Key Scripture: Philippians 1:3-6

In Philippians Chapter 1, Paul is writing to the early church in Philippi. A church that he, led by the Holy Spirit, founded 10 years earlier. He writes, “I thank my God every time I remember you.” (Philippians 1:3) Now, that’s saying something. When you think of your church family, your connect group, the people who lead you in worship, your Student Pastor, Children’s ministers, the people you serve with in the kitchen, greet with at the doors, pray next to in worship - What’s the first thought that comes to your mind? Is it gratitude, love for, compassion, patience with?

Paul is sharing with us a certainty that we’ve come back to many times this year underneath the specifics of the relationship God calls us to have with Him and with one another, and he connects two ideas. God has called us into relationship with Himself and with one another. And it is through that relationship God continues His transformative work in our life.

Let’s read together. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6)

Notice the relationship Paul had with the church. He considers it a partnership. A partnership is where each person contributes equally to the purpose, in this case, the relationship. He thinks of them often, they come to his mind often. When you are at work, at home, at school, what occupies your mind? “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). Where is your heart set? What captures your attention? What occupies your thoughts? Is it people, circumstances, sideline issues of preference, critique?

He prays for them. “In all my prayers for you…” It wasn’t that he had to pray for them. He wasn’t just responding to the weekly prayer e-mail and begrudgingly taking time out of his day to pray for a list of needs and cares that he was unconcerned with. No, in all his prayers he prayed for them and he prayed with joy and fondness. He wants to pray for them, he desires to pray for them, it pleases him to pray for them. He also prayed intentionally – with confidence that God was at work in their every situation, in their lives, and God was sanctifying them, growing, shaping, and developing them. He knew there were still struggles, failures, questions, temptations, and growing pains. But He had confidence. Not confidence in their ability to get everything right, but confidence in the faithfulness of God.

Sometimes we look at our lives and see everything that still needs to be fixed. We see the places where we still struggle. The habits we haven't conquered. The prayers that haven't been answered. The relationships that aren't where we want them to be. And sometimes we can become discouraged because we aren't finished yet. But Philippians 1:6 gives us a certainty we desperately need. God isn't finished with us yet. Paul says, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

That means our confidence isn't ultimately in ourselves. Our confidence is in God. So let's unpack this together today; the role God's faithfulness to us, and our faithfulness to Him, plays in our life as Christ followers.

God is the One who begins the work in us.

Paul says, “He who began a good work in you…” The Christian life doesn't begin with what we do for God. It begins with what God has done for us. God pursued us before we ever pursued Him. God loved us before we understood His love. God made a way for us to come home before we ever realized how far away we had gone. John says, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) God begins the work. And that changes the way we look at our lives. God meets us where we are, saves us by His grace, and then His Spirit begins transforming us into who He created us to be.

Think about a construction project. When you drive past a house that is being built, you don't look at the foundation and say, “What an unfinished house. Somebody should have done better.” You understand that it's under construction. The foundation is there because somebody has a plan. There are walls that haven't been framed yet. There are rooms that don't have drywall. There are electrical wires yet to be connected. There are doors that haven't been installed. It doesn't look finished because it's not finished. And sometimes that's exactly how we need to look at ourselves and others. I'm not finished. You're not finished. And God hasn’t walked away from the construction project. He is still working. God is faithfully shaping, removing things that don’t belong, developing things that do, teaching, correcting, healing broken places, developing our faith, and making us more like Jesus.

God looks at our life and sees a work He has begun, but He doesn’t stop there. God is faithful to continue the work He began. Paul reminds us in verse 6 that God continues His work in us, He “will carry it on.” God sustains what He starts.

There are seasons in life when we feel strong spiritually. Prayer comes easily. Worship is sincere and enjoyable. Scripture seems to speak directly to us. We see God's activity everywhere. But there are other seasons when we pray and heaven seems silent. We open our Bible and struggle to concentrate. We come to the gathering and struggle to go through the motions. We know what we believe, but we just don't feel it.

Thankfully, the faithfulness of God is not determined by how strongly we feel His presence. Paul says, “The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24) He will do it. Not, “You will do it if you try hard enough.” There is a work that only God can accomplish. “For it is God who works in you (His Holy Spirit) to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13) That means even The desire to become more like Christ is evidence of His work in you. The conviction you feel when you know something isn't right, that can be God's work. The desire to forgive somebody you don't want to forgive, to get back into God's Word, to pray again, to come home after you've wandered, these can all be God's work.

God's faithfulness does not mean He will give us everything we want, that our lives will be easy, or we will never experience loss, disappointment, sickness, grief, temptation, or difficulty. God's faithfulness is demonstrated not by removing the difficulty but by sustaining us through it. Paul prayed three times for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh.” God didn't remove it. Instead, God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Sometimes the miracle isn't that God changes the circumstance. The miracle is that God changes us in the circumstance. Remember the scripture we looked at a few months ago in our “even if” sermon? “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze.” (Isaiah 43:2) The fire doesn't destroy you because God is in the fire with you. The valley doesn't define you because God walks with you through the valley. The storm doesn't have the final word because Jesus is still in the boat.

Philippians 1:6 says that God is the One who begins and completes the work, so does that mean we can sit back and do nothing? God's faithfulness doesn't eliminate our responsibility. Our faithfulness is how we participate in the work God is doing in and through us.

Paul tells the Philippians, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12b). And then he immediately explains why: “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13)

Faithfulness is showing up when you don't feel like showing up. Praying when prayer doesn’t come naturally. Opening God’s Word instead of listening to talk radio or scrolling on the phone. Focusing our mind in worship even when something else has temporarily captured our thoughts. Faithfulness to our God given responsibility as a husband, wife, and parent, no matter the season. (I’m deeply torn up with the number of families who are struggling right now to stay together. Dear friends, let God finish His work in you.) Forgiving when we are hurt. Staying instead of walking away. Obeying when obedience is inconvenient. Faithfulness is saying YES to God and His Spirit. God works in us as we respond to Him with trust.

When our children start walking, they often stand up, take a couple of steps, and then fall down. Mom or Dad doesn’t say, “Well, I guess walking isn't for you.” No, we reach down, pick the child up, encourage the child, and say, “Try again.” The child takes three steps and falls again. Try again. Five steps. Fall. Try again. Eventually the child is running across the room. Why? Because the child kept responding to the parent's encouragement. And spiritually, there are times when God says, “Get back up!” You failed? Get back up. You sinned? Confess it and get back up. You wandered? Come home. You stopped praying? Start again. You stopped serving? Start again. You lost your passion? Ask God to renew it. Don’t “feel” in love anymore? Love anyway.

“Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.” (Proverbs 24:16a) That's faithfulness. Getting back up. Continuing to trust. Continuing to follow because God isn’t finished yet!

We must allow God to finish what He started. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God intends to complete what He started. He’s not just making improvements, or tweaks. He is conforming us to the image of Christ. Paul says that God’s plan for us is “...to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:29) God is making us more like Jesus. (Think about what that means – the peace of Christ, the wisdom of Christ, the patience and grace of Christ. To have his Character but also His relationship with God as our Father, Source of strength, Oneness with Him. I want that. Don’t you?) Then we must allow Him to conform us. He doesn’t force himself on us.

This is where the tension lays. We want God to change our circumstances, but we aren’t sure we want Him to change us in the process. But that is what He is doing if we will let Him. We want God to fix our marriage, but we don't want Him to change our attitude. We want Him to fix our finances, but we don't want Him to change our priorities. God, remove our anxiety, but we don't want Him to teach us to trust. Remove our enemies, but we don't want Him to teach us to love.

Paul commands us, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord…” (1 Corinthians 15:58) Sometimes the “work” God is doing in you is more important than the work God is doing around you. How fully are you giving yourself to that work, the internal work He is doing in you? James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2–3). God often uses the thing we wish He would remove to develop the person He is calling us to become.

Hebrews reminds us where to focus. “...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith...” (Hebrews 12:2) The pioneer and perfecter. He is the one who begins the work, sustains it, perfects it, finishes it. So don’t quit in the middle of it. You may be in chapter 3, but God already knows what chapter 20 looks like. You may be in a season where you don't understand what God is doing, but that doesn't mean God isn't doing something. You may look at your life and see a mess, but God sees a masterpiece in progress. You may see failure. God sees an opportunity for transformation. You may see weakness. God sees a place where His strength can be displayed. You may see unfinished. God sees not finished yet.

Finally, our certainty isn’t in ourselves, it is in the Faithfulness of God who called us. This is ultimately what Paul wants the Philippians to understand. God is faithful and will finish what He started. Will you trust Him no matter what? “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God…” (Deuteronomy 7:9)

When I look at myself, I find plenty of reasons to doubt. But when I look at God, I find every reason to trust. When I look at my past, I see mistakes. When I look at God's grace, I see redemption. When I look at my weaknesses, I see limitations. When I look at God's power, I see possibilities. When I look at how far I still have to go, I can become discouraged. But when I remember who is walking with me, I can have confidence. Because “He who began a good work in me is faithful to carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Three questions I want you to consider this week. For the believer, the one who has placed our trust in Jesus Christ, will you trust this season of your life to God’s faithfulness? Trust Him enough to let Him continue the work He began in you? Will you come home? Will you grant forgiveness? Choose growth over temporary happiness? Will you take that next step toward restoration?

For those who have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, will you let Him begin the work He desires to do in your life? Beginning with repentance and baptism?

Will you trust the role God has for the church in your life by being part of The Family? Sometimes the greatest act of faithfulness isn't doing something spectacular for God. It's simply saying, “God, I'm still here. I'm still trusting You. I'm still following You. I'm still saying yes. Finish what You started in me.”

I look forward to seeing you at The Gatheirng this weekend. So many have been traveling the last several weeks. Know we miss you and look forward to your return. Dave