Philippians 1:9-11

Philippians 1:9

In one word, the Apostle prayed that the Philippians might grow.

I. True love is intelligent. We are to love God with all our mind.

II. The Apostle prays for an enlargement and quickening of the discriminating faculty: that the Philippians might distinguish between things that differ, and that so distinguishing they might choose the right.

III. The Apostle, beginning at the centre, finds his way to the circumference; beginning with the spiritual, he culminates in the practical. The doctrines acknowledged in this prayer are (1) that Christian life is progressive; (2) that God is ready to cooperate with His people for their moral enrichment; (3) that the entire Christian manhood is to bear fruit being filled.

Parker, City Temple,vol. ii., p. 181.

References: Philippians 1:10. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year,p. 206; E. Garbett, Experiences of the Inner Life,p. 159; Homilist,3rd series, vol. viii., p. 81; J. Aldis, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiv., p. 129; D. G. Watt, Ibid.,vol. xxvi., p. 196; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. v., p. 31; F. D. Maurice, Sermons,vol. iii., p. 67.