April 5, 2006
Text Phillipians 1:3-5
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first until now.
Partnership ------ what a great concept ----- The very idea of a good partnership exudes warmth. Two or more people, working together towards mutually desirable goals. Two or more people with different perspectives and abilities respecting the views, talents, dreams and abilities of other partners. Even the synonyms for partner sound good: associate, colleague, confederate, sharer, companion, spouse. With the passage of time, even the term comrade is reverting to its original meaning. There is a lesson here with respect to law and Gospel. Under the threat of countries existing under totalitarian law, and our fear of nuclear annihilation, comrade became an ugly term connoting blind, almost fanatical, obedience to a Godless state. With the freedom of the Gospel, comrade is a comforting term. For example, Paul and Timothy were truly comrades - partners -- united in a common goal, not out of fear or force, but in grateful response to the Gospel - the Good News about Jesus Christ.
Paul in his letter to the Philippians feels the joy of a partnership in the Gospel -- a partnership that is centered around Christ Jesus and nurtured by the Holy Spirit.
In the business and professional world, achieving the rank of partner is a sought after goal.
More important than the trappings of rank -- corner offices, private restrooms and fancy conference rooms-- is the level of involvement and commitment in achieving the goals of the business -- a sense of satisfaction for a job well done with the cooperation of others..
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Employees of a firm are involved in the business, customers of the business are involved -- but, partners are committed.
I often think of an illustration about commitment. When we order ham and eggs in a restaurant for breakfast, we can think of the chicken as being involved in the project and the pig as being committed to the project. True partnership means commitment. Partners stick together and stay committed -- customers will jump ship when the going gets rough or when there is a better deal someplace else. Employees will also abandon ship in stormy seas. Partners in the Gospel share a common biblical vision. A passion for the Lord, a passion for the great commission and a passion for ministry. Partners in the church realize that we all have gifts given for works of service so that the body of Christ will be built up. All of the gifts are important -- some are more visible -- but all are important. Partners realize that an extremely important task is the training and equipping of others for ministry. Partners know that they must mature in the faith and facilitate others to also grow in faith by teaching and/or mentoring. Partners minister to the needs of other partners, employees, customers and potential customers.
For our partnership in the Gospel to function we need to treat our partners as God would want us to treat them. Sounds simple enough until we let sin enter the picture. Satan starts the process. We start to think only of ourselves and not others. We start to keep score -- “I do more than he does -- I should have more to say.” “ I give a lot of ‘my money’ to this church and I am determined to tell the church what they can do with it.” “I work in the background and he works in the limelight.” Instead of employing Matthew 18:15-18 when a brother or sister sins against us, we talk to others and gossip. Sin is what causes us to look to ourselves and our building as the mission rather than as a tool to help accomplish the mission.
In the business world only some employees get to be partners. In the business world most customers do not become partners. In the Church of Christ ALL are invited to partnership.
In the church we have customers, involvement is present at various levels, but commitment is often lacking. In the business world we are thankful for customers. In the Church we also need to thank God for customers. All customers are invited to become partners. The invitation is always open. For some, becoming a partner happens fast. The Holy Spirit finds prepared soil and goes to work. For others it is a slower process. We all know of Saul’s ( a.k.a. St. Paul ) dramatic encounter with our Lord on the road to Damascus. Although he was full of the Holy Spirit, circumstances prevented him from active public ministry for several years. When the time was right he vigorously pursued his ministry as apostle to the gentiles. We know from 1 Cor. 9:24-26 that Paul did not run aimlessly, he ran to get the prize. I ask, do you think he sat in the desert of Arabia for three years feeling sorry for himself or did he prepare for his eventual partnership in the Gospel? Should we sit in the pews as customers on a weekly or twice a year basis or should we train for partnership?
Training requires sacrifice. Training requires denying oneself. A senior partner has had his eye on the prize for a long time. Our salvation is a gift from God -- it is by grace that we have been saved, through faith - we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advanced for us to do. Without the Holy Spirit we can not even say that Jesus is Lord. The Holy Spirit prepares us for partnership -- that is by sanctification.
Yes, the demands of our lives and work do take a lot of time. We are tired after a hard work week. Training for partnership can be made a part of our lives. We can pray while commuting. We can study the Bible a mere thirty minutes a day and easily read the entire word of God in one year. We can attend one of the seven adult classes offered each Sunday or one of the mid-week classes offered. We can pre-read the weekly scripture lessons and, hence, have more insight into our Pastor’s sermon derived from the readings.
There are many small tasks that we can do -- suitable for those of us who want to be “sprinters” in the church. There are ministry opportunities for those able to be “marathoners.”
We can say “yes” when asked to teach in an area where we have interest and knowledge. We can say “yes” when asked to do a job in an area where we are gifted. We can take steps for additional training in other areas where we are gifted.
Jesus specifically states that we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him.
Let’s be honest. We waste a lot of time. We waste a lot of talent and we waste God’s treasures. I can not condemn television - there is informative and entertaining programming offered. Moderation is the key. We can, however, waste years of our lives watching re-runs, non- stop sports, etc. Hobbies are therapeutic - in moderation. Gainful employment is necessary (2 Thess. 3:10) -- being a workaholic is not fair to God, family and self.
As we can waste our God given time and talents, we can also waste the money that God lets us manage. This list is endless. We live in houses that are too big and expensive. We buy cars that are way too expensive. We spend far too much on elaborate frequent vacations. We eat out too often. Sometimes we actually throw money away on gambling in our greedy desire to take money from the “losers.” We need to save money to support ourselves when we can not work or when we want to volunteer, but we amass excesses because we are not trusting in the Lord. We fail to make provision in our wills for the return of the Lord’s money to his work when He calls us home. Instead of giving freely to the work of the Lord, we give His bride - the church - table scraps when He has asked for generous first fruits. If we respond to the law, we will give the Lord ten percent of our gross income. If we respond to the Gospel - the good news -- we are free to give over and above ten percent. Our response reflects where our hearts are. We tend to be more generous in public than in private. We give our waitress a 15 percent tip and on average give our Lord 3 percent. We - through modest self denial -- can be partners, with Jesus, in the Gospel in grateful response to His incarnation, sinless life and death on the cross -- all done for our salvation.
Paul felt a sense of joy and comfort with the Church in Philippi. We can experience that same joy and comfort by functioning as partners in ministry. We look at customers as a blessing from God and we assure all customers that their invitation to partnership in the Gospel has been issued by the Lord Jesus himself.
