Phil 1, 9-11

More To Life – A Study in Philippians

Phil 1:9-11 – Pray For More, and Get It!

Intro:             

A mother was teaching her three-year-old daughter The Lord's Prayer.  For several evenings at bedtime, she repeated it after her mother.  One night she said she was ready to solo.  The mother listened with pride, as she carefully enunciated each word right up to the end...  "And lead us not into temptation," she prayed, "but deliver us some e-mail, Amen".        

A minister asked a little boy whether he prayed every day.

"No, not every day," said the boy, "there are some days I don't WANT anything!"

A little girl, whose father had refused to grant her a certain request, said in her prayers that night: "And please don't give my

parents any more children. They don't know how to treat the ones they've got!"

Trivial Pursuit

Health and wealth gospel?

Phil 1:9-11

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s prayer

Background:

• Ancient letters often mentioned praying for the person at the end of the greeting
• “Before all else, I pray that you are well; I myself am well and make obeisance on your behalf to the gods here.”
• Paul prays to the true God and instead of material blessings and health prays that they might know God and live to please Him!

1.         Pray that they love more every day.    – instead of praying for more money or things

·         Love may abound more and more.  

o       Not getting on case – you do love, now may it overflow.   Yet more and more.

o       We see this in ch 2 and then in ch 4 as a problem

o       Lack of love between Euodia and Syntyche

o       Love has no object here.  Refers to love for God and others.

o       More love, more love!

o       Abounding – overflowing.

·         Knowledge – mental grasp of spiritual truth – knowing God in an intimate way

o       A better knowledge of God and His ways helps our love to each other.

o       Personal knowledge of God and Christ.

o       Example – marriage

§         Knowledge of our wives is essential to love.  They want to be understood and known.

§         Spouses, I challenge you to find out something new about each other everyday this week!  See what happens!

o       What is love without knowledge?    Shallow lust

o       Emotion is based on knowledge.  Otherwise trouble

o       All you need is love?        Love is blind.

o       Superficial love usually comes from superficial knowledge.

§         Why we focus on learning – why time together in God’s Word is vital.

1 John 4:7-8          Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

·         Depth of insight – aisthesis

o       Perception, discrimination, tact

o       Moral insight that leads to action or a moral decision

o       CHOICE!

o       Paul prays for common sense!

Dearest Jimmy,

No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie.

P.S., And congratulations on willing the state lottery.

·         In a congregation struggling with unity, Paul prays continually for them.  Prays his rebuke. 

o       Before we rebuke anyone in the church, pray, pray, pray.  See God’s heart.

Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."

Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that your're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn't return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"

"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion.

2.         Pray that they will choose the best.  – instead of praying for good things in their life

10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,

So that!  - one leads to the other.

1.                  discern what is best

discern – put to the test.  Examining prior to approval.  Then accept as tested or approve.

o       Coins or cattle

The things that really matter

            or

Choose what is best among the good

Not just about right and wrong in our prayers

What is best instead of what is good

Love, knowledge, and insight all contribute to this.

Best in habits, priorities, family choices    - Don’t settle.

Going to dinner with friends vs. Dodger game

3.         Pray that they will be a man or woman of integrity – Godly character  instead of praying that they won’t get into trouble.

10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,

Not disqualified

·                     be pure and blameless

·         Pure – unmixed – with the world

                                                                          i.      Uncontaminated by their surroundings

                                                                        ii.      “sun tested” – holding pottery up to sun to see if cracks have been filled in with wax.  Verifying it is not contaminated.

1.      sin cera – without wax – sincere

Despite the "Do Not Touch" signs, a museum was having no success in keeping patrons from touching -- and soiling -- priceless furniture and art.  But the problem evaporated overnight when a clever museum employee replaced the signs with ones that read: "Caution: Wash Hands After Touching!"

·         Blameless – doing no injustice or evil

                                                                          i.      Without stumbling

1 Thes 5:23-24            May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

            Until the day of Christ

                        Last a lifetime.

                        Second time it is mentioned.

                        Live in light of eternity.

            Put something in the glass of water to contaminate it.

                        It doesn’t take much

                        We toy with worldliness because we think it makes us happy.

1 John 2:15-17         15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

4.         Pray for spiritual results – pray for fruit – oranges          instead of praying for success

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

o                   Being filled – passive – God does the work.

o                   Cannot do it on our own

o       Vine – John 15

o                   Fruit from righteousness

o                   Fruit of the spirit

o                   Bringing lost souls to Christ – Rom 1:13

o                    

Gal 5:22-23     But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

5.         Pray that all in their lives will show God’s glory.     Instead of praying that life will be easy.

o                   To the glory and praise of God – purpose of it all

o       This is the only path to true joy.

Concl:

            We sacrifice our prayers on the altar of happiness.  There is more to life.  God wants us to pray for things that bring joy. 

            Yes, day-to-day needs are important, but not the most important.  We settle and lack joy.

Parents – how do you pray for your kids?

As a third-century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: "It's a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians--and I am one of them."

More To Life – A Study in Philippians

Pray For More, and Get It! – Phil 1:9-11

More To Life – A Study in Philippians

Pray For More, and Get It! – Phil 1:9-11