Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
May 13, 1984
May Your Love Abound
Philippians 1:7-11, KJV
It's Mother's Day! It's a time to show someone special how much you love her. One way to show this love is to give your mother a gift. My mom's favorite hobby is making quilts, so I drove up to the quilt shop in Berlin and bought her a quilt kit. It's called the "Tree of Life" and is very complicated. It has a tree design with many exotic birds and flowers, all of which have to be appliquéd from small pieces of cloth. I am certain my gift will keep her occupied for several hundred hours. I only made one stipulation when I gave it to her - when she's done with the quilt, she has to give it back to me. As I see it, after all the back-breaking labor she won't want to look at it again anyway.
The apostle Paul loved his churches the same way a mother loves her children. He wasn't ashamed of it, either. As he says in verse 7:
"Even as it is meet [that is, proper] for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart."
Verse 8 reinforces this but it sounds awfully strange in the King James. It says:
"For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ."
That is unusual wording but it's a fairly literal translation of the Greek. The Greek word means the organs in the chest, such as the intestines, the kidneys, the lungs and so on. People back then thought the emotions and desires were centered here, just as we associate the heart with love. So Paul is really saying, "I long for you with all the compassion of Jesus Christ himself. I love you as Jesus loves you."
To show that Christian love is not supposed to be a one-way street, Paul uses his prayer for the Philippians to express reciprocity. He says in verse 9:
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more...."
There are several Greek words Paul could have used for "love." There was the word PHILEO, which means brotherly love. Philadelphia and philanthropist come from it. There was also the word EROS, which is sexual love. We get the word "erotic" from it. Instead of these, Paul decided to use the word AGAPE, which is a spiritual love. It requires knowledge about God and power from God to produce agape love. Anyone can come up with some brotherly love, and erotic love isn't hard to find anymore, but the "love of God" is special and it's this kind of love Paul wants to see in the lives of the Philippians.
The best way to understand the love Paul is talking about is to read the best known verse in the Bible. John 3:16 says:
"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son."
The essence of agape love is the action of giving.
Our society has a very shallow view of love. It's not that we don't pay much attention to it. Perhaps ninety percent of the popular songs on the radio have love as a theme but most of the time love is reduced to sentimentality, soft lights, sweet music and hormones. The giving of Christ was not done to soft lights and sweet music. The crucifixion was accompanied by jeers and curses, and was climaxed by the words, "Father forgive them...." This is what agape love is all about.
Paul's prayer is that their love will "abound more and more." He could have stopped at "abound" or "more" but he wanted to make his point perfectly clear. He was anxious that their love should have no limits and overflow continually, so that people could see God was working in their lives. Love should abound deeper.
When a young couple wants to get married I always ask them what their reason is. So far, they've always said, "because we love each other." It's impossible to tell them their love is shallow. They won't believe it. But ask them ten years later if their love has grown deeper. If all has gone well they'll tell you it is better than they ever thought possible.
Love can also abound wider. Agape love doesn't shut people out. It is possible to restrict our love to those we like or those who like us but that isn't agape love. God's love flows to everyone whether they love him back or not. When Paul prays that their love will abound, it probably includes the idea that their love will become less exclusive. We must be somewhat successful at this because I've often heard the criticism that the Christian church is full of kooks. This is unfair. We're not full of kooks. We just have more than our fair share. When I became a believer in high school my Christian friends tended to be on the weird side. They wore plaid shirts with striped pants, that kind of thing. We didn't really fit in with the "cool" people. Critics may have had fun with us but their jokes were actually compliments. God's love is wide enough to take in anybody. It's not restricted to a select few, like society would have it. In verse 9 Paul says he prays their love will abound yet more and more in "knowledge and in all judgment." To love with knowledge and judgment means you don't allow your heart to rule your head. Love may be blind but agape has 20/20 vision.
We've all seen kids who were spoiled because their parents couldn't say "no." The parents give the kids everything because they're afraid their love will be doubted if they don't. So the kids end up with no sense of values and can't tell the difference between what they want and what they need. The love of parents must be according to "knowledge and judgment." Love that always says "yes" is not necessarily agape love. It may be immature love or love that is too selfish or insecure to risk unpopularity. This area is especially hard for parents to handle. We have to give guidelines and sometimes punishment. In the late 70's a group arose that has tried to help confused parents who have rotten kids. The group is called "Tough Love". It tells parents that there are times the best way to show love is to be harsh.
According to the Bible, God's method of loving us is very similar. If God really loves you, he will send both blessings and punishments or trials to you. Discipline is crucial in the Christian life which is why Hebrews 12:6 says:
"When the Lord loveth he chasteneth."
This fits in with Paul's conclusion. He says in verses 10 and 11:
"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."
The Greek word translated "sincere" is a word that means "unmixed, or without any alloy." Some metals are full of impurities in their original state and have to be smelted to purify them. Paul wants the Philippians' love to be refined in the crucible of spiritual experience so they will be obviously sincere and real.
For most people, it doesn't require sentimentalism to recognize the special love their mother has (or had) for them. Christians should be able to have that kind of love for anyone. Do you?
________
Typed on October 1, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Easy CHM and documentation editor