Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. (Phil 1:3-5, NLT)
It has been a wonderful week because of two great conferences that have taken place. The first was “Perth Gospel Partnership” at North Beach Baptist Church and the second was yesterday at Kingsway Christian College being “Perth Men’s Convention”. Now I say it was a wonderful week because not only is it great to get together to sing praises to our God and worship him in spirit and in truth by listening to His Word, but having a sense of partnership with brothers and sisters in the gospel in this city is a tremendous grace from the Lord Jesus.
You see, the language that Paul uses in the passage above is very important. He doesn’t call those that help him in the ministry his “supporters” or “assistants” but his partners, and that is very important to take note of. Why? Because he did the most tremendous job of any of the apostles in planting new churches in Europe. In fact he spent his entire life working in the ministry, starting churches, ordaining pastors, writing the Bible and praying without ceasing etc… Yet that language that he uses shows us that there is no one who is more important in the kingdom than someone else, no, we are all children of God with our own gifts in the same mission to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth through “spreading the Good News about Christ”
And that was what was so encouraging about getting together with the brothers and sisters in the Lord who are doing tremendous things in this state of ours. There was no sense of a superiority complex from any of them. No everyone that I met was so interested in what others were doing, that at many times you would see people stop and start praying for each other. I was also so encouraged by particular pastors who are hard at work in their own areas and cities, taking such an interest in what is happening in Armadale and wanting to pray for us and help us in anyway that they can.
And that’s the thing about what the Holy Spirit of God does, He unifies people in the gospel and in many ways with something like this, gives you a sense of just how alive the church is in Perth; it is very humbling to the point that you feel like you don’t really bring anything to the table. But this is the graciousness of our God; He uses people like you and me to bring His kingdom to come and His will to be done on this earth as it is in heaven. That is the power of the gospel, it not only is good news for the world, but it is continually good news for us because we are unified with people who have been saved by the same Lord Jesus and who have the same mission and purpose in this life. And the church under the lead and guidance of the Holy Spirit in Perth is very much alive.
So no matter who you are or what you think you can or cannot do for the kingdom of God you are in no way inferior to those who might be in a more public context. No, we are all one in the Lord Jesus Christ and we are all partners in the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ in this world.