Hindrances to Spiritual Growth.
I. The first and greatest hindrance to our abounding more and more is this: inability to see what it is that we ought to improve, where it is that we are defective, and so long as we are content simply to look at ourselves and our doing by the light of our preconceived ideas it is easy and natural for us to be content with ourselves as we are. Our Divine Master has set before us a perfect example of what we ought to be, and He has promised to give us help and grace to enable us to tread in His steps if only we will try to do so, because, try as we will, the copy will fall very far short of the original. The very first step, then, towards improvement is to study the life of our blessed Lord, to learn the principles by which His life was governed. Here, then, is the highest standard by which to measure ourselves. What is the motive which governs our life? Is it a desire perfectly to fulfil the will of God, or is it self in one of the many forms in which self is manifested?
II. There is another point on which we need to examine ourselves: whether we are seeking to abound more and more. Holy Scripture assures us that we are not sufficient of ourselves to obey the precepts laid down by our Lord. It is only through Christ strengthening us that we can keep free from sin. We must fulfil the conditions through which we have the promises of gaining what we need; and the very first condition to which these promises are attached is that we should have faith in what Christ has wrought in our behalf. Faith is at first weak, but by continual exercise it develops and grows until it overshadows our whole existence. The more real and true and sincere our faith is, the greater will be the harvest of good works in which we shall abound more and more; whilst, again, the more faithfully and zealously we bring forth such good works, the brighter and deeper and clearer will be our faith: the one will react upon the other; each will minister to the other's growth.
Dean Gregory, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxxii., p. 321.
Christian Love Abounding.
The reference in our text is not primarily to love towards the Apostle himself, as some have supposed, nor yet love towards God in Christ although this is the spring from which all true Christian love flows but to love towards others, especially to them who are of the household of faith.
I. Let us consider the characteristics of this Christian love, which has proved in the world and in many a Church and home the mightiest spiritual force on earth. (1) One of the first things which distinguish it from other kinds of love is its absolute unselfishness. Selfishness, whether in the nation or the individual, leads to sin, and is the chief antagonist of the love which seeketh not her own, and doth not behave herself unseemly, which is inculcated in our text. (2) Again, the love spoken of here is opposed to all that is impure and unspiritual. Instead of devoting itself only to those who are attractive or winsome, it goes down to the degraded; it surrounds them with a halo of beauty, as being those for whom Christ Jesus died, and it is not satisfied until it can lift them upward and heavenward, and make them more worthy of being loved than they are. (3) Again, this love is distinctively Christian. It is not ours by nature, for none of us loves the unattractive from instinct; but it is generated in us when the love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. It is, in fact, a continual manifestation of Christ's love to the world, which led Him to die for us "while we were yet sinners."
II. Consider two or three facts which make it necessary that such love should abound. (1) Such abounding love is necessary if we would do Christian work for others steadfastly and earnestly. (2) Besides being a stimulus to service, abounding love is necessary to us when we have to bear the infirmities of others.
A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiv., p. 181.
I. Here we see, first, what St. Paul takes for granted as the underlying substance, as the raw material, of Divine life in the soul of man. Whenever in his writings knowledge and love are put in competition with each other, the precedence is assigned to love. For, as compared with knowledge, love is intrinsically a stronger thing, and it is worth more practically. To be knit to God by love is better, religiously speaking, than to speculate about Him, however rightly, as an abstract Being. To enwrap other men in the flame of enthusiasm for private or for public virtue is better than to analyse in the solitude of a study rival systems of ethical, or social, or political truth. Each has its place, but love comes first.
II. But St. Paul would have this love abound in knowledge. The knowledge of which he is thinking is doubtless primarily religious knowledge. The higher knowledge ἐπύγνωσις is the word, not mere γν ῶσις is what he prays for as the outgrowth of learning. There is a period in the growth of love when such knowledge is imperatively required. In its earlier stages the loving soul lives only in the light and warmth of its object; it sees him, as it were, in a blaze of glory; it rejoices to be before him, to be beneath him, to be close to him; it asks no questions; it has no heart for scrutiny; it only loves. But, from the nature of the case, this period comes to an end, not because love becomes cold, but because it becomes exacting. If the great Apostle had been among us now, he would not have ceased to offer this prayer. How much love, how much moral power, is wasted among us Englishmen only through ignorance. Look at the jealousy of science among us religious people I mean jealousy of scientific fact; there are plenty of reasons for keeping clear of mere scientific hypotheses when science is waiting in God's good time to echo the words of religion. Look at the jealousy of beauty, which is lashing the well-meaning fanaticism of the country against disinterested efforts to improve the efficiency and tone of public worship. We need to pray this prayer more heartily than ever: that our love may increase in knowledge.
H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit,vol. iv., p. 321.
References: Philippians 1:9. Pearson, Church of England Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 317; Homilist,vol. iv., p. 13; Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 222.Philippians 1:9; Philippians 1:10. T. Arnold, Sermons,vol. v., p. 208.