Finish What Is Started

Finish What Is Started

Good morning Strangers Rest! The title of my message this morning is “Finish What Is Started.” Please note that I did not say “Finish what “you” started, but finish “what is” started. What you will hear this morning is that as a Christian we must finish the work together, regardless of the one who initiated it.

I am going to ask you a question that I want you to think about as you listen to the rest of this message. The question is this: “Are you a starter or a finisher?” Many people start things, but for a variety of reasons, they do not always finish them. Then there are those who start things, but how they finish them is dependent upon how long the project or task takes to complete. If it does not take too long they can finish it and give it their best. However, if it is something that is drawn out, their enthusiasm for the project starts to fall off and when that happens so does the quality of their work. Now they might finish whatever it is that they are doing, but the finished project might not be the absolute best it could be. When we are doing the Lord’s work we should be giving it our best knowing and understanding that most of the time it will be a lengthy process. Paul addressed this in Galatians 6:9. I will read it from the Amplified Bible, and it says, “Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in.” (Galatians 6:9, Amp) It is easy to start and finish something when it is enjoyable – even if it is taking a lot of time. But when we are doing something that is not particularly enjoyable, we can become weary and that is when the quality suffers, or things are left unfinished. And when things are left unfinished there is no reward for a job well done.

Likewise, when someone starts their part of a larger project but does not finish it someone else must come in and complete their job in order for the larger project to be completed. Let me bring this closer to home. Have you ever hired someone to do work at your home and they started the work but did not finish it? If we hire the wrong company to do a job and it is not completed to our satisfaction, it can be more costly to hire another company to come in and finish what was started because oftentimes they must redo some of the first company’s work. This is also true when a person thinks they can do it themselves only to find out they are not capable of finishing it. Regardless of the situation, a job was started but could not be completed because the person did not have the necessary skills, experience, and/or desire to do it. This is the situation we often find with the Lord’s work. There are Christians who have a lot of ideas about what needs to be done and are willing to tell anyone who will listen to them, but when it comes to actually doing the work they have no interest in starting or finishing it. So, are you a starter; a finisher or someone who just make suggestion after suggestion from the sidelines? God needs people who are both starters and finishers and who understand what role(s) they are playing in a given situation. Let me explain.

Someone can have an innovative idea, but that does not necessarily mean that they are the one who should implement it. For example, I might choose a nice paint color for my office, but I promise you, I should not be the one who does the painting. In Church there are people who can envision a project but will need the help of others to pull it through. Then there are those who cannot envision a project but once they know what it is and the goal or outcome, they are extremely capable of pulling things together to get the project or task completed. The two working together can fulfill what God desires in a situation. Paul addressed this when he wrote in First Corinthians 3:6-10, “(6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. (7) So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. (8) Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. (9) For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. (10) According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.”