PAUL’S PRAYER-DESIRE FOR THE PHILIPPIANS
(Part 3)
Phil. 1:9-11
Morning Meditation 10/22/16
Verses 9-11 say, “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.”
In the last meditation I looked at the word “knowledge” (epignosis) and how important that it is to have that knowledge permeated by love. It is to be love that abounds more and more in knowledge. We continue our study by adding “and in all judgment.” Paul does not only desire that their love will abound more and more in knowledge but also in all judgment.
The word for “judgment” translates “aisthesis” and means, “perception, not only by the senses but by the intellect.” It is used “of moral discernment in ethical matters.” Kittel says, “The verb has three main references: a. ‘sensory perception,’ b. “perception’ or ‘discernment,’ and c. ‘intellectual understanding.’” I believe it means here, to see things as they really are, and be able to make a decision as to what Christ in us wants to do with reference to what is perceived.
Paul says “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in ALL judgment.” The word for “all” translates “pas” and means, “each and every.” Paul says our perception and discernment needs to be right in every situation. You make a list of things you plan to do, and include the things that happen to you that were not planned at all, and you get the picture of that about which Paul is speaking.
There are too many times quick decisions are made without discernment. These are the times that mistakes are made. And those mistakes cost others who had nothing to say about it. Husbands whose dreams are not fulfilled in the wife and family he has, decide to divorce and abandon the appointment God has given him. Sir, if you are married, you have your assignment and God does not reassign when it comes to marriage. When God created Eve for Adam, He did not make an extra! Love needs to abound more and more in your judgment in this matter. There is a wife who feels abandoned. She is not being fulfilled the way she thought she would in her married life. She feels neglected by her husband. He won’t talk to her. He won’t listen. She finds a man who will. She divorces her husband and marries the other. She has abandoned her God appointed assignment. Grace will always forgive and restore the fallen. But there are some things that can never be repaired in this life. You cannot repair a broken home. It will make scars in your own mind and damage the children in such a way that it cannot be repaired. I repeat, it can be forgiven, but the scars will be borne to the grave.
Paul prays that the love of the believers in Philippi “may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.” Paul says that they need full knowledge and great discernment in all matters. Paul prays for this because if its importance.
A young lady trusts the Lord for salvation. She prays, “Lord, I want you to take my life and use it. I want in marriage the very man you want me to have. Lord, I want you to control my life.” How am I doing so far? This is exactly what a young lady should do who has just accepted Christ as her personal Saviour. As time goes along, she has other influences upon her life. She loses some of her spiritual interests. She becomes slack in her study of God’s Word as it applies to her. She feels the peer pressure to be like those around her. She eventually finds a young man that really turns her on. He proposes marriage. She accepts. She says, “I want a Christian wedding.” He says to himself, “Well, if that is what you want, let’s go for it.” But he is not a Christian. They marry in the Church. He even makes it through counseling. But before long she discovers that her marriage in the Church did not make her home Christian. She begins to analyze what has taken place. As she thinks back over the situation, she remembers that she did not pray objectively about her marriage. She did not go into any depth about her young man being a Christian. She discovers her decision was not made where love was abounding more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. She discovers that she is married to an unbeliever and that there is no fellowship in spiritual matters and in most other matters.
Had she abounded in knowledge, she would have read and obeyed 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 where Paul says there IS no fellowship between righteousness (the believer) and unrighteousness (the unbeliever). She would have known (epignosis) that she was not to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. Her knowledge that she shouldn’t marry an unbeliever gave her the information she needed, and her discernment that this young man was not a true believer, enabled her to decide that this marriage should not take place. But this is not what happened.
She is now married to an unbeliever. She says, “this marriage was never right from the start. I will divorce this man, who is an awesome disappointment, and find another.” No, it’s too late for that. She has her assignment. You must live in submission to an unsaved husband. Marriage was established in the human family. It is not just Christian. Once a person is married, it is the will of God for them. The young lady says, “Wait, are you saying I will have to live the rest of my life in this mess?” That is exactly what I am saying. You refused to wait until you had God’s knowledge (epignosis) on the subject. You used absolutely no spiritual discernment (aisthesis) when you made the decision. I know you feel trapped. I know that you may say, “I don’t have to listen to this.” And the truth of the matter is, you don’t. You didn’t listen to God the first time, why should anyone think you will now? Will you listen to me? You will not make a bad situation better by getting further out of the will of God.
You say, “Well, alright preacher, what does God want me to do now?” First of all go back to your original commitment. The wise man said in Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; NEITHER SAY THOU BEFORE THE ANGEL, THAT IT WAS AN ERROR: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?” (Caps mine for emphasis). You said, “Lord, I trust you as my Saviour. I want your will done in my life. Lord, I told you that in the beginning. I have not kept that commitment. I am in a mess and see no way out. Lord, I am back to square one. Will you forgive and restore me?” You will not get this out of your mouth before forgiveness and restoration takes place. But this time with a different set of circumstances. It is God’s will for you to stay in the marriage. An alternative should not even be a consideration. The Lord will come to you and minister to your pain and give you the endurance needed to cope with life as it really is. Now you have knowledge and discernment. A lot of the day’s activities with your husband and family will be a studied response to each situation with which you are faced. He will give discernment and enable you to act in each situation like He wants to act in you, i.e., the Christian life is the life He lived when He was on earth being lived now by Him in you. (I got that definition from the Saving Life of Christ by Major Ian Thomas). You ask, “Will this make my life better?” I can’t make promises. I don’t know. But I will tell you what it will do. It will make it RIGHT.
Paul knew human nature and wrote about it as no other writer in the New Testament. He knew there was nothing good in the flesh (Rom. 7:18). He knew that the saints in Philippi would need the full knowledge (epignosis) of God’s will and the ability to make discerning judgments (aisthesis) to avoid getting out of the will of God. He knew how the world, the flesh and the devil operates, and how he can mess the Christian up, so that his testimony is neutralized.. So Paul prayed and lists the things for which he prayed. We will look at another in Paul’s prayer list next.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
