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I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 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. (Philippians 1:3-6 NIV)All of us have basic needs. These are needs that are common to all people. And one of these needs is security. You can see this most clearly in little children. Children need the security of a stable home life. They need to know that they are loved. They need to know that they will not be left alone. To be left alone is a scary thing.
You may think that we outgrow this need for security, but we do not. We still need to feel secure. And while we may now like some time to ourselves, none of us wants to feel alone.
Insecurity is not a good feeling. It leads to anxiety, fear, despair, and even depression. Life can be threatening. And we don’t want face it alone. People hire security guards to protect them. I suppose we call them "security" guards because they make us feel more secure. And there are many more ways in which people attempt to find security. People try to buy security with their money. People consult astrologers. Everyone knows how Nancy Reagan would determine her husband’s schedule in that way. Some people hang a talisman around their neck, hoping to ward off evil. It seems as if we believe we need something outside of ourselves. We seem to feel that we need some help in handling life.
I read something by Dr. Jerome Frank, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, that illustrates this need.
Whenever I am flying and I engage people in conversation a confession is almost always forthcoming when they find out I am a psychiatrist. A few years ago, before all of the modern security measures were installed at the nation’s airports, a man I was sitting next to on a coast-to-coast flight told me, "You know, I used to be deathly afraid of flying. It all started after that man brought a bomb on board a flight to Denver to kill his mother-in-law. I could never get it out of my mind that someone on board one of my flights might also be carrying a bomb."
I asked, "Well, what did you do about it?"
He replied, "Well, I went to one of those special schools for people who are afraid of flying and they told me there was only one chance in ten thousand that someone would be on board my flight with a bomb. That didn’t make me feel much better. The odds were still too close. But then I reasoned that if there was only one chance in ten thousand that one bomb would be on the plane, there was only one chance in 100 million that two bombs would be on board. And I could live with those odds."
So I asked, "But what good would that do you?"
He quickly replied, "Ever since then, I carry one bomb on board myself––just to improve the odds."
Does that make you feel more secure? You probably feel less secure now then you did earlier today. We all need a sense of security.
When you turn to the Bible, you find that God’s word addresses these issues. It shows us how God has provided everything we need in this area. And that is good news because everyone deals with this kind of stuff. I do and so do you.
Have you ever felt all alone? Have you ever felt like you had no support? Have you ever felt that there was no one there to help? Have you ever felt that there was no one on whom you could call? It’s a pretty rotten feeling. It’s certainly not a secure feeling. So, how do we develop a real sense of security? There are two lessons to learn from our text today. The first lesson is to learn to…
We see in our text that Paul was excited, not about things, but about people. He recognized that there were people who were standing behind him and supporting him. He said, "I thank my God every time I remember you." These were people who made a difference in Paul’s life. He goes on to say, "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." Because they had been faithful in standing by him through the hard times, he could rejoice.
You probably have people like that in your life. We all need people like that. And these are the kind of people we need to strive to be in the church. We need to be there for one another. And there is a good reason why. We can’t do it alone!
Have you learned this truth? If you haven’t, you will! When all of life presses in from every direction, it can be overwhelming. Moses learned that lesson after he had led the people of Israel out of Egypt. The demands of leading that great multitude were overwhelming. Thankfully, he had a wise father-in-law to give him some advice. In Exodus 18:17-18 (NIV) we read: Moses’ father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone." And they came up with a plan so Moses could share the work with others.
If you are trying to handle life alone, you are not going to feel very secure. You see, you don’t have all the wisdom you need to make the right decision in every circumstance. You don’t have all the knowledge you need. You don’t have all the abilities you need. You don’t have all the resources you need. You are not "Superperson". You don’t have it all and you can’t do it all.
This brings us to another important truth. We need one another. Sometimes we don’t like to admit that, but it is true. We might be able to exist without one other, but we are not able to truly live life in isolation. And God never intended for us to do that.
Paul talks about how we need one another in the church in 1 Corinthians 12. He compares our relationships with one another to the relationship parts of the human body have to one another. We read in 1 Corinthians 12:21 (NIV), The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" Of course, the point he is trying to make is that we are not independent of one another. We are interdependent. Each of us needs something from someone else. And so, God pulls together diverse people from all over and puts them together in the church. And this is a beautiful thing. You see, we need people who are not like us to provide what we lack. And the church can be a place where that happens. You see, the church should be a place where the walls that divide us come down.
We are united in Christ. And this unity in Christ overcomes every barrier to a relationship. Listen to these words in Galatians 3:28 (NLT), There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians—you are one in Christ Jesus. That means that old people and young people can fellowship together. That means that educated people and uneducated people can work together. That means that black people and white people and red people and yellow people and brown people can love one another. That means that rich people and poor people can be genuine friends. The key is Christ. We are united in Christ. What we have in common is Christ. It is the gospel of salvation that has brought us together.
You are not alone! You don’t have to try to do it alone. God never intended for you to have to do it alone. He wants you to sense the security that comes from knowing there are faithful people in partnership with you. You need to rejoice in these people. Thank God for them. Draw upon their support. Depend on them and be one yourself.
But there is another lesson we need to learn. We have seen the truth that we are not alone. We can rejoice in the partnership of faithful people who are there to help us and support us. And there is a certain sense of security in that. But we need more than that. The second lesson is to learn to…
Thank God for the people in our lives. But thank God that we serve a God who is able to do what he says he will do. Listen to what Paul says in verse 6: …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. Paul had no doubt that God would complete the work he had started.
What do we see here? Well, the first thing we see is that God is at work. Our salvation is his work. It is not something that we can earn ourselves. Salvation is of God.
Listen to one of the greatest passages describing salvation. It is found in Romans 8:28-30:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
God has a plan for us. We have been called according to his purpose. And what is that purpose? It is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. But this is God’s work. It is not ours. Only God can change a human heart. I like what Charles Spurgeon said concerning this passage:
The apostle calls it a "work," and, in the deepest sense, it is indeed a work to convert a soul. If Niagara could suddenly be made to leap upward instead of for ever dashing downward from its rocky height, it were not such a miracle as to change the perverse will and the raging passions of men. To wash the Ethiop white, or remove the leopard’s spots, is proverbially a difficulty, yet these are but surface works; to renew the very core of manhood, and tear sin from its hold upon man’s heart, this is not alone the finger of God, but the baring of his arm. Conversion is a work comparable to the making of a world. He only who fashioned the heavens and the earth could create a new nature. It is a work that is not to be paralleled, it is unique and unrivalled, seeing that Father, Son, and Spirit, must all co-operate in it; for to implant the new nature in the Christian, there must be the decree of the Eternal Father, the death of the ever-blessed Son, and the fullness of the operation of the adorable Spirit. It is a work indeed. The labors of Hercules were but trifles compared with this; to slay lions and hydras, and cleanse Augean stables –– all this is child’s play compared with renewing a right spirit in the fallen nature of man.
The fact that God is at work reveals another truth, namely, that we are under construction! In other words, we all are a work in progress. I remember hearing someone say, "Please be patient with me, God isn’t finished with me yet." It’s true. God is at work on our lives. And the goal, as we saw in Romans 8:28-30, is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. We are being made to reflect Christ’s character through our lives. It is a process of transformation.
Now this transformation doesn’t take place overnight. It is a process of change. God uses everything in our lives to change us. God works in and through all things for our good and his glory. We read in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV): And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Our lives are being transformed, as the King James Version has it, from "glory to glory."
This process of transformation is called sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which we are progressively set apart for God. It is not an instantaneous work, but rather an ongoing work. It is a work that begins at regeneration and continues until glorification. We are never completely sanctified in this life. But we will be sanctified. God will not stop until we are.
In other words, God will finish what he began. God never starts something that he cannot finish. We start things we can’t finish, but God never does. I begin a project around the house, and often, about halfway through, I temporarily quit with the intention to finish later. The problem is, later may or may not ever come. In fact, sometimes I start another project, and then another, until I have projects coming out of my ears. How about you? Do you always finish what you start? Thank God that he didn’t quit what he started!
Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t quit half way to the Cross? Thank God he didn’t conclude that living a good life and doing a few miracles was enough. We didn’t need a good man or a miracle worker. We needed a Savior –– a perfect sacrifice for sin. When Jesus, on the Cross, said, "it is finished", he revealed that he had finishing power. God will finish what he began. You can count on it.
Paul said he was confident of this. Listen to what he said in 2 Timothy 1:12 (NAS): … for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. Paul was convinced. He had been persuaded by his experience of God that God could be trusted. And isn’t this what faith is? Isn’t faith trusting God? We can trust that God will do what he says.
You see, we not only have people who are with us and for us, we have a God who is with us and for us! Again, we are not alone. God is on our side! Listen to what Paul says in Romans 8:31-32:
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (NIV)
If God is on our side, then little else really matters, does it? We can feel secure in the fact that the God who is for us is going to finish his work in us. He is going to present us before his throne faultless. He who sees the end from the beginning already sees us as glorified through Christ. Nothing and no one can take that away from us. He goes on to say in Romans 8:38-39:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV)
Our eternal destiny is secure through the finished work of Christ. So we can feel secure. God has not left us alone. He has given us faithful people to stand with us, to pray for us, to support us, for whom we can rejoice and give thanks. And he is ever with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. By his power he has saved us and by that same power he will take us to Heaven. You can count on it. You can rely on the power of a faithful God. We are not alone.
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