GOD WILL FINISH WHAT HE STARTS
Phil. 1:6
Morning Meditation 10/19/16
Verse 6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
One of the hard things for us to do is to take our hands off God’s work and let Him sustain and finish it. We do have a part in that work. But our part is insignificant in comparison to His. Salvation is a work of God. We preach the gospel. It is His gospel. We are to preach with power and it is His power. We observe the work He begins as a result of preaching the gospel, and if we are not careful, we think we did it. If we think we did it, we will try to maintain it and grow it. He is where discouragement and burnout comes. We have become, at least in our eyes, responsible for the growth and outcome of the work. You notice I said THE WORK and not HIS WORK? What we knew was HIS in the beginning has now become OUR work and therefore our responsibility. We must give an account, if we do not keep it going, and develop it into a prospering work. This is not God’s way. We must die to self in the work of God and not covet the credit for His work. Let’s look at it as taught in this verse.
Let’s look first of all at the whole of verse 6: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will preform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Paul began the Church in Philippi. It began with the Macedonian vision recorded in Acts 16:9-10. When Paul had come to the city of Philippi, the first meeting that he attended was a women’s prayer meeting (Acts 16:14-15). The next event was the deliverance of a girl who was possessed with a spirit of divination (Acts 16:16-18). As a result of this display of God’s power and mercy upon this girl, Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison. Paul had the opportunity to witness to the jailor and all those in prison. And while he was there singing praises and praying at midnight, there was a great earthquake and all the prisoners were loosed. When the jailor would have killed himself because of the escape of the prisoners, Paul informed him that the prisoners were all there. Then as a result of this, the Bible says of the jailor: “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” This jailor was genuinely saved along with his whole household and were all baptized (Acts 16:30-34) This is where the Church at Philippi began. This is the reason where have the letter to the Philippians.
Paul could go to a city like Philippi, win the unsaved, form them into a church with ordained leaders, and commit them to the Lord to continue the work in them that He had begun. Missionaries fail because they think the work begun is their work and not God’s. As a result they won’t turn the work loose and trust God to keep it going. Pastor’s fail because they think the work is theirs and won’t turn the people loose and trust the Lord to continue the work in them. Dad’s and Mom’s smother their children, and do not trust the Lord with them, because they do not trust the Lord to continue the work He began in them. Paul committed God’s work to Him. He was not afraid to trust God with His work. This brings freedom from burdens that God never intended us to carry. You say, “What if it fails.” All I have to say is that God doesn’t fail. We do not determine what is success and failure. That belongs to God alone. What seems a failure to us may not be a failure at all. We must trust God. Our responsibility is to be the branch, not the Vine. Stay in step with Him and don’t be afraid to relax your grip on what He has used you to do. He can be trusted.
Not only could Paul commit the work of God to God but he had confidence in the God to whom he committed the work. The words “Being confident” translates “peitho” and mean, “to persuade, i.e., to induce one by words to believe, to tranquillize.” It is a perfect active participle. The perfect tense is completed action in the past, that completed action, having present results. This means that Paul was fully persuaded and tranquilized in the past concerning this matter, and as a result, is fully persuaded and tranquil (totally unworried) at the time of the writing of this epistle. The active voice (the voice of volition) means Paul had acted in faith (made a choice to exercise faith) in this matter. Trusting God with His work is a matter of choice. We can carry the burden ourselves, but it will be heavy, and we will constantly be in God’s way. We need to be fully persuaded and as a result tranquil in the matter because we believe that the God who does the work will accomplish it.
Next Paul says, “. . . that he which hath begun a good work in you . . .” The words “hath begun” translates “enarchomai” and means “to begin, to make a beginning.” The verb form is an aorist middle participle. The aorist tense is a point tense. How long does it take you to make a period, i.e., just a dot on a page? Is it a process or an act (it happens suddenly)? The middle voice is where the subject acts (God is the Subject) and participates in the result of the action (is benefitted by the action). For whom does God save a lost soul? God does it for His Names sake and for His glory. Now let me restate this. God saved us suddenly, at a point of time in the past, and He did it for His glory, and the glory of this mighty act is the bride of Christ! Amen and amen! Just as the moon is the reflection of the light of the sun (does not have any light in itself), the bride is the reflection of and the glory of the Son. Our light is His light reflected in our lives.
The word “work” translates “ergon” and means “business, employment, that which one undertakes to do.” Is God the One that is employed in the work of salvation? Is salvation God’s undertaking? Salvation is not a man’s work but God’s. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Anyone who says salvation is by good works is boasting. Now, I didn’t say that. Your Bible does. I’m just calling attention to the FACT that salvation is a work of God which He began in us at the NEW BIRTH. I want to say it another way. Salvation CANNOT be a mixture of works and grace.. Paul says by inspiration of God, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work” (Rom. 11:5-6). The idea of works destroys the idea of grace and the idea of grace destroys the idea of work. Paul says that salvation is by grace without a mixture of man’s work. Salvation is a work of God.
The words “will preform” translate “epiteleo” and means, “to bring to an end, accomplish, perfect, execute, complete” The word epiteleo” is made up of two words. The first word is “epi,” a preposition meaning, “upon, on, at, by, against.” It is added as a prefix and intensifies the meaning. The word to which it is joined is “teleo” and means “to bring to a close, to finish, to end.” It is a verb and is a future active indicative. God saves with the end (future) in mind. The basic offer of salvation is to be reconciled (where the enmity between God and man is resolved) to God and to have eternal life in a glorified body in a place called heaven. This is what God had in mind when He saved us (John 14:1-3). Paul says that He is fully persuaded that the good work of salvation begun by God when He saved us will be carried out by Him to its intended goal all the way to the day of Jesus Christ. Excuse me. Someone hold my mules! Paul’s confidence in God’s working and keeping power tranquilized him to the point of complete tranquility. Another way the Bible states it is “peace.”
What a verse of Scripture! And it is all in the verse which means it is God’s promise: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Notice the work is “in you,” not by you, or through you, or with you, or around you, but, “in you.” Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
