Paul’s Model Prayer for the Philippians (Sermon in Philippians)

I’d like to ask that you turn in your Bibles to Philippians 1. We’re going back to the beginning of this great epistle that Paul wrote to the Philippians. And we’re going to look at Paul’s prayer, model prayer for the Philippians. And as I as a Christian think about prayer, try to understand it, my mind goes to the final book of the Bible, Revelation. And in that vision that the apostle John had on the island of Patmos, he had a vision of a doorway standing open in heaven. And he was invited supernaturally to move through the atmosphere, really, up through that doorway into the presence of God, into the heavenly realms. And he saw immediately the central reality of the universe, which is a throne with someone seated on it.

God enthroned is the central reality of the universe. And it’s what’s unveiled in the Book of Revelation, the sovereign God, the King of the universe. And concentric circles around him, 24 elders, and living creatures, and a hundred million angels ready to do his bidding, enthroned at the center of everything. And then at the end of that book, indeed at the end of the Bible, Revelation 22, we have that same throne. And Almighty God seated on that throne, and a river of the water of life flowing from that throne, clear as crystal down the center of the New Jerusalem. And so that concept of Almighty God enthroned, and everything coming from that throne is what prayer is all about.

As Paul says in his doxology in Romans 11:36, “From him and through him and to him are all things.” Or as James says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Or again to Psalm 145:16 says, “he opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every living creature.” Every good thing you could ever want, both in the spiritual realm and in the physical, starts in the hand of God. And God wants us to know that. And he wants us to come to him and ask him for it, so that he would open his hand and give you the desires of your heart. We are far too independent, and salvation is in part teaching us how absolutely dependent on God we are, for in him we live and move and have our being. Everything comes from God, and prayer is part of us learning that.

And so, we go to Philippians to try to learn how to pray, and we need this help, because Romans 8:26 says very plainly, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.” We do not know what to pray for. And not only do we not know what to pray for, we don’t know how to pray. And so, the Holy Spirit has been given to help us with prayer, among other things. And he teaches us what we ought to pray for, and he does that powerfully and primarily in scripture. And I would say, especially in the epistles. As you look at how Paul prays for the Philippians, we get educated on how we ought to pray.

Now we need to understand about prayer. Prayer is in no way reshaping the mind of God. We’re not giving God any new ideas. We’re not giving God any better ways of doing things. Neither are we trying to wear him down and persuade him to do something in a way he hadn’t planned on doing. It’s none of those things. Rather, prayer is us getting on God’s agenda, getting on God’s timetable, and pleading with him to do the things he’s already decided to do, just hasn’t done yet. That’s what prayer is. And so, the Holy Spirit gives us assistance in Philippians 1:1-11 to teach us how we have to pray, what we have to pray for. That’s what we’re going to do in the brief time we have together.

Let’s look at some context. Paul is writing to a Philippian church that he dearly loves. He’s very affectionate toward this church. You remember how the church was planted? The story is told in Acts 16, how Paul and his entourage were just not really sure where to go next. They were blocked in every direction. And then Paul has a vision of a man from Macedonia saying come over and help us. And Paul and his team, including Silas, concluded that God was calling them westward toward Europe to preach the gospel there and beginning in Macedonia. And so, he goes over there and in the course of time plants a church. And it begins with a woman, a wealthy woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth who comes to faith and then invites Paul and Silas and the team to stay with her at her mansion. And it begins there.

And then there’s an incredible story in Acts 16 of how Paul and Silas were arrested, and publicly beaten, and thrown in jail, and their feet were put in the stocks. And it’s dark, and their backs are bleeding, and they’re hungry. And what are they doing at midnight but singing praise songs to Jesus? And all the other prisoners were listening to them. And then suddenly God sent a miraculous surgical strike earthquake that caused their chains to fall off, and the prison doors to fly open. But no prisoner escaped. And the Philippian jailer runs out in the middle of the night there and is about to fall on his sword, commit suicide, because as a Roman jailer, he would have been responsible for escaped prisoners. But they’re all there, Paul calls out from the darkness. Says, do not harm yourself, we’re all here. And the jailer goes in and gets Paul and Silas, brings them out, falls trembling before them, and says, “What must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? What a great question. And they preached the gospel. And that night the Philippian jailer and his family heard the gospel, they repented, they believed, and they became Christians. This is the beginning of the Philippian church.x

And so, Paul, however, is a traveling evangelist, moving around from place to place. Left Philippi, went on to other works. And in the course of time, the Philippian church that he had helped plant, along with Silas and his team, heard that Paul was in prison again, and he needed support. And so, they sent money by a man named Epaphroditus. And so really Philippians is the greatest thank you letter in history. Alright, so when you receive a gift, you should write a thank you note. And so that’s what it is, but it’s among other things. So, he’s thanking them for their partnership in the gospel financially. And he begins by writing to the Philippian church and its leaders.

Look at verse 1 and 2. “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:1-2). So, Paul expresses his affection and his love for them. He thanks them for the money that they had sent for his support. But he also instructs them, and he’s going to teach them. And among the things that he wants to teach him is how he prays for them. And in teaching them, he’s teaching us. So Holy Spirit wants us to learn from these verses how we ought to pray, what we ought to pray for.

So, we’re going to walk through these verses 3-11 to see first the character of Paul’s prayer life, what he’s like, what his heart is like in prayer. And then secondly, the content of Paul’s prayer life, some of the content, not everything, but just in these verses, what he’s praying for. And then the ultimate goal of Paul’s prayer life. So those are the three aspects of what we’re going to do as we walk through it.

I. The Character to Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 3-8)

So, let’s begin with the character of Paul’s prayer life in verses 3-8.

I thank my God every time I remember you, in all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. For whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of   you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

So, the character of how Paul prays, the nature of his relationship with them flows in these verses, starts with thankfulness. Paul expresses thankfulness to God in his prayers for them. He’s deeply thankful to God for their faith, their conversion, for being Christians at all, and for their friendship and their partnership in the gospel ministry. He gives God the credit for all of that. For from that throne of Almighty God flowed all these blessings. So, he thanks God for their conversion because he considers God responsible for it. So, thankfulness.

And then, remembrance. Paul thinks about his relationship with them. It’s what makes prayer real. You’re thinking about the person, and you’re thinking about the relationship you have with them. And so, he says, every time I remember you, I thank God for you.

One of the beauties of healthy local church life is to know and be known. Get involved in lives with each other, and they know you. And you can pray for each other.

So, there’s a remembrance. There’s a relationship built up. One of the beauties of healthy local church life is to know and be known. Get involved in lives with each other, and they know you. And you can pray for each other based on remembrance on actual knowledge that you have. So, Paul has great memories with the Philippians.

And so, we also see his consistency. He is a consistent prayer warrior concerning them. Verse 3 and 4, “I thank my God every time I remember you, in all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy.” This is, this is consistency language. He didn’t just pray once for them and that box was checked. He’s just continually praying for them. Regularly and consistently praying for them. We also see his joy in his prayers for them. Paul’s prayers for them were characterized by joy, “I always pray with joy.” You bring me joy. He’s delighted in the grace of God at work in their lives. He loves that relationship. They bring him joy.

Philippians is an epistle of joy. You come into joy again and again. Rejoice in the Lord always. The Philippian conversion, their story and their existence as Christians brought him joy. And he’s looking ahead to the joy they’re going to have together in heaven, because it’s better by far to depart and be with Christ. And they’re going to experience that too. And so, they’ve got incredible joy ahead of them waiting for them. There’s joy in his prayer. And then he gives reasons for his prayer.

This characteristic of his prayer life is that he’s praying based on certain facts and truths and things that are true about his relationship with the Philippians. So first, their partnership in the gospel. And secondly, God’s absolute sovereignty over their salvation in all respects. First, the partnership or fellowship in the gospel, verse 5, “Because of your partnership, your sharing in the gospel with me from the first day until now.” And then again verse 7, “For whether I’m in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.” So, there’s a fellowship in the work of the gospel. No one’s on their own in the gospel work around the world. We’re part of a grand, glorious body of Christ, the people of God. We’re all in this together. There is one work going on around the world, and we share in each other’s aspects of it and details. So, they share in Paul’s apostolic ministry as a trailblazing frontier preacher to the Gentiles planting churches.

They share in that through their prayers for him, and so there’s a partnership but they’re also sharing with money. They send money through Epaphroditus. So, they’re partnering with him in the gospel, and he gives thanks for them. So, there’s that sense of shared experience, and he’s also partnering with God and with the Holy Spirit in their ongoing salvation. They’re not done being saved. They still have a journey to run. And so, he’s sharing in that. There’s a sharing in a partnership, and that prayer is characteristic of Paul’s prayer, that sense of partnership.

And then beautifully in verse 6, very famous verse, absolute confidence in the sovereignty of God in salvation. And also, that salvation is a process. Begins with justification, begins with full forgiveness of sins, but then there’s a journey to be traveled. They are to work out their salvation with fear and trembling in chapter 2. They’ve got to still “grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), as Peter says, that they’ve got a journey to travel still. They’re not done being saved. But he says in verse 6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” There is nothing in the heavenly realms or the earth that can separate us from the love of God in Christ, he says in Romans 8. And our salvation is a work of God begun in us by his sovereign grace. And he who began that good work is going to keep working in you until he is finished. And what is finished? It is when you are finally in a glorified resurrected body surrounded by brothers and sisters from every tribe and language and people and nation, who are also in radiantly glorious, resurrected bodies in a beautiful, resurrected world, that’s the finish line. God’s not going to stop working until that’s done.

“So being confident of this,” and so, his prayers for them are based on that confidence. God, you are working in the Philippians, and I know you’re gonna finish that work.

Nothing can stop it. We also see his affection for them. He dearly loves them. Look at verse 7 and 8. “It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. For whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” I don’t love you as much as Christ Jesus loves you, but I love you like he loves you. And my love for you is actually a subset of his love for you.He’s loving you, Philippian Christians, through me, right through the Spirit. But I love you and I have that affection for you in Christ Jesus.And so that motivates his prayer. So, we see the character of Paul’s prayer life.

II. The Content of Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 9-11a)

Now let’s look at the content of Paul’s prayer life, verses 9-11. “And this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” So here in these verses we can sit at the feet of the great apostle Paul and learn what we should pray for each other in part. I mean Paul has other prayers, and we should learn from those too.We can get some truths out of this. We don’t know what we ought to pray for. Romans 8:26 says the Spirit teaches us. This is him teaching us what to pray for. You ever have that experience? You want to pray for somebody, you don’t know what to pray.

We tend to be like praying the tyranny of the urgent type things, the thing that’s immediately on their radar screen, like the health issue or some other thing or some financial issue or some final exam that they’re getting ready for and all that.

And there’s nothing wrong with praying for those things, but we got to pray for these types of themes. So, he prays that their love may abound more and more. Salvation’s all about love. It’s all about transforming us so that we will finally and forever fulfill the two great commandments. That God would take out from us our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh that will finally love like it was meant to love. And what are those two great commandments? You know them well, the first and greatest commandment is this, that you would love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength.

When you’re converted, that love has begun to develop in you, but it’s not finished, is it?

And then that second command is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. You would love God more and more. And that you would love your neighbor more and more as you already do love yourself. So, we ask for those things to develop. He’s praying, God, you’ve begun to work in the Philippian Christians. You’ve begun to work in their hearts, and they’ve begun to love you like they should. But that is a long journey yet to go. Would you please, oh Lord, work in them so that they would love you more and more, that their love for you would overflow. The word is abound, that it would be like a fountain overflowing. A passion for Christ, a passion for Christ’s word, a passion for Christ’s work in the world, that you would love it more and more. That you’d be on fire for it. That you would not be lukewarm like the Laodiceans that Jesus wants to vomit out of his mouth because they’re lukewarm, but rather that they would be passionately loving God and loving others more and more.

And he says in knowledge and depth of insight. He wants, Paul wants a perfect unity between head and heart, between doctrine and passion, between light and heat. It is in that order. Light is truth, and heat is passion about that truth. So, the truth always leads the way. The word of God always leads the way as I’m seeking to do now by preaching Philippians 1 that the word of God would lead the way. The truths would lead, and then your passion would come in behind it. And there’d be a combination of truth and heat on fire. So, love without knowledge is emotionalism, sentimentalism, maybe even idolatry. Conversely, knowledge without passion is formalism and really just a form of hypocrisy. There has to be that beautiful combination of head and heart, of right doctrine, and hearts on fire in reference to that doctrine.

And that’s what he’s praying for. And so, he wants that deep knowledge about God in his word and of God in person and a sense of discernment. So, he talks about discernment, that you may be able to discern what is best. Discernment is wisdom. Being able to discern, the author of Hebrews tells us, good from evil. It starts there. You’re able to discern good from evil. But then there’s other aspects of discernment. “That you may be able to approve the things that are excellent,” the American Standard has in verse 10. Approve those things that are excellent so that you would be able to see the difference between good, better, and best in the Christian life.

And you can see the path that God has specifically for you, what he’s calling you to do. And how you’re gifted, and what you’re called to do to contribute to the kingdom of God. And you can discern that. So yes, definitely discerning good from evil, hating evil, but also discerning good, better, and even best, and approving of those things from your heart. So, Paul wants their love to grow more and more in their knowledge of God and of his word, with the result that they have a refined ability to discern. They can look over the mass of possibilities and know clearly what God wants them to do. What is the excellent thing God is calling them to do?

And he prays for purity in their lives, holiness, a sense of purity. The outcome of this abounding love and knowledge is a refined discernment to know what is God’s best and to delight in it and to live a pure life as a result. Look at verse 10, “So that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.” So, the Greek word used here is basically like sun tested. You can imagine someone making a very expensive vase and holding it up to the light, which is the brightest light they would have had back in Paul’s day to look at. Bright, sunny, noon day sun. Hold it up and the light comes through it like it’s translucent. You can see imperfections. You can see flaws. You can see blemishes. That’s the image that he has here. So, he wants them to be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. We are assaulted. Our faith is assaulted. Our souls are assaulted every day by the world, the flesh and the devil.

Every day we’re in a war zone. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life is assaulting us and wants to corrupt us and make us impure. Paul wants the Philippians to stand firm in their pagan culture. And our culture is increasingly pagan. And it’s the same temptations that they fought in those days. We have to fight the same, against lust, and covetousness, and greed, and bitterness, and anger, and unforgiveness, all of these corrupting sins. He wants them to be pure until the day of Christ Jesus. And he wants them to persevere in that. Think about that. To be pure now, and to be pure tomorrow, and to be pure a week from now, and a year from now, and for the rest of your lives. That they would be pure until the day of Christ Jesus. And what is that? What is the day of Christ Jesus? It’s judgment day. That day is coming for us all. Paul never stopped thinking about it. When he was on trial before Felix he said, “I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man” (Acts 24:16). To not do anything that would violate my conscience.

Students, I beg you. Fight the good fight of faith. Don’t violate your conscience. Don’t become impure and corrupted and unholy. Someday you’re going to have to “stand before the judgment seat of Christ that you may receive from him what is due you for the things you did in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul never forgot about that. So, I want you, Philippians, you said, to be pure and blameless until that final day.

Part of my job as a pastor is to remind my people of that coming day. It is coming. And you will have to give an account for everything you’ve done in the body, whether good or bad. Are you ready? You want them to be pure and blameless until that day, persevering in it. And fruitful. Look at verse 11, “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.”Fruit of righteousness. So, we need to understand theology of salvation. We believe in a perfect righteousness required for Judgment Day, that if you do not have that perfect righteousness, you will not go to heaven, but will be condemned to hell. “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). You must have a perfect righteousness.

Paul talks about that perfect righteousness in this very epistle in Philippians 3:9. He says, “I consider all of my own self-righteousness to be garbage so that I might be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (paraphrase). That’s the imputed righteousness of justification. It happens in an instant the moment you genuinely repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. At that moment you are seen by God to be as righteous as Jesus Christ himself. Think about that. With the imputed righteousness of Christ. On what basis did the thief on the cross go to heaven? His good works? No. But by faith he saw that Jesus was Lord. He said, “Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And he said, today you’ll be with me in paradise. On what basis imputed righteousness? By faith. But there is a fruit of that righteousness that comes and that’s what he’s praying for here.

The fruit of righteousness that comes. That’s a good life filled with good works, works of holiness, of actually putting lusts to death by the Spirit, works of benevolence, of giving money like they did to Paul’s ministry, of being generous with their time and their energy and their money. Of leading other people to Christ. He’s going to urge them to stand firm in a time of persecution there in Philippi and to not be afraid at all of those that were opposing the gospel. Of being bold to share the gospel and shine like lights in a dark age, filled with the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of good works. That’s what he wants. So, we’ve seen the character of Paul’s prayer of life in verse 3-8, and then the content of Paul’s prayer of life verse 9-11.

III. The Goal of Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 11b)

What is the ultimate goal? Why do we pray? Well, it’s always the same. We don’t have to wonder what the goal is, with the ultimate reason why, it’s always the same. What is it? The glory of God. Everything we do is for the glory of God. Look at verse 11, at the very end, to the glory and praise of God. Human salvation is important, very important. It’s not ultimately important. It’s not the ultimate reason for anything. The ultimate reason for everything is God. It all goes back to how I began this message. It all goes back to God on his throne. God enthroned is everything. And so, our prayer, all of these details and all of these attributes and characteristics go toward one thing in the end. That God would be glorified and praised because of you and me.

Why do we pray? Well, it’s always the same. …The glory of God. Everything we do is for the glory of God.

And so, in heaven, we’re going to celebrate forever the glory of God in the lives of that multitude that was saved from every tribe and language and people and nation: how God saved them, how he began a good work in each of them, what he did to preserve them and protect them and then use them. We’re going to spend eternity in heaven learning those things. There’s a lot to learn, brothers and sisters. You’ve got a lot of new friends you’re going to meet when you get to heaven. And you’re going to find out how God used them. And they’re going to find out how God used you and worked in you. And all of it will be for the glory and praise of God.

Didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 13.43, “then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” We’re gonna shine with radiant glory, but where is that glory coming from? It’s not our own glory. We don’t originate it. It’s all the glory of God in us, as it says again in Revelation 21:10-11, “The New Jerusalem shown with the glory of God. And its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” That’s where we’re heading, and that’s where all of our prayers should go. That God would be glorified in that person, and that that person would praise God for his glory.That is the purpose.

IV. Application

So, application? Pray like that. Find each other and pray together like this. I want to pray like Philippians 1:3-11. I want to pray that for you. I want to pray for the glory and praise of God that God would work in you in this way. Pray like that. Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for the time that we’ve had in the word. Thank you for the beauty and the perfection of the word of God, how it instructs us. We thank you that Romans 8:26 tells us the truth: we don’t know what to pray for, and that makes us weak. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don’t know what to pray for, but here in Philippians 1 and in other places, the Holy Spirit has instructed us how to pray and what to pray for.

Lord, I thank you for Union University. I thank you for the students that are here that are getting ready for a lifetime of service to you. Lord, take hold of them. Lord, grip them and seize them by your grace. Help them to delight in the perfection of your word and help them to pray your word into each other’s lives for the glory and praise of God, in whose name I pray, Amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

One of the most convicting sermon titles I have ever read was written by Jonathan Edwards, the greatest American pastor-theologian in history. It was entitled, “Hypocrites Deficient in Private Prayer”, and he preached it in 1742 during the First Great Awakening.

In it he argued that people who only claim to be Christians have anemic, or perhaps even non-existent private prayer lives.

However, I think if we went back in time and asked the godly and humble Mr. Edwards, “Are you in any way deficient in your private prayer life? Or do you consider it to be perfect?” he would certainly admit to being deficient in private prayer himself.

I wonder if any Christian in history has ever felt 100% satisfied with his or her private prayer life!!

We learn from scripture the stunning power ascribed to prayer. Jesus himself said

Mark 11:23-24   “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Prayer has the power to MOVE MOUNTAINS! Yet we also know that the Bible says we are WEAK in prayer:

Romans 8:26  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

We are weak in prayer in that we don’t know what to pray for!

But Romans 8 says that the Spirit helps us in that weakness by teaching us what to pray for.

And it matters, because powerful and effective prayer is all about praying for what God wills

1 John 5:14-15  This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us– whatever we ask– we know that we have what we asked of him.

Prayer is not in any way reshaping the mind and will of God… we are not giving God any NEW IDEAS or BETTER WAYS of doing his plan. Nor are we persuading God to do something he didn’t want to do. Rather prayer is us pleading with God to do what he has revealed that he wills to do.

The Holy Spirit has given us a tremendous amount of help to us in our weakness of not knowing what to pray for… he does this in the pages of scripture. But especially, I think, in the model prayers of the Apostle Paul. In many of his perfect epistles, Paul gives examples of his private prayer life. And we especially see that here in Philippians 1:1-11.

Context:

Paul writes to a Philippian church he helped to plant. The powerful story is told in Acts 16 of Paul having a vision of a man from Macedonia pleading to him, “Come over and help us!” So Paul and his partners, including Silas, went over the Greece, to Philippi, a principal city in Macedonia.

Macedonia was the birthplace of the greatest conqueror in ancient history, Alexander the Great. Philippi was named for Alexander’s father, Philip of Macedon. Alexander emerged from that very region to conquer the ancient world… toppling the Persian empire and setting up the largest empire that region of the world had ever seen.

And yet, the vision of Paul had a man from Macedonia pleading for help! Why? Because Paul knew very well that apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, those Greeks would be damned for all eternity by the justice and wrath of God for their sins. They desperately needed the help only God could give… the salvation that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, dead on the cross, risen from the dead.

So Paul and Silas went to Philippi, and by the grace of God against much opposition, they planted a church. It began with a wealthy woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. Then she opened her home to them and her home became a base for the growing church. Then Paul and Silas were attacked by the Jews in that city and the local officials arrested Paul and Silas, beat them publicly, and threw them in jail, the jailer fastening their feet in the stocks. Showing incredible faith and Christian contentment, Paul and Silas were singing praise songs to God at midnight, despite their pain, hunger and physical misery. All the other prisoners were listening to them sing.

Then God sent an amazing earthquake, a supernatural quake that caused the prison doors to fly open and everyone’s chains to fall off… but no one was hurt and no one escaped. The Philippian jailer assumed everyone had escaped and was about to commit suicide when Paul cried out to him, calling him not to harm himself. Paul led that man and his family to Christ.

This was the beginning of the Philippian church. Paul dearly loved that church. He and Silas also established the church in good order with the two offices every local church should have: Overseers and deacons.

So, Paul began his letter to the church through these leaders:

Philippians 1:1-2  Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:  ² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then Paul expresses his love and affection for them, thanking them for money they had sent for his support. In those words of thankfulness, we see also elements of his love for them that fed his prayers for them.

Let us now walk through elements of Paul’s prayer life for the Philippians from verses 3-11.

1)  The Character of Paul’s Prayer Life

2)  The Content of Paul’s Prayer Life

3)  The Goal of Paul’s Prayer Life

I. The Character to Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 3-8)

Philippians 1:3-8  I thank my God every time I remember you.  ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy  ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,  ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.  ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

A. Thankfulness

1. Paul is overwhelmed with thankfulness to God for the Philippians

2. Clearly he thanks God for their salvation… that God granted them repentance and faith in Christ

3. Thankfulness to God is a rich theological theme!! It shows the truth of the matter that “every good and perfect gift comes from God” (James 1)

4. AND

Romans 11:36   from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

5. Salvation is ultimately the work of God in a sinner’s heart and soul

6. Think of the significance of this statement in Romans 6

Romans 6:17  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

Simply put… “THANK GOD YOU OBEYED the gospel!”

God is ultimately responsible for working repentance and faith in Christ in every genuinely converted person.

Yes, they hear the law of God that displays sin… and they repent.

Yes, they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and believe it.

But this only happens by the powerful sovereign work of God in their souls.

As he will say in verse 6, God BEGAN A GOOD WORK in their souls.

So God deserves to be thanked for that good work!

B. Remembrance

1. “I thank God every time I remember you…”

2. Memories flooded into Paul’s mind… they were the basis of his prayer life for them

3. Paul’s mind was filled with his experiences with them… the conversion of Lydia by the river, the church in her house, the driving out of the demon from the slave girl, the public humiliation, the Philippian jail, singing in the dark with Silas, the earthquake, the Philippians jailer and his whole family converted

4. These memories caused him to overflow with thanksgiving for the Philippians and for his own role in leading them to Christ

C. Consistency

Philippians 1:3-4 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

1. Paul’s prayer life was one of consistency… a constant rising of the incense of prayer from his mind and lips

2. Not sporadic but consistent and faithful; this was Paul’s regular habit… and he did it over and over and over again, like the persistent widow in Jesus’ parable… he always prayed and never gave up!

George Mueller:  “Satan will not mind how we labor in prayer for a few days, weeks, or even months, if he can at last discourage us so that we cease praying, as though it were of no use.”

D. Joy

Philippians 1:4 “In all my prayers for all of you I always pray WITH JOY!”

1. Joy is one of the dominant themes of this epistle… “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice!”

2. Prayer with joy is a foretaste of heaven… where there will be nothing but eternal blessedness forever

3. Consistent joy is reasonable given the power of Almighty God determined to BLESS his people with heaven forever, and nothing can stop it

4. God himself is a joyful being, so it is right for our prayers to be characterized by joy

5. Christ is risen, sin and death are defeated, nothing can stop God’s sovereign plan!

E. Fellowship

Philippians 1:5… because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now

1. The word “partnership” is koinonia… sharing what is common in the faith

2. The Philippians JOINED WITH Paul in his gospel ministry

3. They did this from their hearts, deeply caring about the success of Paul’s apostolic mission to win souls among Jews and Gentiles

4. They INVESTED themselves in prayer and concern… and also in MONEY… they contributed to Paul’s needs

Philippians 4:15-16  Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only;  ¹⁶ for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.

5. Paul’s prayer life was based on that same sense of fellowship or sharing with them… just as they deeply cared about Paul’s circumstances, so Paul also deeply cared about theirs

F. Confidence: The Sovereignty of God in Salvation

Philippians 1:6 … being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

1. This is one of the great statements of God’s sovereign and active purpose in our salvation

2. God BEGINS the work of salvation in the human soul… he regenerates them by the Holy Spirit, they are born again by the Spirit’s power when they hear the gospel call

3. But that is just the BEGINNING of the gospel work… God then continues to work on the saved person through sanctification day after day after day… energetically working on their sin patterns and their thoughts and their habits and their attitudes…

4. Paul will refer to this again:

Philippians 2:12-13  continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

5. God is hard at work in every Christian who is still alive on Earth

6. But here in Philippians 1:6, Paul says that God will continue to work and work and work… doing that good work in the Philippians until it is finished

7. And what is the completion of that work? Perfection in heaven… total conformity to Christ in both soul and body

Philippians 3:10-14  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  ¹² ¶ Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:21  [Jesus] will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

8. All of Paul’s prayers for the Philippians are BASED on this solid doctrine of God’s absolute sovereignty in salvation

9. Nothing can stop God from finishing the good work he begins in every Christian! He will perfect it in the day of Christ Jesus!

G. Affection

Philippians 1:7-8 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

1. Paul’s prayer life was motivated by his deep affection for them

2. He loved them dearly… and his love for them moved his prayer life day after day

We have seen HOW Paul prayed… with thankfulness, remembrance, consistency, joy, fellowship, confidence in God’s sovereignty, affection

Now… WHAT did he pray for?

II. The Content of Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 9-11a)

Philippians 1:9-11  And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ– to the glory and praise of God.

A. Love Abounding More and More

Love is the point of the gospel… to transform us from self-centered God-haters to a passionate love for God

The Two Great Commandments are the focus… what God wants to work in all of us

Matthew 22:37-39  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Christian growth is all about love… loving God more and more passionately and sacrificially; loving other people as we love ourselves

Love for the glory of God, the plans of God, the word of God

Love for the people of God… love for the perishing, the lost of the world

B. Knowledge and Depth of Insight

1. Deep doctrinal insight

2. Doctrinal maturity… so they will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4)

3. Knowing God deeply and doctrinally, based on the truth of the Word of God

4. Growth in knowledge of Scripture is foundational to all Christian growth

5. Pastors should pray for their people to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight

6. Insight = “Aha” moments in scripture; some new thought seizes you and captures you

7. Plug for scripture memorization!!!

C. Discernment: Good from Evil; also Good… Better… Best

Philippians 1:10 … so that you may be able to discern what is best

1. Discernment is WISDOM

2. Ability to discern good from evil at all times

3. But also the wisest course of action… good/better/best

4. Through growth in the Spirit they know what God’s will for them is at every moment

Romans 12:2 …be transformed by the renewing of your mind; then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is… his good, pleasing and perfect will

D. Purity of Life

Philippians 1:10 … so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be PURE and BLAMELESS until the day of Christ

1. Pure = literally meant tested by the sun; the sunlight was the brightest light they had available in the ancient world

2. Hold the vessel up to the light and see if there are any blemishes

3. So also Paul prays for the Philippian Christians to be free from all hidden blots and blemishes of sin

1 John 1:5 “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.”

SO… in his people, there should be no darkness at all

4. Paul prays for them to be free from sexual immorality, covetousness, bitterness and anger, pride, selfishness, idolatry

E. Perseverance

Philippians 1:10  … pure and blameless UNTIL THE DAY OF CHRIST

This is a long, marathon race that calls for endurance

Hebrews 12:1  let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

But our trust is ultimately in Christ to KEEP US HOLY:

Jude 24  To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy

The “Day of Christ” is JUDGMENT DAY… so Paul prays for them to be pure and blameless until that final day

F. Fruitfulness

Philippians 1:11  filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ

1. God demands fruit from his people

2. This is the essential PROOF of our life

John 15:2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

3. Fruit is the fruit of the Spirit… and the fruit of other souls transformed by our witness

So far, we’ve seen the Character of Paul’s prayer life

And the Content of Paul’s prayer life

Now… what was the GOAL of Paul’s prayer life?

III. The Goal of Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 11b)

Philippians 1:11 … to the glory and praise of God

A. Everything God does is FOR HIS OWN GLORY

B. The Glory of God is the radiant display of his perfections

C. God wants to use Christians to put his own glory on display

D. God created everything in the universe FOR HIS OWN GLORY

E. Heaven will be illuminated with the glory of God and of Christ

Revelation 21:11 [The New Jerusalem] shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Revelation 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

In heaven, every righteous act done by the saints on earth will really be a display of God’s perfect glory

No one will boast on that day of anything but the perfect salvation God has worked for us all:

Christ was the Alpha and the Omega of that salvation… its beginning and its end

Our salvation will be a display of God’s attributes:  His mercy, His grace, His love, His righteousness, His perseverance, His holiness… these are the rays of glory that will shine through us that day

F. So… the point of everything in the gospel ministry is that God may be glorified and praised… that is the ultimate purpose of Paul’s prayer life for the Philippians

IV. Application

 A.  Understand Paul’s Prayer Life

1)  The Character of Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 3-8)

Thankfulness     Remembrance    Consistency   Joy  Fellowship   Confidence in God’s Sovereignty   Affection

2)  The Content of Paul’s Prayer Life (vs. 9-11a)

1.    Love Abounding More and More

2.    Knowledge and Deep Insight

3.    Discernment:  Good from Evil, and Good from Excellent

4.    Purity of Life

5.    Perseverance

6.    Fruitfulness

3)  The ultimate GOAL of Paul’s prayer life (vs. 11b)

B.  Imitate Paul’s Prayer Life

Don’t just learn how Paul prayed… PRAY LIKE PAUL