Assured Salvation Brings Joy and Unity
Notes
Transcript
In a world of uncertainty, we can be certain about our salvation. This certain and assured salvation is not a source of weakness, but a source of strength for Christians. Why? Because this assured salvation gives us joy, and a unity through the blood of Christ. The strength of the church is found in its message and its unity.
Salvation is Guaranteed
Salvation is Guaranteed
Let’s read verse 6 again: “Now, I feel kind of good about you guys because you work so hard for your salvation, so maybe at the end of it all God will let you slide.”
No! That’s not what he said, right? What DID he say?
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 v. 6 we see Paul beginning this next portion with the Greek word, “Peitho,” and it connotes absolute certainty. A guarantee. “I am sure of this.” You don’t just say “I am sure of this” to say what you want to say. Today, when a business gives you a written guarantee, that means that it will work. And if it doesn’t work, the business takes full responsibility and will make it right. And if they don’t, you get to sue ‘em. Similarly, God gives us a guarantee, but He never makes a mistake!
Paul is so sure of the Philippians, but what is he sure of? Continue forward.
“That He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Let’s keep breaking that down.
“He who” - God. So Paul is sure of something God is doing. Notice this, folks. Don’t lose sight of it: God is the one doing the work here that Paul is so sure of.
“Paul is assured, not because of the goodness of the Philippians, but because of the goodness of God.” -Gordon Fee
“Began a good work” - This is salvation. Paul is sure of the salvation that God began in the Philippians.
“Will bring it” - We have to remember, always, that God is at work in us. There is never a moment in the believer’s life that God is not seeking to redeem. God starts with our eternal salvation and continues to make us more and more like Him over the course of our lives.
“to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” - And he will continue this work until the very Last Day. If God has begun the good work of salvation in you, He will carry it to completion and you can trust that because it is His work that is being done!
So much in one little verse, and it shows the whole of the Christian life. Beginning with salvation, continuing with being made holy, and ending with Christ bringing us to Heaven with Him forever!
Christians, this gives you assurance for your life. When God has saved you, you cannot unsave yourself. You cannot be taken from God’s hand. He has won you, and He does not lose.
But salvation, we must understand, is a source of great strength for the Christian life, not an excuse for lazy Christians. Another outstanding quote from Gordon Fee: “There is no salvation that does not include a transformed life.” Or better:
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
You see, salvation is not just being saved from: “salvation from sin and God’s wrath.” It is that. But it is also being saved to: “salvation to join God on His mission.” Those two go hand-in-hand, and can never be separated. We’ll talk about more of this later on, but I don’t want you to lose how they are connected.
Joy Comes From God
Joy Comes From God
Continue forward in verse 7, and we see that Paul speaks of the way that he feels about the Philippians:
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.
“It is right for me to feel this way about you all”
And then in v. 8 we see:
For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
The affection of Christ Jesus is the activator here. Just as Christ loves the church, Paul loves the church. That’s what he’s getting at. Church, take a moment and think about that… Do you realize how much the Lord loves you? The affection of Christ is on you! And Paul is saying this in such a way that he and Jesus love the collective body. Think about that. Don’t miss it. Yes, Christ loves each of us individually, and that should be affirming to you. But the strength of this verse sits on the fact that Paul is talking to the church as a whole.
And so we see this theme of unity continuing to weave its way through the letter. More on that in a moment, but train your eyes to see how Paul speaks to a whole group and not just the individual. In a Western, individualistic society, we have to train our brains and hearts to think collectively, as well.
Back to the affection of Christ. The affection Paul has, and the joy he experiences over the Philippians is a result of the work God is doing in them. So notice the source of Paul’s joy. You could take it one step and say, “Man, those Philippians really give Paul joy!” and you would be right. But you could take it another step, as Paul is showing here, and say, “What God is doing amongst the Philippians brings Paul joy” and you would be more right.
This is why Paul was the happiest person in Rome. Even in the middle of his imprisonment, chained to a Roman guard all day and all night long… Paul was joyful. Again, the reason for that was the only constant in his life… God. And God was the One through Whom Paul could have assurance about the Philippians, and therefore joy in them!
The Philippians’ assured salvation brought Paul a great joy!
Paul was able to interpret his circumstances through the goodness of the Lord. This is the secret to Paul’s joy. And it’s really not all that much of a secret.
It’s just like my glasses here. With my glasses, I can make out faces, I can see individuals, I know that people are out here in front of me. But when I take them off, it’s just a sea of blobs. I can’t see anything. If I didn’t know any better, and I’d never wore glasses before, it might affect how I see what’s out in front of me. I might be disconcerted by the strange blurriness in front of me. Somebody tells me to take a step forward, and all I can see is blurriness, I may be really cautious about that step forward.
I filter my entire view through my vision. So when I put my glasses on and can see clearly the way in front of me… I am much more confident about the path forward. A similar thing is true when we approach our circumstances. We can choose the blindness of interpreting our life by our circumstances… or we can choose to interpret our circumstances by our life.
Unity Comes by Action
Unity Comes by Action
Back to the second half of verse 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.
“For you are all partakers…”
In this phrase, we see the Philippians active in their faith, and active in Paul’s ministry. Last week we talked about the gift that they gave Paul, and this is in view here, too. That’s how they partake in his imprisonment. But they also partake with him in his defense of the Gospel and the confirmation of the Gospel.
These actions of defending and confirming the Gospel look like showing the integrity and effectiveness of the Good News of Jesus Christ. How do we engage that? How did the Philippians engage that?
It was through showing the world that the world was not the end for them. They didn’t just have this life and it was over. No, the Philippians defended the Gospel by showing the world that no matter what the world did to them, they sought to follow Christ. They defended the Gospel by their lives in Christ.
Believers, we today can engage in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel by looking inwardly and asking, “How can my life be more in line with the truth of the Gospel? How am I showing and telling the world that Christ has changed me?”
And more than that… How do we as a body show that? Again, this is the meaning of the passage. It’s a church thing. So, how can you, individually, engage with the mission of the church body? How do we as a church body unify in this pursuit?
In World War 2, our nation came together like never before. The whole country was helping toward the war effort. The able-bodied men were shipped overseas. We lost many of them in the fight. Those back home contributed to the war effort through production and other means. This massive event in our history united a nation. Those who came before us experienced something and it brought them together.
Psychology calls this “the shared experience.” In neurology, the study of the brain, shared experiences create shared history… A talking point upon which to build a relationship. Shared experiences can be value positive or value negative. When people gather around a common goal and work to achieve it in a positive way, this creates a positive shared experience, and a stronger bond between others. So, to offer a personal illustration, I remember my time in college, when our student ministry would go on mission trips together over spring break.
We worked together to reach people with the Gospel. Lasting friendships were formed. We encouraged one another and even did things that when we’re alone, we’d have trouble doing!
All of this to say: Unity comes by action. Unity is not a commodity that we just happen upon. It is a necessary resource that must be mined through the intense labor of partnering together in the Kingdom work of making Jesus known all across the earth, so that every tribe, tongue, and nation will be present at the Last Day when Jesus returns.
For us today:
Missions (SBC)
Serving
Sunday School
So where’s your next step? How will you plug into the body?