Praying with Paul: Filled to the Top
Praying with Paul • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Tonight, we will continue [Praying with Paul]. The title of my message is, [Attitudes in Prayer].
What we pray for people is often an indication of how we feel about that person.
We do not pray for our children the same way we pray for our enemies. Our feelings and emotions toward that person generally come out in how we talk about them to God.
Paul’s feelings toward the Philippians are evident in what he prayed for them. As we looked last week, the book of Philippians is Paul’s friendliest letter.
He loved the people of Philippi. He had a successful time with them. During his stay, Paul led people to the Lord, cast our demons, and taught them how to live for God.
As much as Paul loved them, they loved him. Of all the churches, the Philippians were the most conscience of Paul’s needs. More than once they sent money to help him fulfill God’s assignment on his life.
When Paul prayed for them, it was not that God would:
fix their attitude
convict them of their sins
or correct them of their false doctrine
Those problems were not evident there. Instead, Paul prayed God to bless the people he loved so much.
As I read our text, I noticed a theme. It is as though Paul wanted God to fill them to the top. I thought of Bekah filling a glass for me when we got married.
Bekah comes from a long line of people who live in perpetual concern that their loved ones will not have enough to eat or drink. Does anyone know anybody like that?
When we got married and I would ask Bekah for a glass of water, milk, or juice, she made sure it was FILLED to the top.
The only problem was, more often than not, I did not want that much. Eventually I explained it doesn’t have to almost overflow. Her reply, I just want to make sure you have everything you need!
That was Paul’s desire for the Philippians. He did not want them to just have enough, he wanted God to fill them all the way up to the top!
While this was Paul’s prayer, it is also God’s desire for our lives:
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
God wants to fill us with every good and perfect thing.
Let’s look at what Paul prayed. He prayed that they would be, [Filled with Friendship], [Filled with Faithfulness], and [Filled with Fruits].
Let’s begin
1. Filled with Friendship
1. Filled with Friendship
8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
The best word to describe Paul and the Philippians is friendship. They stuck with each other through thick and thin. Their friendship reminds me of:
17 A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.
24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
They loved Paul and Paul loved them. But their friendship with each other was built on their friendship with Jesus.
Jesus promised:
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is always there for us. He never leaves us and He always stays close to us.
Paul wanted them to fall more in love with their mutual friend. And as they did, God would fill them with knowledge and discernment.
I find that word knowledge fascinating. Not so much the concept of knowledge, but the fact that God would even allow us to KNOW Him.
Think about that for a moment. The God of the universe is mindful of us, calls us His friend, and actually wants us to know Him.
Not only can we know Him, but we can know what He would do, He gives us discernment.
Paul developed a friendship with Jesus and he wanted everyone else to have that as well.
There is no other friend like Jesus.
We need to be filled to the top with friendship with Jesus.
2. Filled with Faithfulness
2. Filled with Faithfulness
10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
One of the ways Paul longed for them to build their friendship with Jesus was by remaining faithful. He prayed that God would help them see what is important.
Life is filled with distractions. It is now and it was back then. How do we know?
If the enemy can get God’s people distracted, then they are off focused from what is really important. What is important?
That we live sincere and without offense, or as the New Living Translation says, that we remain pure and blameless.
I wonder how many people have stumbled because they stopped being faithful?
165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.
4 Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men, Who have purposed to make my steps stumble.
Satan has one goal in mind for God’s people, to cause them to stumble and fall in their relationship with the Lord.
What is the remedy?
Remain faithful.
To pray
To read
To fast
To live
When we stay faithful to God, He will enable us to fall more in love with Him and we will grow in such a way that is pure and blameless.
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
God is able to keep us close to Him. So we must pray with Paul, God fill me with friendship and fill me with faithfulness. As we seek this lifestyle, we will be...
3. Filled with Fruit
3. Filled with Fruit
11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Paul understood the way people judged Christians. The Jesus movement was new at this point, less than fifty years old. Their teaching was unconventional.
Christians were the first to believe in only ONE GOD and that He will accept anyone.
The idea that God would send His Son and rise from the dead was too much for some to believe in Paul’s day. Many times Paul was mocked for the message of the Gospel.
What would show people that the message is true?
The lifestyles of its followers. The same is said today. Our greatest message is now a sermon, but how we live.
Therefore, we should long for God to fill us with the fruit of righteousness. Jesus explained it this way:
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
When people claim Christ but their actions do not support their words, it puts what they say in a bad light.
God desires to help us produce good fruit in our walk with Him.
Close:
How then, is it possible to get full of friendship, faithfulness, and fruit?
I know I have used a lot of Scripture this evening, but I want to summarize Paul’s prayer with:
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
We are blessed with a genuine friendship with God when we choose to avoid the advice of the ungodly, the lifestyle of backslidden, and the place of sinners.
We remain faithful when we build our lives on the truth of God’s word!
We will display God’s fruit by living a life by the rivers of water, or we could say through the help of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit helps us grow in friendship, faithfulness, and fruitfulness.
Paul prayed this for the Philippians for two reasons, he was a friend of God who stayed faithful, enabling him to display God’s fruit.
And he knew how that type of lifestyle opened so many doors for him. He wanted the same blessed life for those he loved dearly.
God fill us to the top!