Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Turn in your Bible to Philippians 1:9-11.

The title of the sermon is The Apostle’s Prayer for the Church.

Let me read the passage, pray, and then begin.

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so 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.

May the Lord bless the reading of His Word.

May God, the Holy Spirit who inspired the text illuminate its truths to our hearts.

Over the last ten years over $705 million dollars was spend on Christian books.

Last year one-third of all U.S. adults and teenagers purchased at least one Christian book.

Of this huge number, nearly half of these books were on prayer.

Prayer is a vital topic, but our greatest resource for learning this spiritual discipline is not the latest book, but the Bible itself.

Scripture gives us the themes and language for prayer.

Of all the passages in the pages of the Bible, Paul’s prayers in his letters may be the most informative.

We have before us today, one of Paul’s shorter prayers.

Earlier in verses 3-8, he speaks of his continual prayers for the Philippian Church.

Here in verses 9-11, he details his prayers for the welfare of that church.

Paul’s little prayer is a model of intercession.

Do you want to know how to pray for others ?

Look to the prayers of the Bible as your guide.

Look at Paul’s prayers specifically.

Often our intercession can focus wholly on the physical to the exclusion of the spiritual.

His prayers show us how to pray for the deeper needs of the brethren.

We will examine his prayer today for the purpose of learning to pray better both for ourselves and for others.

Background

Before we consider the text before us, let us step back and consider the letter as a whole.

Philippians, like most of the New Testament, was originally an occasional document.

That is something prompted Paul originally to write to the church.

Paul had a storied relationship of about ten years with the Philippian Church by the time of writing.

Paul planted the church during his second mission journey.

It was a strange group that made for an unlikely beginning for so healthy a church.

Its first members were a young girl who had been trafficked for her spirit of divination.

Lydia, a wealthy clothing entrepreneur.

And the Philippian jailer along with his family.

From this humble beginning, God established a local congregation.

The Apostle had a great relationship with the church that is characterized in the letter.

We detect none of the terse words and tense situations as in 1/2 Corinthians and Galatians.

The church supported Paul’s ministry with prayer, encouragement, and money from the beginning.

The relationship between them continued even into Paul’s imprisonment.

When they heard of his incarceration in Rome, they dispatched one their own to find Paul in order to encourage him in the Lord and administer much needed support.

Epaphroditus was one of their number perhaps even a minister.

He made the 800 mile trek to Rome and found Paul.

That was no mean feat.

Once united, Epaphroditus gave encouragement from the Philippian Church and much needed financial assistance.

Their reunion was darkened though.

The Philippian messenger got sick while in Rome.

Almost to the point of death, Paul says.

The Lord had mercy and healed the helper.

Now Paul is sending him back and takes the opportunity to render thanks to the congregation by including a letter.

At its most basic, Philippians is a thank you letter.

However, it is much more.

Paul’s note is a statement on Christian joy.

Joy and rejoicing is the major theme of it.

He uses the term and derivatives over 12 times.

Our passage comes near the beginning of the letter.

In the passages before, Paul issues a greeting and now he issues a prayer for the welfare of the church.

We will examine this passage under three headings: 1.)

The Main Prayer, 2.) The Accompanying Petitions, 3.) The Hoped for Results

1.

The Main Prayer (Phil.

1:9a).

9 And it is my prayer

Philippians, along with Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, is one of Paul’s Prison Epistles.

For our purposes, I think it is important to note how Paul ministered during his imprisonment.

Consider four ways he ministered.

Preaching

Though incarcerated, he was still able to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He preached to those who visited, the imperial guard, others prisoners, and as part of his legal defense.

Letter Writing

Letters, for most of Paul’s ministry, were a substitute for a visit.

Confinement meant more letters.

God preserved these letters as a continued blessing for the Church.

Suffering

Paul’s suffering was not only part of personal sanctification, but his noble endurance was used to grow the Church and inspire other believers to greater and bolder service.

Prayer

The Apostle was always a consiment man of prayer.

Shortly after his conversion, Ananias was summoned to lay hands on Paul to restore his sight and confirm his calling.

The Lord told Ananias, he would find the man of Tarsus praying.

However, prayer took on a new priority.

He could not travel anywhere, but to the throne of grace.

Why did Paul open his heart about the private intercession that was previously heard only by the prison walls and guards?

He did this to reveal the depth of his feelings for the church.

However, another pressing reasons call for such revelation.

This band of believers faced real struggles that called for prayer.

What struggles did they face?

Note several Paul mentions in the letter.

Their pain at Paul’s Imprisonment (Phil.

1:12).

Their personal persecution (Phil.

1:29-30).

Doctrinal Heresy (Phil.

3:1-2).

Church Conflict (Phil.

4:1-3).

These desperate times called for earnest intercession.

His priority calls us to greater commitment to prayer.

Do you pray?

Don’t let a dark providence like confinement happen before beginning to prioritize prayer.

Andrew Bonar writes:

Oh brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper - and sleep too - than not pray.

And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest.

The Lord is near.

He comes softly while the virgins slumber.

He loves the church and his prayers for them are an expression of that love.

Paul cannot get to them in person, due to his imprisonment, but he can and does travel to the throne of grace in order to minister to them.

The second part of verse 9 begins to unpack the substance of his prayers.