"Finish Well Together!" (Philippians 1:6)

"Finish Well Together!"

Captivated by Christ: An expositional sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Church in Philippi (week #3)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

April 25, 2010

We are continuing our sermon series "Captivated by Christ" walking through the Apostle Paul's letter to the faithful Christ-followers in Philippi while he was in captivity for Christ. Please open your Bibles and pull out your sermon notes as we continue with Philippians 1:6 (NIV).

The Word of God: "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." [prayer]

Do you know what is the most useless piece of sports trivia? ___The score at halftime!________

In sports, it is obvious that the score at halftime is not the reality that will mark who we are and what will be remembered about us. In sports, it is obvious that there is hope for the next half regardless of the score board.

But in life, these same perceptions are lost in the midst of the halftime score. It is easy to get distracted by the current events of our lives--by the media; the distractions; the circumstances. It is easy to become apathetic or without hope because the score board of our lives seems to offer no hope for a second half rebound. Friends, today I am declaring there is a hope beyond the scoreboard; beyond your circumstances!

We cannot get distracted by the score at halftime; we must keep our eyes on the promises of God!

From John's Revelation 21:3, the promise of what is to come on the Day of the Lord, the completion of all things on heaven and earth, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.'"

Our hope is in the reality that on the day of Christ Jesus the world as we experience it will come under subjection to the great victory of God. God wins; we win!

Friends, as in sports, we must not get distracted by the score at halftime; we must remain focused on the truths of God—the promise that at the end of the game we are victorious! We are more than conquerors! We stand righteous before God because in that day He who dwells in us now dwells amongst us! Can we get excited about this family of God?!? PRAISE HIM!

Let's dive into Philippians 1:6 and learn how we can finish well together by the grace of God. WE FINISH WELL TOGETHER...THROUGH TEAMWORK!

Paul started his letter with this prayer of thanksgiving for his beloved children in the church of Philippi and our Scripture lesson this morning is actually the last verse of this wonderful prayer we learned about last week.

(This is the context for our passage and we must always seek to know the context of Scripture as we study.)

Paul prays, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership [koinonia] in the gospel from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:3-5).

If we are to finish well together on this missionary journey then we must understand the commitment of partnership birthed in God's love.

To illustrate this Christian partnership, I want to show you a DVD clip about one of my favorite father-son teams. Be prepared, this story will shake your world and it has the ability to make a grown man cry!

**Show DVD Clip of the Team Hoyt Story**

The Bible proclaims in 1 John 5:3-4a, "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world."

My brothers and sisters in Christ, may we learn how to work together, carry one another's burdens in love, and love one another as selflessly and sacrificially as this father-son have learned.

Are you starting to get what koinonia is?

One of the key lessons I learned in my many hours and days of land navigation training and infantry work in the US Army is that no matter how efficient you are at the tools of land navigation (compass, map, pace count), if you do not start well you will not finish well.

Our second point is: WE FINISH WELL TOGETHER...BY STARTING WELL WITH GOD!

This point comes directly from the first part of Philippians 1:6, "being confident [pepoithos] of this, that he who began [enarchamenos] a good [agathon] work in you..." (Philippians 1:6a).

Paul is teaching us that he is confident (the Greek word is pepoithos which means to be convinced of or persuaded of) that God began a good work in those who have become children of God through Jesus Christ!

The Greek word agathon translated 'good' has a rich connotation. Unlike our usage of the word good which can mean anything at anytime, this word used by Paul is used primarily for God and for those things God has made good. It is not good because we say it is good. This work that God began is good because it is the work of God!

What is this good work that God has begun in us? It is our salvation! It is the gift of eternal life lavished upon us by faith in the Son of God. Paul can pray with joy regarding his partnership with the church in Philippi not only because of their partnership (their koinonia!), but because of the origin of that team work; their salvation which God began.

Let's look at the Scriptures to better understand this teaching of God's good work that He began in us. From Hebrews 10:10, "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

It is the will of God that we, the ones predestined by God to be His children, to be set apart as the hagios (the holy ones!) in Christ Jesus through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is the victory of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross; the final atoning sacrifice! This is the peace and grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that Paul greeted the Philippians with in his address of the letter.

Paul states this truth of salvation in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

If we are to finish the race well, then we must be born again; a birth that is not of water only, but of the Spirit and water. This is what baptism symbolizes and why we celebrate the baptism of these 14 people today.

If we are to grasp the infinite and eternal promises of God, we must pass from death to life through faith in Jesus Christ! To not get this point is to miss the entire point of this verse and the gospel!

It is my most passionate prayer that you will humbly ask God to gift you with the starting point of faith so that you will, in this very moment, receive eternal life with God; this is the good work of salvation!

This is what God begins in us and what He continues to completion!

This beginning or commencement is emphasized by Paul again in Galatians 3:3, "Are you so foolish? After beginning [same Greek word as in Ph 1:6] with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?"

This verse transitions us to our last teaching point: WE FINISH WELL TOGETHER...WITH OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE!

Paul concludes Philippians 1:6 stating, "[he]... will carry it on to completion [epitelesei] until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6b).

Upon receiving salvation, we then we must continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling through the process we called sanctification.

Sanctification, very simply stated, is the ongoing good work of the Holy Spirit, that we participate in, to transform and conform us into the character of Jesus Christ. It is our progress towards holiness as the holy ones!

In my humble opinion, it is in our misunderstanding of sanctification where we go off course in our conceptual design of discipleship and establish well-intentioned church programs, but where we start getting in the way rather than participating in the good work that God "will carry on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

As sinful humans, even as sinners saved by grace, it is so easy to try to attain the goal by human effort, as Paul rebuked the Christ-followers in Galatia in Galatians 3:3.

The key to finishing well together is to keep our eyes on the prize! What does that mean? We must keep our eyes on God who has begun the work (justification), who is continuing the work (sanctification), and who has promised to complete the work (glorification)!

Paul said is this way in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I want to now call your attention to a powerful teaching in our Scripture lesson (Philippians 1:6) that is impossible to see in our English translation or without understanding the cultural implications of language. Using 2 technical terms for the beginning and ending of a sacrifice in the Greek language, Paul establishes a word image that lives, moves, and has its being in an atmosphere of a sacrifice.

The first is the Greek word Enarchamenos translated 'who began' which means in its technical usage to commence or initiate the beginning ritual of sacrifice.

And the Greek word Epitelesei is translated 'will bring it to completion' is the verb used for completing the whole ritual of sacrifice and for carrying out the sacrifice perfectly in every smallest detail.

God is the one who begins the sacrifice and then brings to completion the sacrifice perfectly in EVERY smallest detail!

This is the story of your life and mine when the Holy Spirit begins the good work of salvation in our souls. This is the true essence of Paul's exhortation in Romans 12:1, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship."

The gift that the King desires of you and me is not that we take charge of the process, but that we daily die to ourselves trusting and knowing that it is God who is doing the work in us—that we be living sacrifices!

It doesn't matter what the scoreboard says today! Keep your eyes on the prize; God is faithful! TRUST THE PROMISE!

How do we do this today? It takes intentionality to walk in the Spirit! Paul wrote with passion, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).

It takes intentionality to finish the marathon that God has called us to! We must remember who called us and sent us to finish the race! Watch this amazing video that captures the story of the Tanzanian Olympian John Stephen Ahkwari from the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and his tenacity to finish well. **Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq3rOMnLGBk

Are you going to finish the race?

Jesus Christ traveled a distance that quantum physics cannot calculate because it is beyond our comprehension of space and time. Jesus Christ came to us, began the good work of our salvation by reconciling us to God on the Cross once and for all (IF only you will ask him by faith into your life and accept that He took all of your sin and closed the chasm between your imperfection and God's perfection!).

God went to this great extent not so that you can start the race, but so that you can finish the race!

He wants all of you for all of eternity, but it has to begin in this life through faith! There are no second chances when the Day of Christ Jesus occurs! God has made Himself known to you and you will be held accountable on that day for how you respond to His grace!

You can neither start nor finish this race with human effort! The distance is beyond our comprehension of space and time; no amount of good deeds, charitable contribution, will power, or work ethic will allow you to finish well.

Paul wrote with intimate honesty to his beloved Timothy near the end of his life, shortly before his own martyrdom, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).

What will your testimony be as God lovingly encounters you in the difficult circumstances of this life? When evil appears to have the upper hand and last word?

When hate and broken relationships seem to be inevitable?

As we respond, I am going to ask Ken and his team to come up and lead us in some response songs.

What is the most useless statistic in sports and in life?

It's the score at halftime! God has moved toward you and promised the Victory! Now it is your time to respond and move toward the God who loves you!

Do you need a touch from God today for the strength to surrender control and to keep your eyes on the victory that God has promised for the coming day of Christ Jesus?

You are invited this morning to come forward and get this touch from God! Put yourself in God's hands and trust Him with your circumstances.

Response prayer.

Intentional Partnership for the Gospel! (Philippians 1:2-5)

"Intentional Partnership for the Gospel!"

Captivated by Christ: An expositional sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Church in Philippi

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

April 18, 2010

Last week, we kicked off our new sermon series called, "Captivated by Christ" where we introduced the context and occasion of Paul's letter to the Christ-followers in Philippi. Paul wrote this letter from Rome in the year 61 AD, while he was under house arrest (in prison!) awaiting his trial by Caesar which Paul knew might lead to his death. That is 12 years after he first visited Philippi.

Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ and great missionary to the non-Jewish people, was the expert disciple-maker and as we study this letter we are going to learn not only what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ (a disciple), but how to embark on the missionary journey of our lives that includes making disciples in the workplace, in the schools, in our neighborhoods, and in our own homes. This series is about equipping us not only with the basic tenets of our faith, but with how we should lives our lives as missionaries answering God's call to make disciples in every arena of our lives.

Our study this morning is a continuation of last week's sermon as we build off of verse 1 and study verses 2-5.

Please open your Bibles to Philippians 1:2-5 (NIV), "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" [prayer]

Last Sunday we learned of the great concept of body-life inter-dependence; that as an entire body we must have a team approach to our life journey. We need one another in the body of Christ and as a fellow Spirit-filled Christ-follower gifted for a function in the one body, I am no more important than you and you are no more important than me. God loves each of us with an everlasting love and he has called each of us to embark on His missionary journey in our lives. In these verses, we are going to highlight 4 characterizations (or marks) of our Christian partnership.

Let's look at the first one: CHRISTIAN PARTNERSHIP IS MARKED BY COMPLETE DEPENDENCE ON GOD'S GRACE!

Paul gives an opening greeting to his intended audience in Philippians 1:2, "Grace [charis] and peace [eirene] to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

In this greeting, there is a fun literary nuance that Paul does. During this time period, the traditional greeting was "charien" which essentially meant 'Greetings' and by changing one syllable Paul dramatically changes the theological landscape of the greeting. Paul greets them with "charis" which means 'Grace'.

There are few words in the Christian vocabulary steeped with the depth of meaning and theological significance than the word "Grace." This word in its classic Greek context speaks of beauty, joy, pleasure, brightness. In its theological context it points to the reality that we are born of a new relationship to God; that we are a child of God through His unmerited love for us in Christ Jesus!

This truth is discussed so powerfully throughout the Scriptures. In Paul's letter to the Ephesians 1:7-8, he declares, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

Paul is doing more than greeting the saints, he is immediately reminding us (the original audience of the church in Philippi and through the Holy Spirit you and I today!) that we are completely dependent on the Grace of God through Jesus Christ! God is life and by His grace He gives us life!

In this missionary journey, we cannot even take the first step without God's grace! In this Christian life, whether in captivity for Christ like Paul was, or going about our everyday life in Philippi (or New Castle) we are completely dependent on God!

But Paul does not stop with this one word, grace. He expands the greeting by adding a second word to his greeting. He adds the Greek word "eirene." This is the Greek word used to capture the Hebrew word "shalom".

Shalom was the normal Jewish greeting and by combining the words Paul creates an all inclusive greeting with rich theological implications!

This peace is not an absence of troubles or conflicts, but rather it is an all encompassing well being and harmony with God and others; it is a relational term! It is a peace that surpasses any human circumstance and encompasses God's all-sufficient blessings.

We see this truth taught in Romans 5:1-2a, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand."

Jesus Christ won the victory for us by restoring the peace between God and humanity by taking all of our sin and paying the price for our rebellion and appeasing the curse of God's Law! This peace is the right standing we have with God through Jesus.

When Paul greets us with Grace and Peace he is very clear in the origin of these precious gifts! These gifts are "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ"!

The Scriptures are clear that without Jesus Christ, we cannot have a right relationship with God the Father! Without the Son you do not have access to the Father! Without the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you of your sin, you will always stand guilty before God and bear the penalty of the curse!

The blood of Jesus brought peace once and for all. Colossians 1:19-20 very clearly teaches about Jesus Christ, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

Our partnership on God's missionary journey truly does start by each of recognizing our great need for a Savior and asking Jesus Christ into our lives to lead us and direct our paths. Have you accepted the grace of God in your own life through faith in Jesus Christ?

Let's continue in our Scripture lesson and look at the 2^nd characteristic of Christian partnership on our missionary journey: CHRISTIAN PARTNERSHIP IS MARKED BY A LIFESTYLE OF THANKSGIVING TO GOD!

In Philippians 1:3, Paul transitions from his opening greeting to a prayer of thanksgiving for his partnership with the Christ-followers in Philippi: "I thank [eucharisto] my God every time I remember you."

This is not a nicety for the Apostle Paul, he lived a lifestyle of thanksgiving to God and he commonly expressed that to those who partnered with him in the furthering of the gospel!

We see this when he writes to the Christ-followers in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 1:4, Paul proclaims, "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus."

The word translated for giving thanks is the Greek word "eucharisto" in which we get the transliterated word, "Eucharist", a name for communion, the Lord's Supper.

Whenever we partake of the Lord's Supper (the bread and cup) we are giving thanks to God for the extravagant love, the scandalous grace, the indescribable gift of His Son Jesus Christ who gave His body to be broken and punished for our sins and who shed His blood so that we could have peace with the Father through the atonement of sins.

Giving thanks to God should be the "praise-habit" of our lives! And the overflow of this great gratitude is how we express thankfulness for our brothers and sisters in Christ, for our families and loved ones, for our neighbors and the world beyond our own personal and societal borders.

Paul talks about this overflow in 2 Corinthians 9:12-13 stating, "This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."

When we live lives of thankfulness, then it becomes a visible witness to the world of God's great gift of grace and peace! It is an evidence of grace; an observable fact of being a child of God!

Are you living an intentional lifestyle of thanksgiving to God in spending time in praise to Him each day? How does this impact other people on a daily basis?

I have a friend who would wear a tee shirt that said, "Attitudes are contagious! Is yours worth catching?"

Is yours?

This leads us to our third defining characteristic: CHRISTIAN PARTNERSHIP IS MARKED BY JOYFUL PRAYER FOR THE ENTIRE BODY! Paul continues in Philippians 1:4, "In all my prayers [deesei] for all of you, I always pray [deesin] with joy [charas]"

The Apostle Paul lived and breathed a God-centered reality, a gospel-driven ambition, and a Spirit-filled life, all on a prayer-led missionary journey.

In our verse, the Greek word, deesin, is not the general word for prayer, that is proseuche, but it is a more descriptive word of a type of prayer meaning supplication or intercession. Paul is expressing intentionality for his prayer life and he further describes this labor of love, this intensity of prayer, as one he does with joy! Paul is joining in solidarity for the spiritual lives of the body of Christ by interceding for each person!

Who are you laboring in prayer for? [Pause] Do you have a prayer partner that you meet with regularly? [Pause]

I encourage every Christ-follower to find someone and meet weekly to pray; I call FBC to start praying for the entire body and for the body life of our church! PRAY!

Paul not only prays for the churches, but he mentors the next generation of missionary leaders to do the same. He exhorts Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone."

The call is to pray, intercede, give thanks, ask for God's blessings and peace for the entire body!

Biblical discipleship is sharing Christ-centered life together; it is relational and always personal! We must model for one another and invite people to join us on the missionary journey if we are to influence their lives. People have to watch each of us as individuals and as the community of God go through hard times and learn what it means to honor God in the midst of suffering!

We teach by our response to one another, not by our lofty words! What are we teaching? [Pause] What do you teach at work, in school, at home, around town?

We must grow in our relationships so that we care deeply about one another and care if our brother or sister is walking in the truth of the Bible; this should be the primary focus of what we at FBC are discussing and learning in every Sunday School class, every small group meeting, or in our times of accountability and friendship. Do we know the truth and do our lives reflect it?

The Apostle John, in his later years of life, expressed this so clearly when he declared in 3 John 4, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

John, like Paul and the other great leaders of the early church, felt a personal family relationship to those who came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in their ministries. They believed that they were spiritual fathers to their beloved children and nothing brought them greater joy then to know that the beloved children of God were walking in the truth of the gospel!

God's missionary journey is the joy of bringing those we love—those God loves!—into the peace of God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ! This peace is only possible through the grace of God so our part is to pray with joyful anticipation of God's answer!

Paul is proclaiming in word and deed that joy is not about comfortable circumstances, but of seeing the gospel make progress through the circumstances of our lives; believing, watching, and anticipating that God uses all things for the good of those who love Him!

What brings you joy in your life? [Pause]

Our final point this morning pulls our teaching time together for us: CHRISTIAN PARTNERSHIP IS MARKED BY INTENTIONAL FELLOWSHIP IN THE GOSPEL!

Paul gives the motive clause on why he always prays with joy for the Philippians in verse 5, "Because of your partnership [koinonia] in the gospel [euangelion] from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:5).

Let's watch a word for word enactment of Acts 16 which captures Paul's first days in Philippi so we can better understand the context. Show DVD Clip of Acts 16.

The Greek word koinonia is the word translated partnership in this verse. Commonly translated fellowship, koinonia speaks of deep abiding relationship amongst the members of the church. This fellowship goes beyond small talk and sharing a cup of coffee; this is a commitment to relationship.

We see this in Acts 2:42, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

This is a contractual relationship established by the blood of Jesus Christ; we are the doulos (slaves) of Christ Jesus! We were bought at a price and now we under new ownership and have new ambitions!

In Philippians 4:14-16, Paul alludes to his first days in Philippi and their continued contractual relationship until the day Paul wrote this letter, "Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need."

The fellowship of the gospel is the purpose of our existence and it should be the central theme of our relationships!

This is why we give thanks to God and for one another; this is why we joyfully prayer for one another and the entire body of Christ! We are in an intentional fellowship with one another because we are completely dependent on God's grace in this life—the gospel!

What ties us together as a fellowship? What do we talk about when we meet, even Sundays after a time of worship? What is at the center of who we are?

The Greek word "euangelion" is translated gospel and it is where we get the transliterated word evangelist. An evangelist is someone who shares the gospel. Gospel in its classic Greek usage meant victorious news! In the New Testament, it took on one meaning: the good news of Jesus Christ which for those of us who have experienced the peace of God know is victorious news!

What is this victorious news? We just watched Paul's missionary work in Philippi as recorded in Acts 16. Upon entering Philippi Paul first brought the gospel to Lydia, a rich spiritual-minded woman. She and her household were saved!

Second, he brought the gospel to a poor slave girl who was demon possessed and she was set free from her captivity and she was saved.

Lastly, while in jail, he brought the good news to the jailor who was an everyday working man trying to take care of his family and follow orders of his employer when God literally shook the landscape of his world.

In the midst of despair and desperation the jailor was about to commit suicide when God intervened through Paul.

The jailor asks this simple question of Paul, his prisoner, recorded in Acts 16:30-31, "He then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.'"

Whether you are rich or poor; spiritual or not; living life for good or bad; clean or dirty; educated or not; aware of your need or not; happy or sad, this question is the most important question you can ever ask: what must I do to be saved?

Is God shaking the landscape of your life right now (inside or out; visible or not)? [Pause]

God wants to set you free! There is hope in Jesus Christ! Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved!