Cross Road

Baptist Church

© 2017

Sermon Text

God is Not Finished

Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

Confidence in God

This passage addresses the past, present, and future state of the Saints of God. It reminds us what we were and where we were without Christ. The verse introduces themes of who we are and what we possess in Christ right now. Then it speaks of what we shall be when the Day of Jesus Christ shall come. God has first begun a work in us. That is our past. God is performing the work in our life. That is our present. God will complete His work for the Day of Jesus Christ. That is our future.

We are no longer rejected and outside of the promises of God because of the truth expressed in this verse. As believers, we have not reached that “perfect state of Christ-likeness” but we are confident of this very thing. God has started this good work and will not call off His work until it is faithfully completed. David Stern in his translation of the Jewish New Testament shares this verse very powerfully as, And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua. What a powerful verse! There are three themes that emerge that Paul will use throughout the Philippians letter. First the work is no ordinary work; it is God’s good work. Second, God will not simply start the work, God will keep it growing. Third, God will complete what He started. This truth has everything to do with God’s plan, God’s power, and God’s purpose.

How does this speak to our lives in the twenty first century Church? Some have asked is the Church even relevant in our age? Relativism (the belief that truth is based on consensus and how it relates to present circumstances) has become the norm as people believe that truth changes not only with each generation but it depends on how people feel. Isn’t that odd? Yet here is Paul speaking of God’s good work and the Day of Jesus Christ. This age of techno-driven experience seekers find it very hard to have faith much less live by it. Yet this powerful truth stands out: God is not finished. More than ever we need the truth in order to live by it. We are seeing the fruits of the lie unfold every day. It is not safe to live in this world where people are self absorbed, relationally detached through social media, yet attempting to know everything but ignoring the truth. If ever there were a time when we needed the Lord – that time is now. It is good news that God is not finished.

This confidence we have in God is more than a state of mind. We, who are in Christ Jesus, observe God’s work first hand. We were not there when God created the Heavens and the earth. We were not there when God carved out the oceans and etched a path for the rivers. We were not present when God filled world with living creatures great and small. As a matter of fact God rested from His work. Why did God rest? Was He tired? NO, not at all. God rested because the work of creation was completed. We have a basis for our confidence in that we see that God finishes the work He starts and then He rests.

We are confident because of God’s unfailed promises. A person need not be a Bible scholar to discover that God kept His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would make them into a mighty nation. Not only does that nation exist today; that nation has a land that relates directly to the promise God made. They shall be called “Israel.” God kept His promise and finished the work of blessing Abraham’s seed.

There is a third source of this confidence. God completed the work of Salvation through Christ. The promise made as a far back as the Garden of Eden that the Seed of the woman would crush the Serpent’s head, was fulfilled by Jesus. When Jesus said, “It is finished” He had won the victory over sin. When Jesus descended into the deep, He preached to the prisoners that the Way of Salvation was complete. When Jesus rose from the Dead, He ascended into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. The work was completed. God finished what He had started. The promise that Abraham’s Seed would bless the nations was fulfilled.

Confidence or Confusion?

Now we see God, again at work. We see God at work in the hearts and lives of believers that have trusted in Him. At times it looks as if the work is impossible because of our own rebellion, our own procrastinations, and this cursed thing called our own will. Yet Paul proclaims with all confidence, Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. God is working. He is working on us in order to make of us what we cannot make of ourselves. Here is where there is great confusion.

First there is confusion over the term “blessing.” Sadly, there are too many Christians into their feelings more than they are into God. Rather than being workers together with Christ, too many Christians want God to work for them. It has gotten so bad that all people talk about is getting a break through, finding deliverance, and enjoying the blessing of God. There is not much measured growth among the blessing crowd because they count things more than measure their growth in God’s Grace. It is sad when you get to the place when you want your inheritance here on this earth knowing full well that you will have to leave this earth sooner or later. That is confusion.

Second, there is confusion over our own pursuits. We call it our career or our life goal. While this group of believers is slightly better than the blessing seekers, they still fall short of God’s expectation. This is the group that thinks of glorifying God through their job. The occupation becomes deified to the level of pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Folks in this group proudly proclaim that they were anointed to be a lawyer, a fisherman, a factory worker, or a police officer. While it is true that God blesses us to obtain employment and uses us in that occupation, your occupation is not the holy work that Paul refers to. As a matter of fact, my being a preacher and pastor is not the work that Paul is speaking of in this text. The work of God is Christ working in me. I never consider my preaching and pastoring as something that is worthy of getting me into Heaven. I don’t want it to be said, “Rev. Coleman went to Heaven because he was a good pastor.” What will be said is that Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. It is all about Jesus.

Third, there is confusion over how much we don’t know. We tell people study to show ourselves approved workmen – we assume the more we study, the more we will do. We then assume the more we do, the more we will be like Christ. That is the workman’s idea of perfection. That is not what Christ is all about. Behold, let me show you the better way. As you study, you become enlightened to what God is doing in you. Your study does not give you more capacity. Your study helps you to trust God more; it does not give you spiritual superiority over anyone. It simply tells that you know Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Confident that God will finish His Work

God will finish what He started because it is God’s good work. I might even add that God’s reputation and His Name rests on God completing His work. As Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “there is none Good but God.” The work cannot be called “good” if it does not come from God.

When God finished His work of Creation, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost consented that the work was “very good.” When God made Israel into a great nation according to the promise made to Abraham, that work was “very good.” The work of Redemption and Salvation that was finished at Calvary was “very good.” There is not a work that God starts that He does not finish. There is not a work that God finishes that is not very good. To say that it is very good means it exceeds all standards. To add the term very means “of a truth it is exceptional.”

So, what is this work that Paul is talking about? Again, I believe the work can be observed from three angles. First it is a good work or Work of God by God. It is customary to judge the work after completion by most standards. God judges His work based on the plan at the beginning. The work is good based on God’s Plan. Let us change this from the impersonal noun “it” to the first person noun “I” or “Me.” This is God working on me. This is not creation, this is me. Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you (ME) will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Now I can see what God is doing because it is me. My first action is to be still and let God do His work. My second action is to have an attitude of gratitude because God is not obligated but He is committed. I am a charity case. I cannot pay or repay God. All I can do is thank Him. I can’t answer for what God has done for you, because this is “me” that He is working on. Even when there are times when it hurts, I know that God is working on me. Everything is going according to His Plan. God does not wait until the work is completed to call it good, it’s good right now.

Second, God is engaged in this work as an on-going process. This is a process and not a program. The process means I might get moved around and it might get a bit challenging. In the old folk’s vernacular, “I’m some time up and sometimes I’m down – but still my soul is Heaven bound.” God’s process does not mean that it will be easy for me but it will be best for me. God’s process does not mean I will not cry – but it will get better. As a matter of fact, when I look back over my life and see how far God has brought me, I have to say – It’s all good. Yet God keeps working. Every day God is moving and changing things in me. The other day, God corrected my attitude. Last week, God moved in my prayer life to make me pray more. This morning when I rose, He reminded me of some hidden spots that were in His work plan for today. Yes, He is still working on me. As Stern says, God will keep it growing until it is completed. Some people may criticize me because they still see faults, but I ask you to be patient. God will finish what He started. God did it for Daniel. God had some challenges in Daniel’s path. God sent Daniel through the food test and got him ready for the dream test. Then as soon as Daniel got through one test there was another. We even see Daniel getting thrown into the lion’s den because he would not stop praying. What did God do? God tested Daniel’s faith even in the lion’s den. Daniel did not meet God in the lion’s den; God was molding Daniel through the lion’s den. Some may claim they are in a mess. If that is the case don’t go through it – grow through it. It is not what you go through in life that counts – it is what you grow through. God is not finished.

Finally, God is preparing us for a future event. This is God’s Promise. We know His plan that started the work was good. We know that God has not ceased to work on us as we have grown from one degree of grace to another. Now we are about to see the Master’s Peace unveiled. It will be presented on the Day of Jesus Christ. When Jesus is on His Royal Throne and all the Angels of Glory gathered around Him. What a Day of Rejoicing that will be. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men, the things that God has in store for them that love Him. On that day, the Holy Spirit will unveil God’s finished work. That work will be you and that work will be me. It does not appear what we shall be – but we know that when He shall appear – WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. It is all Good because it is ALL God. God’s finished work – the perfected Saints in Christ Jesus. What a day of rejoicing that will be. I will look like Jesus and God will say, “Behold it is very good.” 1 John 3:2-3, Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it does not appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is … and every one who has this hope in him purifies himself even as He is pure.