Beginning a Good Work

Tonight we are beginning our new series on the book of Philippians and this series will take us through the middle of June and I am really excited about diving into this book because it is a book of pure joy. As we go through this letter from the Apostle Paul, we will learn about the circumstances that he found himself in and how it is amazing that he was able to write such a joy-filled letter with the pain that he was experiencing at this time. We’ll talk more about what those circumstances were next week. Two weeks ago we talked about a man named Caleb. Caleb was an individual who lived a faithful life and what I really enjoyed as we talked about Caleb was how his faithfulness to God was not extinguished by the circumstances that he found himself in. He was faithful but he still had to endure 40 years in the wilderness. In many ways, we talked about the beginning and middle of our faithfulness but we did not talk about enduring to the end. If we are to be called the people of God, we need to be working for Him now and until we cannot work anymore. I want us all to be a people that live a life that matters. I want us to have a good life but I also want us to have a good death. I want us all to be able to say with Paul later in 2 Timothy 4:7-8

2 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

The Life of Don Cash- You’ve probably never heard of him but here’s what you need to know about Don Cash. He was a man that died what I consider a good death. You think, “a good death? What’s that mean?” I mean that in terms of good ways to go out, he went out pretty good. Don Cash was a business man who retired early and he made it his life mission to climb to the peak of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Cash, had climbed the six highest mountains on six continents and the last mountain that lay before him was Mount Everest. Cash, at 55 years old, climbs to the top of Mount Everest, has his picture taken at the summit of the highest mountain in the world, has a heart attack and dies. Cash, completes his life’s work, and almost immediately after finishing it, passes away. That’s a good death. That’s a life that we as Christians should strive to imitate. We press on and on until the moment comes where we are told, “It’s time to come home.” Paul’s letter to the Philippians is our reminder that we press on with all that we can until God says, “It’s time to come home.”

Tonight our goal is to talk about the joyful and love filled work that we as the people of God are called to and how the assurance of our salvation, the assurance that if we have truly been saved by Jesus Christ, comes not from our own strength but in the never-ending faithfulness of our Heavenly Father. Let’s pray and then we will dive into the first five verses of Philippians 1.

Joyful Workings of the People of God (V. 1-5).

Philippians 1:1–5 (ESV)

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.

As we see in verses 1-2, Paul is the author of Philippians and he is writing to the church at Philippi. Paul, as we are going to see over the next few months loves this church. While Paul does correct and rebuke some things in this book, he always returns to joy. This letter is unlike anything else that Paul has ever penned. At the time of writing this, Paul is imprisoned in Rome and it is likely the same imprisonment that is occuring at the end of the book of Acts. Even though many say that Paul would be released from this first imprisonment, in the years that followed he would be imprisoned in Rome again and killed for his faith. Even at this point, the thought of his death is looming over him. At the time of writing Philippians, there was no guarantee for Paul that he would be released. In fact, he had basically accepted that martyrdom was a real likelihood but Paul is not writing as if death was waiting at his doorstop. Like I said, Philippians is a tremendously joyous letter. John MacArthur said,

It is both astonishing and personally inspiring that such indefatigable joy dominated the heart, mind, and teaching of the apostle Paul even after all those years of suffering.

In verses 3-5 Paul tells the church in Philippi that he thanks God for them every time that they spring to his mind. One of the greatest joys that Paul has as he sits imprisoned for the Gospel is that he knows, has seen, and has heard of the evidence of a fruitful Christian life in the Church of Philippi. Every prayer that he has is a shout of joy and victory because he remembers the faithfulness of this church. May the same thing be said in our own day as we operate as the Church of Jesus Christ. What was it exactly that made Paul’s prayer a shout of joy? Verse 5 says that it is because of the church’s partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. Paul’s joy comes in the fact that the Philippians have taken the Gospel seriously. The same desire that Paul had in the furtherance of the Gospel has carried over into the Church of Philippi. Paul sees in the Philippian church the thing that every pastor wants to see in his own congregation. There are no stutter steps or backwards movements in the works that they are making on behalf of the Gospel. These men and woman that make up the Church of Philippi have made the same proclamation that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 2:2

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

This is the entire Gospel in a nutshell. We add nothing to the Gospel and we take nothing away. When we are called by God to salvation, we are all called as heralds of that salvation. From end to end, the Philippian church proclaimed the unadulterated, untainted, truths of the Word of God and that is why Paul rejoices! From day 1 to Paul’s present time, this Church was a bold defender of the Word! They didn’t allow Paul’s imprisonment or absence to slow down the work that they were doing on behalf of Christ. The very work of Paul, the work of Jesus Christ, carried on by faithful saints. Paul, seeing the faithfulness of these Christians is then able to confidently proclaim the truths that will ultimately be for all true believers of Christ. Look at verse 6.

The Assurance of Our Salvation (V. 6).

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.

This is one of the greatest comforts that all true believers in the Gospel have in life. Christ does not start and then abandon the work that He begins. There are 4 things that I want to draw your attention to in this verse and unfortunately, we won’t be able to spend much time with any of them. These four things are found in the natural progression of the verse:

Notice the certainty of Paul

Paul begins the verse by saying that he is sure that the good work that began in the lives of the Philippian believers will be brought to completion. There is no maybe, there is no really good chance, the eternity of those that have been brought from death to life is so definite that Paul writes of it in Romans 8 as if it has already happened. Romans 8:30 says,

Romans 8:30 ESV

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Paul does not say that those whom the Lord has called and justified might be glorified. He doesn’t even say that they will be glorified. Paul says those whom He justified He also glorified. Past participle. Dear Christian, your eternity is so certain that the Lord speaks of it as if you were already fully partaking His presence.

2. Notice who begins the work

Notice what comes next in verse 6: “He who began a good work in you.” Who is the He? It isn’t Paul. The certainty of the Philippian believers salvation never came from the might and power of Paul. Where did it come from? Who delivered it? The One that began the good work was God Himself!

Alec Motyer wrote,

The salvation we are assured of is wholly wrought by God for helpless, hopeless sinners. It does not lead us to be complacent, for our assurance increases as we see hard evidence of our spiritual progress. It does not make us lazy, for a large part of the evidence is the depth of our commitment to the cause of the gospel.

From beginning to end, God sees to it that you reach the mark that He has called you to. Notice that there is no time in the course of your walk with Christ that Christ is not with you in. Christ begins the work, He is going to bring you to completion, and He will see to it that you stand strong and complete at the day of Christ. Christ is beginning, middle, and end of our salvation.

3. Assurance, like faith, ultimately comes from an outside source

The third thing that I want you to notice is that the assurance of our salvation ultimately comes from outside of us. Assurance, like faith, ultimately comes from an outside source. Paul says that it is Christ that begins the work and and if it is Christ that begins the work, we can confidently rest in the fact that Christ will see that His work is completed.

D.A. Carson example of Steve and Bob. It is not the amount of faith that saves, but whom that faith is in. It is not the strength of the faith that saves but in the certainty of the accomplished work of the Savior.

Your assurance of salvation does not rest in your opinion of yourself. When Christ said from the cross, “It is finished,” He didn’t follow it up with, “my part is, now you do the rest. Our salvation and assurance comes from what Christ has already done. Steven Lawson said,

Salvation comes as we rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross- and so does assurance. Only as we understand that He accomplished all that is necessary for the forgiveness of our sins may we have the settled confidence of our salvation.

The God who saves is the God who never lets go.

4. The completion of the work

Finally, there is a day set in eternity where you will finally and totally be made whole. The pains of this world, the sufferings of this life, the pressures of living for God in a God-hating world will pass and you will be complete. God is saying, “I began a work in you, a good work, and while it may often seem like everything is falling apart around you, I am in the work and I am going to see to it that it is completed according to my will.” All shall be well, all shall be made right, and all shall work according to the divine and perfect will of God. If you are a Christian and you begin to doubt the assurance of your salvation, remind yourself that just as you did not begin the work, you also can’t complete the work. Not on your own. If God began a good work in you, if you have heard the voice of the Great Shepherd and you know His voice, you can be confident that the Great Shepherd will complete what He began in you. We aren’t running a race that is being made up on the fly.

Love Abounding (V. 7-8).

Paul goes on to say in Philippians 1:7-8,

Philippians 1:7–8 ESV

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.

Paul recognizes the certainty of the salvation of the Philippian believers because their words and their actions back up their beliefs. Christianity is more than just head knowledge, it is Godly love in action. In the 1st century when Paul is writing, it would have been normal for the Philippians to be ashamed of Paul because imprisonment was such a source of grief and shame but time and time again, the Philippians proved their love to Paul by their actions. Not just to Paul, but to each other. Christian love is to abound. Not only should we yearn for Christ, we should yearn for each other as the love of Christ flows through us. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,

The first Christians conquered the ancient world just by being Christian. It was their love for one another and their type of life that made such an impact upon that pagan world, and there is no question but that this is the greatest need of the hour- the Christian quality of life being demonstrated among men and women.

Look at the state of the world today and tell me that Christian love is not needed. Look even at the state of the Church and tell me that more Christian love is not needed. If we aren’t able to escape the darkness of this world we might as well strive with all our might to change it through the love that we have for those that have been made in the image of God.

The Purpose and Pursuit of Christian Love (V. 9-11).

All of this connects to what Paul says next. I call the next three verses the purpose and pursuit of all Christian love. Paul says in Philippians 1:9-11,

Philippians 1:9–11 ESV

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.

What are we to do with the time that the Lord has given us?

Our love for neighbor and believers is abound more and more. It is to never grow stale and it is never to work backwards. There is no limit that we are to set because no limit could be reached. I want to share this long quote from a second century letter known as the Epistle to Diognetus. We aren’t sure exactly who wrote it but listen to how the author describes the believers of his day.

”They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”

2. The love that we have is accompanied by greater knowledge and discernment with the truth. There is never a moment this side of Heaven where you will be able to say, “I’ve mastered the things of God.” We are to grow into a greater knowledge of the truth and as we grow in that knowledge, we will be able to discern between what is true and what is not.

3. We are to be set apart from the world. If we are the people of God, we are to live a life in pursuit of holiness. We are to increase in our likeness to Christ. And we don’t do it to keep it in a corner and show only to ourselves. We do all these things in the eyes of a watching world so that they may see and know the majesty and saving power of Christ. Our obedience to Christ is to be filled with joy and our joy is ultimately found in our obedience to Christ.

Does this sound difficult? Take heart and remember that if God begins the work in you, He will see to it that it is completed. Where does the assurance of our faith come from and the assurance that our work for Christ will not be for nothing? It comes from the One that our faith is in and our work is for. As we go through the book of Philippians, we are going to see that Paul was able to endure because He knew the God who saved Him. From the jail cell to the mountain top we can find joy because we know the God who is there. Let’s go to Him, the bringer of all joy, comfort, faith, and assurance, in prayer.