Philippians 1:9-11 (ESV)

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

THE POINT

We don’t, and we can’t, work hard enough and do enough good things to be right with God. We are right with God because Jesus makes us right with God. One proof that we have been changed by Jesus is that we have a growing love.

It Can Be Frustrating

I suppose, at some point in our lives, we have all tried harder to do better only to become very frustrated because we failed miserably. Once we became frustrated, we started to wonder how God could really love us, so we try harder only to fail again and become even more frustrated. The whole thing just leads to more and more frustration. It seems like the cycle never ends.

Love or Like

Maybe for those of us who really do believe that God loves us no matter what we do, we started to wonder how God could like us. Here’s what I mean about love and like.

When I was growing up my sister and I would get into arguments (sometimes fights). I remember there were times my mom would ask me, “don’t you love your sister?” My response was always, “yes, mom, I love Julie, I just don’t like her.” (For the record, now I both love and like my sister.) I think sometimes we truly believe that God loves us, we just can’t imagine how He likes us.

Jesus Changed Everything

Paul makes it clear that we are right with God because of Jesus. He makes the difference for us! In the verses above Paul says that the fruit of our righteousness comes through Jesus Christ. In other words, we don’t get right with God by what we do but by what Jesus has done for us. This reality is a big deal for those who think they have to earn God’s love or work hard to keep His love! God loves us and likes us, because He loves and likes Jesus.

How Can We Know?

How can we know if we’re right with God because of Jesus? Another way to ask the same thing is – how do we know if we’re saved? That’s a great question and an important one.
One way our lives show we’re saved is that we have a love for other believers that is growing. It’s kind of like going from “I love her, but I just don’t lik her” to “I love her, and I like her.” There’s a big difference between the two! It is a growing love.

Paul said he was praying the Christians in Philippi would have a love that abounded more and more. Why? First of all, so they could approve what is excellent. In other words, so they would know what really matters. (Godly love has a way of showing us what’s important.) Second, so they could be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. To be pure is to be clean and spotless, and to be blameless is to be free from guilt. In Christ, we have no guilt!

It’s A Big Deal!

In these verses we see that an increasing love is one way our lives show that we are guiltless before God because of Jesus. It’s not what we do but what Jesus has done for us. It’s all done in a way that God is made much of because of the difference Jesus makes in our lives.