A Prayer to Imitate

6 · Establishes the theological stakes: Paul's prayer reveals what truly matters when addressing the sovereign Creator on behalf of beloved believers

What if God promised that He would do anything that you ask for for the people that you love? Your spouse, a child, perhaps a brother or sister. What is it that you would ask for on their behalf? Well, Paul, the Apostle Paul, had an opportunity to do such a thing. And in this prayer we can see what he asked for. Paul is praying to an infinitely rich, sovereign God This God of the universe, the God who created the heavens and the earth, he's pouring out his heart in prayer to God on behalf of the Philippian Christians.

7 · Expositional setup establishing the Philippians' unique relationship with Paul and enumerating what he does NOT pray for—material prosperity, health, protection from suffering—to heighten the contrast with what he does pray for

And the Christians, these were Christians, these were special people in Paul's heart. This is the only church that Paul refers to as partners in the gospel. So they had a special place in Paul's heart, and now he has an audience before God. He's praying on their behalf. He can ask God for anything for these dear brothers and sisters. What will it be? Would he be asking them, asking God to give them earthly riches and good health in this life? Would he ask that their businesses would prosper so they could be more generous? Remember, this is a church that Paul talks about their generosity. Would he ask for self-esteem for these special friends? Would he ask that they be protected from persecution and trials in life and suffering? For the sake of the gospel, what's he going to ask for?

8 · Direct exegetical answer: Paul prays for love informed by knowledge and discernment leading to the approval of what is excellent, resulting in purity, blamelessness, and righteousness unto God's glory

Well, as we read in this passage, here's what he asked for. He says that their love would abound with knowledge and discernment so that they might approve what is excellent, so that they might be blameless and pure on the day of Christ, that they might be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, so that God might be glorified and praised.

9 · Direct application challenge comparing the congregation's prayer priorities to Paul's, implying a gap that needs closing

So how do our prayers, when we pray for our spouses, our husbands, our wives, our children, the other members of this church, how do our prayers match up to that?

10 · Exposition of the word "abound" using the image of a natural spring—love that flows continuously without mechanical effort, establishing that Paul desires perpetual, effortless growth in the Philippians' love

There are a number of things that I wanted to take note of in this passage about Paul's prayer. The first one is that what Paul teaches us to pray for is a love that's characterized by knowledge and discernment. If you take a quick look at this passage or this prayer, it would be easy to come away with the impression that all Paul is asking for is that the Philippians get a love that continues to abound and abound, to grow and grow. "It's my prayer," he writes, "that your love may abound more and more." These Philippian saints already loved God. That's clear from reading Paul's letter to them. Their Savior, they love the Savior, they love the gospel. Yet Paul prays and asks that their love would abound more and more. When you read the word "abound," it'd be appropriate to think of a spring. If you've ever been If you've ever seen a spring of water, it just comes up out of the ground by itself. No one dug a well. There's no pumps down there extracting it and pulling it up. Water from a well or from a spring just comes up naturally. There's no mechanical intervention. You can go up to a spring, fill up your water bottle over and over, and there's just more water coming and coming. It just never stops. And that's what Paul is requesting for the Philippians. Philippians, that their love would abound. That's the same picture there of a spring of water that just keeps coming and coming and flowing and flowing.

11 · Exposition distinguishing the love Paul prays for from sentimental or blind affection by contrasting the Ephesian church (truth without love) and Thyatira (love without truth)—establishing that biblical love integrates both

They aren't at summer camp when Paul writes this letter to them. They're not sitting around the campfire. If you've ever been to a summer camp or maybe a family camp and you get around the campfire and they start singing all these cute songs and you're swaying back and forth and kind of feeling good about each other, that's not the kind of love that Paul is asking for. For the Philippians here. It goes much and much beyond that. It's not the kind of love that maybe some of us experienced when we were young. We had this puppy love for some girl in the class or perhaps our 4th grade teacher. It's not that kind of love either that Paul is asking for for the Philippians. It's a love that is— it's not love that's blind. Love by its very nature is selfless. It desires to give. It seeks to promote the glory of God and the good of others. It's a love that is willing to be honest, willing to seek and to speak the truth. It's a love that balances honesty and truth with care and patience and kindness. In Revelation 2, beginning in Revelation 2, there's a number of letters to 7 churches, and we're actually going to be studying that. Matthew's going to do a series on that later this year. But in Revelation 2, Jesus is commending the Ephesian church for their commitment to their doctrinal integrity. He's commending them for how well they hold to the truth. But then He rebukes them in just a couple sentences later for their loss of love. Contrast that with a couple letters later in Revelation 2 when Jesus commends the church in Thyatira for their love. So He commends them for their love, and a couple sentences later, he rebukes them for their lack or their loss of doctrinal integrity. So we've got on the one hand, we've got the Ephesian church who has great integrity, doctrinal integrity, but no love. And then in Thyatira, there's lots of love and no integrity. Both extremes are wrong. That's not how love should be displayed. A loveless knowledge produces pride but love rejoices with the truth.

12 · Exposition explaining that love must be educated by knowledge to avoid the error of the Jews in Romans 10—sincere but misdirected zeal that led to persecution of Christians

So the love that Paul is praying for is a love that loves truth. This love sees truth clearly, it speaks it lovingly, it hears it humbly, and it defends it firmly. So this is a love that goes beyond good intentions and well-meaning affections. The love that Paul is requesting for these Philippians is a love that's characterized by knowledge and insight. Love needs to be educated, needs to be instructed. We must know someone before we can really love them. Jesus needed to become a living reality for us before we could love him back. We need a personal and spiritual acquaintance, acquaintance with the things of God before we can delight in them. So love doesn't act on blind impulses, it acts on knowledge. Love needs to be fed, it needs to be nourished, and it needs to be taught. To us in order to act intelligently. In Romans 10, Paul is writing and he says to the Roman Christians, and he says that the Jews had a zeal for God. And he says that in a positive way. Zeal was a good thing. It's an attribute, it's a characteristic that Paul is reaffirming. And he says that the Jews had a zeal. And he was commending them for it. Immediately after he says it was a misguided zeal. Paul says that their zeal was not according to knowledge, that they were ignorant of the righteousness of God and were pursuing a righteousness of their own. They sincerely believed, these Jews sincerely believed that they were worshiping God and serving God when they excluded the Christians from the synagogues. They believed that they were serving God and worshiping God when they went around killing Christians believing that they were heretics. So zeal is good. We want to be zealous, but it needs to be zealous, a love that's based on knowledge and not on arrogance or ignorance.

13 · Exposition establishing that knowledge alone is insufficient—discernment is required to apply biblical truth appropriately in varied circumstances

But knowledge itself isn't enough. Something more is needed, and that something else is discernment. Paul says that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. So there are many of us who are wise regarding the teachings and instructions and the letter of God's Word, But then we fall down and make mistakes and errors when we try to apply that, apply those principles. We all face a number of circumstances in life that call for prudence and discernment when dealing with them in a loving manner. There are times when certain valid, correct responses are not expedient or prudent. And in those times, we need wisdom and discernment in order to help to determine what the appropriate response should be. Else, without that, we run the risk of indiscretion and folly. A.W. Pink writes this, he says, "The chief work of our judgment or our discernment is to perceive what is proper for the time, the place, the company where we are, that we may order our behavior aright."

14 · Synthesis claim drawing together the exposition—Christian love must be biblically informed and discerning to avoid the fanaticism of misguided zeal, and this is what Paul prays for

So Christian love, the love that Paul is praying for, is a love that's biblically informed, It's well-instructed, it's knowledgeable, and it's discerning. If love is not regulated by this kind of knowledge of Scripture, is not regulated by discernment, that's the result of mature Christian experience, it can easily fall into fanaticism and ignorant zealousness, which the Jews had fallen into. So our love needs to be informed, it needs to be knowledgeable, it needs to be discerning. It flows like a spring, and that's what Paul is praying for, for these Philippian churches, that that love may abound more and more.

15 · Application returning the question to the congregation—are our prayers characterized by Paul's priorities?

So as we pray for our families, we pray for our children, as we pray for each other, are we praying for that kind of love, that we would have that kind of love for each other?

16 · Structural hinge moving from the first major point (love characterized by knowledge and discernment) to the second (praying for what is excellent)

Secondly, Paul shows us to pray for what is excellent.

17 · Exposition establishing that love with knowledge and discernment is instrumental—it enables the Philippians to discern and approve what is excellent

If we take a closer look at Paul's prayer, it becomes clear that the love that he's asking for is not an end in itself. It's not just, "Lord, give them love that's constrained and informed by knowledge and discernment." It's rather a means to an end. So Paul tells the Philippians that he prays that their love may increase with knowledge and discernment. Why? So that they may approve what is excellent.

18 · Analogy comparing the process of choosing a car—research, evaluation, experience—to the process of discerning what is excellent through knowledge and insight

If we go down— many of us, all of us probably at some points in our lives have bought a car. So we go down to the car lot, we look around and see all the different choices. Maybe we've done a little bit of research about gas mileage, maintenance, reliability, different features on different cars. We go down there and we'll scan out over the options, maybe take several of them for a drive, and then we experience that car. We sit in it, we look under the hood, we kick the tires, whatever else you do to cars before you buy one. We're experiencing all the different kinds of cars, and we're going to go and then make the best choice, the excellent choice for us given the options. So that's kind of a little bit of a— what am I thinking of? It's a little bit of an example about how we choose what's excellent. It's based on knowledge, it's based on discernment.

19 · Exposition arguing that excellence is difficult to discern and requires the very love Paul prays for—demonstrating that the prayer's structure is logical, not arbitrary

So what exactly does Paul have in mind though when he's referring to what is excellent? Well, I think the text gives us a number of clues. The first one is what is excellent is not easily discerned. To discern and to approve what is excellent, Christians must be characterized by a love that is wise and discerning. Paul had just prayed, "Give them a love that is wise and discerning so that they can discern and make excellent choices." Excellent things are not— we're not going to know how to choose what is excellent if we don't know what is excellent by having our love informed by knowledge and discernment. It might be helpful to consider this from the opposite point of view. Paul didn't pray that their love might abound more and more in ignorance and insensitivity. He didn't pray that their love would abound by stupidity or hard-heartedness or in cheap sentimentality or nostalgia. Paul's asking God to give them a love that is discriminating, that's discerning, that's knowledgeable. So the Christian love that Paul prays for is controlled by knowledge of the gospel, by comprehensive, mature moral discernment. These constraints don't stifle our love, they ensure its purity and its value to us. Such love, Paul insists, must abound more and more. So I think the point is that Christians must abound in this kind of love that's knowledgeable, that's discerning, if we are to attest and to approve what is excellent. We can assume, I think then, that what is excellent is not so easy to discern. Because if our love is not knowledgeable, it's not discerning, we're not going to know what is excellent. So being— what is excellent will often be difficult to spot by someone whose love lacks those characteristics. We won't be able to differentiate between what is good or bad between what is good and what is excellent if we don't have knowledgeable and discerning love.

20 · Exposition defining 'what is excellent' as discerning what truly matters among competing choices, aligning our priorities with God's

Second clue, I think, is in the expression itself: "What is excellent?" Paul wants believers to grow in their love in order to discern and to prove, to test out those things that are excellent, the things that really matter. Paul's thought here is that there are countless decisions that we face in life, and some of them are not easily, they're not straightforward, they're not easy ones to make. It's not easy to choose between the right and wrong, what is good versus what is excellent in every case. So we need the type of discernment that helps us to perceive the difference between choices and then make the best possible choice. And that's what Paul means by choosing what is excellent. So again, our love, if it's shaped by knowledge and discernment and moral insight, if those are the requirements, that's there to make the choice of what is excellent. When we have a love that's wise and discerning, we're set free from things such as selfishness, greed, jealousy, pity, and very other nonsense things. With those cast aside, we're gonna be able to hone in, to focus on what really is important, and we begin to develop a taste for what is really important, what is excellent. So our priorities and our choices become more and more in line with God and his priorities and his choices. We become able to focus on the more important issues in life and keep the less crucial ones in their proper perspective. So love that's characterized by knowledge and discernment is going to help us to have the good sense, the common sense, to commit ourselves, our time, our finances, our lives to matters that are truly excellent.

21 · Signals that the following section will examine Philippians thematically to discover what Paul considers excellent

I think the third clue here is in what is excellent is simply the major themes of this letter.

22 · Exposition tracing two themes in Philippians that define excellence: God's progressive sanctifying work (1:6) and Paul's own forward-straining pursuit (3:10-14), establishing that excellence means continued growth, not maintenance

If you take a close look at this letter, I think you can pick up some clues about what Paul thinks about what is excellent. In Philippians 1, just prior to this passage, the prayer, he tells the Philippians that he prays for them with joy because he is confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion for the day of Christ. Paul doesn't envision a simple maintenance of the Philippians' faith until its ultimate— I'm sorry, he doesn't imagine a simple maintenance of their faith. He's looking for a faith that will continue to grow, to mature, to be more Christlike throughout their lives. He's looking for positive improvement in their maturity until ultimately it will be kept on the day of Christ. So Paul's confidence that the Lord will bring about such growth is not in the least diminished when he talks about— he's seen their strengths, he's seen their growth, and he's affirming in them. But he says the work that the Lord has begun, it's just the beginning. There's still a lot more. He's going to finish that work. So he's encouraging them. Thank God for the growth that you have that we've seen for your faith. Let's rejoice in that, but let's not lose sight of that there's still so much more. Rejoice in what we have, but keep looking ahead. So Paul is confident that the Lord will continue to work in and complete the work that He's begun. Paul himself sees him, places himself in this, along that timeline. He says in chapter 3, verse 10, he says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. That by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. And then he explains where he sees himself in the process. Not that I have already attained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says he's straining forward.

23 · Vivid analogy of oxen straining against a plow to illustrate the exhausting, relentless effort Paul describes in his pursuit of Christlikeness

I don't know what comes to your mind when you hear that word straining, but a couple of things. One of them is a set of oxen out in the field pulling a plow. They're out there. These are big, strong, muscular animals. They got this big heavy yoke on them. They're tied to— there's a plow behind them, and they are out there, they are clawing away at the the ground, maybe they're slipping on it, it may not be firm, and they're, they're, they're working hard, they are breathing hard, they are straining against that yoke, they're pulling against that, that plow back there, just trying to hold them back, but they're crawling, clawing forward, they're straining against it. That's kind of what comes to my mind when I hear that word strain. It's something we got to work at. It's hard. It's going to make us sweat at times. It's going to make our muscles ache and bulge and wish for some pain medication, some relief, but we're straining against it. And they keep going. The oxen just keep going. They just plod along, one foot in front of the other, and they keep going and straining against it. And that's the vision I have as Paul's. It says that he strains forward, forgets what lies behind, and strains forward to what lies ahead.

24 · Exposition of Philippians 1:21-27 establishing Paul's Christ-centered priorities and his call for unified striving for the gospel as markers of what is excellent

Other themes in Philippians. Bear with me here, I'm going to go through a number of passages. The first one is Philippians 1 beginning in verse 21. He says, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ." for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. Verse 27: Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

25 · Exposition of Philippians 2:3-4, 14-16 establishing humility, others-centeredness, and blameless conduct as markers of what is excellent

There's that word striving again. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:14: Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked or twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

26 · Exposition of Philippians 4:4-7 establishing joy, gentleness, prayerfulness, and peace as markers of what is excellent

Moving on to chapter 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

27 · Exposition of Philippians 4:8-9 climaxing the survey by explicitly naming excellence and calling for meditation on and practice of what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable

And last, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

28 · Synthesis claim connecting the Philippians passages to the sermon's main argument: excellence is not about right versus wrong but about delicate choices reflecting Christian values, requiring profoundly Christian hearts and minds

So there's just 6 passages that I pulled out of Philippians that I think should help us and inform us about what Paul has in mind when he thinks about what is excellent. These passages should inform our love, they should help us to be knowledgeable, should help us with discernment about how to choose when we face the vast variety of choices that we face every day. So the pursuit of excellence, it doesn't turn on simple distinctions between right and wrong. It turns rather on, I think, delicate choices that reflect our values, that reflect our theology, that reflect our priority, that reflect our heart and our mind. That's why Paul prays that the love of the Philippians might abound more and more in knowledge and discernment. He wants their hearts and their minds to become profoundly Christian. If they aren't, if they don't, they won't be able to discern and to approve what is excellent.

29 · Frames the coming application as a series of real-life scenarios where multiple good choices exist but only one is excellent, requiring the discernment Paul prays for

So perhaps a few examples or practical examples might help to clarify here. And there is no way, is no possible way that we can come up with every situation or scenario or circumstance that we will face in life and try to think through in advance how I'm going to handle this situation. But I think each of the scenarios that I'm going to describe, the questions actually I'm going to put out here, they have multiple answers and multiple choices. This is a multiple-choice test that we face in life. Each of them has good answers and each of them has excellent answers. Each one I think is addressed in Scripture So that the one who abounds in love with knowledge and discernment, I think, will be able to identify and know and discern what is excellent in each of them.

30 · Sustained application asking seven concrete questions about time, major decisions, relationships, reading, prayer, and finances—each probing whether the congregation pursues excellence in daily choices

So first of all, how do we spend our time? How much should I work each week? How do I spend my leisure time? How many activities should I or my children be involved in? Is there time in our schedules for serving? Serving the church, serving others, attending care group, attending youth group. Are we committed with our time to approve what is excellent? What about the major decisions we face in life? Getting married, having children, education, where to go to school, what career to choose? How do we go about deciding decisions about whether to leave one company and go to another, leaving one city and moving to another? Are we committed in those decisions, in those major decisions of life, to making to doing what is excellent in those? How do we feel, or how do we deal with difficult relationships between spouses or with our children or with fellow believers? How much time should we spend together as a family? How do we navigate through the teen years, deal with boyfriends, girlfriends, dating, courtship, marriage? Are we committed in our families to approve what's excellent? What about reading? There are lots of choices for us to read. Magazines, the internet, there's novels, there's our Bibles, there's books on theology, there's doctrine, there's books on Christian life, Christian ethics. How do we choose between all of those and which ones are good and which ones are excellent? Are we committed in our choices of reading to choose what is excellent? What about our times of prayer? We pray for each other, we pray for ourselves, we pray for our families. When we pray for it, come to prayer meetings. Are we making time to come to prayer meetings? Have we taken steps to improve our prayer life? Are we committed to do what is excellent in our prayer life? How do we go about deciding what to do with our finances? How do we live with our finances in a way that glorifies God to them? Does the tithe belong to God and the rest is mine? Or does everything belong to God and I'm just a steward of His possessions? So are we committed in our finances to do what is excellent?

31 · Claims that Scripture provides answers to the application questions posed and that Paul's prayer is the means of cutting through complexity to discern what is excellent in each case

Behind all of these questions are answers. There are multiple choice answers for each one of these choices that Scripture can guide us with. Love that is knowledgeable and discerning will be able to navigate through this maze of choices and make decisions in life and choose what is best or what is excellent in each one of these situations. Paul's prayer, I believe, helps us to cut through that maze and that haze. What he wants Christians to pursue at every stage of their spiritual pilgrimage is excellent. So Paul simply prays to his Father, his heavenly Father, and asks that these believers in Philippi might pursue what is excellent. Paul's not a man— if you read Paul's letters, he's not a man to be satisfied with status quo. He knows that we're destined for perfection that will be achieved when Christ returns. Paul wants us to press forward to it. That's what he was straining for. He's not lackadaisical in his prayers because the more fruitful and the more holy he becomes, I think that just spurs him on to pray for the same thing for others. He perceives how much farther he has to go and he wants the believers, the Philippians, Philippian believers and us as well to see that, that there's still a ways to go. We're not made perfect yet. So let's strain forward together to choose what is excellent.

32 · Direct application challenging the congregation to examine whether their prayers imitate Paul's pursuit of excellence or reflect contentment with spiritual mediocrity

So Paul is just, I think, passionate about pursuing spiritual excellence. And he pursues it for himself and he prays that others would be doing the same thing. So to what extent do we pray, when we pray, do we imitate this prayer of Paul when we're praying for each other? When we're praying for ourselves, when we're praying for family members, when we're praying for the church, how well do we imitate what Paul is doing here? Do we pray that we would be pursuing what is excellent? And by excellent I mean things that are judged in God's eyes as being excellent. Do we pray that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that we can distinguish between what is just passable and what is excellent, between what is acceptable and what's best? Do we test out and approve what's best in our own lives? Do we pray those things for each other? If not, have we become content with mediocrity? I don't want to rock the boat, status quo is fine with me. I've grown a bit mature over the years and that's good enough. No need to keep on straining for it, it's just too much work. It's fine for Paul if he wants to do that, but that's not for me. I'm content with my level of maturity in Christlikeness. Paul would not understand that kind of thinking. It goes against his very prayer here that we would be informed by— our love would be informed by knowledge and discernment so that we could press ahead, strain forward towards what is excellent.

33 · Pastoral exhortation to avoid spiritual complacency and instead balance gratitude for past growth with forward-looking pursuit of continued maturity

So I want to encourage us, let's not let our hearts become hardened in that way. We want to celebrate and rejoice in every step forward we make. I think that's what Paul is doing with the Philippians in the beginning of this letter. And let's thank God as we see those steps. But Paul said, I don't look back to what's behind, I keep looking ahead. There's still more there, there's more stairs, there's more progress to be made. Let's strain forward, let's keep going, celebrate each step of the way, but not have our eyes looking back, but looking forward to what lies ahead. I think that's what Paul is praying for here, that the Philippian Christians, acknowledging what God has done in their lives, being thankful for it, but not having eyes that look back, but eyes that are looking forward to the goal and keep on going. So let's not become proud or arrogant and be satisfied with just leveling off in our maturity. The work isn't finished yet. The work is not completed yet. It won't be. Until the day of Christ. And in the midst of rejoicing, let's keep pressing on, let's keep straining forward to what lies ahead.

34 · Structural hinge moving to the third major point: Paul's eschatological focus in prayer

And finally, Paul, as he does so often, he prays with eternity in view or with the long-term perspective in view.

35 · Exposition of 'pure' as sincerity without mixed motives, contrasting the pure with false teachers who compromise truth for personal gain

So not only does an abounding love help us to approve what is best, it helps us to become pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus. So Paul prays the believers will test and approve what is excellent in order that we might become pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Not only is God giving us a wise love that will help us to make wise choices in our interpersonal skills, that will make wise choices in our decision-making, but through it he's transforming us into a people who will be fit to see him face to face on the day of Christ. So the word that Paul uses here that's translated as pure, it's a word about sincerity. It implies a lack of mixed motives. It's transparent in its integrity. It has nothing to hide. So that's what pure is. The pure are not concealing their real motives. They're not willing to compromise the message of truth in order to win over or please an audience. There are a lot of religious I'm going to call them what they are. I think they're hucksters and heretics out there who water down the gospel. They preach a false gospel and they resort to trickery and they mock the very God who they claim to serve simply to increase their own following, to push forward their own agenda, and to increase their own financial gain. Those are not the type of individuals that Paul is wanting us to imitate and to be like. The pure are men and women of sincerity whose motive is to prefer others, to love others as themselves. And Paul asked God to give that same kind of purity and sincerity to his partners in Philippi.

36 · Exposition of 'blameless' as not stumbling into sin or causing others to stumble, and 'fruit of righteousness' as conduct God judges right, made possible by Christ

Wise and discerning love also helps to make us blameless. Sinless perfection will not be achieved until the day of Christ, until the day of the Lord, but there is a blamelessness that can begin begin now, and that's what Paul has in mind. A blameless man is one who does not stumble into sin or cause others to stumble into sin. It's the same term, or very similar term, that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians back in chapter 10, in verses 32 and 33. He says, "Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many. Paul's instructing the church in Corinthians here not to throw up a stumbling block while they exercise their freedoms. A blameless man is one who does not stumble into sin and does not cause others to stumble into sin. Last but not least, to be filled with the fruit of righteousness is to be characterized by the conduct, that'd be our actions, our words, our thoughts, that God himself judges to be right. The picture here is of a tree or a vine that produces fruit, and the one who makes the growth and the fruitfulness possible is Christ.

37 · Claims that Paul prays with the day of Christ in view not as threat but as compelling motivation, and that keeping eternity in view is essential to producing the fruit of righteousness

D.A. Carson writes about this reference to the fruit of righteousness. He says, "We are to pour our energy into the task, but we must understand that where this fruit appears, it is the product of spiritual growth made possible by Jesus Christ." Just as in Galatians, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control constitute the fruit of the Spirit, so here every righteous thing that the Philippians say or do or think is the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. Paul never exhorts us merely to try harder apart from trying to be Christians worthy of Christ Jesus, and he is the first to acknowledge that the righteous living that ensues is finally the product of the grace of God. So taking all of this, putting it together, I think what Paul is saying and what he's praying for— this is Dave's translation here— that Christians might abound more and more in knowledge and discernment so that they will be able to discern and to approve what is truly excellent, and all this so that they may be pure, sincere, and blameless, not causing himself or others to stumble and filled with the fruit of righteousness with a view to the day of Christ. Paul includes here a view to the future. He's always forward-looking in his prayers, and that's characteristic of most of his prayers. He prays always with eternity in view. He's aware of the here and now, but he never loses sight of the future and the eternal in his writings, and in particular his prayers. Paul doesn't invoke the day of Christ in his prayer as a threat to the Philippians. He isn't trying to scare them into showing more signs of righteous conduct, else they face a terrible future or judgment. Rather, he's saying something that most Christians will find, and should find, more compelling. He's telling them that they must live their lives with a view to the future, to the day of Christ. They must live today in such a way that they show that they remember and are moving forward towards that day, and that we are constrained by it, we are bound by it. Even now, Paul says Christians should live with that day in view, and that will help us to produce the fruit of righteousness that he speaks of as we anticipate that coming day. That's part of the call towards excellence— keeping the day of Christ, keeping an eternal long-term perspective in our lives.

38 · Exposition establishing the church's dual identity—already-but-not-yet—as citizens of heaven living as an outpost of the new creation in a fallen world

The church is a microcosm of the new heaven and the new earth. We are still contaminated by our failures, by our sin, by our relapses, by our rebellion, self-centeredness. We aren't yet what we ought to be, but by the grace of God, we are not what we used to be. For as long as we remain in this life, we're going to struggle against sin. We're going to remember what it's like to live in sinful bodies. We're going to struggle against that. But we also have the future in view. We look forward to that day when that work will be completed, when we will be made complete at the Day of Christ. So we live looking forward to that day. Our citizenship is in heaven. This is not our home. We're just passing through. We've already been seated with Christ in the heavenlies in one sense, But until the consummation, we live our lives down here. We are to see ourselves as, in a sense, as an outpost of the new heaven and new earth in a world that stands under judgment.

39 · Claims that Paul's prayer is functionally a prayer for revival—not organizing or exhorting but asking God to do what only He can do, which is why we must learn to pray this way

So I don't think it would be much of a stretch to say that in this prayer, Paul is praying for nothing less than revival for the Philippian church. He's praying that Christians might be right now what we ought to be. What we certainly one day will be, but that we can be in some sense more and more right now. This text teaches us to pray that we will test out and approve for ourselves the highest and the best and the holiest things, all with a view to the day of Christ. So even now, I think in Paul's prayer, Christians are to be as holy as pardoned sinners can be this side of eternity. We are to pray toward that end. We are to press on toward that end. We are to strain forward toward that end. And it's this way that Paul's prayer for us, or prayer for the Philippians, it ties in what is excellent as long as it will help if we keep the long-term goal, the future in view. D.A. Carson, another comment I found very helpful here. He says the point to stress in this context is that although Paul's prayer for what is excellent is equivalent to praying for revival, what he's doing is praying. He's not simply exhorting people to do better, nor is he trying to organize revival. Still less is he berating fellow believers for lack of revival. What he's doing is praying for revival. For if true revival is a work of God, if transforming and discerning love that enables believers to approve what is best is at the bottom —is at bottom the fruit of God's work in our lives—if true righteousness is fruit that comes through Jesus Christ, then however much God may use means, the means themselves do not guarantee anything. Only God can produce transformation. Only God can grant a revival. Judging by Paul's example, however much we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, we must also acknowledge that our best efforts in this regard are nothing other then God's working in us both to will and to act according to His good purpose. So it is urgent that we ask God to work in us. It is vital that we learn to pray this prayer with Paul.

40 · Claims that Paul's prayers reveal his priorities—spiritual welfare over physical comfort—because spiritual maturity puts temporal struggles in proper perspective

If you look at the prayers of the Apostle Paul closely, I think what he desires and what he wants above anything else in people's lives is his concern for their spiritual welfare. Welfare. It doesn't mean that Paul didn't care about the challenges, the illnesses, the struggles that we face, the difficulties that we face in this life. Paul was very aware of those things. He experienced them himself. But he did put them into proper perspective. What we all need more than anything else, more than good health, more than food and clothing and shelter, more than nice homes and cars, is to be abounding in wise, discerning love. Paul understood that. Paul got it. This life is not all there is. It's difficult, it's fraught with challenges. We face many difficulties: persecution, struggles, health issues, financial issues, relational issues. Those are important. Paul, I believe, cares about those things. His letters to the churches are filled with help for those things. But when he prays, we see him— I think he got what underlies all of those struggles was to be more mature, to be more Christlike, to have love that abounds in knowledge and discernment. If we can get that, if we can strive and stress and strain forward like Paul did, Those issues don't go away, but they come into perspective.

41 · Historical example of Martin Lloyd-Jones on his deathbed finding contentment not in ministry success or health but in the eternal reality that his name was written in heaven, demonstrating the priorities Paul's prayer establishes

So Paul, I think it's just an example of his love. He understood what that kind of love was, love that was informed by knowledge and discernment. So his prayers, the time that he had to devote to prayer, was to pray for what's excellent. And that's that our love would abound more and more in discernment and knowledge, that we would be able to approve what is excellent and therefore be pure and blameless and full of the fruit of righteousness. What other things do we really need in life? We stand before God, He's not going to, you know, is He going to ask us how our health was in this life? You know, how did, you know, that's not what gets us in. It's the spiritual things. It's our spiritual welfare that God is more concerned about, that Paul is more concerned about. So it's just a priority thing here. Pray for each other. I pray for you guys on a regular basis that God would heal those who are sick, heal those who are struggling. But I want, as I read these prayers, I want my prayers to be transformed into what the Apostle Paul prays, that I wouldn't stop with just those things, but I would also remember, let's pray and ask God to give us that kind of love, love that abounds, Love that's informed by knowledge and discernment. Why? So that we can choose what is excellent in life, that we can make wise, excellent choices, that we can be pure and blameless. What more could I desire and want for you? And I want to ask for the same thing when you pray for me, when you pray for Matthew, when you pray for each other. Let's begin to ask God for those kinds of things as well. That's what we need more than all the other things. This prayer helps me to put all the things in life, the challenge, the difficulties, into proper perspective. So Martin Lloyd-Jones, many of you would know of him, he was a very influential pastor, a British pastor back in the 20th century. A few weeks before he died, he was asked, after decades of fruitful ministry and extraordinarily prosperous in his ministry, very extraordinary man. He was asked how he was coping with the physical sufferings that he was experiencing in his last days. In fact, he was so sick and weak that just getting up out of the bed and walking to a chair and back to the bed pretty much exhausted him. It's all the energy he had. So someone asked him how he was coping with these physical challenges. His answer were the words of Luke in chapter 10, verse 20. He told this individual who asked this question, "Do not rejoice that spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." In other words, his joy was not tied to success in his ministry or to his physical strength. His ministry and health, they were taken away, but his joy was simply in the fact that he was known and loved by God. Our joy should be tied to our salvation and to the truth. Knowing that our names are written in the Book of Life. That can never be taken from us. Lloyd-Jones added, "In the midst of all that, I am perfectly content." And a couple weeks later he passed away.

42 · Final application urging the congregation to tie their joy to eternal realities and strain forward toward the spiritual goals Paul prays for

That's— the Lord wants the same thing for us. Our satisfaction, our joy should not be tied to things of this world. Our satisfaction, our joy should be tied to the fact that our names are written in heaven and eternal life awaits us. So let's press forward, let's strain forward to achieve those things in this life.

43 · Closing prayer asking God to answer Paul's prayer in the congregation's lives—acknowledging dependence on the Spirit, thanking God for past growth, and requesting help to keep straining forward

Let's pray. Lord, we need to see this prayer answered in our lives. Lord, I want my love to abound more and more, to be informed by knowledge, to be informed by discernment that I might be able to choose what is excellent. But Lord, we, in that endeavor, as much as we can strain for, we need Your help. It's not something that we can achieve on our own. So we are in need of Your Spirit. To fill us, to guide us, to push us forward, to keep our eyes focused on eternity, to keep our eyes focused on the cross, to keep our eyes focused on Christ our Savior. Lord, you have begun a good work, and we thank you for that good work that you've begun, Lord. We're excited about it, we rejoice in it, we thank you for every step of progress that has been made in our lives throughout the years. It is of your kindness and goodness to us. But Lord, we don't want to look back and simply look back and become satisfied with where we are. We want to keep our eyes looking ahead, keep our gaze forward, Lord, to what still remains. Help us to press forward, to strain forward to the day of Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.