A Pastor’s Prayer for His People (Philippians 1:9–11)

The prayers recorded in Scripture offer us both encouragement and patterns for our own prayer lives. We have studied the greatest prayer ever prayed—the high priestly prayer in John 17. We have considered the prayer that turned the world upside down in Luke 6, when Jesus selected His disciples. We have examined Jesus’ instruction about prayer in Matthew 6 during our study of the Sermon on the Mount. In this study, we turn our attention to a pastor’s prayer for his people found in Philippians 1:9–11.

The book of Philippians was originally written as a letter from the apostle Paul during his imprisonment to his first church plant in Eastern Europe, located in the city of Philippi. Remarkably, this joyful letter was penned from a prison cell. The founding of this church is recorded in Acts 16.

Philippi was a Roman colony populated with soldiers and patriotic Roman nationalists. Naturally, this environment was resistant to any message proclaiming Jesus Christ as the true King of the world, since Caesar was considered lord throughout the Roman Empire. Yet through God’s powerful working through the gospel of Christ, a faithful community of believers emerged as the church at Philippi.

Paul wrote this letter partly to thank the Philippian church for their financial gift, recently delivered to him in prison by Epaphroditus. Paul interpreted their gift not merely as personal affection but as evidence of their new life in Christ. The entire letter overflows with Paul’s gratitude to God for his transformative work in the Philippians’ lives, expressing unwavering confidence that God would complete the good work he had begun in these believers.

Unlike his relationship with the church at Corinth, Paul felt pure, undiluted affection for the Philippian church. He states in 1:3 that he thanked God at every remembrance of them in every prayer. We naturally find it easier to pray for those we love deeply, and Paul certainly found it easy to pray for these believers—not out of discipline, but with joy.

Paul prayed joyfully for these believers because their actions proved they were yoked together in ministry. Though uniquely commissioned as an apostle by the risen Christ, Paul did not see himself as fundamentally different from the Philippian believers. Rather, he viewed himself as their fellow worker, like oxen pulling in the same direction while yoked together.

These believers were not only his fellow workers but also persevering partners in the gospel “from the first day until now.” Paul yearned for them “with the affection of Christ Jesus,” overflowing with love. He wrote not as a distant benefactor but as a father to his children, a pastor to his flock.

As their spiritual father and pastor, Paul now reveals what he prays for them. Since Scripture is profitable for teaching and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), we must ask ourselves, are we praying for one another? Are we regularly setting aside time to lift our fellow saints before the Father’s throne of grace? Can we pray for fellow believers with joy, love, and affection as Paul did? Are we sharing their burdens and joys before God’s throne?

This commitment to prayer for one another is part of our church covenant. One practical method involves using a church directory to pray for specific members daily, ensuring we regularly intercede for your entire church family. Our church elders take seriously their responsibility to pray for every congregation member, but this responsibility extends to all believers.

Strongly consider joining a church prayer meeting—whether a formal, corporate prayer meeting or a smaller group prayer time.

Charles Spurgeon, when asked about his ministry’s effectiveness, led his questioner to the church basement where over two hundred people were praying for the ministry. He called this “the engine room of the church.” If our prayer meeting serves as this church’s engine room, we need more people to power that engine.

Beyond praying for fellow believers, do you tell others you are praying for them? How encouraging it can be to hear that someone has been praying for you!

Paul not only told the Philippians he prayed for them but also revealed what he prayed for them. Why would Paul feel it necessary to share the content of his prayers? I believe there are two primary reasons.

First, Paul wanted to demonstrate that God is the decisive actor and cause of everything he asks God to do on their behalf. While he certainly wanted to encourage them, if encouragement were his sole purpose, he could have simply told them he was praying for them.

Our prayers can encourage other believers, but it is a mistake to use prayer primarily for encouragement rather than for communion with God. Prayer may encourage, teach, or rebuke, but these are not their primary purposes. Our prayers are not primarily therapeutic exercises. They are nothing less than communion and fellowship with Almighty God. We must resist the temptation to use public prayers in a manipulative manner or to “pray at” other people, which dishonours the Lord and takes his name in vain.

Paul doesn’t command them to abound in love; instead, he tells them he prays for it. He doesn’t instruct them to abound in knowledge and discernment; he prays for it. Paul wants them to understand that what he requests is something only God can accomplish in their lives.

This understanding is fundamental to the Christian life and ministry. In John 15:4–5, Jesus declares he is the vine and we are the branches, making the extraordinary claim that “apart from me you can do nothing.” Paul prays accordingly, understanding that God must work these things in believers’ lives, or they will not occur. For this same reason, Paul thanks God for their partnership in the gospel rather than thanking the Philippians themselves. He understands that God is the decisive actor in producing spiritual fruit and maturity.

Second, Paul wants to show them what they ought to pursue. Later in Philippians 2:12–13, he writes: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

As families often pray around the dinner table for kindness, obedience, and respect in the home, we must remember that we cannot simply pray for these things and continue acting as we were. Faith involves more than just praying for things. Faith means praying for what accords with God’s will, then trusting that God will answer as we pursue the very things we have prayed for. Faith means praying and believing that God will bless our obedience with the fruits of righteousness.

Those who say to a beggar “be warmed and filled” without providing help speak nonsense. Similarly, those who pray for love, righteousness, knowledge, and discernment but do not pursue these things are ineffective. Paul is not telling them to pursue these things instead of praying, but rather to pursue them because he is praying.

We must never focus exclusively on God’s sovereignty or human responsibility. Without the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, our efforts are hopeless and usually futile. Without the doctrine of our responsibility, we put God to the test in an unrighteous way, as Christ repudiated when tempted: “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test” (Deuteronomy 6:16).

Paul teaches clearly in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” Do not merely pray for daily bread—pray, then work. God’s sovereignty should fuel, empower, strengthen, and motivate our obedient, faithful action.

Consider David’s confidence when he told Abiathar: “Do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping” (1 Samuel 22:23). This sounds counterintuitive. Surely distance from David would mean greater safety. Yet David spoke with such conviction because he knew God had promised he would be king. He trusted God’s word and acted accordingly. David knew he would be king, yet he still fled from Saul, wore armour, and carried a sword. He could do all these things with confidence, knowing God was on his side.

Paul tells the Philippian church what he prays for them both to point them to God as the decisive actor and to encourage them to actively pursue these things.

But what did Paul pray for? He reveals several things.

Paul first prays that their love may abound more and more. Love for what? Is he speaking of their love for God, their experience of God’s love for them, or their love for one another?

In context, Paul has been discussing “the affection of Christ Jesus” with which he yearns for them, suggesting he may be speaking of their love for God and their experience of God’s love. However, he is also writing to a group of beloved saints who have partnered with him in gospel work, suggesting he may mean their love for one another.

The answer is both. It encompasses love for God, love from God, and love for one another. One incredible dynamic of Christ’s church is that Jesus identifies so closely with the church that, as we serve another believer, Christ receives it as if we were serving him directly. If we give a cup of water to a believer because he is a believer, Christ says we have done it for him.

It is primarily in the church that we express our love for God. Our love for one another evidences our love for God himself. After all, “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” (1 John 4:20).

Reciprocally, we experience God’s love for us through the church. John writes that we should love one another because love comes from God. As we love one another, we make God’s love tangible to each other.

Paul prays that their love would abound more and more—not just increase slightly, but super-abound, overflow, and fill up. Their love for one another should be abundant and excessive. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35)—not a love requiring investigation, but a love that stands out, deriving from God’s superabundant love in Christ for sinners.

Each time we show affection for one another, pray for each other, lend a helping hand, make a meal, share a burden, or celebrate grace, we shine like a city on a hill that cannot be ignored by those passing by.

Why does Paul connect abounding love with knowledge and discernment? He prays “that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment.”

Love is not whatever we make it to be or want it to be. Love is not merely a warm, fuzzy feeling of well-being. Love is definable and tangible. Love means doing what is best for the object of your love. Ultimately on earth, this means helping one another see and savour the glory of God.

But how do we accomplish this? We must be saturated in truth. We must know not only the contents of God’s word but, through it, come to know God himself. Many people quickly disparage theology and doctrine, claiming they are only interested in a relationship with Jesus. What they are really saying is, “Don’t confuse me with facts. I prefer my fairy tale.”

We serve a God who is invisible to us, and he is invisible for good reason: We are not equipped to see God and live. This means we are totally and fully reliant on God’s self-revelation to know who he is. Therefore, truth matters. Scripture matters. Doctrine and theology matter.

I am not advocating for academic pursuits, sounding clever, or earning theology degrees. I am speaking of becoming genuinely familiar with Scripture through regular and frequent Bible reading, meditation, and prayer. These disciplines are essential for loving God and loving God’s people. They are essential for discerning what belongs to God and what He opposes. They are essential for approving what is excellent.

How could the Puritans and other theologians write volumes on single biblical concepts? They exposed themselves to God’s word, meditated on it, and worked through its implications. They asked how it applied to them and other aspects of life. They considered its implications and how it was meant to change them and how they should live in light of particular truths.

This is simply faith. If we truly believe God’s word is God-breathed, sufficient for all of life and godliness, and profitable—if we truly believe the Proverbs when they tell us wisdom is more valuable than gold and jewels—are we living accordingly? Surely we, as God’s people, must be people of the book. Since we have unfettered access to God’s revelation in our own language with numerous tools and aids, we should give more time, attention, and energy to it.

This is the only way to love God and the only way to have true knowledge and discernment. Just as Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, offered unauthorised fire before God and were executed for it (Leviticus 10:1–2), let us not think we can approach God apart from the truth he has revealed. We cannot worship him when we know nothing about who he is.

To love, we must have knowledge. But to discern, we must have love. Knowledge alone is insufficient. Paul calls on God for profound transformation. He does not simply lecture them or tell them what they ought to be like. He wants them changed from the inside out. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24).

We need both knowledge and discernment as well as love.

Beyond knowledge and discernment, Paul prays they would be pure and blameless. The glorious truth of the gospel is that sinners and rebels, blackened by sin’s filth, can be washed clean and made new. All who forsake their sin and trust in Jesus receive white robes of righteousness—not merely forgiveness. Jesus takes their sin and bears God’s wrath that their sin deserves while giving us a positive balance of righteousness. In God’s ledger, we are both holy (without sin and corruption) and righteous (pleasing, deserving of God’s approval and commendation).

This glorious truth must be proclaimed to the nations: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isaiah 55:1). This truth must be remembered whenever we as believers experience Satan’s accusations, reminding us of our failures and unworthiness. In Christ, we are not only forgiven but made sons and daughters of God.

However, I do not believe this is primarily what Paul has in mind here. This entire prayer is connected. The abounding of their love connects to their knowledge and discernment and approval of what is excellent, which in turn results in purity and blamelessness.

As believers come to know more about God and know God himself more fully, we begin to resemble him. One curse of idolatry in the Old Testament was that idol worshipers became like their idols. The opposite is also true: Those who worship the true and living God become like him. We grow in purity and blamelessness here and now.

Philippians 1:6 states: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” What is this good work he has started? Our growth in purity and blamelessness here on earth.

Philippians 2:14–15 instructs: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Does this mean Christians should expect to become sinless this side of the grave? No. Even Paul acknowledges in Philippians 3:12: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Because we are perfect and righteous in Christ, we must press on to become what we are, to make this our own.

Plainly speaking, this means we do not coddle our sin, cherish our sin, skate as close to temptation’s thin ice as possible, or flirt with evil. We confess and hate our sin, making war on it by the Spirit. We actively pursue holiness and seek to please the Lord in everything, all while trusting in Christ as our sinless perfection.

Holiness is something we are, and righteousness is something credited to us. By the Spirit’s gracious power, righteousness is also something we grow in our appreciation for each time we apply the gospel, turning from sin toward God. Christians grow in righteousness daily and yearly as we are slowly but surely conformed to Christ’s image. In this way, we are prepared for the day of Jesus Christ—that great day when Christ will shine forth as King of all the universe, when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

On that great day of reckoning, when the wicked are cast off, God’s children will showcase the incredible beauty of what God’s grace through the gospel has accomplished in those who were once rebels and broken sinners. Just as Zechariah and Job were called blameless, we too can live lives characterised not by hiding sin but by the gospel’s light, which drives out darkness and shows our great Saviour’s glory.

Satan will have nothing to say on that day when he accuses us, for nothing will stick. It has been washed away by Christ’s blood, and the sin that once so easily beset us finds no place among the refined silver of a believer’s life.

Third, Paul prays they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness. Righteousness is not merely being on the right side of an arbitrary moral line. Righteousness is life. Wickedness is death.

Wickedness brings death to the sinner and all around him. This is why we see such a culture of death around us—rampant abortion, rising euthanasia, suicide at all-time highs, and catastrophic birth rates in first-world countries. Wickedness brings death.

But righteousness brings life. The righteous not only avoid death but bear fruit. Indeed, this is righteousness’s purpose. Paul prays they would be filled with righteousness’s fruit, not characterised by half measures.

Titus 2:14 speaks of Christ “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Are our lives characterised by fruitfulness and life? For believers, there is hope even in physical death. When a believer dies well, others are inspired to live likewise. Unbelievers see something in us of the gospel’s power.

Is your life producing fruit? Fruit is the natural outgrowth of inner newness. A good tree bears fruit. When you pray, do you ask God to fill you with righteousness’s fruits, or are you content to coast along, bearing only buds?

May God rescue us from coasting. May he give us hunger and thirst for righteousness’s fruits. This is what we were made for. As 2 Corinthians 9:8 states: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Why is Paul so eager to see these Philippian believers filled with righteousness’s fruit? For the same reason Paul does everything: for God’s glory and praise.

For Paul, seeing and savouring God in Christ was everything. In Philippians 3:8, he writes: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Everything was about God’s glory.

Paul’s heartfelt prayer for his Philippian flock was not that they would become the best versions of themselves or prosper in health, wealth, and success. He prayed they would abound in love with knowledge and all discernment, filled with righteousness’s fruits through Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise.

Glory speaks of God’s beauty, excellence, and greatness. As fallen humans grow in their ability to abound in love—doing what is humanly impossible by denying ourselves, loving the unlovable, exercising forgiveness, suffering willingly, dying to self, forsaking sin, and bearing righteousness’s fruits—we testify in our lives to God’s glory.

James says no one can tame the tongue (James 3:8). If we argue from the lesser to the greater, if no one can tame the tongue, no one can tame people. No one can tame sinners—except the God of the Bible. Our fruit leads inevitably to God’s glory, and praise is our natural response to God’s work in exaltation and joy.

Paul prays that God would do what would bring himself the most praise and glory. Jesus taught us to pray this way in Matthew 6:9: “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.’” We ask that God’s name would be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven.

Paul builds an argument in his prayer based on God’s revealed will and character. He shows how righteousness’s fruits in these Philippians would lead to God’s glory. He knows God is committed to his glory. This is precisely what it means to pray according to God’s will.

Paul takes what is clearly revealed as God’s will—namely, his own praise and glory—and links his prayers for the Philippians to that revealed will of God. We ought to follow Paul’s example in our own prayers.

Paul prayed that their love would abound in all knowledge and discernment because he knew that for them to glorify God, they would have to know God’s will. Likewise, we must know God’s will if we want to pray accordingly. Know God’s will as revealed in his word, then pray God’s will. Link your prayers with God’s revealed will.

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15). If you cannot link your prayers with God’s revealed will, perhaps you should reevaluate whether you should be praying for those things in the first place.

Is Paul being mercenary in this? Is he praying for all these things simply for the purpose of bringing praise and glory to God, like some religions that want people to convert for their own benefit?

Not at all. We have already seen Paul’s affection for them. All pastors worth their salt have great affection for their flock. This is precisely what makes ministry such a painful vocation for most pastors: Opposition and criticism come from the very people you pour your life into, which can be profoundly painful, as we have seen in Corinthians.

Paul is not using these Philippian believers to get glory for God. Rather, he understands that glory and praise for God is not only mankind’s highest calling but precisely what we need for our greatest joy, peace, and flourishing here on earth.

Far from material wealth and comfort, Paul understands that even these good things in a sin-cursed world can do us profound harm. But knowing, serving, and obeying God—bearing his image and bringing him renown—is the greatest, highest, most satisfying calling any human can fulfil.

We were made for this, and Paul understands all too well that no effort on his part could effect this calling in his flock’s lives. Paul is acutely aware of his powerlessness as a pastor to fulfil his mission. He knows it is only through Jesus Christ that men and women can bring acceptable praise to God. Paul knows it is only as sinners are freed from their bondage of deceit and sin—only as dead people are raised to life—that people can glorify the living God.

Paul knows that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son who came to earth as the second Adam, was the one authorised to stand in his people’s place, representing them before God’s tribunal. Only as this second Adam lived a perfect life of righteousness—only as this man abounded with love, knowledge, and discernment; only as this man lived an excellent life and proved to be pure and blameless, then offered up his life—could sinners forsake their sin and put their hope in Jesus as their representative before God.

Only through this can sinners be grafted into Jesus Christ, the true vine. Only through Christ can we bear any fruit of righteousness at all.

How we should love, adore, and live for Jesus Christ! Without him, we are nothing and will be nothing.

Steve Lawson tells the story of Lawrence of Arabia, who entertained guests from the Arabian desert in Paris. He showed them the sights and sounds, but they were only mildly impressed. He took them to their hotel room and showed them how to use the bathroom sink tap. They were amazed—turn the tap and water flows out, seemingly infinite water.

They were so amazed that when he returned the next day, he found them trying various methods to remove the tap from the wall so they could take it through the desert and always have water with them.

Just as a tap is only valuable when connected to its source, Christians can only bear fruit as long as we are connected to the source of righteousness—Jesus Christ, the true vine. But as we are connected through Christ, all the unlimited righteousness of Almighty God’s grace can flow through us.

Like a tap, it is our connection to Christ that takes a relatively worthless thing—a sinner—and makes him a conduit of God’s righteousness and glory to God’s praise.

The greatest thing you can do in this world, the greatest thing you can do for this church, is to be rightly connected to Jesus Christ.

Let me conclude by reading John 15:7–8, where Jesus says: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

This was Paul’s prayer for the Philippian flock, and may it be our prayer and pursuit as well.

AMEN