Philippians
1:9-11 "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more
and more in knowledge and in all judgment; (10) That ye may approve
things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the
day of Christ; (11) Being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."
Let's keep in mind that Paul is in prison as he was writing this letter. The
reason for his being in prison was due to his preaching the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. People's lives were being turned upside down in one way or
another. There were some whose lives were turned upside down because the Gospel
went against their traditions of worship. They were steeped in the law and did
not like that their ideas and ways of worship were being changed. There were
others who worshipped idols and their livelihood was being affected by this
Gospel that Paul was zealous in preaching. Thankfully, there were those who
received the truth of God in Jesus Christ and turned from their idolatrous ways
to serving the only True and Living God.
IT was to these saints that Paul was writing, exhorting them to continue in the
love of God, and to constantly show their love for the Lord and one
another. It is through our love for the Lord that we grow in the grace
and knowledge of our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is through love
that we are able to see things in a right manner and "approve those things
that are excellent." It is through love that we can be "sincere and
without offence." And it is through love that we can be "filled with
the fruits of righteousness... unto the glory and praise of God." All of
these things are "by Jesus Christ." In other words, the only
way we can show true goodness from the heart is through the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ and applying it to our everyday walk with Him.
This morning's word that sticks out to me is that we may be "sincere." This word means to be genuine, judged by sunlight. There are times when placing something in the sunlight is the only way to clearly and fully see if something is clean. We might be guilty of being insincere; that is, of being or saying something that is not genuine. It is only in being sincere that we can grow the "fruits of righteousness" in our lives. Paul was telling the Philippians, and us, that it is in the light and ground of love that these genuine, sincere fruits can be grown. It is in love that we can grow "joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance." (Galatians 5:22-23) God has placed His love within us. Does it not behove us to let that love shine out from us toward others?