Philippians 6-1:3 NIVUK
[3] 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.
In 2000, I was able to make my Dad a very happy man. Being a missionary was a dream he didn’t fulfil. But I was a missionary for three years in Romania and, in my third year, he came out to visit me. He loved it – absolutely loved every minute of it.
And the visit gained extra poignancy as he passed away less than six months later from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
But while on that trip of a lifetime for him, he quickly made an astute observation that even I had not seen. We were sitting in the apartment where I was living in Pitești towards the start of his visit when he asked me, ‘Paul, how do you say “Thank you” in Romanian?’
I was a little puzzled. He didn’t want to say ‘Hello’ or ‘Goodbye’ or ‘God bless’ (just as well – it’s a mouthful). Why ‘Thank you?’ So I asked him.
‘Well, I want to thank people.’ He told me.
I should have thought of that one.
So I taught him, the simplest, most phonetic, way I could: ‘Moolt-soo-mesk’ (written ‘mulțumesc’ in Romanian).
And so my father started to thank someone every time they did something for him. He soon had that one word learned very well.
It was a few days later than he came up with his astute observation. ‘People don’t thank each other here, do they?’ he told me.
He was right. Pitești is an industrial city, powered (almost literally) by a communist- era oil refinery on the edge of town – the pipelines of which used to mysteriously ‘leak’ into the fuel tanks of local taxis. Like most big industrial plants of its time, everyone would be aware that it was haemorrhaging more than just petrol and that if it ever went bankrupt, it would likely take the whole city with it.
People had a good reason to feel a little downcast.
But I have never forgotten that observation. You see, as Paul will highlight later, being thankful is important:
Colossians 17-3:15 NIVUK
[15] Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. [16] Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. [17] And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
There is an old saying: ‘an attitude of gratitude has great latitude’. In other words, being thankful has an incredibly positive effect on us, far more than we might assume, when it comes to maintaining a healthy mindset, no matter our circumstances.
At this point in time, Paul would seem to be facing an uphill battle when it comes to a healthy mindset. As we will see from my next post, he is in prison, facing a potential death sentence (Philippians 1:12-13), at the hands of one of the most cruel, heartless and capricious emperors Rome ever knew.
That would be enough to destroy most of us.
The Philippian church is also not in ideal shape. It appears to have lost its focus and is unnecessarily occupied with a division driven purely by strong personalities (Philippians 4:2-3).
Yet when Paul thinks of them – as he does, often, his thoughts are unrelentingly positive.
Why?
I see three reasons.
Firstly because of The Work that God Has Begun.
There is little doubt that it was God who started this work. As we saw from Acts, Paul had no intention at all of preaching the Gospel anywhere in Macedonia, let alone in a city like Philippi. In fact, it took Divine intervention in a series of closed doors and a vision for Paul and his companions to cross the border (Acts 16:6-10).
When he was there in Philippi, the church wad founded on a series of apparently ‘chance’ encounters: with a purveyor of purple cloth, seeking God in an all-female Jewish assembly by the side of a river (Acts 16:13-15); a demonised child with a knack for visions of things she could not otherwise have known (Acts 16:16-18); city authorities prepared to commit a great injustice to keep the peace (Acts 16:20-24), and a jailer terrified of losing his life for letting prisoners escape (Acts 16:25-30).
Now, I am not a statistician, and I could not calculate the odds of four such events occurring, but I am sure they would be very, very long.
It has to be clear that God was behind this from the get-go.
Sometimes God has to do the utterly unlikely to do His strange work. In 2000, when I was touring my dad around Romania, showing off the work my team and I were doing, I had no concept – not one iota of a clue – that after he left, my boss would want me to do a training course that would send me to the Philippines, where I would meet my wife. The very idea did not cross my mind. In fact, even when I met her, I dismissed the idea that we would be together.
Neither could I have remotely conceived that, after the most powerful typhoon ever to make landfall, my church in Scotland would pay for her family’s church in the Philippines to be repaired. And, do you know something? I don’t think they would have thought of it either!
Often the way that a work of God distinguishes itself from a work of man is that it is so unusual, so utterly unlikely, that it could not have existed any other way.
If you really think about it, even our very salvation is strange and inconceivable:
Romans 8-5:7 NIVUK
[7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Timothy 16-1:15 NIVUK
[15] Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. [16] But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. https://bible.com/bible/113/1ti.1.15.NIVUK
The very work that God did in us by saving us and setting us on the path of righteousness to become like His Son is so utterly unlikely that only God could have done it. Definitely not us.
Apart from the work that God has done – utterly miraculous though it is – we also see The Work that God is Doing.
We see elements of that in these first eleven verses of Philippians: how God is working in his ‘holy, but not wholly’ people.
We see that they are partners in the work of the Gospel (Philippians 1:5) and partakers in the grace of God (Philippians 1:7). Philippians 1:9-11 contains Paul’s prayer that the marvellous work God is continuing in them would bear fruit: in knowledge, depth of insight, discernment, purity, blamelessness and righteousness.
What a wonderful work!
But the interesting thing here is that this is very much a partnership – and not just with Paul.
Later on, we see these verses:
Philippians 13-2:12 NIVUK
[12] Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.
So we are to work out what God works in. We partner with Almighty God to make us better people for Him!
What a glorious thought!
But what an awesome responsibility!
We might think of God as some kind of automaton or robot or AI: we come to church or read our Bibles or sing a Christian song to push the button to trigger Him to make us holy and righteous before Him and other people.
Yes, His sacrifice does make us righteousness before God – it does pay the price for our sins (Romans 5:9-11). That is positional righteousness.
It is not functional righteousness. We are not automatically righteous in all we do, just because Christ was righteous in all He did.
No, we must work. There has to be action on our side. We must be engaged, enthusiastic, involved. We cannot be passive observers. The Christian life is not a spectator sport.
The work that God did to save us, He did alone. The work that God does to sanctify us, He does in partnership with us.
So we have, then, two wonderful points about the work God has done and is doing. The third is equally as encouraging: The Work That God will Complete.
Look again at the verse:
Philippians 1:6 NIVUK
[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.
Do you realise what this means?
Let me give you a picture.
The painting of the Forth Road Bridge used to be a byword for tasks that could never be completed. Every year, painters would dangle themselves off the side of the bridge in a metal cage, sometimes in awful weather, with the Sisyphean task of painting its iron girders to make them last. Only, by the time they reached the end of the bridge, the paint at the start had already worn off, so they needed to start again.
However, that was only true until 2002, when some clever chemists came up with a paint mixture including glass. It's believed that this paint will last for twenty years!
Why am I talking about paint and a bridge?
Because spiritual growth and seeking to live a godly life can feel like an interminable task.
We get rid of sin, another pops up. We end up playing spiritual ‘whack-a-mole’ with our weaknesses and proclivities. We wonder when things are ever going to change.
But here Paul says they will. One day there will be no more sin in our lives.
God’s moral standards are high – really high:
Matthew 5:48 NIVUK
[48] Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.5.48.NIVUK
We all know deep down inside, and the Word of God agrees, that we cannot reach them in our own strength:
Romans 18-3:10 NIVUK
[10] As it is written: ‘There is no-one righteous, not even one; [11] there is no-one who understands; there is no-one who seeks God. [12] All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no-one who does good, not even one.’ [13] ‘Their throats are open graves; their tongues practise deceit.’ ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’ [14] ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’ [15] ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; [16] ruin and misery mark their ways, [17] and the way of peace they do not know.’ [18] ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’
We all sin. All of us. Every last one. That is the reality of life:
Romans 3:23 NIVUK
[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.3.23.NIVUK
But here, in this verse in Philippians, God promises that He knows about it, that He is working with us to resolve it, and that one day we will be made perfect.
That day will be in eternity. It will be in heaven. We will never be perfect on earth.
But there is hope. We can get better, day by day. We can grow towards the light. But only when we partner with God in this glorious process.
These days we can review and rate everything. No matter where we go, what we do or where we stay, nothing these days seems to come without some website or other asking for our opinion.
If you read through the letter to the Philippians, what rating would you give them?
It certainly would not be ten out of ten!
They had their problems, as every church does.
But Paul, imprisoned and about to face his death, thanks God for them – not just once, but every time he thinks of them.
Why?
Because he recalls the miraculous work that God began in them, which seemed completely unlikely. He is reminded in his correspondence with them of the work God is still doing in them, even though things are far from perfect now. And Paul knows that God will finish this work and one day make them perfect, as He will do with Paul and with us.
We are apt to rate our church and the people in it. Our expectation is too high; our opinions are too low, and this leads to hypocritical judgementalism and a desire to break relationships.
But what if we changed the way we viewed churches and the people in them?
What if, instead of focusing on the things that are not right, we focused on the miracle of their salvation, the work that God is doing now in them and the work that He will one day complete?
What if instead of criticising them, we gave thanks for them?
How would that change our outlook?
After all, they are not ‘wholly unholy’.
No, they are ‘holy, not wholly’.
Just like you.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, forgive me, I pray, for the times when I have been judgemental towards other believers. Help me to see them the way You see them: as saved by the miracle of undeserved grace, as people you are still at work to improve and as people you will one day perfect. Help me to see them the way I want them to see me. And help me to be thankful. Amen.
Questions
1. Why was Paul thankful for the Philippian church, despite its flaws?
2. Do you see any of this in you?
3. How can you have a more positive view of your fellow believers? What did Paul focus on?
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