Lesson One • Reach
Chris Montville
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:3-6
When I think of the events in my life that have brought me the most joy, they always involve two parties: God and another person. These events are always moments when I get to see God do something amazing in someone’s heart. Sometimes that is in my heart, but usually, that is in the heart of a friend. Thus, the two factors that are required for these deep moments of joy are faith in God and relationships with others.
We see in this passage that Paul has a great relationship with the Philippians and remembers them quite fondly. In verse 3, he says, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” Think of someone in your life where that statement is true. Why are you most thankful for them? My guess is that the answer can be summed up by what is said in verse 5, “because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
Now, think about what typically consumes most of your attention span throughout the day. At work, my guess is that it is pretty material. Once we are home, we are often preoccupied with the number of things to take care of, or maybe we are hoping that new Amazon order came in. We spend too much time thinking about things that will never give us joy. The fact is, this joy that Paul talks about here in verse 4 (“making my prayer with joy”) is only found as a result of sharing our faith with others. That is how he arrived there, and that is how we must arrive there. He shared his faith and gained brothers and sisters to walk toward Christ with. To get there, we must put ourselves in a position to see God move.
I have a friend who I have known for about eight years. I remember sharing the Gospel with him and several other friends in a group setting shortly after we met. This did not lead to him, or any of them, becoming a Christian immediately. We can often be discouraged by that. However, several years later after losing contact with him for a few years, he told me that he had accepted Christ during that time. In this story, all God used me for was to plant a seed, but when he told me the full story, I was literally jumping up and down in my room. Several tears were shed. It was a real joy.
The seeds we sow on Earth have eternal consequences. When someone accepts Christ, we feel joy because of verse 6, “That he who began a good work in you [and them] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
God has got the ending; let us get in the game.