Sermon Series: Jesus: Everything We Need

 Make Me a Blessing 

Philippians 1:7-11 

CBC Bishop-2/16/03

In a nutshell: We can be a blessing to others by showing love and praying for them.

I. Introduction

A. "El" story

Being from Chicago, I always love hearing stories about things that are uniquely Chicagoan. I remember reading a story a few years ago, by the late Chicago newspaper columnist, Mike Royko, about something that happened on the "El".

Now, if you didn't know, the "El" stands for the "elevated train". If you're not familiar with Chicago, this is a commuter train that when it comes into the downtown area, is on a high, overhead track..

The story goes that a young man was riding that train day after day as a commuter. And as the train slowed up for the station where he got off, he could look down from on top of the station platform, and see through an open curtain into a room of a building across the street. And every morning, he saw an elderly woman lying in a bed.

This woman was there day after day, for a long time. It was obvious to the young man that this woman was quite ill. His interest in her started to grow more and more as he saw her in her bed every day.

Finally he determined to do something to encourage her. Through some detective work, he discovered her name and address, and he wrote her a card. In the card he told her that he was praying for her recovery, every day as his train pulled into the station. He signed it: "The young man on the "el"."

A few weeks later, his train pulled into the station, and he looked through that window and the bed was empty. Instead there was a great big, huge sign in the window that read: GOD BLESS YOU, MY FRIEND ON THE "EL"!

B. Transition

Most of us have been fortunate enough to have had people come into our lives who have made a significant contribution to our growth and development. And I'm convinced that deep down inside most of us, if not all of us, want to be that kind of person for someone else. -We want to make a difference for someone else. -We want to be a blessing. -When people see us coming, we want them to be glad.

So how does this happen? What makes us a blessing to someone else?

If you have your Bibles, I'd encourage you to turn to the first chapter of Philippians, as we continue our study this morning of this very encouraging letter in the New Testament.

So far in our study in this book of Philippians, we have seen that the apostle Paul considered this group of people to be a blessing to him. The first 6 verses have told us that… -Every time he thought of them, he thanked God. -and that these people in the church at Philippi had made a significant difference in his life.

Now in verses 7-11, that we'll be focusing in on this morning, Paul is going to show us two ways that he wants to be a blessing back to these Philippians. And they also happen to be two ways we can be a blessing to others. Look at what he writes in verses 7-8…

Philippians 1:7-8 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

II. Show Love for Others

A. Love for Others is Evidence of a Relationship

These Philippian Christians stood by Paul through all kinds of difficulties-shipwrecks, illness, depression, discouragements, and now, prison. Paul didn't want this relationship to be a one way street. They were a blessing to him, so he wants to, be one to them.

And in these two verses, we see the first of the two ways that we can be a blessing to others. The first thing we must do it is…Show Love For Others

This is what Paul is doing here. He is highlighting the way he feels about these Christians in Philippi. It's obvious that he loves them. And this true selfless love is a by-product of Paul's relationship with Christ. We read in…

Romans 5:5 5 …God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

When you and I become Christians, God gave us the capacity to love one another. In fact, Jesus said that our love for one another would be one of the main evidences of our relationship with Him. He says in…

John 13:34-35 34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Do you realize that your love for other believers is the main piece of evidence of whether or not you are following Jesus Christ as the leader of your life.

B. How do you show love?

So how do we show love for others? There are two ways suggested in verses 7 and 8.

1. By what you say

The first way you can show love for others is by what you say. This is exactly what we see Paul doing in this passage.

He tells them how he feels about them. He even calls God as his witness. He says, "God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus."

He was letting these Christians know just how he felt about them. And this is a very good thing for us to do.

Let me ask you question. Do words matter to you? Of course they do! Things like… -"You did a great job!" -"I want you to know I really appreciate you." -"You're a really smart person." -"You're really good at that." -"You look good today." …make you feel pretty good, right? That's because innate in human nature is the fact that we all want to hear good things said about us.

Words have the power to build us up or words have the power to tear us down. I heard a speaker say one time, that the person who wrote, "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me," was probably deaf. The fact is, words really can hurt you. In fact, they can hurt a lot.

But words can encourage as well. Words are powerful. And when used right, they help show love to one another.

2. By What We Do

But there is another way that we can show love for others. We can show love for others by what we do. Look at this from

1 John 3:18 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (truth = true, active caring)

Words are wonderful but words alone are not enough. You obviously need to say that you love someone. But if that's all you do, and there's no any actions to go along with the words, then pretty soon the one you are saying, "I love you" to, is going to get suspicious. Without actions, they are going to doubt that you really mean it. And why is that? It's because you're not doing anything to prove it.

In the musical, My Fair Lady, Eliza Dolittle is courted by Freddy. Every day, Freddy writes to her of his love for her. Finally, Eliza's response to all his notes is to cry out in frustration with the words of a song…

Don't talk of stars burning above. If you're in love, Show me! Tell me no dreams filled with desire. If you're on fire, Show me!

Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme! Don't waste my time; Show me! Don't talk of June! Don't talk of fall! Don't talk at all; Show me!

Friends, if you and I want to really show our love then we've got to do something. Our words must be accompanied by actions. The old saying, actions speak louder than words, is very true. We need to say it and show it.

And by the way, the interesting thing is that our actions don't have to be really big things. Often just small acts of kindness is all you need to do.

Illustration: I think this is a real guy issue. Usually, we want to know the one big thing we can do to get ourselves out of trouble. That's because men are "fixers". We want to know how to fix a problem, then move on. And in the case of people, we want to know what we have to do to fix a relationship problem so we can move on.

Well, the fact is, usually, we get ourselves into trouble by not doing the little things. It's neglecting to do the little things that mess up relationships.

And the same is true for being a blessing. Being a blessing is not usually doing the big things, but identifying the little things that will be a blessing to someone, and doing those things.

So there's Paul's first example of how to be a blessing to others. We need to show our love by what we say and by what we do.

III. Pray for Others

But there is another thing we can do to be a blessing to others. And that's found in verses 9-11…

Philippians 1:9-11 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 until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.

The point here is very simple…Pray For Others

Friends, if we want to be a blessing to other people, one of the greatest things we can do is to pray for them. Because prayer makes a difference.

On the front of your worship folders this morning is a quote from Watchman Nee, a Chinese evangelist who died a prisoner in a Communist prison in 1972, because of his faith in Jesus Christ He said… Our prayers lay the track down on which God's power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.

Did you know that prayer for others is also an obligation and a privilege that every Christian has? Look at this verse from…

Ephesians 6:18 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

This was something that God tells us He expects every Christian to be doing. So what do we pray for others, if we want to be a blessing to them? Well, Paul focuses in on four specific things. These are a good place to start for all of us…

A. Grow in Love

This first thing that Paul prayed is that they would grow in love.

Paul said, "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight…"(v. 9).

Love is foundational to our Christian natures. We have already seen that love is the evidence of our relationship with Christ. It is by our love for each other, that people outside the family of God will recognize that we are followers of Jesus Christ.

When we are praying that others would grow in love, we're praying that God would replace any of their feelings of resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, or hostility with his unconditional love. Because those negative feelings only wind up hurting the one who has them anyway.

In my experience, I can say that too many people in Christian churches are trapped by their negative feelings toward other believers. Those negative feelings get so ingrained, that those that have them become slaves to those feelings. Those feelings become like a cancer that destroys their joy from the inside.

But God's love liberates us-not only from the penalty of sin, but also from unhealthy attitudes that we are tempted to have toward other people. So we need to pray for others to grow in love.

B. Choose the best

The second area of prayer for others is found in the first part of verse 10… Paul prayed, "… that you may be able to discern what is best…" (v. 10a). The focus of prayer here is that they may choose the best.

What we're talking about here is priorities. What are our priorities? Simply speaking, our priorities are those things that are most important in our lives.

Now, I want you to notice that Paul did not pray for them to choose what is good. Obviously, he doesn't want them to choose what is bad. But he also doesn't want them to choose what is just good. This is an important distinction.

The devotional writer, Oswald Chambers said, "The good is the worst enemy of the best." And that is so true. We can substitute a good thing we want to do for the best that God wants of us. When we do that, the good thing we want to do becomes the enemy of the best that God wants us to do.

What is God's best for you? My good friend, Darrell Wiseman, a Nazarene pastor in Idaho, uses the phrase, "God's thumb in the back." He's referring to those things that God seems to be moving us to do-the things we can't get out of our minds.

Have you been putting it off doing what God wants you to do in your life? Have you been avoiding doing the very best thing you can do to honor God? If we want to experience the fullness of what God has for us, we must choose the best, not simply the good. And we need to pray for our fellow Christians that they would choose the best as well.

C. Holy Character

In the second part of verse 10, Paul prays a third thing for the Philippian Christians. He prayed for them that they "may be pure and blameless" (v.10b). I call this praying for holy character.

As we saw a couple of weeks ago, our goal as Christians is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We are to reflect His nature and His character in our lives. And if we care for the people in our church, and the Christians in our community, we will want them to be more like Jesus, too. Do you pray for the people in this church family that God will make them holy? Do you want to be holy yourself?

To be holy doesn't mean that you are sinless. -To be holy simply means that you are totally committed to God. -You are set apart by Him for His service. -You want what He wants. And you are holy-not because of anything you have done-but because you belong to Him. Having a holy character simply means that God is the leader of your life.

What an outstanding thing to pray for each other! Imagine if we all desired to have God's wants be our wants. What an affect we'd have for the Kingdom of God!

D. Do What Is Right

The final thing that Paul prays for the Philippian Christians, and that we should pray for each other is found in verse 11… Paul prayed that they might be "filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God"

In essence, Paul is praying that they would do what is right. He wants their behavior to reflect their relationship.

Paul uses the analogy of fruit. It is a very easy picture to understand. Fruit is the product of the tree on which it grows. It reflects what the tree really is. -An orange tree produces oranges. -An apple tree produces apples. -A grapefruit tree produces grapefruit. …And a godly person produces godly works. What is on the inside of the Christian will eventually come to the outside. Righteousness on the inside will show itself in right behavior on the outside.

And those good works will glorify God. Jesus said,

Matthew 5:16 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

The highest honor that we have as Christians is to cause others to praise and recognize God's work in us. -If people see our good works and glorify God then our lives have made a difference. -If our good works touch the life of someone else then our lives have made a difference. We need to pray for one another that our lives would be filled with doing right, so our lives individually and collectively make a difference for God.

IV. Conclusion

The old chorus we sang this morning says, "Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, Out of my life may Jesus shine. Make me a blessing, O Savior I pray. Make me a blessing to someone today."

Well, if that is what you want to be…a blessing to someone…, then these verses in Philippians 1 tell you how to go about doing it.

1. Begin by showing love. -Show it by what you say. -Show it by what you do.

2. And then pray for others. -Pray that they would grow in love. -Pray that they would choose the best. -Pray that they would have holy character. -Pray that they would do what's right.

Friends, you can't put these principles into practice and not be a blessing! If you do these things, you will have an impact on others-- a very positive one. -They'll be glad to see you coming. -You will be an encouragement to them. -Your life will make a difference in their lives. And you will be a blessing.

Amen. Close in Prayer