Partnership in the Gospel

MEMORY VERSE: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with by, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now.” —Philippians 1:3-5

PHILIPPIANS 1:1-11

THE Gospel, as God preached it to Abraham, was a very simple and concise statement of the ultimate objective of the plan of God as it relates to man: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” (Gal. 3:8) It is in the attaining of this glorious objective that Christians find ground for a wonderful fellowship, or partnership.

If we turn back to the original promise of God to Abraham, we read: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed … and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed …”—Gen. 22:17,18

One of the bases for the Christian’s partnership, or fellowship, in the Gospel lies in the identification of Abraham’s seed. The Apostle Paul does this for us: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed which is Christ.” (Gal. 3:16) He continues further to identify the seed thus: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. … Ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”—Gal. 3:26-29

The apostle thus tells us that the true Christian, during the Gospel Age, becomes a part of the seed of Abraham, and thus the instrument that God will use to bless all the families of the earth. What a wonderful prospect! It is this vision of wiping away the tears from all faces, of giving life to a dead and dying race, that motivates the Christian in his walk, and gives a basis for a fellowship that is unique, and a partnership with all true believers in the Gospel.

Our fellowship or partnership in the Gospel extends to our Christian walk, for we find that the prospective heirs to the promise given to Abraham must conform their lives to the pattern set for us by our Lord. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”—Rom. 8:28,29

In verse 6 of Philippians, the first chapter, the apostle says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” This “good work” being accomplished by God in his people is their sanctification.

Sanctification, or purification, is accomplished by the Heavenly Father through the power of the Holy Spirit operating in the lives of his people. It leads them, through the Word of God, to follow in the footsteps o Jesus, even to the laying down of their lives in sacrifice. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 12:1,2, expresses the thought, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

It is in our mutual endeavors to conform to the pattern of self-sacrifice and godliness set by our Lord Jesus that we have fellowship. The Heavenly Father, in completing the work started in us, permits us to have trials. He permits us to suffer for righteousness’ sake. He disciplines us to correct our erroneous ways. In all of these things the world is unaware of the work being accomplished in the lives of true Christians.—II Cor. 6:9,10

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