“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
As I pen these words our freshman football team is about to face our greatest test of the year in Tualatin High School. Last year they blemished our 5-3 season with a 36-12 victory. This year they are unbeaten under the leadership of their coach who sources say has been coaching high school football 35 years. He is a guy we respectfully call, “The Old Man.”
We are both 3-0 so Thursday will be the day we will see who the better team is. One lesson I have learned is that a good coach has the ability to get his athletes to want play for him. A good coach has a way of getting his players to want to play FOR him. A great coach; however, has the unique ability to synergize this team so that they want to play WITH him. Can you see the difference? That small difference is what makes Chip Kelly such a great coach at Oregon. It is what made John Wooden the greatest college basketball coach of all time. It is what made Vince Lombardi iconic in the National Football League.
Synergy is at the heart of God for the Church as well as each of his children. In Philippians 1:6 God, through Paul, promises that “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God wants synergize with us. We know this because when we come to Jesus; His Spirit, the spirit of Jesus, synergizes with us through indwelling, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)” and “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? (1 Corinthians 6:19)”
When we partner with Christ not only does He partner with us, but he carries us through those times when we may not be able to carry ourselves. Jesus implores, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28).” God literally exchanges our heavy yoke for His when we synergize with him.
But he does even more than that.
Philippians 1:6 continues that He will “carry it”. What is the “it” he is talking about here? Based on the context of this verse one could responsibly argue that the “it” is you or me. He promises to carry us unto completion. In 1 Peter 5:6-7 we are told to “cast all (our) cares upon Him” and in doing so “He will lift (us) up”. So, we come to him in humility; he lifts us, and proceeds to carry us to the end of our time on earth. The lifting precedes the carrying. A man cannot go with Jesus unless he is carried by Jesus.
You see, we can live for God, work for God, and give for God, but Christian maturity comes when we commit to partnering with our God. To move our relationship with Christ from good to great requires that we synergize or partner with Him.
Have you partnered with God?
