Confident Partakers Together of Grace (2)

Philippians 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.

In Christ, through His love, and for His glory, we can be confidently assured of His work in us as partakers together of His Grace.

1. Confidence in the One who Began

2. Confidence because of the Grace He Bestows - vs. 7

It is right for me to feel this way about you.

confidence is not only personal, it is interpersonal.

There is a way for our brotherly bond in Christ to grow so so that our togetherness, partnership, is strengthened.

Hold you in my heart - hang on to that until we get to verse 8.

partakers with me of grace.

Grace - God’s free gift. His favorable view of us. Ties back to verse 2. Those God’s favor rests upon.

Here, enabling grace.

shown in two things

Imprisonment

Defense and confirmation of the Gospel.

Grace is seen, of course, in salvation - God’s favor in his love in his work through the son.

But also, for the saved - the grace of enabling, of carrying, of gifting with strength.

Paul was very aware of this kind of Grace in his life.

1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

So if we follow the sentence, we could rephrase it as this

“I have confidence that you are my brothers and sisters in Christ because that has been confirmed by the Grace God has given us together in His service.”

This is a statement of relational strength, and of unity. And it is somthing that we need as well.

To say it again, there is a way to grow in relational unity in Christ.

it exists - we are one in him.

it also grows.

1 Thessalonians 4:10 ESV

for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,

How does it grow?

as the clear evidence of God’s grace is seen working in our lives together.

Which means? We have to experience the need of God’s grace in a way that is together.

Examples:

Paul’s imprisonment

The defense and confirmation of the Gospel

the verbal and public proclamation of the Gospel in communicating with those who don’t believe.

Imprisonment - a trial that Paul faced, that the Philippian believers faced with Him from outside the bars.

relate to life now

Gospel - the spread of the Gospel, some as speakers, some as senders, some as supporters in various means.

Do you want to grow in unity with your fellow Christians?

then lift them up in love when they are hurting, and find ways to serve together.

Not an exhaustive list, but a great starting point - can’t neglect these two.

3. Confidence shown by the Love He Shares - vs. 8

Going back to the middle of verse 7 - these together experiences of God’s grace were cause for Paul to hold them in his heart.

A closeness of relationship.

Convinced of their brotherhood, convinced of their commitment to the gospel, convinced of their love - Paul holds them dearly in his heart.

The heart - the seat of emotions and will. The gut feeling.

In my gut, for better of for worse, I love you.

Vs. 8 - affections of Jesus Christ.

patterned after and really one and the same with Christ’s love.

Romans 5:5 ESV

and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

As Christians, God’s love has been poured into our heart. It has radically altered our affections.

So then, in that place of the heart, we love with that love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Again, for better or for worse.

What does this kind of Christ-enabled sanctified love look like?

It looks like this - I am holding you in my heart, in the closest way, so that your life will affect me in the most palpable way possible.

Practical - letting someone in vs. holding them at arms length.

Difficult - why?

trauma

past failures and hurts

bad experiences with other close Christian relationships

abandonment or seeing others walk away from the faith.

An example of abandonment

2 Timothy 4:9–10 ESV

Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

2 Timothy 4:15 ESV

Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.

2 Timothy 4:16 ESV

At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!

2 Timothy 4:17–18 ESV

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

So what will enable us to continue to love with this kind of affection, and open our hearts to brothers and sisters in Christ?

The Lord stands by us.

Again, it is his grace. This whole operation is in an understanding that it doesn’t make sense otherwise. Why would I open my heart to people that could hurt me or abandon me, or that could walk away from this faith that we share together?

Because Christ first loved me, and has poured his love into my heart, and stands with me and enables me to love through the tears.

4. Confidence Living for the Glory of God - vs. 9-11

So what is the hope and prayer for those we love with this love, with those we are unified with in Christ Jesus?

Increased in love

growing in knowledge

knowledge as relates to knowing and following Christ

Discerning what is good and worthy

an upward trajectory until the day of Christ.

Full of righteous fruit.

In his prayer, there is an admittance that they have not arrived yet at these things.

Have you arrived yet at these things?

Have I?

How do we respond when it is lovingly pointed out to us that we have not fully arrived?

When it comes from one who loves us from the deepest place of the heart, with the love of Christ that is working there, there is no need to take offense.

And, unless we get the idea then that its all up to us and that this Christian life is totally dependent on our perfection as brought about by our own ability, we go back to vs. 6.

Where is our confidence, ultimately? In Him. In the one who started it.

Where is our confidence in spreading the Gospel?

in Christ

Where is our confidence in opening our hearts to others?

in Christ

Where is our confidence in loving the sometimes unlovely?

in Christ, who loved us first!

Where is our confidence in growing in righteousness and fruit?

in Christ - the righteous one. Who gives us his righteousness as a cover, and his grace which is changing us to be like him through and through.