A Growing Love

Sermon: FCC Afton 8-28-2022 A Growing Love Scripture: Philippians 1:8-11 Recap: Last week, we began our examination, our survey, of the Book of Philippians, Paul's letter to the congregation at Philippi that he helped establish. We are approaching this exploration of Scripture from the place of a surveyor- we will dig into the Word, sift through what we find, and see what nuggets of truth God brings for us to study and store away in our hearts. We do this exploration of Scripture for a specific purpose: to develop a Biblical, God-centered worldview- in you, in your families, in this church, and hopefully beyond into this community, this state, this country, and the entire planet. Having your faith built on a foundation of a Biblical worldview means that, like David in Psalm 119, we will store His Words within our hearts so that we will know what pleases the Father and how not to offend, or sin against, Him, to know how to walk daily in this world in a way that glorifies Him and points people to want to know more about Him. Last week, we began the discussion of Paul's introduction and of the position that he shares about his relationship with the Father, that he was a slave for Jesus Christ. We looked at how Paul's position as a slave for Jesus should also be our position before the Lord- that when we accept salvation and surrender our lives to His Lordship, we are giving up control of our lives, and not just a portion of it, not just the big picture stuff, but everything- we take off our captain's hat and let God assume control of our lives. In the same way, we discussed how we are partners with Paul in his work of defending and spreading the Gospel; we also discussed how God has a specific calling for each of us in the work of the Gospel and that He will faithfully equip you to accomplish the work He has for you to do. Today, we move on to the second half of Paul's introduction in his letter to the church at Philippi. This second half of the introduction is the blessing that follows the exhortation that Paul gave in the first half, but it also provides us with a glimpse at what our faith should look like as we approach the world with the calling He has given us to go and effectively make disciples for Jesus. Read Philippians 1:8-11 Pray here! -Paul begins here with another emotional statement about how much he loves and misses his friends. You can tell how he wishes that he wasn't facing down his execution and could instead make one last journey throughout Asia Minor and southern Europe, visiting his old friends and the churches that he had helped establish. Paul speaks a blessing over his friends in Philippi, asking for maturity, discernment, and fruitful lives of righteousness. As we dig past the surface, however, we find that this is more than a simple blessing; as we delve deeper into the passage to discover the nuggets of truth that God has for us today, we see that Paul's blessing is also chapter two of Paul's instruction manual for the Christian life. Not only does Pail tell his friends here: "I pray that God will bless you so that these good things will happen in your lives," he also reveals to the Philippians and to us here today that the Christian cannot be stationary- that God has an expectation of growth and development and effort for our lives. -Main Idea: Paul's prayer for the Philippians that their love would grow in knowledge and discernment should be our own daily prayers for our individual lives. -Truth for today: you cannot stand still as a Follower of Jesus and be effective in either becoming more like Him every day or in doing the work that He has called you to do. In Matthew 14:25-32, we read the account of Peter walking on water. He started out strong, full of faith, living in a moment of miracle. It was when he was distracted by the storm, when he took his eyes off of Jesus, that he began to doubt and began to sink. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Let us run with endurance the race set before us, keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus." God expects maturity from us. Ephesians 4:12-13 tells us that the purpose of the church is to equip the saints for the works of ministry and to build up the Body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and mature into the full measure of Christ. Forward momentum is required for growth, for spiritual maturity; if you stay where you are, you will never grow- sometimes people don't want to grow because spiritual growth means spiritual adversity, which means pain. Just as it takes pain to run a race or pain to break down your muscles so that they will grow bigger and stronger, we must go through spiritual adversity to grow. God's expectation of maturity out of you does not mean that you will never falter, never take a step backward, never struggle with sin again, but we must strive every day to do better than we did yesterday- to every day strive to become more holy because our God is holy- the Apostle Peter revealed to us this expectation in 1 Peter 1:15-16: "As obedient children, do not be conformed any longer to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct; for it is written (quoting Mosaic Law in Leviticus 11, 19, 20, and 21), 'Be holy, because I AM holy." Here is the expectation, the goal for which we should be striving for each day: being transformed into the likeness of Jesus; putting aside the old ways of life and living to be more and more like Jesus. Truth #1: We are called to grow in knowledge and discernment for the purpose of better showing Christ's love to the world. -When Paul says here that he prays our love will grow in knowledge and discernment, he is not speaking of some human perspective of love, nor out of any romantic notion- he is not saying that he hopes we will gain a better understanding of the things we love and desire, a better discernment of what things make us happy or are the best for us. He is not saying, "I hope your love becomes more discerning so that you can know what brand of hot dogs you love best; or what feature you are most attracted to in the opposite sex, so that you can better sort out who to spend your life with." Paul is referring to our lives, the outpouring of Christ's love in our lives for others. Ours are supposed to be lives of love, showing others Jesus' love and pointing them toward relationship with Him. 1 Cor. 16:14 "Let all you do be done in love." 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." Col. 3:14 "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Our lives, and the love we show to others, must be wise, full of knowledge and discernment. In the same way that Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew 10:16 to be as wise, or shrewd, as serpents and as innocent and harmless as doves in order to know how to spread the Gospel and make disciples in every instance, we must be able to approach every situation with wisdom and the discernment of how to help others and how to point them to Jesus. In this fallen world, where every interaction is an opportunity to recognize that someone is either drowning in sin, and thereby we can throw them the life preserver of salvation, or in need of encouragement in their discipleship process, we must be able to look at each situation, discern what that person's needs are in that situation, and know how we can best reach them, to build relationship with them, and to help them in a way that will point them toward Jesus rather than push them further away. Every day, with every person in your sphere of influence, you have the opportunity to help someone grow closer to Jesus, to show them Christ's love, to encourage them to fully surrender their lives to Jesus- but you have to know how to accomplish that; you have to know how to put aside the junk you are dealing with, because an interaction with you might be the thing God uses to pull that person into eternal salvation. We looked last week at Paul's first ministry in Philippi, at him being thrown in jail after casting a demon out of a young girl- Paul saw her, saw her need and knew how he could help, regardless of the consequences. When we are living with the mind of Christ, where we are looking for ways to share Christ's love with others, we will recognize where God wants to use us in accordance with the gifts that He has given us to use. Growing in maturity means that we see opportunities to show Christ's love in situations and in ways where maybe yesterday we couldn't- and tomorrow, we will do better than we did today. Do you understand now why this idea of Biblical worldview is so important? It is not just understanding what the Bible says about different subject; that is important, but Biblical worldview is understanding how my actions and attitude may affect the chance that someone else might want to know Jesus. How will be view of the world, my view of every relationship and every interaction, be changed when I look at everything through an eternal lens rather than my "whatever junk I'm going through today" lens? It's the same message that Paul is trying to get across to the church at Philippi here: you must get to a place where you know God so intimately, you know what His Word says about every situation and you are confident in His desire for every situation, that you are guided by His will in reaching the world- and then pass that knowledge, that relationship, on to your kids, and then to their kids, and then to their kids, on and on to every generation- that's how America was founded, but we floundered; we are far removed from that Godly foundation and now our nation is lost- our kids can't even tell you what a man or a woman is and every kind of debauchery is allowed and encouraged as normal. The same happened in Philippi; it's the oldest European congregation of Christianity and was the launching point for most of the mission work that changed the Roman Empire, that spread across Europe, and that led to the founding of the US- but Macedonia, where Philippi was located, is now a Christian nation that is almost 100% atheist or Muslim; there are very few Protestants, let alone Evangelicals, in the nation. Is your life growing in the wisdom and discernment necessary to, as Paul says to the Philippians, know and approve the superior things, the Godly things- the things that Paul describes later in the letter as whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, or filled with moral excellence and praise? Can you recognize these things and grab ahold of them? Are you filling yourself with the superior things, the things that will spur you forward toward spiritual growth and maturity? Or are you filling yourself with things, even things that may be good, that will distract you from God's purpose, that will drag you away from your walk with Jesus? Every day you are faced with choices and the decisions you make each day will determine whether you are taking hold of the superior things, growing toward maturity, and pointing others toward Jesus, or whether you will wander away from God's path and His purpose for you. Truth #2: The Master is returning, and He expects that His servants will be pure and blameless, and filled with the fruit of righteousness. -On top of our part in developing in knowledge and discernment in order to become excellent examples of Christ's love to those around us, we also seek after maturity so that when the Master returns, we will be found to be the mature, effective Believers that He expects for us to have become. Paul tells us this: "I pray that this would happen- that your love will keep on growing, so that you will be able to approve the things that are superior and be pure and blameless." Then he clarifies what he means when he says pure and blameless in the Day of Christ: you will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes from Jesus; elsewhere, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul calls this the fruit of the Spirit, or the evidence that we are walking in step with the Holy Spirit's guidance. Galatians 5:16, 22-23, 25 "I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Since we walk by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." The Master is returning; not only does He expect that we will be developing in such a way that we are pointing people toward His love and grace, but also that in the process of maturing that you and I are becoming more and more like Him. In Rev. 22, Jesus says, "Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me and I will give to each person according to what they have done." He follows that up by telling John, "I have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches." There is no excuse for standing still and not being ready for the Master's return. Jesus told us in Matthew 25, Paul tells us here in Philippians, and Jesus gave us John's revelation. The Master is returning- and He has expectations of maturity for us and work for us to be doing. Are you seeing more and more evidence of the Spirit of Righteousness in your life? Are you becoming more and more of the person that you know the Master desires you to be- or are you drifting by on the coattails of the prayer of salvation that you prayed as a kid? Conclusion: Having faith built on a Biblical Foundation means that every day you recognize who you are in Jesus- not just a sinner saved by grace; that's true, but that's just chapter one of your spiritual journey- but also recognizing whether you are maturing, whether your life of love is growing, whether the things you are filling yourself with are bringing you closer toward holiness or further away. Just as become more aware of these things in your physical life as you get older- as an adult, you can't really say "I didn't realize that person was toxic in my life" or "Oh, man, that sinful thing I've been doing really snuck up on me- I didn't realize how destructive it was." As you mature spiritually, you have to begin seeing those things and making adjustments for yourself, because the Master is returning and He has an expectation for your life. Invitation