Each week Vox Home Groups meet to study and discuss the Bible, eat food, and pray together. This is a summary of the announcements and Bible study that took place.
The Capertons hosted the first Vox Home Group last night. Many new people got to meet each other and find some common ground as we studied and discussed the Bible.
PAUL’S JOY
What is Paul’s tone in 1:3-5? Happy, joyful, light. Can picture Paul smiling as he writes this:
1:4, 5, 7 - 4 ...making my prayer with joy, 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.7It 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 is joyful because of the actions of the church. Because they have partnered with Paul, the Philippian church is a joyful thought for Paul as he remembers and prays for them.
But Paul's joy is in God, not the church. Paul is not depending on the church to finish the work; that would lead to worry and disappointment. Paul is depending on God to finish the work he began. See also Gal 3:3.
1:6 - 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.God begins the work in us, follows through with the work, and finishes the work. As Christians, we can never claim we did the work, only that God did it in us or through us. Why he did not write "...he who began a good work in you will help you bring it to completion..." See also Phil 2:12-13, Rom 8:28-30, Eph 1:3-5.
GOD AT WORK
Important for us because so eager to claim the credit
Our sinful nature always wants the validation: “Look, I am good, and I proved it by doing something good.” “Look God, I’m good enough, I’m a Christian, right?”
BADWATER STORY
[article here] Take a mental snapshot: soiled pants, swollen feet, burning lungs, searing heat
Our spiritual journeys are like ultramarathons: long, hard, takes incredible endurance
If we don't understand God working in us and think we're doing ti ourselves, we will lose hope.
Believe things like:
If I pray this prayer, God will de-stress my life
If I keep the 10 commandments, God will give me lots of money
If I pray with my kids, God will make them turn out fine
In the spiritual ultramarathon we’re in, we might be running, but that’s not our blood or heart or power. It is God running that race through us.
ABIDING
If God is the one doing everything in us, then what are we left with?
Are all Christians puppets on a string? No! This is where Paul’s prayer is so instructional:
1:9-11 - 9And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.Normally read this as what we do
- Love people more
- Gain knowledge and discernment to love better
- Approve of what is excellent
- Keep yourself pure and blameless
But we must read this in context. Paul has just said that God begins the work and ends the work in 1:6. It is God doing all these things in us and through us, so what do we do with that?
To understand it better, focus on “filled with the fruit of righteousness” in 1:11
John 15:4-5 - 4"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.Fruit is a natural part of a healthy tree. Jesus says he’s the vine and we’re the branches. When we stay connected to him [abide in him] we will bear fruit.
So why is Paul writing this prayer [1:9-11] for the Philippian church? Giving them a picture of what their lives will look like as they mature. Can read it as “As God completes the work in you, your love will abound, etc…” Not giving them spiritual to-dos.
Paul can take joy, because God is finishing the work. There’s no joy in expecting others to finish something they started, only worry.
SUMMARY
Many of us are not taking joy that God will finish the work. We think it’s up to us and when we fail, we’re devastated. If our joy is in God finishing the work [and working in us now], then we can grieve and repent of the sin without thinking our whole life is in shambles.
Paul has a confidence that God is at work in believers. Take hope in God at work in you. Don’t believe it all depends on you.
Paul’s prayer illustrates our part in the process of working with God. Abiding is the key. Don’t take action because you’re trying to be good enough, take action because Christ is working in you [Christ wants you to join him, not maintain the work]
Some actions you can take. Ask Jesus to begin changing you, growing fruit inside you. Read the Bible [start with Philippians].
DIG DEEPER
Listen to Phil Wickham's “Divine Romance” [myspace page] [website]
THREE QUESTIONS
#1 Describe a time when you tried to keep something going on your own?
#2 Read verse 9-11 again.
What would it be like to know that others were praying that prayer for you?
#3 Read verse 6 again.
What is one work that God has begun in you?
