so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ,That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ;
3 sermons cite this verse
… in knowledge and discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. This is a profound little section he's talking. He says, I want your love to abound and grow more and more. And I want you to also have knowledge and discernment. That's an important thing. Somebody say knowledge and discernment. Knowledge and discernment. Say it again. Knowledge and discernment. Some of y'all's decisions are not made in knowledge. And some of the decisions you're making, particularly in relationship, have not been discerning. And that's what I thought I'd spend a few times, a little bit to you talking about. And then he says in verse 10, that you may approve the things that are excellent. I like that point. He says, I want you to have knowledge, I want you to be discerning, and I want you to function in excellence. …
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Philippians is a letter that Paul wrote to a little church that he loved. The first church, in fact, he had planted in Europe, the first ever church in Europe. The story of that little church's founding is recorded in Acts 16. It's the one where Paul gets unexpectedly redirected into Philippi. And there Paul sees three people come to faith in Christ. The first is Lydia. She's a young up-and-coming female entrepreneur, a businesswoman. The second is a demon-possessed slave girl. And the third is a Roman jailer. I've told you how odd it was that the first worship service in Philippi consisted, the first one in Europe, consisted of a young female entrepreneur, a slave girl, a Roman jailer, and Paul, a former Jewish rabbi. That sounds like the prologue to a joke, but it wasn't. It was the first church service in Europe. It was an odd group to be sure, but that's just the miracle of the gospel. …
This is what Paul's praying for these believers. So that you may be able, this would probably be a good text to memorize, to discern what is best. Not what is biggest and brightest and most bold, but what is best, what is the best thing here? And may be pure and blameless for the day. There it is, there's revelation of Christ. filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. I'm praying for you that you may abound in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best. best. You will not go wrong this year by praying every single day, asking God for the gift of discernment to be strengthened in your life. So that when you're sitting in a meeting at work, and the conversation is happening, you don't need to have like a little red flag in your pocket and go, hello, nope, don't believe that. But in your mind, you're like, yeah, I don't think so. …