Young People's Group

According to My Earnest Expectation and Hope

by Mitchell Tan
August 08, 2018

MATCHING EXPECTATIONS WITH HOPE

Young people, are you someone who is driven to achieve things? We should be. The apostle Paul is a very good example of one who was greatly driven to do the work of the Lord. He served Him with tremendous zeal and commitment. How did he go about doing this? He was able to match personal expectations with hope.

“According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed …”
Philippians 1:20

1. HAVING HIGH EXPECTATIONS OF ONESELF

The apostle Paul had high expectations of himself. The phrase “earnest expectation” in the Greek is a compound word. The combination of words is meant to intensify the idea being brought across. Paul had intense personal expectations of himself when it came to his life and ministry. He had tremendous sincerity behind what he sought to do. The word “according” denotes a pattern that Paul was following. Paul patterned his life after what he had set for himself.

2. HAVING A STRONG SENSE OF HOPE

Paul matched his personal expectations with hope. This was Paul’s spirit of humility. His hope was not in himself or his own strength. His hope was in God.

A. HOPE IN GOD’S WORK

Paul had absolute hope in the Lord that the work He had started in the life of the Philippians will be completed at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). He had the same faith and hope with reference to his life and ministry.

B. HOPE IN GOD’S GRACE

He also depended much on the grace of God. He saw himself as a partaker of grace together with the Philippians (Philippians 1:7). It was the Lord’s grace that enabled him to do all that he needed to achieve. Because of this, he knew that he would not be ashamed in all his endeavours.

HAVING A CORE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE AND MINISTRY

“… But with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Philippians 1:20

With high expectation and a strong sense of hope, Paul’s focus was on one core principle. He sought to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ in all things concerning his life and ministry. This was his main principle of life as always and even more so at the time of writing this epistle.

1. WITH BOLDNESS

Paul sought to boldly magnify Christ in his life and ministry. This was the only thing that he was concerned about. The Lord Jesus was everything to him. He was not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus and only thought of its furtherance (Philippians 1:12). He sought to courageously and boldly magnify Him at all times.

2. BY LIFE OR BY DEATH

It did not matter whether Paul would live or die. His life was no longer dear to him. All that mattered to him was Christ and Him being glorified. Let’s also learn to make magnifying the Lord our core principle of life and ministry.

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