Ultimate Concerns of Paul's Prayer

Introduction: Paul's Prayer and Its Divisions

0:07 The following sermon was preached on Sunday, November the 23rd, 1980, while the Trinity Church was still meeting at the Grover Cleveland Junior High School in Caldwell, New Jersey. Will you turn, please, in your own Bibles once more to Philippians, the first chapter, and follow as I read verses 3 through 11,

0:44 in the record of Paul's prayer and praise on behalf of the Philippian Christians. Philippians chapter 1, beginning with verse 3.

1:01 I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all, making my supplication with joy for your fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until... Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.

1:31 Even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my...

1:50 I witness how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order that you may be sincere and void of offense till the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unfulfilled, to the glory and praise of God.

2:26 In our two previous studies of this paragraph, we have noted that there is a very natural and obvious two-fold division of that which the apostle has recorded by the inspiration of the Spirit. In verses 3 through 8, we have the record of Paul's thanksgiving and its causes. When he sets himself...

2:52 to pray for the Philippians, he finds his heart continually drawn out in thanksgiving to God, and he there records for us the causes of that spirit of gratitude and thankfulness which he experiences on behalf of the Philippians. Then in verses 9 through 11, we have what I have called Paul's petition and its concerns. He tells us in verse 9, that the substance of those requests to which he made reference in verses 3 and 4 is to be found in these words, and this I pray,

3:34 that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Well, last, Lord, on Thursday morning, we considered the first part of that prayer, that petition and its concerns, and it's what I call the ultimate concerns of his petition. I'm sorry, the immediate burden of his petition. Verses 10, verse 9, and the first part of verse 10, this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment,

4:18 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that was the immediate and pressing burden of his prayer, that their love might abound always accompanied by that which I call the two handmaidens of knowledge on the left hand and of this discernment or sense of moral rightness on the other hand. And the practical goal of that was to the end that they might distinguish things that differ and approve, the most excellent things. But you see, the apostle's prayer had not only this immediate burden, but it had some ultimate concerns.

Illustrating Immediate Burden vs. Ultimate Concern

5:04 There were reasons lying behind the burden of his prayer. Now, it would be a complete record of the burden of his prayer if it simply stopped at the end of the middle of verse 10. But the apostle is concerned to inform the Philippians and the apostles of the Bible that the apostle is concerned to inform the Philippians and the apostles of the Bible and us of that ultimate concern which lay behind the immediate burden of his prayer. Now, to show the relationship of those two things so that you'll be convinced this is not a philosophical or a merely linguistic distinction, imagine, if you will, for a moment, a mother who calls her 12-year-old son into her presence and says,

5:45 Now, son, I want you to run down to the neighborhood grocery store and buy... buy five pounds of potatoes.

5:55 Get on your bike immediately, go to the store, don't stop anywhere on the way back, and bring the potatoes directly home. I want you to do this because if I don't get the potatoes into the oven very soon, the meal will not be ready when your dad comes home from work. Now, that simple little directive and request that a mother makes of her son has two major divisions. It has an immediate burden and an ultimate concern.

6:26 Now, the immediate burden, the immediate concern of that mother is that her son, Johnny, go to the store, buy potatoes, and come home immediately with them. Now, what is her ultimate driving passion in giving that directive? Is it that he might simply keep the bicycle from collecting rust? Is it that Johnny might have some exercise?

6:50 Is it that she might... spend some of her husband's hard-earned money? No. She has told him that the ultimate concern

6:59 in her heart is that a meal will be ready when dad comes home from work. So that as the boy hops on his bike to go to the store, he's conscious that there is a directive that has an immediate focal point, namely, purchase a five-pound sack of potatoes. But there is an ultimate concern in his mother's mind and heart, and that is to have a meal prepared for dad when he arrives home from work. Well, in a very similar way, that's the division of Paul's prayer. His immediate burden is that the love of the Philippians might abound

The Ultimate Concerns of Paul's Prayer

7:39 more and more, always in conjunction with knowledge and discernment that they might approve the things that are excellent. But now why is he concerned with the love of the Philippians? Is it that in the flourishing of the life of the Philippians, people will have a higher opinion of him as an apostle? Is it for some motive that terminates upon himself? No. There is an ultimate concern in his prayer, and the ultimate concern is

8:12 couched in the words, in order that you, Philippians, may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ. Having been filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. And those words embody the apostles' ultimate concern in praying for the abounding of the Philippians' love in knowledge and discernment that they might approve the things that are excellent. Now it should be obvious from the words that this ultimate concern has to do with the love of the Philippians. And it should be obvious

8:51 in the following two focal points. One has to do with the Philippians themselves, that you, Philippians, may be. So one concern centers upon the Philippians themselves, and the other centers upon God himself unto the glory and praise of God. So in the next moments, I want to unpack the meaning of the Lord's words, and I want to unpack the meaning of the Lord's of the words that are given to us under this general consideration the ultimate concerns of

9:30 the apostles prayer first of all with reference to the Philippian believers and then with reference to God himself and I do this because I want you to be able when you go back over this prayer to reflect upon the significance of these words so that you can intelligently enter in not only to the burden of the prayer but also to its ultimate concerns and make them by the spirit's help your concerns all right what is his ultimate concern with reference to the Philippian believers well the key words are obvious in order that you Philippians may be sincere

Ultimate Concern for the Philippian Believers: Sincerity and Blamelessness

10:14 void of offense till the day of Christ being filled with the the fruits of righteousness. Now, first of all, the word sincere. He has this concern that they may be a sincere people. Now, we use the word in a different sense from that which the apostle used it.

10:39 We may have a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon missionary come to our door and after he leaves, one of the things that grieves us is we say that poor young man or that poor woman, that poor man, is totally deluded but so sincere. And what we mean by the word sincere is without hypocrisy, straightforward, earnest. Well, that's not the meaning of the word that the apostle used. The word used by the apostle could better be translated without any mixture of foreign substance, without any alloy.

11:20 If you take pure gold, melt it down and put in just even 1% of another kind of metal, it can no longer be stamped 100% pure gold. Something has been added. It now has an alloy or it has become an alloy. Likewise, if we are to take silver and to add something to it, it can no longer be called pure silver.

11:47 Well, the apostle's ultimate concern has to do with the Philippians' condition as being one of sincerity. That is, no mixture of a foreign substance. And now the word without offense is a difficult word to explain because it's only found two other places in the New Testament. And in one case, it has the sense of without offense, that is, without stumbling on the part of the person.

12:18 And in the other, it has to do without causing someone else to stumble, by the manner of our living. In Acts 24, in verse 16, when Paul says, Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense to God, that's the same word. Now that obviously means he himself does not want to stumble. But then in 1 Corinthians 10, he speaks of giving no offense to the people of God, to the Jews, or to the Gentiles.

12:50 And there it obviously means, not causing someone else to stumble. Well, what does it mean in this context? Well, one cannot say with any dogmatism. But I think the context indicates that probably the thing Paul had in mind was not so much that these Philippians would not cause others to stumble, though that would be one of the fruits and results of what he prays, but rather, that they may be without any mixture of foreign substance, and that they may not be stumbling in their walk as believers, but that they may have a steady, sure step as they press on to the celestial city.

13:35 And if that is true, then certainly their lives will not cause others to stumble. But now notice, his concern is that these qualities of being without mixture, without alloy, and having a steady, un-stumbling walk, have specific reference to the day of Christ. If your translation says, until the day of Christ, that's a poor translation. You have a different word here from that which you have up in verse 6.

14:09 Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until, up until the day of Christ. But here he uses a preposition which has the idea of with a view to, or in the light of, or looking towards the day of Christ. In other words, his concern that they be without alloy and mixture of a foreign substance, that they be steady and un-stumbling in their walk, has reference to the day of Christ. That they be sincere and without offense in the light of, looking towards,

14:52 towards the reality of the day of Christ. Now what is the day of Christ? Well, that's the day of his return. His second advent, mentioned for the second time in his prayer.

15:05 That glorious event, the next great event of direct revelation, when the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance upon his enemies and to be glorified in his saints. So that the apostle, as he prays that the love of these people may abound more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, to this ultimate end that they may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ, indicates that when he prays for the Philippians, though his prayers take into consideration their present situation, for remember, he had been at Philippi.

15:50 He had been imprisoned at Philippi. He knew something of the opposition of sinners against the truth. Later on in this chapter he says, it has been given to you Philippians not only to believe, but to suffer for his name's sake. He was no pie in the sky, by and by, non-realist.

16:10 He had a feel for the reality of the circumstances in which those Philippians had to live, in which their love had to abound in knowledge and in discernment that they might approve the things that are excellent. Nonetheless, in his prayers, his heart leaps all the way to the second advent and his great concern as he prays for the abounding of their love in knowledge and discernment has reference to that great day when their true condition would be unveiled not only to them, but to the entire moral universe. We pray. We pray.

16:50 We pray. We pray. We pray. We pray.

16:51 We pray. We pray. We pray. We pray.

16:51 We pray. We pray. We pray. We pray.

16:51 We shall all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.10 1 Corinthians 4.5 Judge nothing until the Lord come who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the secrets of men's hearts.

17:08 Then shall every man have praise of God. So you see the ultimate concern of the apostle as he prays. Why does he want their love to abound more and more? Right now, there at Philippi, a love that abounds in knowledge and in discernment, that they may approve things that are excellent.

Ultimate Concern for the Philippian Believers: Filled with Fruits of Righteousness

17:29 It is that when the Lord returns, they may be found without alloy, without mixture, without having stumbled along the way and been bruised and battered, but they may be found monuments of the saving and the keeping and preserving grace of the living God. But because this expression of his ultimate concern with reference to the Philippians is primarily negative, he doesn't stop there, but he moves on to a more positive description of that very concern. In these words, being filled, or as the New American Standard renders the Greek verb more accurately,

18:13 having been filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Jesus Christ. He's concerned not only in a more negative sense that they be without mixture and without stumbling, that's negative. The Apostle never stops with the negative perspective. He never simply says put off, but always follows it with the put on.

18:39 And so the great burden of his heart as he thinks of the Philippians in praise, what he prays for them, is that they may be found those as those who have been and continue to be put on. And continue to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. That is, that their lives may be characterized continually all along the way as lives that are filled with the fruit that is characterized by righteousness, or the fruit which is righteousness, that is conformity to God's holy law. And as they are filled, their capacity increases, and so they are filled

19:21 more, and as the capacity increases, they are filled more. And that is his great concern, that they be a people having been filled with the fruits of righteousness. But notice how he qualifies those fruits. They are fruits which are through Jesus Christ.

19:44 That is, fruits that are fruit that is born only because of the foundation of the work of Christ and the present power of the indwelling life of Christ and in the virtue of their union with Christ. Now then, in short, that is his ultimate concern for the Philippians. It has to do with their being kept sincere and without offense, their having been filled with the fruits of righteousness. But you see his ultimate concern is that they are filled with the fruits of righteousness.

Ultimate Concern for God: His Glory and Praise

20:21 his ultimate concern is that they are filled with the fruits of righteousness. But you see his ultimate concern does not stop with the Philippians, but it terminates and concludes with this statement, unto the glory and praise of God. Now the question is, does this combination of words refer just to the fruit which is through Christ Jesus unto the glory and praise of God? Or does it refer to everything for which he's prayed?

20:49 Well, exegetically it could be either. But in terms of the overall teaching of the word of God, it's accurate to say that this is the grand, the ultimate, the capstone concern of the apostle in everything that he prays for the Philippians, the glory and the praise of God. Now what do those words mean? You find them frequently in Scripture.

21:15 Well, the glory of God is basically the outshining of God's perfections. The manifestation of his excellence. What the rays of the sun are to the sun, the glory of God is to God. We know something of the sun because of its rays giving light and heat.

21:42 And so God's glory is the outshining or the manifestation of his excellence. And the praise of God, that's the result, is the response of the creature to the recognition of that excellence. When the creature beholds the glory of God, the manifestation of the excellence of God, the only rational response is to praise God. To render to him delightful and conscious acknowledgement that we have beheld that glory.

22:14 Let me illustrate. The day comes when a well-known artist is to have his most recent and in many ways, what he feels to be his most accomplished work of art unveiled. And a great crowd of knowledgeable people gather. People who are very, very familiar with this artist's work and who have great expectations of that which will be the revelation of the excellencies of this artist.

22:45 His peculiar sense of order and form. His peculiar ability to work with soul, to see certain colors and to produce certain effects and impressions. And so the great crowd gathers every eye as fixed upon the easel over which there is a drape or a curtain. Now the artist is not being praised because at this point the manifestation of his excellence as an artist is hidden.

23:15 But once the drape is pulled and all the eyes behold the manifestation of the excellence of that artist, one can hear the sound of the drape, one can hear a murmur and sighs and look upon open mouths and wide eyes and then they begin to whisper to one another speaking the praises of the artist. Now you see the relationship of the two things? When the manifestation of his excellence is perceived, the reflexive response is what? Praise to the one whose excellence is perceived.

23:51 Now that's the relationship of these two words in Holy Scripture. And the great ultimate passion and burden and concern of the apostle as he prays for the Philippians the things that he asks of God for them is not only something that pertains to them in terms of the second coming of Christ that they may be found sincere and without offense having been filled with the fruits of righteousness but that has as its great end and concern the manifestation of the excellence of the God of grace and then the response of praise from the entire moral creation.

24:36 For the Scripture makes it plain that God's crowning work of art is not the original creation but it is the new creation. And God's most definitive work of art is taking sinners such as those who were there at Philippi when Paul came blind and bound and dead and on their way to hell and taking them out of that state and into a state of grace having begun a good work in them perfecting it until the day of Christ keeping them by His grace from the admixture of foreign elements keeping them from stumbling

25:19 presenting them faultless before His presence with exceeding grace with exceeding joy that will be God's most glorious work of art and will bring the entire moral creation to bow in wonder and in praise.

25:38 Well, in short then that is what I have called the ultimate concern of the Apostle's prayer. So we have His immediate burden that love may abound more and more in knowledge and discernment that they may approve the things that are excellent the ultimate concern with respect to the Philippians that they may be sincere without offense having been filled with the fruits of righteousness and with reference to God that His glory might be manifested and that His praise might be secured. Well, so much for the opening up of the text. Now, what is the abiding

Profound Lessons Concerning the Nature of True Prayer

26:22 and present relevance of the gospel? Well, the first thing of all of this to us what are we intended to learn from such a prayer? And let me suggest first of all that this prayer contains several profound lessons concerning the nature of true prayer. It contains several profound lessons concerning true prayer.

26:46 It's amazing how many people are hopelessly naive about the subject of prayer. I think anybody can pray. If you do anything that is sort of the concentration of a wish or a desire that goes out of yourself to something, somewhere, somehow or other, that's prayer. Well, if you have such silly and naive notions, may I remind you of what the Bible says?

27:12 The Bible speaks of certain prayers that are an abomination to God. Proverbs 28 and verse 9, He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination. In Isaiah chapter 1, God says, Though you make many prayers, I will not hear you. It is no simple thing to pray so as to be heard by the living God.

27:36 There is perhaps no more difficult and more noble exercise of the human soul than that which is found when there is true prayer. And this wonderful passage contains several profound lessons concerning true prayer. What are they? Number one, all true prayer begins and ends with God.

28:01 Look at the prayer, verse 3. I thank my God. And how does it end? To the glory and the praise of God.

28:14 You see, the whole idea that prayer is primarily a subjective, inward spiritual discipline and exercise, and God is only incidental to the entire process insofar as it helps me to experience a psychological catharsis, sort of an inward cleansing, or helps me to collect myself and get my bearings. My friends, that's no more prayer than I'm a Boeing 747 standing in front of you this morning. All true prayer begins and ends in God Himself. And not any old God, the God and Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ,

28:57 the God who has promised that His own Son will return at the end of the age to glorify His saints and to judge the wicked. The God of this very paragraph. Not some other God. Not some vague notion of somebody up there somewhere who somehow or other has some connection with us.

29:18 No, no. The God of this very paragraph. The God who hears the cries of His children. The God who works by His Spirit in the hearts of His people.

29:29 The God who in Jesus Christ will come to judge the world at the day of Christ. The God who has manifested His glory supremely in the person and work of His Son. All true prayer begins and ends with God. Prayers that begin and end with self are a stench in the nostrils of God.

29:55 Ye have not because ye ask amiss. I'm sorry. Ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lusts.

30:12 And prayer can become a form of self-centered whining instead of a God-glorifying exercise of true praise and supplication. All true prayer begins and ends with God. And my friend, because of remaining corruption within us, it is not an easy thing to pray in the light of that principle. You let God break in upon your life with, quote, a tragedy.

30:43 And oh, how quickly we run to God crying for help. Even the most godless in a pinch will cry out, Oh, my God, help me.

30:53 But to come no matter what our burdens and personal concerns may be, and to quiet our minds and before we begin to cry, Gimme, gimme, gimme,

31:05 to stop and reflect upon all of the things He has already given, and to lift up our hearts in praise, to pray in the spirit of the Lord's prayer, Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name. My friend, it's no easy thing truly to pray. Our selfishness would cause our prayers to begin, to end with ourselves and to end with ourselves. Whereas this pattern of true prayer demonstrates that it begins and ends with God.

31:40 But then there is a second profound lesson concerning true prayer in the passage and it's this. The abundant evidence of grace should stir us up to pray for more grace.

31:54 When we read verses 3 through 8, we say, My, if there is a, a group of Christians who every time this mature apostle thinks of them, all he can do is praise God for them. Their fellowship in the gospel has been constant the first day until now. Furthermore, he's confident that the Lord has begun a good work in them. He's going to carry it on and that's not wishful thinking.

32:21 He says, it's right for me to think this because even when the going got rough in his bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, they are obviously under the influence of the grace of God. We say, My, if you've got a church like that, well, let's just forget them and get on and pray for the needy churches like Corinth. If there are people who have all that grace, why pray for them? You just need to ask God to help them to hold their own.

32:50 Lord, bless the Philippians, help them to hold afar and then get on praying for the churches that are in bad shape. But not the apostle. You see, the presence of great grace, grace, moved him to pray for greater grace. The presence of fruit impelled him to plead for more fruit.

33:15 There's a tremendous principle that we need to lay hold of for our prayers. So often our prayers are like putting out brush fires. We concentrate them upon those things that evidence the decline or the absence of grace. Not so the apostle.

33:36 He says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every supplication of mine giving thanks. And this is what I pray. Yes, I give thanks for all the grace you already have. But I pray that it may not simply abound, but he says more and more abound.

33:55 Not that they may simply have fruits of righteousness, but may be filled with the fruits of righteousness. The abundance evidence of grace or the evidence of abundant grace, I should probably say, should stir us up to pray for more grace. Rich grace can become richer grace. Fervent love can become more fervent love.

34:19 Much fruit can become increased fruit. Do you see how that applies to our own situation? God has been very good to us as a church with all of our sins, with all of our potential for wickedness, and for division, and for schism. God has been good to us over 14 years.

34:41 Never a congregational meeting in which there's been a raised voice. Never anything that would border even on a church split. How good God has been to us. But do you take that for granted?

34:54 Or does that stir you with God that we shall have more and more of the grace of holy unity? God's been good to us. A relatively young church God has caused our fruit to hang over the walls to the ends of the earth.

35:15 And this very day, in dozens of countries around the world, the ministry of this church is being extended and multiplied. We've had the joy of seeing churches planted here at home and abroad. How good God has been to us. But are you content with that?

35:35 Do you think, well, we'll just hold our own? And particularly now, as after all these years, we stand within a matter of a few weeks of having for the first time a permanent base of ministry as we move into that new building. What is your perspective? Is it like the apostles?

35:53 Thanking God for all the grace He has given, but in no sense resting on our oars, but crying to God that we shall have more and more grace, larger and larger vision, more and more, more and more love, more and more zeal, more and more of the spirit of sacrificial abandonment to the work of the gospel. Well, if we think as the apostle thought, and if the same spirit works in us that worked in him, then this will be evident in our prayers. But then there is a third lesson concerning true prayer in this passage, and it is this, that only the true child of God

Practical Principles Concerning the Christian Life

36:36 can truly pray. Only the true child of God can truly pray. Now the mark of the ungodly we saw in the 53rd psalm this morning is that he calls not upon God. That's the profane ungodly, but you also have the religious ungodly.

36:56 And they do pray. The Pharisee prayed frequently. He even told God about how many times he prayed. And fasted.

37:05 And the scripture speaks again and again of prayers that are multiplied, but are of no use. But are of no use. But are of no use. No!

37:12 No account with God. Why? Because we cannot truly pray until we can say with Paul in verse 3, I thank my God. And how did God become his God?

37:26 He wasn't speaking of God being his God by the right of creation. But it was in the framework of redemption. The great promise of the covenant of grace. I will be their God and they shall be my people.

37:40 And Paul had come to the discovery that by nature he was alienated from God. He was a sinner. God was not his father. And through the gospel he had come to the discovery that in Jesus Christ he could call God his God.

37:57 As a true child of God he prays. And it is only when you can say with Paul, my God, that you can approach him in prayer. You see, by nature the glory and praise of God is the farthest thing from your concern if you're an unsaved man or woman, boy or girl. You're living just to gratify your own temporal ambitions and your own temporal and earthly and sensual lust and passions.

38:23 That's what you live for. You don't live to the glory and praise of God. It isn't the deep concern of your heart and the ultimate overarching canopy with reference to all that you do that God would be glorified whether you eat or drink or whatever you do. You see a heart that is still bowed down with the pressure of sin's dominion knows nothing of rising to the heights of such concerns as the glory and the praise of God.

38:56 My friend, you can't pray till you're a true Christian and you can't be a true Christian till you have dealings with Paul's Christ in the way of repentance and in the way of faith. But I hasten on to note that it's present and abiding relevance not only has reference to these profound lessons concerning true prayer but secondly this passage contains several practical principles concerning the Christian life.

39:26 There is a wonderful theology of the Christian life in the apostolic prayers and our ears are being attacked continually in our eyes by means of literature with theories concerning the Christian life how it is to be lived what principles are to regulate that life. Well, when we come to a passage like this we taste something of the pure water of the truth of God with respect to the Christian life. Notice this first principle that's in the prayer. It is a life which ought to be characterized by continuous growth and increase.

40:08 The Christian life is a life which ought to be characterized by continuous growth and increase. There is no place for complacency. Convinced that God has begun a good work convinced that He will perfect it until the day of Christ the apostle is deeply concerned the central thrust of his prayer is that these Christians at Philippi may abound more and more in knowledge and discernment. Not that they simply have fruit or some fruit but they be filled all along the way continually filled with the fruits of righteousness that the bowels of their lives

40:53 bend with the weight of the profuseness of the fruit that is born through the power of the indwelling Christ. My friend, as you sit here this morning are you content with your present measure of grace and fruitfulness and usefulness? Or you say no. Well, let me ask you something.

41:12 Do your prayers prove it? You see, there's the acid test.

41:17 Paul's vision of the Christian life moves through his prayers and so will yours.

41:24 When's the last time you pleaded with God for more love? More faith? More zeal for His glory? More compassion for sinners?

41:34 More tenderness to sin? More wisdom to be the husband, the father, the mother, the son or daughter you ought to be? When was the last time you consciously, earnestly, with every fiber of your soul laid wholeheartedly in the hand of God and said, Oh, more and more are your prayers some kind of a drowsy droning on of the inner complacency of your soul? If so, you listen to the words of Jesus.

42:08 Because thou sayest thou art riched and increased with goods and have need of nothing I'm about to pick you. That's a literal rendering of Revelation 3. I'm about to vomit you. The tender, meek, loving Christ uses you.

42:25 It's such language. I am about to vomit you out.

42:31 Your apathy sickens me.

42:40 Oh, my fellow believer, if we learn our theology of the Christian life from the Scriptures, from the prayers of the Apostle in particular, we must come to the conviction it's a life which ought to be characterized by continuous growth and increase. But secondly, there is another very practical principle concerning the Christian life in this prayer, and it's this. It is a life lived in fellowship with and dependence upon Jesus Christ. Notice the language.

43:17 Having been filled with the fruits of righteousness, verse 11, which are through Jesus Christ. The Apostle, as he thinks of the Philippian Christians there in the real situation at Philippi, having to live in a pagan society with all the pressure of the demonic influence of paganism, the immorality of paganism, the ignorance of paganism, he has no notion that there will grow on the bowels of those Christians any fruit that does not ultimately derive its life from the subsoil and the root system

44:01 that is embedded in the root system. In living vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember how he addressed them? Verse 1, Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi.

44:20 And that doctrine of union with Christ was not an abstraction to the Apostle. He carried it from his theology of the church as a company of those in union with Christ. He carried it right into his closet. And when he pleaded with God, O Lord, may their love abound more and more.

44:39 May they be filled with the fruits of righteousness. He could not pray that without saying, through the power of your Son, in the virtue of your beloved Son, in living union with your Son, in dependence upon Him. He was but echoing the language of our Lord in John 50. I am the vine, ye are the branches.

45:02 As a branch cannot be bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can you except ye abide in me. Abide in me and my words in you. Ask what ye will and it shall be done.

45:14 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. And you see the close conjunction between abiding in Christ, praying, and glorifying the Father by much fruit. That's why I put the emphasis where I did. You may know enough theology to say, oh no, I'm not content.

45:32 But it's the fervor and the focal point of your prayers that truly indicate whether or not there is this passion to grow and to increase. And if that is there, then you will grow and increase only as you live in fellowship with and in dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I live, Paul says, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, not through me, but in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live it in the flesh.

46:06 This is no doctrine of Christ living His life through me and making me passive. No, I live it in the flesh. But he says, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I not only looked to Him for that initial removal of the burden of sin, but in the language of John 6, I eat of His flesh and drink of His blood continually.

46:38 Christ crucified is my daily food. Meat and drink to my soul is Christ Himself. That's the Christian life. A life lived in fellowship with and dependence upon the Lord Jesus.

46:55 But then the prayer contains a third very practical principle in the Christian life and it's this. It is a life to be lived in the light of the day of Christ. It is a life to be lived in the light of the day of Christ. Imagine if you were one of the Philippians sitting there the morning this letter was first read.

47:15 And here, whoever was reading the letter, one of the elders or one of the more mature men who had a special gift of reading is standing in the assembly and he opens up the scroll, opens up the parchment that Epaphroditus brought back with him and he begins to read and then they hear the words, and this I, I pray, and their ears are all attuned. What is Paul praying for us? That we all be wealthy, wise, beautiful? No.

47:41 What's he praying for us? Well, he's praying that our love may abound more and more in knowledge, discernment, that we may approve the things that are excellent in order that we may be sincere and void of offense until the day of Christ. And the moment their ears heard what Paul was praying, they were reminded, you Philippians, if I pray for your promise, progress in grace in the light of that day, then you better live and pursue progress in grace in the light of that day.

48:12 And the Christian life is to be a life lived in the light of the day of Christ. That's why Paul can describe the Thessalonians in their conversion experience in this language. He says, ye turn to God from your idols to serve the living and the true God and to wait for his Son from heaven. The Christian life is a life to be lived in the light of that day.

48:40 And this thing burned with a passion in Paul's heart. Twice in his prayer it oozes out. Verse 6, being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. And now it comes out again that ye may be sincere and without offense with reference to in the light of the day of Christ.

49:07 May I ask you a very personal question this morning? Have you lived your life this past week in the light of the day of Christ?

49:16 How many times and in what circumstances did the reality that the Lord is coming at which time you will stand before him and be fully manifested for what you are? How often did that thought even cross your mind the past week?

49:35 Once?

49:38 Did it? Don't answer out loud but you answer right now in the court of your own conscience.

49:44 And I venture to say if we took a poll this morning there are some of you concerning whom we have no reason to doubt that you're in grace. But not once, not once did you have a conscious thought last week. I'm talking about from Monday through yesterday. Not once did you have a conscious thought of living your life in the light of the return of Christ.

50:08 You got so taken up with making sure you were to work on time, doing your God-given task at work, getting up with the baby in the middle of the night, taking care of the affairs of the household, all necessary God-honoring duties.

50:26 But you didn't live in the light of the day of Christ. The New Testament recognizes no context of vigorous Christian living that is detached from the day of Christ.

50:44 We need to confess to God the sin of allowing other things to cloud our vision, to get us so earthbound that we can't that we've not been any good to God or to His kingdom. People say, well, you get so heavenly-minded, you're no earthly good. I've yet to meet such a person. Those who are most heavenly-minded were the ones who were doing the most good.

51:07 It's the man who has his heart and his affections in the clouds that knows how to order his feet here on earth. Set your mind, your affections upon things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God when Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested. Then, shall we be manifested with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.

51:32 The extent to which your heart and your affections are in the clouds, to that extent will your feet walk as they ought on the earth. It's not pie in the sky by and by. It's living in the light of that great event which will be the consummation of all that Christ purchased for us in His agony and by His blood. Well, that's the Christian life, as Paul lays it out in this prayer.

Powerful Example of the Relationship Between Doctrine and Life

52:00 It is a life that is one of continuous increase and growth. A life lived in dependence upon in fellowship with Christ. A life lived in the light of the day of Christ. And then finally, the passage contains not only profound lessons on prayer, practical principles on the Christian life, but it contains a very powerful example of the relationship between doctrine and life.

52:32 It contains a very powerful example of the relationship between doctrine and life.

52:40 You see, the most lofty theological truths have the most practical implications.

52:49 If you were to go through this prayer and underline every profound theological truth, you'd wear out a pencil.

53:00 The whole doctrine of the Bible is the omnipresence and the omniscience of God. That he can hear Paul's prayer in a Roman prison and he does something in answer to that prayer way over there in Macedonia for the Philippians.

53:19 The doctrine of the great blessings of the covenant, I thank my God. The doctrine of the preservation of the saints, confident that he who has begun a good work will perfect it. The doctrine of union with Christ, the fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ Jesus, the doctrine of the second coming, twice he mentions the day of Christ, the great concept of the glory of God. My friend, is that a lot of religious verbiage?

53:48 Now that is the stuff of which our faith is made. Those are the great and substantial realities upon which faith feeds. And so this prayer provides us with a wonderful and powerful example of that vital relationship between doctrine and life. And the relationship is simply this, that the most lofty theological truths have the most practical implications.

54:16 They ooze out of the apostles' prayer for real people in a real situation with real problems, with a real day of Christ coming.

54:28 And my friend, if that's true, and it is, then some of you need to shake off your mental laziness for the time that you ought to be teachers. You have need to be taught again the first principles of the oracles of God. Some of you have a deep inward aversion to theology. If I were up here this morning and speaking of the most practical matters in nothing but practical terms and practical concepts as you define them, you'd be all ears and all heart and all enthusiasm.

55:05 But when we seek to lead you into the paths of those laws and the lofty truths that Scripture imposes upon us, if we're honest with its words, you grow lethargic and lazy and dull,

55:21 and your life is a monument of your folly.

55:26 Those who walk surely in the language of Ephesians 4 are those who are not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but they are rooted and grounded in Christ. And to be rooted and grounded in Christ is to be rooted and grounded in the truth of the Bible. And to be rooted in the truth concerning Him. Don't judge theological concepts and lofty biblical truths impractical because you cannot see the umbilical cord between that truth that, as it were, lifts you into the heights and its relationship to the most intimate details of human existence.

56:06 The pattern of the Word of God is again and again to show that undergirding all proper perspectives of life are right views of God and the world of reality as interpreted by God. I was thinking in preparing for the message of what the attitude might have been at Rome if you had Christians there like we have in our day. Here they are wrestling with the problem how can the Jews and Gentiles get along together? Here they are under the shadow of Caesar and Rome with its imposing magisterial authority and they wonder how in the world as a Christian can I honor God and honor the King?

56:44 Oh I've got so many practical problems and here comes a letter from Paul oh this is wonderful I'm going to have all my practical problems solved. One of the elders stands in the morning and says we have a letter from Paul and he starts reading chapter 1 doctrine chapter 2 doctrine chapter 3 doctrine chapter 4 doctrine chapter 5 doctrine chapter 6 chapter 7 chapter 8 and by this time the fellow's tapping his foot and biting his nails saying but I've got so many problems I want to know how to relate to Caesar and how to get on with the Jews it isn't until chapter 12 that he says I beseech you therefore and then he begins to address himself to all the practical issues

57:28 but not until then same thing with the book of Ephesians I therefore the prison of the Lord beseech you after three chapters in which the saints of God made up of ordinary people even slaves in the assembly are taken in to the heights and the glories of the truths that surround the living God and his son and his salvation and not till then does he come to the practical if you stood where I stood you'd feel how real this temptation is whenever I'm preaching more intensely practical sermons you should see the look on your faces at times

58:13 I almost feel like your eager look is going to pull me right out of the pulpit and into your lap and when I check with Phil boy those sermons go like hotcakes but when I'm laboring and praying and sweating to take some of these lofty concepts that the words of the Bible and I want to emphasize that not the flights of theologians the words of the Bible force upon us some of you giving up sitting back and not forcing yourself to wrestle with these great truths I say Lord if you don't correct that that person some of you somewhere along the line is going to turn aside

58:57 may not end up an apostate but somewhere along the line they're going to be crippled because of their mental and spiritual laziness my dear friends we can't afford the luxury of ignorance concerning any truth that God's revealed if it's revealed it is for our good isn't that what Deuteronomy 29 29 says the secret things belong to the Lord but the things that are revealed are for us and for our children and so we learn from this this great prayer this great lesson of the intensely practical relationship between these things as I close this morning

Conclusion: A Head Suffused with Light, a Heart Pulsing with Love, Feet Walking in Holy Paths

59:40 let me use a very simple attempt or I should say an attempt to simplify this and reduce it all to something you can take hold of as we look at this prayer it becomes evident that as the apostle prays for the Philippians in a very real sense what he's asking for asking God to give them is a head suffused with holy light a heart pulsing with holy love and feet that walk in holy paths and oh what a beautiful thing is a Christian who evidently has a head full of the white light of God's truth

60:23 who has a heart pulsing with the warmth of that truth and who has feet that are not are doggedly determined at any cost to walk in the implications of that truth next to gazing upon the Lord Jesus himself I think there's nothing more beautiful than a Christian whose head is full of light whose heart is full of warmth and whose feet walk steadily in the paths dictated by that head full of light and that heart pulsing with warmth that's a beautiful thing and few things are more pathetic than to see a Christian whose feet are never sure

61:08 about where they should go almost like a half blind man who sees dim objects and is not quite certain if he's at the edge of the platform it's a pathetic thing to see Christians walking tangitively and haltingly why? because the head does not have the light that it needs for if the head has light the heart has no warmth but Paul's great prayer is that the light of God's truth would flood the head and the warmth of his love pulse through the heart to the end that their feet might so walk that they will be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ having been filled

61:51 with the fruits of righteousness I'm going to serve notice to you as long as some of us have breath and spiritual sanity you'll never find doctrine mentioned disparagingly in this place if you want to know a doctrine-less Christianity you better go somewhere else because that's a Bible-less Christianity and by the grace of God some of you who simply want doctrine, doctrine, doctrine and don't want your heart probed who don't want to be asked how many times this past week you thought about the return of Christ you feel uncomfortable when a preacher asks you questions like that you tap in your foot until he gets on to the next point if you want simply light in the head

62:35 with no attempts to see that under God the preaching is used to create warmth in the heart then you better go somewhere else because as long as some of us have any spiritual sanity that's going to be the pressure of the Word of God and the great end of all of this is that God's glory and praise might be secured as our feet then walk surely unstumblingly and our characters are kept free of alloy and the mixture of those things which debase the metal of our spirit and of our spiritual lives oh may God grant that this prayer will become a lifetime companion and I confess that if no one else

63:20 has been edified I have because what it's done for me is in the past two weeks as I've prayed again and again the words of this prayer are coming to me and the concepts have begun to give a new dimension to my own prayers for myself and for you as the people of God and may it be true of all of us when we don't know what to do or what to pray for one another let's open up to Ephesians Philippians 1 and take these three verses 9, 10 and 11 and intelligently and in dependence upon the Spirit of God plead before the Lord that we might be filled more and more with love in knowledge and in all discernment to approve the things that are excellent

Prayer of Application

64:04 that we may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ having been filled with the fruits of God with the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus to the glory and to the praise of God let us pray our Father we are so thankful that we have the record of these spirit impelled prayers of the Apostle and we confess with shame that we are exposed by these prayers the selfishness of so much of our praying

64:47 stands out in bold relief we confess that too many of our prayers have begun and have ended with ourselves teach us how to pray so as to begin with you and to end with you and in all things to have as our great concern your glory and your praise teach us the lessons of prayer and of the Christian life and of the relationship between truth and life that are embodied in this prayer and for those who cannot pray this morning because they are not in Christ grant Lord that even this meditation will prove effectual in stirring them up to seek an interest in Christ

65:32 give them no rest till they know that they are in Him hear our prayer may the blessing of your presence and grace rest upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen