1969. The Power of Gospel Partnerships, Part 1

Welcome to The Daily Platform. Our program features sermons from Chapel Services at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Every day, students are blessed by the preaching and teaching of the Bible from the University Chapel Platform. Today and tomorrow, we're featuring a sermon from the Bob Jones University 2024 Bible Conference. Dr. David Doren, President of Des Moines University, Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, will be teaching us about the power of gospel partnerships. to campuses, seminaries, through the years, just because really the position I have in education. So I've had the privilege to do that.

And I always love the opportunity because the reality of it is, if the Lord doesn't return, you are the future. I looked at some numbers about, coming up now to five years ago, the millennials replaced the baby boomers as the largest generation in our nation, and that's because the older end of the baby boomers are going on. There were 75 million of them born, 65 million millennials, but I'm at the younger end of the baby boom. It's 1946 to 1964. I was born in 61, so I'm just a baby baby boomer. But the older of them, obviously, would be upper 70s. And I'm at the younger end, and I know you're looking at me and going, no, you're not on the younger end of anything, right?

The reality is, I was sitting up here thinking, when I was a senior in college, Dr. Bob III was 20 years younger than I am right now, which is scary. So we're all getting older, which means it won't be long until we're off the scene and the Lord's work is going to be in your hands. So I always count it an incredible privilege to be able to challenge and encourage and open up the word of God to you because, literally, the future of the work of Jesus Christ is in your hands. In His providence, He's entrusted the work that we've talked about this week to you. And you're on the cusp of stepping up to that. And the work of God will be advanced, humanly speaking, to the degree you take that baton and you determine, by God's grace, to run that race and to run it faithfully for the Lord.

And that's really at the heart of what the emphasis of this week has been. That there is a task that Jesus gave us to do, which is all of our task, and it's not done yet. And I don't think this particular group I'm going to ask to do this will, if you're embarrassed, I'm sorry, I'm going to apologize right now, but if you're here this evening and you are committed with the intention of going overseas for the Gospel as a foreign missionary, I'd like to ask you if you just stand to your feet for a moment, alright? So if you're committed to that, that's your intention, that's what you're planning to do by God's grace. I'd like to just ask you to stand for a moment.

And here's a part of the reason why I'm doing this. Let me say, first of all, I thank God for you, and I trust that God will direct your steps to a fruitful life of service, taking the Gospel to the nations. So here's what I want to say though, what about the rest of us?

God never called me to go overseas. So what's my job? I fully expected that most of the people in this room would not stand up when I ask that question, because that's normal. I'm simply wanting us to see that everyone in this room is under the obligation of the Great Commission, but not all of us are going to go. So what is the role for those of us who aren't going? What does God want us to do to fulfill our part of the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us? Thank you very much, you may be seated.

Thank you for letting me use you as a prop, I apologize. Look at Philippians chapter 1 and verse 5, because the church at Philippi is an excellent model for us of what it means to be partners for the Gospel. Look at Philippians chapter 1 and verse 5, Paul is expressing his thanksgiving to God for them, and he says, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now. Some of you may have a translation that says for your partnership in the Gospel, or your participation in the Gospel.

I don't usually use Greek words in the pulpit, but this one is one that people know more, the word koinonia. It's a word that means fellowship, but it also can mean participation in. It can mean partnership or communion in something. What Paul is saying here about the Philippians is that it was a great cause of joy to him that they had become partners with him in the Gospel. That they actually had joined up with him in the Gospel work. So this was a local church at Philippi that Paul could look out and say, I give thanks to God for you whenever you come to mind because of your partnership with me in the Gospel. And I want to just take a few moments and look at that principle in this verse, sort of just unpack this verse and then show you how in the book that partnership worked out because it's a great model for us so that the rest of us who are not goers, but are senders. How should we fulfill the mission that Jesus has entrusted to all of us? So look again at verse 5 because we just unpack the principle.

Let's talk first of all just about the character of it. That word fellowship means participation, partnership, to have a share in the Gospel. And we know that's not just that they shared belief, because look at verse 7, even as it is meet or fitting for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart inasmuch as both in my bonds or my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace.

So it's not just he's saying I'm glad you're believers, he's saying you actually have been a partner in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. They had stepped up alongside of Paul in Gospel ministry and the church at Philippi was therefore special to Paul because of that, that they had stood with Paul and engaged in that task. Look at the words in verse 5, in the Gospel because that supplies the context for this partnership that it was, if I could put it this way, it was only because of the Gospel that they had this partnership. The Gospel had come to Philippi, we actually, I think in a couple of messages, it's been referenced or mentioned, remember Paul was there, God opened Lydia's heart, Paul preached the Gospel to the Philippian jailer in his household, they all heard the word, they trusted in Christ together. The church at Philippi was formed through the preaching of the Gospel and so that became the context within which they had partnership, it was only by the Gospel itself that you can have a great commission partnership. And in fact it's not only by the Gospel, it is actually only within the Gospel that you can have that partnership. And we can't lose sight of that because we live in a day where people can present, and I'm going to put it in air quotes, missions that effectively compromise the Gospel. And Paul would never say that we should be partners in that. In fact he writes very clearly in 2 Corinthians 6 about there's no fellowship between light and darkness, that in fact you can't be partners with those who are perpetuating a false Gospel or a false understanding.

No matter how much good on the human level is being done, if you are betraying the souls of people, you can't have a partnership in that. So what Paul rejoices in is that the Philippians understood the Gospel and even though being threatened by false teaching, if you look at chapter 3 there are people who are trying to subvert the Gospel, they have resisted that and he warns them to keep resisting that. So as people who have been entrusted with the Gospel, our partnerships have to be inside the circle of the Gospel. The content of the Gospel must be explicit, our clarity about the Gospel can't be compromised, the purity of the Gospel has to be held in high regard.

We can never lose that or we're effectively building up with one hand something we're tearing down with the other. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the foundation because it's what created the partnership and it becomes the boundary lines for the partnership but it's also always for the Gospel. The spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the central thing that Jesus has given us to do. And there's lots of good things that can be done but none of them can ever threaten the centrality of the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We said earlier, Dr. Bob said, talking about the fact that souls will live somewhere forever and we live in a day that's actually sort of lost the biblical priority that Jesus established for us.

He said, do not fear him who can destroy your body, fear him who can destroy your body and soul in hell. And we live in a day that actually elevates those two as almost equal concerns but the fact is people are going to live somewhere forever and the most important display of love we can ever show is to give them the Gospel of Jesus Christ which promises them freedom from sin and condemnation and life eternal with Jesus Christ. It never, it never should be in competition between us doing good and proclaiming the Gospel.

Never a competition there. The Gospel must always be at the center. The name of Christ is the only way of salvation and no one, the scriptures say, will ever come to Jesus by just looking at your life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. We must speak the Gospel. We must proclaim the Gospel. We must tell people that the God who made us loves us and sent his son into the world so that we could have life through him.

That there is an answer for the brokenness of this world and it's found in Jesus. That's what the partnership is wrapped up in. It's inside the Gospel.

It's created by the Gospel and it's for the advancement of the Gospel. The partnership is to take the name of Jesus to every place and among every people until the end of the age. Notice the last part of the verse because he talks about their consistency in this partnership, their commitment to it. He says there, from the first day until now. Paul's writing from a Roman prison. Actually, you know, when you're a speaker in a conference, your heart can panic. When Brent Belfort said, turn to Philippians chapter 1, I went, oh no.

I thought I was going to have to write a new message this afternoon or something, so thankfully he stayed away from my text. But you know, you know that he's in the Roman prison, so that's down toward the end of his life. Philippi was on the front end of when he came into Europe, Macedonia, Nicaea. So the gap between that first day until now is a long, long gap. And this church had been committed to this partnership with Paul from the first day until now. When they received the Gospel, they understood that they became responsible for the Gospel. That it wasn't just something that came to them and terminated with them, but that actually when the Gospel came to them, they not only received it, but they were entrusted with a responsibility to advance the Gospel, to spread it to other people. And so right away, Paul says the first day, all the way up to his Roman imprisonment, they had participated in the advance of the Gospel. They were committed to it.

It's just, honestly, it makes sense, right? You know the Great Commission? Go make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then what? Teaching them to observe all that I commanded.

Right? Make sure you understand what he said. He doesn't say, teach them everything I commanded. He says, teach them to do everything that I commanded. And what is the last thing he commanded? Go make disciples.

Right? So wrapped up in becoming a disciple of Jesus is a commitment to obey Christ's command to make disciples of all the nations. I mean, it's not a secondary decision. It's not something like, hey, maybe if you get serious for Jesus, you could think about doing it. It is actually part of the very essence of being a follower of Jesus, because he came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came on a mission to bring good news of his salvation, and then he calls us out of darkness into light. We receive that good news, and then he entrusts us with the responsibility to keep spreading it out. And the Philippians got that. The Philippians understood that. They realized that to be a disciple of Jesus is actually to obey the Great Commission. To receive the Gospel is to become responsible for it, and I would suggest to you that the reason Paul planted churches was for this very reason.

I don't know if you were here yesterday afternoon. Remember Paul said he fulfilled the preaching of the Gospel. He had laid the foundation. He had no more room for work.

You know why? Because the work had been passed to them. He had laid the foundation, and now they were supposed to build on that foundation. And you know what one of those churches was? The church at Philippi. So what we have to really, I think, come to grips with, particularly in our culture and generations into this whole process, is to realize that the Church of Jesus Christ, the assembly of God's people, does not exist to be a supplier of spiritual goods and services.

It's not a spiritual convenience store. We have the church and we go there and we get the things that we need. I want to go to church so I can get a blessing.

I want to go to church so my kids can have kids programs and I can meet my friends and I can have all that stuff. That our paradigm of the church is really much more like a dispenser of spiritual goods and services when the New Testament would say it's more like a forward operating base. The Gospel came to Philippi and a base was established from which then the Gospel would keep spreading out into the region around it. They were actually marching forward into the spiritual battle that they had been sent by Christ and every church that was planted became a forward operating base. That is, the Gospel had left Jerusalem and started spreading its way around the ancient world. It had come all the way up to Illyricum and Paul's saying, listen, now out of you we need to launch into new territory.

Right? You're going to be our base of operations until we have set up another one farther down the way. And that's the way Paul taught it and that's what the Philippians understood. We've received the Gospel. We are now the Philippian forward operating base for the Gospel to go out into all Macedonia. And so when Paul leaves Philippi after he's been beaten and shamefully entreated, 1 Thessalonians 2 says, he goes to Thessalonica and immediately the Philippian church is helping Paul reach the Thessalonians. They immediately embrace the mission of Jesus Christ and become senders, not just receivers.

They become people who participate in the work to advance it. And not just send it out, but Paul will talk to them about actually finishing the job where they are. They still had to strive together for the faith of the Gospel, chapter 1 says, while helping Paul take the Gospel to some other place.

So the principle basically, I really just almost feel like just saying it and saying it and saying it, is because if I could convince you tonight that if you've received the Gospel, you've trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have become responsible for the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Praise God for every one that stood up several minutes ago. But the fallacy in our day is to think it's their job. It's not their job. It's the church's job and they're going on behalf of the church and you're the church. It's our job. It's our job to do this. We need to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. So what does this pattern look like? What does it look like to be a partner with the Gospel? I'm going to try and unpack it.

We're going to do a little bit of a survey, so stick with me. I know it's late in the game. I don't know where Brent Balfour played baseball, but when I grew up, the ninth hitter was the worst hitter, not the best hitter. So I'm feeling a little bad about that after he made that illustration, too, because I'm after him.

So that means I'm at the back of the batting order here tonight. Look at chapter 1, verse 19. Here's the first aspect of the partnership and that is prayer. Verse 19 says, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

So Paul's in prison. He's saying, I believe that God is going to vindicate me and deliver me, and he says, through your prayer. So he had, and we've had a couple messages and mentions of this, so I'm hoping we can just sort of summarize and build on it, but Paul had a view of prayer that was actually partnership. Sometimes we do this.

We tend to talk like this. We'll go, church will be going, hey, on Saturday we have this big event going on, we've got a lot going, can you come out and help us? And if you can't help us, would you pray? As if praying is not helping.

Right? And it's a subtle way in which we've almost embraced the idea, if you're really going to do something, you do something. If you can't do something, then you pray. As if praying is not doing something. But Paul here is saying, I'm in a Roman prison and I expect to be delivered from it through your prayer. The effective means that God would use to deliver Paul from a prison was the prayers of his people. Now why might Paul think that? Do you remember that little story in Acts?

Acts chapter 12, James gets taken prisoner, and Herod has him beheaded, and Herod sees that the religious leaders like that, so he goes and snags up Peter, has the same plan for Peter, and what does the book of Acts record? They all got together and they were praying. And Peter gets released from prison in answer to prayer. And Paul's in prison, and he's saying, I'll be delivered through your prayer.

In fact the writer of Hebrews, in chapter 13 is in prison, and he says, would you pray all the more so that I might be released sooner? He saw a direct correlation between the prayers of God's people and the answer being the deliverance that he needed. They didn't think prayer was a meaningless practice.

It wasn't just something to get us centered, or to make us feel better, or somehow get us to get stuff off our chest so we have a sort of a verbal therapy session with God, but it really doesn't do anything. Paul writes to the Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians 1-11 he says, and you joining in helping me through prayer. He believed prayer was effective.

And it wasn't just because of the situation with Peter. In Romans chapter 15, Paul writes to the church at Rome and says, I've got three prayer requests for you. That my service to the saints in Jerusalem will be acceptable, that I will be protected from those who are opposed to the faith, and that I'll come to you in joy. And the book of Acts shows us the answer to that. He shows up at Rome and it says, and they received him gladly.

Prayer request one. They say, you need to go to the temple and fulfill this vow. He gets down there and a riot breaks out. And when that riot breaks out, they're starting to try and pull Paul apart. And a Roman guard looks down and sees it and swoops down to protect Paul. Pulls Paul out of that. Paul's there, then he goes down to the Sanhedrin. It turns into chaos because God's protecting him. He comes back to the guard house and a group of men make a vow not to eat anything until Paul is dead.

And you know who just so happens to hear it? Paul's nephew. And Paul's nephew goes to Paul and says, hey, these guys have made a plan to kill you. Paul says, go tell the Roman guard. And he goes and tells the Roman guard and the Roman guard puts together an entire entourage to protect Paul and sneaks him out in the night to take him up to Caesarea.

Now here's what I'm saying to you. The very thing that Paul asked the Romans to pray for, God did. And God did it, changing the heart of pagans to protect him. God hears and answers prayer. Unfortunately, that's where we'll need to end today's sermon, which was preached by Dr. David Doran, president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. Listen again tomorrow when we'll hear the conclusion of the message from Dr. Doran about gospel partnerships on The Daily Platform.