God At Work In You
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Would people say you are...
a) self centered
b) unavailable
c) loving
Would you say you...
a) are concerned over your sin or wrongs
b) uninterested in what sin is
c) I do what I want!
Would you say you...
a) aren't interested in God
b) somewhat interested in God
c) very interested in God
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
This letter has been called by many people the letter of Joy!
There are at least 11 times Paul references joy or calls us to rejoice!
What’s amazing is that the letter of joy, from Paul, was written in...
PRISON
Now, as we study this letter we are going to learn that the reason Paul was joyful, and calls us to be joyful, is because he has a right understanding of who God is and what God is doing.
The main idea I want you to understand tonight is...
Main Idea
God's work, by God's grace, is producing Christ's love in you!
Your growth as a christian is...
1. God’s Work
1. God’s Work
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
They had sent him money to help him share the gospel. But this partnership is more than that. It’s a word that describes the bond that Christians have with one another. Something only possible because of the gospel.
Paul’s joy for this church in Philippi was rooted in their embrace of the gospel when they heard it and their continued partnership with him in making it known!
6 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.
Circle “began” and “completion”
About “began”…
Paul says that the first day they believed the gospel was the beginning of God’s work in them! John 3:5-6
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
For each person who believed the gospel, they had an immediate desire to know God and have their sins removed. That was the indicator of God beginning a work in their hearts.
This looked like:
Standing up publicly and owning Jesus!
Pursuing baptism.
Changing course of life: (Jesus became the #1 priority)
Just like God worked on the first day, God needs to work every day to see them to the last day! That’s where “completed” comes into play.
Paul is saying that he is confident that God will continue to make each believer more and more like Jesus. And that God will help keep Jesus as their #1 priority.
This isn’t just a promise for change but it is mainly a promise that God will always be with us!
“God will always be with us!”
This looks like:
When something steals Jesus’ place, God will convict and correct them.
If someone threatens them for following Jesus, God will keep them strong in their public ownership of Jesus.
The main point is, it isn’t our human effort or exertions that begin or sustain our Christian life… But it is God’s work in us...
Your growth as a christian is...
1. God’s Work
Your growth as a christian is...
2. By God’s Grace
2. By God’s Grace
KEYWORD...
Grace:
Unmerited and undeserved favor.
It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
Everything in Paul’s life was a result of grace.
He says, likewise, everything in our lives is a result of grace.
We “partake” of grace with him.
“Partake” is the same word Paul used for “partnership” earlier.
As “partakers” of grace, like Paul, everything in our lives is used by God to transform us to be more like Jesus. pleasant things and terrible things.
“it is right for me to feel this way about you”
-what does he feel?
Joy because God is completing what he started.
What God started in them is something He also started in Paul.
-How is the gracious work in Paul going? Where is he now?
“imprisonment” and “defense of the gospel”
These extremely hard circumstances are a grace in Paul’s life because they are a part of finishing what God started in him.
Not everything feels this way. But it is true because the Gospel makes it so. What Jesus did. Makes it so. We will unpack this more and more as we look at this book.
----
Now, quickly, I want to remind you of the fact that Paul said we “partake” of this grace together.
Each and every person who is a christian in this room has this one thing in common:
GRACE
Lots of friendships are formed by common interests…
sports
games
hobbies
But, we, are fuzed by grace. We share that in common.
These fuzed relationships we have together based on GRACE are more important that the ones we form out there.
This team in here is more important than…
Your football team.
cheer team
soccer team
fortnight team
breakdance team
band
This is true because this team is formed because of the grace we have received from King Jesus!
You’re not guaranteed to have relationships in here that are easy or that aren’t awkward because of differing interests. But our supreme interest should be Jesus and the grace he has given us and is growing us with..
Your growth as a christian is...
1. God’s Work
2. By God’s Grace
Your growth as a christian is...
3. Producing Christ’s Love In You
3. Producing Christ’s Love In You
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Paul models Christ’s love.
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
Paul prays that we have Christ’s love too.
10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
Paul prays that we love the things Christ loves.
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Paul reminds us what Christ’s love produces.
God’s glory!
Christ’s love enables Paul to have his priorities in right order. This right order, if we adopt it, can produce joy in us...
Pauls Order of Priorities...
Jesus
Others
Yourself
These have to be in their proper order or else, instead of having joy, you will have YOJ… Or JYO… Or OJY…
and those are just as messy as they sound!
Your growth as a christian is...
1. God’s Work
2. By God’s Grace
3. Producing Christ’s Love In You
As we close…
Here is what we need to address…
Has God’s work started in you?
You won’t grow as a Christian if you aren’t truly a Christian.
Do you hunger to know God more deeply?
Do you hunger to care and love other people more sacrificially?
Do you hate your sin?
Here are some scriptures from 1 John that really convicted me this morning…
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
Wow! These are all verses that describe what a person, with God working in them, looks lIke…
This stuff doesn’t come naturally for me or you…
For God to begin a work in you, there needs to be a surrender from you.
That surrender is you surrendering your will, heart, and control over to King Jesus.
Jesus left heaven to come here and die on the cross so that we, by looking and surrendering to Him, would experience God’s renovating work in us!