COMPLETELY (part one)
Last week, in my sermon on sleeping in heavenly peace, I talked about the boat story, where Jesus was sleeping on a cushion while the disciples were battling the storm. Matt. 8:26 says that Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the waves, and it was completely calm. I thought it was interesting that the verse doesn't just say, 'and it was calm'; it says completely calm. It wasn't just somewhat calm, but completely calm.
Jesus wants to do that for us. When we're worked up or losing self-control for whatever reason, he wants to quiet the wind and the waves inside of us and bring us to a state of complete calmness. What are some other ways the bible use the word, complete? Let's look at some of them and find out.
1) Complete joy.
The scene is the upper room. In the beginning of John 15, Jesus describes to his disciples that he is the vine and they are the branches and that they must remain in him. A branch can't bear fruit if it's not connected to the vine. A branch can't survive if it's cut off from the vine. We pick it up in vs. 9.
John 15:9-12, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
Jesus speaks of his and the Father's love for them. Not that they didn't know Jesus loved them, but the upper room is the first place we see Jesus specifically mentioning his love for them. In 13:34 he said, "as I have loved you, so you must love one another".
Then we see an interesting phrase, 'remain in my love'. What does that mean? Some translations say, 'continue in my love'. Remaining in the love of Jesus means to continue operating in his love. Jesus loves us no matter what. So remaining in his love isn't about him continuing to love us; it's about us continuing our love for him.
And we will when we love what he loves. We remain in his love when we love one another, as Jesus said. When we continue strengthening our love for Jesus and continue to love what he loves and serve him in love, then we will remain in his love.
And we see in vs. 10 what will enable us to remain in his love-obedience. How so? In 14:15 Jesus said, 'if you love me you will obey what I command'. Love is an action word so the way we love Jesus is to follow his commands. If we love Jesus we will do what pleases him; there will be the fruit of obedience in our lives.
There will be a difference in how we operate from before we came to Christ. If the love of Jesus is in us then the desire to do his will also be in us. Our love for people prompts us to show it; not begrudgingly but joyfully. It's not always easy to do loving things; sometimes we'll need to force ourselves because we won't always feel like it.
The same goes for obeying Jesus. Our love for Jesus is there but our desire to obey him won't always be there. But when we push ourselves to do the will of God despite a lack of desire, that's still loving the Lord. And when we do that, we will get satisfaction from that accomplishment. Sometimes there's a greater reward in doing what we don't want to do but doing it because of love.
Then, in vs. 11, Jesus reveals that he has told them this so that his joy could be in them and their joy may be complete. The word complete here means to fulfill or make full. So Jesus told them this so they could have the fullness of joy. Having the fullness of joy is having the joy that Christ has.
However, in order for our joy to be complete we need to stay close to Jesus through obedience and building a relationship with him. The love that Jesus and the Father shared is the love he wants to give to us. The pure joy Jesus possesses is the joy he wants us to have.
Whatever joy we had before Jesus was incomplete and unfulfilling. There were happy times, times when feelings of joy came upon us, but it wasn't a spiritual joy. Worldly joy comes from having an experience, spiritual joy comes from a state of being. Worldly joy is not there when tragedy strikes.
But spiritual joy can be there despite the hardship. The hardship is real but so is the joy. When we consider what we have in Christ despite the difficulties, we can have a thankful, positive spirit even when our world is in an upheaval.
Paul said, 'be joyful always'. That's the fullness of joy. That's the privilege we have when we remain in Christ's love; walking in faith and obedience.
2) Complete unity.
John 17:20-23, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
In this prayer we can see Jesus' desire for Christian unity. He wanted all believers to be one just as he and the Father are one. Talk about complete unity! There could never be a more complete union than what exists between the Father and Jesus.
Jesus tells us what enables us to have that unity: "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one". What is the glory that Jesus gave us? His Spirit and the power and ability we have through him. It's the Holy Spirit that enables us to be unified. It's the Holy Spirit that causes us have a unified purpose for the Lord.
He puts that fire in us to be passionate about godly things. The Holy Spirit compels us to seek likeminded people to connect with. He moves us to meld with other believers. It's the Holy Spirit that enables us to overlook our differences for the sake of our commonality in Christ.
The Spirit doesn't see race, color, education, income, even language-he sees godliness. If you possess that there will be a connection. Our sinful nature prompts us to separate, form cliques and shun. We all have different personalities that cause us to form our friendships but that shouldn't stop us from loving everyone else and living in Christian unity with each other.
Jesus tells us why being brought to complete unity is so important: 'to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them'. When the church is unified it's more loving and powerful. When the church is unified its light shines brighter; the glory of the Lord radiates farther.
When people walk into a Christian church and they see unity it registers. When they see love and kindness and everyone fellowshipping without barriers it reveals that there's something uniquely special going on.
When they see a unity of purpose toward welcoming visitors in a caring way they can begin to understand their worth and value in the eyes of God. When the saints are unified with each other and in godly purposes, people can come to believe in Christ and be convinced of his love for them. That's what complete unity accomplishes.
Paul understood this. Phil. 2:1-2, "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."
Paul starts out with a rhetorical statement. There really wasn't a question as to whether or not the Philippian church had experienced the unity, encouragement, comfort, love, fellowship, tenderness and compassion of Christ. Paul wanted to remind them of this and give them a 'therefore' moment. 'Therefore, since you have experienced these things from Christ, operate in them towards each other and be completely unified'.
We know the encouragement we have from being united with Christ, there's also encouragement from being united with each other. Since the love of God has brought us comfort, we are able to comfort others in love.
Part of the evidence that we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit will be seen in the fellowship we have with one another. Displaying tenderness and compassion, along with all the other attributes will reveal the unified bond we have with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
For Paul, this was so important that he said their unity would make his joy complete. Paul's like, 'you know what would make my joy complete? If you were all one in Spirit and purpose; all of you operating in complete unity'. Paul would be echoing the sentiment behind Jesus' prayer.
But why was complete unity such a big deal to Jesus and Paul? Does it really matter whether everyone is completely unified? The Greek word for complete in John 17:23 means to perfect. Jesus wanted us to be brought to perfect unity. It makes sense since he desired that we would be one as he and the Father are one. Since the unity he has with the Father is perfect, he wants that for us too.
But that's impossible! The idea is to strive for perfect unity. If we settle for just unity, we may be unified regarding meeting together for church and being in agreement in doctrine and whatnot, but we might feel there are other areas that are not so important. We may feel justified in not reaching out to certain people or even harboring bitterness toward someone. That's not the complete unity Christ desires.
And if we don't strive to make our unity complete, we will leave room for disunity. And if you've seen what happens when you have disunity, then you can appreciate the importance of complete unity.
When Christians fight it disrupts my spirit as I'm sure it does yours too. Venom is poisonous; divisions are deadly. When you understand the fallout that occurs from disunity you'll be able to see the value of unity. Disunity will destroy a church but unity will build a church; it will sustain a church.
Does complete unity mean we always have to agree on every little thing? No. Some people might want a room to be painted green while others wanted blue. No matter what choice the leadership makes there's bound to be some people who will be disappointed. But that doesn't mean the unity is affected. If we agree to disagree on the trivial matters and maintain the unity in weightier matters then we'll be okay.
It's when we make the little things big things that we are in trouble. It's when we can't come to terms on something that our unity is threatened. It's when we push our own agenda that peace is disrupted. When pride and stubbornness prevail we are in jeopardy of losing everything.
Jesus and Paul saw the importance of complete unity; hopefully we can see the importance of striving for it too.
3) Complete the task.
Paul could be described as someone who was completely sold out for Christ; he was all in. In Acts 20, he makes a statement that gives credence to that fact.
Acts 20:21-24, "I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace."
It feels good to be able to finish something. I don't like leaving things half done. If I start something I want to be able to finish it. I know when I finally finished my novel and saw it in book form it gave a great sense of satisfaction. It didn't matter that I hadn't sold a copy yet, just seeing the finished work was enough for me.
Paul had that sentiment too. Paul's focus in life was to complete the work that God had called him to do. One might say, "well, that's all Paul had. He wasn't married, he didn't have kids so it's easy for the Lord to mean everything when that's your situation." Well, there are plenty of single Christians whose lives are busy and filled with all sorts of things. And who's to say that Paul couldn't have been married and had a family?
Plus, he didn't say doing the Lord's work was his only focus. Remember, he was a tentmaker, so he did do other things. But he considered his life worth nothing if he didn't complete the Lord's work-which in this case was sharing the gospel. Does that mean other things were not important? No. But what mattered the most in his life was doing God's will.
What about us? We can have important things in our lives-marriage, kids, job, friends, hobbies, etc. But what is most important? Is it fulfilling God's will? Is it completing the work of the kingdom? Understand that some of the other important things in our life can fit into this.
Loving your spouse like Christ loved the church is kingdom work. Raising your kids to love the Lord and being a godly example to them is a task of Christ. Honoring Christ at your workplace is fulfilling God's will. Shining the light of Christ to your friends is honoring the mission.
All of the other important things in our lives can fit into the task of Christ if Christ is the center of all the areas of our lives. But we do have a specific ministry, a calling on our lives given by the Lord for each of us. Are we diligent in fulfilling that purpose?
Jesus' focus was to complete the mission he came here for. When Jesus and the disciples were traveling through Samaria, Jesus rested by a well and the disciples went into town to buy food. That's when Jesus encountered the woman. When she left to tell the townspeople about her encounter, the disciples came back.
John 4:31-34, "Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."
From there Jesus goes on to tell them about the field of souls that were ripe for harvest. Jesus' 'food' was doing God's will; it sustained him like physical food sustains and energizes the body. That's why Jesus didn't allow the fact that this woman was a Samaritan stop him from doing God's work. And he wanted to teach his disciples the same lesson.
Is our 'food' to do the will of God and finish his work? If our focus is on being sold out for Jesus and completing the work that called us to do then we won't allow anything to stop us. Jesus was focused on completing the task he was given; Paul was too. Are we following in their footsteps? Do we have their passion and perseverance to complete the task?
We are here because Jesus didn't waver in finishing his work. There were times he was tempted to abandon the mission, but he stayed the course and finished his work. We are the eternal beneficiaries of that finished work. We can draw strength from Jesus' example when we're tempted to give up.
Paul said he knew that prison and hardships were facing him. He dealt with it before and he knew it was going to happen again. But he was determined to keep going and he did until the very end. Paul talked about finishing the race and getting the prize. He knew it wasn't the one who started the race that got the prize but only the one who finished the race.
So we take that and we run with it. We use it as motivation to stay the course and finish the work that God has called us to do. Through Jesus we can have complete joy, complete unity and the power, ability and determination to persevere through anything and complete the work he has given us to do.
