Christians, like children, grow also. As young Christians we feed on the sincere milk of the Word until we are mature enough for more hearty meals. And as we grow, expectations increase. We can’t—and don’t want to—remain infants forever – at least I hope not. Grander and bolder horizons are set before us by God and we long for journeying with Him.

When it comes to prayers in the Bible, Christians often focus on the prayers of Jesus like the one in John 17 when Jesus prays for Himself, His disciples and all believers or the Lord’s prayer – the model many today use for prayer. But when we read the prayers of some of the other writers of biblical text, we often gloss over them as less significant.

One of the most significant “insignificant” text is by the apostle Paul. Philippians 1:9-11 says, “ 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 for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

The first thing I want us to notice is the content of the prayer Paul prayed as he wrote back to one of his favourite churches. Firstly, He prayed that love would abound.

The word used here for love is agape, which we usually define as “unconditional love” or “self-sacrificing commitment.” It involves deep affection and profound duty and calls us to do unexpected things, like dying for others on a cross. And he prays not just for love but for “abounding” love. Abounding love describes Christians at our best. The very sign of the Church is our obvious love for God and for one another.

We know that there are only two great commandments, that we love the Lord our God with heart, mind, body, and soul . . . and that we should love our neighbours as we love ourselves” (Mark 12:28–31). And then there is this, perhaps our highest evangelism: “by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). And this: “No man has any greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for a friend” (John 15:13). And this: “But God proves his agape towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Buildings, budgets, and activities of every sort have little meaning apart from abounding love.

Watchman Nee tells the story about a Chinese Christian man who owned a rice patty next to a communist man. He irrigated his paddy by pumping water out of his canal using one of those leg operated pumps – like a bicycle. Every day after the Christian had pumped enough water to fill his field, the communist would come out and remove some boards that separated their fields and the water would drain into his own field so he wouldn’t have to pump.

This happened day after day. Finally, the Christian prayed, “Lord, if this keeps up, I’m going to lose all my rice, maybe my field. I’ve got a family to care for. What can I do?” In answer to his request, the Lord put a thought in his mind. So, the next morning, he woke up earlier, before the sun arose, and pumped water into his neighbour’s field. He then replaced the boards and pumped water into his own field. In a few weeks, both rice paddies were doing well and the communist was converted. Our faith and love in action will bear fruit. When our love abounds, God’s glory shines.

Secondly, we see from this passage that Paul prayed that priorities would be set. According to Paul we are to “discern what is best.” The Phillips translation puts it this way: “that we may recognize the highest and best.” Such recognition is important in our world where the lowest common denominator has become the rule of the day. In the church it is no different. We know there are a lot of good things we can do. But the idea here is that we would be doing the best thing. When we settle for 2^nd best, we miss out on God’s blessing and seeing fruitfulness in our lives and ministry.

I will say, determining what takes first place for us and then keeping first things first is labour-intensive. The easier part is marking the good from the bad. The more difficult is choosing between the good and the best. Lots of good things offer challenges to life. But in choosing the good things, we need to beware of slipping on the best.God wants us to keep His Kingdom as our priority. Jesus’ words to seek His Kingdom weren’t said as an option. They were said to help us make His ways our ways. His priorities our priorities

Next, Paul prayed that our lives would be real. The text calls us to “be pure and blameless.” The King James version translates this word as “sincere.” In Latin the word is sine cere and means “without wax” or “sun-judged.” In older days, unscrupulous potters would cover up imperfections in their vessels of clay by covering cracks with wax. The marred piece would look almost flawless. The careful buyer, however, would hold the pottery up to the light of the sun and carefully examine it. Thus the “pure” vessel was without wax and sun judged.

The text calls us to live in such a way that when judged by others, we will be found to be real. So what is it to be real? To be real or sincere is to be filled with the “fruit of righteousness”; that is, right living is the best and highest virtue. And this life comes only from Christ.

Now of course none of us are perfect. We all have flaws in our lives and character. That is a part of living in this world in these fallen bodies. But the point Paul is encouraging us to do is live lives for God through His power and in His grace. As the old hymn says, “Living for Jesus, a life that is true, Striving to please Him in all that I do; Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free, This is the pathway of blessing for me.”

Lastly, Paul prayed that our lives would honour and glorify God. In recent years, Christianity has been changing. We have become an institution built and measured using worldly business models. Focus has moved to success and achievement instead of faithfulness and obedience. I was at some meetings a few years ago and the question was asked, “How do we measure how well churches are doing?”

I was at a meeting a few years ago when that question was asked. Some of the answers surprised me. Most of the answers were tangible things – attendance, Sunday School, giving, programs… very few were God focused. I don’t want to belittle numbers and programs – they are important, but is that why we exist? Is that our purpose for existing?

The passage says that we are to be filled with the “fruit of righteousness.” What is this fruit that Paul says our lives should be filled with? Fruit is what God produces in and through us. Outwardly it is the Spirit of God working through our gifts, talents and abilities. And fruit are the lives we touch, both in word and deed. People often think of legacy, what we leave in this world. For the Christian, our legacy will be who gets to heaven with us. The Great Commission is fulfilled as God works through us.

Inward fruit is His Spirit working in us, making us more in the image of Jesus. It is what is called sanctification – being made more like Jesus. It is a process we go through throughout our lifetime. As we yield our lives to Him, through confession and consecration, God cleanses us and His righteousness is revealed in our lives.

All of this is part of the journey we are on with God. Much of this isn’t an instantaneous event. It is a process that is approached “one day at a time.” I remember talking with a friend when I was in Bible School. He said, “There are times I feel the progress I’ve made in spiritual growth is a figment of my imagination. It feels like the real experience of growing is still to come.”

I think that most of us can relate with that. The whole work of redemption isn’t done. Like a journey we are on and have been on for a while, we ask, “Are we there yet?” There is much yet to come. But the goal is clear: abounding love that marks priorities and then calls forth out of us the best we have to give.

Paul had confidence in the church in Philippi. I believe that same confidence can be placed on us as well. Paul writes these words, “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.” Paul was confident and I am confident because of who God is. HE is the one who will work in and through us for His glory and praise.