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Confidence in the Midst of CrisisPhilippians 1:1-11

Introduction

a personal letter from the apostle to the Philippian church.

imprisoned in Rome the rest of this chapter makes reference to his chains.In verse 20 Paul says:

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but willhave sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exaltedin my body, whether by life or by death.

a very positive message. As Paul faced possible execution for his faith, onecould forgive him for being negative and melancholic. But instead Paul writes

as a pastor who feels deep love and affection for his people. He uses thewords joy and rejoice a total of sixteen times to describe his feelingtowards the Philippian church.

this letter is forward looking, not retrospective. Moreover, it looks towardthe future not with dread or concern, but with confidence and hope.Note:

Chapter 16being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completionuntil the day of Christ Jesus.

Chapter 313Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgettingwhat is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the

prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

This passage is a wonderful encouragement to us. It confirms to us that it isGod that works in our lives; all things are done at His instigation, and throughHis power. This is why Paul was so joyful!

Its a letter of intimacy, borne of partnership. The Christian life is a life ofpartnership; partnership with each other and partnership with God. God worksin us, and we work in the world. Notice:

Enoch walked with God - Gen. 5:22

Jacob struggled with God - Gen 32:28

Moses met with - God Ex 19:17

David pleaded with God - 2 Sam 12:16

Mary found favour with God - Luke 1:30

We are labourers with God - I Cor. 3:9

We are responsible to God - 1 Cor 7:24

We gain victory with God - Psa 60:12 God has plans for us; plans to prosper us and not to harm us Jer

29:11

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I love Gen. 2:5:

no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprungup, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the

ground

COMPLETIONOF GODS GOOD WORK

6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion

until the day of Christ Jesus.

The first thing that I want you to see in this passage is that Christ has begun awork in you. He has not finished with you yet. God has started something inyour life that he intends to complete. God has started something deep inside you,but He wants to complete that work. You are not the man or woman that Godwants you to be.

You do not yet have the compassion that God wants you to have (abound inlove);

9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound moreand more in knowledge and depth of insight

It doesnt matter how much love we feel that we have, there is always roomfor improvement. Our love should increase so that it becomes the overridingmotive in everything that we do. Love should so pervade our characterthat love will prompt and characterise everything that we do, everything thatwe say, and everything that we think. Our love should be something thateverybody that we know, and everybody that we meet notices in us. It shouldbe the distinguishing mark or characteristic of the Christian.

This passage is an example of how love was Pauls motive:

3I thank my God every time I remember you.

4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my

heart;

8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

You do not yet have the understanding that God wants you to have

(knowledge);9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more andmore in knowledge and depth of insight

The word that Paul uses here for knowledge is evpi,gnwsij, which refers toour complete knowledge of Jesus Christ. The word does not simply mean that

we know about Jesus not that the word is made up of two parts: ( gnwsij -which means knowledge; and evpi, - which means upon; but when used inthis context it refers to knowledge upon knowledge.

The best example of the use ofevpi,gnwsij is in Colossians 2:2-3:2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart andunited in love, so that they may have the full riches ofcomplete understanding, in order that they may know the

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mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all thetreasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians 2:2-3

This knowledge is not a theological, intellectual knowledge, but a personal,intimate knowledge, born out of relationship and personal experience as weshare our life; our hopes and fears; our joy and our tears; with our Lord

Jesus. As we rely upon him for direction and guidance, and as we yield tohim with ever increasing devotion.

You do not yet have the character that God wants you to have (depth ofinsight).

9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more inknowledge anddepth of insight

Depth of insight is the Greek word ai;sqhsij, and it has been variouslytranslated as judgement (AV), discernment (NKJV), or depth ofinsight (NIV). It refers to our perception of ethics and morality; to ourability to make the right moral decision.

Depth of insight needs to be added to knowledge because something is notreally known until it affects the way in which we behave. Winston Churchillonce said:

To look is one thing. To see what you look at is another. Tounderstand what you see is another. To learn from what youunderstand is something else. But to act on what you learn is

all that really matters.And so we see that God is at work in us; he has not finished with us yet!

CONFIDENCEIN GODS GOOD WORK

As you look ahead to what may be you may look forward with dread. I know thatat the prayer meeting, John was saying that he was fearful for the future. Now Ican understand his feeling. The country is heading in a direction that is againstGod. We are passing legislation that is anti-Christian and discriminating againstour belief.

Our rights to express our view that Jesus is the only way are being eroded, andChristian organisations are being challenged over their wish to employ onlyChristian people. And so it would be easy to look forward with fear andtrepidation.

But Paul looks to the future with confidence, hope and joy. God is going tocomplete a good workin you.

6being confidentof this, that he who began a good work in you willcarry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

The word confident here is the Greek word 2 . This word is used by Paul when,in Romans, he says:

38

For I am convincedthat neither death nor life, neither angels nordemons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be

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able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus ourLord.

Rom. 8:38

In the J. B. Phillips translation it reads: I have become absolutelyconvinced....

Again, Paul uses this word in his second letter to Timothy, where he says:

I know the one in whom I have placed my confidence, and amperfectly certain that the work he has committed to me is safe inhis hands...

2 Tim. 1:12 (JB Phillips)

Paul, in this letter, wants us to be completely confident in God to complete thisfantastic work that he has started within us. When we look backat times goneby we do it with the certainty that the blessings that we have received hereare merely a down payment guaranteeing the continued blessings of God

throughout your life. There are many blessings that we could recount. But these are just a downpayment that guarantee that he, who has started this good work in us, willcontinue to do good works in us until he returns or calls us home.

The sense of this verse is similar to that found in Ephesians 1:13-14:

13Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing ourinheritance until the redemption of those who are God'spossession...

God will complete this good work within you. There is an indication here of one

reason why we can be confident in the fact that Jesus will complete this work.You see he has set a time limit for completing His purpose in you it is the Dayof Jesus Christ.

This is theJudgement Day. On that day, each of us will stand before Jesus andgive an account of the things that we did here on earth. And Paul says that he isconfident that on that day God we be seen as having completed the good workthat he started in you, and in me. On that day, Paul, Romans 14:12, says:

...each of us will give an account of himself to God.

And when we have given our account, the judgement will be made. In the opencourt on that day, Christ will declare his finding over us. This is found here in

verses 10 and 11:10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pureand blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit ofrighteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and

praise of God.

No wonder the Hymn Writer wrote:

No condemnation now I dread;Jesus, and all in him, is mine;Alive in him, my living Head,And clothed in righteousness divine,Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Because of Christ at work in us, will be shown we are:

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Able to discern what is best

Blameless and pure

Filled with the fruit of righteousness

And this is to the glory of God, not to us. We can be confident that he willcomplete this work, because he has staked his glory upon that declaration.

Glory to God.

They say that your days at school are the best days of your life. Let me tell you;they are lying! I am enjoying life now much more than I enjoyed my school days.

The blessings that you have received thus far are merely the beginning of whatGod wants to do. Life gets better. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, says:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask orimagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Eph. 3:20

I like the AV rendering: Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantlyabove all that we ask or think,

Be confident that God will complete the good work that he has started in you.Believe me - God will continue to work in you, and through you He can changethe world.

CONTEXTOF GODS GOOD WORK

Just a quick word on context before we go close. The promise here is noteverything will go well for us in the future, but that God will perform a goodworkin us. Although we believe that God heals, and we believe that he wants toprosper us and not harm us, we do not believe in a Gospel that teaches that

Christians are always healthy, wealthy and wise.Sometimes God needs to take us through some hard times in order to achieve agood work. Paul was in prison when he wrote these words.

John is concerned for the things happening in our country at this moment. And itis right to be concerned. These are difficult days, and in the immediate futurethings could become even more difficult.

God has not promised us an easy life; but he has promised us a good life; one inwhich we can be:

6 confident that he who began a good work in us will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

I am a metallurgist. In order to make steel strong we need to work it. Wroughtsteel and forged steel are stronger than cast steel. Wrought simply meansworked steel. To work the steel we press it, we pull it, we stretch it and we bendit. Forged steel is steel which we have hammered with a great big hammer - wecall this upsetting the steel. Wrought steel and forged steel and are better thancast steel.

God is doing a good work in you, and in me. But that does not mean that it willalways be easy. Sometimes God will have to stretch us, sometimes he will haveto bend us, sometimes he may need to upset us. But the end result is that we will

be stronger, better people, and his good work in us will take us closer tocompletion.

Closing Comments

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God is going to complete a good work in you.

This is something of which we can be certain.

As God works in us, sometimes we will feel stretched.

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