Loving the Unlovable
When Paul writes the epistle to Philippians he’s a captive and a prisoner. He wrote the letters to Philippi in a state where his freedom was taken away from him, there were guards around him at all times, he could not freely travel while he was awaiting judgement.
The fellowship in Philippi began in the most dramatic and challenging ways. The first person to come to Christ in Philippi was a business woman by the name of Lydia. Then a girl who was possessed by an evil spirit was set free, which led to a huge commotion in the city and resulted in Paul being in jail. However, in the middle of the night they praised the Lord and worshipped him which led to their prison chains being broken. Seeing this the jailer and the family confessed and joined the Philippi fellowship (Acts 16). This was the beginning of fellowship in Philippi. Due to these events, Philippi was always dear to Paul. Moreover, this was a community of believers who supported Paul and loved him dearly.
Philippians 1:9-12 says, ‘9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. 12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.’
The verses above are actually a prayer by Paul to Philippians. Paul’s apostolic prayers are only recorded in four places,
1. Ephesians 1.17-18
2. Ephesians 3.16-21
3. Philippines 1. 9-12
4. Colossians 1. 9-12
Let’s closely look at some of his prayer points. The first point that he’s making focuses on love and love has different names and forms. In Greek some of the terms used to describe love are Philos, Agape, Storge and Eros. Each of these are different kinds of love. Philo describes love between friends. Eros relates to romantic love. Storge is the love you see between parents and children and Agape is spiritual love. That’s the love that Paul is referring to here - a love that God has deposited in us, a Godly love.
What is this Godly Love?
According to Galatians 5:22-23, ‘22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.’
Hence Godly love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand there are gifts or empowerments of the Holy Spirit given to believers for the purpose of building up the Church and serving others. These could include prophecy, healing, speaking in the Spirit, seeing visions and such. Often people are attracted to these gifts. Fruit of the Holy Spirit is more character traits or virtues that are the result of the Holy Spirit's work in transforming a believer's life. Of all the traits, love is the number one and most predominant fruit of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 13:13 says, ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’
What is the difference between gifts and fruits of the Spirit?
Gifts of the Spirit are freely given. Whereas the fruit of the Spirit is cultivated over time. A fruit may be given in a seed form in the beginning – we then pray over it, nurture it and grow it. In the same way, the love that you carry will also multiply over time. This love comes from deep revelation of the scriptures. Hence Godly knowledge and wisdom is key. Hence the love that Paul is referring to is, Agape love, it’s a spiritual love. When you have this love, you can even love the most detestable people. It is only when the Agape love is in you, that you can love the unlovable.
Going back to the Philippines 1:10 - Paul urges the believers to pray for the Spirit of discernment. We need to have the ability to discern things in life, to understand if it is from God. This is where Adam and Eve lost their step, where they could not discern if it was God's voice or the Devil. Paul then urges the believers to remain pure and blameless, which essentially means we are going through a sanctification process. So, in Philippians 1:9-12, Paul focuses on two things, love, knowledge and discernment - and we require both for our success in the kingdom of God. It is through with this knowledge that we will be able to discern and channel our love the right way. In verse 11, Paul focuses on the fruit of righteousness which we receive through our sanctification in Christ.
To corroborate that, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, ‘17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.’
The two aspects in focus in the verse above are reconciliation and experience.
Romans 5:1-11 says, ‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood,how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.’
Few things in focus in the verses mentioned above are: Peace with God, access to his faith, perseverance, character and hope through sufferings, love of God and justification through the blood of Christ.
To sum up, Paul talks about five things:
1.Love with knowledge and discernment
2.Increase in knowledge to know what to do
3.Increase in discernment to do the right thing
4.They should be pure and blameless in Christ and
5.They should be filled with the fruit of righteousness.
The fellowship in Philippi began in the most dramatic and challenging ways. The first person to come to Christ in Philippi was a business woman by the name of Lydia. Then a girl who was possessed by an evil spirit was set free, which led to a huge commotion in the city and resulted in Paul being in jail. However, in the middle of the night they praised the Lord and worshipped him which led to their prison chains being broken. Seeing this the jailer and the family confessed and joined the Philippi fellowship (Acts 16). This was the beginning of fellowship in Philippi. Due to these events, Philippi was always dear to Paul. Moreover, this was a community of believers who supported Paul and loved him dearly.
Philippians 1:9-12 says, ‘9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. 12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.’
The verses above are actually a prayer by Paul to Philippians. Paul’s apostolic prayers are only recorded in four places,
1. Ephesians 1.17-18
2. Ephesians 3.16-21
3. Philippines 1. 9-12
4. Colossians 1. 9-12
Let’s closely look at some of his prayer points. The first point that he’s making focuses on love and love has different names and forms. In Greek some of the terms used to describe love are Philos, Agape, Storge and Eros. Each of these are different kinds of love. Philo describes love between friends. Eros relates to romantic love. Storge is the love you see between parents and children and Agape is spiritual love. That’s the love that Paul is referring to here - a love that God has deposited in us, a Godly love.
What is this Godly Love?
According to Galatians 5:22-23, ‘22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.’
Hence Godly love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand there are gifts or empowerments of the Holy Spirit given to believers for the purpose of building up the Church and serving others. These could include prophecy, healing, speaking in the Spirit, seeing visions and such. Often people are attracted to these gifts. Fruit of the Holy Spirit is more character traits or virtues that are the result of the Holy Spirit's work in transforming a believer's life. Of all the traits, love is the number one and most predominant fruit of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 13:13 says, ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’
What is the difference between gifts and fruits of the Spirit?
Gifts of the Spirit are freely given. Whereas the fruit of the Spirit is cultivated over time. A fruit may be given in a seed form in the beginning – we then pray over it, nurture it and grow it. In the same way, the love that you carry will also multiply over time. This love comes from deep revelation of the scriptures. Hence Godly knowledge and wisdom is key. Hence the love that Paul is referring to is, Agape love, it’s a spiritual love. When you have this love, you can even love the most detestable people. It is only when the Agape love is in you, that you can love the unlovable.
Going back to the Philippines 1:10 - Paul urges the believers to pray for the Spirit of discernment. We need to have the ability to discern things in life, to understand if it is from God. This is where Adam and Eve lost their step, where they could not discern if it was God's voice or the Devil. Paul then urges the believers to remain pure and blameless, which essentially means we are going through a sanctification process. So, in Philippians 1:9-12, Paul focuses on two things, love, knowledge and discernment - and we require both for our success in the kingdom of God. It is through with this knowledge that we will be able to discern and channel our love the right way. In verse 11, Paul focuses on the fruit of righteousness which we receive through our sanctification in Christ.
To corroborate that, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, ‘17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.’
The two aspects in focus in the verse above are reconciliation and experience.
Romans 5:1-11 says, ‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood,how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.’
Few things in focus in the verses mentioned above are: Peace with God, access to his faith, perseverance, character and hope through sufferings, love of God and justification through the blood of Christ.
To sum up, Paul talks about five things:
1.Love with knowledge and discernment
2.Increase in knowledge to know what to do
3.Increase in discernment to do the right thing
4.They should be pure and blameless in Christ and
5.They should be filled with the fruit of righteousness.
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