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Am I Involved in My Father's Business

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now
Philippians 1:5

Billy Graham once share a story of his crusade director. The crusade director's job was to get on planes and fly to different parts of the country and help organize huge evangelistic crusades for Billy Graham. One day the crusade director was flying across the country. And sitting next to him was Tom Cruise, the actor who asked the crusade director, so, what do you do for a living?

Billy Graham says that this crusade director was always looking for way to get the gospel presented. So, he looked at Tom Cruise. And he said, "I'm in the security business." Now, that a huge buzz word for actors, because actors and musicians are always looking for good security people. And Tom Cruise responded, "Really, you are in security?" Billy Graham says that the conversation went on to tell him about how to have eternal security in Jesus Christ. And that was the platform that he used.

We all are engaged in different business. But we should not forget that we have a high and holy business, and that is God's business. Since we are God's children we are in a family business - a partnership with God and others. As every business has a product, we too have a product. Our product is the gospel. That's what we give out. That's what we disseminate. That's what we are always sharing, the gospel.

In verse 5 Paul is thankful to the Philippians for their fellowship in the gospel. The word 'participation' or 'partnership is a Greek word which most of us are familiar with. The word used is koinonia. It is translated in most other places as fellowship. The word here is also used for communion. It further means to share something in common with another person. In other words, it is a joint venture, and we share in common with someone else the same enterprise.

This word is used in the Gospel of Luke, for example, for Peter, Andrew, James and John as they were in the fishing business together. They were business partners. That was their boat together. Those were their nets together. When they went our and caught fist, those were their fish together;. They were not sorting them out. "That is Peter's fist. This is Andrew's fish" and just dividing it up. NO, they were all in this together. They were partners. And that is the very word that is used here for participation in the gospel.

Paul lived his life with focus only on the gospel and he is happy and gives thanks to God when he remembers the Philippians for they too showed the same concern for the gospel. Paul says he notices it from day one. We saw and dealt with it in details the other day with reference to Acts 16. It was in that very house of Lydia that the church at Philippi was birthed. It was a work that God did when they first participated in the gospel, when they first bought into the gospel, when they first sold all they had in order to buy this treasure that was hidden in a field, which is Lord Jesus Christ, and the kiungdom of God. In that, first day until now, they remained gospel centred and gospel focused people.

He's thankful for what the gospel produced. It produced a change in life. People's lives were changed. A church grew. A family was extended. His memory of Lydia's salvation brought him joy. His memory of the Philippian jailer's conversion and subsequent baptism brought him joy.His memory of how just a few people gathered around, and now, there's a larger church, a vibrant church at Philippi, all of that brought him joy.

Paul says through this message and life that his joy is directly proportional to the growth of the family business. That's how he saw his life.

Dear friends, how's our partnership and participation in this business of spreading the gospel. Can we too like Paul and the Philippians continue to be in the Father's business of spreading the gospel and thereby receiving the joy Paul received?


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