*Disclaimer- I apologize if I don’t have the correct citations, please contact me if I may have inadvertently quoted someone inappropriately. I give anyone anywhere full use of this sermon in any format for any application with or without citation of me. Its all God’s word. If it blesses you and you want to use it- please do. Would love an email or a facebook connect to let me know, but not required. If you’re a tired pastor having long week- preach this thing word for word with no citation. I don’t care. I just want to help other pastors.
Filled like A Philippian (How to Love more)
Phil 1:9-11 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God
1. Love abound more
• When Paul says “that your love may about still more” what that says to me is that the Philliipian church was loving, but there was still room for improvement
• It wasn’t that they weren’t loving, it was that the love that they had and were experiencing, wasn’t a destination, it was a lifestyle that they were to lead
• The idea that you can’t have a maximum to your love, but that even once you’ve experienced and given love, that the love shouldn’t stop there, but should be ever increasing and ever growing
• 1 Thessalonians 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you
• Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife,But love covers all sins
• This is a theme throughout the letters of Paul- Love love love
• Now- let me throw you for a loop here- many people don’t think about this when it comes to bible interpretation- but WHO the verse is being written to is very important to understand our application.
• MOST of the scriptures about love in the Pauline letters are written to people IN the faith to people IN the church
• Many people outside the church want to take those verses and have them talk about our love for outsiders, but the truth is, many times that is not the application
• I’m not saying we shouldn’t love outsiders, or enemies but don’t make verses say what they don’t
• Outside- Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return;
• Inside-1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins
• Love is a central theme to our experience as Christians. It defines who we are. Its our calling card
• We must always season everything we do, speak and believe with love, if we don’t we’re not living as NT Christians
• What does it mean to you?
• Increase your love!
• Don’t ever let yourself begin to believe that you have arrived when it comes to the area of love
• Now- I want to make it clear- we are supposed to be loving, and to love but its NEVER at the expense of truth or morality
• This is where Christians get very confused. Love is an action it is not a doctrine. We are to be loving, but we are not supposed to suppress the truth of the Gospel
• Here’s the deal- we learn to love from the scriptures- so we can’t take them only when it comes to the scriptures, we must live and apply all of them to our lives
• How do we abound in love?
• Connect more- Relationships are the way that love transactions happen. If you are not in relationship with people you cannot truly love them. This is costly and painful
• Serve more- You must get out of your comfort zone and put yourself in situations that force you serve people and populations that you do not gravitate towards.
• Sitting in mtg at UGM- I just want to be obedient to the word- Going to com dinner- Forcing myself
• Give more- when you give- it gives you a sense of love like you’ve never experienced. It breaks the stingy selfish spirit- it beats it up
2. Approve things that are excellent
• 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent
• Henry- The truths and laws of Christ are excellent things; and it is necessary that we every one approve them, and esteem them such.
• The call of the Christian from Paul in this verse is that they would find the doctrines of God pleasing.
• See, what Pauls goal was, was to encourage the churches, to teach them the doctrines, to ensure that they were following Christ
• Colossians 2:6-7 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving
• To approve the things that are excellent, you must be established in the Faith
• See what has happened throughout the past few decades is that people have taught new believers that all God wants you to do is Believe in Jesus and love people
• And that’s not what Paul taught the churches- He wrote them big long letters outlining what they were supposed to believe, and what they were supposed to practice-
• He wanted them to know and approve the doctrines of Christianity to the glory of God
• You maybe asking-How? How can I do that/?
• The previous portion of scripture actually gives some guidance on how-
• First- abound in love- if you are not coming from a position of love, you are not going to be who God wants you to be. That’s the foundation of it- you must be a loving person
• In speech, in action, in thought, in deed.
• But the scripture ALSO says that you must abound in Knowledge
• The Bible says Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
• Matthew 15:14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch
• If you do not know what the Bible says about a subject, you cannot approve what is excellent You must know your Bible and you must know what it says
• Exmp= Fornication- The bible never approves sex outside of marriage- many people look past this based on “love” but God does not make provision for this- I must know this- but more than that- I must APPROVE it- I must come to the point where I know that is God’s best!
• Furthermore- you must have DISCERNMENT
• See- part of the problem of Many people of faith, is that they don’t really walk in the Spirit as the Bible describes
• They walk in their own power- their own knowledge- They lack discernment
• Proverbs 15:21 Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly.
• If you want to be able to approve what is of God- you have to get some DISCERNMENT to help you know that which you need be concerned with
• Every good idea isn’t a God idea-
3. Be sincere and without offense
• I love this about Paul- Paul doesn’t want the Philipians to ACT like they have love or to ACT like they have knowledge and discernment
• No- he says “ I want you to be sincere, and without offense”
• That’s how Paul lived his life- Acts 23:1 Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.
• He so desperately wanted to have a clear conscience- that he could be sincere about what he believed
• Acts 24:16 This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.
• This sincerity to Paul was the idea that he actually believed what he was preaching and when he did- he did it with a sincerity
• Do you know what sincerity means? the quality of being free from pretense, deceit, or hypocrisy
• Paul wanted to preach without any sense of leading people astray or lying or not living it himself
• This right here is a huge call and charge! Its not easily done!
• But that’s what Paul is admonishing the church to do her-
• Its not that they should just be sincere- but the reason they should be- is to not offend God or create an offense because of their lack of sincerity
• Basically- live what you preach and preach what you live and you wont offend God or be doing it wrong
• “until the day of Christ” Paul always admonishes with a eternal sense of WHY- so that the church can be blameless until then
• What does it mean to you?
• Man- be sincere- Truly believe what you preach
• If you believe that Jesus forgives sinners- when you meet one- you must sincerely want to share that truth with them so that they can be set free from the law of Sin and death
• I have a family member who sells magnet stuff- He sincerely believes it-
• I cant sell something I don’t believe- I cant push something that isn’t real
• Romans 4:21 talks about Father Abraham and says “21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” that is- God will do what he said he would do
• Its not enough to just say it- you must believe it- sincerely
• That God CAN heal, that God CAN save , that God CAN redeem, that God CAN set free!
• When you’re here at church- and you see someone you don’t know- I don’t want you to go talk to them because I told you to talk to them- I want you to do it because you know that God would want you to, and you sincerely want them to be a part of our church
• Lack of sincerity is easily discerned- even by those who are not spiritual-
• I truly believe that if you put God first in every area of your life you will be blessed- 100%
4. Filled with the fruits of righteousness
• That’s a pretty bold statement for Paul to say 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God
• Now you may not understand the word “righteousness” but what it means is that you are living a life that is pleasing to God-
• So what Paul is saying is if you’re living a life that is pleasing to God- you will be filled the fruits of righteousness-
• Now this is different than the ‘fruits of the spirit” of Galatians in that its not something that comes out of you per se, as much as it is something that is “in you” hence- “filled with”
• Because here’s part of it folks- This Christian life IS about serving God, it IS about serving others, but there is YOU centered component of it that you will experience things of God and in God that are a benefit to you- Its not really supposed to be our total focus, but there are benefits to serving God whole-heartedly- in this sense- being filled with these fruits
• What are they? In addition to the Galatians 5 love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control
• There is also the fruit of Contentment- an assurance of faith in Jesus-
• Isaiah 32:17 The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever
• When you are walking out that which God has for you- you will experience this- “quietness and assurance forever”
• And I got to tell you- it’s a great thing.
• What does it mean to you?
• BE FILLED! I cannot overstate the importance of being filled with the HS- if you do not feel like you have been filled you need to seek after it-
• I dont have the time to go into a long teaching about it- but either you are filled or you or not-
• You know if you are filled- you can actually FEEL it- you experience God in a tangible spiritual way
• I’m not talking about regeneration here- I’m talki0ng about having the fullness of the spirit
• Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
• This is important
• Romans 8:9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
• The bible calls us, you to be filled and live a spirit filled life and life in the Holy Spirit
• Receive it today!
