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Philippians 1:9-11;
9And this I pray, that your
love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve
the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until
the day of Christ; 11having been filled with
the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to
the glory and praise of God.
Paul longs to see his
beloved grow in grace and genuine love.
He desires that they be blameless
not faultless.
A. Blameless
in Discerning Love
Philippians
1:9-10a; 9And this I pray, that your
love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10aso that you may approve
the things that are excellent, . . .
1. It is
an Abounding Love “ . . . I pray, that
your love may abound still more and more . . .”
Love
that does not grow genuinely will grow weak and stale.
If the fountain of love is God, it will be an abounding love.
1st John
4:7-11; 7Beloved, let us love one
another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and
knows God. 8The one who does not love
does not know God, for God is love. 9By this the love of God
was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the
world so that we might live through Him.10In this is love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved
us, we also ought to love one another.
2. It is
an Informed Love; “in real knowledge and
all discernment”
Paul
uses the term, “agape.” It
is the highest kind of love based on a lasting, unconditional commitment,
not on an unstable emotion. See the sequence eventuating in love in 2nd Peter
1:4-7; 4For by these He has
granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you
may become partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5Now for this very reason
also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and
in your moral excellence,
knowledge, 6and in your knowledge, self-control,
and in your self-control,
perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7and in your godliness, brotherly
kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. See
also 2nd
Timothy 1:7; For God has not given us a
spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
3. It is
a Discerning Love
Hebrews
5:13,14; 13For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed
to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14But solid food is for the
mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good
and evil.
B. Blameless in the Day of Christ |
