"He who began a good work among you" (Philippians 1:6)

Philippians 1:3-11

 

Pastor Tom Johnson, December 6, 2015

In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul gives us hope in a future that represents not our deepest fears but our highest hopes. God will deliver. God is faithful. He says, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” “God has started to form excellence in your life; and without a shadow of a doubt, I am sure that he will finish it with perfection when Jesus comes again.” Paul wants to put us into a kind of “grace sandwich”—between two slices of grace—one on either side of our daily lives. The first slice of grace is what God has already done for us and the second is what God will do for us in the future.

In Christ, God has begun a good work in us. In the first Advent, the eternal Son of God became human. In his life, he has begun a good work in us. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and preached good news. In his death, he has begun a good work in us. He died to destroy death—breaking the power of guilt and condemnation in our lives. He has begun the good work of forgiveness that pours out from the Cross of Christ. In his ascension, he has begun a good work in us. He ascended to the right hand of the Father and he sends us the Holy Spirit. Through Baptism he has begun a good work in us. He has made us “partakers of grace,” cleansed and adopted us. We live our lives with this slice of grace behind us and upon us—this first book end of promise—that God loves us and is at work in our lives. This assurance of the grace of God in our lives should be the antidote we need in a broken world. When doubt arises—when guilt sets in—when confusion overwhelms us—when the lure and things of this world tempt us—we stand firm on the Rock—confident in the person and work of Jesus Christ, “the one who began a good work in us.”

After the terrorist attack and mass killing in San Bernardino, California, one of the greatest cries of desperation was written in large letters on the front page of the New York Daily News. It said, “God isn’t fixing this.” My social media lit up with similar messages. “The victims don’t need your thoughts and prayers. They need your action. We need societal change, not prayer.” This is not unlike the psalmist David who tells us that he was repeatedly asked and challenged by the question “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42). “God isn’t fixing this,” we cry. But why do anything unless our hearts are filled with compassion and our thoughts and prayers result? Remember that Paul was a perpetrator of great evil and death. God transformed his life through the prayers of the saints. And how are we to act, if we don’t do so prayerfully and believe God is working through us? And how are we to change like Paul did without the life-transforming power of the Gospel? And how will we strive for peace apart from the Prince of Peace?

I understand the despair. I also feel the hopelessness. If we are honest with ourselves, our track record is not so good. We appear to be—to our core—a violent species, we humans. We need God to fix this. We need God to act. We need his transformation. I’m sure you saw the pictures yourselves: the evacuated workers went onto the golf course and started to form circles. The victims themselves prayed. Their thoughts and prayers were with those who were shot, their friends, their families, the medical professionals working to save lives, and law enforcement to bring true justice. This is our Advent prayer: “Stir up your power and come! Do something. Visit us in our affliction.” As we prayed earlier in the service in the prayer of the day: “Give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world.” The good news of Advent and our Scripture is that Christ is with you. God’s love precedes us and draws near us every day. We live in between.

He is the Alpha and Omega—the “A to Z.” We live out our lives somewhere in the middle of the alphabet. What God has begun he will bring to completion. What God started in our lives, he will finish. This is the other slice of the grace of God. We live from grace to grace. God has placed you and me right in the middle of these two book ends—the Son of God who came into the world and the Son of God who will return to make all things new. This is an assurance of God’s grace now based on the certainty of what God has done in the past and what he will do in the future. Jesus has come and he is coming back. And when he comes again in his full glory, he will finally present us pure and blameless. On that day, we will finally appear as we truly are and are destined to be—the holy, radiant Bride of Christ—pure and blameless and ready to spend eternity with our groom, Jesus Christ.

From beginning to end, this is the work of God. From start to finish it is to the glory and praise of God. From the time God entered our lives until his exit strategy, we can be assured that God is faithful and our salvation is secure—I am sure of this, that he who overcame our unbelief will overcome our lingering doubts—he who forgave the sin of our youth will forgive the sin of our old age—he who brought us into the light while we were in darkness will bring us into the eternal light of him who shines more brightly than the sun. I am confident of this. He has begun his good work in you and me. He will finish what he has started—he “will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” Amen. Come Lord Jesus.