Sermon: Pastor Hoeger, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights, IL — December 6, 2009
Text: Philippians 1:9–11
Source note: Demo built end-to-end from a public-domain sermon recording (Internet Archive) to show exactly what a Sermon All Week pack contains. A client's pack is branded to their church throughout, like this one.
Paul prayed for the Philippians from prison — not that they'd be right about everything, but that their love would "overflow more and more with knowledge and insight" (Phil. 1:9). That's our prayer for this congregation too: smart hearts. Love that keeps growing because it keeps learning. What is one thing you could learn this week that would help you love someone better?
The thief on the cross next to Jesus knew almost nothing — no catechism, no sermons, no doctrine he could pass a test on. But he said, "Jesus, remember me," and Jesus answered, "Today you will be with me in paradise." It was not his knowledge. It was his faith. If you've ever felt "not smart enough" for God, this one's for you.
"And this is my prayer: that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best…" Martin Luther put it this way: "I believe that I cannot by my own power or understanding believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel." Faith is a gift, not a grade. Rest in that today.
"The biggest mistake of all is to hide our love away, thinking that keeps it pure." One of our shut-in members, 94 years old, wakes each morning in his nursing home and prays for insight — so he can love the people around him well. That's Paul's prayer being answered. Who is right in front of you today, waiting to be loved on purpose?
We don't hold together because we agree on everything. "Our faith in Jesus Christ is enough to hold us together." So we listen to each other, learn from each other, even disagree with each other — because we want to love better. Join us this Sunday as we keep learning to love. There's a seat for you.
Subject: Paul's prayer for you this week
Dear friends,
From a prison cell, Paul wrote to the church in Philippi and told them what he was praying for them: "that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and insight" (Philippians 1:9).
Notice what he doesn't pray. Not that they'd win arguments. Not that they'd never be wrong. He prays for smart hearts — love that grows wiser as it grows deeper.
That's our prayer for you this week too. Knowledge in the Christian life has exactly one purpose: to help us love God and love each other better. Everything else is just trivia.
What's one thing you could learn this week — about a neighbor, a family member, a coworker — that would help you love them better? Start there.
In Christ,
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
Subject: The man who knew almost nothing
Dear friends,
Think about the thief on the cross. He had never heard the Sermon on the Mount. He couldn't have explained a single doctrine. By his own life's evidence, he hadn't done well in anybody's classroom.
And yet he's one of the only people in Scripture we know for certain is in heaven. Why? "It was not his knowledge, was it? It was his faith."
He looked at the man on the cross beside him and, by the Holy Spirit, saw his King: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
If you carry a quiet fear that you're not knowledgeable enough, not put-together enough, not right enough for God — lay it down today. You are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Full stop.
In Christ,
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
Subject: "I cannot by my own understanding…"
Dear friends,
Martin Luther — doctor of theology, translator of the Bible, no intellectual lightweight — wrote these startling words in the Small Catechism:
"I believe that I cannot by my own power or understanding believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel and has enlightened me with His gifts."
Even Luther's faith wasn't Luther's achievement. It's the Spirit's gift — for him, and for you.
So we don't need to be afraid of being wrong. We already know we are, about more things than we can count. Faith was never a test we pass. It's a gift we receive.
Read Philippians 1:9–11 slowly today and let Paul's prayer be prayed over you.
In Christ,
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
Subject: Don't hide your love away
Dear friends,
Here's a line from Sunday that won't leave us alone: "The biggest mistake of all is to hide our love away, thinking that that keeps it pure."
Love kept pure by being kept hidden isn't love at all. The only way to make something overflow is to keep pouring into it.
One of our own, a 94-year-old member in a nursing home, treats every morning as a spiritual discipline: he prays for insight so he can love the people around him — people who, in the fog of dementia, can be rude or irritable or hard to love. And he does it anyway, on purpose, daily. That is Paul's prayer, answered in a nursing-home room.
Who has God put right in front of you? Love them on purpose today.
In Christ,
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
Subject: We don't agree on everything. Good.
Dear friends,
Let's be honest: a congregation full of people who are wrong about some things, led by a pastor who's wrong about some things, will not agree on everything. We never will.
But here's the good news from Sunday: "We are members of this congregation not because we come to agreement on every issue of our time, but because we say our faith in Jesus Christ is enough — enough to hold us together."
So we'll listen to each other. Learn from each other. Disagree with each other — because we want to love better.
Bring that spirit with you Sunday. And if you know someone who's been afraid church is only for people who have it all figured out — bring them too. It isn't. It never was.
In Christ,
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
Preaching from Philippians 1:9–11, Pastor Hoeger takes up Paul's prayer that our love "overflow more and more with knowledge and insight." The sermon pushes back on two errors at once: the idea that being right is what saves us, and the fear that knowledge is faith's enemy. Knowledge is neither our savior nor our enemy — it is love's servant. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone (the thief on the cross is the proof), and precisely because we are secure, we can pursue knowledge and insight without fear — testing all of it by one question: does this help me love God and my neighbor better?
Philippians 1:9–11 (KJV): "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."
Also read: Luke 23:39–43 (the penitent thief); Ephesians 2:8–9.
1. Paul prays for love to overflow "with knowledge and insight." Why does love need knowledge? What does love without insight look like — and knowledge without love?
2. The thief on the cross knew almost nothing about Jesus' teaching, yet Jesus promised him paradise. What does this tell us about what actually saves a person?
3. Luther confessed, "I cannot by my own power or understanding believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him." If faith is the Holy Spirit's gift, why do we still study, learn, and ask questions?
4. Pastor Hoeger names fear of being wrong as a driver of anti-intellectual faith. Where do you feel that fear? What does it protect, and what does it cost?
5. "The biggest mistake of all is to hide our love away." Where might you be keeping your love "pure" by keeping it hidden?
6. The congregation holds together not by agreement but by faith in Christ. How does that change the way we handle disagreement with each other?
• Learn to love: Pick one person and learn one new thing about them this week — their story, their struggle, their need. Let knowledge do its proper work.
• Pray the prayer: Pray Philippians 1:9 over one person by name each day.
• Unhide your love: Do one deliberate, visible act of love you've been keeping back — like the 94-year-old who prays each morning for insight to love the people in front of him.
• Monday: Philippians 1:3–11 — Paul's prayer in full
• Tuesday: Luke 23:32–43 — the thief on the cross
• Wednesday: Ephesians 2:1–10 — saved by grace through faith
• Thursday: 1 Corinthians 13 — knowledge without love is nothing
• Friday: John 13:34–35 — "by this everyone will know"
*Demo pack — prepared by Sermon All Week from a public-domain sermon recording (Internet Archive): Pastor Hoeger, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights, IL, December 6, 2009.*