In verse 9, Paul prays for the Philippians. He prays that they have the self-sacrificing agape love, and that is abounding more and more. And the last characteristic is that this love is academic. I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and discernment. “Real knowledge” is the greek word epignosis. This word means full or complete knowledge. This is not dumb, mushy, emotional love. It is intelligent love, it is smart love, it is keenly determined love. It is love that is based on knowledge and is grounded in God’s truth.
Whenever Paul uses this word it always pertains to spiritual knowledge of God. It is rooted and anchored in biblical truth. Paul uses the word once in Philippians here, but 4 times in Colossians, more than in any other of his letters. And each time, the word epignosis is used to refer to knowledge of God, which comes from applying God’s Word to our lives:
“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the KNOWLEDGE of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” – Col. 1:9
“so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the KNOWLEDGE of God” –Col. 1:10
“that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a TRUE KNOWLEDGE of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself” –Col. 2:2
“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a TRUE KNOWLEDGE according to the image of the One who created him” –Col. 3:9-10
This knowledge of God comes from experience. You’ll notice that the knowledge Paul prays for comes as a result of living in godliness. It is not simply theory, or being intellectually aware of the things of God. It comes from experiencing the truth of Scripture as you apply yourself to them in your life. In other words, what you know about God is evident in how you live your life, and you can say you know God and His ways because you live out His ways.
True knowledge of God comes from being like Him. That’s why He says, “Be holy because I am holy” and, “Love one another as I have loved you” and again, “forgive as the Lord forgave you”. By being holy in our living, and loving and forgiving each other we come to know what God is really like.
This is the difference between being a theoretical Christian and a Christian. Just having facts only amounts to facts. Facts are different than knowledge. If you have facts about Jesus Christ then you are aware of what is said to be true about Him. But having knowledge of Him – biblical knowledge – is having a first hand understanding of Him from experiencing Him and participating with Him in you life. Theoretical Christians are aware of Christ, but, they do not align their life with Him. They have the facts of God, but, they do not have understanding of God.
Is God’s Word theory to you that never comes off the paper, or, is it your daily practice and experience? God’s Word is truth in action, it is knowledge lived out as a display to the world. It is not for resting on the pages of the Bible. It is not like a trophy or a plaque or an ornament to be set somewhere and admired but never touched. You are the trophy of God’s Word, won by His truth and now displayed for all to see what God has accomplished in you to His praise and His glory. “All those who live by the truth come into the light so that it may be clearly seen what God has done”
Here’s the point: The only possible way for you to give the agape love of God, is to know the God of agape love. In other words, as you grow in knowing Him, He will give you the know-how and the power and the willingness you need to give agape love and to give it in more and more abundance. I want to suggest that the reason more people in the church today do not give agape love is because they truly don’t understand that this is the kind of love they’ve been given. So often we
are quick to “get back” at someone, or,
we write someone off for crossing us, or,
we talk down about each other, or
we hold grudges and never try to resolve them, or
we ignore and avoid a glaring need in someone’s life
But this is not supposed to be! God saved us and brought us into a knowledge of Him and His truth and His love and it’s not that it’s ‘supposed’ to cause a change in us, and when it doesn’t we scratch our heads – no! It is that it does change us! Knowing God comes from obeying what He’s given us and then we will really truly have real knowledge of God and His ways!
This is where the “all discernment” comes in. It is moral perception. We get the word aesthetic from the greek word here. It means having a sense of what is ethically and morally right.
It's like someone who is a great interior decorator. They have the ability to walk into a room and see the layout, the shape, size and choose the best colors, and decorations and furniture and so on. They seem to have a sixth sense that makes them more aware of what is good design and that makes them good decorators.
"All discernment" here is a keen awareness of what is the right thing in situations; it is somehow both intellectual and emotionally sensed. Here is the key: the acute sense of what is right comes from a love of what is right. In other words, you must know the truth of what is right according to God’s Word and love that truth in order to have a keen sense of what is and isn’t morally right.
Love is not blind. That is what Hollywood and the world want you believe. Real agape love is anchored and rooted in the truth of God’s Word. Knowing Him and His Word will enable you to effectively love people to bring the most fruitful and beneficial gain into their lives. In other words, you know full well the person that you are giving love to - weaknesses, failures, faults and all - and, based on the truth of God’s Word, you know exactly what they need - emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc - and you meet that need with one concern in mind - their benefit. Their well-being is your motivation, not your own. No consideration to the worthiness of that person is taken into account. This is the intelligent, or, academic agape love that is to be abounding.
So a question: Is there someone in your life – your spouse, parent, child, brother or sister in the church – that you are not giving agape love to right now? Is someone not ‘earning’ your love? What I mean is, do they not ‘measure up’? Are you withholding love because you don’t see how they deserve your love? Are you withholding that which you yourself have received? Was grace given to you? Then give grace! Was love given to you? Then give love! Was patience given to you? Then give patience! If you don’t think you can do it, I want to remind you that you can. God has given you His Spirit, and His rich supply of agape love to enable you to love like Him (Romans 5:5, “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He gave to us.”)
Whenever Paul uses this word it always pertains to spiritual knowledge of God. It is rooted and anchored in biblical truth. Paul uses the word once in Philippians here, but 4 times in Colossians, more than in any other of his letters. And each time, the word epignosis is used to refer to knowledge of God, which comes from applying God’s Word to our lives:
“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the KNOWLEDGE of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” – Col. 1:9
“so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the KNOWLEDGE of God” –Col. 1:10
“that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a TRUE KNOWLEDGE of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself” –Col. 2:2
“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a TRUE KNOWLEDGE according to the image of the One who created him” –Col. 3:9-10
This knowledge of God comes from experience. You’ll notice that the knowledge Paul prays for comes as a result of living in godliness. It is not simply theory, or being intellectually aware of the things of God. It comes from experiencing the truth of Scripture as you apply yourself to them in your life. In other words, what you know about God is evident in how you live your life, and you can say you know God and His ways because you live out His ways.
True knowledge of God comes from being like Him. That’s why He says, “Be holy because I am holy” and, “Love one another as I have loved you” and again, “forgive as the Lord forgave you”. By being holy in our living, and loving and forgiving each other we come to know what God is really like.
This is the difference between being a theoretical Christian and a Christian. Just having facts only amounts to facts. Facts are different than knowledge. If you have facts about Jesus Christ then you are aware of what is said to be true about Him. But having knowledge of Him – biblical knowledge – is having a first hand understanding of Him from experiencing Him and participating with Him in you life. Theoretical Christians are aware of Christ, but, they do not align their life with Him. They have the facts of God, but, they do not have understanding of God.
Is God’s Word theory to you that never comes off the paper, or, is it your daily practice and experience? God’s Word is truth in action, it is knowledge lived out as a display to the world. It is not for resting on the pages of the Bible. It is not like a trophy or a plaque or an ornament to be set somewhere and admired but never touched. You are the trophy of God’s Word, won by His truth and now displayed for all to see what God has accomplished in you to His praise and His glory. “All those who live by the truth come into the light so that it may be clearly seen what God has done”
Here’s the point: The only possible way for you to give the agape love of God, is to know the God of agape love. In other words, as you grow in knowing Him, He will give you the know-how and the power and the willingness you need to give agape love and to give it in more and more abundance. I want to suggest that the reason more people in the church today do not give agape love is because they truly don’t understand that this is the kind of love they’ve been given. So often we
are quick to “get back” at someone, or,
we write someone off for crossing us, or,
we talk down about each other, or
we hold grudges and never try to resolve them, or
we ignore and avoid a glaring need in someone’s life
But this is not supposed to be! God saved us and brought us into a knowledge of Him and His truth and His love and it’s not that it’s ‘supposed’ to cause a change in us, and when it doesn’t we scratch our heads – no! It is that it does change us! Knowing God comes from obeying what He’s given us and then we will really truly have real knowledge of God and His ways!
This is where the “all discernment” comes in. It is moral perception. We get the word aesthetic from the greek word here. It means having a sense of what is ethically and morally right.
It's like someone who is a great interior decorator. They have the ability to walk into a room and see the layout, the shape, size and choose the best colors, and decorations and furniture and so on. They seem to have a sixth sense that makes them more aware of what is good design and that makes them good decorators.
"All discernment" here is a keen awareness of what is the right thing in situations; it is somehow both intellectual and emotionally sensed. Here is the key: the acute sense of what is right comes from a love of what is right. In other words, you must know the truth of what is right according to God’s Word and love that truth in order to have a keen sense of what is and isn’t morally right.
Love is not blind. That is what Hollywood and the world want you believe. Real agape love is anchored and rooted in the truth of God’s Word. Knowing Him and His Word will enable you to effectively love people to bring the most fruitful and beneficial gain into their lives. In other words, you know full well the person that you are giving love to - weaknesses, failures, faults and all - and, based on the truth of God’s Word, you know exactly what they need - emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc - and you meet that need with one concern in mind - their benefit. Their well-being is your motivation, not your own. No consideration to the worthiness of that person is taken into account. This is the intelligent, or, academic agape love that is to be abounding.
So a question: Is there someone in your life – your spouse, parent, child, brother or sister in the church – that you are not giving agape love to right now? Is someone not ‘earning’ your love? What I mean is, do they not ‘measure up’? Are you withholding love because you don’t see how they deserve your love? Are you withholding that which you yourself have received? Was grace given to you? Then give grace! Was love given to you? Then give love! Was patience given to you? Then give patience! If you don’t think you can do it, I want to remind you that you can. God has given you His Spirit, and His rich supply of agape love to enable you to love like Him (Romans 5:5, “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He gave to us.”)
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