That third verse said, let holy charity mine outward vesture be, and lowliness become my inner clothing. And in many ways, that's a spider's web hanging down. In many ways, that's the theme of this morning's message about charity, about love. about it being our outward clothing, that we should be clothed in love. Because that's the desire of Paul for these Philippian believers who he's writing to. And as I say, this is the series that I would like to do for the next few weeks and months from the book of Philippians. And there is actually a link, or at least a possible link, between this book and the book of Luke that we've been studying for the last few months. because it's quite possible that Luke spent a lot of his time living in Philippi. We learn that Luke meets the Apostle Paul just before Paul travels to Philippi for the first time. And then we learn there that Luke stays behind and he doesn't rejoin Paul again until a few years later when Paul returns back to Philippi. And so it would appear that Luke spent a long time in the city of Philippi. And we know quite a lot in comparison to many of the other churches mentioned in the New Testament about Philippi. We know that one of its members was Lydia, who was a merchant seller of luxury clothing of purple. which was a clothing bought by the rich. There was a converted fortune teller who initially hindered the work of Paul, but then it seems was saved and became a believer. And it also had a Roman jailer in it who famously asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved when the earthquake released them from their bonds in the prison. So there's quite an eclectic mix of people in this church in Philippi. And it's even possible that the Theophilus who Luke is writing to in his gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, it's even possible that Theophilus came from Philippi. That would make sense given that Luke writes to him as to a friend. And it's quite possible he met him and knew him from Philippi. So there are connections between this book and the book of Luke that we've been reading. But as I said, Paul travelled to Philippi in about 50 AD and he planted the church there and the church remained there for many years. And Paul is writing this letter quite likely around 10 years later. And there's some debate about when Paul wrote this letter, but what we do know is that he was in prison at the time. Paul spent So quite a long time in prison in various places. But the most likely time in prison from which he's writing this letter is when he's in prison in Rome. Famously, he was imprisoned in Rome towards the end of the Acts of the Apostles. We can read that. And the reason why that seems to be the most likely is, I don't know if you noticed in the reading, we read in verse In verse 13, Paul says that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. Elsewhere, he says that members of Caesar's household have heard the gospel. So it sounds likely that Paul is in Rome, the heart of the Roman Empire, such that even people in Caesar's own household can hear the gospel. So Paul is, as I say, likely writing this 10 years after first visiting Philippi when he is in prison in Rome. And in this opening chapter, we learn how much Paul loves these Philippians. 10 years hasn't lessened his love for them. You can read, for example, in verse 8, how he says, for God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. When he says in the bowels of Jesus Christ, he's referring to a heartfelt emotion. It's not just a polite love. It's not a polite desire to see them. He's not just writing it because he thinks that's what he should say. He's saying he's longing for them with a deep felt affection. You can see that again in verses three and four. He says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy. He says, every time I pray, I remember you. Every time I think of you, I rejoice. That's how much he loves these Philippian believers. But as we read in that last verse, he says, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy. Paul's love for these believers leads him to thank God for them, but it also leads him to make requests for them. That's fairly ordinary, isn't it? We all make requests for people in prayer for those we love. If we love someone, we want good things for them. But what we request from God for those we love reveals a lot about us. The things you pray for other people reveals a lot about you because it reveals, it manifests what you feel is most important. If you're praying for someone you love, you're praying for good things for them. And so what you pray for them reveals what you believe to be good. So before we look at what Paul prays for these Philippians who he loves so much, I just want to ask the question, what do you pray for others? In your prayers, what do you find yourself praying most for for others? Now, most of us, we tend to pray for health, the health of our loved ones. for comfort to our loved ones, for success, for financial security. And we rightly tend to be concerned about these things. That's why we pray for them for others. We're afraid of sickness. We're afraid of discomfort. We're afraid of failure. And we're afraid of poverty. These are the things in life that we want to avoid, and so it's natural that we want those we love to avoid them too. And it's not wrong to pray for those things. In fact, Paul does pray regarding those things, even in this letter. But that's not what Paul prays for first. That's not Paul's first priority, to pray for health, comfort, success, financial security. Instead, Paul prays for something else. And this prayer has two parts, and those two parts are what I want to look at this morning. And the first one is found in verse 9. In verse 9, Paul expresses what he is praying for these Philippians for. He says, in this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more. Paul's first priority in prayer for these Philippians, who he loves, is to pray that their love increases and abounds and grows more and more. In other words, Paul's first priority is less about the externals of these Philippians' life. First and foremost, his concern is for their character, for their inner life, who they are on the inside. That's his first concern. So the question comes back to us. How often do we pray for the character of those we love? We might pray for earthly success and for health and for comfort, but how often do we pray for the soul, for the character of those we love? It's interesting, when you think about it, there's almost nothing that would be more sensible for us to pray for. There's nothing so far reaching as a person's character. There's nothing which affects a person more than who they truly are. So what else, in a sense, should we be praying for, chiefly? In fact, I have four reasons why a priority should be given to praying for people's character above merely their external circumstances. And the first reason is simply because character is permanent. character is permanent. Your character, who you are, will last forever. Your body will die, your outward circumstances will pass away, but who you are before God will exist forever. You can't take money with you. You can't take exam results with you. You can't take a human accolades of success or even your health. You cannot take with you. Whether you die healthy or whether you die sick, you'll be just the same when you pass on. We pray to postpone death, even though we know death is inevitable. And God may answer those prayers. But nevertheless, we all know death is facing us one day. We pray for financial security even though we know that skeletons don't have purses or wallets. So it doesn't make sense to focus our attention on these things when our character is the only thing that does last beyond death. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray for all these other external things. But it does mean that we should at least pray double for those things which last forever. So that's the first reason why we should focus on character in our prayers. But the second reason is because character makes our daily trials and external difficulties more or less bearable. A person of good character will be able to bear misfortune and redundancy, failure, better than the person of bad character. You could say that's almost a definition of what good character is. Good character is being able to bear hardship well. Happiness and contentment don't actually spring from outward circumstances. We like to think they do. We like to think that if things were just different on the outside, then we'd be happy. We think if only my life was different, then I'd be content. And that's why so many of us look for changes in our outward circumstances to make us happy. So many people are looking for a different job, a different house, a different family, a spouse, some people even a different spouse. People think that these things will make us happy. But the problem is we all find in the end that we still carry ourselves with us. That's the problem with changing outward circumstances. You may be able to move your body, but you can't escape from yourself. We travel, as it were, from place to place, from situation to situation, searching for this elusive contentment, but we can't find it. even the pagan Roman philosopher Seneca, he said this. He says, traveling cannot give us judgment or shake off our errors. It merely holds our attention for a moment by a certain novelty as children pause to wonder at something unfamiliar. Changing circumstances can give us novelty for a time. Holidays can give us relaxation for a moment. They don't give us true, lasting contentment. That only comes from a transformation of character, from a transformation of who you are on the inside. And when you change on the inside, then you become better equipped to deal with whatever circumstance faces you on the outside. That's the path to lasting contentment. But the third reason why we should focus on character is that character affects the lives of everyone. including yourself. When you pray for your loved ones and when you pray for your character, you're not just praying for their benefit, you're actually praying for your own. Most of our grief and struggle comes from the bad behavior and the poor character of others. That's true, isn't it? Most of the difficulties we face daily The most vexing ones, anyway, come from the behavior of those around us, their selfishness, their greed, their unkindness, their carelessness, their negativity. It's these things which make our life more or less miserable. So when you pray for other people's character, in an indirect way, you're praying for your own happiness. If you want to be happy, one of the best things you can do is surround yourself with people who are wise, humble, generous, courageous, self-controlled. If your friends are those people, then you are much more likely to be happy because they will treat you in humble, generous, courageous ways. So when you pray for someone's character, you actually will, in all likelihood, benefit yourself. Character benefits the lives of everyone, including yourself. But the last reason that we should pray for someone's character is the reason which Paul focuses on in this letter. And you can read that in verse 10. In verse nine, Paul says, and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more. And then in verse 10, he says that you may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. The chief reason Paul implies there why we should pray for other people's character is because character brings the greatest glory to Christ. Paul wants these Philippians' love to grow so that they might be pure and blameless when Christ returns. He wants this for them because that is what will bring ultimately the greatest glory to Christ, will beautify Christ the most and which will secondarily make them the most beautiful. We don't glorify Christ chiefly by being healthy and wealthy. Those things don't impress God very much. We glorify Christ by allowing him to make us Christ-like. That's how we glorify God. Ultimately, Christ isn't interested in the size of your bank balance. What he's interested in is how you got that bank balance and how you use that bank balance. God is not interested in the size of your house. He's interested why you bought that house and how you use it. Christ isn't even interested in the length of your life, but how you use that life that you are given. Christ isn't interested in the part that you have in the play. He's interested in how well you play your part. Do you see the God's focus, Christ's focus, is on who we are, not on what we have. That is what is ultimately most important to God. And we glorify Christ as we grow increasingly in love. As we become more and more loving, as we become, in short, more and more like Christ, we glorify him more and more. So the person who cleans vomit from an elderly person who can't do it themselves, or the person who feeds a baby who cannot feed itself, or the person who gives an arm of support to someone who is weak and cannot support themselves. Those people, you could say, are infinitely more beautiful in that moment to God than any six-foot, six-size, six-model walking on the catwalk or any Photoshop actor on a magazine cover. The value of love infinitely outweighs the value of mere external appearance or mere external wealth. That's why Paul prays first and foremost that these Philippians, that their love should grow more and more. That's not all Paul prays. I said this prayer has two parts. The first part is Paul says, I pray that your love may abound more and more, but I missed out the end of the verse. In verse nine he says, this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgments. Paul doesn't just pray that they would grow in love, but they would grow in knowledge and all judgments. Love alone isn't enough. Nobody argues that love is a good thing. It seems to be all our pop songs can talk about in our society. It's all about love. Nobody argues that love is good. What people do argue about is how is the best way to love. How we love is what people get vexed about, not the concept of love itself. Is it a beat or song? I don't know which song it is, but all the world needs now is love, sweet love. That's the mantra of our society. The problem is nobody seems to know how. That's why Paul says that he prays that their love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all discernment or in all judgments. So this is the second part of his prayer. Paul prays that our knowledge or the Philippians' knowledge and their judgment or their discernment should grow more and more. And the reason for this is because loving someone is acting for their good. Loving someone is desiring and acting for their good. It's doing things for people which will increase their good and the good of everyone roundabout. But if your idea of good is incorrect, or if your idea of good is inadequate, then you won't love people in the right way, because you'll be pushing them towards a goal which is wrong. For example, It's possible to love people in a way which actually ultimately harms them. For example, a parent might consider it good that their child is constantly happy. You think, that's a good thing, isn't it? A child smiling, a child laughing, that must be a good thing. But actually, sometimes it's good for a child not to be happy. Because sometimes a child wants things which are dangerous for them, which are harmful for them. And a good parent will say no to that thing which is potentially harmful. It is a bad parent who gives a child something which is bad for them in the long run. So although there might be tears and frowns for a time, ultimately that act is good. Or for another example, friends might treat their friends in such a way that their friends are never upset with them. They won't say anything to them which will displease them. But we know, as the Bible says, faithful are the wounds of a friend. Open rebuke is better than hidden love. If you don't tell the truth to your friends, you're actually doing them a disservice, even if your motive for doing so is to keep them happy. The truth is that actually it's better to speak the truth even if it may hurt someone in the short term. Or again, spouses might do this to their husband or wife or partners may do that to their boyfriend or girlfriend. They might be so eager to please their husband or to please their wife that they do things and say things which are actually ultimately wrong. and so harm themselves and actually their partner as well. This is why Paul prays that their love might grow in knowledge and in all judgment and in all discernment. Paul says even in verse 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent. Paul says if you know what is excellent, if you know what is truly good, if you know what in the sight of God is the best thing, then you will be able to love people better. The only way that we can truly love others is if we know and are fixed and firm about what is good in God's sight. So in an ironic sort of way, if you want to learn how to love your friends and your family and those around you, don't focus on them. Don't focus on their hopes and dreams and on their mere desires and whims. That's a poor guide for true goodness. Instead, focus on who God is, on what is truly good, on what is truly beautiful, and then strive to help your friends and your family love and become and enjoy that. Not merely what they want, but what God wants. Sometimes those things will overlap. Sometimes what your friend or your family wants will be what God wants. But at other times, you may have to displease your friend or displease members of your family in order to love them better. That's the way Christ was, wasn't it? In the Gospels, by no means did Christ please everyone all the time. But Jesus loved the world. Jesus always acted in love. He didn't live to please, he lived to love. and there is a huge difference. This is why we're taught that it's better to teach a man to fish than to merely give him one. Not because he wouldn't enjoy that fish or he wouldn't enjoy the money you might give him to buy a fish. because if you teach him to fish then he will become more equipped to feed himself in the future and that is a greater gift than merely the temporary gift of money in the present. It's not that it's wrong to give money but it's better to teach someone to get money for themselves. I understand in care homes The best nurses are taught not to do for those in their care what those in their care can do for themselves because that allows them to keep a degree of independence. It allows them to keep a degree of almost respect and strength for themselves and allows them to keep it for longer. This is why it's always better to tell the truth. We're all tempted at times to hide the truth because we're afraid of someone else's response. But that's not love of others. That's love of ourselves. We don't want to tell the truth so often because we don't want to have to deal with the result of that. Whereas actually, if we truly love people, we should swallow hard and tell the truth. In that moment, it won't be much fun. but we'll be a better friend because of it. And count on it. If you tell your friends the truth in love, you're the friend they will come to when they're in real need. When they're in real struggle and in real dark, difficult, dire difficulties, it is you they will come to because they know that you tell the truth. Ultimately, we don't want friends which please us. We want friends which are honest and who love us. Don't be governed by the short-term feelings of others, but by the eternal glory of Christ. That's why Paul says, I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ. So in closing, what do you pray for? What do you pray for for those you love most? Whenever you pray, pause before you pray and think about what you are praying for. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray for someone's success in exams, for example. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray for someone's financial security or for their health. These things are good, but don't neglect to pray for the most important thing. that person's soul, that person's character. When you pray that they wouldn't become redundant, don't neglect to pray that if they do, that their character would grow through it, that God would use that redundancy to strengthen them and to make them more like Christ. Pray that the autopsy result would be good. But don't neglect to pray that if it's bad, that that person will be given the strength and the faith and the hope to endure that bad diagnosis. Pray for financial aid for others, but don't neglect to pray that if that financial aid does not come, that they would continue to rely on God, that their faith in God would not waver. Pray for someone that their relationship would work out, but don't neglect to pray that if that relationship doesn't work out, don't neglect to pray that they would grow in love for God in spite of it. Do you see how we shouldn't neglect a person's soul as we focus on their external relationships? Because when we do that, when we focus on someone's soul and if God answers those prayers, Then that person, when all earthly things are passed away, when their bank balance is empty because they're dead, when their health is no longer concerned because they're dead, when all these external earthly things are passed because they've moved on, then they will shine forever in the presence of Christ. If they've been relying on Him, if they've been trusting in Him, if they have repented and turned to Him, then they will enjoy greater beauty, greater riches than they could ever imagine here on earth. That's what our focus should be on, as it was on the mind of the Apostle Paul. And with those thoughts in mind, I've chosen as our final hymn this morning, and again, it will play on the speakers. Him, but it's also a prayer. And let's meditate on these words as a prayer to God. 607, may the mind of Christ my savior live in me from day to day by his love and power controlling all I do and say. So let's sit and meditate on the words of 607.