One Prayer (1:9-11)

One Prayer: Philippians 1:9-11 Pray & Intro: Wondering how to pray for others spiritually… Read Passage, & Discuss: A. One People, One Partnership, One Prayer – (shifting from reporting his thanksgiving to reporting his intercessory prayer)  We are relational beings. So we pray for those God connects to us in the family of faith, we serve (and care for) those he gives us in local familial bond, and we seek the salvation of those he places in our path. 1. Paul writes to real people in a real time in a real place that he has a real relationship with. He’s imprisoned, and they’re in Philippi, but he has a genuine connection with and affection for them. (Suffering can’t steal Paul’s joy, nor can space steal his affection.) So he prays for them from a heart of sincere love and concern. a. Joyful intercession – His prayer made with joy, with thankfulness to God, with affection for them, with re-assuring them of their salvation and final home… all bound up together in this relationship, this partnership in grace through faith and participation in the work of the gospel that he has with them in Christ Jesus. b. NOT… I pray too for Bob, Jimmy, Mary, Stacy, Frank, Frieda, Louetta, George, and Elmo – Does it give you great joy to pray for others? (gratitude, affection, assurance) c. Through prayer we can minister to people when we cannot even be present. We can have a part in things that we might not otherwise be physically (or otherwise) able to do. (active in partnership, in participation, through prayer) 2. Paul prays too for what God promises (see. v. 6), according to His will. Even when we are confident that God will bring a thing to pass, we obediently pray, demonstrated our dependence on Him.  “Notice that Paul did not use the sovereignty of God as an excuse for passivity in prayer. […] God’s sovereignty is the incentive for effort, not our excuse for passivity.” (Deffinbaugh) 3. Paul informs them of His prayer to challenge them to live up to it, and to instruct them how they ought to pray for one another. 4. Paul’s prayer is anything but earthly. It is altogether other-worldly.  (He doesn’t pray for them to be rich and powerful and famous, or even comfortable. He prays for them to ***) B. And this is my PRAYER: for a love in you that is abounding (more and more), based on knowledge and discernment (to test out what is essential/best)  Thus making you to BE holy and to DO rightly – filled with “the fruit righteousness produces” 1. Praying for love a. What is the supreme commandment and cardinal virtue of the Christian life? – To love God and others!  Love: Desiring and doing what is BEST for the person loved. (Agape – self-giving love; the opposite of selfish ambition) b. Growing in Love: Paul prays for their continued growth. – Love is not “a static possession, but […] a dynamic process.”1 – Paul isn’t content with the status quo in his life or in the life of his friends! c. Abounding more and more in love (present progressive, excess and fullness that overflows set boundaries, Eph. 1:8), 1 Thess. 3:12 2. We need to grow in love, a love based on knowledge and discernment. a. We love truly when we love based upon truth (knowledge and discernment). [how things are and how they ought to be]  the infinite excellence and beauty of our God b. True knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις) of God in Christ Jesus (relational – knowing God through Christ in an intimate way) – Php 3:10  (Chesterton quote from Orthodoxy – “Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.”) Love is NOT blind. Nor do we love blindly.  It is a knowledge of God that makes us know how to love others. c. And all discernment/insight (αἴσθησις, situational – insight guides the actions and words of those who are wise). – Tact(ics) d. “Thus biblical love cannot be divorced from the true knowledge of God and from the discernment between truth and error and right and wrong that comes from a careful knowledge of Scripture.” (Cole) – (Not just surplus love of any generic blob, but) Resulting in purer motives and better fruit. 3. Approving (put to the test, examine) what is BEST. – Praying for discerning love that tests what is best and produces holiness and a life filled with the fruit of the righteousness of Christ at work in you, to the glory and praise of God. a. Choose what is essential, vital, 3:8 – Other attractive options compete for first place. b. “The purpose of this love increasing in knowledge and tact was that they might be able to distinguish the really important issues in their lives together, and to act on the basis of such distinctions. Paul’s goal for them was that they might be fully prepared for the second coming as those who are both pure and blameless.”2 4. To be Genuine and Unoffending for the day of Christ’s return a. Pure (genuine) – without falsehood  held up to the sunlight to be seen as clean, pure b. Blameless – without offense (aiming to reach the goal without stumbling and not causing others to stumble, 3:14) c. Preparing for Christ coming back – Praying (and living) like there’s no tomorrow (like our days are numbered… for you and for others). – Preparing the church, the bride of Christ, for the coming of her Groom d. In partnership, in community – “Paul is not promoting individualistic perfectionism. An individual who takes Paul’s words as inspiration for developing and polishing personal moral perfection, like a body builder working out every day to look like Mr. Universe or Miss America, misses the point of Paul’s prayer.”3  “under construction” (Christ is building His church here. – Resulting in purity and unity of the church) – a beautiful orchard 5. Filled (made complete) with the fruit of godly graces and deeds (Christ-like character and behavior of the fruit of the Spirit). – Col. 1:10 “bearing fruit in every good work” a. “Paul prayed along these lines because he desired that in the present they might be of one mind, in humility count others better than themselves, do things without grumbling and questioning, display love one towards another, follow the things that are lovely, just, and worthy of praise—in short, work out their own salvation in fear and trembling. These are some of the elements of the ‘fruit of righteousness’.”4 b. Proper priorities result in integrity and helpfulness/usefulness – not just to get to the finish line, but to get there pleasing God  (not just to stand there acquitted, but to stand there spent, exhausted, exceedingly joyful—having given your all for your God) c. Produced through Jesus Christ (not self-effort but dependence upon Jesus, 2:13) d. Is it your prayer for yourself and others in the fellowship to be abounding in a love that enables them to discern what is best so that they can be holy and fruitful for God? 6. “To the glory and praise of God” – Always the ultimate aim, our prayers must reflect the reality that we believe the purpose of all things is moving toward the goal of the glory and praise of God in Christ Jesus.  READ 2:9-11 C. (Conclusion) Paul prays this way b/c he knows that… The love of Christ in us must abound for us to grow, and must be a love grounded in knowledge of God for discernment in situations with others. Love must abound for us to have proper priorities, for us to be genuine and without offense as we live as Christ’s community (living holy until the day of Christ). Love must abound for us to be filled with godly desires and deeds. Love must abound for us to give God glory the way he deserves. D. One Prayer: Abounding Love  B/c we share One Purpose: To Live is Christ 1. Praying that we love Jesus and love as Jesus loves. – (not a formula) but by praying with frequency, fervency, and focus.  What if you prayed for fellow believers as Paul prays here (and in Col. 1 and Eph. 3)? What if you prayed for your spouse this way? Your children, your co-workers? 2. Several opportunities recently to hear from God’s word on prayer. a. End of James letter to the tribes in dispersion – When you believe God, you pray. (When you suffer, petition God. When cheered, pour out praise. When physically and spiritually weak, call on the elders to pray for you. Confess and share your prayer needs with other family members in the fellowship. Why? B/c when you believe God, you pray. And b/c Prayer has great power as it is working. As powerful and effective as the God to whom you pray.) b. Before that our first message of the new year: from Eph. 3:14ff  There are many things we might aim for this year, but there is one thing we need—the presence and power of God at work in us to renew our first love for Him. So pray this way, and pray it with great expectation. B/c praying with this clear biblical purpose will: 1. It will awaken in us a zealous ambition for the glory of God in Christ Jesus. (protecting us from lesser loves and pursuits) 2. It will align our hearts.  Christians re-align their first love and their first commitments under Jesus. (Our affections > purposes > plans > practices) 3. It will guard us. (keep us from falsehood that doesn’t match God’s truth) 4. It will guide us. (give us clear direction to be sincere and inoffensive) 5. It will unite us. (because we will share a single purpose and practice – (that) Living is Jesus. Loving is Jesus. And Lasting Joy is Jesus.) 6. Glorify God. (and not us, on His terms) 7. It will succeed. (b/c it IS God’s desire and design for us to be abounding in the love of Christ so that we are plainly marked by the humility and self-sacrifice of Christ)