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 offence 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, 10, 11 Have you ever, in reading the Epistles of the New Testament, observed what a spirit of prayer dwelt in the breast of Paul for the various churches and individuals to whom he addressed his weighty and powerful letters? And have you also remarked that not only was it his practice to pour out his heart in continual prayer and supplication for those churches which he had himself planted, such as those of Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and Thessalonica, and for those individuals, as Timothy and Philemon, to whom he was personally attached, and who might be considered his sons in the faith; but even those churches, such as that at Rome and at Colosse, which had never seen his face in the flesh, had as warm an interest in his Christian affection and as large a share in his petitions to God on their spiritual behalf? What an example for us! and it may be what a rebuke, when we compare our poor narrow heart with the large heart of this man of God, and our feeble and scanty petitions for the saints of the Most High with the flow of prayer and supplication that was ever gushing out of his breast. But not only is there something very remarkable in the fact of Pauls earnestness before the throne for the spiritual edification of the churches of Christ, but the subject matter of his petitions is as noteworthy as his prayerful spirit itself. Have you ever examined with any degree of attention the prayers which the apostle put up for some of the churches, and which he was not only inspired to offer on their behalf, but to put upon permanent record for our benefit and instruction? And have you ever compared your petitions for your own souls growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with the prayers which this man of God was led by the Holy Ghost to put up for the saints to whom he wrote? But to put this point to a closer test, I will give you three prayers of the apostle, which you may at your leisure look over, on which you may meditate, and which you may compare with the petitions and desires which from time to time, in favoured moments, rise up in your own bosom. These three prayers shall be, first, the prayer recorded at the close of the 1st chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. 1:15-23); the second shall be the prayer contained toward the end of the 3rd chapter of the same Epistle (Eph. 3:14-19); and the third shall be the prayer we find put up by the apostle in the 1st chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians (Col. 1:9-12). they are full to overflowing of the richest, choicest spiritual matter; but you may consider them prayerfully and attentively at home, and thus seek to understand, feel, and realise what the mind of the Spirit is in them, and so be led to copy them, not in a cold, dry, formal manner, but from the communication of divine light and life through them to your soul. You will bear in mind that the apostle is writing to the church at Philippi, which you will recollect was a large and important city in Macedonia, in the North of Greece, where Paul and Silas were thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the stocks, and where there was that signal conversion of the jailer. (Acts 16:12-40.) We come, then, now to his prayer for these Philippian saints, in which, you will find four distinct petitions; and yet, though distinct, a blessed thread running through the whole, connecting them together as with a ray of divine light, and thus reflecting the grace and glory of God upon them severally and collectively. These four petitions are I.—First, that their love might abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. II.—Secondly, that they might approve things that are excellent, or, as we read in the margin, try things that differ. III.—Thirdly, that they might be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. IV.—Fourthly, that they might be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God. I.—You will observe, first the persons to whom the epistle is written. This is of great importance, If you will refer to the first verse of this chapter you will find that it is written to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. You see, therefore, that this epistle, like all the other epistles in the New Testament, was written to believers in Christ; that it was not addressed to the world at large, to the masses of the human race, to unbelieving Jew or unbelieving Gentile, but was specially addressed to saints and servants of the living God. Now though this church at Philippi has passed away, the Church of Christ has not passed away. There are still saints in Christ Jesus, and still Christian churches with their pastors and deacons. As, then, this epistle is a part of the inspired Scriptures, it still speaks to Christian churches, to believers in Christ Jesus, to the saints and servants of God. No truth can be more simple or more obvious than this; but how grossly has it been overlooked or perverted by applying to the world at large the doctrines and declarations, the promises and precepts which are the peculiar inheritance of the believing church of God. When, then, we read this epistle from this point of view, and see how all the promises and all the precepts, all the instruction, reproof, or admonition contained in it belong exclusively to the church of Christ, then we at once perceive how every word falls into its place. To read the epistles otherwise is something like looking through the wrong end of a telescope; one seeing ones face in water with a ripple over the surface; or taking a view of our features in a broken mirror, or one which represents them upside down. In a similar way, if we read the Epistles as if they were written to all the world, all is distorted; we fall into the grossest mistakes, and completely misunderstand the meaning of the Spirit. But now observe the important conclusion which arises from this simple and undeniable truth—that it necessarily follows that the apostle, in the prayer in our text, assumes that those to whom he wrote were partakers of the grace of God, and as such of that eminent grace, love. He does not pray that they might be put into possession of this heavenly gift and grace, as if they were destitute of it. On the contrary, he assumes that they were already in possession of it; for what would a saint in Christ Jesus be without love? A monster indeed. We hear sometimes of monsters in nature; of a lamb born with two heads, or six legs, or two hearts. So a Christian, a real Christian, without any love to Jesus Christ, or any love to the people of God, would be a monster in the Church of God. Grace has many painful, many lingering births; but the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all, never brought forth a monster from her teeming womb. Does not the apostle say, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal—things without life giving sound? (1 Cor. 13:1), and therefore without love. And does he not add, Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing? (1 Cor. 13:2.) And if nothing, I am no Christian—a cipher, a nonentity in the kingdom of God. If, then, there be no love, there is no heavenly birth; but where love is, there is regeneration and the evidence of it, according to Johns testimony: We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. (1 John 3:14.) A Christian, then, if such a person could exist, who had neither love to the Lord Jesus nor love to his brother would be a monster indeed—such an one as has never yet had birth or being in the kingdom of God. But in the case of the Philippian saints, he not merely assumed that they were possessed of the Christian grace of love, but was assured of it from their fellowship with him in the gospel, that is, their participation of the life and power, blessings and benefits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the love that they manifested towards him. Being thus assured, then, that they were possessed of the Christian grace of love—love to the Lord and love to his people, for both are included here, he prays for them that this love of theirs might abound. He could not bear the thought that it should be diminished, that its strength and volume should be impaired, and that it should dwindle from a flowing brook into a slender rill, as we sometimes see in summer after a long course of drought; still less, that it should vanish away and be consumed out of its place, like the stream of brooks that so disappointed the troops of Tema and the companies of Sheba. (Job 6:15, 20.) Nor did he wish that it should continue even at the same level, but that it should increase yet more and more, and flow on in an increasingly bountiful and blessed course. But he prays, and this is the point to which I shall chiefly draw your attention, that this love might abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; as if this love were like a river which ever wants feeding with fresh supplies of pure fresh water, to keep it ever running. A river, you know, however wide or deep, would soon run itself out unless it were continually fed. So the love in a Christians breast toward the Lord Jesus Christ and his people would soon run out, and leave nothing behind but ooze and mud unless fresh supplies of grace were continually pouring into it. But the apostle expressly mentions what I may, perhaps, without impropriety, call two main feeders of this Christian love, for as a river cannot be sustained without feeding streams, so love in the soul of a believer needs to be continually fed. i. One of these feeders of Christian love named in our text is knowledge: That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge. I shall therefore endeavour, as the Lord may enable, to show you how knowledge feeds love. But before I do so, in order to avoid all mistakes on my part and all misapprehensions of my meaning in yours, I must, at the very outset, draw a very important distinction between what is commonly called head knowledge and that spiritual, heavenly knowledge of which our text speaks. There is a knowledge of the things of God which a man may possess without a personal experience of the new birth; in fact, without any divine operation upon his soul whatever, or any participation of the grace of God. From reading the scriptures and hearing the preached Gospel, many attain to an intellectual knowledge of the truth who, as to any experimental, vital, saving acquaintance with it, are still in the very gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. A man may have the knowledge of an apostle and the worldliness of a Demas; be clear in head, and rotten in heart; may talk like an angel, and live like a devil; understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and be nothing but a hypocrite and an impostor. (1 Cor. 13:2.) In our day such characters abound in the churches. But distinct from this head knowledge, as distinct from it as heaven from hell, there is a most blessed spiritual knowledge of the things of God, with which the saints of God are favoured; and it is of this knowledge that the apostle speaks when he prays that their love might abound in knowledge; for you will find that the love of a Christian always abounds in proportion to his spiritual and experimental knowledge of the precious things which accompany salvation. But observe further, that eternal life itself is intimately connected with the knowledge for which I am contending, and the nature of which I am endeavouring to explain. Did not our blessed Lord himself declare, This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent? (John 17:3.) Thus we see that eternal life itself is wrapped up in a spiritual knowledge of God and of his dear Son. And what is one of the leading promises of the new covenant, but that They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. (Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:11.) It would, then, be a sad mistake, just because a few poor deluded creatures are puffed up with a little head knowledge, for us to overlook or despise that gracious knowledge of the Lord himself which is life eternal. Blessed Lord, may it be our increasing desire to know thee more and more by thine own gracious manifestations to our soul! Wasnt this Pauls longing? That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. (Phil. 3:10.) If we look at the subject a little more closely, we shall see how every grace of the Spirit is fed by knowledge. If we have no knowledge of the Lord, how can we believe in him unto life eternal? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1.) But how can I hope in things of which I know nothing, or have an evidence of the unseen realities of eternity if I am completely ignorant of them? This was not the faith of Abel who offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, for he knew a more acceptable way; nor of Enoch, who walked with God; nor of any of the ancient worthies who saw the promises afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. Does not Paul say, I know whom I have believed? (2 Tim. 1:12.) If, then, I know not the things that faith brings into my heart, how can I be said really and truly to believe in them? So with hope. A good hope through grace is fed by knowledge, for as faith regards the present, so hope regards the future. Abraham believed Gods promise, and against hope believed in hope of its fulfilment. (Rom. 4:18.) But his hope as well as his faith was founded in his knowledge of Gods faithfulness. So how can I hope in that which I know not? If I know not Christ, how can I hope in him? If I know not his grace, how hope in it? If I know not his love, how take anchor in it? for if my anchor is entered into that within the veil, I must know something of him who ever sitteth there. But love is especially the effect of knowledge; for our love,is to abound yet more and more in knowledge. Love, we know, is a fruit of the blessed Spirit. As then the Lord the Spirit is pleased to open up the precious truth of God to the soul, love embraces what the Holy Ghost reveals. Thus there is a knowledge of the only true God by the teaching of the Spirit. By this teaching he reveals himself to the soul; sheds abroad his love in the heart; brings his mercy near; discovers his grace; unfolds his faithfulness; shines forth gloriously in the Person and work of his dear Son, and thus makes himself effectually known from the least to the greatest of them. (Jer. 31:31.) And the more we know him, the more we shall love him, for he himself is love, and to love him is but a reflection of his own image.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:53:00 +0000
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