7
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 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 until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:7-11 NIV)The older I get the more I become aware that the most important things in life are not things but people. I suppose that when one is younger one is more apt to think that things are the route to happiness. Materialism is still as seductive as ever. To a great degree, materialism is the major driving force of our society. We live in a consumer society and everything seems to be geared to that end.
Now I am not against having things. I am not against having nice things. But anyone who has had any experience with things can tell you that things, while nice, do not ultimately satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart.
Things, compared to people, pale into insignificance. Things are temporary. People are eternal. And God created us to be in relationship to people. When those relationships are healthy and positive they can be extremely fulfilling. On the other hand, when those relationships are unhealthy and negative they can be extremely discouraging.
All of us want positive relationships with others. Most of us have experienced the joy that comes from significant people who have made a positive contribution to our lives. And deep down inside we want to be that kind of person for someone else. We want to make a difference to someone else. We want to be a blessing. When people see us coming, we want them to be glad. So how does this happen? How can we become a blessing?
We have already seen, so far in Philippians, how Paul considered these people to be a blessing to him. Every time he thought of them, he thanked God. They had made a difference in his life. Now he is going to share what that means to him. As the does, he will give us a couple of actions we can take to be a blessing ourselves. Look at what he says in verses 7 and 8:
7
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
What Paul is doing here is sharing how he feels about these people who have stood by him through thick and thin. We see in what he is doing an example that we can follow as well. This is the first action step for us today. If we want to be a blessing, the first thing we must do it is…
This is what Paul is doing here. He is highlighting the way he feels about these Christians to whom he is writing. It is plain that he loves them and that they love him. In Christ we are all brought together in love. That we can love one another is evidence that we belong to Christ. Love is a work of God in our hearts. We read in Romans 5: 5 (NIV): God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. When we become a Christian, God grants us the capacity to love one another.
In fact, Jesus said that our love for one another would be an evidence of our relationship with him. In John 13:34-35 we read: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Notice that he said that "by this all men will know…". Our love is evidence of our discipleship.
So how do we show love for others? They are two ways suggested in our text. The first way you can show love for others is by what you say–– in words. This is, in fact, what we see Paul doing in this passage.
He declares how he feels about them and he calls God as his witness. He says, "God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus." He was letting these Christians know just how he felt concerning them. And this is a good thing.
Let me ask you question. Do words matter? Do you need to hear affirming words? "You did a great job!" "I want you to know I really appreciate you." "You’re a really smart person." "You are really good at that." "You look good today." How do these words make you feel? Pretty good? Right? We all need to hear affirming words.
Words have the power to build us up or to tear us down. I have often said that the person who wrote, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," was probably deaf. Words certainly can hurt you. They can hurt a lot. And words can encourage you as well. Words are powerful. And we need to use them in positive ways. One of the most positive ways that we can use words is to show love to one another.
But there is another way that we can show love for others. You can show love for others by what you do–– in deeds. Listen to this from 1 John 3:18 (NCV): My children, we should love people not only with words and talk, but by our actions and true caring.
Words are wonderful but words alone are not enough. You certainly need to say that you love someone, but if all you do is say it pretty soon the one you are saying it to is going to get suspicious. They are going to doubt that you really mean it. And why is that? It is because you are not doing anything to prove it. In the play, My Fair Lady, Eliza is being courted by Freddy, who writes to her daily of his love for her. Eliza’s response to his notes is to cry out in frustration:
Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!
Don’t talk of stars
Burning above,
If you’re in love,
Show me!
Don’t talk of love lasting through time.
Make me no undying vow
Show me now!
If we want to really show our love then it must be done in deeds. Everyone has heard that actions speak louder than words. It’s true. You need to say it and show it.
So what can we do to show our love? Is there something we can do? Absolutely! And the good news is that it doesn’t have to be something big. In fact, it can be something small–– something doable. Often, and this is true especially for us men, we want to know the one big thing we can do to get us out of trouble. That’s because we got into trouble by not doing the little things. It’s not the big thing but the little things that count. What we need to do is to consider the little things that will be a blessing and do them.
So if we want to be a blessing, we need to show our love for others by what we say and by what we do. But there is another action step we need to take if we want to be a blessing. We must not only show love for others, we must…
Listen to what Paul says in verses 9-11:
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 until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
The great apostle not only expressed his love to those for whom he cared, he prayed for them. If we want to be a blessing to other people, if we want to make a difference in their lives, we must pray for them. Prayer makes a difference.
Prayer for others is the obligation and privilege of every Christian. In Ephesians 6:18 (NCV) we read: Always pray for all God’s people. This was something that Paul expected every Christian to be engaged in. And it is something that every Christian can do.
Do you do this? Do you pray for other people regularly? How much time do you spend praying for others? Unfortunately, statistical studies show that very few Christians spend a significant time in prayer. In fact, these studies show that the average Christian spends only minutes a day in prayer. And from what I know about how we pray, I think most of those minutes are spent praying for ourselves, not others. Our challenge is to spend time praying for others. If you want to be a blessing to others then you must focus on them. You must pray for them.
And how should you pray for them? You should practice positive praying for others. In other words, don’t spend your time criticizing them and praying for them to change to suit you. Spend your time praying for God’s blessing to be in their lives. This is the kind of praying that Paul engaged in. In fact, in our text, he prays for four specific things. These can guide us in our prayer for others as well.
Like Paul, we can pray for others that they may grow in love. Paul said, "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight…"(v. 9). This is a good place to begin. Love, you see, is the foundational characteristic of the Christian nature. We have already seen that love is the evidence of our discipleship. By our love others will know that we are disciples of Christ–– followers of Christ. So love is the beginning place for Christian discipleship. And you can’t have too much love.
Pray for others that they would grow in love. Pray that God would replace any feelings of resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, and hostility with his unconditional love. Those negative feelings only ultimately hurt the one who has them anyway. Far too many people are trapped by their negative feelings toward others. They become enslaved to their feelings. Those feelings become like a cancer killing them from the inside. God’s love liberates us, not only from the penalty of sin, but also from the sinful attitudes that we are tempted to have toward others. So we need to pray for others to grow in love.
The second area of prayer for others is that they may choose the best. Paul prayed, "… that you may be able to discern what is best…" (v. 10a). This is all about the area of priorities. What are your priorities? What are the most important things in your life? What is the most important thing–– the top priority?
Notice that Paul is not praying for them to choose what is good. Obviously, he does not want them to choose what is bad. But he also does not want them to choose simply the good. He wants them to choose the best. You see, often people settle for merely the good instead of the best. Sometimes people substitute a good thing they want to do for what God is calling them to do. Our goal as Christians is to do the will of God. It is not simply to do a good thing in the name of God; it is to do the thing God is calling us to do. I believed it was Oswald Chambers who first said, "The good is the worst enemy of the best." And that is true. We can substitute a good thing we want to do for the will of God. If we do, the good thing becomes the enemy of the best.
What is God calling you to do? Have you been putting it off? Have you been avoiding what God is calling you to do? If we want to experience the fullness of what God has for us, we must choose the best, not simply the good. And we need to pray for those we love that they would choose the best as well.
Paul also prayed that they would have holy character. He prayed for them that they "may be pure and blameless" (v.10b). This is an issue of the heart. Our goal as Christians is to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are to reflect his nature and character through our lives. And if we care for others we will want them to be more like Jesus. Do you pray for your friends that God will make them holy? Do you want to be holy yourself?
To be holy does not mean that you are sinless. To be holy simply means that you are devoted to God. You are set apart by him for his service. You have surrendered your life to him. You are holy because of your relationship to him. You have a heart for God. You love him and desire what he wants for you. Having a holy character simply means that God is in control of your life.
And finally, like Paul, we should pray for others that they may do what is right. Our love needs to grow, our priorities need to be in order, our hearts need to be right toward God, and our behavior needs to reflect all that. Paul prayed that they might be "filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–– to the glory and praise of God" (v. 11). The fruit of righteousness is what righteousness produces in our lives. Fruit is the product of the life of the tree. It reflects the nature of the tree. An orange tree produces oranges. An apple tree produces apples. And a righteous person produces good works.
What is on the inside of the Christian will eventually manifest itself on the outside. Righteousness on the inside will manifest itself in right behavior on the outside. And those good works will glorify God. Jesus said, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16 NIV).
The highest honor that we have as Christians is to bring praise to God. If people see our good works and glorify God then our lives have made a difference. If our good works touch the life of someone else then our lives have made a difference. We need to pray for one another that our lives would be filled with good works. We need to pray for one another that our lives would glorify God.
Do you want to be a blessing? Do you want to make a difference in the life of someone else? Begin by showing love. Show it by what you say. Show it by what you do. And then pray for others. Pray earnestly. Pray faithfully. Pray daily. Pray that they may grow in love. Pray that they may choose the best. Pray that they may have holy character. Pray that they might do what’s right.
You can’t put these principles into practice and not be a blessing! You will have an impact on others–– a positive one. They will be glad to see you coming. You will be an encouragement to them. Your life will make a difference in their lives. You will be a blessing.
Copyright © 2001 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
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