“And I am sure of this
That he who began a good work
In you
Will bring it all to completion at the
Day of Jesus Christ”
Phil 1:6
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! No matter how you celebrated I hope you took time during the weekend to think about everything you are thankful for.
My thankful list…
family
friends
hope
purpose
laughter
joy
almost at the end of unpacking from our move
Speaking of unpacking, I found my books! YAY! I have quite a few boxes. I like books. A lot. I also found a beautiful scrapbook that was given to me back in the late 1990’s from my Prayer Sister at church. At that time, I was writing rural lifestyle articles for our local newspaper. Our kids were young and we had moved to the family farm which automatically provided a ton of great writing material. When the articles were printed in the paper, I would cut them out and save them in my scrapbook.
Reading through the yellowed pages last week was an eye-opener.
I could still smell, see, hear and feel the story each article was telling. I remember what lead up to each event. I remember how I felt and what I was thinking at the time. I had to laugh at how young and immature I was and how my understanding of difficulty was small and narrowly defined. I also realized it was a training ground for all of the things yet to come.
I’m not the same person I was back then. You aren’t the same person you were 20 years ago either. Life experience may mature us but spiritually speaking we can stay immature if we aren’t careful. In Phil. 1:6 we see 3 things that are vital to having a maturing relationship with Jesus.
justification~sanctification~glorification
Those are 3 big words but don’t let that put you off. Let’s talk about sanctification…
After salvation, God sanctifies us (sets us apart for a holy purpose) by empowering us to live lives that align with his word. Sanctification is the outpouring, or fruit of our obedience to the Word of God. It’s the growing relationship we have with our Heavenly Father that draws us closer to him every day. It includes exposing areas in our lives that are in opposition to his Spirit which need to be rooted out so that we can fulfill our holy purpose on this earth.
What does it mean when Paul says, “he who began a good work in you will bring it all to completion”?
Salvation is the start; the completion of that work will culminate on the Day of Jesus Christ. In between those two things is the battlefield of sanctification. Hey, we were supposed to focus on joy, right? Philippians is supposed to be about joy not sorrow and certainly not a battlefield!
Well, I think we all know that becoming more like Christ is difficult. Obedience can be really hard. The work of rooting out our human nature is challenging. We keep getting in our own way.
So the joy part…where is it?
We have been set apart, we’re different than everyone else. We have a holy purpose that God declared for our lives. Wow! Can I get personal for a minute? If you have felt out of place all your life, I want to remind you that you were never meant to fit in and be the same as everyone else! If you have felt like you never measured up, I want you to know that you were never meant to shoulder the burden of anyone else’s expectations for your life. If you have felt shamed and torn down by unkind words hear me today, you are set apart and special and there is no one else who can accomplish the holy purpose God has for you except for you!
Hebrews 12:1-2 says “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith…”
This holy purpose will drive us towards obedience to the word of God and give us determination to confront any unholiness we find in ourselves. It will empower us to run our own race. Let’s be clear, part of the holy purpose we’ve been talking about is dealing with our sin but the uncovering of it or the exposure of our weaknesses isn’t so that God can punish us! It is simply to restore a right relationship with the Lord.
And so we see that the good work Paul is talking about in Phil. 1:6 is learning how to grow in our dependance on Jesus and becoming obedient to his word. The result? Deeper relationship with Christ which leads to deeper relationship with each other. Ultimate joy!
I’d like to give you 5 keys that will unlock the good work Paul is talking about in your life. Each of them is huge. Every one of them will create ripple effects with eternal consequences as we strive to live holy and pleasing lives to the Lord.
i am sorry
The good work of acknowledging I have hurt you and humbly asking for your forgiveness for the
things I have said or done that hurt you
i forgive you
The good work of holding no offense against you and forgiving you for the words you said or things you did that hurt me
i want to help
The good work of pledging my heart, hands and feet in service to you, never measuring my service by what I hope to get in return
i will pay attention
The good work of seeking opportunities and making note of details that are important to you so that I know how best to encourage you
i will show you Jesus
The good work of aligning my words and actions so they lead you to Jesus
Jesus is always at the heart of the good work. He is the good work. He fills us with the desire to be more like him, he gives us opportunities to look at our sin right in the eyes and deal with it so that our holy purpose can be fulfilled, unhindered. The good work of Christ is about being in right relationship with him and it is the only key that will unlock right relationship with others.