Gospel Partnership on Mission in the World

GOSPEL PARTNERSHIP ON MISSION IN THE WORLD

An Exposition of “Partnership” in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   February 4, 2018

Series: Philippians: Gospel Partnership on Mission in the World

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

Missional Fellowship

My message this morning is probably different than it would have been, if we didn’t have one of our missionaries with us and if we weren’t looking ahead to the youth mission trip to New Brunswick in May. But our missionary Kevin Strout is here; Grant Fawcett, the Director of Arrowhead Native Bible Center, is here; some of our youth are going to serve with them in a few months; and Philippians has some important things to say about fellowship and partnership in gospel mission. Therefore, it seems fitting to reflect on this partnership theme today, and wait until the next Lord’s Day to begin the ordinary exposition of the letter. 

As it turns out, this also gives me an opportunity to provide an overview of the letter, which is summarized in the title of this sermon series:

Philippians: Gospel Partnership on Mission in the World

If you were around in January, then you may hear echoes of the sermons from John 15:1-17. There I used the phrase ‘missional fellowship’ to convey the idea that we disciples are in deep mutual relationship with our Lord and with one another, and that this deep mutual relationship – which originates in the eternal fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – has a missional character: the infinitely rich God goes forth to draw poor souls like us into life-giving fellowship with Him. Once we have this life-giving fellowship with Him, we become partners in His mission: He sends us to go forth in His name to announce the Good News and urge others to join us in God’s kingdom. This missional fellowship is on display in The Gospel of John, in The Acts of the Apostles, in The Letter to the Philippians, and frankly it is on display throughout the whole Bible.

In Genesis, the Bible’s very first book, we learn that the Lord called Abram to be the father of a great nation – and this call came before Abram had any descendants.

“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

Up, In, and Out

There are three relational directions on display in Genesis 12 and throughout the Bible. I don’t know if Mike Breen is the guy who came up with the concise summary known as ‘Up’, ‘In’, and ‘Out’, but I got it from him and find it very helpful.

‘Up’ refers to our primary vertical relationship with the Lord. In Genesis 12, the Lord speaks to Abram, and as the rest of the chapter unfolds, Abram obeys the Lord and calls upon His name in true worship. The priority of ‘Up’ reverberates in that greatest and first commandment to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

‘In’ refers to our relationships with one another inside the church family. Of course, the church in its more developed sense wasn’t present in Genesis 12, but the principle is present. The Lord promised to “make of [Abram] a great nation” – and that great nation is eventually named “Israel” after Abram’s grandson Jacob, who was renamed “Israel” by the Lord. Israel was the Old Testament church, so to speak; Israel was “the congregation of the Lord” – the set apart people who assembled in the name of the Lord. The Old Testament makes clear that the members of this holy nation had a sacred obligation to love one another and live together in peace.

In keeping with what we learned from The Gospel of John, remember that the ‘in’ relationships that we have as fellow believers are not external to the ‘up’ relationship that we have with the Lord, for we are gathered together around the Lord and in His presence, and He is present with His people and dwells in us: we in Him, and He in us, and us in Them (referring to the Father and the Son), and They in us, with all these relations mediated by God the Holy Spirit. So ‘in’ is really just calling attention to the fellowship that we have with each other as together we fellowship with the Lord in that primary, upward relationship.

‘Out’ refers to our mission of going forth into the world in order to draw others in. Mission to the world is evident in Genesis 12, because the Lord promised to make Abram a blessing to who? To “all the families of the earth.” When the Lord Jesus commissioned His disciples in Matthew 28 and Luke 24 and Acts 1 to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth and make disciples of all nations, He was putting the far-reaching global promise of Genesis 12 into high gear. Now that King Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham (the Lord had changed Abram’s name to Abraham) – now that Jesus has come into our world and made atonement for sin, the Good News should be declared to all people everywhere! Even so, God had revealed this missional vision to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 12: Abraham and his people would bring blessing to every other people group on the planet. As Christians we live right in the middle of this: through Jesus, the blessing of Abraham has reached all the way down to us, and now it is our privilege to extend that same blessing to others.

In light of all this, we can describe missional fellowship as ‘up’ and ‘in’ going ‘out’ in order to draw more people ‘in’ and ‘up’. In this deep mutual relationship with the Lord and with each other, we are all working together to bring new disciples into God’s forever family. Of course, the Lord Himself does the heavy lifting, without which we cannot lift anything or anyone. Apart from Him we can do nothing! (see John 15:6) In dependence on Him, we labor in the strength that He supplies, and we labor so that the gospel goes to more and more people in more and more places.

FELLOWSHIP-PARTNERSHIP IN PHILIPPIANS

Now as we turn our attention to Philippians, I want us to notice the language of partnership and fellowship, the language of mutuality and sharing, that occurs throughout the letter. The big over-arching idea that we must see in this letter is that this fellowship-partnership is totally centered on the Gospel: the Gospel generates this fellowship-partnership, shapes the way the fellowship partners relate to one another, and drives the partnership into mission. What is this all-important Gospel? The Gospel is the gracious promise that we are forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus – and this promise is for everyone who turns away from sin and treasures Jesus as the glorious Savior.

The Gospel Stands at the Center

The first thing we must recognize is that this Gospel is at the center of our life together as God’s people. This Gospel-centeredness is evident in Philippians 1. Paul tells the Philippians:

“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.” (Philippians 1:3-4)

Last week we looked at Acts 16:6-40 which tells us about the early days of gospel mission in Philippi and helps us to understand what Paul means by “partnership in the gospel” or as other translations say “fellowship in the gospel.” The Greek word that is here translated as partnership or fellowship is a word that will be familiar to some of you: the word is koinonia. This word, or a variation of this word, occurs at least six times in Philippians.

The basic idea of koinonia is sharing something in common with others. The world is full of koinonia. On this very night, millions of New Englanders will be cheering on the Patriots in Super Bowl Fifty-Two. Though these millions of fans have diverse backgrounds and personalities, they share in common with each other a love for the Pats.

It is also helpful to think about koinonia in terms of a household. Though we scatter about during the workday and have a variety of relationships with other people or institutions, our household – our family – is where we do life in its most concentrated form. Family members share in common with each other the same space, the same food, the same stuff, the same history, the same name, the same experiences, and (as some of us can attest this time of year) the same germs. A family shares a common life.

Remarkably, the New Testament calls the church a household – God’s household, God’s family, the household of faith. In keeping with this divine call, we share in common with each other spiritual realities that are more precious and more important than the ordinary realities that we share in our earthly families. According to Philippians 1:4 this koinonia – this deep mutual relationship, this profound sharing of a common life with each other – is “in the gospel.”

The Gospel Creates Fellowship-Partnership Among God’s People

The second thing we must recognize is that the gospel creates this shared ‘koinonia’ life. As you probably know, the apostle Paul – before he was an apostle – was racing toward destruction. He opposed the Gospel and persecuted the church. Then one day the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ laid hold of this wayward man and transformed him into a dear man of God. Now Paul had koinonia with the Lord and with the very people that he had been persecuting. Now Paul had koinonia with the church and all her members.

Eventually Paul’s missionary work took him to Philippi and, as we saw in Acts 16, he ministered the Gospel to Lydia and the jailer, among others. Neither Lydia nor the jailer knew the way of salvation as it is in Jesus – they were outside of Christian koinonia. But through Paul’s message they believed the Gospel and became part of the visible fellowship of the church community. Now Lydia was Paul’s sister in the Lord, and the jailer was Paul’s brother in the Lord; and Lydia and the jailer were sister and brother to each other, and so on with all the converts on Philippi. Their newfound relationship with the Lord (the ‘Up’ relationship) immediately brought them into relationship with the Lord’s people (the ‘In’ relationships). The gospel creates this lively fellowship by making us sons and daughters of the Father, and therefore brothers and sisters to each other. The ‘Up’ relationship comes first, of course. Grace and peace are flowing down to us from the Father and the Son (Philippians 1:2). Our koinonia (“participation”) is “in the Spirit” (Philippians 2:1). As followers of Christ it is our privilege to have koinonia in the sufferings of Christ – to “share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10), which means among other things that we are following the sacrificial pattern of His life. All those who share this fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, also share fellowship with one another. 

The Gospel Shapes How We Relate to One Another

The third thing we must recognize is that the gospel not only creates this fellowship-partnership, but also shapes the way that the fellowship partners relate to one another. Philippians 2 calls us as Christians to be unified in love, to humbly regard our brothers and sisters as more important than our self, and to be devoted to serving each other and meeting each other’s needs. Paul doesn’t expect this humble, loving, and unified community to spring up out of nowhere; rather he expects it to flow out of the gospel:

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any [koinonia] participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:1-8)

The basic idea is clear: since the Lord of glory humbled himself and became an obedient servant who laid down His life for us, then we as His followers should humble ourselves and become obedient servants who lay down our lives for each other. And since this Gospel doesn’t just provide information for our heads but also generates true spiritual encouragement, comfort, and tenderness in our hearts, the Spirit who holds us together in the bond of peace compels us to practice unified koinonia with one another.

So, the Gospel creates our fellowship-partnership and shapes us into humble fellowship partners who honor and serve one another with glad hearts.  

The Gospel Drives Us Into Mission

Then comes the fourth thing that we must recognize, namely, that the Gospel drives our fellowship-partnership into mission. The ‘Up’ and ‘In’ pushes ‘Out’! When we enter into this fellowship with the Lord, our life gets caught up in what the Lord is doing through His people. And what the Lord is doing through His disciples is mission. This is why Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke went to Philippi, to advance the Lord’s mission. Because of the Gospel, the Philippians got caught up in this same mission. Lydia turned her house into a base for mission, having Paul and his missionary team stay with her. (Acts 16:15) Likewise the jailer turned his house into a base for missionary recovery and refreshment: the missionaries had been beaten and jailed, but the jailer took them into his house, washed their wounds, and gave them a meal to eat. (Acts 16:33-34) Therefore Paul’s sense of gospel partnership with the Philippians “from the first day” was quite tangible.

Though this fellowship-partnership went down into the depths of the human heart and into the spiritual realm of faith and joy, this fellowship-partnership revealed itself in the physical, tangible, visible realm of everyday life, as it always must. Invisible ‘faith’ must step into the visible waters of ‘baptism’; invisible ‘fellowship with God in the Spirit’ must walk into the visible ‘fellowship of God’s people in the church’; invisible ‘love for one another’ must with hands and feet a-moving demonstrate itself in concrete forms of ‘helpful service’; and invisible sentiments about ‘mission’ must, as I have said before, get uncorked and poured out in ‘missional works.’

The missional works that had already been poured out by Lydia and the jailer were about to continue in various ways. Paul didn’t stay long in Philippi, and after a short time moved on to Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus (Acts 18-19), as he had to do in order to fulfill his missionary calling. Sometime later, Paul returned to Macedonia for a short time and presumably reconnected with the Philippians during that time (Acts 20). But all along the way, since his initial gospel work in Philippi, this church was in faithful “partnership in the gospel” with the apostle Paul, and he with them. And this faithful partnership meant active participation in Paul’s mission. Look at what Paul says in chapter 1, verse 7:

“… 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 part of the koinonia word family, so we are speaking of the same fellowship-partnership-sharing reality here. Paul and the Philippians are partaking together of the same grace – the same gospel grace that flows from the cross of Calvary. But notice that this shared life of grace gets expressed missionally. Paul doesn’t simply say that they are fellow partakers of grace, though that would have been wonderful enough; nor does Paul say that they are fellow partakers of grace in the worship and praise of God, though that would have been a completely true and glorious statement to make. Instead Paul chooses to place the emphasis on sharing grace in the context of mission:

“for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.”

Paul’s whole life was devoted to the proclamation of the gospel, and he often suffered for the gospel as a result – at various times he was slandered, beaten, and imprisoned. The Philippians graciously shared in Paul’s gospel mission: they graciously shared in his imprisonment, and they graciously shared in his missionary work. But this raises an important question: how so? The Philippians were in Philippi, and most of the time Paul was somewhere elsewhere in the Roman world. They were separated geographically almost all of the time. How then could the Philippians share in Paul’s work and Paul’s suffering?

Well, this sharing is rooted in mutual concern and energetic interest in each other, which then gets expressed in tangible action. Let’s start with this relational affection in the heart.

Congregations (like the one in Philippi, like ours in South Paris) and missionaries (like the apostle Paul traveling the Roman world, like Kevin serving in New Brunswick) should have mutual concern and energetic interest in each other. Paul prays for the Philippians (1:9-11), and the Philippians pray for Paul (1:19). Paul rejoices in and with the faithful saints in Philippi (1:3-4, 2:17), and he tells them that they “also should be glad and rejoice with [him]” (2:18). Paul is concerned about the welfare and needs of the Philippians (1:24-26, 2:19-24), even as they are concerned about his welfare and needs (2:25-30, 4:10-18). This energetic and prayerful interest in each other is undergirded by the common interest that they share in the gospel itself. In other words, their concern for each other is tied to their common concern for the Gospel. Paul labors for the sake of the gospel, and so do the Philippians. In fact, Paul urges the Philippians to “[strive] side by side for the faith of the gospel.” (1:27) Paul suffers for the gospel, and so do the Philippians. Paul tells the Philippians that they are “engaged in the same conflict” (1:30) that he himself has, conflict that comes from unsavory opponents who oppose the gospel message. Paul cares deeply about the gospel advancing into new places and bringing about new converts, and Paul assumes that the Philippians would care deeply, too. So he writes,

“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. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear." (Philippians 1:12-14)

The Philippians share with Paul the glorious gospel of grace – they share life in this gospel, they share love for this gospel, and they share labor to make this gospel known. This powerful gospel that holds them together in the Lord also leads them to care deeply for each other. And this mutual concern and energetic interest in each other cannot remain hidden in the heart – or in the prayer meeting for that matter – but must express itself in practical action when opportunity allows. It is Lydia opening up her home, and the jailer opening up his, and much, much more as time goes on. This brings us to Philippians 4:10-18.

“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. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

“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. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” (Philippians 4:10-18)

In earlier days, when Paul was leaving Macedonia, the Philippians entered into koinonia (“into partnership”) with Paul by giving material support to his gospel mission. Now in more recent days another opportunity presented itself, and the Philippians entered into koinonia with him in his trouble – they shared Paul’s trouble and made it their own. True koinonia rejoices with those who rejoice, weeps with those who weep, is troubled with those who are troubled – and does something about it! So the Philippians sent gifts to Paul by the hand of their very own Epaphroditus, whom Paul calls “my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need.” (Philippians 2:25) This is generosity and care in action.

BRIEF SUMMARY AND APPLICATION

Let me briefly summarize what we have learned so far.

First, the Gospel is the center of the fellowship-partnership that we share with each other as fellow believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, the Gospel creates this fellowship-partnership. The Gospel first reconciles us to God and then brings us into relationship with one another.

Third, the Gospel shapes how fellowship partners relate to each other. As Jesus humbled Himself by becoming an obedient servant who sacrificed his life for our good, so we who follow Jesus must humble ourselves by becoming obedient servants who sacrifice our lives and resources for the good of each other.

Fourth, the Gospel drives the fellowship-partnership into mission. We who have fellowship with the Lord cannot help but be caught up in what He is doing. And what the Lord is doing through His Spirit-empowered people is mission. We “shine as lights in the [crooked and twisted] world” (Philippians 2:15) and we care about the progress of the gospel locally (1:27-30) and globally (1:12-18).

Fifth, this gospel-driven missional fellowship includes missionary partnerships in which congregations actively participate in gospel mission by supporting front-line gospel workers. We can do this by caring for our missionaries, opening up our homes for them when they visit, praying for them, sending them financial support, rejoicing with them in their joys, sharing with them in their troubles, and going to visit them and minister to their needs when it is practical to do so. These missionary partnerships originate in the invisible realm of faith and joy, but necessarily get expressed in the visible realm of hugs, tears, letters, emails, guest rooms, dinner tables, lively conversations, personal visits, and generous amounts of cash – generosity being measured not by the size of the gift, but by the size of the giver’s heart.

In May 2018 we have an opportunity to express the missional nature of our fellowship by sending a number of youth and adults to New Brunswick in order to assist with the ministry of the Gospel in that place. All this involves cooperation with Kevin, one of our missionary partners, and with Grant, the Director of Arrowhead Native Bible Center. This is missional fellowship! This is missionary partnership! This is ‘up’ and ‘in’ moving ‘out’ in order to bring others ‘in’ and ‘up’.

Just as the Philippian church sent Epaphroditus to Paul in order to bring their gifts and minister to Paul’s needs, so we have an opportunity to send this youth mission team to Arrowhead in order to contribute to the Lord’s work in New Brunswick. And just as Paul called Epaphroditus “brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier”, so we can call the members of this youth mission team our brothers and sisters, fellow workers who are laboring in the gospel, fellow soldiers who are lining up to advance the gospel and thereby push back the forces of darkness.

Therefore, take an energetic interest in the adults and youth who are participating in this mission assignment. Care deeply about their work. Rejoice with them in their opportunity to support gospel work in another part of the world. Pray for them before, during, and after. Pray also that the youth mission trip would anticipate an increase of gospel mission going forth from South Paris Baptist Church – whether that is across the border or overseas, across the street or downtown.

Last but not least, be generous and write large-hearted checks. The sixteen people going on this mission trip need to raise $57/person (that’s a total of $912), and Audra told me that anything raised beyond the $912 will be given as a love offering to Arrowhead’s fundraising effort for a chapel. My appeal to all of us is to give beyond the measure of need, blow the $912 out of the water, and equip our mission team to bless Arrowhead with a generous love offering. How does this sound for a good application of gospel partnership?    

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTE: My inclusion of a bibliography reflects my interaction with other teachers in the preparation of my sermon. While the main part of my preparation involves my direct interaction with the biblical text, I find it helpful to invite other “discussion partners” into my preparation process. My mention of these teachers (writers, speakers, etc.) does not imply any particular level of agreement with them, nor does it constitute an endorsement of their work. That said, I am appreciative of those – past and present – who are seeking to faithfully teach God’s Word, and I am happy to benefit from their labor.

Hansen, G. Walter. The Letter to the Philippians (Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.