The Excellence Which Love Approves

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By John Piper About Sanctification & Growth

Philippians 1:9-11

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 may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

As I studied this morning's text and tried to relate it to last week's message, I became gripped afresh by verse 8, especially as I thought about it in light of what Paul is praying for in verse 9–11 which we will be looking at today.

How Could Paul Love the Philippians?

In verse 8 he summons God as his witness that there is more to the yearning Paul feels for the Philippians than his own human emotion. "For God is my witness how I yearn for you with the affection of Christ Jesus." Paul interprets his yearning for these brothers and sisters to be nothing less than Jesus Christ's own affection for them. Have you ever thought much about that, especially when Paul's prayer request for the church in Philippi is that they become more loving?

You see, the Philippians—just like you and I—are not as loving as they should be. In fact, among all the great things that Epaphroditus told Paul about this church, he also had to tell him about their weaknesses. From 4:2 we learn that two key women, Eudodia and Syntych, were having a very hard time getting along. And from some other admonition that we'll be talking about in the next few weeks, we learn that there was significant disunity in the church and selfishness and grumbling.

How, then, could Paul be filled with such warmth for these rascals? Or even more, how could Jesus be yearning for them with his own deep affection?

God Smiles on His People Through Jesus Christ

Do we dare say that God Almighty, the Holy One, is excited about the Philippians—problems and all? And can we apply that to you and me and say that God's face is aglow with affection toward us this morning, even though we too have varying remnants of selfishness and grumbling in our hearts? Doesn't the fact that we are still unholy demand God's countenance to be a stern one with a frown instead of a smile? O how many of you out there are laboring under a frowning God. You can't look into his face because he makes you think of your angry father or teacher or boss who is demanding perfection of you NOW! And you can't give it so he frowns and you are defeated and depressed.

Well let it be known that God Almighty through his Son Jesus Christ is smiling on every one of you who are diligently—though not perfectly—working out your salvation with fear and trembling. True, when he zeros in and points his finger at the sin in your life, there is angry fire in his eyes; but never think he is locked into that gaze until every vestige of sin is burned away. God alone, in his infinite complexity, has the ability to frown and smile at the same time—and he is not a hypocrite, he is not two-faced, and he is not fickle. He frowns when you delight in sin and frolic in the defamation of his name through covetousness, lust, dishonesty, and bitterness. Wrath burns in his eyes, but then he is continually reminded that the full force of his righteous revenge and punishment which you and I deserved was unleashed once and for all upon his own dear Son hanging in our place on the cross of Calvary. So God is free to look beyond our sin and see the whole picture—and what does he see? He sees you and me—pieces of worthless coal which he has snatched from the fire which he is holding in his loving and strong hands, and squeezing and applying infinite pressure as he transforms us into brilliant diamonds which will reflect his glory, his character, and his worth forever.

Transforming Coal into a Diamond

Now I'm not sure coal can really be transformed into a diamond through pressure. I got the idea from watching one of the old episodes of "Superman" when Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson and Clark Kent are about to be roasted for dinner in the jungle because a primitive tribe thought that they had stolen a diamond from their idol's crown. Do you remember the episode? Clark Kent, wondering how he's going to save Lois and Jimmy without revealing his identity as Superman, tells the chief that the diamond is in a nearby pool of water and that he will fish it out. The chief concedes and Clark grabs a piece of coal as he heads for the pool of water. He stoops down and with the coal in his hand he pretends to be fishing for the diamond. But all the while he is applying his superhuman pressure to the piece of coal—and sure enough when he pulls his hand out of the water, the coal has turned into a brilliant diamond. Jimmy and Lois and Clark are released and they return to Perry White and the Daily Planet with a great news story. Whether or not this could really happen, it is a beautiful analogy for what God is doing to us. We were pieces of worthless coal, which he is now transforming into brilliant diamonds that will reflect his glory. Each one of us who are in the Father's hands is at some point in the process of transformation between the worthless piece of coal and the polished and completed diamond. Each of us still has soot remaining and rough edges that need major work.

When God looks at the rough edges, he frowns; but when he considers the whole picture, the whole transformation, he smiles with warm affection. You and I, to use Paul's words in Ephesians 2:10, are God's workmanship, his work of art. He has begun a good work in us and he is rejoicing as he brings it to completion in his time and in his way.

So it is no contradiction for Paul to be filled with Christ-inspired affection even though the Philippians still have lots of soot on their faces and some still spewing out of their mouths. For his joy is in the work of God and not in the Philippians as they are in themselves.

God's Joy over You

Now this is a long point for me to be making just from the transition between vv. 8 and 9, but God has laid it so heavily in my heart because there are some of you that I suspect are only able to see a frowning Jesus. Sure he may smile at others, but he would never smile at you. Your imperfections have driven you to despair and hopelessness. You have forgotten that holiness is a process—very slow and very painful at times. You see, it is those who are indifferent to their lack of holiness that should concern themselves with the frown of God. Please open wide your hearts to the warm affection of Jesus Christ toward you this morning, which I feel pulsating in my own heart. Let these words of the prophet Zephaniah shatter your despondency, "Do not be afraid, O Zion. Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst. A victorious warrior. He will exalt over you with joy. He will be quiet in his love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy!" (Zephaniah 3:16, 17).

He rejoices because he intends to change you. He has already transformed you from a worthless piece of coal into a diamond in the rough. He has already smoothed some of those rough edges and he promises to keep you safely, tightly in his grip until you emerge as a flawless diamond-like reflection of his beauty and worth.

Paul's Prayer

It is this guaranteed transformation of v. 6 that moves Paul to pray the prayer of vv. 9–11 with joy, and thanksgiving, and confidence. He prays to God that love will abound more and more in us. For God promised that he will bring to completion the work which he has begun in us. Paul doesn't merely command us to be more loving—though he does do that—but he first and foremost prays that we will be more loving, for he knows that in order for this to happen, God must work in us to will and to do what pleases him—namely, love. So let's look at Paul's prayer more closely. Let me read vv. 9–11 again. "And this I pray, that your love will abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent, and my be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness through Jesus Christ to the glory of praise of God."

Growth in Love

The first thing to note is that abounding love does not grow to perfection overnight. Paul implies that they are already abounding in love—indeed he is the happy recipient of their love. But, knowing of some of their internal squabbles and selfishness, he prays that their love will abound more and more. In other words, individuals and churches should expect to grow from one level of loving to more and more mature levels of loving over the period of their life. Have you ever stated your life's aspiration like this: I want to be a more loving person at the end of my life than I was at the middle of my life? And I want to be a more loving person at 45 than I am at 31. That is, I want to love more and more people, more and more deeply, more affectively as my life unfolds—all for the glory and love of God.

But now we need to ask Paul, how does love abound more and more? How does love grow? How will this prayer be answered? The first thing he says is that love abounds with knowledge, or in knowledge. The Greek word he uses for knowledge has an intensifier attached to the word; so the NASB translates it "real knowledge." In the 15 times Paul uses it in his writings, it always refers to the knowledge of ultimate reality—most of the time to God himself. So abounding love stems from the knowledge of God. Biblical love is not mindless schmaltz—it is intelligent love, and informed love. It knows the fact that there is reality beyond the obvious. God exists, Satan exists, they each have their design. There is a choice to be made in the world.

But knowledge isn't enough. Love abounds in knowledge and "all discernment." Discernment is the ability to assess whether the object of your knowledge is good or bad, helpful or harmful, right or wrong. Who's the good guy, Satan or God? Discernment enables you to tell the difference.

Approving What Is Excellent

But even discernment is not an end in itself. Paul prays that our love will abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment in order that we might approve what is excellent. It's not enough just to know something, neither is it enough to just know whether something is good or bad. Verse 10 is the goal of knowledge and discernment. What God wants and what Paul is praying toward is that the Philippians, and you as well as me, approve what is excellent. In other words, God wants our heart. Approval is a matter of the heart agreeing with the head that something is valuable and that you want it—that you prefer it to things of lesser value, that you perceive it to be excellent and you love its excellence.

Pure and Blameless, Ready for the Day of Christ

But Paul isn't content to stop here either. When he prays, he prays for the whole ball of wax. He wants us ready for the day of Christ. He wants us pure and blameless, that is, he wants us genuine, unmixed in our affections. And the evidence of our genuineness, the proof that our approval of what is excellent is more than lip service, more than mere mental assent, is that by the time we stand before the tribunal of Christ we will have been filled up with the fruits of righteousness. Our choices and our deeds will substantiate that we really did approve what is excellent. On the other hand if we remain indifferent to God and prefer a life of grumbling and disputing to a life of love, then Paul says in 1:16 that neither the Philippians nor we will cut mustard on judgment day. He goes so far as to say that his work among the Philippians would have been in vain.

All God's Work

But Paul is confident that this will not happen for he told us in last week's passage that their ongoing partnership in the gospel assures him that God has begun a good work in them and that he will complete it. Notice that even here in v. 11, the fruits of righteousness are not owing ultimately to the Philippians own efforts but rather they came through Jesus Christ. And there God receives all the praise and credit. We must not overlook how consistent Paul is on this point. He thanks God for the Philippians partnership in v. 3; he acknowledges that God is at work in them in v. 6; he prays to God for their growth in love in v. 9; and their fruits of righteousness come through Jesus Christ and thus God receives all the praise and credit in v. 11. Biblical theology is radically centered on God. And on how we long for Bethlehem to become more and more thoroughly centered on God in our thinking, our worship, and our day-to-day obedience. For as Paul says in Romans 9:36, "from God and through God and to God are all things. To him be the glory for ever."

The Main Burden of Paul's Prayer

Now we need to do a little bit more digging in the text before we are ready to do the crucial task of applying God's Word to our own lives individually and to our life together as Bethlehem Baptist Church—especially in regard to the critical issue of whether we should merge with First Baptist Church or not. How does a church go about making a decision of such magnitude? Are there biblical criteria we can use to guide our decision? I am convinced that a simple yet profound criteria emerges as we seek to unpack the rub of Paul's prayer in these three verses. The immediate burden of Paul's prayer for the Philippians is found in the first part of verse 10. "I pray that your love will abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent." The reason I think that this is the main point of the prayer is that several times in the letter, beginning in the very next passage, Paul tells the Philippians whether by precept or by example what he values, what he approves. And he very deliberately sets himself up as an example for the Christians at Philippi to follow. Look at 3:17: Paul writes, "Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us." And then look at 4:9: "What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you."

What Is the Excellence Which Love Approves?

Paul sees himself as one who, by the grace of God, approves what is excellent. And we need to ask what is excellent? This phrase in v. 10 more literally reads, "that you may approve the things that are excellent, or the things that differ, or the things that really matter." What are these excellent things? What is the excellence which love approves? In the next three paragraphs, vv. 12–26, which Peter Nelson will teach on in more detail tonight, Paul is teaching the Philippians and us his own example of what it means to approve the things that are excellent. And it is from passages like this that Bethlehem has learned the philosophy of ministry centered around the three priorities of worship to God, love to one another, and witness to the world. These are the excellent things that love approves. The first priority comes through loud and clear in this passage.

To Know and Honor Christ

Above all else Paul yearns to know Christ and to honor him. Consider his response to his own precarious situation in prison where his life is hanging in the balance. Verse 20, "It is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death." Paul's preservation of his own bodily life was not one of the excellent things he approved. Rather his preference was that Christ would be exalted, even if it cost him his life. It is a good thing to want to preserve your own skin, but it is a better thing, yes, an excellent thing, to want Christ to be glorified no matter the cost. Paul chose the best in preference to the merely good. We all know that the good is sometimes the greatest enemy to the best. There is another place where Paul prefers Jesus Christ to anything else. Flip over to 3:4. Paul just finished saying that true Christians put no confidence in the flesh, that is, in our human distinctives and abilities. Then he writes, "I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more [and here are his distinctives]: circumcised the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee; as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless. BUT [conversion] whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count every thing a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ."

Paul's Hebrew heritage was a good thing up to a point, but when he found it in competition with Christ for his affections and allegiance, he counted it as refuse because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. Paul indeed approved what was excellent, so must we. Our heritage is a precious thing, be it American, Swedish, Black, German, Laotian, Hispanic, or whatever—our heritage of 115 years as Bethlehem Baptist Church is a precious thing—but if our heritage, as good as it may be, even competes with Christ for our absolute allegiance, O may God give us the grace to count even our heritage as refuse for the sake of knowing Christ in his fullness. Remember, the good can sometimes be the greatest enemy to the best.

Loving Brothers and Sisters

What about the second priority? Paul's passion for the excellence of exalting Jesus manifests itself in passion for loving his brothers and sisters in Christ. Look at how he puts the interests of the Philippians before his own immediate comforts. Let's read together beginning at verse 21 of chapter 1 where Paul is deliberating over the pros and cons of living or begin executed. He writes, "To me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor to me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith". So what was the excellent thing Paul approved in his love for fellow believers? To do whatever needed to be done that others may experience progress and joy in the faith. He's willing to have his head chopped off if that will help them to progress in the faith. You can see this from 2:17. But he is also willing to wait a little while longer for the bliss of being in the very presence of Christ. Paul is willing to do whatever is necessary to help others grow in their ability to enjoy and trust God. Do you share this passion? Do you approve this excellent thing? Is the faith of your brothers and sisters in Christ worth dying for? And equally important, is it worth living for?

Witness to the World

The third priority at Bethlehem is our witness to the world. This too is one of the excellent things Paul approves and prays that we will approve. We can see this from 1:12–18. Here we learn that not only is Paul in prison but fellow church members are trying to afflict Paul and cause trouble for him. Yet Paul refused to become embittered, for the excellent thing he approves is not his own personal comfort or reputation but rather the advancement of the gospel amongst unbelievers. His chief concern is not the preservation of his rights, nor the opinion of his peers, but that Christ is proclaimed (v. 18) and that the gospel is advanced (v. 12).

Applying This to Our Lives

So how do these excellent things, these three priorities apply to your life and to my life? And how do they apply to the question of whether to merge with First Baptist?

I'm going to close by giving three questions we should not ask and then three questions we should ask when faced with a decision. I'm going to apply these questions to the situation with FBC, and yet I realize that many of you are consumed with other more immediate decisions relating to your family, job, schooling, or ministry. But that's OK because these questions must apply there as well.

Three Questions Not to Ask

First question not to ask: "Is First Baptist more convenient for me to get to? Now if I'm coming north on 35W and take the 5th Ave exit . . . " That is irrelevant because what is more convenient for you might be less convenient for someone else—and convenience isn't the issue anyway. Convenience is not one of the excellent things that love approves.

Second question not to ask: "Is First Baptist a more prestigious church? Will my position in society or churchiety by improved?" God forbid that we should be enamored by position. But O how enamored we are tempted to be—God deliver us.

And the third question not to ask: "How will I ever feel at home in that big building when so many precious memories are connected with this cozy sanctuary?" Now you might think I'm picking on those of you who have been around the longest. Yes—but not exclusively; I'm picking just as much on my self and other younger people. I was ordained in this building, I preached my first sermon on this platform, I watched Toshavim grow to virtually fill this sanctuary, both my daughters have been dedicated here, Ruth's dedication was especially memorable. And so many of you, young and old, have been married right here where I'm standing. Yes, memories are a precious thing, but they are not one of the excellent things which love approves. It will be sad for young and old to say good-bye to this beautiful, cozy, and faithful sanctuary if God leads us to merge or build. And well it should be sad. But sadness is part of life and is not something to be avoided at all costs.

Three Questions to Ask

Instead of those three questions, you and I must ask these questions, and with this I close.

First question: "Would Bethlehem's merger with FBC help us to know and exalt Jesus Christ more than we are able to now?"

Second question: "Would we, if we were to merge, be in a better position to effectively work for the progress and joy of faith amongst more and more fellow believers?"

Third question: "By uniting with First Baptist Church is there greater potential to advance the gospel among more and more unbelievers in the Twin Cities and more and more unreached peoples on the frontiers?"

These are not easy questions to answer. And O how we need to pray that our love will abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that we will approve the things that are excellent and be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.