He Who Began A Good Work In You
Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
1. Confident in God’s Goodness: “being confident of this very thing” Being confident. This is strong language. It means to be fully and firmly persuaded or convinced… It means here that Paul was entirely convinced of the truth of what he said. It is the language of a man who had no doubt on the subject.[1] Peithō: (Paytho) a primary verb; to convince (translated “being confident” because you are convinced of something.)[2]
I would suggest to you that the basis of growing in our walk with God and becoming the person God has planned is to embrace that God is good. He is not against you but for you. He doesn’t have evil plans to punish you for your past sins and failures but rather He wants to redeem them all. Hebrews 9:28 (NLT) so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. The word Yeshua or Jesus means to rescue or to redeem. Jesus came the 1st time to redeem or rescue us by dying for our sins, He will come the second time to bring eternal salvation as we live forever with Him.
1 John 4:9 (NLT) God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
"If I can move, I'm not sick." That was cancer patient Edie Littlefield Sundby's mantra, and it inspired her to set an unusual goal for herself: To become just the seventh person to walk the entire 800 miles of the California Mission Trail, visiting the state's 21 historic missions along the way.[3] That was just 6 months after having surgery to remove most of her right lung. She has beat cancer 3 times and knows God loves her and has been good to her.
2. A Good Work Has Begun In Your Life: Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you…
Life Application Bible: The God who began a good work within us continues it throughout our lifetime and will finish it when we meet him face to face. God's work for us began when Christ died on the cross in our place. His work within us began when we first believed. Now the Holy Spirit lives in us, enabling us to be more like Christ every day. Paul is describing the process of Christian growth and maturity that began when we accepted Jesus and continues until Christ returns.[4]
Our Father is committed to our spiritual growth. He loves us and has so much planned for us. However, if we don’t grow and let Him change us, we will stay spiritual babies needing a pacifier. We have found that people stay spiritual babies when they are not involved in God’s Family Business to reach the unreached. However, when people step up and find how to be involved in serving the Lord each day, they grow and get stronger. They overcome because they use their faith muscles. Growing into spiritual maturity is not an option. If we are not growing, we are lukewarm and you know what that means: He spits us out of His mouth. Revelation 3:16 (NLT) But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!
There is an old adage: “A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with the first step.” It continues with the 2nd step and the 10,000th step. We must believe it is a good work even when it is painful or slow to develop.
Barnes' Notes: The reliance, therefore, is on God; and the evidence that the renewed man will be kept is this:
(a.) God began the work of grace in the soul.
(b.) He had a design in it. It was deliberate, and intentional; it was not by chance, or hap-hazard; it was because he had some object that was worthy of his interposition.
(c.) There is no reason why he should begin such a work, and then abandon it. It cannot be because he has no power to complete it, or because there are more enemies to be overcome than he had supposed; or because there are difficulties which he did not foresee; or because it is not desirable that the work should be completed. Why, then, should he abandon it?
(d.) God abandons nothing that he undertakes. There are no unfinished worlds or systems; no half-made and forsaken works of his hands. There is no evidence in his works of creation of change of plan, or of having forsaken what he began from disgust, or disappointment, or want of power to complete them. Why should there be in the salvation of the soul?
(e.) He has promised to keep the renewed soul to eternal life.
Remember Edie Sundby, I told you about earlier? In her article in Guideposts Magazine, My Mission Trek, she started her article like this: I stopped dead in my tracks. Not another step. Six hundred miles in 44 days. That’s how far I’d come, and I was only in Salinas. Another 200 miles to go. Just six other people had ever walked the length of the California Mission Trail. Now I knew why. A spot on my big toe felt hot, a sure sign of a blister forming. I sat on a rock and pulled off my socks and boots, dried my feet with a paper towel I kept in my pocket, then rubbed in some petroleum jelly.[5] How did she go on? She had a vision of a Mission Bell that let her know God was calling her to attempt this trek. She knew God had started this good work. She kept going.
2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT) Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
God has begun this “good work”, shall we not trust Him?
3. God Will Bring His Work To Completion: Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it…
Life Application Bible: Do you sometimes feel as though you aren't making progress in your spiritual life? When God starts a project, he completes it! As with the Philippians, God will help you grow in grace until he has completed his work in your life. When you are discouraged, remember that God won't give up on you. He promises to finish the work he has begun. When you feel incomplete, unfinished, or distressed by your shortcomings, remember God's promise and provision. Don't let your present condition rob you of the joy of knowing Christ or keep you from growing closer to him.
I once heard a message which I later preached myself entitled, “Your Present Situation Is No Indication Of Your Future Potential!” We often hit those seemingly impossible situations where we don’t feel we can go on. We want to quit, to give up, to acquiesce. Instead, rest, take a step back and pray. Then remind yourself, Luke 1:37 (NLT) For nothing is impossible with God.” This is what Gabriel said to Mary when he told her his message and that Elizabeth would become pregnant. If a virgin getting pregnant and an old barren woman becoming pregnant wasn’t too hard for God, then our situation isn’t either.
Perseverance: At the prodding of my friends, I am writing this story. My name is Mildred Hondorf. I am a former elementary school music teacher from DeMoines, Iowa. I've always supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons--something I've done for over 30 years. Over the years I found that children have many levels of musical ability.
I've never had the pleasure of having a protégé though I have taught some talented students. However, I've also had my share of what I call "musically challenged" pupils. One such student was Robby.
Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single mom) dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer that students (especially boys!) begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his mother's dream to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student. Well, Robby began with his piano lessons and from the beginning I thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But he dutifully reviewed his scales and some elementary pieces that I require all my students to learn. Over the months he tried and tried while I listened and cringed and tried to encourage him. At the end of each weekly lesson he'd always say, "My mom's going to hear me play some day." But it seemed hopeless. He just did not have any inborn ability. I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled but never stopped in.
Then one day Robby stopped coming to our lessons. I thought about calling him but assumed, because of his lack of ability, that he had decided to pursue something else. I also was glad that he stopped coming. He was a bad advertisement for my teaching! Several weeks later I mailed to the student's homes a flyer on the upcoming recital. To my surprise Robby (who received a flyer) asked me if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and because he had dropped out he really did not qualify. He said that his mom had been sick and unable to take him to piano lessons but he was still practicing. "Miss Hondorf...I've just got to play!" he insisted. I don't know what led me to allow him to play in the recital. Maybe it was his persistence or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be alright. The night for the recital came. The high school gymnasium was packed with parents, friends and relatives. I put Robby up last in the program before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece. I thought that any damage he would do would come at the end of the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my "curtain closer." Well the recital went off without a hitch. The students had been practicing and it showed. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair looked like he' run an egg-beater through it. "Why didn't he dress up like the other students?" I thought. "Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?" Robby pulled out the piano bench and he began. I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen Mozart's Concerto #21 in C Major. I was not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys, they even danced nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to fortissimo...from allegro to virtuoso. His suspended chords that Mozart demands were magnificent! Never had I heard Mozart played so well by people his age. After six and a half minutes he ended in a grand crescendo and everyone was on their feet in wild applause. Overcome and in tears I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby in joy. "I've never heard you play like that Robby! How'd you do it?" Through the microphone Robby explained: "Well Miss Hondorf...remember I told you my mom was sick? Well actually she had cancer and passed away this morning. And well....she was born deaf so tonight was the first time she ever heard me play. I wanted to make it special." There wasn't a dry eye in the house that evening.
As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed into foster care, I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy and I thought to myself how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil. No, I've never had a protégé but that night I became a protégé...of Robby's. He was the teacher and I was the pupil. For it is he that taught me the meaning of perseverance and love and believing in yourself and maybe even taking a chance in someone and you don't know why. This is especially meaningful to me since after serving in Desert Storm Robby was killed in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City in April of 1995, where he was reportedly....playing the piano.
4. The Day Of Jesus Christ: Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Barnes Notes: The day when Christ shall so manifest himself as to be the great attractive object, or the day when he shall appear to glorify himself, so that it may be said emphatically to be his day. That day is often called "his day," or "the day of the Lord," because it will be the day of his triumph and glory. It refers here to the day when the Lord Jesus will appear to receive his people to himself-the day of judgment.
Contrasting the Two Days
A stark contrast exists between these two days. Here are the differences.
Day of Christ
For the Church (the Body of Christ)
A day of blessing and reward
A heavenly hope
Eagerly anticipated
Day of the Lord
For rejecters of Christ
A day of judgment
An earthly despair
Feared and dreaded
This “Day of the Lord” isn’t the “Great White Throne Judgment” where the sheep and goats are separated and lost are cast out. No, it is what is referred to as the “Bema Seat Judgment” for rewards for the church.
Day of Christ: 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NKJV) For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Day of the Lord: Matthew 25:31-41 (NKJV) "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
Revelation 20:11-15 (NKJV) Then I saw a great white throne
Bema Seat - What Is It and When Is It?
The concept of the Bema Seat comes from the ancient Olympics, where a judge would sit on the Bema Seat at the finish line. The judge's purpose was to determine what position the runners came in-first, second, and so on-and then to give out the appropriate rewards. That is the imagery behind what is known as the Bema Seat.[6]
5. Now that we understand what it is and what it is not, let it be said that the good work the Lord began in us will continue until our lives are finished or the return of Christ occurs. It will never stop, he will keep us growing and being prepared for what we will be doing in the Eternal Kingdom of which there will be no end. Isaiah 9:7 (NKJV) Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end… We are destined for the throne to rule and reign with Jesus forever. Be encouraged: Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
[1] Barnes' Notes on the New Testament.
[2] Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
[3] https://www.guideposts.org/better-living/health-and-wellness/healing/a-cancer-patients-trek-along-the-california-mission-trail? Downloaded 01-05-2018
[4] Life Application Study Bible.
[5] Guideposts Magazine, January, 2018, pp. 5-6.
[6] https://www.allaboutgod.com/bema-seat.htm Downloaded 01-05-2018.