Partners In The Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Subject: Partnership
Theme: Gospel Partnership
Thesis: Gospel partnership means sharing life together with a heartfelt concern for one another’s growth in Christ.
Principle: As partners in the gospel, we should express our love for one another by making time to learn God’s Word, pray, worship, and serve together, helping each other become more like Jesus.
As I studied, prayed, and prepared for our time together this morning, part of my process is to bring the passage down to a single word subject.
That word I came to for this passage this morning is the word partnership.
We use the word in many different contexts.
In the church we talk about partnering together in ministry.
Churches and individuals partner together.
Churches partner with missionaries around the world.
In business we talk about financial partnerships.
Business partners work together to earn a profit.
Our tendence is to see a partnership in the sense of a donor and recipient.
But Paul is not referring to a partnership here in a transactional sense.
He is describing something deeper.
It is more than a transaction, it is a relationship.
Paul’s prayer helps to reveal necessary relationships within the Christian life.
There is a tension in churches today and one prevalent in areas like ours where we are isolated by distance.
It costs us to make partnership in the gospel a reality in our lives.
It takes a different effort for us than people who live in a city.
It is very easy to be relationally isolated.
A church can show up on Sunday, sing songs, shake a few hands, smile at each other, and then go home.
But you really can’t know each other in that situation.
It doesn’t allow the time to know the burden someone else is carrying.
That comes naturally for those who have been in the church/community for a long time, there are already established relationships outside of Sunday, but for those who have not, it is difficult.
In our case here, we call ourselves a church family, and I believe we are, but if we are honest, how many of us live like strangers?
Paul is describing a very different relationship as he writes his letter to the church in Philippi, even through the physical distance that they had between them.
Paul describes a partnership that runs deep —
Thesis: Gospel partnership means sharing life together with a heartfelt concern for one another’s growth in Christ.
So let's look at what that looks like. Open your Bibles with me to Philippians chapter 1.
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. 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. 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. And 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.
A Partnership Forged in the Gospel (1:3–5)
A Partnership Forged in the Gospel (1:3–5)
Paul’s prayer beginning in verse three begins with real heartfelt gratitude.
Look at verse 3: "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you."
This is not casually or occasionally remembering.
The word Paul uses is for mindful remembrance.
They come to mind often for him and every time they do, he thanks God for them.
Can you think of a person in your life that you can say the same thing about.
Every time you think of them, you thank God?
And look at verse 4: "always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy."
Paul is praying with joy.
The significance of Paul’s prayer becomes clearer when we consider what typically prompted Paul’s prayers.
In writing to Rome, Paul thanks God for the Romans’ faith and mentions them constantly in prayer (Rom 1:8–10).
To the Ephesians, he gives thanks upon hearing of their faith and love, remembering them in his prayers (Eph 1:15–16).
The Colossians’ faith and love prompt his thanksgiving and intercession (Col 1:3–4).
In these letters, Paul’s prayers flow from reports of spiritual growth or faithfulness he’s heard about.
But this occasion is different.
There is faithfulness yes, but Paul prays for them with joy specifically because of their active partnership in the gospel—
They have stood with him both in his imprisonment and in defending the gospel itself (Phil 1:7).
The word partakers -
They are co-laborers who’ve proven their commitment through costly action.
They have joined the lives together, even over a great distance.
Paul expresses it directly in verse 5.
Because of your your partnership.
The Greek word is Koinonia - We have talked some about what that word entails.
It is close fellowship.
Paul says it began when they first heard the gospel.
The first day until now.
The partnership that Paul is talking about is their giving, sending one of their own, Epaphroditus, to serve him while he was imprisoned.
Financial gifts.
In our world today, most partnerships dissolve under pressure.
Business partners split when money gets tight.
Friends drift when life pulls them apart.
Even church connections can fade when things get hard — when someone goes through a season of struggle, when life gets messy, when it's no longer convenient to stay connected.
But this partnership held.
Why?
Because it wasn't built on convenience, shared hobbies or similar schedules or the fact that they happened to have children the same age.
It was built on the gospel.
And the gospel is the one foundation that nothing in this world can shake.
When it comes to relationships, sometimes a person’s need lasts much longer than our attention does.
Someone becomes ill or can no longer come to church.
We hear about it, become concerned, and we intend to reach out.
But weeks become months.
Our lives stay full, and eventually we get used to that person being absent.
For them, though, the days are still long.
They still need someone to ask how they are doing, listen to them, and pray with them.
I know I have needed to grow in this myself.
There have been times when I meant to follow up and let too much time pass.
Notice how Paul speaks about these believers.
They are away from him, but they have a regular place in his prayers.
He remembers them with gratitude and longs for them with the affection of Christ.
That's what κοινωνία looks like in real life.
It's not abstract.
It's not a theological concept.
It's the person who shows up when everything falls apart and says, "I'm not going anywhere."
And the thing we need to see through Paul’s letter is that this partnership didn't happen by accident.
The Paul and the Philippians didn't stumble into deep a gospel relationship.
They chose it.
They invested in it.
They made time for it.
The Philippians gave generously.
They sent their best people.
They prayed.
They sacrificed.
Gospel partnership is not passive.
It requires something from those who are partnered together.
A question we might ask ourselves individually from the example we see in Paul’s prayer is
Are we living as gospel partners, or are we living as strangers who happen to attend the same church?
Because as partners in the gospel, we should express our love for one another as Paul is remembering they have for one another here.
The God Who Finishes What He Starts (1:6)
The God Who Finishes What He Starts (1:6)
Paul moves on in verse 6 to go state a promise.
This is one of the most significant promises for any believer in scripture.
6 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.
Let that sink in for a moment.
This a promise that Paul prays for the Philippians and a promise that is true for us as well.
The God who started this work — in your faith, in your marriage, in this church — He's the one who will finish it.
And by completion Paul means full accomplishment.
It's the picture of an artist who begins a masterpiece and doesn't step away until every stroke is finished, every detail is in place, every color is exactly right.
God is the artist.
You are the canvas.
The most beautiful thing is that He is not done yet.
And God is not limited to one canvas at a time.
Maybe you are here this morning and you feel like you are not far enough along in your walk with the Lord.
You look at your faith and you think, I should be further by now.
I should be more mature.
I should be more consistent.
I should have conquered this sin that comes back to plague me by now.
I should be more like this or that person.
The enemy loves to use that voice — the voice of comparison, the voice of inadequacy — to keep you discouraged.
We all need this reminder.
God began the work.
God will complete it.
The finish line isn't next week or next year.
It is the day of Jesus Christ — the final day, the last day, the day when everything God started in you reaches its full, glorious completion.
And until that day, He is working.
Even when you can't see it.
Even when you don't feel it.
Even when it seems like nothing is happening.
He is working.
And here's what ties this back to partnership: God doesn't just work on you in isolation.
He works on us through other people.
We don’t know how many letters Paul sent back and forth to this Church but we have this letter that God chose to include for us as scripture.
It is a reminder that God completes His work in community.
Through partnership.
Through people who are willing to share life together in the gospel.
If you are here this morning and you are discouraged.
If you feel like your faith is small, or your growth is slow, or you're not where you should be —
You are not alone.
I pray you hear this: the God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
He's not finished with you.
And He's placed people around you to help you get there.
That is a reason to give thanks!
As partners in the gospel, God places us together to help one another become more like Jesus!
Love That Grows Deeper (1:7–11)
Love That Grows Deeper (1:7–11)
In verses 7-11 Paul turns from thanksgiving prayer to supplication for the Philippians.
His prayer further shows how we grow together in Christ through gospel partnership.
7 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.
Paul holds them in his heart.
The seat of emotion.
He intensifies it with verse 8.
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
The word affection is a feeling word.
Feelings that come from the deepest inward parts.
Paul doesn't just think about the Philippians.
He feels for them.
They're in his gut.
More that casual affection.
It is the kind of love that comes from shared suffering, shared mission, shared life in the gospel.
This is the kind of love that when you get a message from someone that they are going through a difficult time that you begin to feel it with them.
The relationship went both ways for Paul and the Philippians.
They are "partakers of grace" with him — in his imprisonment and in the defense of the gospel.
They're not just watching from a distance.
They're in it with him.
His chains are their chains.
His mission is their mission.
His suffering is their suffering.
That is partnership.
As Paul is feeling this for them he prays prays the goal of their partnership in 9-11.
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
There is a lot here to look at.
Paul prays that their love would abound — not just exist, but overflow.
More and more.
Without limit.
More than warm feelings.
It's the kind of love that shows up, that sacrifices, that stays when things get hard.
And he wants it to grow.
Second, he prays that their love would grow in knowledge — deep, experiential knowledge.
This isn't the kind of knowing you get from reading a book or passing a test.
This is the kind of knowing that changes how you live.
Paul wants their love to be soaked in the knowledge of God — so that it's not just affection, but discernment.
Paul’s prayer here shows that love and knowledge work hand in hand together.
When it comes to relationships.
Love without knowledge gets sentimental.
Knowledge without love gets cold.
Perhaps you have been in one of these environments.
In a church, a church that's all heart and no head — everything is emotional, everything is warm, but nobody can tell you what they actually believe or why.
Or a church that's all knowledge and no heart — the theology is precise, the doctrine is airtight, but nobody actually cares about you.
Both must be equally present.
Paul prays for the Philippians church to feel deeply and think clearly.
A church where love grows up into knowledge, and knowledge is soaked in love.
That is a prayer for us as well.
That we would not just be people who seek to know that word but that we could continue to grow as people whose love abounds more and more.
Paul’s third goal in verse 10 that the church’s love would abound that they would approve what is excellent.
That word approve is like a jeweler testing gold to see if it's real.
Paul is praying that through their abounding love that they will know what is the difference between what is simply good and what is best.
The result of all of this is to 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."
Ture gospel partnership bears fruit, maturity, people who are becoming more like Jesus — together.
That only happens through Jesus.
Through our abiding in Him as He reminds us in John 15.
The goal of the church must be more than to have friends at church.
It must also be to help each other become more like Jesus — to the glory and praise of God.
Application: What Gospel Partnership Requires
So lets make Paul’s message practical for us.
What does this mean for us?
What does it look like — practically, concretely, this week — to live as gospel partners?
If gospel partnership means sharing life together with a heartfelt concern for one another's growth in Christ, then here's what this might look like.
1. Making time to learn God's Word together.
More than just on Sunday morning.
This is opening the Scriptures together — in your home, as a small group, over coffee, with a friend.
It is the accountability that comes with asking each other: What is God teaching you?
What are you reading?
What is He pressing into your life?
Gospel partners don't just attend church together.
They dig into the Word together.
And when we do that, something happens — our love grows in knowledge, just like Paul prayed.
A second way we can show heartfelt concern for one another's growth is to
2. Make time to pray together.
Not just "I'll pray for you" as you walk out the door — though that's a start.
I mean actually stopping, right there, in the moment, and praying. Out loud. Together. For each other.
Someone shares a need or something they are going through, stop and pray.
I know we are a church that prays.
Many of you are faithful in prayer and pray for families and the needs of the church.
I think though of Jesus in the Garden.
What was part of his greatest anguish.
Each time he returned to Peter and John, can you not stay awake and pray with me, in my most desperate hour!
Some of the deepest bonds between people on their knees, bringing their real needs before God together.
That's κοινωνία. That's partnership.
3. Make time to worship together.
More than on Sunday.
Worship ought to be a daily practice.
I don’t mean go to church every day.
Worship is how we respond to God's kingship every day of our lives.
While corporate worship matters, it is also important to do this in every part of life.
Sing together around you dinner table.
Thank God for his blessings in your daily conversations.
Read a Psalm together.
Call or text someone and say "Hey, I've been carrying something heavy this week. Can we just pray together right now — over the phone, in the car, wherever we are?"
Worship should become the rhythm of our lives.
And when you build that rhythm into your week — alone and with others — a shift takes place.
Your perspective changes.
Anxiety loosens its grip.
Your heart opens back up to the God who's been there all along.
The writer of Hebrews tells us not to neglect gathering together.
There's a reason for that.
We need each other.
And worshipping together in some way is one of the avenues where we remember that.
4. Make time to serve together.
Gospel partnership is not just inward.
It's outward.
It's not just about growing together — it's about going together.
Serving side by side.
Meeting needs.
Carrying burdens.
Maybe you have a need that we as a church can come alongside you to help meet?
We can’t do it if we don’t know what it is.
Serving together looks like opening our homes, our schedules, our hands.
Some of you have gifts and abilities that this church needs.
Some of you have time that you're spending on things that won't last.
And some of you are looking for purpose — for something that matters.
I want to tell you that serving together in the gospel is one of the most fulfilling things you will ever do.
And it's one of the primary ways God grows us into the people He's calling us to be.
We can serve each other in the church, and we also can serve together outside of our church.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I want us as church to know that the God who began a good work in you — in your faith, in your relationships, in this church — He will bring it to completion.
Joy isn't the absence of trouble.
Joy is the presence of a God who completes what He begins, and the partners He gives us along the way.
My prayer for us as a church is that we not settle for polite distance.
Let's not settle for smiling in entrance and never sharing our real lives.
Let's be the kind of church that Paul is describing here — a church where love abounds, where knowledge grows,
where we sharpen each other, where we carry each other's burdens, where we help each other become more like Jesus.
That's gospel partnership.
Let's thank Him for the gospel partners He's placed in our lives.
And let's ask Him — honestly, humbly — to grow us into the kind of partners this passage describes.
Because the good work He started — He's not done yet. And He's not done with us.
Let's pray.
