Mission’s Great Beginning and Glorious End

Philippians 1:3-6

Paul J. Bucknell

“1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:1-6 NASB)

Mission’s Great Beginning and Glorious End

This article was originally presented as two messages for a missions conference from Philippians 1:1–12, each focusing on verse 6 and highlighting God’s marvelous redemptive work among the world’s people to magnify His mercy, love, and wisdom.

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.” (Psalms 115:1)

First, we marvel at God’s redemptive work among ordinary people—in Philippi, elsewhere, and in our own lives. In verses 1-6, we see how God works in people, begins churches, and launches mission movements. In particular, we describe the beginning of God’s work in Philippi (Acts 16). We observe God’s greater purposes and then illustrate how He implements them in local churches, our mission BFF, and elsewhere—even in our individual lives! The apostle is excited to see how God has worked in the church at Philippi in the relatively brief time there, perhaps only about 3-4 weeks.

In the following message, in verses 6-12, we will look more closely at how God continues the work that He started. How does our Lord perfect or complete what He has started? Special events occur in every circumstance to prove His faithfulness, and we can always learn from what God is doing. He wants us to be fully confident in His work in our spiritual lives. He started it and will continue it. We are weak, but He is strong. It’s critical that we link what is happening in our spiritual lives, individually and corporately, to better see His work in us and to cooperate with Him. Again, we will also look at how God continued His work among the Philippians (Acts 16), show the great work God is doing around the world, and examine specific ways He is now perfecting His grand redemptive plan. In addition, we will highlight the great work He is doing among the nations through the chart and how He is caring for it.

Our greatest joy is to discover and fulfill our part in the Lord’s eternal plan, shining His light, love, and joy into this dark world.

The Beginning and the End

Alpha and Omega: God’s eternal redemptive plan from creation and the fall to redemption, the church, and new creation — One plan, one purpose, one end: God’s eternal redemptive work.

The Bible begins and ends with time touching eternity's bounds, placing time and all history within its framework and reminding us of our grand redemptive context. All things exist for Him and through Him. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom 11:36).

Let’s consider the grand picture of the whole salvation process. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This short verse opens our eyes to God’s marvelous work and to how He includes us in this plan. The plan doesn’t begin with us but with God—“God first loved.” If we carefully look at this verse, we see that it begins with God’s love, a love that existed before the world was made or we existed. Salvation comes from our eternal God, who chose to love us, but it didn’t stop there. This “we love” jumps out, telling us that we are not just objects of His love but chosen instruments to express His love. What a way to summarize God’s work in this world. (Also, a good hint at our goal for our kids—or us—Live not to indulge ourselves but to give ourselves for the betterment of others.)

In Christ, His Son, we are made, chosen, and saved (Col 1:16; Eph 1:3-4). All of time zooms toward the end, the completion of God’s mission on earth, yet continues into eternity. The church’s existence and mission derive from God’s purposes. This earth has become an expansive field within an extravagant universe, where God works out His eternal plan in Jesus Christ to magnify His Name and display His wondrous grace. We, the church, exist only because of God’s greater purposes.

Continue Part 1

Read the full message in the pages that follow: God’s great plan, His intervening direction, bold evangelism, and His use of little things. Part 2, Mission’s Glorious End (Philippians 1:6–12), will be added later.