Humble Pursuit

ME

In my life, theres been a lot of days where i wondered,

When will i be done ?

When will i be taken out of the air fryer

when will i finish developing as a man

Mentally

Spiritually

Emotionally

Morally

ive been a Christian for a long time, and im not perfect. In some ways, i’m the same as i was many years ago, so when will God be done with me? am i too far away? is it worth trying.

WE

I know there’s some of you who feel this way. We feel like, as hard as we try, for some reason we havn’t changed and it feels pointless.

Have you felt like i did before, that God demands perfection? cause thats what someone told me and i believed them, but God, he has more in store for us,

that is not what God demands,

GOD

He has other plans in mind for you.

Plans for you to become more like Him.

Plans for you to grow in Knowledge and Wisdom.

Plans for you to be pure.

Philipians 1:1-5 Paul opens His letter to the people of Philipi like this,

Phillipians 1:1-5

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus:

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.

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

3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,

4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,

5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Paul and Timothy know these people

They give off healthy vibes, they’re not one of the bad churches

He says

3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,

4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,

So as we look at this Church and how the author address them, we should think of this not from a place of scorn, “Oh you’re awful” but from a place of, “Wow you’re doing great, keep it up”

Lets keep moving through this passage, and see what Paul and Timothy wanna say to their friends…

Philippians 1:6-11

6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

7 Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

8 For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,

10 so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,

11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

THIS IS JESUS

Philippians 1:6

6 …he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

- Jesus Will Carry on the work of transformation in your Life

if you feel like i did, and even did recently, and are questioning, “Why am i not perfect” well here’s your answer!

This isn’t us!

but the Holy Spirit, making changes in us that will effect how we live our lives.

This isn’t an Immediate process, But rather something that lasts through our life.

So don't lose heart when you wake up and feel the same, but keep pressing on…

because we have this promise, He Will Complete us…

I was thinking about this as i prepared, and i wonder if this has occered to you as well,

That if everything went perfectly smooth, you Became perfect and nothing was wrong with you. How quickly would you forget who it was that made you perfect?

How quickly would you forget that you desperately need Jesus if you have already arrived?!

we forget we need air until we cant breathe

we forget we need water until we’re thirsty

we forget we need food until we’re hungry

GUYS

We forget we need Jesus when everything is ok

This is why this process takes so long,

We have been blessed so much that we forget who gave us the blessing in the first place

we take our eyes off of the one who is leading us through our transformation, and the process slows!

keep your eyes fixed on Him

Philippians 1:6

6 …he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

YOU

You will never be able to make yourself a better version of yourself apart from Christ, so read his word, and allow Him to teach you how you should live.

allow the spirit to convict you, don’t shy away from the awkward feeling of being wrong. Embrace that you were wrong, make peace with God, Change to follow Him, and move on.

if you're so paralyzed by the fear of doing something wrong that you don’t move, you’re going to miss out on something good God has in store for you.

our journey doesn’t just stop with knowing God, You see, Paul had gone on to say this, what we read a second ago…

Philippians 1:8-11

8 For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, (Never Stop Learning, You’ve never arrived)

10 so that you may approve the things that are superior (So that you understand whats right and wrong!) and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, (So no one can cast blame or shame on you)

11 filled with the fruit (The fruit of your works, the fruit of the spirit) of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ (Only by HIS work, HIS power, and HIS wisdom that HE gives) to the glory and praise of God. (So that GOD is GLORIFIED, Made FAMOUS, because of our lives/ TESTIMONY)

Next time you ask yourself, “will God ever finish, will i ever change” you can now answer, YES. In HIS time.

Have faith

Have Patience, with ourselves, forgive ourselves

Never Stop Learning

God didn’t give us this information because he dislikes us, like we saw at the beginning, when Paul and Timothy were writing they came from a place of Joy, and Love.

Dont feel ashamed about needing to grow, and learn, and to percervere. Be Humble knowing that God cares enough about you that he wants you to keep growing closer to him, to keep growing in knowledge and wisdom.

WE

Imagine what it would be like if you and i all lived like this

What if WE pursued JESUS as fiercely as HE was pursuing US.

There’s always more to learn

So Listen

We always will Fail

So Be Humble

It wont happen over Night

So Be Patient

Application

Read

Join a Group

Memorize Scripture: Specifically

Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Have Confidence:

In the promise that JESUS has made, HE WILL CARRY ON

Small Group Questions

Have you ever felt like you’ve been trying so to be better, only to feel like you’ve made such small progress that it feels pointless? Would you be willing to briefly share with the group? (Allow space for openness, the goal is for them to awknowledge their emotions, but for the purpose of seeing the difference between trusting God with their life change, and not.) (It gives greater peace to know that God has a timeline in mind for us)

What Did you think God wants from you? and does what we talked about today change or affirm what you believed? (Many people assume God demands perfection, but today we saw that sanctification is a life long process. God in stead calls for GROWTH and TRUST)

What can you start, or continue doing, to help facilitate growth in your life? (Scripture Memory, Quiet Time, joining a Discipleship Group… Etc.)

Memorize Philippians 1:6 as a group. (ESV Is below, if you choose to use another version, use the same version as a group)

Phil 1:6 ESV 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.