Philippians 1:6 - Business as usual?

"...having been persuaded of this same thing, that the [One] having begun in you a good work will complete [it] until [the] day of Christ Jesus." 

-Marvelous news, this.  But it is not news at all - God is up to something good.  Which is what He always does, and has done since the dawn of time.  It's what He do.  Our breathtakingly good God - Who made all things very good and Who works all things for good - is doing something good in and through the lives of these believers.  Of this Paul is supremely confident.  When you and I are not fully persuaded that God is up to something good, it undercuts our joy and arrests our progress in the faith.  Lean into and onto His great surpassing goodness today and every day.  Remind yourself that He is up to something good.  Apply liberally to the affected area of your life.

-This good work is - and is shown by - their involvement with, their sharing into, the Gospel.  Gospel-involvement that fizzles before the finish was faulty from the first.  But for these believers, they responded, they believed, they have not only followed and trusted and obeyed Christ and borne the fruit of changed lives but they have also been actively reproducing and spreading the Good News into the lives of others, both in their demonstrated love for fellow believers as well as in their witness to unbelievers.  And this work is guaranteed, certain to be completed by the One Who began it.  Once God starts something, once He begins His good work in your life, He will most definitely complete it.  This is what some refer to as the perseverance of the saints.  A true journey of faith, once begun, will finish the race, come what may.

-Note Who is doing the work.  God began it, and He is continuing it.  All things are from Him, and through Him.  And remember why He is doing this work - for the showing off and celebration of His breathtaking goodness (cf Philippians 2.13).  And again, we know God is at work in these lives because they are sharing into the Gospel.  If there was no sharing into the Gospel it would be realistic to question whether or not the good work had actually begun in the first place. 

-Another thing to observe here is the first mention in this letter of the day of Christ Jesus.  Paul talks about this day a lot (as do Jesus and the other NT authors).  Elsewhere Paul calls it the day of the Lord (1Thessalonians 5.2), the day of redemption (Ephesians 4.30), the day of wrath (Romans 2.5) and judgment (Romans 2.16).  It is that great day when Christ returns to separate His sheep from the goats, to pronounce sentence on those who have not trusted in Him (Matthew 25.31-41), to be glorified and marveled at by all those who have trusted in Him for eternal life (2Thessalonians 1.10), including testing the work which they have done for Him (1Corinthians 3.13).  All of history has been marching towards this one great final day.  Glorious day, this...