Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing...
...that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ... (Philippians 1:1-6)
For those of us who both give and receive encouragement from God's Word, this last verse: that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it... has probably been heard time and again to refer to the INDIVIDUAL WORK that God is doing in every Believer by the Power of His Holy Spirit. The transformation that is taking place in each Christ-follower amazingly declared in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 and the Final Fabulous Work of Art that is revealed when each one who has "fought the good fight of faith" (Matthew 10:21-22; 2 Timothy 4:7-8) fully embodies the beauty and likeness of Jesus Himself (1 John 3:2)...Wow!
But it occurred to me that this hope-filled reminder may not have been originally meant to embolden and give heart to separate people like it is typically used for today; but it was given by the Apostle Paul to a BODY of Believers who, in this case, were living together in Philippi: that He who has begun a good work in YOU (the GROUP of Believers, operating together as One, as Jesus prayed for in John 17:20-23) will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
So why is this important?
Several reasons.
First, although this verse is definitely a tremendous encouragement to an individual Believer, especially when he or she is weary, or feeling hopeless, or wondering if things are ever going to get better (the good work will be completed); the fact that it is used these days almost exclusively for that reason instead of being taken into consideration for the Church (entire Body of Believers) as a whole I believe actually tragically reflects the individualism and isolation that has been sneakily spreading through the Church (thanks to the world, flesh, and satan) for many years. The demonically-narrowed focus that It's all about YOU: what YOU can get from Jesus, what YOU can give (individually) to others and the (institutional) church, YOU, YOU, YOU. This earth-bound frame of mind can tempt the still-existing old (selfish) nature in a Believer to think mainly about him or herself and contributes to a sense of disconnectedness that I believe (too) many people in the Body are experiencing these days (what Body? what Family?). Another prime example of a verse that was not originally intended for an "individual you"-focused, audience-of-one is Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. No doubt this is a WONDERFUL declaration to an individual Believer, particularly when things in his or her life aren't quite making sense, seem random, out of place...BUT, the fact of the matter is that in context, this statement by God was being directed to a group of His People who had been taken captive and were now living away from home in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1, 4-11): the plans He had for them together.
For the second reason why this distinction between the "you" (individual) versus "you" (entire Body of Believers) is incredibly important (1 Corinthians 12:12-14), one just needs to go back and read Jesus's prayer in John 17; the part that talks about those who follow Him being "One" (v. 20-23):
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. and the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
But now look at the RESULTS of that glorifying Oneness, once it becomes a Reality:
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. and the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Although one Believer can certainly be enlivened by the Holy Spirit to offer Life-giving words to an unbelieving individual, to then cause them to "see" Jesus through him or her, it was never intended that an individual-you be the PRIMARY source of the Holy Spirit's Presence to a lost, exponentially decaying world. According to Jesus's prayer (as well as the majority of times that Paul's "you" was meant for the Holy-Spirit united Church and not any one particular individual within it), it apparently was meant that the BODY of Believers, as a WHOLE (and the Love of Christ reflected through that union: John 13:34-35) would be the Living Megaphone of God's Presence with us, and of the urgent, eternal decision of whether to accept His Son's Reality and Rescue...or not (Isaiah 61:1-3; John 3:16-18). What an AWESOME responsibility and assignment...
...but the question is...
...is that actually happening...?
...or is it at this point a bunch of individual "you's," (and I'm as guilty as the next; perhaps more so at times due to my draw toward solitude) coming together in a building called "church," yet each trying in his or her own power (and often unsuccessfully) to draw people to the Love of God, while all along there is very little (if any) of God's Love and Oneness amongst all of the individual "you's" within? If that's the case...
It won't work. It's not working...
"...A new commandment I (Jesus) give to you, that you (plural, the Body of Believers) love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
By THIS all will know that you are My disciples...if you have love for one another...
(Perhaps THIS is at least a part of the "good work" in Philippians 1:6 above that God hopes to complete in US/His Body, cultivating that Love, before the Amazing Return of His Son). I hope so.
God bless you (individually or together). 
Terri
