Wednesday, November 16, 2022 Some material taken from The Church I Want to Serve
For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:8-11
Unified in Love for One Another
Without unity in the body of Christ, we cannot do the work of the Lord. If we are not unified, we are all trying to go in different directions - our own desired direction. Self-centeredness results from disordered affections. They have elevated their affection for their own preferences and have ignored or overlooked the needs of others. If we are focused on ourselves, we cannot be fully engaged in participating in the Lord’s work. We either operate out of love for ourselves, or love for God and others. There is no room for both.
Once our affections are disordered, it seeps into every area of our lives and when the affections of a congregation are disordered, it can be destructive to the fellowship. This is exactly what Paul was seeing in the church in Philippi and he was determined to stop it before it got any worse. Because of this concern for them Paul prayed four specific things for this church:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment… v9 There is no such thing as too much love. No matter how much we love we have for others, we can still have more! But Paul wants them to be discerning in their love - Testing what is believed to be true against God’s word and discerning when a selfish spirit has taken root. Discernment in love would approve the things that are excellent.
So that you may approve the things that are excellent…v10 Paul wanted them to carefully choose between what is excellent and what is not. Anything that does not line up with God’s word is not excellent and whatever draws our focus away from Him is not a good influence in the body of Christ or in our own personal lives. When we don’t have a standard in our lives, we settle for less than excellent. Excellent is what God wants for us, and so many times we fill our lives with good thinking we don’t deserve excellent. We settle. Or we see something or someone as excellent because of our own selfish desires but if we were to get self out of the way, we would discern that it is not excellent in God’s eyes.
In order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ…v10 Authenticity is Paul’s message here, to not have ulterior motives. When we approve what is excellent, and walk with the Lord, we can be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. Only in His grace and forgiveness can we be blameless before Him. Only in His strength can we walk a path here on earth that keeps us blameless.
Having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ…v11 When we abide in Christ, there will be fruit. The true meaning of abiding in Christ is Welcoming it, being at home with it, and living with it so continuously that it becomes part of the believer’s life, a permanent influence and stimulus in every fresh advance in goodness and holiness. (Tasker) Living with Christ and His Word so continuously that it becomes a part of who we are is where the fruit of righteousness comes from – from a relationship with Him. When we are so entwined with Christ, fruit will always be the result.
To the glory and praise of God. v11 – abiding and bearing fruit in Him will always lead to the glory and praise of God. He pours into us and we in turn pour out to those around us – spreading His goodness and glory to them.
Unity in the body of Christ is so important because anywhere there is a hole in that unity, Satan tries to get in. When he gets in, he does everything he can to try to destroy the unity in the body. We also quickly begin to focus on ourselves when there is no unity.
Paul is reminding his readers that love is the main thing. Love is the thing that keeps us unified – unselfish love that focuses on others and not on ourselves. Our unity in love in the body of Christ makes us stronger to do His work, and it is a testimony to those around us. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
Being unified in this kind of love helps us go out and love others the way we are supposed to.
All of these things really come down to one thing – abiding in Christ. If the body of believers is abiding in Christ, their affections will not be disordered, they will have knowledge and discernment, approve what is excellent, and remain sincere and blameless until the day of Christ – bearing the fruit of His righteousness for His honor and glory and praise.
“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4
