Php 1:1-7 | A Good Work Begun

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Beginning in Philippians

As we open our Bibles to Phil 1 this morning, I will tell you that I spent a considerable amount of time trying to decide what I would preach this morning, on the first day of services at Harvest. And then, what I would continue to preach on in the upcoming weeks.

For those who don’t know me well, I tend towards being expositional in my preaching, meaning that I prefer to work through a book of the bible, verse by verse, concept by concept. Preaching expositionally prevents me from just hanging out on my own personal soap box, and I believe that this style of preaching assures that the whole council of God is taught to a church, regardless of the preachers inclination towards a topic.

At the same time I was struggling to decide how we would begin, A friend from Southland Baptist had made mention that Philippians was her favorite book. I felt compelled to re-read through the book and found that the not only did this book capture the heart and tone that I wanted to convey to this church in it’s early days, but it even started with a sentiment from Paul towards the Philippians that I find to be very appropriate for this day of new beginnings at Harvest.

Philippians 1:1–7 KJV 1900

1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, 5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

The title of this mornings message is "A Good Work Begun”

Let’s Pray

Tension

Paul Writes to a place of difficulty

But before we spend too much time in Philippians, let’s jump over to the book of Acts, we are going to be bouncing back and forth between Philippians and Acts 16, so I am warning upfront, if you want to stick a bookmark in your Bible.

Turn to Acts 16

A Place Paul was Called to

Philippi wasn’t a place that Paul would have decided to visit on his own. This is a lot different than Paul’s desire to go to Rome, he writes about that in Romans 1:9-10

Romans 1:9–10 KJV 1900

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; 10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

To visit Rome for Paul was a matter of prayer answered and the subject of his longing. But his journey to Philippi came from a much different prompting.

Acts 16:9–10 KJV 1900

9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. 10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

Paul may have had all sorts of purposes and plans in his heart for what he would do in his ministry, but God redirected him.

This same thing happened early in the chapter, it says of Paul and his companions:

Acts 16:6–7 KJV 1900

6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

I can kinda relate. When we started making plans to plant this church, I spent hours in front of my computer researching and budgeting and drawing conclusions about how I thought things could go. It seems like we had so many false starts and re-directions that at some point I began to feel pretty discouraged. I think for many people Coronavirus has been a source of frustration, but for me, it caused me to throw my hands up and rely on God. I want whatever ministry that I am working in to be something that God had planned for me anyway, and it became obvious that God was going to force my steps a little. I don’t mean to sound fatalistic, but I believe that where are today is where we were going to end up. The choice I had was if I was going to worry and fret, and try to force my plans. It is a whole lot easier to walk on the path God has laid out for you than to forge your own way.

And so, when Paul has his purposes repeatedly thwarted, we find him obeying. And so Paul travelled to Philippi.

A couple of verses later in Acts 16:12 we learn about more about Philippi.

Acts 16:12 KJV 1900

12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.

Our Bible tells us, that Philippi was the Chief city. Thessalonica, was the capitol of Macedonia, here saying that that this is the chief city tells us that it is the first city, the furthest from Rome.

And it is in the province of Macedonia which was made a Roman colony by Augustus, this was in commemoration of his victory over Brutus and Cassius. This was no small thing. Rome had transplanted retired Roman soldiers and their families into this area, to establish a culture, and furthermore that made them citizens. It meant that they had special rights afforded to them and they weren’t required to pay taxes to Rome.

Population

Philippi itself was a city of between 10-15,000 people, which might not seem like much compared to the 30 to 48,000 living within a 5 mile radius of where we stand and in about the same footprint. For Paul it was nowhere near the size Jerusalem or of a city like Rome which even in Paul’s time had 800,000 to a Million people. This wasn’t the most obvious choice of places for Paul to travel to with the Gospel.

Philippi, wasn’t even like the Judean cities we read about in the Gospels or in Acts. See, in those cities we read that it was Paul’s custom to first visit the synagogue of the Jews in a city, but look where we find Paul stopping:

Acts 16:13 KJV 1900

13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

That the women were praying on the Sabbath by a riverside, tells us that there weren’t 10 Jewish men in this city, which would require them to establish a synagogue. Instead these women met at the riverside to pray.

Paul was called to what equated to a small town that had no real understanding of anything when it came to God, so for the most part he would have to start from scratch. He couldn’t begin his conversation in a room full of Jews, where he at the foundations of the Law of God to start from. No, Paul had mostly to start from the most basics concepts of who God is.

Philippi Persecution

Our Bible records that when Paul would go into a Jewish city, there was typically opposition. He was beaten, stoned, and imprisoned. Philippi being a pagan city was no different, but the motivations were different.

In v16 of Acts 16, Paul came upon a slave girl possessed by demons. The demons gave the girl the ability to tell fortunes, and it made her slave masters a lot of money. She, in possession of the demons went following after Paul, even declaring that Paul was a prophet of God, for their own nefarious reasons. In v8 we read

Acts 16:18 KJV 1900

18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

Now this is well and good for the slave girl., Demon possession has a terrible toll on the body and spirit of the one possessed. But, this was not good for the girl’s slave masters. They just lost their meal ticket, and so they made accusation against Paul, caused him to be beaten and then thrown into jail.

Paul Writes from a place of difficulty

Paul was not only writing to a place where he had experienced great difficulty, he was writing from a place of great difficulty. He was imprisoned in Rome. Historians believe this was almost 10 years after he had visited Philippi in Acts and near the end of his life. In his opening statements to the Philippians he writes that he is in bonds, most likely in Rome. He also has every expectation that he would soon be executed for the cause of Christ, and within 3 years he would be.

Keeping this in mind puts a more immediate reality to his words we find in Phil 1:21

Philippians 1:21 KJV 1900

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Truth

The correct focus

It would be extremely easy for Paul to focus on the negative. I have to admit, that if I were imprisoned and writing to a place where i was beaten and jailed, it would be entirely an act of God’s grace for me to have the attitude of Joy that Paul demonstrates in this epistle.

It’s in our nature to focus on the negative, isn’t it. I have to be careful about how much news I intake because it is all negative, all the time and it can have an effect on my spirit. The same is true for social media, if I am not intentional about what I focus on in my news feed, it has a pretty awful impact on my attitude. Even in church, we have to be careful not to allow ourselves to be drawn in to gossip and negativity or else our ability to worship and maintain our joy in the Lord is taken from us.

But Paul writes in Joy

But Paul writes this letter, and thinks of the Philippians with Joy, isn’t that what it says in Php 1:4

Philippians 1:4 KJV 1900

4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

and in v6 we find the reason for Paul’s joy

Philippians 1:6 KJV 1900

6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

A Work Begun

I would love to have the naive mindset that church life is always a Joy. We all know that isn’t true, and we haven’t had nearly the persecution endured by the Apostle. In enduring difficulties, Paul was also able to see the power of God working in his life and the life of the people of Philippi.

Lydia

Remember that in Acts 16 we read that Paul went down to the water front to meet the women praying. One of those women was Lydia. Lydia was relatively well off for the time. Acts 16:14 gives us some insight

Acts 16:14 KJV 1900

14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

Lydia was a seller of purple. That may not seem very exciting today, but at the time, purple was a very difficult color to produce. The purple referred to is a reddish purple, almost a maroon. The dye came from a predatory sea snail, thousands of them had to be harvested to create just a small amount of dye, and for this reason it was considered a color of wealth and nobility. Lydia’s customer’s would be the who’s who of the Romans and so, she would have had considerable wealth. Apparently as we learn in the next verse she owned her own house and had enough space for guests and a household to serve them. But what is more important is how verse 15 starts:

And when she was baptised, and her whole household.

Lydia, and her entire household were baptised. And So, as Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he had the joy of recalling that some of those, to whom he was writing, were those who he was able to be see miraculously saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippian Jailer

On the other hand, we have the Philippian Jailer. Paul if you remember was imprisoned, and what followed after that was such an amazing course of events that I am just going to read it to you, starting in v23

Acts 16:23–33 KJV 1900

23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

Paul can not only recall the household of Lydia, but the household of the jailer.

Inspiration

So when Paul writes of a good work that had begun in the church in Philippi. these lives are what he speaks of, rescued from perdition by the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The struggles and difficulties he deals with being imprisoned and the remembrance of being treated poorly by the city officials pails in comparison to the joy he has in the souls he saw rescued almost a decade before, and those lives who were reached by the Gospel by the church that was established there.

Action

Today is the first day for Harvest. And we are meeting in our Philippi.

Consider who we read about being reached in Philippi. A poor slave girl, a wealthy merchant and hardened jailer. They couldn’t be from further apart walks of life. When I consider this mission field that God has put us there is the same diversity. Farmers, laborers, police officers, business owners, and I could go on. Those who have been blessed with much and those just struggling to get by. The gospel has power to save the lives of everyone.

We get to decide what Harvest will be. I love the illustration of the life saving station, you may have heard it.

Life Saving Station

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a little life-saving station. The building was primitive, and there was just one boat, but the members of the life-saving station were committed and kept a constant watch over the sea. When a ship went down, they unselfishly went out day or night to save the lost. Because so many lives were saved by that station, it became famous.

Consequently, many people wanted to be associated with the station to give their time, talent, and money to support its important work. New boats were bought, new crews were recruited, a formal training session was offered. As the membership in the life-saving station grew, some of the members became unhappy that the building was so primitive and that the equipment was so outdated. They wanted a better place to welcome the survivors pulled from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged and newly decorated building.

Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members. They met regularly and when they did, it was apparent how they loved one another. They greeted each other, hugged each other, and shared with one another the events that had been going on in their lives. But fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions; so they hired lifeboat crews to do this for them.

About this time, a large ship was wrecked off of the coast, and the hired crews brought into the life-saving station boatloads of cold, wet, dirty, sick, and half-drowned people. Some of them had black skin, and some had yellow skin. Some could speak English well, and some could hardly speak it at all. Some were first-class cabin passengers of the ship, and some were the deck hands.

The beautiful meeting place became a place of chaos. The plush carpets got dirty. Some of the exquisite furniture got scratched. So the property committee immediately had a shower built outside the house where the victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting there was rift in the membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s life-saving activities, for they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal fellowship of the members. Other members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all those various kinds of people who would be shipwrecked, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. And do you know what? That is what they did.

As the years passed, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a place to meet regularly for fellowship, for committee meetings, and for special training sessions about their mission, but few went out to the drowning people. The drowning people were no longer welcomed in that new life-saving station. So another life-saving station was founded further down the coast. History continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of adequate meeting places with ample parking and plush carpeting. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

How will we look back?

I don’t think we get to look back with that same kind of joy that Paul had for the Philippians if this becomes a social club, a place where we love the brethren only but have no active role in reaching the world for Christ. Jesus gave a parable in Luke 13:6-7

Luke 13:6–7 KJV 1900

6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?

It is my prayer today that nobody, especially our Lord looks at this church and asks “why cumbereth it the ground?”. That we are always busy in not only fellowship and care, one for another, but in reaching the lost and showing the love of Christ to our community.

People are hurting, the prosperity and distractions of our culture can’t bring the lasting joy written of in our Bible, to say nothing of eternity. Only peace with God can bring true joy, and that can only be found bu turning away from our sin and putting our faith in trust in Jesus as our Lord and savior.

And as Christians, we will inevitably have hardship and heartache to look back on. But even in our difficulties if we look back and can remember a good work that was begun here in Ross, and if we can have confidence in it continuing. Then we will look back with joy.

Closing

In a moment we are going to pray and be dismissed. If you need talk about coming to terms with God, about living a life of joy in Christ, I will be here as long as needed, please don’t leave today without talking to me.

For those of you who are Christians. What will do you look back on with joy? Today starts an opportunity to witness God working in this community. I invite you to be a part of it, and share in this joy.

Pray