Philippians 1:9-12 – Paul’s Prayer – Bible study

Phil 1:9-11 A Pastors Prayer Every prayer is important. Every prayer should be offered with a heart’s desire and the postmark of God’s glory. But I especially enjoy studying Paul’s prayers for they teach us about what both God and Paul desired for his people. Let’s note some things from Paul’s prayer. I. \#9\ "that you love may abound yet more and more" A. Paul liked the word abound. He used it 13 times in his epistles. B. The idea I see in this phrase is similar to what our neighbors are experiencing with Hurricane Dorian. 1. As a hurricane spins, it sends out bands of wind and rain. 2. These bands spiral further and further out from the center depending on how strong the storm is. 3. That is what Paul desired for the love of the Philippians. 4. That their love would reach out further and further. C. There are three earthly targets our love needs to reach. 1. Love for the lost 2. Love for the body a. Fulfilling Pauls desire for these two groups is pretty much done the same way. (1) Regardless of whether we are loving the lost or the saved, we do the same things. (2) We find someone, love someone, and then do it again. (3) The more people we find to love, the further our bands are reaching. (4) The more we love the people we find, the stronger our bands of love are. (5) It is not hard to love people although it may be hard for you to love people. b. While the actions of love are the same, the goal is different. (1) We love the lost to win them to Christ. (2) We love the saved to help them grow in Christ. 3. Love for our mates: a. Love for the lost and even love for the body is very different than love for a mate. (1) Love should be solid, stable, steadfast, and permanent. 1Cor 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth. (2) Love for the lost and the saved need not be so binding as love for a mate. b. However for many, love for their mate does not seem to be strong and abiding. (1) Their love and their concept of love both seem fickled. (2) You can tell that even by their terminology: (a) They "fall" in love. (b) They experience "love at first sight." (3) You can also tell it by how quickly they fall OUT of love. c. Some helps: (1) Love is an emotion, and God gave us emotions to help us but not to control us. (a) If you are "falling" in love, love is controlling you not helping you. (b) There is no problem in being strongly attracted to the person you want to love, but dont blindly fall into love because of an attraction you feel. (2) Love should never travel alone. (a) Love has to ride with some compadres or else love will fail. (b) Love must ride with the Word of God. (c) Love must ride with kindness. (d) Love must ride with forgiveness. d. If you will start with a right understanding of love, your love for your mate can also be a love that abounds yet more and more. II. \#10\ "Approve the things that excellent" A. The word "approve" means "to seek out and to test." B. It implies three things: 1. Some things are better than others. 2. We should be looking for the best. 3. We should be testing to be sure we have the best. C. Five rules for wise decisions: 1. God over man 2. Eternity over immediacy 3. Obedience over desire 4. Love over lust 5. Joy over pleasure D. Lessons to help you in that arena: 1. God over man: a. Gods desires our better than ours. b. Our desires are based on carnal delights. c. Gods desires are based on eternal benefits. 2. Eternity over immediacy: a. Gods priorities will always be on what is best for our eternity, never our immediacy. b. Judas, Demas, Balaam, Demetrius, Pharaoh – All made decisions based on the immediate and all lost out on the eternal. c. Peter, Paul, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel – All made decisions based on eternity. 3. Obedience over desire a. Most choices are not between right and wrong or good and evil. b. They are between good and right. Some would say between good and best. c. Always take the right. 4. Concerning both "Love over lust" and "Joy over pleasure." a. Both love and joy are spiritual qualities. b. Both lust and pleasure are carnal qualities. c. I could have said spiritual over carnal but I thought the two qualities were worth breaking a part. d. While lust and pleasure may have a place within a married couples relationship, they are temporal and when fed too much, they will always cause long term harm. e. Everything that is carnal must be done in moderation. Philippians 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. III. \#10\ "That ye may be sincere and without offense" A. To be SINCERE is "to be pure and unsullied." 1. We think of it as being an emotion as in EARNEST or DETERMINED. 2. In the Greek, it is a "condition" or "a state of being." a. Strongs defined it as "being found pure or clean when unfolded and examined by the suns light." b. Over the last month or so, it seems each Sunday morning when I go around to let my wife out of the car, she sees something on my pantsand its always in the most awkward places. (1) Have you ever tried to look at your backside without a mirror? (2) I have not seen myself doing it but I image I look a bit like a dog chasing its tail. (3) The strange thing is that my wife can spot a spot from 30 yards off when I getting out of the car or preaching, but walking around the house, she doesnt see it. (4) I expect it has something to do with the brightness of the light. (5) When you live in a dim environment, you cant see the spots of discoloration. (6) We live in a dim and dark world that keeps us from seeing the spots of sin in our life. (7) Paul was praying that we would see ourselves in the light that God is going to examine us in. c. In (2008), the year Sarah Palin ran with John McCain as his potential Vice President, Newsweek put her on the cover of their magazine. (1) I suppose she knew they were going to do it, although I dont really know that for certain. (2) However, the photo they used was of her out jogging – little make-up, hot, working out and they did not do any touch up on the picture. (3) Some were not happy that this was done and a bit of a flap erupted over it. (I trust that is not what cost the McCain/Palin ballot the election but you never know these days!) d. We need to understand that when we stand before God, there will be no touch up work. God will use a light that sees all. B. But Pauls request also included that they might not have any offense toward God, UNTIL Jesus comes. 1. To have no offense means to have no sin against them. 2. However, Paul does not say that they would have no offense WHEN Jesus comes, but that they would have no offence UNTIL Jesus comes. a. The way to have no sin WHEN Jesus comes is to confess often. b. The way to have no sin UNTIL Jesus comes is to live clean every moment of every day. IV. \#11\ "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness" A. The fruits of righteousness are the unique spiritual qualities which we cannot produce in ourselves. They must be produced by God. B. I dont suppose this is an unlimited list of qualities, but it is a large list. 1. We can start it with those gifts listed as the fruits of the Holy Spirit: Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. a. Love – The ability to feel about people the way God feels about them. (1) "God is Love" – 1John 4:8, 16 (2) Love comes from God. The best we can do is to catch a little bit of it and reflect it toward someone else. b. Joy – When the spirit is happy. Joy is to the spirit what happiness is to the mind and body. c. Peace – Lack of strife and struggle. d. Longsuffering – The ability to suffer over a long period of time. e. Gentleness – To have a soft touch on others. f. Goodness (1) According to Jesus, only God is good. Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. (2) I dont think you can define goodness with a single quality. (3) Goodness is a collection of gracious attributes showered on others. (kindness, gentleness, compassion, longsuffering, helpfulness, thoughtfulness, and many others) g. Faith – The ability to see the reality of Gods world. h. Meekness – Having the power and authority to right a wrong against you but not doing so. i. Temperance – Self control 2. However, there are more fruits of a righteous life. a. Prayer b. Bible study c. Wisdom – Seeing things from Gods prospective d. Understanding – The ability to see the cause and effect relationship. e. Boldness – The courage to speak for right f. Worship which would include adoration, praise, thanksgiving.