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Fruit of Righteousness

Minister Joaquin

 Philippians 1:7-11

7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 

 

Abound more and more in love

Philippians 2:4 Look not only to your own interest but the interest of others

5 love languages

Words of affirmation, acts of service, gift giving, quality time, physical touch.

The 7 new love languages are activity, appreciation, emotional, financial, intellectual, physical, and practical.

Do them all. 

1 John 3:16-18

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 

 

Grow in knowledge and discernment

Knowledge: The knowledge that Paul has in mind is not just intellectual but experiential, acquired through acts of love.

all discernment: The Greek term used here, aisthēsis, refers to the ability to make decisions for the benefit of others.

2 Peter 1:5-8

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Fruit of righteousness

This phrase - filled with the fruit of righteousness - is at the end of a long sentence that begins with Paul’s prayer that your love may abound more and more. Paul looks forward to the day of Christ, when his prayer will be completely answered. Paul prays that on that day, when Christ examines the fruit produced in his vineyard, the church, he will find fruit of pure motives to love and blameless service of love. That kind of fruit is the fruit of righteousness. In this context, righteousness describes the character and actions of a community totally permeated and controlled by love. Since love is a relational word, this use of righteousness points to relational righteousness, right relations with one another. PNTC Philippians

 

1 Peter 1:22-23

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God

 

1 Peter 3:8-9

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 

Applications:

-       Read the section on God is love tonight before bed. Pray to God for the ability to feel his love more, be filled with more of his love, and the strength to love the people he has put in your life. 

-       Rate yourself from 1-10 on your ability to share love. Reflect on how you can improve little by little.

-       Hang around people that love well and try to learn more ways to love. Take those skills to your regular circle of people to love them with the new ways

-       Take the results to God for the positives and negatives that come from those experiences. Share your heart so he can get closer to you and show you how to turn all those experiences into more growth to love

-       Thank God at the end of every day for the love you received and the ability to share love. Pray to receive more love the next day and to share a little more as well. 

Questions

1.     What are some actionable and measurable things that you are doing to grow your ability to love?

2.     If we want to be close to God, why do we not try to love more so we can be closer to him?

3.     What can you do now to try to grow your ability to love and enjoy the love God wants for you to have in your life now?

God Is Love 1 John 4:7-21

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Bryant Soong