Scripture Introduction
Today’s text is a “plaque verse,” you find it inscribed on plaques, “calligraphy-ed” on cards, and on lists of verses Christians memorize. A couple of weeks ago, Kevin sent me a link to Steve Green singing it. In my previous pastorates, we sang, “He Who Began a Good Work in You.” Philippians 1.6 is popular because it encourages us greatly while it encapsulates the heart of the gospel: “Though I did not begin and cannot finish my salvation, God completes what he has started.” I will read the first six verses to set it in context, then we can reflect on its meaning and application to our lives.
[Read Philippians 1.1-6. Pray.]
Introduction
Charles Spurgeon was England’s best-known preacher during the latter half of the 1800s. In his excellent book, All of Grace, he tells this true story: “A minister called on a poor woman, intending to give her help; for he knew that she was very poor. With money in his hand, he knocked at the door; but she did not answer. He concluded she was not at home, and went his way. Later in the week he met her at church and told her that he had remembered her need: “I called at your house, and knocked several times, and I suppose you were not at home, for I had no answer.”
“At what hour did you call, sir?”
“It was about noon.”
“Oh, dear,” she said, “I heard you, sir, and I am so sorry I did not answer; but I thought it was the man calling for the rent.”
Philippians is the “epistle of joy”; even so, it includes difficult commands and challenging verses: “do all things without grumbling or questioning”; “rejoice in every circumstance”; “be anxious about nothing.” We sometimes talk about raising standards, rather than dumbing them down. Paul lifts them to the moon: “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” That is impossibly high and potentially burdensome. We can almost hear God knocking at the door, expecting us to pay up – not the rent – but some pennies of perfect obedience. We want to hide since we have no money.
After all, has not each of us grown discouraged at times over our lack of progress in the faith? Have we not doubted our salvation after again falling into the same old sins? Unless you are very new to loving the Lord, you know the difficulties and inevitable failings in the continual and irreconcilable war between the flesh and the Spirit. We who know the power of sin understand the desire to hide when the conviction of God’s word knocks on the door of our hearts and minds.
Because these feelings are common to mankind, we have typical responses to the demand of duty:
• Often we lower the standards so we can reach them, resulting in pride and self-righteousness;
• Or we recognize the rightness of the rule and despair;
• Sometimes we ignore the actual duty, but act as if we are good anyway, focusing on external conformity.
In whatever way we cope, inner turmoil usually results. How do we get past all that? Stated another way, what would you say to the poor woman hiding from the knock? Open the door! What is knocking is not a demand to pay; it is the grace of God enabling obedience! Spurgeon was correct to title his book All of Grace. It is, you know: all of grace. God’s grace makes followers of Jesus and matures them into his image and likeness. Growth in the Christian life is not finding more will-power to obey; it is depending on Christ more for power to do his will! Fortunately, there are three things in this text which help us open the door to God’s continuing and gracious work in our lives. The first is…
1. Because God Began the Work, We Do Not Diminish the Magnitude of Our Need
Philippians 1.6a: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you….”
Dr. Jack Miller pastored a PCA church in Philadelphia and taught at Westminster Seminary. He often said: “Cheer up church! You are worse than you think!” What does that mean? Dr. Miller meant that claims to our own goodness cannot sustain our obedience or lift our hopes. Here is how it works:
• When we are discouraged by continued sin in our lives;
• When we feel disappointed by our slow progress in the faith;
• When we are criticized for failing to be the kind of Christians we ought to be;
• When we despair because, though we “want to do what is right, evil lies close at hand… waging war… and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” (Romans 7.21,23);
• When Satan accuses us before God and the brethren, and to our own consciences;
When these things happen, we are tempted to defend ourselves by claiming our own goodness and right-ness. But, what if I am not truly good?
What about when I lose my temper and angrily snap at the kids? One of the first things to pop into my mind (whether I say it out loud or not) is: “You kids are driving me crazy.” In other words, I push away my guilt by blaming my failure on their behavior. As if God required from me self-control, kindness, and gracious words unless I am dealing with teenagers.
But that is not true, is it? Nor does deflecting my guilt really solve my problem. In fact, by convincing myself that the kids caused my reaction, I am actually telling my heart that I am not so truly bad. As a result, I insulate myself from a Gospel solution. Blaming them (no matter how bad their behavior may have been) will not heal my soul; for that, I must be forgiven; and to be forgiven, I must own my sin. When I blame them, my failure still stares me in the face and separates me from God, all the while shielding me from the cleansing heat of the gospel!
So Dr. Miller says to me: “Cheer up! You are worse than you think!” If I am worse, more sinful than I would dare imagine, then my standing with God does not depend on not failing with my kids. If that is the case, God’s love and mercy is still mine, and I can ask God for help and ask Daniel and Rebekah for their forgiveness. God began the work, and God completes it, so I do not diminish the greatness of my need for God’s gracious work!
Nothing can change our attitude and life as much as realizing our need for grace.
Suppose, instead, a coworker or customer criticizes you. Let’s say you are treated unjustly. My natural reaction is to defend myself, to hurt them back, to gossip or slander or get even in some way. But what if I believe that whatever good is in me is a gift of God’s Holy Spirit? What if I realize that apart from God’s grace I would be more selfish and self-righteous than anyone could stand? What if I admit that though the criticism is unjust and unfair, that there have been far worse thoughts about others race through my mind? What if I could preach to my own soul, in the midst of trouble, “This situation is hard and unfair, and I really want to lash out and get even. But the truth is that if I got what was really fair, it would be much worse. This person does not know the half of how much I need mercy and forgiveness.”
By honest admission of my need for God’s favor, I am able to give grace to others! People who know this truth (and by that I mean those who are working it into their souls, cleansing thoughts and affecting emotions) are gracious to others, slow to anger, full of compassion, forgiving enemies, abounding in mercy, and quick to repent. Why? Because you have no need to protect yourself. It’s God’s work – all of grace!
2. Because God Began the Work, We Must Not Doubt the Greatness of His Grace
One time when Rebekah was around seven years old, she told me what she would wish for if she were given any three wishes: 1) Fly; 2) Whatever she has to eat would taste good; and 3) Grow in godliness and know that she is growing.
On that third point, I knew exactly what she meant because every Christian has times when she wonders if she is making progress: “Is God real in my life?”
This chart reminds me that growth in Christ includes two things: first, it includes real progress in godliness (the area of God’s victory actually increases). Second, as we grow in holiness, the size of the battle against sin also increases (represented by the circumference). As a result, many mature believers do not feel very godly because they struggle more with their own sin nature, with the devil, and with the world.
[Chart Inserted Here]
The significance of this chart comes from the fact that battle against the power of sin can make us doubt our relationship with God. And doubt can paralyze, or even turn us back from the path of godliness. When we see our failures, when we realize the wickedness in our hearts, when we are confronted with the utterly self-focused nature of our thoughts, we begin to wonder: “How could God love me? How could I think I am a Christian? How could I claim to know God as my father? Surely God’s grace is not sufficient for me!”
But the Bible answers this doubt. All fall short of the glory of God, but none need fall short of his grace. Listen to God’s future grace promises beating down this exact fear:
• 2Corinthians 9.8-9: God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is
Conversion. R=1, Circumference=6.3, Area=3.1
Growth. R=3, Circumference=18.8; Area=28.3
Spiritual Battles. R=5, Circumference=31.4; Area=78.5
written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
• 2Corinthians 12.9: God said to me: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
• Jude 1.24: He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy….
• 1Peter 1.3-5: According to [God’s] great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
• John 10.27-28: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Beloved of God: believe in the greatness of God’s grace!
3. Because God Began the Work, We Must Not Despair of Power for Our Progress
Bryan Chappell, “In the Gospel, the rules do not change. What changes is the power and the motivation and the means to obey.”
There is a definite difference between the Gospel and the Law. The law demands conformity and obedience, but it has no power to effect what it requires. In fact, when sinners hear the law, they rebel more, rather than obey.
Romans 7.7-8: I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
The law tells us not to grumble, but it cannot help us obey. So we might despair of any progress. But the Bible shows us that “God has done what the law could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8.3-5).
Paul makes the same point in this text: “I am absolutely confident of you Philippians, because God began working in you through conversion, causing you to be born again and bringing you to faith in Jesus – because he did this good work, I know that he will continue your progress in the faith and your process of sanctification. Do not give up on becoming like Jesus. Do not despair because you sometimes fail! Do not hide from the knock at the door – God is not demanding payment, but supplying grace sufficient for every need.
So back to the example of grumbling. How does the gospel give power and motive to overcome this lack of trust in God’s providence and goodness in our lives?
If I set before a starving man a t-bone steak, medium rare, a baked potato with butter, sour cream, chives, and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, and some freshly picked and perfectly cooked green bean, he will not grumble at having to chew. He will not grumble because he loves what he given, he knows it will be delicious, he enjoys what is provided, he appreciates the meal and believes it will satisfy his great desire.
What if we could say the same about the problems in our lives? What if we knew that the conflicts we have at work are perfectly provided to deepen our dependence on God’s grace?
What if we were sure the financial hardships were opportunities to prove through generosity that our hope is not in money? What if we were confident that God placed us in this church at this time with this pastor because he wants to do something great in our lives, and through us in this community? What if the mighty works in times past convinced us of the faithfulness of God for every circumstance and every future need?
He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it! That is exactly the promise of God.
4. Conclusion
During construction of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, work fell badly behind schedule because several men plunged from the scaffolding to their deaths. Fear paralyzed workers and progress ground to a halt. No solution to the costly delays could be found.
Finally, someone suggested hanging a gigantic net under the bridge to catch any who fell. In spite of the enormous cost, engineers gave it a try. After it was installed, some brave souls returned to work. Eventually another man fell, but the net caught him. That was all that was needed. Soon efforts began in earnest, and eventually, all the time lost to fear was regained because of faith in the net.
Paul tells us something like that in Philippians 1.6. The faith which motivates us to go hard after God and godliness does not come by confidence in our ability not to fail, but by greater and greater faith that Christ will lift us up and to carry through to completion the good work he began. Those who do not believe this promise rarely ask great things of God or attempt great things for God. May God give us faith in his ability and willingness to complete the work he has begun, so that we will have courage to place ourselves in ministry which, if God is not in it, it will be sure to fail. But we will not fear failure, because the grace of God will lift us up and return us to the fight of faith.
