Partnership (Koinonia)
Joyful Gospel Partnership - Philippians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
So I was driving through town the other day and noticed that the lumberyard here in town was putting up new signs. What was Interstate Building Supply is now called Midtown Building Supply with a tag line of “Your Building Partner” I am guessing that the idea behind that is that there is something more inviting about having a “Partner” in your building or remodeling efforts then there is in having a place to just buy stuff. That is good marketing.
Of course the reason that this caught my attention is because last week we began our Summer series on the book of Philippians. We talked about how the book was first a letter (MAILBOX) sent by the Apostle Paul to the Church of Philippi to instruct them on how to live in line with what they shared in common. Then we went into the book of Acts and found that there was very little that the founding Church partners had in common. We met just three of them, but
There was an Asian, wealthy, fashionista who already worshiped Jehovah God
There was a Greek slave girl who was used as a fortune teller because she was possessed by a demon
And a Roman Jailer who fearing the city leaders punished Paul and his missionary team as if they were violent criminals
It is not hard to see that these three started out with very little “in common”, except that we read how each one of them was significantly changed by the power of the Gospel. That is their link. That is what they have in common, for all practical purposes it seems that may be all they had in common. And I suggested to you that the fact that this Church began centered on the power of the Gospel as probably their only thing in common may be the reason that they ended up growing into such a healthy Church.
Remember we
This brings us the question that we are going to be grappling with this summer: What makes a Church a healthy Church?
What makes a Church a healthy Church?
These three
Because every indications is that despite their diverse beginnings the Church in Philippi grew to be a healthy Church. Paul wrote other letters to Churches and in each one there is a strong corrective and disciplinary tone, except for the book of Philippians where the tone seems to be more of an encouragement to stay the course and keep doing the good and healthy things that I hear that you are doing.
The reason that Paul is hearing what the Church of Philippi is doing instead of seeing it first hand is that they are separated by nearly 800 miles and several years. 10 years have gone by since Paul first followed the leading of the Holy Spirit into the city of Philippi to preach the Gospel there. He had returned only once that we are aware of in his third missionary journey, but we find him very affectionately writing this encouraging letter to this Church.
He clearly is very proud of their faithfulness. The Church has been able to focus on the MAIN THING. And of course the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. We learn of the main thing in the beginning of the letter. After the address label and formal greeting he writes:
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
This is their Main thing and where we are getting our title for our Summer series. The Philippian Church and every Church that would aim at being a healthy Church should center itself around being in Joyful Gospel Partnership with one another.
Joyful Gospel Partnership
These three thing are the bedrock on which a healthy Church is operated and over this coming summer we are going to look at each of them individually as well as how they work together to develop healthy churches. This morning we are going to begin to look at Paul’s idea of Partnership.
Tension
This morning we
I am excited about how God has already been working upstream to pull things together for the message for this morning. We are privileged today to have one of ministry Partners here to share with us. The Valley Family are here with us this morning from Rio Grande Bible Institute in Edinburgh, Texas. I would like to invite them up to share with us how God is using them in Joyful Gospel Partnership with so many different ministries and ministers around the world.
VALLEY FAMILY SHARING 10-15 minutes
Pray over the Valley Family
Truth
Thank you Valley Family for sharing with us this morning...
What I find so fitting in their presence here this morning is that just like the Valleys live and serve hundreds of miles away from the Mondovi area, we still can share in the same kind of Joyful Gospel Partnership that Paul is talking about.
In fact Texas is about 800 miles away from Mondovi, just like the Prison that Paul was writing from in Rome was 800 miles away from the city of Philippi. Of course the Valleys live in the southern most tip of Texas so that is much further, more like 1500 miles aways but the point is that Joyful Gospel Partnership is not limited to geographic location. It is much bigger than that. And they play a wonderfully supportive role in seeing pastors and Bible teachers go all over the world to share in this Partnership.
Lets take a look again at the beginning of Paul’s letter”
Lets take a look again at the beginning of Paul’s letter”
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Why was
Most of Paul’s letters in the New Testament begin with him telling them that this is remembering them in prayer. For much of Paul’s ministry he was traveling from Church to Church encouraging the believers and strengthening them in their faith and when he was away from them he was faithful to remember them in Prayer.
Why was Paul writing a letter? because He was in Prison and yet remembering the Church of Philippi affectionately!
Why would this be something that Paul would want the Churches to know?
Because the Partnership of a healthy Church is at it’s core a supernatural partnership. It both requires AND it offers supernatural involvement. Nothing against the new Lumberyard, but they are not advertising for a supernatural partnership. It is a very natural one, rooted in the goal of building or remodeling homes in the physical natural world.
The goal of the Church is not to build a physical building, but to build something supernatural. While a Church may meet in a building, a building is never a Church. It is just the place that the a Church may gather, but it is never the Church. The Church is built of a community of people who are partnered together in the Gospel to do a powerful supernatural work.
One of the distinctions about this kind of partnership is that
Why was Paul writing a letter? because He was in Prison and yet remembering the Church of Philippi affectionately!
This Partnership is Powerful
This Partnership is Powerful
This is a repeated theme in Pauls letters to the Churches he helped to plant. In his letter to the Romans, Paul said...
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
We Partner together in Prayer
In his first letter to the Church in Corinth he said
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The message of the Gospel, the word of the cross, it is a powerful supernatural thing. We read last week in about how the Gospel worked powerfully in the three founding partners of the Church of Philippi.
We read last week in about how the Gospel worked powerfully in the three founding partners of the Church of Philippi.
God supernaturally opened the heart of Lydia the fashionista to go further than her worship of Jehovah to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She responded by being baptized and hosting the Church meetings in her home.
God supernaturally worked through Paul to deliver the slave girl from the demon who tormented her, even as she followed him around declaring the truth of the Gospel. We are not told what happened to her, but we certainly hope that experienced led her to accept those things that she was annoyingly declaring over Paul and his team.
God supernaturally caused an earthquake to open up the bonds and doors of the jail in order to open up the heart of the jailer. Then he and his whole family responded to the Gospel and were baptized and they rejoiced when they recieved the Gospel.
God caused an earthquake in the jail so that the jailer tho
Joyful Gospel Partnership is a supernatural bond between believers that is greater than any other connection on earth. Even death itself cannot break this bond. Think about it. You will be spending eternity with these people. For some people that is very exciting prospect, in others that might be a bit concerning, but either way just as Paul did, we should be praying for each other for the supernatural work of the Gospel to take effect in our lives.
Unlike many other Churches that Paul was praying for, he prayed for the Philippian Church “with joy” and why? becauses of [their] partnership in the gospel from the first day until now”. It was the depth of their Partnership that brought Paul such Joy when he remembered the Church at Philippi.
What did Paul mean when he said “your partnership”? Well the Greek word there is one you might have heard of. It is the word
“koinonia”. We typically see this word translated something like “fellowship” but I am glad that the translators chose to use partnership here. Too often we limit our understanding of “fellowship” to simple social gathering. koinonia might involve this, but it is much more. Koinonia is a sharing of something in common that forms a supernatural bond that goes beyond what we might experience at the typical graduation party or company picnic. It goes beyond satisfying the physical needs of social interaction to satisfying the supernatural need of spiritual interaction.
This Partnership is Personal
This Partnership is Personal
It is a soul touching a soul kind of interaction.
Truth
How does that sit with you this morning?
Seems kind of personal doesn’t it? It does.
Seems kind of intimate isn’t it? It is.
You might say, I am not sure I am ready for that kind of thing yet. That’s ok, but you should know that is where this Church thing that we do here is supposed to be heading. That is where a healthy Church is found. It is not found in partnerships over buildings programs, or music preferences, or the latest greatest ministry resources. Those things might fill our calendars but they won’t make us a healthy Church. A healthy Church is built on the soul touching soul partnership called “koinonia”.
This is what Paul saw in the Philippian church, and I believe it is what God wants for us here at Friendship Church. Listen to the way Paul describes his koinonia with the Philippian Church:
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.
Do you hear the progressive language here? From day one God supernaturally began a “good work” in their lives and He is still after it today and he will still be at it for a whole string of tomorrows until the day that Jesus Christ returns. A healthy Church is that relys on the power of the Gospel to mature it. A Church where the people are not just captured by the Gospel on day one, but they grow together in the Gospel day by day. Because of the very personal relationship that Paul has formed with this Church he is confident that the Church in Philippi will continue in the good work of Joyful Gospel “Koinonia”…Joyful 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.
Philippians 1:7
- the word “partakers” is another form of the word “koinonia” aimed at the grace of the Gospel.
- Paul is writing this letter from prison because he was publically defending and affirming the gospel. The Church at Philippi has actively been a part of Paul’s efforts to this end. One of the ways that we know that they did this was in their support of Paul both in prayer and in giving financially toward His missionary efforts. Much like we are corporately doing for the Valley family, the Church in Philippi was sending financial gifts to Paul that were a great encouragement to him.
We even find him bragging on them a bit in one of his letters to the Church in Corinth where he says:
2 Corinthians 8:1-
1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
The Churches in Macedonia, led out by the Church in Philippi saw their own poverty, but still they prayed and asked God what they should do and God directed them to give generously and they gave, “even beyond their means” to the relief of the saints in Jerusalem who were under serious persecution at the time.
The Philippian Church did not personally know these people who were suffering, but they shared in Joyful Gospel Partnership with them, so when God said “give” they gave. It is radical obedience like this that binds peoples hearts together even if they are hundreds of miles apart. And this is what gives Paul such confidence in this Church, as well as a deep love for them.
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
There is no greater illustration of affection then that of Christ Jesus. Jesus said...
I remember reading my kids a book when a young rabbit was trying to outdo his father in a describing how much he loved him. The little nut brown hare rabbit opened his arms wide and said, “I love you this much”. And the big nut brown hare did the same, only his arms went much further, and he said, yeah well I love you this once. Then the little rabbit hopped up really high and said yeah well I love you this much, and the big nut brown jumbed up so hid his ears touched the branches of the tree when he said yeah well I love you this much. They kept going back and forth until after dark when finally, barely keepig his eyes open the little nut brown hare said, “I love you all the way to the moon”. And the wise big nut brown hare replied, “That is really far”. Then as he tucked the little nut brown hare into his bed of leaves he quietly wispered, “Well I love you to the moon and back”
Anyone ever heard or read that story before? The idea is that the little nut brown hare loved his daddy as much as his little bunny self could, but his daddy was always able to do more. No matter what else we might compare our love to, there is no greater act of love than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for you and me.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
And we call our gathering here, Friendship Church. It is personal and that is exactly what Paul is getting at. He loves his friends in the Church at Philippi with a Gospel love. With a soul to soul love that is connected with something so much deeper than an earthly relationship can reach on it’s own. A healthy Church is resolved to reach into each others life with this kind of love.
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. 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. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:
And that is exactly what Paul means. He loves his friends in the Church at Philippi with a Gospel love. With a soul to soul love that is connected with something so much deeper than an earthly relationship can reach on it’s own. A healthy Church is resolved to reach into each others life with this kind of love.
And it is this love that God expects that we will show to one another in the Church. The love that Jesus demonstrated by his sacrifice on the cross for you is then given to you and me to share together with one another.
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 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. 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. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 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.
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
That word fellowship there - both times - is the word “koinonia”. It is a soul depth connection with someone else that will continue on into eternity because it is rooted in our shared relationship with the Father through the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul prays for this Church with such joy! He knows that they are living in this kind of “koinonia”. He shares this kind of “Koinonia” with them.
Lastly, this kind of koinonia is Prayer - full
Lastly, this kind of koinonia is Prayer - full
Up to this point Paul has been sharing how and why he prays for this Church, but in the following verses he tells us exactly what he prays for them.
What Paul prays for in the Church in Philippi…pray for this over Friendship Church!
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
I want to stop here because I know that some of you have already checked out. As soon I said love, you were like, “ok, I know I don’t “love” people enough, I am not lovey, dovey, huggy, enough”…that is not the kind of love that Paul is talking about here. He is not talking about a love that forces us into more smiles , hugs, and hearty handshakes”.
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 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. 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. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 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. 12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. 27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Because they didn’t want people to be confused with other kinds of love, Paul and the other New Testament writers actually resurect this uncommon Greek word for love called “agape”. They don’t wan’t their readers to get confused between other kinds of love, like love for family, brotherly love or romantic love. Listen to how Paul describes the effects of this kind of loving each other. These are the things that will happen because we love each other with this kind of love:
The word for love here is “agape” and we have He is not talking about ...
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.
The person who initiated the phrase “Love is blind” was not talking about Biblical Agape Love. This kind of love makes truth clearer and clearer and then draws people into righteousness because they so desperately want to honor God in all they do and say. Paul prays this for this Church and we should be praying these things for each other.
Philippians 1:
Joyful Gospel Partnership is a supernatural bond between believers that is greater than any other connection on earth. Even death itself cannot break this bond. Think about it. You will be spending eternity with these people. For some people that is very exciting prospect, in others that might be a bit concerning, but either way just as Paul did, we should be praying for each other for the powerful work of the Gospel would personally grow us together in such a way that God is greatly glorified.
Landing
Landing
The connection that is meant to be a marker of the Christian Church is Koinonia - the one thing we have in common that is stronger than anything else and yet when we get together is that what we talk about? Or is it other lighter more earthly commonalities that bind us together?
Partnership is
We have such “Koinonia” with each other
We have such “Koinonia” with each other
That we are to invite others into our “Koinonia”
That we are to invite others into our “Koinonia”
1 John 3
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
This kind of “partnership” this “koinonia” is foundational to what a healthy Church looks like. So how do we access it? How do we develop it? How do we go from our quick, yet friendly handshake during the greeting time to having a soul touching soul kind of relationship with the people we gather together with in order to do Church?
We don’t have time to get to this answer this morning, but my hope has been that in giving you a taste of what it looks like you might begin to develop a hunger for it. It is not something that we naturally will want, because it is a supernatural experience.
My question for you is, Do you have the courage to go after something like this with us?
Let’s pray into that together, shall we...
Just a reminder that starting next week, on Father’s Day, the Church service will begin at 9:30am instead of 10:30.
Understand that our goal in this time change was not just to free up more of your morning for summer activities. Remember last week how I talked about our best question is “How with this ________ work toward more people hearing and growing in the Gospel. It is our hope that you will launch from this place each Sunday into picnics, hiking, boating, fishing, baseball whatever it is effects of JOYFUL GOSPEL PARTNERSHIP with you.
So starting next week, we will come together each week at 9:30 to fuel up for this and then we will send you out early to live it in your world. All for the glory of God.
9:30 start here?