God Finishes What He Starts - [Philippians 1:6]

The Tragedy in Italy and a Prayer for the Grieving

The title for today's message is God finishes what he starts and our text will be from Philippians chapter 1. So if you want to turn there, please feel free to do so. And as you are turning, I want to start with something I just read in the news this afternoon.

Some of you may have heard there was a tragic accident in Italy. There was a cable car that was going up the mountain and it had fallen off. And about 13 people were killed in this accident. And it's heartbreaking when you hear things like this.

Italy had just opened up. People are going up to the northern parts of the country to see these beautiful mountains and enjoy this ride. It's a 20-minute ride. But it goes up close to 5 ,000 feet at the top.

And unexpectedly, this accident, they don't know all the details. And as I was listening, as I was reading this, I realized that there's something that we can learn from what was happening here. But before we do that, I thought it would be instructive for us to pray for the tragedy there and how the Lord can help.

Anytime I hear something that's sad or tragic, I try to remember, Lord, there are people there that need your help. Physically, people who need it to come to know you. And we always ought to pray for those.

So let's begin with a prayer. And I'll also pray for our time in the Word. Loving Father, we come before you knowing that you are sovereign. We know that you are good. We know that all things that you orchestrate come together for good for those who are called and to those whom you have expressly showcased your salvation.

And, Father, in this time of need and suffering, we come before you. Lord, we pray for the families that are grieving the loss of their loved ones, for those who are injured and in the hospitals. We just pray that you would be gracious and grant them healing and that you would be pleased to save any that do not know you.

And, Father, as we open up your Word here this evening, I pray, Father, that you would remind us that each moment that we have is indeed a gift from you. We ought not to presume on the breath that we take, but rather that we ought to be grateful for the opportunities that you have provided for us to learn about you, to showcase your excellencies to this world.

And so, Father, we commit this time into your hand. In Jesus' name, we pray. So as I was reading this, I was thinking about how this group of people might have started this journey with just this great expectations of going up into the Alps and looking at all these beautiful places, and then it was not to be.

They had a hope of going from the base of the mountain to the top, but right at the very top, this thing collapsed. Now, when it comes to your salvation, is that possible? You hear of people, big people, people who are much more learned than I and you and I, people who are very in the ministry for much long periods of time, who have made shipwrecks of their faith.

So when you are on the path of salvation, do you have assurance that you can reach the goal? When we think of salvation, the Bible talks about it in three terms, the past, the present, and the future.

There is an aspect of salvation where God has already done salvation. He has accomplished salvation in your life. We think of the justification that we have in Jesus Christ. There is nothing we did God called He declared as not guilty because of the work of Jesus Christ.

And at that moment, we know that that salvation has been accomplished. It's a past event. The Bible also talks about salvation as a present event. You are being saved. We are being sanctified. We are being conformed into the image of Christ.

There is a mighty work of salvation that is being accomplished in each of your lives here. And as we think of salvation, there is this power at work in each of us as God is making us and transforming us into the image of Christ.

And one day, we will see the future aspect of salvation where we will be glorified. We will no longer have the presence of sin and the work is accomplished. And we will gaze and glorify and revel our God forever and ever.

But while we are here on this side of eternity, sometimes your cable car going all the way up seems to be hitting high winds, shaking up there. Blizzards where you can't quite see what's lying ahead. And lightning and thunder that seems to scare you whether you can finish this journey that you are on.

Ground zero may seem far down and heaven seems to be too far off. Can you make it? Can those of your family and loved ones who have professed faith and struggling make it? And I was thinking of Jesus in this analogy.

Jesus didn't need a cable that he needed someone to power to go up and accomplish the work that he came here to do. He did it for you mountain climbers like a free climb. He just did it on his own. He had been empowered.

He came here as a man just like you and me. And he was tempted in every single way. But no temptation of Satan. No tricks in this world. Not even his own desire to be not separated from the father would break the hold of his goal of fulfilling his father's will in accomplishing salvation for us.

And today you and I, as we are walking on this path that God has set before us, have a cable that will not snap. We have the part that Christ has accomplished for us. And you and I can be assured that the work that God has begun in us, the work of salvation will indeed be accomplished.

Paul’s Servanthood and the Assurance of Salvation

So my goal here is quite simple. I'm going to read Philippians 1 verses 1 through 11. And as I'm reading it, I want you to look for the words Jesus and Christ. And that would give you a sense of Paul's fixation with Jesus as it were.

Because we're not going to be talking about some of the work of Jesus in this passage. But we're going to see how Christ is everywhere as we go through it. And then we will study verse 6 and try to understand what that verse means.

And then we're going to go back to Acts 16 to get a little bit of a context. You know, when Paul talks in chapter 1, what does he mean? How do his readers understand what was going on? And then we'll come back and look at verses 1 through 7 in context and finally apply it.

So let's look at Philippians 1 verses 1 through 11. I'm going to read it for you. And as I'm reading it, just watch for Jesus and Christ. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all. Making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

And verse 6, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart.

For you are all partakers with me of grace. Both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. So that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

So let's now look at verse 6. So that's our primary text and we're going to come and go to this verse and we'll begin with this. Paul says in verse 6, I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Paul doesn't say I think that and then finish the sentence. It is possible that and something else. But he is sure of this. He has been persuaded of this. He is certain of this. So this is one of those things versus that you are thinking of.

For many of you, it might be a life verse. Just recognizing what God has done in your life and looking forward to the hope that you already have in him. And this is one of those guaranteed versus you can take this to the bank and it will always cash.

It will not bounce. This is the assurance that Paul, the apostle has. And Paul is now writing to the Philippians and communicating that same assurance that they can have that he has in his Lord. And he's saying, I am sure of this.

But as you are asking the question, we already had act 16 read. Thank you, Jonathan. That was an excellent reading. Even with the throat, you just pulled right through. And we have a little bit of a background.

We're going to come back and see what happened in Philippi. But when the Philippians heard Paul saying, I am sure of this, what kind of what was being communicated to them with the authority that Paul had?

So when he says, I am sure of this in verse one of Philippians one, he says, I am a servant of Christ Jesus. You know, he could have said, I'm an apostle of Christ Jesus. Like he would say to the Galatians, he could pull his rank, if you will.

Why does he not do that? Certainly, he is an apostle. He is one who has been sent by Jesus Christ to proclaim the gospel. And he is the one who brought the gospel to them. He is not just that. He is also someone who is.

I don't like to use this term, but I take it with somewhat graciously. He's like your secretary of the Holy Spirit. You know, he's writing what God himself is saying. So when he says, I am sure of this, and he's inspired by the spirit of God, and he's writing what God wants them to hear.

You can be pretty sure that what he is saying is authoritative. But his emphasis is on his servanthood, because Paul is not here to elevate himself. He's there in order to exalt Christ Jesus. And so his focus in throughout this book, as well as in the rest of his work, will always be to showcase Jesus Christ.

So the Philippians, when they hear this coming from Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, would be to hear he's here to serve Jesus. And part of that service is to give them that assurance that Jesus himself would want them to have.

So I am sure of this. What is this that Paul is sure of? That he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. The rest of the sentence. What is this good work? I contend that it is salvation.

You will see, interestingly, on verse 5 and verse 7, the word gospel used. We'll come back and look at what it means in the context. But I believe that Paul is talking about the work of salvation, both more in the specific sense of being saved from their sin and the assurance of going to heaven.

But everything else that it encompasses are all included here. The good work that God works in you will be brought to fruition at the day of Jesus Christ. Now, let's look a little more closely at this verse.

He who began a good work in you. Who began this good work? You know, Paul, you've heard Acts 16. He could have gone so far to say, I began the good work in you and God will finish it in the day of Jesus Christ.

Because I'm not here physically with you. He was the one who brought the gospel to them. But know that it wasn't Paul who began the good work in them. It was God himself who began the good work in them.

We'll go back to that and see that in a moment when we get to Acts 16. And he started in you. And I think it's helpful to remember this. While I'm going through salvation, through trials, when the winds are blowing and the blizzards blinding my eyes, I often try to remember what I did when I got saved.

I distinctly remember what I did when I got saved. I was walking down the street and I was crying. I didn't want to believe, but it just seemed inescapable to me and I trusted. And then I might think at that point, you know, did I do something there that I think I was doing something good, but maybe it wasn't.

Maybe it was all off to not. Unbeknownst to me at that time, it was not me who started that work of salvation by exercising faith or trusting in Jesus or repenting of my sin. But it was God who had begun that work in me.

And he is the one who is going to continue that work. Now, when he says he who began a good work in you in verse one, he says he's writing to the all the saints in Philippi, the overseers and the deacons.

So these are all believers in the church at Philippi. And then he calls out the officials, the elders and the deacons as well. In particular, he's saying each one of you in this church, you have had the work of God begun in you.

And for each of you, he will bring that work to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So this moving from beginning of the work to the end is assured. It's OK if you want to stay. If it doesn't, I might be a little too loud.

I don't know. So. So when we say he will bring it to completion, what do we know about God that he finishes what he starts? What are some other things that you can think of where God does exactly that?

We are thinking about our salvation. But what about other things? I can think of creation. Genesis one. He begins in in the beginning. God created. And then you go to verse 31. Everything was very good.

What he starts, he finishes. And then you have all of creation and we have the fall and the and the troubles. And it seems like there is no solution for the problems that mankind is facing. And then you get to see the propitiation that is there throughout the pages of scriptures.

And then, you know, Revelation 22, how that is going to end. And we have a God. I remember Pastor Mike preaching Hebrews one, three, how the sun upholds the universe by the word of his power. And I didn't know that until that point.

It is not just keeping it up, but it is carrying it to its destination. And if he can take the entire universe from its moment of creation to its culmination. I think we can agree that he can handle you and me.

That's the God that we are talking about. He is and that's the God that Paul has encountered that he is communicating to the Philippians. The end is assured. It will be perfect. Now, there's one other thing in this verse that I want to highlight, which is the day of Jesus Christ.

So there are two days that the Bible talks about this morning. We heard about the day of the Lord. That's the day of judgment that is coming for all unbelievers. So people ought to be scared and afraid and fearful if they haven't trusted in Jesus Christ of that day.

Because Jesus is coming as a righteous judge and his wrath will be poured out on that day. But the day of Christ or the day of Jesus Christ, as it is used in the scripture, is talking about Christ coming for you.

For those who trust in him. This is the day of great rejoicing. As Pastor Mike, you were saying this morning, perhaps tonight that he is coming back and we are looking forward to the return of our king.

And this is the time where you will be looking forward to the rewards that Christ has promised for you at his appearing. So we've taken a quick look at verse six. And now let's look back a little bit at Acts 16 to draw some understanding before we look at the rest of Philippians chapter 1.

So if you want, you can just put a placeholder here and turn to Acts 16. And as you're turning there, you remember to think of Acts. You want to remember Acts 1 .8. Jesus told his disciples, wait here and you will receive power from on high.

And then you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So in Acts 1 through 7, you get to see how in Jerusalem, the power of God explodes. You get to see a fearful, cowardly disciples transformed into unashamed of the gospel.

Peter, who would just speak to these authorities who had actually nailed his master to the cross and the people were being saved by the thousands. And then in chapters 8 to 12, you get to see how the gospel spreads forth, not just to the Jewish people, but to the Samaritans and to the Gentiles.

You remember Cornelius, where Peter would go and give the gospel to them. And then in 13 to the rest of the chapter 28, you have Paul's ministry that is given for us. And there in chapter 13 to 14, you have the first missionary journey as Paul from Antioch, along with Barnabas, go out and give the gospel to the Gentiles in the Roman Empire.

And then in chapter 15, they come back and they realize that there is this tension about circumcision. And there needs to be a clarification that the gospel is by faith alone. There is no works that can contribute, can be done to add to the work of Christ on the cross.

And then we are coming into the second missionary journey. So that's why Jonathan began at the end of chapter 15, where the missionary journey starts. And then in 16 through 18, you have the second missionary journey.

And then 18 through 21 is the third missionary journey. So let's briefly look at what happens in the second missionary journey when Paul comes to Philippi. So I want to pick up right in. Well, if you if you look up verse one, you have two names there, Paul and Timothy.

And in this chapter, you probably have Paul, Timothy, Silas and Luke and other people as well. I'll point that out as we go through. Versus six through 10, I'm not going to read it, but I'm going to just point you some of those things here.

And I want you to be thinking of these through the lens of the Philippians. This is about 10 years later. So the letter to the Philippians is written in about 60, 61, 80. Paul is writing from Rome in prison.

We will come to that in a moment. But this account in Acts 16 is probably a decade old now. And so we are looking back in time to what happened at Philippi. When you look at verse six, seven and eight, and Jonathan prayed for concerning this.

The apostles who are led by the spirit, inspired by the spirit and instructed by by Christ in terms of the gospel seem to be lost. You know, they had a plan to go somewhere. Paul probably was going to go to Ephesus because that's like the Boston of the northeast.

And God's like, no. And then he says, OK, maybe not this direction. I'm going to go north. And God says no. And he then goes west. And then he's like, well, I got to wait. I don't know where I'm going now.

And it was clear that God had a very explicit purpose to bring Paul and his crew down to Philippi. So now when you think back at Philippians one, six, he who began a good work in you, you know, God began that work long back.

But we are just going back a little before they figured out that God was doing that work in them. God was preparing the Philippians like Lydia and others in the Jewish community who are looking up to God.

He had other people like the Philippian jailer who had no clue who God was. And he was preparing that work for him by bringing Paul and the rest of the people at this point in time. You know, God could have said, hey, Paul, go to Ephesus, spend those three years there and go to Corinth and then you can come.

And, you know, it might not be this jailer. It'll be the next jailer. No, God had a very explicit purpose for that particular jailer, that particular woman and those people that he wanted to rescue. And God would direct his people to bring the gospel to the point to those people at that time.

And you can think of those accounts in your life, how the Lord brought the gospel to you. It was no accident. But I remember the guy who came was an ex-film actor who was not an ordained minister. But he brought me the gospel and I got saved.

It was no accident when he preached that night. And then in verse nine, you have this vision. A man of Macedonia comes and then in Paul's vision. And that's a very clear direction. And then in verse 10, you see immediately we sought to go to Macedonia.

So there on the, if you have your maps, you can take a look at it. They're right on the coast in Troas. And then they take a ship in verse 11 to Samothrace, which is an island, a one day journey. Another one day journey to Neapolis, which is on the other side of the lake of the sea.

And then 10 miles in is Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And they remain there some days. You have to remember what has just happened is the gospel has gone from Asia into Europe.

This is the first time the gospel is coming into Europe. And God had a specific plan to bring the gospel there at this point in time. And Philippi is a leading city. We'll get to see a little bit more of it later.

And then in verse 13 and on, you get to see Paul first comes here. He is waiting on the Lord for, you know, how he must. So if you remember the first missionary journey, they would go to a synagogue. They would preach to the Jews and then they'll get kicked out and then they go preach to the Gentiles here.

This Philippi is a big leading city, but the number of Jews here are very small. You need at least 10 Jewish men to start a synagogue. And this place doesn't even have a synagogue here. And so they, on the Sabbath, go to the riverside, hoping to see some Jewish people that they can minister to.

And what they see, the number of men are obviously small. It is the women there that are gathered together that Paul goes and speaks to. And there you see Lydia. Lydia is from Thyatira, which is actually in Asia.

But she is from the account here seems to be like a wealthy lady. She was dealing with a business that was supplying colors, this purple to royalty. And it looks like she had a business here and she had a house that was pretty big as well, through which she could be able to minister.

But the thing I want to point you out is in verse 14, she's called a worshiper of God. A worshiper of God is a term that is used of these Gentile people who had come to see the Jewish believers and the God of the Jews and is worshiping them without becoming a proselyte.

So she hasn't become a Jew by conversion, but she's worshiping with them. And then in the end of verse 14, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And this is exactly what happens to each of us when we come to faith.

Here is this powerful lady who is a worshiper of God, seeking to worship him. And then in the end of verse 13, it says Paul spoke to them. And as he was speaking to them and giving them the gospel, she comes to faith in Jesus Christ.

And so verse 15, she is baptized along with the household and household baptism. You know, we typically understand these as adult members who came to faith as well. It is not that she was the head and everybody else under in the house just was baptized, but rather each of them would have come to faith as well.

And then there is something that happens. We'll see this as we come back to Philippians 1. She insists on hosting and caring for this missionary group while they are in Philippi. And we will see how when God opens the heart of the believer to trust in Jesus Christ, that heart is transformed in the way in which it relates to the gospel and the way in which it relates to other believers.

And so that's what happens here in Lydia's place where it seems like her house would be the base from which the gospel is being proclaimed, as well as possibly the location of the first house church in Philippi.

And then we come to verse 16. And you see this remarkable incident. Slave girl, demon-possessed, proclaiming Jesus. And Paul does not want any credit from this demon-possessed girl because this demon could change its mind and say something else and mislead the people into thinking that it's speaking the truth.

And Paul is actually annoyed and he cast this demon out by commanding it to come out of her. And it does. And the reaction to this that you see in verse 19, you can see very clearly, there was a specific reason why they were upset and it was because they lost their income.

So this woman, by her prophesying with a demonic spirit, brought money. And when the money goes, they get in trouble. And so they seize Paul and Silas, brought them before the rulers, and they make an accusation that is very interesting.

They say, these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. They are Jews, but they weren't disturbing the city. But at this point in time, you get to see that there is anti-Semitic sentiment happening in Rome.

In chapter 18, you'll get to see why Jews will get expelled out of Rome as well. But here is an easy way in which to bring an accusation against people who are already not very favored in the place. And then they advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept our practice.

So they bring a trumped up charge and they now bring these people before the magistrates. And very interestingly, in verse 22, the crowd was attacking them. The magistrates gave the orders to have them beaten with rods.

This was unfair and unjust. And I think it's helpful for us to remember, you know, we have a God who is sovereign. He has put people in authority and they don't always act according to the injust. They don't act with justice toward those whom they are placed in charge of.

And we will see how Paul responds to this and how God brings that about for his glory. And so these men were beaten, thrown in the prison. And it is not just the prison. It's the inner prison, like a dungeon.

And their feet were fastened in stocks. And the purpose of this feet being in stocks is they are stretched out. After being beaten, you're bleeding, you're hurting badly, your muscles are all trying to pull and relax.

And when you're stretched, you cramp and there's no way for you to find relief. So that's the kind of extended pain that they would be in in this particular place. And if you look at verse 25, the response of Paul and Silas is a testimony to the fact that Paul and Silas were not doing this work just because they thought it was a cool thing to do.

If you are beaten, you are cramping, you are in a world of pain, you have been unjustly put here. In fact, in the end of this chapter, you're going to see Paul had his, he was pretty capable of defending his rights.

But at this point in time, when he's praying to God, he is not complaining to God. He's not saying, oh, you know, can I get some Tylenol? You know, he is talking here. It says praying and singing hymns to God.

And the prisoners were listening to them. What would give prisoners, you know, guys who probably don't care for the things that are high and holy and exalted to listen to two strangers who look like the kind of group that you don't want to, you don't care for.

You know, you would throw stones at them. And those are the kind of guys that are, that they are listening to in the middle of the night, in midnight. That's because Paul and Silas are exhibiting something that is just out of this world.

People don't do that. If you are unjustly broken, you don't go there and sing and praise and praise God with your songs. And so there must be something that is going on in these people's lives. And the prisoners are listening to them.

And I have something to say about the prisoners later. But in verse 26, there's a great earthquake. Here's a place that earthquakes don't come. Foundations are shaken, doors are open, and the bonds are unfastened.

And so here you have an escape route for Paul. You know, we know Peter in, I think it's in Acts 12, has a similar kind of encounter where an angel comes and takes him out. And he's like, well, I think I'm just having a vision.

And the angel has to kind of slap him and say, you need to get out of here. You know, this is your get-out-of-jail-free pass. But in this particular case, Paul doesn't kind of cash in his get-out-of-jail card.

He could have escaped, but he doesn't. And there was a purpose for this. So in verse 27, the jailer wakes up, sees the prison doors open, and assumes the natural thing. Get-out-of-jail-free card? I'd use it.

I'd get out. So if those people escaped, his life was forfeit. And for honor's sake, he wanted to commit suicide. But Paul calls out and tells him, don't harm yourself. We're all here. So the jailer comes, and then he asks, what must I do to be saved?

He was the one who had authority over Paul for his incarceration. But he recognizes that Paul was the one who had true freedom. And he's the one who needed rescue from his bondage. And then the answer is always simple.

Believe in the Lord Jesus. And you will be saved, you and your household. And likewise, in verse 32, they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And once again, when you think of household, we think of those who could hear the gospel and be saved.

And then those were the ones who were baptized. And remarkable change. Just like Lydia, in verse 34, the moment he comes to faith, his heart is transformed toward the Lord, toward the gospel, toward the ministry, toward the people of God.

And he washes the wounds, and he sets food for the people, for Paul and Silas, and takes care of them. And then you come to the end of Acts 16. And this is the next day. The magistrates recognize there's really no charge to push against these people, just let them go.

And Paul could have said, sure, thank you, I can go. But he doesn't. I don't know if they had litigation those days. You know, give me a million dollars and I could be all set for the rest of my life.

He doesn't do that. He's not looking for his personal vindication. But he is looking for setting right the record in this town of Philippi, which already has a bias against Jewish people. And here is this nascent church that is going to be formed.

And they cannot function under the shadow of this false charge that the missionaries who started Christianity were causing disturbances and bringing customs that were antithetical to the Roman culture.

And so Paul pulls his rights, if you will, and then he tells these magistrates, I'm a Roman. Even if I wasn't a Roman, you should have had a proper trial before you beat anyone. And you have two charges against you.

Those magistrates could have been in deep trouble. They recognize their problem. They come and they beg and ask them to leave. But Paul doesn't just kind of run away. He goes to Lydia and they strengthen them and then they leave.

So this is what the Philippians are remembering. And it's not just that one account. Through that decade, the Philippians and Paul have been in contact. But this is where the whole thing started. So this is what you want to be remembering.

What do the Philippians understand when Paul says in Philippians 1 6? He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. He can remember what happened in Lydia's life.

He can remember what happened in the jailer's life. We wonder if that woman who was freed and rescued from the demon, did she come to faith? There were prisoners who were listening even when they had bonds to Paul when he was singing and praying in the middle of the night.

There were other ministry that was going on. And if you look in Philippians, you get to see people like Euodia, Syntyche, possibly even Luke, some say, because there is a we transition that happens from they.

If you look at verse 10 in Acts 16, it suddenly shifts to we. And that's when Luke joins this ministry. And the way he writes about Philippi, he's the author of Acts, as you know, and Luke. It seems like he's taking particular pride in this place.

Was he from this place? We don't know. Some authors think he was. And then you have all the households that got saved from Lydia and from the prisoner's place as well. So here are all the people that could be thinking of how God had opened their eyes and opened their hearts and given them the gospel.

Partnership in the Gospel and the Joy of Christian Fellowship

So now let's come back to Philippians once. If we can turn back to this chapter, let's see what the rest of this text has to say for us. In versus we already saw one and two. But I want to read three and four as we continue on this passage.

There is something very tender in Paul's heart as he's writing. I thank my God. And look at the number of times he says all or every. All my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy.

He just loves this group. As you know, Philippians is often called the Book of Joy. All joy overflows, as you can see right here in verse four. But he's also talking about how you can have joy even in the midst of that prison type of situation because God is with us.