Finishing a Good Work
Here's a tiny group of people different from the rest of
the happy pagan world. Because they were different they were having a
hard time (1:28) and it appears they were wavering a bit because the man
who began the work in their city was himself thrown into prison
(1:12-18). Since we all have the sense that happiness should accompany
truth and goodness hardship is a bit of a blow.
So was Paul's agenda to create a community of believers in Jesus
Christ at Philippi? And if so, wasn't it likely that it would all end in
tatters and failure?
Paul told them he prayed for them all the time both with thankfulness
and confidence (1:3-6). His thoughts weren't gloomy. The size of the
pagan world and all its power didn't drive him into depression because
he wasn't the one who began the good work in the Philippians, it was God
himself (1:6)!
The good work has only "begun". They weren't to see it as already
completed. They hadn't "arrived". This that they were experiencing was
real enough and glorious enough but it was only part of a bigger and
more glorious picture. Knowing that a tough piece of narrative is part
of a bigger and grander story brings relief as well as hope. It has a
happy ending! Knowing that makes it easier to work through the really
gritty parts. It was a "good" work God had begun in them and he would
see it through.
And would Paul say that to us? Of course he would. So what does a
passage like Philippians 1:6 mean to us? It means that one day we (yes
"we", not others) in a better world will be standing close to Jesus
Christ and some angels will whisper in awe as they look in our
direction, "How like the Master they look. They're the absolute image of
him." And how can we be sure that this is our future? He is faithful
who called us and he will do it (Philippians 4:19).
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.
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