He tells us the importance of kindness and justice and mercy. He tells us to be faithful and dependable until He returns. He tells us to be honest. The thing is we know more than we do and because of this Paul says he is praying for the discernment of the Christians in Philippi and that is a good prayer for us. Discernment means to have the judgment to do what is right. Once again we know better than we do. Discernment means to have the judgment to do what is right. Once again we know better than we do.
Illus: "Stop telling God how big your storm is. Instead, tell the storm how big your God is!"
Illus: It must be a transparent love, it must be a truthful love, it must be a real love! During the war there was a radio play that was conducted by actors, and they were called ’The Free Company’, and one of the players was heard to say over the airwaves one day to a companion actor: ’You sound like a preacher, only it sounds real.’ You sound like a preacher, only it sounds real! What perception are we giving to the world in our airwaves? What are we communicating to them? Is it like watching the television? ’That was a good show today’, and we’ll go home and we’ll
talk about it? Is it transparent? Is it truthful? And is it real?
II. A PRAYER THAT CHRISTIAN LOVE MAY KNOW (v. 10) “approve”—A prayer for the mind—A discerning love is to choose the best.
Here is a good version of Paul’s prayer: “I pray that you will know …
The good from the bad,
The better from the good, and
The best from the better.
Illus: As I thought about this request, I read about the motto of Oak Park-River Forest High School in the Chicago area. It contains a shield with some Greek writing on it. The Greek writing is the word tagarista, which means “those things that are best.” It’s a noble goal, both for a high school and for an individual life. The people who proposed this motto for the high school understood that there is a moral dimension to all education. That is, the very notion that there is “the best” presupposes a better, a good, a not-so-good, and a definitely bad. You can hardly choose “those things that are best” unless you know what they are, and you cannot know what they are unless you know what is “the best.” This means that education in its truest sense is more than the impartation of facts about geometry, biology, American history, or English literature. It is also an understanding of a moral framework that enables us to make proper judgments about the good, the better, and the best (not to mention the bad, the very bad, and the truly evil). But apart from God, how will we know the good from the bad, the better from the good, and the best from the better? The answer is, we won’t. Education alone will never lead us to tagarista. Education gives us knowledge, but to choose those things that are best, we need the wisdom that comes from God, and that’s why Paul prayed this prayer.
1. An approval--“approve things that are excellent”-- Approval is
the next step after knowledge and all discernment. Actually there are three stages to the word translated “approve.” The meaning in the first stage is "to test," and is illustrated by the use of the word in 1 John 4:1 "prove the spirits, whether they are from God." The idea in the second stage is found in our text on "approve." The meaning in the third stage is found in Rom. 12:1-2 "that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God." This means that the will of God must be proved by experience as good and acceptable and perfect. The word used here denotes the kind of trial to which metals are exposed in order to test their nature; and the sense here is, that the apostle wished them so to try the things that were of real value, as to discern that which was true and genuine.
Illus: An educational study was done in which a group of people were
presented a new concept. 50% percent of the people believed the new concept immediately without thinking and 30% didn’t; 15% wanted to wait a little while before they made up their minds but didn’t ask for any clarification or information. Only 5% analyzed all the details before coming to a conclusion. Apparently 5%t of the population thinks, 15% thinks they think, and 80% would rather die than think! Someone has said that most of society is on a caboose looking backward: they see only what has already gone by.
Illus: There’s a story about a pilot who came on the loudspeaker during a flight and said, "I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is we’ve lost all our instrumentation and don’t know where we are. The good news is we have a strong tail wind and are making great time."
2. An accounting “that you may be sincere”—This means to be
tested with all the sunlight. “Sincere” means “without wax.” The word “sincere” means literally without wax (sine cera); that is, honey which is pure and transparent.
Illus: Others think the word has its roots in two Greek words, one meaning
"sun," the other meaning "to judge." Put together the word would express the idea of "testing by sunlight."
Illus: In Paul’s day if an unscrupulous sculptor carved too deeply into
the marble, he would put wax in the cut to hide his mistake. Since the wax looked like marble, the craftsman could deceive his customer until the statue was "tested by sunlight." The hot Mediterranean sun would soon melt the wax and the customer would discover (too late to get his money back) that his statue was not "of unmixed substance.” So wise customers learned to write "without wax" into their contracts to purchase marble sculptures. They demanded that the workmanship be sincere.
Illus: James Montgomery Boice in Philippians: An Expositional Commen-
tary tells us that "in ancient times . . . the finest pottery was thin. It had a clear color, and it brought a high price. Fine pottery was very fragile both before and after firing. And it was often the case that this pottery would crack in the oven. Cracked pottery should have been thrown away. But dishonest dealers were in the habit of filling cracks with a hard pearly wax that would blend in with the color of the pottery. This made the cracks practically undetectable in the shops, especially when painted or glazed; but the wax was immediately detectable if the pottery was held up to light, especially to the sun. In that case the cracks would show up darker. It was said that the artificial element was detected by ’sun-testing. ’ Honest dealers marked their finer product by the caption sine cera--’without wax.’".
So just as in ancient times pottery was tested by holding it up to the sun, our
lives need to be tested for the wax of hypocrisy. In the church are those who appear as fine pottery but are not. There are cracks of sin in their lives filled with the wax of religious ceremony and activity. When held up to the light of God’s Word their cracks become evident. When persecution or difficulty comes, they melt (cf. Matt. 13:5-6, 20-21) . Applied to Christian character, it means that which is not deceitful, ambiguous, hypocritical; that which is not mingled with error, worldliness, and sin; that which does not proceed from selfish and interested motives, and where there is nothing disguised. There is no more desirable appellation that can be given to a man than to say that he is sincere - a sincere friend, benefactor, Christian; and there is nothing more lovely in the character of a Christian than sincerity. It implies:
(1) that he is truly converted - that he has not assumed Christianity as a
mask;
(2) that his motives are disinterested and pure;
(3) that his conduct is free from double-dealing, trick, and cunning;
(4) that his words express the real sentiments of his heart;
(5) that he is true to his word, and faithful to his promises; and,
(6) that he is always what he professes to be. A sincere Christian would bear to have the light let in upon him always; to have the emotions of his heart seen; to be scanned everywhere, and at all times, by people, by angels, and by God.
Illus: Years ago in China when there was little currency and almost all purchases were made by cash, the merchants would keep a smooth block of polished marble or stone on their counters near the cash registers. Since there were many counterfeits among silver coins used, the merchant would fling the coin upon the smooth stone if he had any suspicion. If it did not have the right "ring," he would return it and ask for another. If its tone marked it as genuine silver, he would put it in the drawer and the transaction would be completed. God wants His children first to test, then approve and finally ring up in the cash drawer of experience the coinage of truth which is the medium of exchange for real riches.
3. An analysis “without offense”-A prayer regarding character—An offense means an obstacle against which one may dash his foot, to stumble or cause to stumble (Vine’s). This means that one does not stumble or cause others to stumble. One runs the Christian race without falling through any or over any stumbling-block, that is, temptation, in your way.
Illus: In a paper in recent years was this: "A former East St. Louis High School athletic director who professed his innocence for two years has admitted embezzling $90,000 and having sex with female students. Art May was first accused of corruption in 1995 by then-East St. Louis High School football coach Bob Shannon. The school board even backed May by forcing Shannon out. School board Treasurer Martha Young said, "If you know Art May, he comes from a very, very religious family. He’s just not the type. I guess we’re all human."
Illus: A little girl was praying, "O God make all bad people good," and after a pause she continued, "and make all the good people nice."
The discerning atmosphere in which their love should operate will require them continually "to discern what is best." Some things are clearly good or bad. In others the demarcation is not so readily visible. In Christian conduct and the exercise of love, such factors as one’s influence on others, as well as the effect on oneself, must be considered (1Cor 10:32). The question should not only be "Is it harmful?" but "Is it helpful?" (1Cor 10:23). Here are two good tests for us to: Will it make others
stumble? or Would I be ashamed if Jesus should return?
Illus: The eighteenth-century reformer John Wesley was blessed with a godly mother. When he went away to school she reminded him that "whatever weakens one’s reason, impairs the tenderness of one’s conscience, obscures one’s sense of God or takes off the delight for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of one’s body over one’s mind, that thing is sin"
3. An appearing “till the day of Christ”—This refers to the day when Christ will come again. The goal in view is the day of Christ, in which every believer must stand before his Lord and give an account of his deeds (2 Cor 5:10). It is that future time when “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10), and where “each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work” (1 Cor. 3:13). “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time,” Paul warned, “but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God” (1 Cor. 4:5). The truth will be revealed about us on that day. This sobering and joyous prospect for the believer should have a purifying effect on his life (1 John 3:3).
Illus: A gentleman went away from home and secured a good position. He loved his family. He sent money for every need as well as many gifts. But the wife and children grew more anxious, as the days went by, to see husband and father. Finally when they could stand it no longer they wrote him and said, "Please do not send any more gifts or money. We want you." The Christian, whose heart is true to the heavenly bridegroom, appreciates the blessings and gifts bestowed by Him, but at the same time they long for Him. Jesus said, "Behold I come quickly," and John the
intimate disciple responded, "Even so Lord Jesus, come quickly."
III. A PRAYER THAT CHRISTIAN LOVE MAY FLOW (V. 11) “filled”—A prayer for life—for reaping a rich harvest
1. The manner “filled with the fruits with righteous
ness”—The word righteousness refers to doing what is right. People ask, "Is this course of action expedient? Is it popular? Does it make me feel good?" The Christian must ask, "Is it right?" The fruit tree does not make a great deal of noise when it produces its crop; it merely allows the life within to work in a natural way and fruit is the result. The difference between spiritual fruit and human "religious activity" is that the fruit brings glory to Jesus Christ. Whenever we do anything in our own strength, we have a tendency to boast about it. True spiritual fruit is so beautiful and wonderful that no man can claim credit for it; the glory must go to God alone.
Illus: God wants a bumper crop of righteousness in our lives.
Illus: Progress has little to do with speed, but much with direction.”
2. The means “by Jesus Christ”-- That is, according to his
doctrine, through the power of His grace, and by the agency of His Spirit. The spiritual fruit that the Lord produces in believers includes winning the unsaved to Christ. In Romans 1:13 Paul said, “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.” He emphasized the same truth in Colossians, explaining that “the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also … is constantly bearing fruit and increasing” (Col. 1:5–6). Spiritual fruit also includes good works, which is what Paul has in mind in the present text. Such good works always begin with godly attitudes, some of which Paul enumerates in his letter to the churches of Galatia: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). These divinely bestowed attitudes are designed to produce divinely empowered good works. Paul spoke of the fruit of good works when he told the believers in Corinth that “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest [fruit] of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:10; cf. Eph. 5:9). As with every other righteous thing the believer possesses, the fruit of righteousness … comes through Jesus Christ. It cannot be humanly generated.
3. The motive “to the glory and praise of God”--God is
honored when the work of His grace thus appears to men in the fruits of righteousness; and God is praised by all the faithful when His work thus appears. Every genuine follower of God has His glory in view by all that he does, says, or intends. He loves to glorify God, and he glorifies Him by showing forth in his conversion the glorious working of the glorious power of the Lord. The Christian life is like that. We miss out if we stop progressing. The initial stages of the faith are enjoyable but they are nothing compared with what God will introduce us to as we continue to travel with Him. We must "stay the course."
Illus: Mark Twain was a professional humorist whose lectures and writings
made people around the world laugh and forget their troubles. Yet Mark Twain was in private a man whose life was broken by sorrow. When his beloved daughter, Jean, died of an epileptic seizure, Twain was too ill to go to the funeral. He said to a friend, "I have never greatly envied anyone but the dead. I always envy the dead." HOW SAD! What is the secret of joy? We feel, "Everything is going to turn out all right." Paul tells how to experience Christian joy in a world filled with trouble.
CONCLUSION:
1. We can experience an abounding love. Love is the character of
God, His actions towards His people, and the fruit of His Spirit in us. This is the summary of the two great commandments, and Paul seems to have both in mind throughout the epistle. It is to ‘abound’, in the sense of overflowing from within, towards those persons we are told to love.
2. We can experience an approved love that we come to understand.
3. We can experience an abundance of love with a very rich harvest.
The Christian life is like that. We miss out if on many spiritual blessings when we stop progressing. The initial stages of the faith are enjoyable but they are nothing compared with what God will introduce us to as we continue to travel with Him. We must "stay the course."
Illus: A young man with nothing exciting to do on a lazy summer day decided to go and vandalize a church. He entered the church sanctuary and began to mark up the pews with permanent markers. Then suddenly he heard the slamming shut of the entrance doors. Before he could run away, he found himself between a wall and the center aisle with the pastor standing in the way. That pastor took the young man into the side chapel, where a figure of the crucified Jesus Christ hung on the wall. That pastor told the boy that the only other option to having him arrested was for the boy to repeat the following sentence ten times while staring at the figure of the crucified Christ: "I don’t care that you died for me."
Then the pastor left the young man alone in the chapel to repeat the statement. The young man was rather relieved that he would not be arrested, and to humor the old pastor, he looked at the figure of the crucified Christ and began to repeat the sentence: "I don’t care that you died for me. I don’t care that you died for me. I don’t care that you died for me." And as the young man continued to repeat, "I don’t care that you died for me," tears began to well up in his eyes, and soon he collapsed on the floor sobbing.
’There was a time when in my daily prayer
I asked for all the things I deemed most fair,
And necessary to my life -- success,
Riches, of course, and ease, and happiness;
A host of friends, a home without alloy;
A primrose path of luxury and joy,
Social distinction, and enough of fame
To leave behind a well-remembered name.
Ambition ruled my life. I longed to do
Great things, that all my little world might view
And whisper, "Wonderful!"
Ah, patient God,
How blind we are, until Thy shepherd’s rod
Of tender chastening gently leads us on
To better things!
Ah, Love divine, how empty was that prayer
Of other days! That which was once so fair --
Those flimsy baubles which the world calls joys
Are nothing to me now but broken toys,
Outlived, outgrown. I thank Thee that I know
Those much-desired dreams of long ago,
Like butterflies, have had their summer’s day
Of brief enchantment and have gone. I pray
For better things.
Thou knowest, God above,
My one desire now -- Teach
Prepared by: Gerald R. Steffy
6206 N. Hamilton Road, Peoria, IL 61614
Phone: 309-691-3680 E-Mail: grsteffy@yahoo.com
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