“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). It is the will of God that the lips of many would give praise unto Him because of the testimony of His body, the Church. Is Gethsemane B-P Church an inspiration for others to give thanks to God? If our church were to become the cause for others to praise God, each of us must be such as those who bring praise to God.

The Philippian Church earned this distinction. She fulfilled her duty because the Christians in her fold worked out their salvation with fear and trembling. Therefore, it is good for us to study Philippians 1:3-6 that we may learn from their good example. To begin, we must consider the opening phrase in Philippians 1:3a, “I thank my God”. This is the main phrase that holds everything together. The Apostle disclosed himself as one who has been praising God. Though the Apostle had plenty of reasons to give thanks to God, he particularly mentioned two things about the Philippian church members.

The first one was his memories of them, so he wrote, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy” (Philippians 1:3-4). He had fond memories of them every time he was with God in prayer. Flashes of past experiences with the Philippians played out in his mind. These were a great motivation to the Apostle Paul to praise and glorify the Lord. Because of their testimony, his prayer life was abounding even more with praise.

This must cause us to wonder what would have been the reason for Paul’s joy and thanksgiving concerning the Philippians. Well, they were always in the forefront of the Gospel missions, being ready to support and to serve in the mission fields. We know this because God honoured them in His Word as the only one who helped the Apostle Paul in his personal and ministerial needs when he pioneered mission outreaches outside Macedonia. “Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only” (Philippians 4:15). In another situation, as the first church in Macedonia and a church well known for loving the brethren, they must have been an example for other churches in Macedonia to give lovingly unto the Lord for the care of the poor brethren in Jerusalem. “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2).

How about us in Gethsemane B-P Church? Have we earned such a good reputation in the Lord? Are there people elsewhere who are motivated to give thanks to God because they have fond memories of us? May we abound in the work of the Lord that a memorial in heaven be raised through the testimony of our church. How pleasant are the praises of thanksgiving from the lips of many who are inspired by you and me!

The second thing was the attitude of the Philippians towards biblical fellowship. He wrote, “I thank God… for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; 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” (Philippians 1:3, 5-6). The phrase, “for your fellowship in the gospel”, is connected with the main phrase. So it reads like this, “I thank God for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now…” Like the phrase, “upon every remembrance of you”, it explains the
second reason for him to give thanks to God.

Let us examine this phrase, “fellowship in the gospel”. When we speak of fellowship we mean partnership. As you can see there are many fellowships or partnerships around. But, Christians and their churches have no problem working together with pastors and teachers who teach falsehood. We are living in a time when almost everybody advocates ecumenism and hates Biblical fundamentalism. In such a time as this, we must always be singleminded for that which is called “fellowship in the gospel”. To understand this phrase, it is important that we take note that the word “fellowship” here is restricted within the bounds of the Gospel. This tells us that the Gospel is the determining factor to our choice of fellowship. In fact, the Gospel determines what fellowship is. In other words, the boundary for fellowship or partnership is the Gospel. Once we understand this, it will be easy for us to take note that this phrase, “fellowship in the gospel”, has two main thoughts.

Firstly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our restriction in having fellowship. In other words, a Christian cannot have fellowship or partnership with something or someone that is outside the perimeter of the Gospel. When the Gospel prohibits a partnership, we must separate ourselves from it, even if it is in the name of Christian fellowship.

Secondly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our motivation in having fellowship. In other words, a Christian must always be willing to commit himself to anything that is sanctioned by the Gospel. We should be a people who are always looking for opportunities to promote the truth of the Gospel either in word or deed. We should always be ready to contribute our time, talents and money for that which God wants us to do.

Now we know why the Apostle Paul was greatly motivated to glorify God for the light that He has shone in the hearts of the Philippians. Gethsemaneans can also be a great inspiration for others to thank God, if we keep following the good example of believers at Philippi. God help us!