What is it we pray for? Do we ask God for material blessings? Do we ask for health? When we pray for others are these the things we ask God to grant? There is nothing wrong in asking that needs be supplied. Jesus, Himself, taught his disciples to pray, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3) But He also taught his disciples to pray, “…Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.” (Matthew 6:10) In harmony with Christ’s teaching, the Apostle Paul gave greater importance to spiritual needs than to physical. After telling the followers of Christ at Philippi that he thanked God for them every time he remembered them he writes, “This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; so that you may approve the things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11)
Paul prays that the love of those to whom he is writing will grow. The kind of love which he mentions is the same kind as God has. This kind of love does not depend on the worthiness of its object. It gives with no thought of receiving anything in return. But this love is not blind. It is an informed love. Paul prays that their love will grow in knowledge. As knowledge increases, so does the need for discernment. It is often quite easy to determine what is good and what is evil. It is more difficult to choose between two good courses of action or to recognize, not only what is good but, what is best.
Another reason that Paul prays for these people to grow in love is that they may be sincere, (pure NIV) and without offense (will not stumble NIV). Love and impurity cannot coexist. Similarly, love protects from error. Love is so powerful and effective that it will preserve those who have it until Christ returns. Several times during Jesus’ ministry He pointed out that whether fruit is good or bad is determined by whether the tree which produced it is good or bad. In the same way the pure and blameless life which stems from love will produce righteous fruit. But we can never produce righteous fruit by ourselves. As Paul says, it can only come through Jesus Christ.
The object of Paul’s prayer is not merely that the people to whom he writing will increase in love, it is that their love will result in glory and praise being given to God. As followers of Christ, this should be our ultimate goal.
Once we accept the premise that the purpose or object of everything is to bring praise to God, we can look at the circumstances of our lives from a different perspective. Instead of being upset about the difficulties and pain we are suffering, we can look at how God may be glorified or praised as a result of our circumstances. In verses 12 through 18 Paul writes, “Now I desire to have you know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have turned out rather to the progress of the Good News; so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ; and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will. The former insincerely preach Christ from selfish ambition, thinking that they add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Good News. What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. I rejoice in this, yes, and will rejoice.”
Far from being discouraged by his imprisonment, Paul recognized the good which had been accomplished as a result of it. One of the good things which resulted from Paul’s imprisonment is that the entire palace guard heard the gospel. God wants, not just a select few, but everyone to be saved. But how can people hear about Jesus Christ and the gospel of salvation unless someone tells it to them? In order to tell someone about Christ, it is necessary to go where they are. It is highly probable that Paul would never have had the opportunity to speak to the members of Caesar’s guard and of the palace if he had not been imprisoned. The question is whether we are willing to endure hardship, or even injustice, to give someone the opportunity to learn about Jesus.
Another benefit stemming from Paul’s imprisonment was that others were emboldened to spread the message of Christ more courageously. One would think that Paul’s being arrested for preaching about Christ would make others fearful of sharing the same fate. Instead, the opposite occurred. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is our tendency as human beings to rely too much on our leaders. We tend to let those leaders whom we regard as more gifted or talented than ourselves, do the work. When leaders are taken away, others must step forward to fill the gap if the work is to be done. Then, as they gain experience and realize that they are capable of doing the work, they grow in confidence and courage. In this sense, Paul’s imprisonment was a good thing. It forced others to take responsibility for the health of the church and for the spread of the gospel of Christ. Have we taken responsibility for spreading the gospel?
Why do we preach Christ? Paul mentions two proper motivations for doing so, that is good will and love. Love can motivate in several ways. When we have a high regard for someone, we will also have a high regard for the things which he holds dear. Paul had put his life on the line for the gospel. Those who loved him naturally wanted to see the continuation of his life’s work and that may have been one reason that they, themselves, were emboldened to preach Christ. Love for our fellow man is another reason to preach Christ. If we truly love people we will want to tell them about the salvation and forgiveness of sin which can be theirs through Christ. But the greatest motivation to preach the gospel is love for Christ. He gave His life for us. If we truly love Him will we not want to tell others about Him?
Sadly, not everyone preaches Christ from pure motives. Paul writes that some were preaching out of envy and rivalry. Perhaps they were jealous of the respect and honor with which people regarded Paul. They tried to elevate themselves by tearing Paul down and stirring up trouble for him. What was Paul’s response to this? His only concern was that, regardless of people’s motives, Christ’s message was being preached. This is what it means to serve Christ – to put His interests above our own. Because Christ was being preached, Paul could rejoice in spite of his own suffering.