Philippians 1:1-11 I feel stuck in life

I graduated in May 2009 from Colorado State University with a degree in Business and was one of the few to land a job in the down market. In June my dad and I drove 1,700 miles to Virginia and a few weeks later I began work as an Associate Bank Examiner. I thought I’d made it.

Jonathan is currently a Master of Divinity student at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and wants to become an ordained pastor upon graduation. Till then, this blog is in honor of his Dad, the real Pastor Romig. Please do not preach this sermon, but feel free to quote it using proper attribution (aff link). 

I had a federal government office the size of most bedrooms. I had a federal government salary. I was living in one of the youngest but most powerful cities in the world. The weather was warm. And I worked right next door to an anti-terrorist building. So it was like I worked next to the anti-terrorist agent Jack Bauer from 24. Jack Bauer worked in the cubicle next to me. I was a friend of Jack Bauer’s. I had it all.

I found a church, made a good community of friends, and was co-leading a small group for college guys. I know you’re waiting for it, for the moment I say “but,” and you’re right. But… I was not satisfied.

The dissatisfaction crept in the first week on the job. Around the office I saw people who had worked there anywhere from 1 to 30 years. They were comfortable, and drove moderately nice cars, like Volvos. But I knew that if I did what they did, I’d feel stuck. And yet, it was only the first week, so I pushed the feeling away and gave it time.

I began to travel all across the United States working at banks and associations. I went to Coleman Alabama, Salt Lake City Utah, Modesto California, and Bloomington MN. Alabama certainly didn’t make me feel any better. I was going everywhere, but nowhere. I thought the feeling would surely leave then, but it didn’t.

Maybe that’s where you are. Maybe you’re stuck. Maybe you have everything you want and need but find that you’re just not moving. Maybe you’re a Christian and you thought that the place where you are now was not the place God had planned for you. Or maybe you’re not a Christian and still feel caught in life unable to move forward. In times like these, where do we find our encouragement? Where do we find our joy? Where do we find our strength? The scriptures speak to this challenge.

The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Philippians during a stagnant time in his life. He’d already traveled on his three missions trips throughout the Mediterranean world. And maybe he had plans for bigger and better achievements. But now he was under house arrest in Rome. Although it wasn’t as uncomfortable as a jail cell, a guard always accompanied him and he would have had a social stigma. And yet Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians, which is considered one of the most joyful letters in the Bible. How does Philippians show us Paul was encouraged during this time of life? Let’s look at Philippians 1:1-11.

What is the text saying that can encourage us today? It’s saying that God has begun a good work in us (Philippians 1:1-5).

Verses 1-5 tell us of some unlikely people God had begun a good work in. Verse 1 tells us Paul is writing to the believers (saints) and leaders in the Philippian church (overseers and deacons). This seems pretty good to us now, but Philippi looked nothing like a good work when Paul arrived. The Roman city so filled with pagan and emperor worship that there was no Synagogue and the Jewish people worshipped by the river. God changed that when Paul baptized the woman Lydia and her family. She who was so eager to support him and the ministry with housing the text says she literally “prevailed” upon them (Acts 16). She is clearly a mom. Now 10 years later Paul is joyfully thanking God and praying for them.

Verse 5 tells us the Philippian believers were committed to Paul and his work. He called them his “partners in the gospel” because were committed. Throughout the years they partnered with Paul to promote the good news. They loved him when he was in Philippi, gave financial support to him on his travels, and sent the man Epaphroditus as an encouragement (4:10-18). When Paul needs encouragement, he thinks of these men and women who have blessed him throughout his life. Instead of focusing on his own predicament, he looks around him and sees what God is doing in the church and community. He sees the people around him serving God and doing good deeds.

When I need encouragement, I know I can look at what God is doing in some of my friends’ lives. Two friends come to mind that have been huge encouragements to me: Klint and Tim. On the outside they are both extremely good looking. But as you probably can’t see they’re both extremely godly. They’ve come a long ways.

At the end of his college years, which were very much college years, I witnessed Klint devote himself to Christ. After he graduated he moved back to Monument and began a small group ministry called The Rock for young adults and college students. The group has grown so much they can’t meet in his house anymore and have begun meeting in a church building. They went from a consistent group of 12 to a consistent group of 65.

My friend Tim went through a rough patch, got real with the Lord, and started a ministry in Fort Collins called “Mission Old Town.” He and his church goes to the old part of town to sit, talk, and eat with homeless people in Fort Collins. He’s now a youth pastor to middle and high school kids and encouraging them to seek God in their daily lives. These men are committed to God and I can see them bearing fruit. Seeing this is a huge encouragement to me.

And if you’re stuck, take a look around. See how God is working. Is God working in your church, in your friends, in your community? I bet you’d be surprised to find out he’s working in some places you’d least expect it. Take hope in this. God has begun a good work in us.

So we can see God working in those around us, but is God working in our individual lives? God has begun a good work in you (Philippians 1:6).

In verse 6 Paul tells us with confidence, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” The good works God is bringing about is the transformation of the people themselves. They were doing many good works like sharing the gospel and giving, and they were doing all of this as a result of God’s working in them. They had new hearts. Do you believe God has begun a good work in you? This hope will change how you see being stuck. Maybe God is trying to teach you patience. Maybe God just wants to reveal Himself in a new way that takes time. Maybe God wants to take your life in a whole new direction. Whatever it is, we can rest in the confidence that God is forming a new work in those who love him.

The feeling that I wasn’t meant for a career in the government never left me. I continued to struggle with happiness and feeling stuck until the April of the following year when I finally went home and confessed to my Dad I wanted to go to seminary. I say, “confess” because revealing my deep desire to serve God full time in sacrificial ministry made me feel guilty. I don’t know what I was thinking. Dad encouraged me to go but it wasn’t until I was sitting in church for Sunday’s sermon on not wasting your life that I realized I had to go. I recognized a good work God had begun in me, and I began to pursue it.

Do you believe that God has begun a good work in you? Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers”(ESV). God is conforming you into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. Maybe this is the beginning of a new work in you.

Verse 6 tells us God will not quit this good work in you until it is complete. If anyone had reason to doubt that God had begun and would complete a good work in him it is the author of Philippians the Apostle Paul. Before he came to Christ, he was the worst of men. Acts 7 tells us Paul stood over the cloaks of the mob that stoned the first Christian martyr Steven. Then Paul waged war against the early Christian church as he “dragged off men and women and committed them to prison”(Acts 8:3). Persecuting Christians became his personal holy war. But one day on the road to Damascus everything changed (Acts 9). Jesus appeared in glory to confront Paul about persecuting the church. Not only was Paul converted, he was so completely changed that he became the church’s premier missionary and wrote much of the NT. Just as Paul recognized God has begun a good work in the Philippians, we can recognize that God has begun a good work in us. If God begins something good, let’s trust he will complete what is perfect. God has begun a good work in you

How is God completing this good work? God will complete this good work by his grace (Philippians 1:7-8).

Verse 7 says, “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” Paul begins verse 7 by shouting at his audience, “It is right for ME to feel this about you!” Even though most Bibles say Paul “feels” the most accurate way of saying this is “It is right for me to ‘think’ this way.” Verse 7 is both heavy with Paul’s love for the people and his thoughtful discernment of the good work God is doing in his people. And God is doing this good work all by his grace.

The word for grace in this passage is a divine grace (“the grace”). Although we most often think of grace as receiving God’s forgiveness for our sins, God’s grace is also expressed through growing and maturing us. As the Philippians stand alongside Paul in his defense of the gospel, God is giving them the grace of perseverance. God manifests this grace through placing us in life situations tough so we can grow and bear fruit. Maybe it’s time to take a moment and notice God’s grace. Instead of thinking about everything you’re not doing, think about everything God is doing in you. God’s grace often works much deeper than we ever imagine.

As musically lacking as contemporary Christian music is I prefer it to most modern stations that play music like Kesha’s intelligent song, “Blah Blah Blah.” An artist who I admire more for his music and social work than for his skinny tie is Brandon Heath. He wrote a song called “Wait and See” in 2009 because he wished he could tell himself in middle school that life would get better. He was a troublemaker growing up but he when he became a Christian when he was 16 God changed everything.

The chorus for his song goes like this (AABBA): There is hope, for me yet. Because God won’t forget, all the plans HE’s made for me. I have to wait and see, HE’s not finished with me yet.

God is working in you by his grace. God takes us through frustrating times but he does it out of love. We should never forget that God’s grace is deeper than we can imagine. God will complete this good work by grace.

Why does it matter God is at work in people around me, in me personally, or that he’s doing this by his grace? It means you are God’s good work (Philippians 1:9-11).

Our passage ends with Paul praying for the Philippians love to abound with “knowledge and all discernment”(v. 9). God wants our hearts and minds to grow. We are a work in progress that God is crafting into something amazing. And isn’t it relaxing to realize God is at work in us to make us good? God hasn’t left us to our own devices. He’s actively participating in us to shape us because he loves us. God is working good in us to make us his good work. Verses 10-11 say Paul was praying for them so that they may be “blameless” and “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” Take hope that God is making us into something completely new.

God makes you his good work because of his completely new work on the cross. Jesus died on the cross and rose in victory over death so that you would not have to remain who you are but can become God’s new work. I know it’s hard to imagine us becoming completely new right now. But take hope that in eternity those who have trusted in God’s promises and the work of Christ will finally see ourselves as God’s good work. And as a child of God, you are God’s good work. You can’t see it now, but you will see it when you see Jesus face to face. Glorifying God is why we must persevere and press onward.

The transcontinental railroad is considered one of the greatest technological achievements of the 19^th century. Two companies began working on the railways. The Central Pacific railway began in Sacramento California and the Union Pacific began in Omaha Nebraska. The Central Pacific started fast as it moved through the Sacramento Valley, but it soon reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Snow and solid rock mountains soon slowed the train.

To blow tunnels in the mountains two men had to take a hammer and chisel and pound a ¾ inch hole in the rock face that was four feet deep. They packed it with explosive and blew a few feet into the surface. They did this over and over again through 15 different tunnels. The longest tunnel stretched 1,659 feet long.

The Union Pacific line began in Omaha and had a much easier time of it. But the government paid by the mile the lead investor was also the manager of the train and was dishonest. For the first two and a half years he built his railroad so it never went further than 40 miles from Omaha as he built the track on his own land. I think he’d do fine in today’s market.

Which railroad company are you?

Are you going in circles complaining that you’re stuck but ignoring how God wants to mold you into his good creation? Or are you pounding against a solid rock wall, moving inch by inch toward becoming the good work God desires you to become? Never give up on how God wants to form you into his good work. Never ignore the good works God has in store for you. God wants you to become his good work, but that takes time. Pound into that hard rock surface! And do it over and over again until you blast out of those Sierra Nevada Mountains and into the sunlight of God’s good works. You are God’s good work.

Maybe you’re here and do not consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ. Human experience tells us that there are those times when we go through rough patches. Is this the start of God doing a good work in you? Perhaps that first step begins with following Jesus himself.

Some of you may have known Christ for a while and feel frustrated and stagnant. Like not much has happened lately. Others of you were introduced to God more recently but the newness has worn off. It’s time to take hope in God making you into his good work.

The day I sat in church listening to Pastor Hal preach I knew I had to go to seminary. It was April 11^th, 2010. It was a good day for seeing God’s good work in my life. I clearly recognized God working in the people around me to encourage me, God working in me to prepare me, and God doing all this by his grace. And as I thought about that day, April 11^th 2010, I realized it was a pretty special day. Exactly eighteen years prior to that date on April 11^th 1992 I became a Christian. I remember walking into our family room to tell my mom. I knelt down beside our musty blue couch and invited Jesus into my heart.

You see, as Christians, we’ve all been God’s good work for quite some time. God’s good work is not momentary or ever caught in a rut. God’s good work is lifelong and everlasting long. Take hope that you are something new and God is shaping you into an eternal good work. You are God’s good work.

Image By: Beautiful Insanity