Philippians 1:3-11 Gospel Partnership and God’s Perseverance

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 defence 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 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now (Philippians 1:3-11).

Paul is in prison whilst writing this letter to the church which he planted whilst on his second missionary journey to Macedonia. A Jewish woman called Lydia responded to the preaching of the Gospel and became a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. After being baptised she opened her home to Paul and his co-workers. Soon others get saved and the church grows and leaders are installed. Paul goes on to develop an affectionate relationship with this church which is not found with any of the other churches he plants. These are the humble beginnings of the church at Philippi.

Why is Paul so thankful, prayerful and joyful?

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…

Paul is full of thanks, full or prayer and full of joy. He is full despite being in prison and despite being in a dark place in his life. Whilst his joy comes primarily from God who is his strength, Paul stresses that his fullness of thanks, prayer and joy comes from a source outside of him. He has been given great reason to be full. God has been merciful to Paul and has given him plentiful even in the midst of great loss.

⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

The reason for Paul’s joy arises from the fact that the Philippians were taking seriously the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. Paul is full because the believers had prioritised the Gospel as of first importance in their own lives. This wasn’t something they had just decided to do when it was convenient to them. Paul is full because of their consistency of support in the Gospel from the first day until now. They had not waivered in their allegiance and support of spreading the power of the Gospel to the ends of the world. Paul says it is because of their partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now.

Partnership in the Gospel

Partnership in the Gospel simply means sharing in the Gospel. Some translations use the words fellowship or participation. Paul’s greatest joy over the saints at Philippi appears to be because they had all participated in the Gospel somehow.

What’s the deal with partnership? It sounds like a corporate kind of business word. Many Christian ministries have abused this word and the meaning of partnering in the Gospel. When we now see the word, it carries a certain suspicion and weight to it. I hear it all the time from TV ministries, “partner with us and God will bless you.” You will hear many ministries asking you today to partner with them. Most often this usually means financially of some sort. They will tell you how they are equipped to do what needs to be done. They will often plea with you using God’s Word out of context for their own gain.

Partnering with a ministry is not a bad thing. The Philippians had partnered with Paul in the advancement of the Gospel. But the major question which begs an answer is what kind of partnership was this. The partnership which the Philippians had in the Gospel was more than just financial, it was their whole lives. Not only did they partner in the advancement of the Gospel through sacrifice, they were participating in the true Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ which preaches and teaches the full counsel of God. It was an offensive Gospel where Christ crucified stood at the centre. It was that Gospel which boldly yet lovingly proclaimed salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. There was the preaching of repentance from sins, the shedding of Christ’s blood for guilty sinners, the justice and holy hatred of God towards sin, the eternal loss in hell of all who reject Christ Jesus. This is the Gospel they had partnered in.

From the First Day

What brings Paul greater fullness of joy is the fact that the Philippians were with Paul from the first day the church at Philippi was born (Acts 16:15). They did not wait to see how successful Paul was before they supported him. They saw Christ all over this broken man. They saw his life and they heard his message. How much did they know about Paul? Not a lot. In fact, his CV didn’t read like some of the other super apostles. He wasn’t even like Peter and John who were personal eyewitnesses of the crucifixion, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul could not say with John:

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…(1 John 1:1-2)

Instead Paul was like the chief of sinners who formerly before his conversion had persecuted and locked up Christians.

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. (Acts 8:3)

After his conversion, Paul was just a broken, beaten little man who built tents in his spare time. He said of himself, “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9). Here is a brief CV of Paul in his own words:

I am talking like a madman—with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).

This hardly sounds like the kind of man you would want to support in getting the Gospel to the gentile world? Most of us would say he should have been in a hospital or in a retirement home resting and recovering. But the Philippians saw it much differently. In fact they rejoiced with Paul and suffered with Paul. They were with Paul from the first day until now. They were with him when the church was planted, and they were with him when he was suffering in prison. Paul has every reason to rejoice.

They were with Paul when the work had begun, they were faithful with Paul in the midst of the work when it looked dark, gloomy and hopeless at times, and it certainly looked like they were going to remain with Paul until the very end. Their support of Paul’s ministry was more than just financial. They prayed for him, sent support and visitors to him. They accommodated him and gave him rest for the sake of the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Friends in Christ, be very careful who you support. The greater need of missions, the suffering church and beaten up missionaries is often overshadowed by the big high profile ministries. Often the need and cry of the suffering church is silenced because they do not want to go to the shallow pits of many of modern day TV ministries. Most TV ministries have no burden for the Gospel to be spread all over the world; they simply need money just to stay on air.

How much has it cost you today in the advancement of the Gospel? I like the example our brother Paul Washer often gives about the role of every Christian in the advancement and spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some Christians are called to go down into the well as missionaries. Others are called to hold the rope for those who go down. Either way, the same radical commitment to the Great Commission is required and both will incur scars on their hands.

Perseverance of the Saints

It is from this joy filled foundation that Paul, a broken and often lonely man can say to the Philippian Christians with such great confidence and joy:

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. (Philippians 1:6)

This is perhaps one of the Bibles greatest promises. In the midst of their faithfulness to the Gospel and the ministry of Paul in his good times and bad times, he can confidently and with great assurance remind the Christians that God had started the good work in the believer’s life, and He would most certainly bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Just like they had been faithful to Paul in his most difficult and darkest times at the start of his ministry of advancing the Gospel and completing his work; so too would God be faithful to them in their most difficult and darkest times in completing the good work. It is out of this context that this great promise comes. This promise is for all the saints who are in Christ Jesus.

In a nutshell Paul is saying, if God is the patron of a work, He will surely bring it to completion. If He has started something, He will make sure it is finished. He will not stop, get tired or take a break. God is relentless in His pursuit of finishing what He starts. Unlike us, He does not sleep or slumber. He does not begin a work and then doubt it half way through and abandon it. He will bring every good work He has started in you to a completion. That good work He started in you began even before you were before when God elected you for His own glory.

On our website you will find our theological statement of beliefs and our statements of faith.

Those whom God has accepted in the beloved, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end; and though they may fall, through neglect and temptation, into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the church, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be renewed again unto repentance, and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

We believe that such as are regenerated, called and justified shall persevere in holiness and enter into the joys of heaven (12 Baptist Confession of Faith 1689).

If today you are battling with anxiety about not making it to the end in faith, then you need to stop going by your performance and begin trusting in the promises of God. Promises such as:

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. (Philippians 1:6)

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

…as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:7-8)

…He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. (Jeremiah 32:40)

The work of Jesus Christ on the cross secured salvation for His sheep. His death and resurrection did not bring temporary blessings and benefits; they wrought eternal benefits and blessings to all who trust in Christ as their Saviour. You are blessed because He was cursed. The person who sincerely puts his trust in Christ as his Saviour is safe in His arms for eternity. J.C. Ryle said “Every soul that is once justified and washed in Christ’s blood, shall be found safe at Christ’s right hand in the Day of Judgment.”

We believe in the doctrines of grace and the doctrines of grace state the perseverance of the saints. But beloved I think there is a better and more accurate way to phrase it. The perseverance of God or perhaps even the preservation of saints helps me to realise that God is the one who does the persevering and preservation.

God’s Work Is a Gradual Process

Some of you who have genuinely experienced the new birth may be thinking “but I don’t feel like a saint at times.” This is true and leads to my final point that this work of God is a gradual process. If you are despairing about some besetting sin in your life, don’t give up. God is not finished with you yet. Keep trusting the Lord in changing your heart and causing you to desire and do what pleases him.

Sanctification – Those who have been regenerated are also sanctified by God’s word and Spirit dwelling in them. This sanctification is progressive through the supply of divine strength, which all saints seek to obtain, pressing after a heavenly life in willing obedience to all Christ’s commands.

Backsliding

I’ve often been asked by many if Christians can backslide. Well what does it mean for a person to backslide? To slide backwards into sin. It is true that a Christian can backslide. We have all backslidden to some degree. There are times where we do not seem to be as intimate with God as we should be. A child of God will sin and often even remain there for a time. Driving to work one morning I was greatly encouraged by a bumper sticker which said “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.” The Christian life will not always be in a straight line upwards. Instead it may be like a boy climbing a snowy hill. He makes progress, but then he slips and goes back further, but he eventually gets to the top.

But God, who is rich in mercy, according to his unchangeable purpose of election, does not wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from his own people, even in their melancholy (depressed, miserable) falls; nor suffers them to proceed so far as to lose the grace of adoption, and forfeit the state of justification, or to commit sins unto death; nor does he permit them to be totally deserted, and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction. (Council of Dort V, Article 6)

In simple layman’s terms this is simply saying that because God is rich in mercy and doesn’t change His mind. He will not allow you to go to the point of eternal destruction.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

C.H. Spurgeon put it this way. “A man on board a ship may be knocked down on the decks by the waves again and again, but he is never washed overboard.”

Warning Passages

But remember saints in Christ that as a good brother of mine often says “you are free from the power of sin; you are not free to sin.” God commands holiness, purity, faith, endurance, renewing of the mind. God’s Word places a great duty and responsibility upon every believer to conduct their lives in a manner worthy of the precious Gospel. Our partnership of the Gospel is even in how we conduct our lives.

…but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct…(1 Peter 1:15)

…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…(Philippians 2:12)

…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…(Ephesians 4:1)

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

Tags: Apostle Paul, C.H Spurgeon, Council of Dort, J.C. Ryle, Paul, Philippi, Philippians, Philippians 1:3-11, Sanctification, Spurgeon

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