December 14, 2003 Philippians 1:9-11
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.
At the end of the year some of you may receive a year-end statement on what your various funds have done throughout the year. The basic concept behind a mutual fund, is that you regularly invest money in a large variety of stocks, in the hope that they will go up during the year. Then, when you receive the statement - it tells you how much money you have invested, and how much money you have made in short term and long term gains.
What would you think if every year you received a year-end statement on your spiritual growth? How do you think it would read? Would it say, “you grew ten percent in faith, two percent in works, but you shrank eight percent in love”? How much would it say you invested? Obviously, such a report would be hard if not impossible to make for us, since much of it isn’t able to measured like money or assets. Yet Paul was very interested in the topic of growth - getting the Philippians to grow - something that all of us as Christians should be interested in and try to follow. He said, This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more. It was what he was praying for in today’s text - specifically a growth in love - or agape - for the Philippians. So today we’ll look at -
The Agape Fund
“Love” is a pretty broad term. There are four different terms for love in the Greek language that all have different nuances. The one that he uses here is agape - which is often used for God’s love for us - which is often referred to as “unconditional.” It’s used in John 3:16 as the driving force that drove God to send His only Son to die for us. It’s used in Romans 5 by Paul to describe how amazing it was for Jesus to die for ungodly people like us. Paul wanted that same kind of love to “abound” in the Philippians. “Abound” is used to describe the growth of a flower when it goes from a bud to full bloom. So Paul regarded the Philippians as plants that were growing - but still hadn’t hit full bloom yet. That’s what he was praying for - that their unconditional love would abound.
Unconditional love can be applied in a variety of ways. It can be applied to parents dealing with children who are acting rebellious. It can be used in employers dealing with employees who are being greedy. Some people might do great at showing unconditional love to the poor, while they are completely impatient with the rich. There once was a woman who showed a wonderful sympathy and love for little children and the disadvantaged. Everyone thought she was the most loving person in the world. But she was completely different in her own household. When she got home, for some reason she was unable to reflect any of that kind of love to her husband and children. She constantly yelled at them and was very demanding of her children - to the point that the husband and wife finally got divorced. Her love didn’t reach all aspects of her life. That is probably the case more often than not - that we can be loving to those who we work with or go to school with, but have a much harder time with our family and those nearest to us.
In this case, Paul was praying for the Philippians to show their love in two specific instances - that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. The first thing Paul wanted the Philippians to do was to grow in their love in the sphere of knowledge. One of the main problems that God had with the Old Testament Israelites is that they ultimately didn’t KNOW their Lord. When the Israelites entered the promised land God told them, Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Dt 11:18-20). Yet years later God told the Israelites through Isaiah - The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. (Is 1:3)
The only way your love can grow more is if you know more about God - invest in your knowledge. 1 John says, Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 Jn 4:8-11) God’s Word has a miraculous way of showing us how undeserving we are, and how unconditionally our God truly does love us. When we know more about this God who unconditionally loves us - the more we will grow in our love. So the key - THE KEY - to being more loving is first of all knowing more about God’s love for you and for the world. Whenever you find yourself more angry, more unforgiving, less caring - chances are that you have not been in the Word - learning more about God.
Why did Paul want that for the Philippians? So that you may be able to discern what is best. This isn’t easy - especially in today’s world. Back even in Paul’s day he said that unbelievers - invent ways of doing evil; . . . they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. . . . they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Ro 1:30-32) The problem we are having more and more with society is that people are approving of the very things that God’s Word clearly says is evil - and this is happening even within the church. It amazes me how so many churches are now allowing homosexuality and condoning pre-marital sex and living together before marriage. In the name of “freedom” the Man Boy Love Association seems to be advocating sexual relationships between men and children. However, when we call such acts evil, we are the ones who are called unloving and intolerant, while those who practice them are promoted as the loving and tolerant ones. It’s getting to the point in our society where it’s HARDER to distinguish what is good and evil from the way people are living. That’s why it’s more pertinent than ever to KNOW our Lord - not only who He is, but also HOW He wants us to live. If people really knew their Bibles and their Lord, they would know these modern day evils are not permissable. The problem is that people don’t! That’s why Paul prayed the Philippians would grow in their knowledge.
The strange thing that sometimes happens, is that some people can know their Bibles left and right, and yet be some of the most unloving and judgmental people in the world. For instance, when you watch TV or look at society today, how often don’t you just get angry at people and frustrated. It’s easy for us to think, “I’m glad I’m not like those Catholics who pray to Mary.” Or, “I’m glad MY kids aren’t so misbehaved like THOSE kids over there.” Or, “how can she wear THOSE kind of clothes!” A part of our pride can somehow think we are better than others just because we know our Bibles better or live more “righteous” lives. Instead of being humble and thankful for not living that way, we become arrogant and angry because others are. Wasn’t that ultimately the problem with the Pharisee in church? It wasn’t that he didn’t know his laws or the Bible or live a seemingly upright life. But when he came to church, he used his knowledge of right and wrong to build himself up before God and look down on the Pharisee. This is like someone who puts all of their money into one stock and doesn’t diversify his investments.
That’s what’s so easy to do with our training and our love - our Agape Fund. We tend to look at our knowledge and think that we are head and shoulders above the rest of the world. But what we fail to look at is the one ingredient that needs to be involved with our knowledge - and that’s love. If we look at the world this way, we don’t become anything but self-righteous Pharisees - which is ultimately the worst sin of all - for it is pride that keeps Christ out of our hearts. We need to remember that all that we know and all that we are is a gift of God. We also would be ignorant and on the way to hell, were it not for the fact that God sent Jesus to die for us and also sent the Holy Spirit to give us repentance and faith. So Paul prayed for a specific growth in love when it came to the Philippians’ depth of insight - in the way they make judgments for what is right and wrong and true and false in this world. He wasn’t say that they would make NO judgments - but that WITH their judgments on right and wrong they would also show LOVE. He wanted them to also show concern for the lost - humility for God’s grace. We need to pray for it in ourselves as well.
What was the ultimate goal? Any investment is always made for the future. With most mutual funds, the goal is to have enough money to retire at age 65 or so. So what’s the end game of this Agape Fund? What’s the intended result of this prayer? Paul said if this prayer were answered, then the Philippians would 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. Those are some pretty heavy adjectives - pure and blameless. One means to be examined under the sunlight, and the other means to have no obstacles in your way to heaven. These same terms are found in other Scriptures. For instance Psalm 15 says - who may ascend the hill of the Lord? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous. What does Scripture mean by this? Psalm 19 explains it like this when the writer says, Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. (Ps 19:12-13) By “blameless”, he didn’t mean sinless in his life. What he meant was that by faith he would not end up living in an open and unconfessed sin - unrepentant.
That’s the path Satan is trying to draw us down constantly. So he lays traps and obstacles for us on the way to heaven - things to trip us up in the faith. Proverbs lists a few of those paths.
Proverbs 5:3-4 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
Proverbs 14:12; There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 23:31-32 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
However, when you know God’s Word - when you are strong in God’s love for you - you can discern the right way from the wrong way. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Ps 1:3) You’re able to tell that the only true way to be saved is through Christ. You’re able to examine what your sinful nature and the world tells you, and keep from doing it. At the same time, when you stay in the Word - it will keep you humble and remind you that you’re still saved by grace. Through your God given faith - you’ll be able to produce the fruit of righteousness that God wants from you - and keep from falling into the trap of unrepentant sins on the pathway to hell. Jesus said it this way - “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. . . . This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (Jn 15:5-8) When this is done the praise and glory goes all to God - for He is the one who produces the faith in us in the first place. That’s the end result - the purpose of growing in love. As long as we stay in Christ, God gives us what we need - purity and blamelessness - making us ready for Christ to come.
On the west side of our house we planted three trees during the fall. Right now they’re small and puny - very fragile lives. We look forward to a day in the future that these trees provide the shade that we need. Until that day, we water the trees and take the best care of them we can. It works much like an investment - a mutual fund - you have to keep feeding it and caring for it.
You are like that tree - that investment that God has made. He planted you and established you and fed you with the grace and love of Jesus Christ - like a tree standing by running waters - in the hopes that you would grow. You are His Agape Fund. Like water and sun make a plant grow, you will grow in love when you stay in the Word. You will have a greater ability to tell what’s wrong and right and live a better life. Isn’t this something to pray and aim for? The Agape Fund. It’s worth investing in, because you’re it. Amen.
