“I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”-Philippians 1:9-11
What is God hoping to accomplish in your life? If we live gospel-centered lives, what is the end game? I think that Paul’s prayer for the church in Philippi really underscores God’s heart for every believer:
1. Overflow with love.
2. Grow in knowledge and understanding.
3. Live pure and blameless lives.
4. Be filled with the righteous character produced from knowing Christ.
All fo this is happening on the inside of us. When we are centered on the inside we are not caught off balance by our circumstances. Listen to Paul speak about his current situation in Philippians 1:12-19:
“And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message without fear. It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.”
Anyone pick up on the fact that Paul is writing this from prison? Isn’t it amazing how he is able to find the good in his situation proclaiming that most of the believers around him have gained confidence and boldness to speak God’s message without fear because of his imprisonment. Anyone notice the there were people (in the church) trying to undermine Paul and make his life more difficult? Yet, he stayed focused on the gospel being preached and the people’s lives being changed by it.
Living a gospel-centered life means keeping our hearts and minds fixed on accomplishing God’s work within our sphere of influence; whether that’s as a stay at home mom, on the line at work or at the grocery check out counter. Paul’s circumstances shifted dramatically taking him from a nice little synagogue in Antioch to a dingy prison cell in Rome, but his mission remained the same.
Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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