Joyful Partnership in the Gospel

As we have come together this evening in support and encouragement for the Miller family, we wanted to take some time to hone our attention toward what it means to be partners in Gospel Mission work.

If you are here, there is a large chance that you either support and pray for the Millers personally, or that you are part of a church that supports them financially.

Whether you are a pastor or leader of one of those churches, a family member, a member of a supporting church, or just a friend who has come to give your “Amen” here tonight, we have a role together in this partnership.

In the scripture, partnership in the Gospel comes in many forms.

There is the general fellowship and unity that we share as partakers of the Gospel of Christ, like we have tonight being many from various local bodies, yet one body still.

There is the kind of partnership that takes by the hand and serves with. We see that service in our week in and week out gatherings and ministries. This is the kind of service that we see in scripture with Paul and Barnabas or Paul and Timothy, with Peter and John early in the book of Acts. It is the kind of partnership that works in close association with.

But there is also partnership from a distance, partnership that rests on that general fellowship in the Gospel, a true heart of love and concern for the distant brother, prayer that spans that Gap by going to God on their behalf, and the kind of works that show that love and concern like giving.

It is of this kind of partnership that we read in Philippians.

Philippians 4:10 ESV

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

Philippians 4:14–16 ESV

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.

The church at Philippi had a genuine concern for the Apostle Paul in His mission work. This was evidenced in their generosity, but the generosity wasn’t a second thought or a convenient way to do a good deed. It came from a heart of love.

We read of this connection, this true heart of love and concern, early in Paul’s letter. I want to notice 6 very quick aspects of partnership that Paul highlights in Philippians 1:3-14

Partnership involves Prayer

Philippians 1:3–4 ESV

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,

Partnership involves Fellowship

Philippians 1:5 ESV

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Philippians 1:7 ESV

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.

the word partnership is “fellowship.” Holding in common experience. The act of sharing in common experience, activities, and privileges.

What bridges the gap that is between us and those we partnership is the fellowship that comes in the Gospel.

We can be partners with because we are partakers with.

Partnership involves Mutual Faith

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And 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.

A business partnership involves trust and reliance upon the other person, that they will prove true and trustworthy.

That is true in mission work, character counts. But even above that, in facing this great task, there is a mutual faith - a reliance upon the Lord that he will continue and perform the work that he began.

Partnership involves Affection

Philippians 1:8–9 ESV

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,

This is very important, because without this affection, our partnership can be nothing more than simply placing our offering in the plate each week. Without affection, there is no genuine concern like we saw in chapter 4. Without affection, there is no bond. Without this affection, the partnership is cold and distant.

Partnership involves Right Perspective

Philippians 1:12–13 ESV

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

This matter of perspective is especially important in seasons of low fruit, or seasons of perceived failure. For Paul, sitting in a prison cell could have put an end to his zeal, and it could have marked him in the Philippians’ mind as defunct, all washed up. But rather, Paul’s perspective and encouragement to his partners was that this perceived failure was providential. It was purposeful.

There will be meaningful seasons of drought, purposeful seasons of perceived failure, but when given to the Lord in devotion, all these things are for the advance of the Gospel. God can take a prison sentence and make a revival out of it, and God can take a season of dim waiting and shine bright Gospel lights through it.

Partnership involves Encouragement

Philippians 1:14 ESV

And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

There is a confidence and encouragement that takes place when one partner exhibits a testimony of faith in the Lord.

Surely, the Millers encourage us all by their devotion and commitment to the task at hand. May we encourage them as we exhibit faith in partnership.

2 Corinthians 8:3–5 ESV

For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

All of these things, then,

prayer

fellowship

mutual faith

affection

right perspective

encouragement

Are calls to action to us, as partners in the Gospel, and especially as we partner with the Millers in their mission to Bolivia.