Our Joy and God’s Completion
Good MORNING. Last week, we left Paul sitting in that Roman prison, as an ambassador in chains. Well, he’s still sitting there this week, though the guards have changed. New soldiers come in, and Paul keeps right on evangelizing them while writing a new letter to a different church, this time the Philippians.
Philippians is really one of his warmest letters, because of Paul great focus on joy, even in chains. If I were in prison for simply sharing Christ, I’d probably be complaining about wanting a good lawyer, or freedom of speech. But Paul prays with joy, and trust that God is handling everything. And that gives us a pattern for what it means to pray like a disciple of Christ.
When Paul begins the letter to the Philippians, he doesn’t start with a complaint or a request. He starts with thanksgiving.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
I’ve actually been trying to do that this week, as I think of members of our church and community. It’s a good principle. Paul doesn’t sit there saying, “Lord, why am I still chained to this sweaty guard?” Instead, he thanks God for the believers who supported him. The Philippians sent him gifts, visited him, even sent one of their own, Epaphroditus, fun name, to take care of him while he was in prison. Gratitude was Paul’s starting point.
When we pray, it’s easy to begin with your list: “Lord, help me get through this week. Help me fix this problem. Help them change so my life is easier.”
But what if, instead, we began like Paul? “Thank you, Lord, for the work you’ve already done in getting me through the week. Thank you for the people you’ve placed in my life to make me more like Christ.”
Here’s a small challenge. Take one of your prayer requests—something you’ve been asking God to change—and reword it as a thank you. “Thank you, Lord, for this difficulty that teaches me to depend on you. Thank you for this relationship that stretches my patience and grows my love.” Gratitude REshapes our hearts. It’s not that we stop asking, but that we start with thanksgiving, so our prayers begin on the foundation of trust.
Paul’s gratitude overflows into joy. “I always pray with joy,” he says, “because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” It’s hard to be told, “You should feel joyful.” That never works. But you can look around and see reasons for joy. Paul shows us that joy isn’t something we manufacture, but something that grows when we notice what God is doing in other people especially those we pray for.
Then Paul writes one of the most comforting verses in all of Scripture:
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
I had a great friend named Andy who couldn’t stand things being incomplete. Like a puzzle mostly done - OCD. Now, Steph can attest I tease those I care about, and my favorite way to annoy Andy was to tear the corner of a soda bottle label off. His bottle if I could grab it, otherwise mine.
For him, it had to be on or off. Not ripped partially off, and hanging there. You had to finish the Job! Good News, God doesn’t quit halfway through.
The same God who started his good work in the Philippians was still shaping them ten years later, after Paul founded the church, and he’s still shaping us today, until, one day, like Lori, our sanctification will finally be complete.
In the meantime, our being made more like Christ requires our participation. Jesus had some good wisdom on this in Luke 14:28 -28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
Jesus tells us that we need to sit down and count the cost before we start a project. He is using this illustration as he discusses the cost of discipleship. He is telling his disciples and the great crowds that were following Him, that one must be willing to give up the desires of the world in order to follow Christ.
Let me be clear for a second. The gift of salvation is freely offered and doesn’t cost money or material possessions. It can’t be earned by Good Works. But those who are cleansed by Jesus Justification, are expected to become his disciples, or in Jesus words, to give up our wills for God’s Will. We say “Thy will be done,” not my will be done.
We give up worldly dreams for the plan He has for us. For many - this may be a greater cost than any financial or material cost, because the cost is laying down our pride and embracing humility. The cost is saying that we can’t do it on our own and that we need a Savior to take away our sins and restore our lives.
Despite the high cost of following Jesus - salvation comes with the greatest reward one could ever imagine - eternal life with Jesus forever in heaven. Those who repent (or turn away) from their sins and put their faith and trust and believe in Jesus are given the greatest reward one could ever imagine.
What is this good work? It begins with our justification before God by the shed blood of Christ. But it continues with God transforming us by the renewing of our minds into the image of His Son more and more each day. And this work will be brought to completion when we go to be with the Lord in eternity.
This is what brings Paul joy. Paul has complete confidence that those believers, like the Philippian Jailer and his household, Lydia who he met by the river, and all those who believed in Philippi, will be completely transformed by the work of God.
Jesus says in John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
We can be sure, convinced, confident- that if we truly have repented of our sins and put our trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, that God will bring His good work to completion Lori.
