Paul's Prayer for the Philippians August 4, 2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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And please turn to the back cover of your blue hymnal and let us recite our

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Church Covenant together. And let's begin.

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Having been led by the Spirit of God to receive the

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Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do now solemnly make this covenant with each other as one body in Christ.

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We will walk together in brotherly love. We will exercise a

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Christian care and watchfulness over each other. We'll faithfully admonish and help one another as the need may be.

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We will be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation without delay.

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If any stray from the path of truth, we will endeavor to restore them in the spirit of meekness.

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We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together or neglect to pray for ourselves and for others.

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We will seek to educate our children in the Scriptures. We will seek to win our kindred and acquaintances to Christ and to holiness.

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As stewards of the Lord, we will aid in the support of a faithful evangelical ministry among us and in efforts to preach the gospel to the whole human family.

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We will live circumspectly in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and according to our ability and opportunities, we'll do good to all men.

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We will endeavor, as long as we live, to glorify him who has called us out of the darkness into his marvelous light.

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And it speaks about the commitments that we have to one another and the manner in which we attempt to serve one another.

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When we come to the Lord's Supper, it's very important as the people of God that we realize and acknowledge our connection with one another.

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And the great sin of the Church of Corinth, and there are some that had died that were

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Christians and some that were sick because of their abuse of the Lord's Supper, is because they were coming to the

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Supper as individuals without regard to the Church body. The Lord's Supper is a church ordinance.

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It's not between me and Jesus, it's between us and the Lord Jesus as the people of God.

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And it's extremely important for us to acknowledge this. In fact, originally, when they broke bread, they literally did that, there was one loaf and they broke the bread and distributed it, and the

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Apostle Paul declared that the local church is represented by that one loaf of bread.

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The bread pictures the Lord Jesus, of course, but it also pictures the oneness of the local body of Christ, the local church.

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And so, for we though many are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread.

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And so, we should recognize our connection and our relationship with one another and pray for one another.

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And so, when we come to church, we really need to get out of the mindset of just me and what am I going to get out of this for Jesus, but we should truly desire for the increase and development of the people of God.

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And you might come here on a Sunday morning and walk away and feel like you've got nothing from it whatsoever, but ask yourself the question, was the church built up?

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If the church was edified and built up, you were built up. You may not be aware of it, but the

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Lord saves us as individuals, but he doesn't want us to remain individualistic. He wants to see our connection with the family of God, brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Let us pray, and I'm going to be assisted by Christ the

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Word. Let's pray. Our Father, in a world of created, changeable things,

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Christ and his Word alone remains unshaken. Oh, to forsake all creatures and to rest as a stone on him, the foundation, to abide in him, be borne up by him.

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For all my mercies, all our mercies come through Christ, who has designed, purchased, promised, and affected them.

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How sweet it is to be near him, the lamb filled with holy affections.

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When we sin against thee, we cross thy will, thy love, thy life, and have no comforter, no creature to go to.

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Our sin is not so much this or that particular evil, but our continued separation, disunion, and distance from thee, and having a loose spirit towards thee.

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But thou hast given us a present, Jesus thy Son, as mediator between ourselves and you.

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He is a middle man who in a pit holds both him below and him above, for only he can span the chasm breached by sin and satisfy divine justice.

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May we always lay hold upon this mediator as a realized object of faith and alone worthy by his love to bridge this gulf.

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Let us know that he is dear to us by his Word. We are one with him by the

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Word on his part and by faith on our part. If we oppose the

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Word, we oppose you, our Lord, when you are most near. If we receive the

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Word, we receive you, our Lord, wherein he is nigh. O thou who hast the hearts of all men in thy hand, from our hearts according to the

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Word, according to the image of thy Son, so shall Christ the Word and his Word be our strength and our comfort.

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Our God, help us now as we eat and drink this meal in faith, looking to the

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Lord Jesus Christ as your people, for we pray this in Father and Jesus' name.

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Amen. We have bread, of course, and then there are some individual gluten -free packets for those of you that are in need of such.

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Let's ask God's blessing. Thank you, Father, for this bread that so beautifully, as we just read in Scripture, portrays our connection with one another,

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Lord, as one loaf, as it were, one church of Jesus Christ, and yet so beautifully portrays the life that you give to your church.

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Lord Jesus, you are the true bread that the Father has given us from heaven.

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Help us to feed upon him in faith, our God. As we hold this bread in our hands and ingest it, we thank you,

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God, for the physical reality that conveys to us the spiritual truth, our

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God, that our life is bound up in Christ. And so may you infuse a fresh measure and degree of spiritual life in us as we look to Jesus alone in faith, for we pray in Jesus' name.

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Amen. Well, the

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Lord Jesus, after their Passover meal, had concluded.

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He took the bread, broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said to them,

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Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

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Philippians 1. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you, all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

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And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

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It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

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For God is my witness how I yearn for all of you with the affections of Christ Jesus. Verse nine.

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And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

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In verses nine through 11, Paul provides us with a pattern for our prayers for one another.

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In this prayer, Paul requests four things, which are four things that the elders often pray for you.

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And our hope is that you will pray these four things on behalf of one another.

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Paul requests that, verse nine, their love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment, that they may approve what is excellent, verse 10, that they may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, verse 10, and that they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness, verse 11.

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In examining these requests, it's essential to notice that these are sequential.

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Each request builds upon the foundation of the previous request. Thus, for those whose love abounds more and more with all knowledge and discernment, they will approve what is excellent.

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And approving what is excellent will produce purity and blamelessness. And purity and blamelessness will produce the fruit of righteousness, good works.

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The final destination of all these things is a life that pleases and glorifies the

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Lord God. In this short prayer, Paul is interceding on behalf of the

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Philippian church for their continued spiritual growth. All newborn babies are expected to grow and mature.

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Likewise, all newborn spiritual babies are also expected to grow and mature in the knowledge, understanding, and practice of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. The spiritual health and well -being of the church was a constant and consuming concern for the

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Apostle Paul. All throughout his epistles, we see the high priority that he placed upon the spiritual growth and development and maturity of believers.

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Consider the book of Ephesians, Ephesians 3, verses 14 through 19. Paul writes,

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For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his

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Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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Consider the book of Colossians, Colossians 1, verses 9 to 12. And so from the day we heard it, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the

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Lord, fully pleasing him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the

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Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

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And consider the book of Galatians, Galatians 4, 19. My little children, from whom

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I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.

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Paul's love and concern for the body of Christ, his intensity and zeal for the body of Christ, was so extreme that it was compared to the anguish and pain of childbirth.

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And if you look at the majority of his recorded prayers, you will see that this is a recurring theme.

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Paul's consuming passion was to equip and build up the church until it attained the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the

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Son of God, mature manhood, Christlikeness, until Christ was formed in them.

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This consuming passion is also our passion. As elders, our desire is to build up this church until it attains the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the

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Son of God, mature manhood, Christlikeness, until Christ is formed in you.

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Well, let's take a look at the first of Paul's requests. Philippians 1, verse 9.

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And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.

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The first request that Paul makes on behalf of the Philippian church was for their love to abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.

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Abounding love really is the heart and soul of the Christian life. What's the first and foremost commandment?

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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

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And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

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Love is the one virtue that surpasses all other virtues and is the prerequisite for all other virtues.

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Without love, every other virtue and activity amounts to nothing, no matter how well -intentioned.

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Love is the perfect bond of unity. Love binds everything together in perfect harmony.

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Our love for one another is to be sacrificial. Our love for our enemies is to be sacrificial.

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Sacrificial love is agape love. It is unselfish love. It is compassionate love.

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It is considerate love. It is giving. It gives preference to others.

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Sacrificial love recognizes the greatest need of another and then seeks to deliver the highest good for another, no matter how high or how great the cost is.

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Our love for one another is to be like the Lord God's perfect love for us.

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In our sinful and fallen condition, we tend to base our love on an object's desirability.

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We love someone or something because it is attractive or beautiful or enjoyable or pleasurable or because we get something in return.

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In contrast to the love of God, agape love, sacrificial love, is not a selfish love.

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It's not a worldly love. It's not an object -oriented love. It's not desire -oriented.

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Instead, it is need -oriented. It is others -oriented.

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The Lord Jesus Christ gave us a great example of this type of love in the Gospel of Luke, the account of the good

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Samaritan. Luke 10, verse 30, Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

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Now by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

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So likewise, a Levite, when he came down to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

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But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

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He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

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And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying,

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Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be the neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

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He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said, You go and do likewise.

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Which of these three proved to be a good neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Which of these three demonstrated sacrificial love?

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Which of these three demonstrated the love of God? Clearly, it was the good

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Samaritan. The good Samaritan saw the man and he empathized with his situation and misery.

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The wounded man's great need filled the good Samaritan with love, mercy, and compassion.

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The good Samaritan got personally involved. He opened his heart to the man and he delivered good on his behalf.

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He bound up his wounds and cared for his physical needs. The good

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Samaritan invested his time, his resources, his money to provide what was needed.

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Furthermore, he followed up and he ensured that the victim was fully restored to his former position.

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And all of this for a stranger. A stranger who was outside of his own people group.

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Indeed, the good Samaritan demonstrated sacrificial love. It was unselfish.

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It was compassionate. It was considerate. It was giving. It gave preference to the stranger in need.

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It recognized the greatest need of another and delivered the highest good, regardless of the personal cost.

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The greatest, supreme, and most profound example of sacrificial love is the gospel.

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God the Father sent God the Son into the world to be a sacrifice and propitiation for our sins.

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1 John 4, 9. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only

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Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love.

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Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his

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Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The greatest manifestation of love, the most outstanding example of love, agape love, was

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God the Father sending his Son into the world to die so that through his life, death, burial, and resurrection, we might live through him.

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Beloved, this is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his

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Son. Sacrificial love is the hallmark of Christianity.

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It is the distinguishing characteristic of genuine and authentic Christianity. The only way for the world to know that we belong to the

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Lord Jesus Christ is by our love. The world will see that we are

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Christians by our love. John 13, 35, By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

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What does Paul mean in his request that their love abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment?

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For love to be sacrificial, it must be accompanied with knowledge and with all discernment.

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Love without knowledge is not sacrificial love. Anyone who claims to have knowledge but does not have love does not have knowledge.

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And anyone who claims to love but does not love according to knowledge is not truly loving.

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It is the knowledge of the Lord God and the knowledge of the Scriptures that confines, conforms, directs, and instructs our love.

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Our love results from our knowledge of God. And our love increases when our understanding of the

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Lord God increases. Love and the knowledge of God are inseparable. Paul's concern for the

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Philippian church was to increase a true, practical, transformational, and biblical knowledge of the

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Lord God. This kind of love is shaped and conformed to the principles found in the

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Word of God. It's not a romantic love. It's not an emotional love. It's not a sudden impulse or an overwhelming feeling.

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Rather, it is action. It is volitional action.

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It is loving volitional action under the control of the

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Scriptures. 1 Peter 1 .22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

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This is a very significant passage. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

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On this passage, Matthew Henry remarked, The souls of Christians must be purified before they can so much as love one another unfeintedly.

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There are such lusts and partialities in man's nature that without divine grace we can neither love

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God nor one another as we ought to do. There is no charity but out of a pure heart.

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It is the duty of all Christians sincerely and fervently to love one another.

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Our affection for one another must be sincere and genuine. It must be fervent, constant and extensive.

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Once you have obeyed the truth, your soul will be purified and you will be able to sincerely and earnestly love the brethren.

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Obedience to the word of God is inherent in true biblical love.

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You cannot have one without the other. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ then you will keep his commandments.

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If you keep the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ then you will love the Lord God and you will love one another.

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Love must abound more and more with knowledge. But it must also abound more and more with all discernment.

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Philippians 1 .9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.

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The word discernment here refers to the depth of our spiritual insight or awareness.

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It refers to a high level of biblical understanding, a high level of spiritual perception, a high level of moral sensitivity governed by our knowledge, our knowledge of the scriptures.

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Discernment is the correct application of knowledge. In other words, discernment is the ability to decide between truth and error, between fact and fiction, between right and wrong.

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The ability to think with discernment is the same as the ability to think biblically.

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Alexander McLaren offered great insight on this topic in his commentary on Philippians.

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He wrote, Growth of love, abounding love, in the power of spiritual and moral discernment is desired in order to its exercise in proving things that differ.

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It is a process of discrimination and testing that is meant, which is,

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I think, fairly represented by the more modern expression, which I have used, keenness of conscience.

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This keenness of conscience follows on the growth of love. Nothing makes a man more sensitive to evil than a hearty love to God.

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Such a heart is keener to discern what is contrary to its love than any ethical maxims can make it.

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A man who lives in love will be delivered from the blinding influence of his own evil tastes, and a heart steadfast in love will not be swayed by lower temptations.

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Communion with God will, from its very familiarity with him, instinctively discern the evil of evil as a man coming out of pure air is conscious of vitiated or spoiled, impaired quality of atmosphere, which those who constantly dwell in it do not perceive.

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Beloved, the closer our love and communion with the Lord God, the greater our discernment will be.

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The closer our love and communion with the world and the things of the world, the more desensitized, calloused, and darkened our discernment will be.

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One of the great tragedies of our day is love without knowledge and discernment.

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William Hendricks remarked in his commentary, a person who possesses love but lacks discernment may reveal a great deal of eagerness and enthusiasm.

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He may donate to all kinds of causes, his motives may be worthy, and his intentions honorable, yet he may be doing more harm than good.

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Also, such an individual may at times be misled doctrinally. This quote makes me think of all the well -meaning people in the world who lack discernment, who lack the ability to think biblically, and who, because of their lack of discernment, give their time, energy, and resources to various causes and ministries that are actually working against the work of the

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Lord God in the world today. I'm talking about causes and ministries that take their stand on social issues or make secondary issues primary issues.

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I'm talking about causes and ministries that distort the truth of the scriptures, distort the character of the

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Lord God, distort the gospel of Jesus Christ, and pervert the reflection of him to a watching and dying world.

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Many of these causes and ministries are well -intentioned but uninformed, often doing more harm than good for the cause of Christ.

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Beloved, without the constraints of knowledge, without the constraints of discernment, our love is meaningless.

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It is a noisy gong. It is an empty and cheap sentiment.

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And whether we mean it to or not, that cheap sentiment is our reflection of the Lord God to the world.

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Like Paul, I pray that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.

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Paul had a reason for this request. Love, abounding with knowledge and discernment, was not the end.

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It was the means to a specific end, a specific goal. What was that goal?

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Philippians 110. So that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

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Paul, having just laid down the foundation of love, now focuses on the goal of sacrificial love, which is the ability to approve the things that are excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

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The first two words, so that, in verse 10, are the link that shows us that there is a progression in mind here.

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Believers who abound more and more in love through knowledge and discernment will result with a sincere desire and longing to seek the approval of what is excellent.

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The word for approve in the Greek language means to differ. And the term was often used to describe the analysis of metals to determine their purity and to determine whether they were genuine and authentic or fake and counterfeit.

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Abound more and more in love so that you can tell the difference between things, so that you can set the proper value on things and determine what is most important.

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In life, many things are good, but some things are better.

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As Christians, we need to be able to discern or approve the things that are better.

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For effective and pleasing service to the Lord God, the distinction between what is good and what is best must be made.

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Here are some practical examples that will help clarify what I mean. How do you use your time?

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Is your management of your free time good or can it be better?

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In the last month, how much time did you spend witnessing to someone who is lost and does not know the

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Lord Jesus Christ? How much time did you spend encouraging the faint -hearted, strengthening the weak?

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How many hours a week do you spend with your spouse? Do you ever take time to think about how you can strengthen your marriage, how you can strengthen the relationship with your children?

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How much time do you spend watching television, browsing the internet, shopping, tinkering in the garage, or engaging in any other form of personal relaxation?

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As Christians, we should continually be pondering the question, am I committed in the use of my time to what is best?

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Not just to what is good, not just to what is acceptable, but to what is best.

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Am I committed in my life to what is best, to what is excellent, to what the Lord God judges as excellent, both for myself and for those around me?

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Or am I merely just getting by with what is good? Beloved, you must approve the things that are excellent and diligently pursue that which is best.

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I suspect we're all guilty on this particular point, but be encouraged.

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No one here has arrived at perfection, and none of us will until the Lord Jesus Christ returns or takes us home.

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But until then, we need to share the attitude and perspective of the

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Apostle Paul. Philippians 3 .12, he writes, not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

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Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.

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I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

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Paul had not laid hold of it yet, but he was not satisfied with that.

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He was not satisfied with the status quo. Paul wasn't going to let his past failures or his past successes cripple him or hinder him in any way.

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Paul pressed forward to what lies ahead, and beloved, so should you.

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Forget what lies behind you. Forget the good. Forget the bad. Forget your failures and reach forward to what lies ahead and press on.

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Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

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Finishing well takes great effort. To finish well, you need to wage the good warfare.

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You need to fight. This fight will require your maximum effort.

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It will require focused concentration on the goal, which is the glorious presence of the

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Lord God in heaven. Our finish line is the threshold of heaven, the glorious presence of the

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Lord our God, our loving heavenly Father. Again, look at Philippians 1, verse 10.

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So that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

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Like the phrase so that at the beginning of verse 10, the phrase and so also signifies continued progression.

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So as your love abounds more and more in knowledge and all discernment, you will be able to approve the things that are excellent, thus purifying your life in blamelessness for the great and glorious day of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, until we cross that finish line, until the day of the

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Lord, our lives should be characterized by purity and blamelessness.

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The word pure is the translation of the Greek word used only two times in the

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New Testament. And it comes from the words son and judge.

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The implication of these words is a sincerity that is tested in the light of son, in the light of the son.

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In biblical times, pottery was held up to the light to determine if it had any cracks, blemishes, or imperfections.

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And in a similar manner, our lives should also be held up in the sunlight to determine our cracks, our blemishes, and our imperfections.

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And let me tell you something, in the light of the son, your pot, your life, isn't going to be perfect.

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It's going to have cracks. It's going to have blemishes and imperfections.

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But it should be real. It should be genuine.

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Not a fake, not a phony, not hypocritical, but characterized by sincerity and blamelessness.

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The word blamelessness in the Greek means without stumbling or without offense. It implies not falling into sinful behavior or not causing other people to fall into sinful behavior.

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Now this doesn't mean that a blameless man will never sin. It doesn't mean that a blameless man will not sometimes cause others to sin.

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But when he does, the blameless man will confess his sin. He will forsake his sin.

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He will turn from his sin. The blameless man will ask forgiveness for those he has wronged, making restitution whenever possible.

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1 Corinthians 10 31 Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God. Just as I try to please everyone in everything

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I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many they may be saved.

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As sinful men and women who bear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as sinful men and women who have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the beloved

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Son, our chief aim is to glorify the Lord God. And the glory we give

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Him is nothing but the lifting up of His name in the world and magnifying

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Him in the eyes of others. And beloved, we cannot glorify the Lord God by living impure and insincere lives.

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We cannot glorify the Lord God by falling into sin and causing others to stumble and fall into sin.

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Give no offense to the Jews or the Greeks or to the church of God. Thus, strive to be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

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Request number one, that your love may abound more and more in real knowledge and discernment.

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Request number two, that you may approve the things that are excellent. Request number three, that you may be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.

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And request number four, verse 11, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

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Well, what does it mean to be filled with the fruit of righteousness? Being filled with the fruit of righteousness is just a parallel to being sincere and blameless.

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To be filled with the fruit of righteousness is to be characterized by the actions, the words, and the thoughts that the

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Lord Jesus Christ judges to be right. This fruit, the fruit of righteousness, comes only through the

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Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who makes our growth and fruitfulness possible.

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Yes, we are to toil, strive, and pour out every last drop of energy into the task, but we must always remember that whenever fruit appears, it is made possible only by the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Just as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control constitute the fruit of the

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Spirit, so every righteous action, word, and thought is the fruit of righteousness that comes through the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Fruit is the work of the Lord God in our lives.

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John 15, 1 -5. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

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Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit

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He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

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Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

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I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

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Think for a moment about a branch that isn't producing much fruit. What should the branch do to produce more fruit?

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Should it try harder? Should it strive to be a better branch? Or should it merely abide in the vine?

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Beloved, the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of righteousness, comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, the vine.

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And we are to abide in Him. And if we abide in Him, then we will bear much fruit.

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A life of love that abounds more and more in real knowledge and all discernment will result in the approval of things that are excellent, which will result in purity and blamelessness, which will result in the fruit of righteousness, to the praise and glory and honor of our heavenly

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Father, the Lord God. John 15, 8. By this, my

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Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

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What is man's chief end? Question one of the Westminster Catechism. Man's chief end is to glorify

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God and to enjoy Him forever. The chief end in our love abounding with knowledge and all discernment, the chief end in our approval of that which is excellent, in our purity, in our blamelessness, and the fruit of righteousness is the glory of God.

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The glory and praise of God, which is our chief and highest end.

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Paul's prayer for the Philippians is our prayer for you. Beloved, may your love abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.

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Being filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

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Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this encouraging prayer.

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We thank you for all of Paul's prayers, all of the prayers of the Scriptures, Lord, that help us in our prayerlessness.

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We pray, Lord, that we would look to these prayers as an example, that we would look to the Scriptures and that we would pray through the

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Scriptures. We pray, Lord, that each one of us, our hearts would be warmed to prayer.

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Lord, we confess our lack of prayer, we confess our self -reliance, and we pray,

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Lord, that we would rely upon you wholly. Help us, Lord, in this area.

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I pray, Lord, that our church would be a church who prays for each other, who exalts you, who lifts your name on high, but also brings our supplications to you on behalf of others.

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We pray, Lord, that we would abound in our love, that we would be sacrificial in our love for one another.

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Conform us, Lord, to the Scriptures. Give us discernment, Lord, to determine what is right, what is wrong, what is right and what is almost right.

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We pray, Lord, that we would be wise. Thank you, Lord, for all of these tremendous promises.

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Thank you for Christ, and I pray, Lord, that we would abide in him. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.