A Loving Prayer for Loving Christians

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).



A Prayer of Love

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians was motivated by his love for them. They were “brethren dearly beloved and longed for” (4:1). They were Paul’s “joy and crown” (4:1). He said of them “I have you in my heart (1:7) and “I long after you all” (1:8). It was clearly Paul’s desire in this epistle to let the church at Philippi know what great love he had for them. He wrote, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy…And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent” (1:3, 4, 9, 10a). The verb “pray” is in the present tense indicating ongoing or repeated action. Paul did not just pray for them once but it was his habit and practice to make mention of them “always in every prayer” (v.4). What better way is there for a man to express his love for others than to bring them before the very throne of our loving, merciful, and able God? The Christian who truly loves his or her brethren will make it a practice to pray for them on a regular basis.

Paul’s prayer expressed his love for the Philippian church not only in its frequency but also in its content. Paul did not pray that they would abound in riches or good health. He did not pray that they would be free of trial or persecution. He did not pray that their numbers would increase or that their contribution would be raised. Paul prayed that their love might abound. He prayed for the highest good, desiring their betterment, not physically, but spiritually. If we want to express love for our Christian brothers and sisters we will not only pray for them often, but our prayers will seek their best spiritual interests.



A Prayer for Love

Although Paul prayed that their love might abound it was not an unqualified prayer. He prayed that their love would abound in “knowledge and in all judgment [discernment, ASV].” Love is not an all encompassing blanket emotion. Love must be educated. Love is, in some sense, discriminatory. One must know when to comfort and when to practice “tough love.” Love does not mean approving all things. Could you imagine the father or mother who, in the name of “love,” approved of everything his or her child did? We would think that person crazy. “He that spareth his rod hateth his son; But he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” (Proverbs 13:24, ASV). Very often some religious organizations will advertise themselves as being a “loving church” which by their definition means “we accept everybody into religious fellowship.” Biblically, that is not love at all. Biblical love must be able to discern between right and wrong, between the base and the “excellent” (v.10a), and must only approve of the right and the excellent. Love does not mean simply doing good things, it also involves proper motive: “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing…charity vaunteth not itself…[charity] seeketh not her own” (1 Corinthians 13:3-5). The expression of our love must be tempered with right judgment and pure motive; such was Paul’s prayer for the Philippians.



The Purpose of Educating Love

The purpose of educating our love is that we might be found to be “sincere and without offense til the day of Christ” (v.10). The word translated sincere is only used once more in the New Testament where it is translated “pure” (2 Peter 3:1). It is a compound word which literally means “judged by the sun/sunlight.” Those of us who wear glasses will be especially familiar with this illustration. Inevitably our glasses will become spotted and smeared with oil and dust. Because this obstructs our vision, we clean our glasses. In order to be sure that we did an adequate job of removing the dirt and grime, we hold our glasses up to the light and the light exposes things that escaped our sight. This is the idea of being judged by the sunlight. For us to be sincere in this sense is to allow the light of God’s word to shine in our lives (cf. Psalm 119:130), to judge our actions and our motives (cf. John 12:48), and to be found without fault. However, when we allow God’s light to shine in our lives we may find that there are impurities of which we were previously ignorant. If that be the case then we ought to remove those impurities in order to be sincere. When we couple our love with prudence, having judged ourselves by the sun (the Bible), then when we stand to be judged by the Son (the Christ) we will be found to be without offence. It is for this purpose that we educate our love.




The Product of Educated Love

Love should be the motivating factor for every action we perform and for this reason it is the greatest command, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30, 31). Whether our actions are directed towards God or our fellow man they should always be motivated by love. If that motivating love is a discerning one then we will be filled with “the fruits of righteousness” (v.11), meaning right doing. We will never go wrong if we act out of pure selfless prudent love. These works are “by Jesus Christ,” that is, brought about by Him (i.e. His teaching/instruction). The end result of these works is glory to God. Because “the servant is not greater than his lord” (John 13:16) the proficient student shows forth the mastery of his teacher. The happy servant manifests the goodness of his master. The Christian who is taught how to love by God shows forth the superior love of his God. The Christian who does right works manifests the superior righteousness of his God. Is it any wonder that Jesus told His disciples, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:33, 34)? An educated love will produce fruits of righteousness and will thereby glorify our God in heaven.



Conclusion

In view of these truths, let us be careful how we pray and careful how we love that we might glorify God and be found without offense on that Great Day when we are judged by God’s own Son, Jesus the Christ.