2. Mindful Love

Random Question

If you woke up and everyone else on earth had disappeared, what’s the first thing you would do?

Prayer

Lesson

Recap:

Circumstances: Paul found himself in prison as he wrote this letter.

What was his general attitude in the first part of ch. 1? (Joy, thankfulness)

Lessons/Applications:

We learned that we can be joyful even though we may be enduring the worst trials. Outward circumstances can’t take away the joy that the Lord gives us because it is within us. Paul continued on telling the Philippians how grateful he was for their fellowship in the Gospel and how much he longed to see them.

Now, Paul tells them his prayer request for them (vs. 9-11)

(Read vs. 3-11)

Vs. 9

Philippians 1:9 NKJV

9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,

Paul is praying that we would abound in something, what is that thing? (Love)

Our love is to be abounding…

Abound = Overflow

Fishing in Miramichi…

Abundance is a supply that just seems to never run dry. It’s pouring out without end.

But Paul goes even further with that…

How much should our love abound? (Still more and more)

Still: Idea of continuing, keep going

more and more: Never enough…

Is there anything you’d say you’ve pretty much mastered? There’s no way you could get better at it or learn anything else about it? (Let them answer)

- My M.A. at Faith…

Can we master love? (Never!!!)

Of all virtues, love is the one the New Testament emphasizes the most, it’s the One God would want to see in us most. Jesus said in John 13:35

John 13:35 NKJV

35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So, we love one another, and we never stop growing in that love.

So, Paul prays for their love to grow… How does the world define love today? (Feeling, tinglies, strong affection for someone else)

Hippies

- “Spread the love man.”

- “Make love, not war.”

- “Love is all you need.”

The world is going to tell us that love is a feeling, it’s when you like that girl and she likes you back. It’s when we all sit down around the fire and sing kumbaya. They tell us that we can fall in love, it just happens to us.

I mean just think of all the songs written about love.

Ever hear the term “Smitten in love”?

The world just thinks love is like a lightning bolt, BAM! It hit us and now we’re in love. To boil it down, the world believes that love is passive.

What do I mean by passive? (It happens to you)

Do you think this lines up with God’s idea of love?

Paul mentions two sources where our love will grow at the end of vs. 9, what are they? (knowledge and discernment)

Paul combines love and knowledge together…

Anyone have an idea how love and knowledge work together?

If we don’t know who God is, do we truly understand love? (No, God is love, He is the source of it. So, the more that we know who God is, the better we are at loving others.)

Biblical love is not at all about the fuzzy feelings we get when we like someone. Biblical love is informed by the truth, and that truth shows us how we can love on an even deeper scale.

So, we love in knowledge

Is anyone into legos here?

What is one thing in the box you absolutely cannot throw away? (The building instructions)

What’s going to happen if I scrap those? (I may build something I like, but I’m not building it how it was intended to be)

Just like our lego building ought never be blind, our love is not blind either! We need a guide to show us how to love. And that guide is God’s Word, knowing it, knowing God Himself. Only when we know God will we know how to love properly.

Biblical love is rooted in in the knowledge of God. If we don’t have that, we can’t love properly.

What’s the other way our love needs to abound in vs. 9? (Discernment)

Someone tell me what is discernment? (The ability to tell what is right and wrong, what is good and bad)

- Is a baby going to have lots of discernment? (No! They have no clue that touching a power outlet is bad for them, or chewing a tide pod is harmful, they just see a colourful squishy thing.)

- But what happens with our discernment as we age? (We get more of it. We understand why mom told us not to touch the power outlet)

As we grow in our love by knowing God more, our discernment is going to get better and better. Not only will you be able to know what’s bad for you, but you’ll get to see what’s good for you also.

- Going to bed early…

- Eating right…

- Exercise…

Vs. 10

Vs. 10, what’s going to happen to us if we grow in this kind of love?

Philippians 1:10 NKJV

10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,

Any ideas what approve means? (Test something to see if they are good)

- Baseball & hockey tryouts

- Money bills in sunlight

The end goal of these tests is approving them in the end, you picked out the best ones to make the cut.

What are the things that we approve in vs. 10? (Things that are excellent)

What’s the difference between something good and something excellent? (One is on par with the standard, the other is above and beyond expectations)

What’s going to happen to us when we do chose what is best for us (vs. 10)? (We will be sincere and without offense)

Sincere = Pure, “What you see is what you get.”

Without offence: Blameless, not being a stumbling block to others

Whiteboard:

Some things are clearly right or wrong, these are the black and white issues…

- What are some clearly good things?

- What are some clearly sinful things?

Then, there are some things not so clearly addressed in Scripture, it’s debatable whether or not they are wrong, this is the grey area…

- What things might we find in the grey area?

Philippians 1:10 tells us to approve the things that are excellent… How does that impact our decision on this wall? (We pick the things that are best for us)

Why is that? (So that we would be sincere and without offense)

Why is this all important (look at the end of vs. 10)? (The day of Christ)

What’s that? (When Christ will return for us)

Something amazing happens to all guys at some point…

- We’re generally a little slower learners than girls are, and we tend not to grow up for a long while. But then a young lady comes into our life, and the reality hits us guys, “If I marry her, I’m going to have to provide for her, care for her, and lead her.”

- From that point on something miraculous happens… The guy turns his life around! He’s not so much of a slob anymore, he got a stable job, is more consistent, on time for things. What happened? He was looking forward to being a husband!

The return of Christ should do the same thing to us. When Christ will gather His church at the rapture, we are each going to face Him for how we lived our own lives. We won’t be condemned to hell (that’s already been taken care of), but we will be judged based on how we used our time here on earth. The more we do for God’s glory, the better our rewards will be in heaven.

How might keeping this mindset change the way we live now? (We want to stand well before Him!)

So, as we’re doing that, living in Christ and growing in love, we’re going to do what vs. 11 says…

Vs. 11

Philippians 1:11 NKJV

11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

What are the fruits of righteousness?

Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Holiness, Romans 6:22

Romans 6:22 NKJV

22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

Good works, Colossians 1:10

Colossians 1:10 NKJV

10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

What is the source of our fruitfulness here in vs. 10? (Which are by Jesus Christ)

Jesus is the source of our life and spiritual fruitfulness.

Ill: Lawrence of Arabia

Not sure whether this is fact or fiction…

- Lawrence brought Bedouins to London, housed them in luxurious hotel

- Bedouins were only used to living in tents. Water was hard to come by, but all you needed to do at the hotel is turn a knob and water would come.

- When packing to leave, Lawrence found faucets packed in all the bedouins bags. They thought the faucets would produce water for them!

- Just like the faucets need to be connected to the water line to produce water, we need to be connected to our Christ if we want to produce fruit.

And what’s the reason for all these things (end of vs. 11)? (To the glory and praise of God)

Application

Love is not blind, it is directed by God’s Word and inspired by God’s example

We should strive for what is best

We can only be fruitful through Christ