Cultivating Eternal Fellowship

turn to Philippians, the book
of Philippians, where we pick up the passages
there in the bulletin with places for notes, if you choose, or
if you’re still using them, the Philippians printouts that we
handed out. And I still have extra copies
for those of you who didn’t grab hold of those. Paul’s prison prayers are some
of the most deep and intense words recorded in Scripture. If you can imagine being placed
in a pressure cooker, not unlike what John Bunyan went through
when he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. Pilgrim’s Progress certainly
not inspired work, but born out of the crucible born out of,
literally placed in a dungeon. That was Paul’s similar circumstance. Circumstances were unknown. Paul
ultimately was released from this particular imprisonment.
But Paul didn’t know that he was going to be released. He
had hopes, as we’ve seen already, that he didn’t know. And so those
prison prayers, those prayers uttered from even attached to a prison guard,
sometimes in the prison itself, sometimes under house arrest. Those prayers, as I said, are
some of the deepest words in all of Scripture. Among them
are not only the prayer in front of us this morning, but Ephesians
1.17, Ephesians 3.14, Colossians 1.9-14, Those are Paul’s prison epistle
prayers. If you combine those prayers
or combine those requests which Paul makes from the crucible,
you immediately notice that he prays for people who have not
arrived. He prays for people as they are
not yet. Paul has a standard before him.
The standard is Christ. But he prays for people that
they will attain to that standard. He never leaves them in a static
place. He prays that their lives will
become more and more conformed to Christ. He prays that more
of God’s graces will grow in them and flourish. Paul prays
in those prison epistles, for instance, that their wisdom may
grow, that their knowledge may increase, that they may gain
and experience more of God’s power, that they may endure,
that they may exercise longsuffering, that they may experience the
fullness of God’s joy, that they may know gratitude and that they
may show love. Paul, in these words before us,
verses nine through eleven, essentially begins to give content to the
prayer that up to this point he has only mentioned. All he
did in verse four was mention to the Philippians the fact that
he prayed for them. Here we have the content of that
prayer. If you would, let’s look at verse
nine through eleven of Philippians chapter one. where Paul wrote,
and this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more
in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things
that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until
the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness
which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Paul essentially tells the Philippians
that they are already in the midst. They have already undertaken
the cultivation of an eternal fellowship. They are already
interacting with brothers and sisters in Christ with whom they
will spend eternity. Love is not a new exhortation. And if you notice the form of
it, Paul doesn’t even exhort them to love. He doesn’t tell
them to love one another. He just tells them that he prays
to God that their love would increase in and for one another. As I said, it’s not a new commandment.
Jesus called it such in John 13, but it’s not new any longer. In John 13, Jesus said, a new
commandment I give you, that you love one another even as
I loved you. And if you remember the context
of that passage, that passage is in the final hours of Jesus’
ministry on earth. It is in the upper room that
he uttered those words. It is in the context of the foot
washing passage that we find this. where Jesus, in the most
practical way of all, showed love for His apostles. John 15, later on in that same
context, Jesus said, this is my commandment that you love
one another. And so, even the greatest saint,
when he is loving another saint, when he is loving the unlovely,
is only doing what God has commanded. Paul seized upon this exhortation to love and found
it repeatedly in his epistles. Romans 13, Oh, nothing to anyone
except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor
has fulfilled the law. I love the way one Puritan commenting
on that verse clarified, he said, acquit yourselves of all obligations,
tribute, custom, fear, honor, whatever else you may owe, but
remember that the debt of love is still unpaid. That will fit
nicely into our message this morning. The debt of love is
still unpaid. No matter how saintly you’ve
been, no matter who or how many or how deeply you’ve loved, you’re not finished yet. And
that’s essentially what he tells the Philippians. I pray that
your love may abound still more and more. We are constantly exhorted in
Scripture to love the brethren, to love the unlovely, to love
even our enemies, certainly to love God, to love one another.
We are already, like the Philippians, in the midst of cultivating an
eternal fellowship. We’re already doing it. But like the Philippians, we’re
not finished. We haven’t loved in any kind
of completeness. We’re not finished. And we too
need the message of Philippians 1. What I want us to consider this
morning is what I’ve outlined as four glories of Christian
affection. What is it like? And there are
a number of aspects, as I said, four of them specifically, four
aspects of this love that I believe as we begin to meditate on it,
we’ll see not only how far we are from this perfect Christian
affection to which we’re called, but we will be heartened that
an eternal affection has been kindled in us and is at work
and will flourish to the glory of God. If you would, look at
verse 9. First of all, you’ll see love’s
result, that it’s an abounding love,
a flourishing love, if you would, Paul says, this I pray, that
your love may abound still more and more. Paul didn’t rest on
his laurels. He was always, as you remember
from the later portions of Philippians, always pressing on, right? Paul
didn’t rest on his accomplishments. And Paul doesn’t want the Philippians
to rest on theirs. And he prays that their love
would increase. As I’ve suggested before, Paul
told the Philippians that he prayed for them, but only here
does he begin to open up his prayer closet, as it were, and
to let them in on what it was he was praying for them. He prayed
that they would love one another. And not just one another, but
they would love by their nature. That they would love the unlovely.
They would love the unbelievers in and around them. That they
would love God and love Christ. Paul wasn’t exhorting them to
more love on his behalf, although he knew if they loved intensely,
that he would be the recipient of that love as he already had. Paul had already begun extolling
the virtues of this church. The fellowship that they had
with one another. The fellowship that they had
with God. the fellowship that they had with Paul. But then
he very graciously hints at their need for growth in this area,
for greater knowledge, for more discernment by telling them that
the growth of their love for one another was needful. That
they needed to advance or mature in that love. As one said, it is love for Christ’s
image and work, for all that represents Him on the earth,
His people, His cause. It is that holy affection that
while it unites all in whom it dwells, it impels them to sympathize
with all suffering, to cooperate with all effort in connection
with the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. In other words,
the Philippians had not yet arrived. They had not yet loved perfectly.
Paul prays that it would increase. Literally, that it would abound.
It’s a word that we don’t use much anymore. That it would grow
and flourish. This was already an active and
vigorous plant, but Paul doesn’t want the plant to die. Paul doesn’t
want this fruitful tree to die off prematurely. This abounding,
has the idea, if you will, of an extreme and increasing abundance. He doesn’t just want it to survive.
I have plants that have survived for years. They’re pitiful to
look at. Love is like most of the other
Christian graces. It’s not meant to just survive.
It’s meant to grow and thrive and flourish. The love that they had was yet
imperfect. And it was needful that it would
grow, especially in depth and quality, as one said. That whole
thought of abounding is a thought, as I’ve already told you, is
found often in Paul’s writings. It was never good enough for
Paul to be static. It was never good enough for
Paul to have achieved something. In Philippians 1.26, he says,
he prays that their proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus
through my coming to you again. In other words, a second visit
to them would cause them all the more to glory in God and
to thank God for what He had done in and through Paul. Philippians 4.12 I know how to
get along with humble means. I know how to live in prosperity
or abundance. I know how abounding works. In
any and every circumstance, I’ve learned the secret of being filled
and of going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering
need.” Paul knew what abundance and what abounding was. And he wants abundance, not in
material things. He wants abundance in spiritual
growth. for His people. Secondly, not
only is this love, this Christian affection to which we’ve been
called and graced, not only is it a flourishing
love, secondly, it is a bounded love. Now, you would look at
that on the face of it and say, you know what, you just contradicted
yourself. It’s time for me to take my early morning nap. I haven’t contradicted myself.
This is quite within the realm of what Paul says here that while
he desires that love would increase and even flourish, love must
be kept within its proper bounds. I remember an illustration of similar things in Los Angeles. They have what is called the
L.A. River. And I had seen it dozens
of times before I finally realized that what people were calling
the L.A. River is really just a cement
channel, right? And the L.A. River really only
appears after heavy rains. There is no constant running
stream. There is really no L.A. River
per se. Just every once in a while, all
the gutters fill up and they all run into one channel that is affectionately referred
to as the L.A. River. The L.A. River, it’s an interesting image
that as this basin fills, you have the image of love increasing,
but it’s bounded on either side by walls. And that’s what Paul
says needs to happen with love. Otherwise, it runs its banks,
as we’ll see. Paul prays in verse 9, that their
love would abound still more and more in real knowledge and
all discernment. Those are love’s bounds. Those
are the boundaries. Those are the walls that keep
love from overflowing. He prays that their love would
be richer in knowledge and in that perception that comes from
knowledge. Let’s look at those two briefly. Knowledge just refers to, I mean,
a really deep and full knowledge. And what he’s talking about here
is not just learnedness or intellectualism or intelligence per se. What
he’s talking about is spiritual knowledge, doctrinal knowledge. This advanced knowledge basically
points to the developed knowledge of truth. And that should be
the goal of every Christian. Young children should be active
in learning and sharpening their understanding of Scripture and
doctrinal things, but adults too. I mean, can we honestly
ever say that we know enough? And that there’s nothing left
to discover, nothing left to dig into, to know more fully. We were commenting last Lord’s Day that at our second
anniversary, it was a big deal. I don’t know why it isn’t a big
deal. At our ninth anniversary, I completely forgot about it.
That we had planted this church nine years ago. But at any rate,
in the second anniversary, it was such a big deal. We gave
everyone a book. We gave every family in the church a book,
James Boyce’s book on doctrine, whose title
I can’t remember. But an excellent little book,
but a desire to have the people elevate their own understanding
of doctrinal things. As I’ve talked a number of times
about the confession, if you read the opening lines of the
confession, you would look at it in this day and age and say,
well, this is a deep document. This is for seminarians. But if you read the opening lines
of the confession, it says, hear the younger members. may come to know and learn.”
Those things in days gone by were for the young people in
the church. And we begin to see how far doctrine has fallen on
our list of priorities. Paul wants his people to be knowledgeable
in spiritual things. This practical knowledge where
it isn’t just knowing names and characters and faces and situations
and chapters and verses, but knowing the import of those texts,
knowing what they refer to, knowing what they inform, what they teach
so as to know the right application of them. Paul said, one always desires
that his converts should have by instruction and experience
a full appreciation of the real meaning of Christian faith and
duty. I mean, he didn’t want dummies
in his midst. He knew that one who is spiritually
ignorant was liable to be a victim. Aren’t they? If we don’t know
Scripture, if we don’t know the doctrine that Scripture teaches,
we too will be victims and probably more so even in our day than
in Paul’s because of the advance of the myriad attacks on us in
so many different ways from the Internet and from the billboards
and from the television and from the print. Satan isn’t at rest, as we’ve
seen. This growth, this increase of
spiritual knowledge was at the forefront of almost every epistle
that Paul wrote. Ephesians 1.17, as we’ve already
seen, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge
of Him. Paul wanted them to know God
and to know doctrine. Ephesians 4.13, Until we all
attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which
belongs to the fullness of Christ. Are we there yet? No. Colossians 1.9, for this reason
also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to
pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge
of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that
you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. That’s the reason.
It’s not just that we go walking around as so-called Christian
geniuses, as so many Bible-answer men, but so that we know how
to live, so that we may live more pleasingly to Him. Colossians
2.2, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit
together in love, attaining to all the wealth that comes from
the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge
of God’s mystery. You know, what I sense is that
Paul feared having planted these various churches, that now that
he’s apart from them, that perhaps they were plateauing. And as
they plateaued in their knowledge, they plateaued in their devotion.
And as they plateaued in their devotion, they plateaued in their
Christ likeness, that they had become somewhat stagnant. One brother said it this way,
he said, with the blessing of such penetrating insight into
God’s wonderful redemptive revelation, it will produce gratitude in
an ever increasing measure, which in turn will increase the supply
and enhance the quality of love to God and the brotherhood. That’s
true. The more we know about God, the more we know about this
grand plan of redemption, the more we meditate upon those things,
the more thankful we’ll become and the more love is going to
flourish in our hearts for one another. That’s one wall. That’s the wall, if you will,
of knowledge. But knowledge is worthless if
there isn’t a second wall. If you don’t have a second levy,
as it were, you still are going to run over the banks with this
emotional love that often gets unchecked. And so Paul prays
not only for real knowledge, but discernment. Discernment. Discernment is often used, that
word often used in the Proverbs. Proverbs 1.4. To give prudence to the naive,
to the youth, knowledge and discretion. That’s often how it’s translated.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom
and instruction. Discernment or the right application
of knowledge is a key focus in the book of Proverbs. One translated it as spiritual
perception. That’s a good way to do it. Not
just knowledge, but spiritual perception. The ability to put
on those spectacles of faith and to see things as they really
are. Not just as the world presents
them to be. Not how Satan would have you
see it to be. But as they really are. As God
would have you to see it. discernment properly applies
to the senses. And basically, it signifies the
insight which recognizes a truth just as the eye recognizes an
object. It is the ability to determine every circumstance
and case King James uses the little word
judgment here, which often tends to, you know, be misconstrued
or misplayed even. It was often used, this simple
word was often used of the criticism, the good criticism of a work
of art was also used a practical insight. The problem is, is that
people either have No pool of knowledge, as we just saw, no
pool of knowledge from which to examine various circumstances. And so you need the knowledge
or that knowledge is never applied to those circumstances. They’re
never seen in light of that knowledge, which is the right application
of discipline, discernment. Paul prays. that these believers
would become experts in spiritual things and that they would know
instinctively what matters and what doesn’t matter. He wants
them to become spiritually sharp. One said it this way, without
spiritual knowledge and discernment, love may go grievously astray. Misty thought, emotional conduct,
and indiscriminate good nature are perilous. Christian love
is not blind. And while it increases, it is
regulated. It’s regulated by knowledge and
discernment. But I love the way he says that.
Misty thought. I mean, where else would these
so-called Bible Christian superstores flourish but in a culture that
is characterized by misty thought that we don’t even know, nor
do we care what we’re reading. Some so-called author has put
his name and a curious title and a beautiful picture on the
cover, and it’s $7.95, and it’s at the Christian super Bible
store. Misty thought, emotional conduct. I mean, where else been in a
culture that is characterized by emotional conduct? Not by
really thinking it through, but just by doing what everybody
else is doing. indiscriminate good nature, misty
thought, emotional conduct, indiscriminate good nature. You know what? I
mean, if this doesn’t characterize this culture, what does? Indiscriminate
good nature. You know, we’re supposed to be
loving, brother. And any kind of criticism is met with the
most furious criticism in the Christian culture. To name names
or to step back from the trends, to challenge people’s thinking
is seen to be as unkind and unchristian. Indiscriminate good nature and
that person who just loves everybody and loves everything would never
would a cross word ever come out of his mouth, never a critical
word. He just loves everybody. He is
exalted, isn’t he? In our Christian culture, isn’t
that the one that’s upheld as being the most virtuous? Another one said it quite simply
in these terms. If love grew in mere capacity
and without the increase of these safeguards, knowledge and discernment,
it would be in hazard of forming unworthy and unprofitable attachments. That’s exactly where the Christian
church is in our day and age. Unworthy and unprofitable attachments. It might wound itself in its
blindness and hinder gospel interests. They must understand the Gospel
in its purity and learn to detect unwarranted additions. We must. We must know the truth. We must
tenaciously hold to the truth regardless of how many people
go in the opposite direction or how many people get caught
up in 40 days of whatever. We have to know. And we have
to distinguish. Paul says to love indiscriminately
is to fall. Paul prayed that their love would
become more intelligent and more discriminating, not less. Without
knowledge, without this discernment, this judgment, love, had this
tendency to become misplaced, to go off in every direction
at any kind of impulse. Every wind of doctrine, as he
says elsewhere, imbibing anything that would come their way, going
off to every Bible conference, buying every CD, every tape,
listening to every Bible teacher. I’m not against Bible teachers,
but what I’ve said for years, you know, it’s a It’s a place
for great caution. You have no idea what their life
is like. In fact, one that was local here years ago is now back
on the radio after falling. We need to be more knowledgeable
and more discriminating, not less. Paul basically has in mind
here the ability which I see as a Christian virtue of being
able to determine what is counterfeit. As one said, of seeing in an
apparent conflict of duties, what present duty really is duty. In other words, picking not just
between good and bad, but between what is good and what is best.
How can I best use my time? What is the best thing that I
could be doing at this point in time? He goes on to say of discerning
where excess begins in that which up to a certain point is innocent
or useful. Could we not all use some of
that? We will often judge something
as being innocent or it’s OK or it’s part of our Christian
freedom. But what he says is there is
a certain point where you tip into excess, which is sinful. of deciding accurately, of two
ways of pursuing Christian work, which one is better. There’s
no one specific path that God wants you to travel, but there
are a myriad of options. Which one for you is best? Of
avoiding moral pitfalls, however carefully they’re covered over,
of habitually saying and doing the right thing at the right
time in the right way and thus steadily growing ever like Christ,
said Robert Johnstone. Paul said in so many words to this Philippian
church that it started off so well and was so strong and so
supportive of his work What he feared the most is as
the church grew, as the Apostle Paul went away, that they were
going to become more naive over time. And isn’t that sadly the
case sometimes? I was in a dear elderly saint’s
home years ago and I saw taped on the refrigerator various pictures
and ministries that they had supported over the years. and taped on the refrigerator
was basically a cult. The newsletter from a very fringe
Christian group that these great saints had supported for years.
We need to become more knowledgeable, don’t we? Not less. Has God given us an infinite
amount of money that we can afford to waste it by spending money
on Fringe groups. A person, said one, who lacks
discernment, even though he possesses love, may reveal a great deal
of eagerness and enthusiasm. Haven’t unknowledgeable, less
discerning people, haven’t they got the greatest amount of enthusiasm? They just seem to go off in all
directions. He may donate to all kinds of
causes. His motives may be worthy. His
intentions honorable. Yet he may be doing more harm
than good. Can you imagine such? Can you
imagine actively supporting the enemy? That’s what they were
doing. Paul prays. for knowledge and
discernment. He wants their love to grow and
flourish. He wants it to grow, but he wants
it to be a love that has a quick perception, an intuitiveness
to it that knows what is good and right and what isn’t. Charles
Bridges, my dear brother that I can’t wait to meet in heaven,
said this, commenting on Proverbs 14, The naive believes everything,
but the prudent man considers his steps.” What a great commentary
on the verse in front of us. The naive believes everything.
They’ll give anybody money. They’ll read anything. They’ll
listen to anything. They’ll go to anybody’s concert. But the prudent man considers
his steps. Charles Bridges said this, An
indiscriminate faith is fraught with mischief. Look at the fruit
of this folly in the church. When our faith stands on the
wisdom of men and not in the power of God, the novelties of
fancy accredited by some favorite name readily pass for the revelation
of God. That’s true. That’s entirely
accurate. You would think that based on
some of the things that are sold down the street, that God Himself
wrote those things the way people drink them in. And then He said this, we do not
thus sit down to our food blindfolded, not knowing whether we take food
or poison, that here men are ready to drink of any cup that
is presented to them. Like children who think that
everything that is sweet is good. Thus, our unstable souls beguiled
and they are corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Paul says, I want you to love.
I want your love to flourish. But it’s got to be bounded by
knowledge and discernment. Point three. We’re looking at the glories
of Christian affection. And that is to be a love that
is flourishing. It is a bounded love. Thirdly,
it is a discriminating love. And the last time I used that
word, I told you beforehand that I was going to use a dirty word.
Because in today’s day and age, that is considered to be a dirty
word. To discriminate, to pick between
two things and decide one thing is better. Why, pastor? Look
at verse 10. This I pray, that your love may
abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
so that you may approve the things that are excellent. That word,
we’ve seen it so many times before. It was used of assaying or determining
the value of metals. It means literally approval after
a testing, after an investigation. that this approval is a process. First Thessalonians 5.21, you
have essentially the same thought. Examine everything carefully. Assay that metal. Put it in the crucible. Test
it. Examine everything carefully.
Hold fast to that which is good. You can’t do that without a process.
You can’t do that without knowledge, without discernment. Passage that was alluded to today,
each man’s work will become evident for the day will show up because
it is to be revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality
of each man’s work. First Corinthians 3.13. Same
thought. This crucible, this testing process
of metals and what is supposed to come out of them. things that
are excellent, things which excel literally, so that you may approve
the things that are excellent. Paul wanted his great saints
to be able to determine by this judicious process, this discernment,
what things really matter, what things are the most virtuous,
what things are the very best, what is of most importance and
not just trivial and passing. And they must be able to determine
what is really of value. They must be able to judge with
deep spiritual insight, said one, into the nature and value
of things. We are to measure our words.
We are to examine our words. We are to examine what we read,
what we take in, what we feed to our children, spiritually
speaking. This discriminating love, Paul
says, is supposed to apply tests. It’s supposed to examine. It’s
supposed to determine goodness from badness. And it’s supposed
to make distinctions. And those distinctions are impossible
to those without Christ, to those without faith. That’s why Paul says to the Ephesians,
he comments to them at the end of the epistle, that they are
always trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. I mean,
are we done yet? Would you be comfortable? Would
you stake eternity just in going with what you’ve already come
to know? Examine everything carefully.
Hold fast to that which is good. If we distinguish or determine
things that are different, things that are good, things that are
good as opposed to bad and excellent as opposed to just good. Paul says if we do that, it’s
going to produce something in us. Point four. We’re looking at the glories
of this Christian affection. I told you there were four of
them. Not only a flourishing love is this Christian affection,
but it is a bounded love. It is a discriminating love.
And fourthly, it is a productive love. It does something in us. It doesn’t leave us the way we
were. The more we practice this, the more we grow. Look at the
verse 10 again. In fact, go all the way back
to verse 9. This I pray that your love may abound still more
and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may
be able to approve the things that are excellent. Why? This
is where he tells us why that it’s going to produce something
in you in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of
Christ. This judgment, this discernment,
it doesn’t just leave us the way we are as if we used our
knowledge and made the right spiritual choice. It actively
purifies us. It actively changes our character
and conduct. He’s not just asking us to make
a right determination, but to make a right determination so
that our life adjusts That word blameless there, sincere
rather, means unadulterated, pure, unmixed with all the stuff
that the world and certainly the devil has to introduce into
our thinking. Blameless just refers to the absence of stumbling, a lack
of stumbling block either in our own path or in another. brothers
path. And people have often wondered,
is Paul saying here, don’t put a stumbling block in another’s
path by what you. I think he’s he’s more focused
here on the individuals, not on the individuals effect on
the group, although that’s true. Be careful what you approve.
Paul said in Romans 14, happy as he who does not condemn himself
in what he approves. That much is true. But I think
what he’s saying here is you need to use your knowledge as
you’re growing in this love. You need to use your knowledge
and exercise discernment so that you don’t stumble. So that you don’t stumble. Believers, as far as themselves
are concerned are going to lead, because of this application of
knowledge and discernment, they’re going to lead a pure, clean,
unpolluted life. He says that you need to look
at all of the stuff in which you’re engaged. Look at what
you read. Look at what you watch. Look
at who you talk to. Look at who you hang out with.
Look at what you do. Exercise knowledge and discernment
so that you don’t stumble. And he adds these final closing
thoughts that are not unimportant. He takes us all the way up to
the day of glory, to the day of Christ, to the day when we
are glorified. Whether we die on this earth
and we’re taken to heaven or whether we are planted here and
waiting for Christ when He returns, there will be a day of glory.
And he says that he reminds us again that this whole thing is
a process that God has begun. Look at verse 11, having been
filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ. These things that are being produced
in us, this patience, this work ethic, whatever it is in this
context, love for one another. It’s all being worked into us
by God Himself. Having been filled with the fruit
of righteousness, we’re already on the path to growing what God
has designed us to be. And what He points to, what He
looks to, is that day of glory where we will be perfect. I told you, we are already cultivating
an eternal fellowship. What Paul does here is just anticipate
that great day. Paul sees the Philippians as
they will be in that great day. We see one another as we will
be in that great day. We are already being filled up
with the fruit of righteousness. And Paul closes, how else could
he? To the glory and praise of God. It’s God. It’s God that
gets all the glory. It’s God the One that is at work
in us for His own glory. It’s God the One who is changing
us so that He might be praised. It’s the goal of the whole process
of salvation, isn’t it? One said this, He said, is the
goal of Christian hope. It is the redemptive aspect of
the of this phrase, which gives the key to its meaning here.
The love of God’s children abounding in discriminating knowledge,
being filled with the fruit of righteousness. Redounds to his
glory as a redeeming God. We often. We often talk about
glorifying God. We often talk about desiring
in our hearts to glorify God. Do we not? Paul says in practical
terms, do you want to glorify God? Continue cultivating this
eternal affection that you have with one another. Do so as your
love is increasing, but do so in the right application of knowledge.
as your knowledge grows, exercise strict and careful discernment
so that you may approve the things which are really, truly God-pleasing. Let’s pray. Lord God, we know that we live
in a day when so many things come at us, when we are tempted
and even for a time we approve things that When we step back
and objectively evaluate, we see are not good or we see they
are not best. Lord God, we do pray, especially
for this great need in our own day. Even our own church, we don’t
lack a love, but we are not unlike the rest of the Christian community,
even in our local community, which lacks knowledge. We have
not arrived in that regard, which lacks discernment. Lord, many
of us have discovered things that we held to for years were not biblical. Father God,
grant us grace as we carefully and graciously seek to examine
our own hearts. Paul sets us up to consider our
own actions and behavior, lest we stumble ourselves. As Paul said elsewhere, happy
is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. God, grant
us the grace to examine our hearts and our lives for your glory. It’s in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.