Philippians 1:9-11

Philippians 1:9-11

Super-Abundant Love

I.                    The abundant life is only found in the super-abundant love of Christ; so we must grow in discerning love (v. 9)

a.       The bases of Paul’s prayer for those in the Philippian church, and by extension us in Christ today, is that we would experience the “super-abounding love” of God in Christ Jesus. While Paul is certainly praying for an ever increasing love for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, he’s also speaking of a love that is to be applied to all aspects of our lives and relationships, impacting not only our emotions, but also our thinking, and actions. He’s praying for a limitlessly increasing abundance of the self-sacrificial love of Christ in our lives. This love is marked by two indicators working in and through our lives, “real knowledge” and “all discernment”. Real knowledge refers to the deep, abiding, growing, personal, relational, and spiritual knowledge of God in Christ through an active communion and relationship with Him. There’s simply no chance of cultivating and growing real love in our lives apart from growing in real knowledge of God. All discernment refers to the practical understanding required to properly apply the deep relational truth of who God is, and love of God in Christ, to our lives and the world around us. This love connects us increasingly more deeply to God, and clears our vision in life to see ourselves, others, and the world around us increasingly more through His perspective. Our culture constantly calls us not to settle, to keep achieving in happiness and love, but the happiness and love to which they call us is counterfeit. In the worldly context of love, we have to be called to never settle or be satisfied, because none of its cheap substitutes for real love ever provide fulfillment and abundance. We must not settle for less than the abundant supernatural love of God in Christ. His love provides us wholeness, satisfaction, and calls us to strive more deeply in Him, promising us endless depth and an abundant life only by being connecting to and growing in Him. (v. 9; Ps. 46:10; Prov. 2:1-6; Hosea 4:1-6; Matt. 22:36-40; John 15:1-5; 17:14-21; Eph. 4:3-6, 13; 1 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 3:12; 2 Thess. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:1-11; 1 John 3:14; 4:16, 21)

II.                 The abundant life is only found in the super-abundant love of Christ; so we must live righteous lives in Christ for God’s glory (Vv. 10-11)

a.       The love of Christ with which Paul prays our lives will overflow, results in several effects which impact our lives and the world around us for God’s glory. He prays that the love of Christ will be active, growing, and super-abounding within us, “so that” we may “approve” the things that are “excellent”. The terms in that phrase speaks to the testing and examining of all things, to putting our abounding discernment to use in determining what is best and most worthy of our time, effort, and investment, so that we’ll live sincerely and blamelessly until the day of Christ. Abounding in the love of Christ produces a life that is sincere, undivided, always the time, and lived in integrity. Living blamelessly means that we’re to be growing and abounding in Christ through His love in a way which keeps us from being easily tripped up or stumbling over life, and keeps us from tripping up others and causing them to stumble. Abiding in Christ and abounding in His love enables us to live our lives in a way which grows us in abundance, prioritizes what is most excellent in Christ in our lives, gives us purpose, prepares us for His coming, and produces the fruits of His righteousness in and through our lives for the glory and praise of God. We grow to love others like Christ loves us, to serve God and others selflessly as Christ did, live in daily abundance in Christ’s love, and live in eternal hope in His promises. Abounding in the love of Christ, we don’t hide our imperfections, but rejoice in the abundance of the One who is completing us and will make us perfect in Him in that day. We grow to discern what’s most important now, and communicate the true hope of real abundance in life by loving others in Christ as the world desperately needs today. There is no escaping the challenges and difficulties in this life, whether they come through the influences of our broken world, the often-torturous workings of our own mind, or the often-difficult people with whom we must interact. We must dwell on the magnitude of the super-abundant love of Christ for us in the face of these challenges. The more we dwell on Jesus’ love for us, the more loving we become of others, the more discerning we become in life, and the more abundantly we live for God’s glory.          (Vv. 10-11; Prov. 2:7-9; 11:30; Matt. 5:16; 6:9; John 13:34-35; 14:21-27; 15:8-12; Rom. 11:36; 13:10; 1 Cor. 13:4-7; 2 Cor. 5:14-16; 14:1; Gal. 2:20; 5:22-23; Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 4:8; Col. 1:1-6; 1 Thess. 1:8-10; Tit. 2:11-14; Heb. 5:14; 2 Pet. 3:11-14; 1 John 3:16-18; 4:7-21; 5:2-5)