Our Partnership in the Gospel

Philippians 1:2-11 Paul’s letter to the Christians at Philippi has been called “the epistle of joy” because the Spirit’s gift of joy colors and shapes and informs every word he writes.  Next week we will hear him say, “Rejoice in the Lord always!  Again I say:  Rejoice! 

What is so remarkable about his joy is that as he writes these words, he is imprisoned for preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He did not know how his case would turn out—whether he would be released or executed.  He was literally chained to a guard.  He had to depend on the support of friends for food and clothing. 

And yet it is joy and thanksgiving that fills his heart because he knows that he is not alone but there are thousands of Christians all over the world who love him and are concerned for him and are praying for him and who will help him—thousands of Christians who are partners with him in the Gospel. 

Today we are going to hear from a letter he wrote to some of them in Philippi and as we do so we will learn what a blessing it is—what a source of joy and thanksgiving—that we too are partners in the Gospel with all our fellow Christians.  Paul wrote:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

            Last May, the healthcare giant, Cigna released a study they did on loneliness.  The results are sobering.  54% of Americans identified themselves as lonely and isolated even when they were not alone. 

What that means is that the majority of Americans, even when they are surrounded by people, have no real connection to them at all.  Quoting from the study, respondents said that “their relationships were not meaningful” and they were “isolated from others”.

And yet Paul, separated from those he loved—having not a clue what the future held for him—surrounded by people who were violently opposed to everything he loved—is filled with joy and prayers of thanksgiving to God! 

Why is that?  Because of the partnership—the fellowship—he shared with his fellow Christians.  Even though he was alone—he was not lonely because of the connection-- the life-- he shared with his fellow Christians.

He knew that there were Christians who are praying for him.  There were Christians who shared his faith in Jesus.  There were Christians who would come to his aid.  There were Christians who loved him.  Their partnership in the Gospel gave him joy.  So it is for us.

            We spend a great deal of time in workplaces with people who do not share our faith.  We live in culture that rejects our values.  Many of us will spend time alone in a hospital room or nursing home.  Most of us will go through a trial that is deeply painful.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to feel depressed and downcast—isolated and lonely.  But we are not alone!  Dear friends in Christ, we are not alone! 

We have one another:  fellow Christians who share our faith and values—fellow Christians who are praying for us—fellow Christians who will help us—fellow Christians to whom we are joined together in the Body of Christ—partners with us in the Gospel that has changed our lives for time and eternity.  Paul wrote:

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

            Paul, of course, was inspired to write these words by the power of the Holy Spirit but they were written with a deep personal conviction of their truth that was born out of his own experience at the moment. 

From the very beginning of his apostolic ministry, Paul had a desire to preach throughout the Roman Empire and especially to preach in the very heart of Rome.  But how could he make that happen?  What he discovered in a personal, powerful way is that God would make it happen!

The violent persecution of the Jews and the self-serving, self-interest of petty government officials had all served God’s purpose for Paul to bring him to the very center of the greatest empire of the day so that the Gospel could be preached to all people. 

Yes, he was bound with chains!  But the Gospel was not bound and was being preached and shared in places that Paul could never have envisioned it going. 

The good work begun by Jesus in Jerusalem at the cross; the good work begun in Paul as he met the risen Christ; the good work begun in people from all over the world at Pentecost; was being brought to completion as more and more people—including those in Philippi—heard the Gospel and were baptized and came to faith in Jesus.

Paul had absolute confidence (born of the promises of God fulfilled in his own life) that the saving purposes of Jesus Christ would not be thwarted by anything in this world.

So it is for us.  We are partners in the Gospel:  with Paul and the other apostles; with the early Christians; with the saints that we have known in our own life, all of who testify to us with their own lives that the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, begun in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, will continue to work in us until God’s saving purposes for us are fulfilled and we live in his glory and peace forever. 

The testimony of God’s people from generation to generation is that God is faithful!  God is faithful!  God is faithful!  We are a part of those people.  We share their faith and we have fellowship with them in the Body of Christ. 

And so no matter what we face or the hardships we endure, our partners in the Gospel assure us that God will accomplish his saving purposes in our lives and that the complete fulfillment of his eternal love for will be accomplished in us as we stand before our Lord Jesus Christ on the Last Day with all our fellow saints.  Paul wrote:

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

            The local church is an interesting place.  It’s a lot like a family in that we are bound to people that we would not necessarily choose for ourselves as friends.  And the Lord has a purpose in this in both church and family:  that we would learn to love others like Jesus loves us. 

We are loved by Jesus—not because we deserve it—not because there is something in us that draws him to us—but we are loved by Jesus because of who he is in grace and mercy.

So it is for us and our fellow Christians.  All of us are children of God by his grace.  Our place in this congregation is secured, not by who we are, but because of what Jesus did for us in the cross.  We all stand there by faith as beggars with open hands, waiting for our Lord to pour out his merciful love upon us.  That is true for us and that is true for everyone sitting around us.

And so we love one another and hold them in our heart and desire the best for them because they are partakers with us of God’s gracious love in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We are not always going to agree with one another on every issue.  Some of us will always be oil and water.  But those human emotions and personalities have absolutely nothing to do with our life together in the church. 

We are all in this together—loving one another and helping one another in good times and in bad—just like for Paul and his partners in the Gospel.

 There were times of great joy for Paul and the Philippians as they saw their congregation begin with the conversion of Lydia and her household and then spread far and wide as the Spirit did his saving work. 

And there were times of sorrow and suffering as Paul was imprisoned for the faith.  But no matter what, in every moment, they were partakers together of God’s grace and had the best interests of each other at heart and in their prayers.  Paul wrote:

It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

            Many times over the course of my ministry I have been asked by the elderly and those in nursing home and hospital beds:  why am I still here?  What’s the purpose of my life?  What can I do? 

And I always say the same thing:  pray for me.  Pray for your fellow Christians.  You are still my partner in the Gospel!  You still are united to others in Christ!  We share a common faith.  We have a common hope.  Pray for us!  And Paul tells us how.

Pray that we may have an ever deeper love for one another and God.  Pray that we may grow in our knowledge of God and his will.  Pray that we may be filled with the righteousness of Christ.  And especially pray that we may stand before Christ, holy and blameless on the Last Day.   Just imagine if we were all praying this prayer for one another—for greater love of Jesus and deeper knowledge of God and more abundant fruits of the Spirit—what a difference that would make in our life together as members of the Body of Christ! 

It was this deep understanding of his connectedness to every other Christian that gave Paul joy even in the midst of suffering and hardship for he knew that it glorified his Savior God.  God grant it to us in our day as well.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.