10-21-12 He Who Began A Good Work In You

I wrote this talk twice.

From beginning to end,

I wrote this talk twice.

The first time I wrote it

I even ran off copies for this morning

and I posted it on line.

But from the very beginning I wasn’t pleased with it.

It was technically correct.

It was good doctrine.

It was, I think, a reasonable presentation of the truth.

But it failed to capture the heart,

and the hope,

and the amazing truth about our God

that is all bound up in this one verse we’re going to look at during the next few minutes.

We are studying Paul’s letters to the Philippians,

and our study so far has only progressed six verses into the text.

And we’re not yet finished with those six verses.

But we’re going slowly

because everything Paul does in the rest of this letter

is built upon what he gives us in these first six verses.

Let me read them for us once again

before we move back into the passage

so that we can begin to get our minds back into the truth.

Paul writes,

1:1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:

Php 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Php 1:3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,

Php 1:4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all,

Php 1:5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.

Php 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

And during the past few weeks

we’ve seen the way in which Paul begins this letter

by giving us four crucial pieces of information.

First, he tells us who we are - God’s saints,

God’s holy ones,

recreated in holiness at the deepest level of our being by God Himself.

Simply stated,

when we turned to Him, reaching out to Him as our Redeemer,

He removed our heart of stone

and replaced it with a heart, a spirit that longs to please our God.

Then, he tells us where we are - in Christ.

We now live our lives,

every day,

every moment in the hollow of His hand,

immersed in His love,

surrounded by His presence.

And then last week we listened to Paul

as he told us what we can expect from this Creator God of ours

who has joined us to Himself

and Himself to us.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what our God longs to bring into our lives,

this is what He works daily to open our eyes and our hearts to.

This is the way He begins every contact,

every communication,

every word to us and work within us - with grace that has no limits

and peace with our Creator that has no end.

And then Paul goes on to share one more crucial truth with us

about what’s going on between us and our God.

And he does it in a single sentence

that is designed to serve as an immovable anchor in our lives.

He says,

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

In that single sentence

we have nearly everything

our spirits and our minds most need to know

about this absolutely miraculous thing that exists between God and the Christian.

I can remember discovering this verse in the early days of my Christian life,

discovering it,

and clinging to it

like I would cling to a life preserver in a churning sea.

And that churning sea imagery

captures well the whole first phase of my Christian life.

I was 19 years old when I met my King.

I knew nothing about Him,

and very little about myself,

and even less about the principles that govern a truly rich and productive life.

About all I knew how to do

was to get myself all emotionally charged up

and then frantically try to do what I thought I was suppose to do

and be what I thought I was suppose to be.

Which resulted in a very long list of blunders

and failures.

And then I came across this statement,

given to me by my God,

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

And it gave me hope

in so many ways,

at so many levels.

First of all it gave me hope

by confronting me with the wonder of wonders

that my God even cared.

Why in the world would the Creator of the universe

even notice I existed,

or have any plan

or any purpose for me and my life at all?

And yet there it was - He who began a good work in you...

Why would He have done that?

I don’t know,

but that at least I knew to be true -

He truly had stepped into my life

and begun a work of His own design,

His own purpose,

just as He has done

in the life of each of those who turn to Him.

One of the greatest rewards of my life

is the privilege I have

of seeing the work of God

in the lives of some of those I have the privilege of getting close to.

Frequently I can see it far better than the individuals themselves.

I see the creation within them of a longing

for a life of purity and righteousness.

I seen the creation of a longing

for a life that makes a difference,

a life that brings good into our world,

a life that brings redemption,

and beauty,

and compassion,

and healing

where once there was only darkness,

and selfishness,

and arrogance,

and fear,

and pain that seemed to have no purpose.

Only God can accomplish that within a person,

and when He does

it literally changes the course of lives forever.

And I can remember the hope it gave me

when this single statement forced me

to realize that I mattered to my God,

I mattered enough for Him to involve Himself in my life,

to step in and begin a good work that could never have existed

apart from His direct, compassion-filled intervention.

And then, too, I loved then and still love the way this remarkable statement

tells us the truth about who is really in control of this whole thing -

who it is who really began what’s going on inside the Christian.

Paul just says it clearly, simply - He who began a good work in you...

Every time I see that statement,

every time I saw it during those confused early days of my Christian life,

it took me right back to the roots.

It took me back to the very beginning,

to those amazing days when God’s Spirit

found just the right way

of opening the eyes of my spirit to Himself.

It really was His doing -

His calling,

His pursuit of me.

The great Hound of Heaven

seeking me,

and then finding just the right way of confronting me with my need for my God.

That process is different with everyone of us

because He knows just the right way in each of our lives

to pierce the darkness within us

and begin drawing us to His light.

But that’s part of what He wants to do with this glorious statement here in Philippians.

He wants to take us back to our roots,

and to do so in a way that forces us to remember the truth.

From the very beginning

it has never ever been about us finding a suitable religion.

It has been about our God calling us to Himself.

He’s the one who started this whole thing,

and once He starts something

He never quits,

never gives up,

never turns away,

never admits defeat,

never ever abandons us to ourselves.

And do you know something else fascinating about this statement in Philippians?

The religious folk just don’t get it.

There are lots and lots of religious folk in our world,

people who are looking for a system of rules and duties

that give them a sense of structure and security.

They honestly believe

that they can somehow merit God’s acceptance and approval

through the faithful performance of a set of duties.

And many of them are very fine people indeed.

But the great tragedy of their lives

is that their religion actually keeps them from the discovery of their God

because the bottom line is always what they have done for Him

and what they believe He owes them in return.

And they never discover

what it feels like to be loved by God

right where we are, just as we are,

with nothing to offer Him except or desperate need for a Redeemer

who has made a way for our sins to be removed from us forever

and nailed to His own cross.

But one of Paul’s purposes in this statement

is to take us back once again in our minds and hearts

to that place where God Himself began His work within us.

You do remember it in your own life, don’t you?

You remember that stirring in your spirit,

that voice within you

that you simply could not escape - the voice of your Creator calling you to Himself.

And when Paul points us back to that point in our lives

there is a clear implied question -

do you really think the rules have changed?

He’s the one who started this whole thing,

now do you really think He has suddenly dumped it all on you

and required you to try to complete through your own efforts what He began?

That’s not the way it works.

If you had within you

the tools necessary to rebuild your own life

or to create for yourself a future that proclaimed the truth about your God,

then Christ died needlessly.

But that’s not the offer our God made to us through Christ.

What He did offer us is,

well, the absolute assurance that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

That word perfect means

to complete,

or accomplish,

or perform.

It means very simply that

what God starts

He is well able to finish.

He never picks up a life

and then two years down the line

throw up His hands in disgust

and bellows out,

“That’s it! I quite! This person is impossible!

I give up!”

When He accepted us into His family,

that acceptance brought with it

His commitment that He would never leave us,

and never forsake us.

He has all of the tools,

all of the time,

and most of all He has all of the love necessary

to reshape us into conformity to Christ.

What are you churning over right now?

What is it that you brought into this gym with you this morning

that is consuming your mind and emotions?

Is it your future?

I came across a definition of anxiety this past week

that says it perfectly.

Anxiety is the result of envisioning the future without Christ in it,

without Christ in us, with us, for us.

But that isn’t the future that really exists for the child of God.

For, He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Where ever you’re going,

your God is already there, holding you in his arms,

preparing ways for you to know Him and His love better.

Are you churning over that relationship you cannot fix,

or that person you love

who’s going through dark times?

Are they a Christian?

You know, don’t you,

that this promise from our God,

this assurance that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus

is given to them as well.

It will help, I think,

if you do two things.

First, remind yourself that your God knows what He’s doing

and how best to do it in the life of the one you love.

Remind yourself that He who began a good work in them will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

And then, tell them the truth as well.

Tell them of your confidence in your God’s ability

to bring them through from where they are

to where they need to be.

It will sound strange, of course, speaking this truth to them

because I think perhaps most of what you’ve been saying up to this point

has been your sharing with them

everything you see them doing wrong.

Don’t you think they already know that?

You have, perhaps, said all you need to about them.

Now talk to them about their God,

and about His commitment to them,

and His absolute ability to perfect them until the day of Christ Jesus.

Whatever you’re churning over right now

is covered in this promise given to us by our God,

this promise that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

You can continue to churn over it if you choose to.

It is our way,

our natural flesh response

to those things we cannot control and cannot escape.

But all of our churning will change nothing,

and it robs us of our ability to see the truth

and to rest in the that truth that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

And please know I am not trying to be critical or simplistic in this.

I am a masterful churner myself.

It is one of the things I do best.

And I know that there are times when resting in the truth does not happen

apart from open warfare on our part -

a warfare in which we consciously, daily, sometimes hourly choose

to focus our minds once again

on the truth of who our God is,

and the promises He’s made to us.

There are times when resting in Him

is the most active thing we will ever do.

And I’d like to add one additional thought here

especially for those of you

who have grown in your own walk with the Lord

to the point where you have some following after you

who are looking up to you as an example, a model, a mentor.

I know what it’s like to be in that role,

to be viewed as the one who’s got it all together,

the one who’s found the keys to the kingdom.

And I know, too, the powerful flesh-driven urge

to hide behind our external image,

to cultivate the assumption

that I have achieved some rare level of spirituality

that separates me from others.

But I also know that such dishonesty

is one of the cruelest things we can ever do

to those who look up to us as examples.

This promise of our God here in Philippians does not say He who began a good work in you will perfect it until you finally achieve that level of performance that separates you from others and qualifies you for prominence in the family of God.

I have been involved in leadership within the Church world

long enough to know the truth.

Those who posture,

those who suggest with their words or with their external image

that they have successfully obliterated their flesh

and now live in serene, unbroken spiritual victory

are lying to themselves and to those around them.

And rather than helping those who look to them for leadership,

they are actually handing them a lie

that will severely hinder the growth of the next generation of Christians.

If you truly care about those younger Christians who look up to you,

if you want to give them a pattern for their own life that works,

then live honestly before them.

When and where it is appropriate,

let them see where you have struggled,

and where you still struggle now.

And never, ever communicate with your facade and external image

the suggestion that you have somehow achieved a level of spirituality

in which the flesh...your flesh has ceased to be an issue in your life.

The flesh is never converted.

The flesh is never redeemed this side of those new bodies our Lord will one day offer us.

And every honest Christian

openly acknowledges the daily battle each of us faces

in bringing the flesh once again into grudging submission to our Lord.

And my point is simply this -

if our own lives do not give this daily warfare message clearly

to the generation of Christians who follow after us

then we have set them up for needless battles of self-condemnation

and a perpetual sense of failure

as they see their own flesh continuing to war against their spirit

and wonder why they can never achieve the blissful victory of their mentors.

Certainly we must proclaim the ability of our God to transform our lives,

the absolute assurance that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

But if we truly love those brought under our care

we must drop the spiritual facade

and have the courage to acknowledge

that we all live under attack, in daily warfare until the return of our King.

Which is, I think the reason why Paul ends this promise the way he does.

He says,

‟He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

In that phrase, “until the day of Christ Jesus”

I see him giving us two powerful pillars for hope.

First, he wants us to clearly understand

that God is in this thing with us for the long haul.

It is a clear commitment on His part

that He will never ever bail out on us

right up until that point

when we stand in the presence of Christ Himself.

And I think he has phrased this the way he has

to remind us of that other great hope of ours as well -

the personal return of Christ -

that point in human history

when finally this world will be put back

the way He designed it to be,

that time when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Hab. 2:14)

and ...justice will role down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:24)

And the pain will stop forever,

both the pain within us,

and the pain around us.

REV 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.