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No Unfinished Symphonies - Philippians 1:1-11

By Mike Osborne | May 21, 2007

Intro: Are you a finisher? Do you complete the things you begin?

• Illus.: Gutzon Borglum (b. 1871) –

o American sculptor of Danish descent
o Had carved a huge bust of Lincoln for the U.S. Capitol
o In 1915, began carving a memorial to Civil War heroes on Stone Mtn., GA
o Was approached about an idea to carve enormous statues of great Americans
o He chose Mt. Rushmore, in the Black Hills of SD

• Begun in 1927, it took Borglum 14 years to turn his dream into reality.

o He persevered through the Depression, skepticism, opposition, ridicule, & hostility.
o Finally, in 1941, the year of his death, the giant heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt were complete.
o Gutzon Borglum called himself a “one-man war.”
o He would not be deterred from his mission of leaving America “a shrine to democracy.”
o Frank Lloyd Wright: “The spirit of the mountain heard a human plan and became a human countenance.”

I love stories like that. I admire people who carve presidents out of rocks – you know, who persevere through the odds and overcome hardship to do something that looks impossible.

• Illus.: Have you seen the new Lord of the Rings movie yet? Every time I see the guy who plays Frodo’s friend Sam I think of him as Rudy – the young man who made up his mind he was going to play football for Notre Dame and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
I think the reason I’m drawn to stories like these is that I’m not much of a finisher.

• My library is filled with books half-read.
• I’ve had lots of ideas & started lots of projects & made lots of resolutions but many of them have hardly gotten out of the gate before they crash and burn!

No, I’m not a finisher, and maybe you’re not either, but you wanna know something?

God is a finisher . . . and therein lies our hope!

I WANT YOU TO SEE THIS MORNING THAT IF YOU ARE GOD’S CHILD, HE IS ALWAYS AT WORK IN YOUR LIFE AND WILL FINISH WHAT HE BEGAN.

• Vs. 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.”

• God, “who began a good work in you” when you were first saved, is like Gutzon Borglum. He’s a “one-man war.”

• He is ALWAYS at work in your life.

• Carving, chipping away, smoothing, touching, protecting, working with you and working on you, to bring you to Christlikeness.

• And He won’t stop. He will complete what He began! As it says in Hebrews 12:2, Christ is not only the author but the “finisher” or “perfecter” of our faith.

Now this is huge.

FOUR IMPLICATIONS OF THIS TRUTH:

I. Implication #1: Because God is always at work, finishing what He began, you can ACCEPT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES with joy.

• Facts about Philippians:

o Written in 60 or 61 A.D. by the apostle Paul
o You know Paul . . . the great missionary who went around the ancient world preaching the gospel, establishing churches, and writing letters that came to be a part of the NT.
o But what you may not know is that he wrote 4 of his letters from prison, and Philippians is one of those letters.
o He’d been falsely accused of sedition, betrayed by his countrymen, and unjustly ferried about from place to place, his cause ignored.
o And here he is now in Rome under house arrest, where he’s going to stay for 2 years.
o He’s all alone, except for an occasional visitor (like Timothy) and a Roman guard watching him 24 hours a day.
o He can’t go anywhere, he can’t do what he likes.
o And he’s awaiting . . . what? A trial? Death? Paul doesn’t know if the next knock on the door is a battalion of Roman soldiers coming to take him away to the chopping block.

• Yet in vs. 6 Paul says, “I’m confident! I’m OK! I’m rejoicing in Christ!”

• And throughout this chapter, listen to Paul: He’s thinking of others rather than himself (vs. 1), he’s thanking God (vs. 3), he’s praying (vs. 4).

• And we stopped short of reading vs. 12 – “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”

• What’s going on here? Paul is choosing to accept his circumstances.

o Not with arrogant pride, like, “Hey, look at me!”

o And not with self-pity, like, “Woe is me.”

o And not with stoic denial, either.

o But with JOY!

• Paul could have been bitter and resentful about being in prison. But he wasn’t. Over in chapter 4 he says, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (4:11).

• Illus.: Fanny Crosby

o Blind since childhood, lived to be 95
o At age 8 wrote this poem:

O what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don’t!
To weep and sigh because I’m blind,
I cannot and I won’t!

• There are people in this church like that: folks who have suffered physical or emotional trauma, but who have chosen to accept their circumstances with joy.

• They have discovered the same thing both Paul and Fanny Crosby did: that God is always at work, even in the hard times, finishing what He began.

What unpleasant situation are you in right now? What’s your “Roman prison”? Are you willing to believe that that situation is a part of God’s plan to complete you . . . to make you better, stronger, more like Jesus?

Are you willing to say, “Without this experience in my life, I would not be ready for the day of Christ”?

God never promised that life would be easy. But in Phil. 1:6 He promises that He’s always at work, even in the pain.

II. Implication #2: Because God is always at work, finishing what He started, you can SERVE with joy.

• Vs. 1 – “Paul & Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.”

• Some people are into titles. Not Paul.

o We usually call him the “apostle Paul,” and sometimes he referred to himself as an apostle.
o But here it’s just “servant.”

• You see, Paul knew something that we in ministry often forget, and that is that at the end of the day the work of the Kingdom is God’s work, not ours.

• “He who began a good work in you” is God, and “he who will carry it on to completion” is also God.

• The Kingdom is not about us, it’s about God. Our calling is just to find out where God is at work and join Him there. We’re His servants, His “junior partners.”

• Now this is both humbling and liberating. Humbling because He’s the one in charge; liberating because the work is ultimately His responsibility.

o Your children are ultimately God’s responsibility, not yours. You can relax your grip a bit, and serve. Let God take over.
o Your problems are ultimately God’s responsibility, not yours. Don’t take yourself so seriously; be content to be a servant.
o This church is ultimately God’s responsibility, not Mark’s or Scott’s or Shawn’s or mine, or the elders’. So we can all be content just to serve, in whatever way God wants to use us. This is His church, we are “the sheep of His pasture.”

• So jump on board. Find a place to serve. Be a part of what God is doing. If you fail, so what?! Just get up and try again.

• It’s not all up to you!

III. Implication #3: Because God is always at work, completing what He began, you can PRAY with joy.

• Vs. 4

• Illus.: One time I was talking with another Christian, and he asked me a theological question. He asked me, “If God is in control, why do I need to pray?”

• I want you to notice in this passage that Paul sees no contradiction at all between the sovereignty of God and prayer. In fact, for Paul they are complementary.

• In vs. 4 Paul says, “I pray,” and in vs. 6 he says “He who began a good work in you WILL carry it on to completion.”

• Now that’s startling. Think about it: you might expect Paul to say, “I pray, because I’m not sure God will carry His work on to completion.” (That’s the ditch the Arminian could easily fall into.)
• Or you might expect to hear him say, “I don’t really have to pray, because He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” (That’s the ditch the Calvinist might fall into.)

• But the apostle doesn’t make either of those mistakes. He doesn’t pit God’s sovereignty against prayer; instead, he says, “God’s in control; therefore I pray. I pray, because I know God is in control.”

• Do you get this connection between prayer & God’s sovereignty?

o Illus.: Two ladders in my garage – one strong, the other old & rickety. I will use the strong, stable ladder to climb up and reach out to trim trees in my front yard.

o Just so, it is the man or woman who knows God is sovereign who will really pray!

o Application: Our church is in the midst of a building program. I hope you know that God is in control of this building program. He’s the one at work building up this body of believers and causing us to grow.

o Now since He is sovereign, we should pray hard! We should stand up on the strong ladder of the sovereign power and grace of God and reach ‘way out with bold, fervent prayer!

• God is at work; so pray!

IV. Implication #4: Because God is always at work, finishing what He started, you can LOVE YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST with joy.

• Vs. 1 – Paul & Timothy are “servants,” the Philippians are “saints.”

o Now you need to know these Philippians were no angels.

o As you read through this letter you find out they had struggles, just like we do.

o They struggled with pride . . . complaining . . . division . . . they were gullible to false teaching.

o But when Paul thought about his friends miles away in Philippi, he beamed with joy.

 Vs. 3 – “I thank my God every time I remember you.”

 Vs. 7 – “I have you in my heart.”

 Vs. 8 – “I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

• How could Paul say such things? Because he had come to grips with the grace of the gospel.

o Vs. 2 – “grace and peace to you”
o Vs. 7 – “all of you share in God’s grace with me”

• Illus.: Steve Brown often says, “When you see a dog playing checkers, you don’t criticize his game. You’re just glad he’s playing checkers at all!”

• The more you get to know Jesus, the more you realize that you have a long way to go, and so does everybody else.

o We’re all under construction! We’re all patients in God’s hospital. We’re all in rehab, and it’ll take us our whole lifetime to get out!

o Jesus found us when we were dead in trespasses and sins, and raised us up to life. We’re getting better, but we’re not there yet.

o Some Christians may be further along in the journey, but that doesn’t make them better.

o God calls us all saints!

o So cut people some slack!!

• I want you to think of somebody you have a hard time tolerating . . . Now look at him or her through the eyes of grace.

o That brother you just can’t agree with – when God looks at him He sees Jesus! Take it easy on him.

o That sister you’re struggling to forgive – Jesus died for her, too, and He’s crazy about her! Let her off the hook.

o Maybe it’s one of your own kids. Maybe it’s your spouse or a parent.

• Friend, when it comes to His children God doesn’t write any unfinished symphonies.

You’re His masterpiece, you’re His Mt. Rushmore, and He’s going to finish His work in your life.

• And the same goes for every one of God’s people!

• “He who began a good work in ____________ will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

• Put your own name in the blank, and preach the gospel to yourself everyday: “He who began a good work in ME will carry it on to completion.”

• Because the more confident you are that God is a finisher,:
o The more content you will be in times of hardship;
o The more faithful & dedicated you will be as a servant of Christ;
o The more fervent you will be in prayer; and
o The more you will see other believers as the beautiful work of grace that they are.

Prayer:
In what specific area(s) of your life do you need to believe that Christ is both the “author and finisher” of your faith (Hebrews 12:2)?

• Need to stop complaining & be content?
• Need to serve more faithfully?
• Need to pray more?
• Need to accept others, be more compassionate & gracious?

“God, thank you for being a finisher. Thank you for carving works of art out of jars of clay. Thank you for not giving up on us. Thank you for sending Jesus to redeem us from our sins. Help us to believe, no matter what happens, that you are at work in our lives and in the world around us. Forgive us when we fail to yield to your hammer and chisel, when we fight your good purposes in our lives. Strengthen us through your Spirit, that we might join you in your work with greater zeal, greater passion, greater confidence, and greater joy.”

Topics: Philippians |

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