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What a Prayer!

Sunday, February 19, 2023
Pastor Jojo Ma

Weekly Bulletin | Worship Lyrics

Philippians 1:9-11

 

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so 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.

God is like a father who’s raising a large family. God is delighted to have adopted children in His family. God is delighted to have you as a member in His family. And yet, like earthly fathers, God wants His children to grow up to be mature spiritually, to be productive, to be bearing good fruit and doing good works.

I.          A prayer for love
II.        A prayer for knowledge
III.       A prayer for wisdom
IV.       A prayer for holiness
V.        A prayer for praise

I.         A prayer for love
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more…

This is the highest form of love found in the Bible, it’s the love that God has in Himself. It isn’t phileo or brotherly love, it isn’t eros or sensual love, it is agape: a selfless, sacrificial, outward love that seeks to give blessing and seeks the well-being of others. It’s the kind of love that is God’s very love, His very nature.

1 Cor 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Matt 22:37-38 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

1 Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 should not just be a popular passage, make it a practical passage because it can change our lives if we not only hear it but do it. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more…

II.        A prayer for knowledge
9…with knowledge…

The more you know God, the more you are able to love Him.

Eph 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Phil 1:9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment.

Col 1:9-10 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Philem 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

If you are going to really know God, you must first know about Him, you must grow in your understanding of the Bible and what the Bible says about God and then put your trust in this God of the Bible.

This is why personal Bible reading is important, this is why being part of a Bible-centered church is crucial to maturity and loving God. You should come each Lord’s Day to receive His Word and worship in spirit and in truth. Come ready and willing to learn and grow.

III.      A prayer for wisdom

9…and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent…

So Paul is praying for more love, more knowledge, and he expects that the believer who is growing in Christlike love and the knowledge of God is going to be able to make wise practical decisions in life.

IV.       A prayer for holiness
10…and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ…

Paul wants all believers to stand well on that day of judgment. Remember that on that great day, everyone will be judged, only unbelsievers will be condemned. But we all must undergo a divine scrutiny, a divine judgment. Believers on that day will be saved by grace but judged by works.

What a prayer, what a powerful picture of someone who has experienced the grace of God and is growing in love, knowledge, wisdom, and holiness. Pure and blameless on that day.

“When Christ returns, Paul wants the Philippians to be like fruit trees at harvest, their branches hung low, laden with the good deeds that Christ has worked in and through them.”

V.        A prayer for praise
11…to the glory and praise of God.

We can’t just focus on earthly requests. Paul says there are more important things than even our day to day needs.