Life in Christ is a Partnership

Tuesday is a big day in the tech world. That morning, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is going to get up on a sleek stage with awesome lighting and a TV screen with more square footage than my house, and he will announce the newest iPhone and suite of Apple products that will be released this fall. And he’s going to make a promise. It will be implied, he won’t explicitly say this. But he will promise that your life will be better after you buy the new iPhone. He’ll promise that you aren’t just upgrading your phone, you’re actually upgrading your life! And if you can sit through the whole two-hour sales pitch, you might also be convinced that this is the thing you need to add to your life right now. Add-ons. They make life convenient and comfortable, but also congested and confusing.

The thing is, life is full of add-ons. They aren’t bad in themselves. Take for instance the professional package with long hours and a shot at success, or the family pack with longer hours and a shot at cherished memories. Add on your choice of entertainment, Netflix or maybe piano lessons, and a gym membership you never use and you’ve got a pretty average life. None of that is bad. These extras bring a lot of value to our lives. The problem comes when we treat Jesus and the mission of God like one more add-on. Would you like Christ with that? Would you like him to ease your guilt, make you a better parent, or give you an edge in the workplace? If Christ is a means to an end for you, a way to help you achieve your life goals, then he’s just one more extra, on top of an already packed life. But Scripture tells us again and again that Christ isn’t something you add-on to your life; he’s life itself.

That’s the heartbeat of Philippians. Even from prison, Paul could say with confidence “Christ will be highly honoured in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” And that’s what we’re going to discover in our new series on Philippians; what it means to not just believe in Christ, to not just add him to our routines, but to truly live, as a community in Christ! This morning you’ll see that Life in Christ is a partnership, with God and each other, to make Jesus known.

Philippians is a letter, written by Paul to the Christians in Philippi. Paul planted this church 10 – 15 years before this letter was written. It would have been such an interesting church to be part of. Acts 16 tells us the church began with a surprising mix of people — wealthy and poor, men and women, even a jailer and a former slave. Yet Paul loved this diverse church deeply. In fact, one of his reasons for writing this letter is to thank them for the financial support they sent him so that he could continue the work God had given him. But despite the positive vibes this letter gives, there is something amiss in the church. The unity of this church was at risk of collapse. Two prominent leaders in the church were feuding. Two partners that Paul cared about deeply, who had worked beside him to build the church, were just as deeply divided. He would have gone there in person to resolve this problem, but as we’ll see, he was a little tied up at the moment. So he sent a letter instead, to remind the whole church that life in Christ means working in partnership with each other. The letter starts with:

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Paul’s day, letters began the way ours end—with a signature. Think of the opening lines as his email signature. These weren’t throwaway words; Paul chose them carefully. Just like your work signature might list your name, title, or credentials, Paul usually introduced himself as an apostle. That set the tone for everything that followed. But in Philippians, he doesn’t. And that’s surprising.

If ever there was a time to stress his authority, it was here. Philippi was a Roman colony, and status was everything. Roman citizenship brought privileges most people could only dream of. The gap between slave and free was massive, and even between a freedman and a citizen the difference was life-changing. But instead of reminding them of his authority, he calls himself a slave of Christ. Is he an actual slave? No, he’s actually a Roman citizen. But he considers himself a slave to Christ. Right at the start he makes it clear that unity requires humility, and there’s no room for prestige among partners. This is a theme that will come up again and again as we read this letter.

There’s a second thing I want you to see in this opening. The letter is addressed to the saints who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. This does two things. It shows that this letter is intended for the leadership of the church. After all, that’s where the dispute is devastating the community. But it’s not just written to the leaders. It’s written to the saints as a whole. The leaders are no better than those they lead. There’s no room for celebrities in the church. They are partners, all in this together.

Then Paul goes on to model this for the church, by explaining what he loves about this church, and how he is supporting them through prayer.

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

If life in Christ means partnering with others, then for Paul, partnering with others, means prayer. As a church, we will not have life in Christ without prayer, with and for each other. I find this to be such a clunky sentence, where it feels like Paul is tripping over himself trying to express just how much he is praying for his gospel partners. Every remembrance, always praying, in every prayer. Even though he couldn’t be with them in person, he could be with them in Christ, through his prayers. You want to know a simple secret to strengthening any partnership you have in your life? Whether it’s in the mission field, your marriage, or even a faithful business partner. Pray for and with them. When you pray you focus on them, not yourself. When you pray you open yourself up to how you can support their initiatives, their thriving. When you pray you bring yourselves back into alignment on the things that matter. Don’t let Tim Cook fool you; you don’t need a new iPhone. But you definitely need to add prayer. No matter who you are. There are levels of intimacy and connection waiting to be unlocked through prayer.

But you won’t unlock them all today. Prayer is something that we grow in, the more we integrate it into our lives. And there is always more growing to do.The more I read Paul’s letters, the more convinced I am that prayer wasn’t something tacked on to his life; it was foundational, as natural as breathing. Faith like that is contagious. Some of you today have been given what Scripture calls the gift of faith. Your role in our church is to inspire others with confidence in the things we hope for, and assurance about the things we cannot see. Your faith isn’t for you to hold inside, and bottle up, it’s not to be treasured, it’s to be spread, it’s to be shared, freely, openly, excessively, so that the faith of others around you will grow. Your job is to be like Paul here in verse 6, who prays with certainty because he has come to know that God is faithful.

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

This is what it means to be the church. To be partners in Christ, encouraging each other to new heights of commitment, and devotion to God. And reminding each other that God is the one behind all of it. We keep our eyes on the work of today, but our hope is in the day of Christ. We are a future-oriented people, always looking forward to the return of Jesus. We believe that Jesus came once to destroy sin and death, and now he is coming back a second time to live with us, without end. That’s what the day of Christ Jesus is. And our job now, as the church, is to keep each other on track, committed to the narrow path that leads to that day. Life in Christ is a partnership fuelled by those with the gift of faith, and guided by love, which is where Paul turns to next, jumping to verse 9.

And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Remember how I said earlier that add-ons to our life aren’t necessarily bad? It depends on what life they’re being added to. If you adding them to a life that is self-centred then the add-ons are irrelevant, because you’re probably living a life that is leading to death. Let me say that again. If you’re living your best life now instead of living life in Christ, then your life is leading to death. Don’t get me wrong, life in Christ is the best life you can live, but it doesn’t come from doing what’s best for you. It’s not self-centred, it’s Christ-centred. And if something is Christ-centred, then it’s full of love. That’s why Paul asks that the Philippians’ love will grow in knowledge and discernment. He’s not asking that they know more facts, but that they know better how to love. The more they learn to love wisely, the better they’ll be able to choose what actually matters. And when they live that way, they will be blameless and pure, because the righteousness of Christ, that Jesus gave through his death and resurrection, will be seen in their actions, and God will be glorified! In other words, the way we love matters just as much as what we believe. Our salvation is through faith, but it is demonstrated by our love. You don’t get one without the other.

So add-ons aren’t bad, if they are being added to a Christ-centred life. But you need to be able to discern what is essential to a Christ-centred life, and what are add-ons. Christian community is not an add-on; it’s essential to being a disciple and following Jesus. We frame partnership in terms of connecting with God, connecting with others, and connecting others with God. In order to do that, we are looking for three commitments from everyone who calls this place their home. These are expectations for anyone that wants to be a disciple of Jesus.

The first is a commitment to growth. If you are ready and willing grow deeper in your commitment to Jesus, then we want to partner with you. God has started a work in you, and we want to see it through. Growth can be hard; it comes with growing pains. But it’s always worth it in the end. So this week, I want you to decide if you are committed to the growth God has planned for you.

Second is a commitment to gathering. The word church in Greek means a group gathering together, and that’s what church is at it’s core. We are the gathered people in our worship service, connection groups, and casual hangouts. We cannot be the church without gathering together. So we’re looking for that commitment. That doesn’t mean perfect Sunday attendance, but it does mean prioritizing time Sunday mornings to gather with God’s people. It also means rearranging your schedule so you can participate in one of our connection groups. This is where we pray for each other, discern God’s will together, and keep each other on track for the day that Christ returns. Over the next few weeks we’ll be providing more information about how you can join a group, but for this week, I ask you to consider what your commitment to gathering will look like.

Lastly, we are looking for a commitment to giving, of your time, talent, and treasure. Giving of your time and talent means gathering for our services and small groups, but also making yourself available to disciple others and be discipled in other settings. It also means signing up to join one of our serve teams. We’re always looking for partners to serve with us. Being a disciple also means committing to give of your treasure. That means sitting down with God to decide how much money he is calling you to give to support his church. Everything we have belongs to God, but the Bible calls us to give sacrificially. We don’t truly trust God until we also trust him with our finances. So prayerfully decide how much God is calling you to invest in his kingdom right now. The money you commit is more than a gift; it’s an act of worship.

If we all make these three commitments, and stick to them, then Hope Hills will continue to grow and become a beacon of hope for everyone moving to these new communities. All to God’s glory.

Remember the world will keep offering you add-ons—new phones, new plans, new ways to upgrade your life. But only Christ offers true life. Let’s be a people who live in him, partner together in him, and point others to him—until the day he returns.