Live With Joy-Part 2
This week I want to look at the remainder of the opening of Philippians, please join with me as we look at Philippians 1:8-11. What is interesting about these verses is that Paul has six prayer requests for the church body in Philippi as you can see here. Paul is giving us an example of how we can be praying for our fellow believers when we don’t know of specific situations.
“8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.9 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 for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
The first prayer request we should have for fellow believers is that their love of Christ would abound. The use of the word “abound” means that we are praying that their love for Christ grows plentiful, it is overflowing. It is through our love of Christ that we are set apart from this world just like it states in 1 John 3:1 “ See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” We are children of God and that means that the world does not recognize us because it did not know Him. We do not give way to the corruption that is so very prevalent in today’s world. We hold firm to what is good, “17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17. Here again we see that God does not change, He is light and pure not giving way to fears that are often found in the shadows. The more we hold fast to the truth of who Jesus Christ is, the more we are lavished with the love of God, and the more we stand out from this world.
The second thing that we can be praying for our fellow believers is that they will have knowledge. This is not the knowledge found in the mind, but instead the knowledge that comes from having God’s word engraved upon our hearts. The more time we spend in the Word, the more that we see who God is and can understand more fully what He has done for us. I know in just the few short weeks that Mill House Ministries has been running, my knowledge of the Lord has grown and it is due to the desire to share what I know about Him to you, the reader. We all should be asking God to grant us wisdom, and as we see in James 1:5, if we ask for wisdom it will be granted to us, “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” And again in Matthew 7:7-8, we see that God wants us to ask for His wisdom “7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” It is with the wisdom that comes from God, we move into the next prayer request that Paul had for the Church in Philippi, and that is discernment.
Discernment is the ability to judge well, and that is a trait that is much needed today. Everywhere you look there are false teachers, and the believer needs the wisdom of God to discern what is true and what is not. We can cross examine the words from an individual and see how it is merited in God’s Word. “15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:15:18. By having knowledge and the Word of God inscribed upon our hearts we are able to test everything and be sure that it is good like we are commanded to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:21. As we continue to grow in the faith, our ability to discern false teaching will become greater and we will be like those in Hebrews 5:14 who grew to desire more “solid” food from the Word and therefore are able to discern what is good. “14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:14
The ability to have discernment allows the believer to see what is best as is mentioned in Philippians 1:10. We are called to test everything and bring it back to what the Word of God says, 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” We are not to believe everything that those around us, or even our pastors, say at face value. We are called to have such knowledge and understanding of the Word of God that we can discern what is true and what is not. As we have seen from the above verses, we can be assured that if we ask for wisdom and discernment, it will be granted to us. This discerning heart will allow us to see what is true or false.
The next area that we can pray for our fellow believers is that they will be found pure and blameless (Philippians 1:10). Being found blameless here implies that we hold no secret sin in our hearts. Our character we show to the world is who we are on the inside. We are like Psalm 15 “1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; 3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; 4 who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; 5 who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.” We do what is right even when it is not what we want to do, we help those around us without expecting anything in return, and by behaving this way, we are not shaken.
Finally, we need to pray that we will be filled with the fruit of righteousness, Philippians 1:11. The fruit of righteousness, or the fruit of the spirit as seen in Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. It is these actions that will show the world that we are set apart and “5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7.
I want to go back and look again at verse 8, specifically the word affection. Here we have the Greek word splagchnon which means “the inward parts (heart, liver, lungs etc.) it is the emotions of the person.” We see that Paul longs for them with the affection of Christ Jesus. His desire is anchored in Christ to help His (Jesus Christ’s) body the Church. A great comparison of this word affection can be seen in 2nd Corinthians 7:15 where this word is first used in the Bible. Titus has affection for his fellow believers. How ironic this description of affection is characterized through the actions of obedience, fear, and trembling, yet through this it will produce rejoicing and confidence.
Paul is describing through Titus the progression and culmination of this process. Paul had grown in his faith and come to the point of joy and confidence being produced in his life and ultimately towards other believers. If we have obedience in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this will bring about spiritual growth, as we learn more of our God’s Holiness and our incapacity, we will learn to fear and tremble God. However this is not a negative thing, for we find that through obeying God, fearing Him, and having the right form of reverence for His holiness, we find that it will produce joy in our life and the confidence that can only be found in Christ Jesus. Our affection is solely based in Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus. For Paul to say he had the affection of Christ Jesus was to be more than just an emotional statement, but one founded in obedience and the proper mindset to deal with God’s bride the Church. In short, Paul’s priorities were aligned with Christ’s priorities, one of the greatest signs of a spiritually strong believer.
As Christians our hope should be based on the excellence of Jesus Christ, our desire should be to follow Him for He is Holy. As for our brothers and sisters in Christ, our sincerity should be based solely on helping to edify the body of Christ which is the Church to have a greater relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul understood this and was overjoyed with the knowledge that the believers were acting correctly upon the word of God and growing in their faith. Just as Paul encouraged them in those dark times, let us who are in Christ stand together with Christ and live with joy.
Seek the Truth and encourage one another,
Alex