Whose Job is it Anyways?
As Christians we always seem to be in a battle between right and wrong, and it seems like the wrong is more often than not winning. We have tried every conceivable method that we know how, we have fasted, spent lots of time in prayer, memorized scripture. All it would seem to none avail, because we still struggle with that sin that so easily troubles us. We begin to wonder when will the struggle be over and I begin to live the victorious Christian life? Sometimes we even begin to doubt whether we are saved, or if our sin is so bad that now God is not even listening any more, only waiting for that perfect moment to strike me down with lightning.
To often in these situations our focus has become all about us and how pitiful a sinner we are, and how that we have let God down. We want God to have pity on us and give us instant salvation from this sin that we so suffer from. All the while God just wants us to look to his Son and remember that it is He who has begun a good work in us, and that he will finish it.
Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Though it is God who began the work in us and will complete it in us, we too must be obedient to the gospel in our lives. The apostle did not say here, “Ok you guys just wait until God works in you to finish the work.” No he commends them on their partnership in the gospel, while reminding them that there will be tough times but that no matter what persecution or problems come their way God will complete the work he began in them.
Philippians 1:5 “Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,”
It is our partnership with God’s sovereignty in the sanctification and promotion of the gospel in our lives, which God finds pleasing in his sight. A man who looks at where he is and gives God all of the glory for what has been accomplished, knowing that it was God who will continue to bring him forth to that ultimate perfection when he stands before the Father. Paul lived his life in reverence for God and his all powerful and life changing work, which only he can accomplish in a man’s heart.
Philippians 1:11 “Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
Philippians 3:9 “And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Over all it is the Father who works in us to produce the fruit of righteousness, but also it is our duty to be obedient to the rules and regulations that he has put forth in his word. We must not settle for lives of mediocrity, living life in a rut of spiritual fogginess, but we must rise above that into a life which we can mimic the Apostle Paul in saying:
Philippians 1:20-21 “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
It is not about us it is about Christ, and his work in us to the completion and perfect sanctification of the saints in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
To often in these situations our focus has become all about us and how pitiful a sinner we are, and how that we have let God down. We want God to have pity on us and give us instant salvation from this sin that we so suffer from. All the while God just wants us to look to his Son and remember that it is He who has begun a good work in us, and that he will finish it.
Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Though it is God who began the work in us and will complete it in us, we too must be obedient to the gospel in our lives. The apostle did not say here, “Ok you guys just wait until God works in you to finish the work.” No he commends them on their partnership in the gospel, while reminding them that there will be tough times but that no matter what persecution or problems come their way God will complete the work he began in them.
Philippians 1:5 “Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,”
It is our partnership with God’s sovereignty in the sanctification and promotion of the gospel in our lives, which God finds pleasing in his sight. A man who looks at where he is and gives God all of the glory for what has been accomplished, knowing that it was God who will continue to bring him forth to that ultimate perfection when he stands before the Father. Paul lived his life in reverence for God and his all powerful and life changing work, which only he can accomplish in a man’s heart.
Philippians 1:11 “Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
Philippians 3:9 “And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Over all it is the Father who works in us to produce the fruit of righteousness, but also it is our duty to be obedient to the rules and regulations that he has put forth in his word. We must not settle for lives of mediocrity, living life in a rut of spiritual fogginess, but we must rise above that into a life which we can mimic the Apostle Paul in saying:
Philippians 1:20-21 “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
It is not about us it is about Christ, and his work in us to the completion and perfect sanctification of the saints in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
posted by James | 3:01 PM
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