Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
September 11, 2002
Introduction
Paul has a great fondness for the folks in Philippi. The church was established under very
difficult circumstances, such as Paul and Silas being beaten and thrown into
jail.
Paul himself is writing this letter under very difficult times, being
currently imprisoned in Rome, under
constant guard by Roman soldiers.
Oddly enough, the theme of this letter is … joy.
Paul has been writing about how confident he is that God is going to be
doing good things for them (Phil. 1:6)
:7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you
in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation
of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
meet – dikaios – righteous, observing divine
laws; in a wide sense, upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of
God
to think – phroneo – to have understanding, be
wise; to feel, to think; to have an opinion of one’s self, think of one’s self,
to be modest, not let one’s opinion (though just) of himself exceed the bounds
of modesty; to think or judge what one’s opinion is; to direct one’s mind to a
thing, to seek, to strive for
bonds – desmon – a band or
bond; Paul was chained to a Roman guard.
the defence – apologia –
verbal defence, speech in defence; a reasoned statement or argument
confirmation – bebaiosis –
confirmation; from bebaioo – to make
firm, establish, confirm, make sure
the gospel – euaggelion –
a reward for good tidings; good tidings; the glad tidings of salvation through
Christ; the gospel
are partakers – sugkoinonos –
participant with others in anything, joint partner
grace – charis – grace;
that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace
of speech; good will, loving-kindness, favour; of the merciful kindness by
which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps,
strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and
kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
(Phil 1:7 NLT) It is right
that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a very special place
in my heart. We have shared together the blessings of God, both when I was in
prison and when I was out, defending the truth and telling others the Good
News.
:8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of
Jesus Christ.
record – martus – a witness
I long after – epipotheo – to long for, desire; to
pursue with love, to long after; to lust, harbour forbidden desire
bowels – splagchnon – bowels, intestines, (the
heart, lungs, liver, etc.); the bowels were regarded as the seat of the more
violent passions, such as anger and love; but by the Hebrews as the seat of the
tenderer affections, esp. kindness, benevolence, compassion; hence our heart
(tender mercies, affections, etc.); a heart in which mercy resides
Paul had a great love for these people.
Lesson
Loving one another
Jesus said that the sign to the world that we belong to Him was in how much
we love each other.
(John 13:34-35 KJV) A
new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. {35} By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another.
It wasn’t in how well we understood the doctrine of
predestination (though that is an important thing).
It wasn’t in whether or not we performed great miracles or
used spiritual gifts (though those are important things).
It was whether or not we loved each other like Jesus loves
us.
:9 And this I pray,
I pray – proseuchomai – to
offer prayers, to pray
Lesson
If you love them you will pray for them
I think that sometimes we can tell what we really think about someone by
how we pray for them.
Do you pray for them in a way that you wish others would pray for you?
:9 that your love may abound yet
more and more
love – agape – brotherly love, affection, good
will, love, benevolence; love feasts
love - (agape) Paul doesn't use phileo
or eros, he uses agape, the N.T. word that speaks of that
special love demonstrated by God giving His Son for us.
more – mallon – more, to a
greater degree, rather
may abound – perisseuo – to exceed a fixed number of
measure, to be left over and above a certain number or measure; to abound,
overflow; to be abundantly furnished with, to have in abundance, abound in (a
thing), to be in affluence; "Abounding" is used of a flower going
from a bud to full bloom. Present tense - may keep on flowing, a perpetual
flood of love
Lesson
Pray for growing love
This is the basis of Paul’s prayer for the Philippians.
The tense of the verb indicates that Paul knows that they have love, but he
is praying that it will continue to increase more and more.
1Cor. 13 – the definition of agape.
(1 Cor 13:1-8 NLT) If I
could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn't love others, I
would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal.
{2} If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the
future and knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good
would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain
and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. {3} If I gave
everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about
it; but if I didn't love others, I would be of no value whatsoever. {4} Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or
proud {5} or rude. Love does not
demand its own way. Love is not
irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. {6} It is never
glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. {7} Love never gives up, never loses faith,
is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. {8} Love will last forever
Try substituting your own name for the word “love” in the passage.
Kind of falls a little short, huh? That’s how we know that
we need to grow in agape
Try putting the name of Jesus in the passage.
Jesus is pure agape.
:9 in knowledge and in all judgment;
knowledge – epignosis – precise and correct
knowledge; used in the NT of the knowledge of things ethical and divine; not
just knowledge (gnosis), but it is a fuller, clearer, more thorough knowledge
of facts or truths. NAS – “real
knowledge”; not just knowledge in the abstract as being vaguely familiar with
love, but really knowing it.
Why is real knowledge important to love?
It’s important that we know what it really means to love someone, loving as
in 1Cor.13. We need to be careful not to
have any false ideas about love, and that we don't just know it abstractly, but
through intimate experience.
God wants us to really, really understand what 1Corinthians 13 is all
about.
judgment – aisthesis – perception, not only by the
senses but by the intellect; cognition, discernment; of moral discernment in
ethical matters; NAS – “discernment”; “delicate spiritual perception”
A related word is found in:
(Heb 5:11-14
KJV) Of whom we have many things to say,
and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. {12} For when for the
time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be
the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of
milk, and not of strong meat. {13} For every one that useth milk is unskilful
in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. {14} But strong meat belongeth
to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.
senses – aistheterion –
faculty of the mind for perceiving, understanding, judging; this is a word
related to our word “judgment” or “discernment”
You could say, “those who by reason of practice have their
“discernment” exercised to discern between good and evil.
to discern – diakrisis – a
distinguishing, discerning, judging
We often think of “meat” as those Bible Studies that really zing us in the
heart, those Bible Studies that we perceive as really “deep” and “spiritual”.
Yet the writer says that “meat” is what we are able to
receive when we get real good at telling good from evil, and that comes from
practice.
“Meat” is for those who learn to tell right from wrong,
and who practice it.
How is discernment related to love?
Love is not blind - it knows about another's faults and loves anyways; it
does not excuse evil, it forgives and cleanses - loving with your eyes open
Paul prays that their love may keep growing and flowing; but within the
guidelines of real knowledge and discernment.
It’s as if love is pictured as a river, and the river banks that keep
the river on track are real knowledge and discernment.