What Is Gospel Community?

In Philippians 1:3-5, Paul is thankful for his friends:

"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."

Paul is appreciative of the Philippians for their partnering with him in the mission of Jesus, and as we see a few verses down, for loving and serving him well during his imprisonment. These were people who Paul could depend on. They loved him and he loved them.

Why did they love one another so well? Is it because they were all just really nice people who felt really good about serving and got a lot of satisfaction out of it? No. The simple answer is the gospel itself.

Jesus calls us to love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35). This is the element that makes the church different. We love one another not to feel good, not to earn a righteousness of our own, but because of how God has first loved us while we were his enemies. Our motivation is not simply to do good, to feel good or to advance a cause. Our motivation is genuine gratitude and love for God which spills into our relationships with each other. When the gospel penetrates out hearts, we simply cannot help but extend to others what God has extended to us. The natural by-product of our having encountered the God who loves us well is to love others well, and thereby show others what he is like. Life in the body of believers should be a continuous encounter with the love of God through each other.

This is what is happening between Paul and the Philippians. The grace of God experienced by Paul and this community bound them together because they all found their identity in Christ - "It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace..." (verse 7) - and it should bind us together as well. To have a common knowledge of the unimaginable grace God has offered us should move us toward each other in love.

But it should not end there. This love of God seen in the life of the Christian church is meant to be extended to those outside of it, who will see it and be softened to embrace Jesus. When we care for one another as God cares for us, the world sees what God is like, and many are drawn to him.

Pray that this would be our experience in Proxy this year.