February 18, 2026

Near the end of the sermon on Sunday, I used an illustration about coffee made too strong or too weak. One bad pot is unfortunate - but when the coffee is repeatedly bad, it eventually produces bad taste as well. When it comes to biblical truth in the context of our witness and our relationships, I think we all have a bit of “bad taste” to deal with: do we soften or sharpen the edges of truth for our own benefit? We not only have to recognize our “ditches” but find our way out of them. Thankfully, God’s word is always presently helpful. This Tuesday morning, the men’s prayer group discussed Philippians 1:1-11, and I think Paul sets a good example here when he prays that the love of the Philippian Church would abound more and more with knowledge and discernment. 

This idea of love abounding in knowledge and discernment begs the question a little doesnt it? What sort of knowledge? What or who should we be discerning? This “knowledge” is more relational than factual, referring to our “internal” or personal experience with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Discernment involves judgment, particularly how we “size things up” in relation to a standard. So when we think about how we live out the hope of the Gospel, whether at home, in the workplace, or like Jesus and John the Baptist, amidst the injustice and rejection of unbelief, we have these great resources to provide guardrails for us. First, our desire to live lives that please the Lord, we love him only because he first loved us! Second, the nature of our relationship with him: righteous, gracious, and merciful all at the same time. Third, the truth of God’s word - the revealed will of God, and the communicated standard of holiness. Paul is praying that love would abound more and more with what Calvin described as the foundation of all wisdom: knowledge of God, and knowledge of ourselves. 

Going back to the idea of bad coffee; now we can start to see how to climb out of these (too-strong/too-weak) ditches. When Godly love motivates our interactions, God’s grace and righteousness increasingly permeate our interactions with each other at home, within the church, and at large in the world around us. We can recognize our “ditches” while praying along with Paul that our love would abound more and more with knowledge and discernment.