Understanding Love - 3

Well, today we're going to be considering the subject of love as it comes up early in the Philippian Epistle. Love in our world is a very valued sentiment and is often talked about and lauded and honored. Love is what makes the world go round.

We used to sing years ago. But as love is understood by most people in America today, it really is more of a vague sentiment than a clear reality. And the meaning of love is seldom studied carefully for clarity of thought.

We tend to assume that we know what it is. Everybody knows what love is, of course, of course. But we need to examine what the Bible says about it to increase our understanding. Now, 1 Corinthians 13, of course, is the premier chapter on love, and we can go there to study it. And there, in the course of that chapter, you will find 15 statements to describe love, and that's a wonderful definition and a rather full definition of love. We're told there that love suffers long and is kind and does not puff up itself and does not behave unseemly and so forth.

Fifteen things. So if you want a full description of love, that's where I would point you to. But here in Philippians chapter 1, we find a great deal about love if we'll pay attention to what Paul has to say. We'll learn, for example, that love involves affection but is much, much more. We will learn that love is action that springs from affection. It does certain things because it is a proper love within us.

In fact, affection without appropriate action is mere empty sentimentality. And so in this Philippian epistle, after the salutation and after the greeting and the customary giving of thanks, the apostle Paul first expresses his love to the Philippian believers and then prays for their love to grow. And herein, we can learn a great deal about the true nature of love. And so as the apostle Paul helps us to understand the nature of biblical love, we will look at it in two parts. First of all, Paul's declaration of personal love in verses 7 and 8. And secondly, Paul's prayer for the Philippians' love in verses 9 through 11. Paul's declaration of personal love, and for this I dip back one verse into our text for last Sunday, which breaks into the middle of a sentence, but Paul says in verse 7, Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all our partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. Paul declares his love to the Philippian believers, but the question is how does Paul describe his love for them? And he describes it first of all as a warm-hearted affection, and secondly as a strong spiritual connection. Paul's love for the Philippians is indeed a warm-hearted affection. He says, I have you in my heart.

I thought that was interesting. Bible students know that sometimes love, warm affections are expressed in the Greek language in terms of bowels of mercy. The Greeks had other parts of the body that they used to express the inmost feelings of warm emotions, but even in that day they also used what we use today, heart. That's exactly what Paul says here.

Verse 7, Because I have you in my heart. Greek word cardia, that's the very same word that means the organ that pumps blood in our bodies, the physical heart, but here obviously he's not referring to that heart. He's referring to something else. He's referring to his inward emotions. He's using the word heart the way we use it when we talk about love.

I love you with all my heart. We don't mean I love you with all of that organ that pumps the blood throughout my body, but I love you from the innermost recesses of my being. It's interesting that 2,000 years ago when Paul wrote to the Philippians, he wrote in exactly the same language, I guess nearly from the beginning.

Men and women have described love in terms of something that comes from the heart. So Paul describes his love for the Philippians as a warm-hearted affection, which is there, he says, because of the bond of Christian connection. Saving grace has created the bond between Paul and these believers. That really takes us back even one more verse to verse 6 to tie to verse 7. But in verse 6 he said, Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perform it or complete it until the day of Jesus Christ, just as it is right for me to think this of you because I have you in my heart.

Remember what that is getting at? He's saying, I'm confident that God has begun a good work in you. In other words, that you are true believers.

I'm confident that you're Christians. I'm confident that God has done a work of salvation in your heart because of this warm affection which I have in my heart for you. And I can't explain that any other way except in terms that God has saved you and joined us together in this bond of affection that believers have one for another. And so because of the bond of Christian connection which saving grace has created mutually in Paul and in the Philippian believers, he has this affection for them. But it's more than that because verse 7 goes on to indicate that it's also because of the grace of Christian partnership. Remember again verse 7, we talked about it last Sunday, but it's germane to this point today.

So back to verse 7, just as it is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart, but we'll pause and insert at this point. Paul recognizes that as genuine as these emotions are and as convinced that Paul is that this warm affection that he has for them is based upon the spiritual connection. Nevertheless, feelings are subjective and we need something more.

We need something that is more objective to be absolutely certain. And so Paul goes from the warm feelings of affection to the objective work of partnership in the gospel. In as much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers or partners with me of grace. So Paul says I have this warm affection for you, number one, because of this bond of connection which I feel.

Love is affection. But the way I can be sure that this subjective feeling is not misleading me because emotions can be misled, I also recognize this partnership in the gospel. You support me in the gospel. You encourage me in the gospel.

You contribute financially to the work of the gospel. It's clear that God has given you a heart for the kingdom of Christ and for the gospel and for gospel workers, and that's the objective evidence of saving grace in your heart. And so I have this strong affection for you because there is this clear evidence that you belong to Christ. A warm heart of affection which he then describes in verse 8 as a strong spiritual connection for he says God is my witness.

How greatly I long for you with the affection of Jesus Christ. The strong spiritual connection that Paul is describing as his personal love for them is an inward reality that they can't see. Now they're going to see the evidence, the manifestations that flow out of it, but as far as what's in his heart, they can't see it.

Paul can declare it. I have this warm affection for you in my heart, but how can I prove that to you? How can I show that to you?

Let me put it that way. How can I show that to you? And Paul says, well, I know I can't show you my heart, but God knows my heart. God sees my heart. And so I call upon him to bear witness to what I'm saying to you. I love you with a strong inward affection, and God knows my heart, and God knows that this is true. It is a strong spiritual connection, a strong desire. How greatly I long for you all. How greatly I yearn for you all. In other words, for their presence, to be with them, to see them again.

He's in prison in Rome. There, of course, in the city of Philippi, he can't travel to them, but he longs to. Because love draws us to the objects of our love. That's one of the characteristics of genuine love. Love draws us to the objects of our love. And so because Paul loves the Philippian believers, he's drawn to them. He longs to be with them. He wants to see them again. He wants to be with them face to face, because that's what love does.

It draws us to the objects of our love. That's why take romantic love, married love. For someone to say, I love you, but I make every excuse I can to be away from you, indicates something's wrong. I love you, dear, but I'm not in a hurry to get home to see you. I find all kinds of other places to go after work. I find all kinds of other places to go on the weekend that don't involve you. I involve myself with sports and with friends and with other activities, because, well, because what? Because evidently I don't really enjoy being around you, but oh yes, I love you, I love you, I love you. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Love will draw you to the object of your love. You taking notes?

Liar, liar, pants on fire. That's why there's something wrong with people who say they love God, but they can't seem to find any time to read His word. They say they love God, but they can't seem to find any time to spend with Him in prayer. They're not drawn into His presence. They say they love God, but they don't seem to enjoy being in the place where He is worshiped or with the people that He has saved. Oh yes, I love Jesus, but I find that I can worship God better on Sunday out on the lake fishing than I can in church. I love Jesus.

Liar, liar, pants on fire. Love will draw you to the object of the ones that you love. If you love your wife, you'll want to be with her. If you love your family, you'll want to be with them. If you love God, you'll want to spend time in His presence. If you love the people of God, you'll want to be in their presence. Love draws you to the ones that you love.

And Paul says, God is my witness how greatly I long for you all in the affection of Jesus Christ. So what do your actions reveal about your heart's true affection? Not what you say, not what you profess, not what you even have deceived yourself into thinking, but what do your actions say about the affections of your heart?

What are you drawn to? Because that will tell you what you love the most. That's the way love works. We're learning about love, the true nature of love. And love will draw you to the object of your affection. So the things that you are drawn to are the things that you love the most. But Paul says, I love you all and long for you all with this affection of Jesus Christ, the affection that Christ possesses for you and the affection which God, the Lord Jesus Christ has produced within me for you.

I love you with that affection. And that's the way Paul describes his love for them. But secondly, we can learn a great deal about true Christian love as we examine this prayer that Paul prayed for their love to grow in verses 9 through 11. And what did Paul prayed for?

And I'll read it and then we'll look at it. And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment and that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, with being filled rather with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. For what did Paul pray regarding their love?

Four things, as I see it here, with a little overlapping between them, but four things that we can distinguish. Number one, he prayed that their love may grow. Second, he prayed that their love may mature. Third, he prayed that their love may guide them. And fourth, he prayed that their love may bear fruit. First of all, that their love may grow, verse 9. In this I pray that your love may abound still more and more. Your love may abound still more and more.

Now this is a love already possessed. Paul doesn't say, I pray that God will give you love. Paul knows that if they're saved, he already has. He's already confident of this very thing that God has begun a good work in them. So he's not asking God to give them something which they don't already have.

They already have a love they didn't have before the new birth. They already have a love for God and a love for God's people. In fact, John in his first epistle makes it clear that if we don't love God and we don't love the people of God, we are no child of God. That's a plain statement of God's word. You can't hate the people of God and love God. You can't dislike the people of God and be a child of God. God gives every one of his children a measure of Christ-like love. So Paul doesn't need to pray that God will give them love he already has.

One of the commentators I'm using for this series is J.A. Montier, and at this point he said, and I quote, Other religions call us to become what we are not. Christianity calls us to become what we are.

That's a profound statement if you can think it through. Other religions call upon us to become what we are not. This is the way you are, and you're not satisfied with that. This is what you need to be, and so we call upon you to change. Change yourself. Change your ways.

Become something you are not. Other religions call upon us to become what we are not. Christianity calls upon us to become what we are, what God has already begun to work within us, but to become that more and more, to become that more conspicuously, to become that to a greater degree, to grow in Christ-likeness. God calls on us to become more of what he has already made us, and so Paul prays not that God would give them love, but Paul prays that your love may abound more and more, that it may grow. This tells us that Bible love is capable of growth and development. Just because you have some love doesn't mean that there isn't more to obtain and develop. And it furthermore tells us that this love that God has given us not only is able to grow, but it needs to grow.

It needs to grow. It's not fully developed in any of us. It needs to grow in the Apostle Paul.

He would be the first to say so. It needs to grow in all of God's children, no matter where we are in our growth and development. Only Jesus Christ had this to a perfect degree. We have love, but we need more love. God has given us love, but he calls upon us to grow and develop in our love. A love which we know is the fruit of the Spirit, that ninefold fruit of the Spirit. Where does the list begin? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith.

Love, the very first in the list. That's the fruit of the Spirit. It's given to us, but it needs to be developed. It's present to some degree in all true believers, but it is not present in any believer to its fullest development. So I pray that your love may abound yet more and more. So that's the first part of Paul's prayer for their love, that it may grow. But secondly, it is that their love may mature. Verse 9 goes on to say that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.

That their love may mature. You see, even Christian love can go astray. Even Christian love can be ill-advised. Even Christian love can do the wrong thing out of the right motive, the motive of love, but nevertheless not a knowledgeable love, not a discerning love. Alfred Plummer said, and this is pretty strong, but I quote it, misty thought, emotional conduct, and indiscriminate good nature are perilous.

Did you ever think of that before? But evidently Paul saw that as a problem, and so he prays that their love may grow in knowledge and discernment. First of all, knowledge. This is a common Greek word in the New Testament, epignosis. It's used 20 times in the New Testament and has the idea of full knowledge, fully developed knowledge, not just gnosis, knowledge, but epignosis, the fully developed knowledge. And we remember that Paul himself said in that great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, that I referred to earlier, that knowledge without love is nothing, remember? And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I'm nothing. So knowledge isn't everything. Knowledge isn't the totality of what we need as Christians. Knowledge without love is a big zero, but now Paul is telling us love without knowledge isn't very good either.

It's filled with danger. It takes both. Though knowledge apart from love is nothing, love apart from knowledge can be reckless. To become a Christian, we must come to knowledge. That's really what it means, at least in part, to come to Christ.

Of course, there are other elements to it, the volitional element, the surrender and so forth of our life to the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's some knowledge. We have to know some things about ourselves that are true, that we don't like to admit, our sinfulness and our inability to please God. We've got to know some things about what Jesus Christ has come to do, what God sent him to do in order to save sinners and in what way he saves sinners. So as we learn these things, this is knowledge that we have to know. Then we have a basis upon which to come to God through Christ and embrace the gospel for the salvation of our souls. So to become a Christian, we must come to a certain level of knowledge. But Paul is telling us that to grow as a Christian, we must continue in knowledge. We don't get in the door and say, yippee, my learning days are over, my study days are over, my exercise of my mind is over. That's the way a lot of Christians view it. Now I just want to feel my Christianity.

I just want to be jacked up emotionally. I don't want to have to exercise my brain. That's too much like school.

That's too much like work. And yet the Bible keeps telling us over and over and over again that Christians are expected to learn and to grow and to gain knowledge. You can't even have the love you ought to have if you're not increasing your love through knowledge, which directs your love, informs your love. Every Christian must become a student of God's word. Every Christian must become a student of God's word. Every Christian, is that you? Every Christian must become a student of God's word. If you have a mental block, a mental hang up about that, then ask God to take it away because every Christian must become a student of God's word.

I pray that your love may abound in knowledge and discernment. This word discernment is a rare word. It's not used often like the word knowledge.

In fact, this is the only time this particular Greek word is used in the New Testament. But it means to perceive the true significance of. Discernment is the ability to perceive the true significance of something. In other words, to be able to discern the good from the bad, to be able to discern the best from the better, to be able to discern the truly important from the trivial. As I was thinking through these things this week, so many illustrations came to mind of this.

I'll deal with a few of them at the close of the message. But how many Christians get off on a tear? I mean, devote their whole lives to something which is virtually nothing. It's of no real importance.

It's trivial. But, oh, they get off on that track and they give all of their energies and attention to this little project, this little thing that needs correcting, this thing that's wrong, this thing that's got to be done. And they're doing it, no doubt, out of a sincere love for Christ, but they are doing it out of an abysmal lack of Bible knowledge and a terrible lack of discernment. Their discernment is zilch. If they had some discernment, they'd know better than that. I am tempted to throw in some things here that I didn't put down for the end of the sermon. I'm going to step on somebody's toe here, but I hope the Lord will give you discernment to understand that all this arguing about whether or not the King James Bible is the only accurate and reliable and God-honoring translation is a bunch of nonsense. But it has diverted so many people off into a path of triviality that has wasted and squandered their energies. They do it out of love for God. They do it out of love for God's word.

But they do it with misunderstanding, lack of knowledge, and no discernment, and create wreck and ruin wherever they go. Did I step on your toes? I'm sorry.

But no, I'm not sorry, because you need to hear that. I pray that your love may, and I'm not saying you may prefer the King James, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with the King James. It's an excellent translation.

This idea that it's the only one, and if you don't use that one, then you're an apostate, is a terrible assault upon the body of Christ and upon true believers and upon truth. And it's all based upon misinformation, terrible distortions about the nature of Bible translation and Bible transmission. And if you just get a little knowledge, if you're having trouble with that, come see me and I'll loan you a book. Oh, I think I've already loaned that book out to somebody else, but I'll find another one for you.

Hopefully it'll help you. I had a dear saint years ago who was off on that track, a very intelligent person, but off on that track. Intelligent people do get sucked into this.

People with doctor's degrees get sucked into this sometimes. They got off on that track. So I just forget which book I gave to this person, but I knew they were a student, they were a reader. I just gave them the book, let them read it. They did read it, never said a word, returned the book, but that was the end of that. No more KJV only stuff. It was gone. It was gone.

The book destroyed all of their reasons for doing that. It gave them knowledge, which then allowed them to have proper discernment. It's not therefore enough for love to drive us to action as it should, but we must understand what action is appropriate and beneficial. And knowledge and discernment, the two go together, directs love into the best and most helpful action. We want to do something for Christ because we love Him, but don't just jump on your horse and charge off in every direction at once. Physically impossible, of course, but that's a description of the way some people are.

I mean, they're charging off here today and charging off here tomorrow and charging off here the next day and charging off here the day after that. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, rain it in, get settled, get some direction, get some understanding, get some discernment, get some maturity here and make your love worthwhile, make your love profitable. You've got love, but the way you're utilizing it is not profitable. Your love needs to be informed by knowledge and discernment. So, number one, that their love may grow. Number two, that their love may mature. Number three, that their love may guide them, and here's where some overlapping comes, because what I've already said in the maturing of love talks about how our love is guided by knowledge and discernment. But Paul does go on to say in verse 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. We could couple that with the maturing aspect of verse 9, but I've made it a separate thing, and that is that their love may guide them.

Paul prayed that the Philippians' love would develop in such a way so that they could be guided accurately by the love that Christ has formed in their hearts. If I hear this one more time, and I'm sure I will, I've already heard it probably a hundred times or more, if I hear this one more time when somebody's in a dilemma trying to figure out what to do, just let your heart guide you, just follow your heart, you'll be fine. I'm going to say, excuse me, because an unregenerate heart is not capable of guiding anyone, right?

And that's in most cases what we're talking about here. How can a heart which is fallen and sinful and deceitful and desperately wicked guide anyone to write? Just follow your heart, your sinful, depraved, wicked, self-deceiving heart.

Of course, the people who talk this way don't understand that because they don't have the knowledge of God's word. But that kind of heart is not going to guide you aright, but Paul is telling us that even Christians who are regenerate and have come closer to a right understanding and to a better heart condition, certainly a better heart condition than those who are unregenerate, and yet he's telling us that even Christians, if they are not properly informed or not biblically informed, can also be misled by their heart. Their hearts can lead them astray. My heart can lead me astray.

Your heart can lead you astray. And so we can't just follow our heart until our heart has become perfect, right? We can't follow our heart until we're in heaven, and we need help now upon earth.

We don't need as much guidance in heaven as we need right now. And so we need hearts that are informed. We need hearts that are discerning. We need hearts that are able to approve things that are excellent, that are sincere, without offense until the day of Christ.

We need hearts that are developed that way if we're going to get any benefit out of following our hearts. And so he is praying that they will mature and will be guided, that they will come to the place where they are able to be guided, that you may be able to choose wisely, that you may be enabled to walk blamelessly, are the two concepts in verse 10. To choose wisely, to approve things that are excellent and sincere, without offense. Several concepts all packaged in a short verse.

Excellent, that's a word that means the differing things. So that you can approve, among the differing things, you can approve what is excellent. What we want as Christians is not just what is barely acceptable. We want what is best, right? Only one life will soon be past, so let's make a count for Christ instead of spinning our tires in something that's of trivial significance.

Let's choose the best in every area of life. Sincere is a word that means tested by the light of the sun. I'm told that sometimes in stores in the first century that sold pottery, if they had a cracked pot and they wanted to be a little dishonest, they would fill the crack with wax and kind of paint over it and hope people didn't notice it and would buy a defective pot. I read online about someone who just bought a nuke, not a brand new, but a late model car from one of the highly touted car companies.

I won't tell you which one, but you can ask me afterwards if you want to know. And something was wrong with it. They took it in the shop and found out it had been wrecked, it had been in a flood, and it had more miles on it than what it said. In other words, that had been totally misrepresented by unscrupulous people.

What a disappointment. So what did you do if you were smart, if you were wise, if you were sincere, wanted what was right and excellent when you went to buy that pot? So you take that vase outside the shop and hold it up to the sun, and the sun will reveal the crack. The sun will show you what's been filled in.

The sun will show you the deceit that is being foisted upon you. And Paul says, I want you to be guided by a heart that is sincere, that is tested by light, which of course is truth. And without offense, which has the idea of a heart that doesn't cause you to stumble.

Offense has the idea of stumbling. Or, and both, coupled with it, a heart that doesn't cause others to stumble. That's what I'm praying for you, that you'll be guided by a reliable heart, not misled by a heart that's all emotions without this kind of substance to it. And then finally, that their love may bear fruit, verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Abundant fruit, divinely enabled fruit, God-honoring fruit, that you may be filled with the fruits of righteousness, not just a little bit, but a lot. Jesus talked about fruit coming in terms of 30 fold and some 60 fold and some 100 fold. Interestingly, he didn't talk about any Christian whose fruit was no fold, no fruit, no such thing, no such thing. If your life isn't bearing any fruit, it's because you are no child of God. But it is true that different Christians bear different levels of fruit, some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some 100 fold, just like in agriculture some crops do better than others. Well, wouldn't we all desire to be not 30 fold, but 100 fold Christians being filled with the fruits of righteousness? Isn't that what our desire is?

It certainly ought to be. Abundant fruit. But how does that come about? Divinely enabled fruit. These are the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, he tells us. Obviously, we are active in this by the design of God, but even in our activity, it's not us that produces it.

We're not able in ourselves. It's what God has done in us. It's the fruit of righteousness which he has created within us, and it is the work of Jesus Christ continuing in us in the person of the Holy Spirit that enables us to produce any fruit whatsoever.

But with resources like that, why shouldn't we be 100 fold Christians, for goodness sakes? We have been made righteous and the fruits of righteousness should be springing and will be springing out of our life. We are the children of God in which Christ is continuing to work with his powerful omnipotence in our lives.

Why aren't we producing more fruit? Oh, beloved, said Paul, I pray that you will be filled full with the fruits of righteousness. God honoring fruit to the glory and praise of God. To glorify God is to manifest his nature and character, to put it on display, to make it clear, plain before others. To praise God is to give him grateful homage, that's worship. Bow the knee. Bow in homage, in worship, in praise.

Every knee shall bow to thee. Why? Well, because he's worthy of it. Why? Because he enables it.

We can't do this without his enabling anyway. So we do this gladly because he is doing it in us, and thereby God is magnified and his virtues are extolled. All right, a few lessons. First, let's talk about love, because that's what this is all about, about love. And where love is found, we've all heard the phrase, that's somebody who was looking for love in all the wrong places. And usually what we mean by that is there's someone who's gone off into bad sexual relationships hoping to find love, and they don't find love that way.

They think they're going to, and it turns out empty, and they've been looking for love in all the wrong places. But this passage tells us we can look for love in the wrong places, even if it has nothing to do with sexual relationships. We can be looking for love in the world. We can be looking for love in emotional stimulation. We can be looking for love in all kinds of ways, and we need to be looking for love in the right places. Where's that? Well, first of all, in Christ, you can't experience love until you come to Christ.

That's the fountain of love. Where else? Among the people of God. Where are you going to find human, real-life, on-earth expressions of love, imperfect as they may be, but more greatly developed than you're going to find in any place else in this world?

Where are you going to find it? Among the people of God. So look for love in the right places. Look for love at church. Look for love among the people of God. Where are you going to find love? By studying the word of God. In the pages of Scripture, you're going to learn what true love really is, and you're going to find it there.

How has love developed? We see that mere emotional love is shallow, but we learn in this passage that love is developed by knowledge of the word and the ability to apply it. That's discernment, or we could substitute the word wisdom. That's why Christians need to value the word. That's why we urge you to study the word. That's why we urge you to read through the Bible every year.

I know that's not the 11th commandment, but, beloved, don't you understand how valuable that is, how important that is? Christians need to value the word, and churches need to preach the word. I'm afraid a lot of churches don't even understand what their main job is, is to preach the word of God, to teach all things whatsoever I have commanded you, to equip the saints to be able to do the work of the ministry by teaching them the word of God. The main job of the church is to see how many people we can get into our services. Yippee, yippee, if we get them in and don't help them spiritually, what good is that? Our primary responsibility as a church is not to jack people up emotionally so they feel good about themselves and go out.

We'll try a little harder this week until their emotional energy drains down to zero, and then they can come back and get it jacked up again week after week after week. The purpose of the church is not to give people psychology and self-help motivation and pep talks so that they can learn how to be a little better this, a little better that. The purpose is to preach and teach the word of God so that your love can develop in knowledge and discernment. And why is discernment needed? Knowledge and discernment, why is it needed?

Well, number one, because it keeps us from wasted efforts. I've already tried to show you that. You want to spend your life loving Jesus and spinning your tires in the sand and going nowhere? I love Jesus.

Look how fast my tires are spinning. Yeah, and look how far you've gone, nowhere. Learn to love Jesus with a knowledgeable love, a discerning love that really amounts to something that will enable you to develop the fruits of righteousness. It keeps us from well-meaning liability, not only from wasting our efforts, but in some cases creating harm. I gave you an illustration of that earlier, how that well-meaning love for God and for His word can actually create harm in the body of Christ. We don't want our love to be a liability to Christ and to His cause, but it will be if it's not informed by knowledge and by discernment. We want to evangelize, but we need to evangelize with loving knowledge and discernment. We want to defend the faith, which was once for all delivered unto the saints, but we want to defend the faith with knowledgeable love and discernment, not just go out slashing the sword and bashing everything that comes across our path, because we don't have the discernment to be able to understand things that are significant from things that are trivial. So many of the things we argue about as Christians are strictly cultural.

They really don't have any great significance. I don't think you ought to come to church dressed this way. Well, that's cultural. Now, you need to be modest.

You need to be covered. You need not to be displaying your flesh in an ungodly way. But, folks, I don't care whether you wear a tie, a suit and tie or not, speaking to the men. It really doesn't matter. It's trivial. That's a nonsense issue. Well, I think preachers ought to dress a certain way.

So do I, like this, okay? Trivial. I hear people fighting over things like that. Trivial. Brother Thad, you are a very excellent preacher, but you don't have a tie on. Can't use you, sir. Or you either, Manny. You don't have your tie on. Oh, come on. Let's get beyond this kind of triviality and into things that really matter.

But that requires knowledge and discernment, wisdom to know how to apply that knowledge. Use you, Bill. You've got your tie on.

Hearing good things about your Isaiah series in Sunday school. People are really enjoying that, benefiting from it. But if you take your tie off, it's over. Fads come and go, not only in the secular world, but also in the Christian world. Some people have to be the first to jump on the new fad that comes down the pike without the discernment to realize it's a fad. It's not substance. It's a fad.

It'll be over in just a few years, and then you'll have to either go on to the next fad, or you'll be left behind. I remember as a boy, my mother saying this. It was in regard to clothing fashions. And she said, Be not the first by whom the new is tried, nor the last to set the old aside.

You ever hear that? Be not the first by whom the new is tried, nor the last to set the old aside. Don't be the first one to try the new fashion.

Wait a while to make sure if it's going to be around a little bit. And don't be the last one to let go when everybody has changed, and here you are wearing your whatever, your suspenders and out-of-style clothes, coats with lapels that are about six inches wide and so forth. Don't be the first by which the new is tried, nor the last to lay the old aside.

That's a pretty good piece of discernment, biblical wisdom, I would say, in regard to so many of the things that come down the pike with Christianity. Oh, here's something new over here. So we all rush over there. I'm surprised that we don't capsize the boat. We all rush to the same side of the rail and wow.

Whoops, it's over here now. We all rush back over to the other side, tip the boat the other way. Calm down, slow down. Get some knowledge.

Get some discernment. And be mature and productive, persevering in solid truth until the Lord calls us home. Shall we pray? Father, help us in these matters. Help us to learn the kind of love that Paul had for the Philippians and the kind of love he wanted to see developed within them. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.