Essentials for Growth in Godliness, Part 2

The great distinction of Christianity that it sum and substance at the heart is love.

God loves us. We love God and in that context, we love each other and are loved by true godliness begins with that is not unlike the way many people live their lives as a Christian know you shouldn't be lacking in direction or the power to stay on course to keep pursuing your goals.

The question is what are your goals what should they begin. How do you stay energized to keep after them.

If you give John MacArthur the next half hour here on grace to you, you'll discover specific goals that you can and should pursue the result you'll find that joy will rule your life.

That's the title of John study joy rules.

Now with the lesson. Here's John, Philippians, chapter 1 were looking at verses nine through 11.

Paul's prayer for the believers.

He writes and this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Now in this prayer, which Paul prays for the Philippian Christians. He focuses on the essentials for sound spiritual health East is focusing on the features of true spirituality. Elements of spiritual life which every Christian must pursue love, excellence, integrity, good works, and glory. In fact, in some ways you could sum up the Christian life. In those five terms, love, excellence, integrity, good works, and glory. Now we began our study by looking at verse nine. In considering the first of these five essentials, namely love verse nine says this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, all of Christian living begins with love everything in our Christian experience must be built on a foundation of love.

In fact, the whole text of verses 9 to 11 is sequential love leads to excellence which leads to integrity which leads to good works, which leads to the praise and glory of God so love is the great foundation of Christian living is the most surpassing virtue of the Christian life and really the distinctive of our faith. The late Dr. Donald Barnhouse who was a great Bible teacher and expositor on the East Coast tells about a Japanese girl who worked at the airline desk in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. On one occasion when you happen to be in that hotel at the airline desk. He spoke to this girl who was fluent in Chinese, Japanese and English. By necessity, and was obviously from a very cultured background and is open and unique way. He simply asked her if she were a Christian.

She replied no, I'm a Buddhist, and after being questioned further.

She said she had heard of Jesus Christ and she heard about a sacred book called the Bible. But she had never read it and knew nothing at all about Jesus Christ personally. Then Dr. Barnhouse asked her a very telling question. He said to her, do you love Buddha startled. She replied love I never thought about love in connection with religion challenged by her pathetic reply. Dr. Barnhouse unfolded her the beautiful reality of Christian love.

In contrast to the pagan gods that are hated and feared.

He told that girl that know God in the entire world is allowed except the true God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He pointed out that in her country statues were everywhere of the deities and they were fierce monsters guarding temple gates, while a placating people attempted to somehow appease an otherwise angry deity.

He reminded her that in her religion, they burn incense and offer sacrifices in an effort to appease the cruel impulsive whims of these wicked deities is he that is the great distinction of Christianity that it sum and substance at the heart is love. God loves us. We love God and in that context, we love each other and are loved by each other. True godliness begins with love in first Corinthians chapter 13, Paul writes, if I speak with the terms of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing and if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and if I deliver my body to be burned but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is the cynical none of Christianity, a Buddhist monk may like himself on fire. But if he has not love that love born of God.

It is useless. Nothing makes any sense. Nothing has any value unless there is love so love is that surpassing virtue. Paul then prays that the love of the Philippians and us would abound more and more in all real knowledge and all discernment, he prays for our increasing love is divine love indicated by the fact that he asks God for it. It comes from God, not man.

It is de facto love. They already have it in an abundance and he wants them to have more and more of it is decisive. Love the word agape means the love of the will or the love of choice, not emotion. It is dynamic. Love it abounds more and more increasing and overflowing is indeed love in that it is rooted in deep spiritual knowledge and understanding, and it is discerning love and that it has insight into all the situations of life and knows how it should be applied. So this love is not an unregulated impulse.

It is biblical discerning discriminating service rendered to others in need, even if it means sacrifice is not an emotion. It is a duty is an act of selfless sacrifice in behalf of someone else. It cannot be reduced to a sociological phenomenon. It cannot be reduced to an emotional feeling. The key to it is selflessness. The key to it is humility.

The key to it is to be lost in meeting the needs of others. The people really love are committed to others, unselfish, gracious to meet others needs no matter who they are and no matter what the need might be. Everything begins with love. So Paul prays for a heart of love. Now it's gone to the rest of the excellencies the essentials of spiritual life.

The second is excellence. Notice again in verse 10, so that you may approve the things that are excellent.

Now you notice the sequence. There this feature deals with the sense of priority and follows on the first essential namely love the two little words so that are the Lincoln show is there is a progression in view here where a person is literally dominated by the love of God, there will be a corresponding desire to seek and approve what is excellent. Why, because that true love is controlled by the deep knowledge of the word which enables the Christian to be completely discerning and discriminating. And that leads him to a pursuit of what is excellent. So he says, so that verse 10, you may approve the things that are excellent. You can't do it without that pervasive love that attitude of commitment that the Bible calls biblical love the word approve is a very interesting and important word doc a module. It's very familiar in the New Testament it was used in classical Greek for assaying metal to determine its properties in its purity. It was used for testing money to be sure that it wasn't counterfeit. In Luke 1419.

It is used of testing the quality of animals, namely, oxen, and in Luke 1256.

It is used of sort of assessing the state of the sky or analyzing the weather so it has to do with testing to verify or to prove or to determine something in what he is saying here is that my prayer for you is that you would have the capability to evaluate and determine the things that are excellent. Now the Greek dear Pharaoh, means literally, to differ, referring to the things that are excellent to differ.

In other words, so that you will know the difference between things and be able to determine what is most important.

The idea then is to be able to set proper value on things. What is valuable.

What is not valuable. What is more valuable. What is most valuable what is worthwhile what is vital what is excellent. What is the thing that really matters. Now listen carefully. It is not the ability to distinguish between good and bad everybody can do that is the ability to distinguish between good and best and only a few seem to be able to do that. The discernment that assesses what is best so crucial being able to take your life and focus your time and your energy on what really matters. Approving what is excellent testing assaying assessing proving approving what is most significant in listen, the ability to do that is what separates the simple from the profound the week from the powerful and the common from the influential those profound, powerful, influential people are those people who have ability to focus their life on some excellent goal and they are not dissuaded or detracted by things that are less than excellent. This is a prayer for the mind. By the way, you might even say the first one. A prayerful love is a prayer for the heart. This is a prayer for the mind because you cannot pursue what is excellent unless you can assess what is excellent.

This is the challenge to be of life is having the ability to pursue what is most noble and best and that's just not how most people are most people are like the proverbial bouncing ball. They just react a reactance that there are knee-jerk kind of lifestyle they just do whatever impulse emotion, mood, tells them or they simply react to the environment around them. They don't control the environment and they don't control their response to the environment. In fact, they don't think they just react. Most people live off their moods. They don't control themselves. Their selves control them. They don't think it all. They can't pursue unhindered and undistracted what is excellent because they can't think and control their thought patterns to the degree that they can assess what is excellent.

They react, it's tragic but most people live in reaction to everything around them like a bouncing ball bouncing off every wall they hit in whatever direction they have the freedom to go was an interesting educational study done in which people were given new concepts.

In other words, a man came in and gave these people a new concept, something they had never heard of before and asked them to believe it and knowing that in asking them to believe that they would have to set aside some of the things they had previously thought were true, the results were interesting 50% of the people believed it immediately without thinking 30% of the people didn't believe it immediately without thinking 15% of the people want to wait a little while before they made up their mind, but asked for no clarification and no further information and then made up their mind. 5% of the people analyzed all the details and finally came to a conclusion and the result of the test go something like this.

It is estimated that 5% of the people think 15% of the people think.

They think, and 80% of the people would rather die than think that's how it is in the world. That's how it is you want to think people don't think they don't know how to approve what is excellent because they can't control their mind because their emotions control their mind and they just react. Somebody said most of society is on the caboose looking backward. They're just seeing what goes by Marjorie the story.

The pilot came on the loudspeaker on the plane and said I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we lost all our instrumentation and don't know where we are. The good news is we have a tailwind and are making great time and I think that's basically how most people live life. They have no instrumentation but they got a tailwind in the making great time going through life like a blur with absolutely no idea of what's going on. We can combine our metaphors like a guy sitting on the back of the caboose only see what's already happened with no anticipation at all see people live by emotion and only by thinking, but as Christians.

If were going to pursue what is excellent.

We have to have mind over mood. You cannot be a victim of your emotions and your moods to pursue what is excellent.

In Romans, you're familiar with that wonderful 12th chapter and second verse and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

You gotta renew your mind you have to get your thinking in order. That's why in Philippians 4, Paul says you've got to look at whatever is true, whatever is honorable verse eight whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is a good report, and if there is any excellence in anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things starts with your mind, you've got to get beyond reacting to your mood and your emotion in Ephesians 5, Paul says walk as children of light, learning what is pleasing to the Lord and then down in verse 15. Be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is think think first Thessalonians 521 but examine everything carefully and hold fast to what is best BC Christian character at its highest level is a divinely implanted and growing love controlled by truth and wisdom that is therefore pursuing with its discernment and discrimination.

What is most excellent. And yet, most people will spend their whole life reacting like a knee-jerk reaction to whatever's bouncing around and doing whatever their mood dictates to them to do, accomplishing nothing that lasts, because they never learn to discriminate about what is the excellent thing whereas a truly godly are characterized by love and the pursuit of excellence. Take a look at your life. Are you really approving and pursuing what is excellent or is it fill with trivia that matters not at all what Sampson sucks your energy is 1/3 characteristic or essential in this process. That is, integrity integrity, love, and excellence lead to integrity.

Verse 10 in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. Now the little phrase in order to be as a Greek student Senate with a subjunctive which is a purpose clause. You are to love so that you can pursue excellence in order that or for the purpose of being a person of integrity and again the sequence is made very obvious. These things are all sequential love controlled by biblical truth and practical insight leads to the pursuit of excellence which generates personal and relational integrity.

A look at those two words in verse 10. In order to be sincere and blameless.

They have a different meaning a different emphasis that I want you to see the word sincere is a very interesting word. It means genuine, but it has a possibility of a couple of different routes.

Some think it is rooted in a word that means to sift a grain would be put in a suit and sifted until all the impurity was removed and what came through would be the pure grain and there is a possibility that this word has that route, and that it means you that all the impurity of your life is been sifted out so your pure genuine 100% on the other hand it also could have as its root, two words in the Greek, one word meaning son.

The other meaning to judge so that it literally in its root meaning has the idea of testing something by sunlight testing something by sunlight that, by the way, we don't know for sure if that's the root of Ailey kinase, which is the Greek term, but it is the root of sincere, which is a Latin derivative the Latin word is sin necessary and it literally means without wax now and explain what that means a potter who was making a jar or a bowl or a plate of a dish of some kind would turn it on his wheel and then when it was completed.

He would take it in fire it, bake it, as you know, frequently because of some impurity in the clay are some error in judgment in terms of the temperature or whatever, it would come up with a crack a cracked jar or pot or bowl or dish would be useless, but because of the money invested in it. The unscrupulous spotters would try to cover up the crap and they would take a hard wax and they would fill the crack with wax and then they would cover it over with whatever they were using to coat or to paint the pot or the bowl, and so when any wise person went into the marketplace to buy a piece of pottery they would typically hold the pottery up to the sunlight and rotated to see if it was without wax because the sunlight that shines through the crack and reveal the way which of course the first time anything he did was put in it would melt and it would be discovered is useless. A life then needs to be held up to the sunlight to determine whether it's got any flaws that are being falsely covered over by the wax of hypocrisy. That's the idea that may well be the root of the word sincere. That certainly is behind the Latin concepts and a Sarah which means without wax so just as in ancient times. Pottery was tested by holding it up to the sun so our life needs to be tested as well to see if it has integrity, no flaw, no crack covered over by wax you say what you mean by that. Well, just how it is in the church folks just how it is those people who would like us to believe that they are a real hole pot or whole borehole � or a whole jar and they are not there are cracks in their life there sin in their life flaws in their life but they have covered those over with the wax of of church inanity about religious ceremony of religious activity they cover it. You put them into the the heat of something and they'll melt and revealed that the mark reveal the crack revealed a split but they get along a long time without that discovery, if the hostility or the persecution or the difficulty doesn't come you want to be a life like that you want to be a life of integrity want to be without wax you want to be sincere pure without floor. Real, genuine, honest, all parts touching like I've use illustration making bread. You throw everything in a pan that has to be inbred and stick it in the oven. You will get bread you left out one important thing you have to mix it.

Yet the start so that everything touches everything else. Then you get bread in the same thing is true in life. Integrity is when every part of your life touches every other part of your life and there's nothing in your life that's unrelated to what you believe or what you affirm or what you say your creative everything has to touch everything else that's integrity, that's integrity.

This is grace to you with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us. John is a pastor, author and Chancellor of the Masters University in seminary, and he titled our current study, joy, rules John, we frequently stressed the importance of context in understanding Scripture and interpreting what we read, and one major element in any context is the audience that this was written for new current series.

For example, Paul is writing to the church that Philippi so how important is that detail and how much do we need to know about the author Paul in the audience. The church at Philippi in order to benefit from this book. What we need to know everything. I remember when I went to seminary.

The first class that I had in seminary was from the man who I really considered my mentor Dr. Charles Feinberg, the first class I had from him was Hebrews and Hebrews is an incredible book but it's a it's a pretty big dose of the doctrine and it basically is a New Testament book based upon Old Testament truth so it pulls the new and the old together. It's got complicated aspects to it. So he assigned a paper the first day of class, he assigned a paper and we had to write a paper on the addressees of the book who did this book go to because if you don't understand that in Hebrews. You can be completely lost. Once you can establish, to whom he was writing. Then the whole book makes sense right that it that essentially is true in every book and end in the epistle of Hebrews itself. You get the hits so when you go through you say don't look outside the book of Hebrews to find out who is writing to you. Look inside and there are. It's like it is like a discovery process likens it's like solving a mystery same is true in every book of the New Testament. You're always asking the question to whom is he saying this in what setting is he saying this, what are the background things we need to know where the religious issues we need to know what are the cultural issues we need to know and they usually tucked into the book itself.

The best way to find this out is to read a commentary and I would suggest is it a couple days ago a great way to begin reading commentaries would be to start with the commentary that I've written on Philippians. It's the book of Philippians explained verse by verse, word by word and you see all of this unfolding of the full context of the book so powerful because now you understand everything in its appropriate setting. The book of Philippians commentary would be. I think an introductory kind of a portal into the whole commentary series a written 34 commentaries on all the books of the New Testament, but I suggest starting with the book of Philippians, you will have a completely different approach to understanding the Bible. If you read the commentary along with the text of an epistle. This is a great place to start right and these commentaries are ideal for parents Sunday school teachers, pastors for anyone wanting a better grasp of the New Testament to order an individual volume or the entire 34 volume set. Contact us today. You can order by phone, call us toll-free 855 race or go to our website Jide TY.org again to purchase the volume on Philippians or all 34 volumes.

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As John continues his study called joy be here for another 30 minutes unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on race