Philippians 1:6 gives us a cherished promise: "... 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."

Those of us in highly individualistic societies love to ponder how this verse assures us that "I" am being perfected. I cannot count how many sermons I have heard refer to this verse in order to praise God that He is perfecting individuals or to assure individuals that God is working in their individual lives.

Never once have I heard a sermon that even mentioned the church being completed as the primary teaching of Philippians 1:6. Yet, Philippians 1:6 is just the third sentence in a letter written to a CHURCH. That alone should make things clear. Is there any wonder that individual sanctification so outdistances church holiness? When this verse is applied primarily to the individual Christian, a major distortion of Scripture has occurred.

Unfortunately, the English language obscures the singularity and plurality of the pronoun "you." But in the Greek, the word "you" in Philippians 1:6 is plural.

If you will allow me to add a few clarifying words in parentheses, Philippians 1:6 may become more clear. Then the critical distinction should lead us to rather different and more powerful applications of this Bible verse.

Philippians 1:6 with our additions: "... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in (all of) you (together as the church at Philippi) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

IT IS IN THE PROCESS OF THE CHURCH BEING COMPLETED THAT THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER IS COMPLETED.

It is the church that the Lord is completing. But is within the process of the church being perfected that the individual Christian is being completed. Let us bring in two familiar verses of Scripture to make this point clear. Eph 4:12-13 says, "... to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ." Here again we see that individual Christians mature within the process of the church, the body of Christ, being perfected.

The drastic importance of all of this is clearly seen when we reverse this truth. If the church is not perfected, the individuals will not be perfected. Sermons, Sunday school classes, evangelism programs, and a host of other common church activities are not focused on building the corporate body we know as the church. The focus is almost completely individual. This hurts both the church and its individual members.

When was the last time you heard a sermon exhort you to change in the way you relate to the other believers in your church? Even more to the point, when was the last time that you heard the majority of the content of a sermon focus on church life rather than individual holiness? Our individualistic culture has snuffed out much of the life blood of the church. Individual holiness is all we shoot for, it seems. Church holiness is often incorrectly defined in terms of collective individual holiness. What a far cry from what saturates the Old Testament teachings for the nation of Israel. What a far cry from what permeates the New Testament as instructions for the church.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A CHURCH TO BE COMPLETED?

For the church to be completed, it must work at becoming a society of God's people living together as God has instructed in the Bible, especially the New Testament. Community is the process and kingdom is the result.

The minimum is to work at obeying the 65 "Togethers of Scripture" we have identified here at the Lamb's Bride Project. These are the things that God commands his people to do together. He expects us to live differently than the kingdoms of the world. The "Togethers" define the differences.

Actually, there is one of the Togethers that can help us define what a church should do to work at cooperating with God's work of completion. The main verse is Matthew 6:33 (quoted here in the KJV, which most clearly shows the Greek plurality): "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." We state this Together as: "Seek the Kingdom Together," and this is our definition: "Pursue the kingdom of heaven with others, searching out every hidden corner of the realm. Together, find all that your faith has to offer."

A kingdom cannot be an individual concept. It is the King and his people. It encompasses the King's way of doing things and the way the King wants his people to live together. Bringing the kingdom into actuality is the same thing as seeking the kingdom. The resultant community will usher in "all these things."

So the church should together be seeking the kingdom, not just working at knowing all about the kingdom intellectually. Nothing short of Christian community brings the kingdom.

HOW DOES A CHURCH BECOME COMPLETED?

When a church, the people of God who assemble regularly, obeys or tries to obey the commands of Scripture for community, the church allows the Holy Spirit to do the work of corporate holiness and provides the setting for individual sanctification. When the church orients everything to the individual, the Holy Spirit is "quenched," inhibited.

A few examples will clarify. To keep it simple at the start, let us have as our context a small group of Christians meeting together every other week in a group committed to Bible obedience in Christian community. Within this group is a man who is highly opinionated, closed-minded with a distasteful know-it-all attitude. The group has been held back in its edification by this man?s behavior and the group has also seen how this man dominates and discounts his wife who is continually depressed and unhappy with her marriage.

What will it mean for this church, this "two-or-three gathered in Christ's name" group to face this problem obediently? Obviously, the problem has to be addressed and solved by the group over a period of time. The problem is volatile enough to require the group to learn to work together for the glory of God by helping this man overcome his unrighteous behavior. In so doing, the small group (this small church) will be being perfected "until the day of Christ Jesus."

And here is the point you have probably been waiting for: Within this process of the group working together to help this man and his wife, each individual group member will have to grow in many Christlike attitudes and abilities. Group members who are judgmental and "get after people" to change them will have to change into compassionate helpers. Group members who sit back out of fear will have to get involved when the situation becomes quite complicated. Group members who think that they have it all together will realize that there is quite a lot of sanctification still needed.

When the small group leader (who must use our model of leadership or the above-described perfecting will not much happen) helps the group to take on the task of dealing with the problem of this man's arrogance, the group will fall silent for a while. Group members who usually depend upon the leader to do all of the "tough stuff" will begin thinking, first, that they really do need to get involved, and, second, what might be the best way to confront their brother in the Lord. (The group leader might bring the problem to light in many ways. For our example, the leader might say, "Does the group want to deal with the problem that comes up when Jack speaks?" There are many different ways to give this task to the group.)

Someone will attempt to tell Jack that the way he speaks is demeaning and shuts people down. Jack will likely get defensive. A quiet person who also gets defensive when confronted but knows that defensiveness is nonsense will eventually have to speak up when the confrontation gets heated. Someone very close to Jack might for the first time actually reach out with physical support and put his hand on Jack's shoulder. Another person who is good with language will have to spread her wings and try to restate the problem in a more clearer manner. Another who is tender but shy will speak up and rephrase the problem in a way that is compassionate and shows Jack all he has to gain if he will but hear the group out. Jack's wife who suffers silently and has built great resentment will finally speak up, beginning a process of helping her husband be what the Lord wants him to be rather than "playing it safe" and hiding with angry compliance. And I could go on and on.

As the group seeks to establish the kingdom by correcting the way that Jack speaks to and interacts with others, including his wife, they will be implementing community. It will be tough going, as it has to be sometimes, but in the end there will be changed lives and solid community. The group will learn to trust that "he who began a good work in (them) will carry it on to completion...."

Or consider another example. A church of 500 members sets out to eliminate all quarrels among members because there should be none in God's kingdom. This active church has many occasions for quarrels in Bible studies, on church committees, in community service, etc. Different views, attitudes and ways of doing things rise to the surface all of the time.

The pastor does not ignore the problem. He preaches about it, freely recognizing that there are many quarrels and that it cannot be otherwise when sinful people, although saved, meet and work together. He teaches the command to "bear with one another" and asks the congregation for commitment to try to overlook hurtful things with automatic forgiveness. (See Col. 3:13.) Then the pastor teaches that quarrels are harmful to the church and offers biblical ways to resolves differences. He asks the people to try different ways to deal with one another. Small group leaders and committee chairpersons are given additional instruction on problem-solving methods so that they can guide their groups and committees away from quarreling. The pastor also preaches to families and asks them to commit to solving problems rather than quarreling. Perhaps the pastor preaches on Romans 15:7 to teach acceptance of one another's God-designed differences.

In this way the whole church will be working on perfecting itself to the ways of Christ, the wishes of the King, with regard to quarrels and harmony. As the church achieves holiness, a lot of the church members will also be being completed as they get over argumentative ways of handling things.

These examples should clinch the point that only as the church is being completed will the individual Christians be completed. Without the community of the small group, individuals would not become more committed to Christ and risk new, more obedient behaviors. They might study new things and know more things, but not be changed. Change requires the other kingdom citizens. And if the whole church did not try to eliminate all quarrels, the most quarrelsome individuals would not work on not quarreling and the most reticent members would not stop avoiding disagreements though silence and learn to contribute rather than hide.

NOTHING BEATS THE SYNERGY OF SMALL GROUP COMMUNITY

In the small group led the proper way, synergistic interactions become more and more frequent. Contributions bring forth better and better contributions and obedience. In the small group, members bring out more and more mature behavior from one another. Since the 65 Togethers cannot be adequately obeyed except in smaller groups of people, a church without small groups does not have much chance of being perfected.

Philippians 1:6 requires small groups that go beyond Bible study and prayer to Bible obedience in the many Togethers of Scripture. And Philippians 1:6 requires a radical paradigm shift from an individualistic orientation to one of community. []