God Works in our Lives
Philippians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro of Philippians
Introduction
We are starting a brand new series for most of this semester. We are going to go through a book of the Bible. But not just any book. This is one of my favorite books of the Bible. We are going through the book of Philippians.
What is nice about this book, you should be able to read it in one sitting in about 15-20 minutes. It’s only four chapters. However, it is packed full of awesomeness.
Just a little background on the book. This book was written by Paul to a group of believers in Philippi.
Like some of his other letters, this book can kind of be divided into two halves. The first half is information. Information about who God is, and who we are in light of who He is. There is a lot of nuggets that will greatly impact the way we think and see God, us, and the world around us.
The second half is more straight forward application. Addressing specific problems and circumstances in light of the truths told in the first half.
I am really excited. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. If you want, you all can read ahead so you can help prepare yourselves for the lessons. We won’t get into every little thing and every single verse. But we should, Lord willing, be able to look at the whole book.
Today, we are going to start with chapter one, and look at verses one through eleven.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 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. 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. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
So what can we get from this passage? Lots. But today, I want to look at three main things.
God both begins and ends the work
God is the one who saves
First, God both begins and ends the work in your life. Look at verse six “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.”
God is the one who begins the work. God is the one who pursues us. God is the one who loves us, who died for us, who paid the price for our sins.
Here are some more verses about God beginning the work in us.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
God is the one who pursues us. God is the one who starts the work. God comes after you.
God is the one who saves and continues to work on you until it is completes in Christ.
But it doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t save you, cleans His hands and say, whelp I’m done with him, I’m done with her, off to the next one. No, he does much, much more. Look again at verse six.
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.
God does more than just save you. He works on you. It’s by His grace and His power that we become more and more like Christ. Look at these verses.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then in Romans:
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
God does more than just save us. He transforms us. Completely. We become more and more like Jesus. It’s because of His grace. Yeah, we need to put work in, but we can only by His grace.
So the first point is God is the one who saves and continues to work on you until it is completes in Christ.
Specifics
But what does this look like?
The second point is, we need to grow in love with knowledge and discernment.
Grow in love with knowledge and discernment
Let’s look at the first part. We need to grow in love with knowledge and discernment. Look at verse nine.
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
We need to grow in love. I think we can all agree that when you become a Christian, you need to grow in knowledge and discernment. That’s true of anything. But why do we need to grow in love as well? Look at 1 Corinthians 13:1-2
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Knowledge and discernment aren’t useful tools without love.
Why? So that you may approve what is excellent and be righteous through Jesus.
But why? What is the point in growing in love, knowledge and discernment? We do this so we know what is good and excellent. So we can grow in sanctification. So we can have the fruit of righteousness.
How we should respond when we see God working in others.
So point one was God is the one who saves and continues to work on you until it is completes in Christ. Point two is we need to grow in love with knowledge and discernment. The last point is we should have a response when we see God working in others.
Thankfulness
God is working in the lives of those in Philippi. Look at Paul’s responses. First, it’s thankfulness.
vs 3 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.”
Prayer
Next, he prays for them.
vs 3 “I thank God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy.”
vs 9 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more...”
Care an Encouragement
And lastly, you can tell he really cares for them and encourages them.
vs 3 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy...”
“It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart...”
vs 8 “For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”
Summery
So when you see God working in those around you, you should respond with thankfulness, pray for them, and care and encourage them. This will greatly impact them and spur them on to continue to pursue Christ.
Let’s pray.
God, thank you so much that you pursue us. Thank you that you save us. But thank you that you don’t stop there, but