Philippians 1:9-11; John 15:1-8, The River of Love

We now move to the supplication part of Paul’s prayer.  His basic prayer is for them to have abundant love v9a).  Love is not abundant if we only do what others do.  Love is abundant when we love our enemy, lay down our lives for our friends, love those who are still sinners (cf. Mt. 5:46f; Lk. 6:27-36; Jn. 15:13; Rom. 5:8).  The abundance of God’s love was and is greater than the hate of those crying crucify Him!

The abundance of love in our own lives is something that must mature; it needs to grow more and more (v9b).  But this growth is not simply in the amount of love in our lives; it is growth in two qualities: knowledge (in Greek, full knowledge) and discernment (moral insight or sensitiveness).  It is interesting that in 2 Pet. 1:5-7 the need for knowledge comes before love.  Love must be intelligent.  Sometimes we may think that we love someone by just giving them something.  But in fact we often find that just giving someone money or food or whatever works against them (2 Thess. 3:10).  We may not want to discipline our children because it makes them cry; but of course true fatherly love involves discipline (Heb. 12:6).

If we have these qualities the result is that in our love we will approve the things that are excellent (v10a).  It may seem strange but in our world people need to understand that suicide, lust, a critical spirit or saying “yes” to every request is not love.  We are not doing what is excellent (the word means to choose from different possibilities the specific direction to go that is best).

In the passage the result of this excellence in judgment results in our being filled with the fruits of righteousness (v11a).  You could say that the Philippians were already a fruitful church; they had been serving alongside Paul in his ministry for some time now.  But the better and better their choices in how to love the more fruit they would bear until they became filled with the fruit of righteousness.  Remember that Jesus said that He wanted His followers to be fruitful (Jn. 15:16) and to bear more fruit until we were bearing much fruit (Jn. 15:1-8).  And remember that Jesus said we cannot bear fruit without him; thus Paul says our fruitfulness is by Jesus Christ (v11b).

The end result of this fruitfulness would be that we would be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ (v10b).  In other words, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ we will not be hypocritical when we state our faith in Christ; nor will we be known for major blemishes in our lives.  But another way of saying this is that we will stand before Christ to the praise and glory of God, v11c).  Abundant love is the epitome of Christ-likeness.  That is what glorifies God.

And now, just a quick word about the picture on this post.  I think this illustrates Paul’s prayer.  When we put our faith in Christ the love of God, in all its fullness, is poured out in our hearts (Rom. 5:5).  God’s love is like the reservoir behind the dam.  The dam is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit of love (Gal. 5:22) as we walk in obedience.  That release from the dam must flow through a channel with two banks: knowledge and insight.  The result will be that the river is available to water the thirsty fields and gardens downstream, producing fruit for the praise and glory of God.  Maybe that picture helps you as it does me.

Lastly may I encourage you to pray this prayer for yourself and for all you know.  Paul’s prayers are always powerful and useful for us to use.