Philippians 1:8-11
"What Most People Never Pray For"

Gospelcom Bible Gateway

⁷just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.

⁸For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. ⁹And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, ¹¹being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

INTRODUCTION:

A. What are you thinking about when you pray?

B. Do you have a prayer list?

C. We see today what Paul prays for. Core issues.

D. We normally pray for a change of circumstances. Instead Paul prays for a change of character in his life.

E. 70% say they pray weekly. 57% say they pray daily.

F. Unfortunately, for most it is a waste of time since a lot of times there is a disconnect between them and God since their iniquities separate them from God.

G. What ought to be on our prayer list? Authentic genuine love.

H. The one main request is for love. Why is this Paul's main request?

I. Paul prays for 4 specific things: Plentiful, Perceptive, Pure, and Purposeful love.

I. Plentiful love (v9)

A. Abound more and more means to exceed a fixed amount, to super-abound.

B. What does this refer to?

1. It could mean to reach out to all types of different people.

2. The love that the church at Philippi had for each other. (1 Thes 3:13)

C. Sometimes it is easier to love those on the other side of the world than it is to love those that are right next to us. What about you?

D. Linus (from Snoopy) once stated, "I love the world, it's just the people that I can't stand!"

E. Tertullian wrote that the Roman government was suspicious of the Christians, and he sent spies in to observe them. One reported, "These Christians are very strange people. They talk about Jesus Christ and His love for them. And my, how they love him and how they love one another."

F. Could others say the same about you? "My how (your name goes here) loves Jesus, and (your name goes here) loves the brethren? If not, why not? What needs to change in your life so that it more closely reflects this depth of love?

F. Test Time!

1. Is your love abounding for your spouse, parents, friends, etc.?

2. Romans says that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

3. Shouldn't the natural consequence of this then mean that the people around you should never be "love-starved"?

4. Are there any people in your life that are love-starved?

5. Do others around you feel unwanted, unloved, and not cared for?

6. If so, what does that say about the love of God in your heart?

6. What needs to change then?

II. Perceptive love (9)

A. In knowledge and in all discernment.

B. Love is meant to flow freely. But it still has banks, so it doesn't overflow and destroy that which is over the banks.

C. The boundaries that Paul sets are knowledge and discernment.

D. The question is, therefore, knowledge and discernment in what?

E. What does knowledge mean? An expert in the knowledge of how true love ought to work.

F. What does discernment mean? Sensitive moral perception. True love is never expressed exactly the same way all the time.

1. It might be sweet one time.

2. It might be a rebuke another.

3. Jesus healed one day, and the next day He overturned the table.

4. Blessed are you, versus you are whitewashed sepulchers filled with dead bones.

5. Don't be "sloppy agape." Remember 1 Corinthians 13. What does love rejoice in?

G. Notice the purpose clause. What is the reason that verse 9 is stated? (v10)

1. Purpose clause.

2. What does approve mean? Testing something against a perfect standard of God's Word.

3. So what is the test? What does the Bible tells us about love?

a. Is there anything that the Bible says that you are to love and not to love?

b. Gal. 6 especially love the family of believers.

c. We ought not to flirt anyone that is not our wife. Prov 6/5

d. Nurture love that is in a marriage. Eph 5

e. Loving one's child includes encouragement and discipline at the appropriate time. Prov 13

III. Pure love (10)

A. In order that you may be sincere and without offense until the day of Jesus Christ.

B. What does sincere mean? From the Latin sine sera "without wax," the Greek word means sun tested.

1. Pots that were cracked would have a wax and porcelain mixture added that you would not see until it was held up to the light when the flaws would be revealed.

2. The best grade would be sine sera: nothing added, no hypocrisy, no impurities; authentic. People should be able to experience it.

C. Do you have mixed motives when you love others?

D. Hypocrisy will stop the flow of authentic love. (Romans 12)

E. Name an apostle whose love was impure. (Judas)

F. Authentic love that is sincere flows within the banks of knowledge and discernment. It is the best medicine and the best witness.

G. When you authentically love, you leave the best witness. But when it is filled with hypocrisy it does the opposite.

IV. Purposeful love (11)

A. This kind of love is the kind of expression that, when you do it, it will glorify God.

B. What is the purpose of all love? To glorify God.

C. What is the purpose of all of life? To glorify God.

D. What is the ultimate test then? Does it glorify Jesus Christ?

E. The implication, therefore, means that "NO ONE IN YOUR LIFE IS EVER LOVE-STARVED."

APPLICATION:

Plentiful -- Make each of us the kind of person who so reflects you as our Lord and Master that our love for one another would abound more and more; that it will grow, flowing out like a river -- bound by knowledge, discernment, and purity -- that, in loving that way, you are glorified; and your name would be made greater.

Share with each other practical ways that you plan on changing your life so that you more accurately and biblically represent the love that Paul is describing in these verses?

Reflect on those that are love-starved in your life. Ask God to reveal to you ways that would change your character so that they will say, "My how _______ loves Jesus; and my how he loves me and the brethren."

Recognize those things that are obstacles in your life that are preventing you from changing and being transformed by God's Spirit. Confess these things to God and to one another; and pray for each other that, as a body of believers, we might become more loving and glorifying to God.

MEMORY VERSE FOR THIS WEEK:

Philippians 1:8-11

⁸For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. ⁹And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, ¹¹being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.