A Very Specific Love You Should Be Praying For!
Notes
Transcript
“Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God.”
“When a man is speaking to God he is at his very acme. It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man's true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life.”
—Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
This morning I give a hearty amen to Dr. Lloyd-Jones. And yet I feel much conviction at the same moment. For I do not pray as I ought.
And it is not only that I do not spend enough time in prayer. My problem is not simply a lack of quantity. It is not enough that we should be merely praying.
There is not a sincere Christian in this room who at the mention of prayer already knows in their heart that they must pray more. If all I said from the pulpit this morning was, “Friends, we need to spend more time in prayer.” I could give an invitation and doubtless some would come forward.
This morning I want to take the subject of prayer a step further. It is not enough that we should be praying as disciples of Jesus. But, how we pray, or for what we pray is of utmost importance. In other words my message this morning is not on the quantity of your prayer life, but the quality of your prayer life.
The last time we were in Philippians we looked at the bases of Paul’s joy and thanks. The reasons that he prayed for the Philippians helped us understand how we can live as joyful and thankful people.
Now Paul gets into the actual content of what he prayed for the Philippians. If you could go back in time and sit inside Paul’s prayer closet, what would you hear? That is the message we have recorded for us in Philippians 1:8-11.
Paul’s prayer list for the Philippian believers was theological, central, and specific. Paul cared about many things for the Philippians, but what Paul was most concerned about came to the front in his prayers for these dear saints.
It’s not that Paul didn’t care about little Johnny’s runny nose or Frank’s broken down car, but those kinds of things were not central, they were not at the front of what Paul prayed for the saints.
Friends I want to encourage you this morning to become theological, central, and specific in your prayer life for other people. And I want this kind of praying to become front and center in your life. I want these kinds of requests to be the very first thing that comes into your mind when you pray for others and for yourself. We need to improve the quality of our prayer life, and I believe the best way to do that is to follow the example of Paul’s prayers.
Our question this morning is what kinds of things should we be praying for? How do we pray theologically, centrally, and specifically? How do we bring to the front of our prayers the things that are the most eternally relevant?
I believe the Apostle Paul gives us four categories of specific things we ought to be praying for.
I. We must pray for a greater degree of biblical love (v. 9a)
I. We must pray for a greater degree of biblical love (v. 9a)
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
I look at v. 8 as a transitional verse between vv. 3-7 and vv. 9-10. Paul is transitioning between an explanation of why every time he prays for the Philippians he is filled with joy and thanks to the actual content of what he prays for.
Because he is always filled with joy and thanks when he prays for the Philippians he has developed a fondness for them all.
And because Paul has such a love for the Philippians that is why he prays they way he does.
8μάρτυς γάρ μου ὁ θεὸς
For God is my witness
ὡς ἐπιποθῶ πάντας ὑμᾶς
How I greatly long[1] for all of you
ἐν σπλάγχνοις Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ.
With the bowels[2] of Christ Jesus.
“Yearn” or “long” for you
[1] Experience a yearning affection or love for someone
8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
“Affection of Christ”
[2] as often in the ancient world, inner body parts served as referents for psychological aspects of the seat of the emotions, in our culture a transference is made to the rendering heart, For us the heart is the seat and source of love, sympathy, and mercy. But for Paul and the Philippians it was the bowels.
The point is Paul prayed with thanks and joy and he prayed theologically, centrally, and specifically for the Philippians because he yearned for them with a deep heart affection.
Is this how you pray for people? Who is it that you yearn for with the affection of Christ Jesus?
You might say, Pastor I don’t yearn for anyone that way. I don’t think God made me to do that. My answer to that- the people I yearn for the most are the one’s I am involved with in making disciples.
That is why Paul yearned for the Philippians- they were partners together with him in the gospel, they were partakers of grace with him in imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
So if you don’t yet yearn for anyone in your heart with the affection of Christ- start a disciple-making relationship with them. Build a redemptive relationship with someone. And the Spirit will put that person on your heart and cause you to yearn as naturally as breathing air.
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
Actually content of Paul’s prayer- the main request that Paul goes before God with and intercedes on the behalf of the Philippians?
9καὶ τοῦτο προσεύχομαι,
And I am praying (constantly/habitually) this,
ἵνα ἡ ἀγάπη ὑμῶν
that your love (self-sacrificial love / divine love)
ἔτι μᾶλλον καὶ μᾶλλον περισσεύῃ
still more and more (to a greater degree or extent) might keep on abounding
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
When you pray for others, when you pray for yourself- do you pray for genuine biblical love to abound more and more?
There is nothing wrong with praying for the broken car, or the hurt leg, or the lost job- but those should not be at the center of our prayer life! What is way more important and what we should be praying for is that God would cause agape, self-sacrificial love for God and for other people to keep on abounding to a greater degree than every before.
II. We must pray for love to abound by the right means (v. 9b)
II. We must pray for love to abound by the right means (v. 9b)
It is not enough to simply pray for love to abound. Paul prayed very specifically in his prayer life, very theologically in his prayer life. And so must we. If our love is not abounding by the right means we end up in error.
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
ἐν ἐπιγνώσει καὶ πάσῃ αἰσθήσει
by means of knowledge and all discernment.
The proper means by which our love must grow is in the sphere of, or in the realm of, or in the context of knowledge and all discernment.
Knowledge- ἐπίγνωσις, the content of what is definitely known, definite knowledge, full knowledge, personal knowledge.
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,
4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
Full/Definite/Personal Knowledge of Him, of the Son of God, of His will, of God’s mystery which is Christ, of the truth (4x’s), of every good thing, of God and of Jesus our Lord, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
This is the only proper means whereby our love must yet more and more keep on abounding.
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
Abide in the love of Jesus, that is come to a full/definite/personal knowledge of the truth. But the Bible is unlike any other book! In the holy pages of the Scriptures the Son of God has promised to love you by showing you all things about Himself. And what Paul is praying for is that your love would about in the full, definite, and personal knowledge of Christ!
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
All discernment- to have the capacity to perceive clearly and hence to understand the real nature of something. All thorough discernment/perception or a depth of insight (as acquired through experience).
Paul is stressing that knowing Christ is not enough, in addition we need insight for what to do with our knowledge. We need wisdom to do the right thing and to speak the right words in every circumstance.
Without insight our love cannot express itself with the right actions and words in every situation of life.
The Letter to the Philippians II. Prayers for Partners (1:3–11)
Often love asks the question: I desire to love these people with such great needs, but what should I say and do to meet their needs? Only by insight does love have the direction to act wisely in ways that give healing, joy and life to those who are loved.
The combination of knowledge and depth of insight unites the personal knowledge of Christ and a practical understanding of people. Knowing Christ and understanding people are both necessary for love to abound more and more.
Please pause here and take not of Paul’s wonderful balance!
“He does not, you notice, merely pray that the love of the Philippians may abound yet more and more; no, he wants their love to overflow in knowledge and in all judgement. Nor does he simply pray that their knowledge may increase — you see his balance — rather, he prays that their love may abound yet more and more in knowledge . . .” — Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones
“Paul is afraid of knowledge that is not based upon love, and in the same way he is afraid of love that cannot be controlled and checked by knowledge. He want their love to increase and abound in knowledge and in all judgement, and the two things must always go together.” — Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones
Illustration:
Think of a mother of a young child that loves that little one dearly but lacks a proper knowledge. So the mother spoils the child and papers the child and never brings godly discipline to bear and never allows the child to go through pain or trial. What happens to the child?
Then think of the flip side of a mother who knows the benefits of discipline, and of trial and hardship, but who is absolutely devoid of love. So she never sheds any tears for her child, or stays up at night on her knees begging God to break the heart of her child, or holds her child close in her arms and tells the child just how much she loves him. What happens to that child?
You must have both- an abounding love and knowledge and all discernment.
Think of the believer who loves Christ very much, but has absolutely no grounding in the truth. I love Christ and I want more people to love Christ so they argue let’s use any means necessary to bring people to Christ. And so they use wordly methods to attract people into their churches. But they don’t know Christ- they don’t know his holiness, or his righteousness, or his justice. They don’t have Christ abiding in their hearts, they are not dwelling richly on the Words of Christ with all wisdom.
Then think about the Christian who has a great degree of knowledge, they have an excellent extensive education. They read many books, they spend time in debates and listening to sermons and lectures. But, all of it is nothing more than an academic exercise. Their hearts are and dry and lifeless as the pages of the books that they read. They never, out of a heart of love, seek to win people to Christ or to make a disciple. They hid in their homes and in their schools. Knowing that Christ is a God of love and compassion for the lost, but they never put the commands of Christ into practice.
We need a mixture of love and knowledge and all discernment. And friends we must pray for this. This does not happen merely through human effort! You can do all the right things, and check everything off the list, but if the Holy Spirit does not open your eyes and move your heart and transform your actions into the very actions of Jesus Christ it is all for nothing.
Do you pray this way! Yes you pray for the broken leg and you pray for the bought of cancer and the lost job. Fine, don’t stop praying for those things. But, you must add this to your prayer life and it must come to the top. Pray this for each other, pray this for your church, and your kids and yourselves.
We must pray for a greater degree of biblical love
We must pray for love to abound by the right means
III. We must pray for love to accomplish the right purpose (v. 10 a)
III. We must pray for love to accomplish the right purpose (v. 10 a)
The most important request is for our love to abound, and then we must pray that it abounds by the right means, but we must also pray that love will accomplish the right purpose.
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
10εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τὰ διαφέροντα,
in order that (for this purpose:) you may approve/choose[1] the things that are more valuable[2]
Approve- to make a critical examination of someth. to determine genuineness, put to the test, examine. to judge to be genuine, to judge as good, to approve.’
Excellent- be worth more than, be superior to (cf. Luke 12.7)
Paul prayed for the Philippians love to abound more and more, by means of knowledge and all discernment for this purpose- so that they might choose the things are of more value.
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Paul prayed for this purpose- so that you might choose the things in life that are of more value.
So many times as we evaluate things in our life we evaluate things based on the wrong question!
We evaluate a hobby or a particular show on TV or a particular game and we ask the wrong question. What question do we most typically ask?
Is this activity sinful? And that’s it. If we can answer that question in the negative- “no, this activity is not sinful.” That is all the further we go in our thought process. And we go ahead and do it.
We are not asking the right question! The question is not, “is it wrong for me to do such and such a thing.” The right question is, “is this the most excellent thing for me to be spending my life on?” “Is this activity that which is of more value?”
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.
So we must pray for the an abundance of love, for love to abound through proper means, but also that love would lead us to the proper result- to choose the things that are excellent!
25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Illustration: Retirement vs Redeployment.
Is there anything wrong with moving to Florida and spending your retirement years on a beach? No, but that is the wrong question! If going to Florida and turning into a raisin that which is of most value?
Jesus said if you keep your life for yourself / if you love your life you will lose it! But if you hate your life- if you give it away in love for other people you will keep it for ever!
Examples: Man in Florida, 15 years of disciple making, never done with Foundations- most joyful most fruitful time of his life!
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Refutation: So we should never watch tv or a movie or play a game then?
Rest may be the most excellent thing! Be careful we do not use that as an excuse!
Use your hobbies redemptively!
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Application: We must pray that the right purpose of our love to be accomplished. That we would choose the excellent things in life. Follow One, Win One, Lead One. Make a disciple!
“God is the only desirable good, nothing without Him is worthy of our hearts . . . The life, the glory, the blessedness, the soul-satisfying goodness that is in God is beyond all expression.” —John Bunyan
IV. We must pray for love to lead us to the right results (vv. 10b-11)
IV. We must pray for love to lead us to the right results (vv. 10b-11)
The most important request is for our love to abound, and then we must pray that it abounds by the right means, then we must pray that love will accomplish the right purpose, and finally that love will lead us to the right results.
What are the desired results of living a life with an abounding love?
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
ἵνα ἦτε εἰλικρινεῖς καὶ ἀπρόσκοποι εἰς ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ,
so as to result in you being pure/sincere and blameless unto the day of Christ,
Paul’s prayers are always aimed at eternal things. What mattered to Paul most for these Philippian believers was the manner in which they would one day stand face to face with their Savior. He wanted them to stand pure and blameless unto the day of Christ.
Is Paul saying that the way we become pure and blameless at the day of Christ is through our love abounding? That would mean we could cause ourselves to be pure and blameless. That would mean that our salvation could be obtain through our own works. But, we know that salvation is not by means of our own good works.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
So why does Paul pray that through our love or our works the result might one day be that we stand pure and blameless through Christ?
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
What we have here is the side-by-side teaching of both the perseverance of the saints and the preservation of God.
Perseverance is the teaching that genuine believers will all persevere until they are with Christ in heaven.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
Preservation is the teaching that God will preserve all who are genuinely saved.
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
What we have in Philippians 1:10-11 is the side-by-side teaching of both perseverance and preservation.
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.
11πεπληρωμένοι καρπὸν δικαιοσύνης τὸν
Having been filled ( perfect tense verb) with the fruit of righteousness
διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
through Jesus Christ
So Paul prays that the Philippians love would abound more and more by means of knowledge and all discernment for the purpose of choosing the more valuable things, so as to result in the believer standing pure and blameless unto the day of Christ. Because all Christians will persevere in the faith all the way to the end.
But in the next breath, Paul makes this statement that the only reason you as a believer will persevere is you are being preserved by Jesus Christ himself. At the moment of your salvation you were filled with the righteousness of Jesus Christ- you were imputed with the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. And the fruit of that righteousness has ongoing effects- namely it is the fruit of the righteousness of Chris that will preserve you so that one day you will stand before him pure and blameless.
And what is the main primary result? That all of it would result:
εἰς δόξαν καὶ ἔπαινον θεοῦ.
Unto the glory and praise of God.
For the believer this is certain and assured! Your salvation is not dependent on you it is dependent on Christ- on the ongoing fruit of His righteousness in your life that will reslut in the glory and praise of God.
And yet, Paul prays for this! Why does Paul pray this way if it is certain? This is the mystery of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility!
But if Paul prayed this way- then so should we!
I. We must pray for a greater degree of biblical love (v. 9a)
II. We must pray for love to abound by the right means (v. 9b)
III. We must pray for love to accomplish the right purpose (v. 10 a)
IV. We must pray for love to lead us to the right results (vv. 10b-11)
O Father, please cause your people to abound in love still more and more, by means of full, personal knowledge and deep insight. God cause their love to abound so that they might all their life long choose the things that are most excellent! And let this life time of choices result one day in them standing pure and blameless before Christ. May they keep on experiencing the grace of being filled with the fruit of the righteousness of Christ and may all of it result unto your glory and praise! Amen!