Approving and Striving for Excellence Philippians 1:2-11; Malachi 3:1-7b; Luke 3:1-14
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and our most excellent Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We’re going to talk about approving and striving for excellence, based on our Epistle, especially verses 8-11, 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so 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.
The deep feelings Paul had for the church in Philippi comes through in these verses: For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Paul loved all the churches he had started and ministered to, but he seems to have had a special relationship with the Philippians. He was so grateful for their support, which helped him spread the Gospel and plant churches in other towns.
And so in our text, he thanked God for them with joy, because of their partnership in the Gospel.
He wrote to them 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
For a little context, we have the story of Paul planting the church in Philippi in Acts 16.
Among those who were listening as Paul shared the story of Jesus, was a merchant named Lydia, who sold purple textiles, which were very expensive, and so she likely was quite well off. And she seems to have been quite generous.
She believed what she heard and was baptized, and she insisted on hosting Paul and Silas and Timothy, giving them a place to live and providing for them as they ministered with the Gospel in Philippi. And so they became close friends with Lydia, and with the Philippian Christians.
Some time later Paul wrote to them, 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
After Paul left Philippi, his dear Philippian friends remembered and supported him as he traveled about the Mediterranean world, spreading the Gospel, and when he was put in prison for proclaiming the Gospel. They surely prayed for him.
Back to the events in Acts 16, after a time of sharing the Gospel in Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten by the authorities and thrown into prison.
They were imprisoned because Paul healed a slave girl by casting out the evil spirit that was possessing her. By the power of that spirit she was telling fortunes, and making a lot of money for her masters. Now that she was healed, their source of revenue was gone. So they pressed for Paul and Silas to be punished.
While Paul and Silas were in jail that night, God sent an earthquake that opened the prison doors, but they stayed put. God had something for them to do there.
When the jailer saw that the doors were open, he assumed the prisoners had escaped. Rather than facing the consequences, he was going to throw himself on his sword, but Paul intervened. He told him that they were still there.
Their excellent integrity made such an impression on the jailer that he asked how he could believe and be saved. And so he was baptized, along with his household.
In the midst of adversity, God was at work to save the life and soul of the jailer and his family.
Paul was a Roman citizen, which he sometimes was able to use as an advantage in spreading the Gospel. When the magistrates learned that they had beaten and wrongly imprisoned a Roman citizen, they got really scared, and they asked Paul and Silas to leave town quietly.
Paul said, “Not unless you personally escort us out.” In doing that, everyone would see that Paul and Silas were not fugitives, that they had been falsely accused and were being rightly released, and so no one would go after them and try to hunt them down.
Also, this provided protection and legitimacy for Lydia and the other Christians in Philippi. People couldn’t say that they had been tricked or converted by some hoodlum.
All this had a deep impact on the Philippian Christians. They saw how Paul’s God-given integrity and courage was a powerful witness of the Gospel.
And so they took it to heart when Paul wrote to them, it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent.
To be diligent and strive for excellence in our work, or our profession, or at school, or in other ways or places, can be a good thing. It can benefit others.
To strive for excellence in our relationships, to try to love and treat others as Christ loves and treats us, is even more excellent.
To strive to love God with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind, and all our strength is even more excellent yet.
But most excellent of all is the obedient love that Jesus has for His Heavenly Father, and the sacrificial love He has for us, that He would suffer and die for our sins.
In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells us to have the mindset of Christ, that excellence of mind, that He was willing to lower himself and suffer and sacrifice to save us.
Some years ago there was a movie entitled, “A Beautiful Mind”. The most beautiful mind is one that has been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, to know Christ and His love.
A person might have a mind even more brilliant than the mind of Albert Einstein, but it would be a foolish, wasted mind if not enlightened and transformed with the love and knowledge of Christ.
To try to use our minds in a diligent and intelligent way can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing. Many brilliant minds and inventions have been used for evil intent.
When we use our mind to scheme against our neighbor, to devise a way to get even, or to harm or sin against our neighbor, or to sin against our God,
there’s no excellence or beauty in that -- that’s an ugly and dishonorable way to use our mind, a vain way to use our God-given gift of human thought, and reason, and intelligence.
When we use our mind to believe and practice something that’s false, something that’s contrary to God’s most excellent Word, there’s no excellence in that.
But with the help of God, with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, to know and believe the truth of the Gospel of Christ and the whole Word of God, that is the most excellent and honorable way to use your mind, and all the gifts and abilities God has given you.
What the world considers excellent may not be what truly is excellent. What God considers to be good and excellent, what His Word tells us is excellent, that’s the kind of excellence to always strive for, godly, spiritual, moral excellence, excellence in loving one another.
In our Gospel we heard the story of John the Baptist. Some people thought he was some kind of kook. Others listened to what he said, and recognized the excellence of his words; they were the words that prepared the way for the Messiah.
The most excellent of ways and words are the ways and words of Christ, who forgives us completely and loves us perfectly. That’s the kind of excellence Paul is speaking of in our Epistle, when he tells us to approve what is excellent.
In keeping with this, in Philippians 4:8-9, Paul says, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (set your mind on them). And the God of peace will be with you.
In this excellent season of Advent and always, let us strive for excellence in all we do to serve our Lord and to love one another. With God’s help and by His grace, may our lives reflect what is most excellent and honorable of all, the love and truth of Christ.
And as we approve and embrace this most excellent way, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our most excellent Lord and Savior. Amen.