Philippians 1:9-11 “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”
What does this word ABOUND mean? It comes from, or it’s base word is (per-is-sauce); to superabound (in quantity or quality), be in excess, be superfluous; also (transposed) to cause to superabound or excel : (make more) to abound, (to have, to have more) abundance, (be more) abundant, be the better, not just barely enough, but, enough and more to spare, exceed maybe of what the world might expect, to excel, or increase, be left, redound, remain (over and above). Not just enough to get by but with all the strength and directions that GOD can give you.
Sometimes we Christians just end up doing only what is necessary to get by. So the Apostle Paul is saying to be and to do above whatever is expected of you. In other words; “LOVE” more, “FORGIVE” more, WORK more, “HELP” more, and “GIVE” more, if you need an example look towards the Samaritan that Jesus talked about in the 10th chapter of Luke, which we looked at a little while back, the Samaritan took care of all of the necessities of the man who was robbed and left for dead and then went above and beyond that, then at the end of the story JESUS said “Go, and do thou likewise.” You will never go wrong by following JESUS’s instructions or commandments. The world is looking upon us, the world is watching us, so be “SUPER ABOUNDING” in your life so that the lost world might see something in your life that will make them think, “I believe I won’t to be like them, I believe I want to have what they have got”, and you “CAN DO IT” because CHRIST has given you the strength, HE has put the “HOLY GHOST” within you to “LEAD GUIDE AND STRENGTHEN”, all you have to do is draw from the well of “LIVING WATER” that HE has supplied for you, for each one of us, for everyone who has been “BORN AGAIN”. Now, there will always be naysayers and those who are led by SATAN that will try to be “nit pickers” so that they can accuse you and all CHRISTIANS so that they themselves do not look so bad, but don’t worry about them just “OBEY” CHRIST and HIS WORDS and you’ll be fine, because JESUS is sitting at the right hand of the FATHER making intercession for all of us. Let’s look at a few more words to help clarify the meaning that the APOSTLE PAUL is trying to get across to the Philippians and to us today; lets look now at the word “KNOWLEDGE”:
KNOWLEDGE: the GREEK word is, (e-pig-nuh-sis) meaning CLEAR and EXACT knowedge, not just “well I think I know”; it is more emphatic than that of the other GREEK words that are translated in the KJV as KNOWLEDGE, because it expresses a more thorough participation on the part of the knower, with the object of knowledge; a knowledge that has a powerful influence on the knower. Are we a participator in our Christian life, are we participating as we JOURNEY, or are we part of the audience, just sitting back watching. We should be actively involved in our Christian JOURNEY, making a difference in this world. You might say, well I live here in this small corner of the world, what can I do, it is these small corners that, when added together make this world we live in, so we each need to do our part, to participate in our corner of the world so that the propagation of the GOSPEL occurs. We need to share our KNOWLEDGE, so the sum of all efforts are greater.
JUDGEMENT: Simply means “perception” or how you perceive things as you continue on your journey in this world, it means discernment. It doesn’t mean, judging someone else’s efforts or someone else’s life but to try MY efforts, to judge the effects of MY efforts in the results of the “WORK OF THE CHURCH” the “WORK OF THE LOCAL BODY OF CHRIST” and if we find it lacking, then make moves that will REMEDY that.
APPROVE: It’s not like you might first think, like looking over things or works of someone else or some other entity and checking a box saying I approve or I disapprove, but it means examining or trying my efforts, to put my works on trial, not others but my works to the test. The GREEK word here is (doc-im-ad’-zo) the same word Paul used in his instructions to a young preacher, a young pastor at EPHESUS where he had been left to attempt to lead that young church to grow and advance the GOSPEL OF CHRIST and as always when the church is advancing and lifting up CHRIST, no matter how old or large the church is, satan will unleash all of his power and opposition against it to impede the spread of the GOSPEL and to stop the training of GOD’s people to grow that BODY OF CHRIST, when he said:
Well, let me read it out of GOD’s HOLY, INFALIBLE, INERRENT, GOD-BREATHED WORD so I will get it right, please turn with me and follow along or listen attentively to this final scripture of today’s message:
2 Timothy 2:15,16 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.”
We should always let GOD’s WORD trump other words of instruction and be SUPER/ABOUNDING in our LOVE for CHRIST and HIS CHURCH.