In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:4-6)   Three interesting tidbits of church life spill out in this second item Paul gives thanks to God for in his prayers for the Philippians.  Firstly, he's giving thanks to God because of the Philippians' partnership in the Gospel.  The word used for partnership is the word often used for community, communion, fellowship, or sharing.  With the Philippians however, it was quite tangible.  They were together in this ministry of spreading the good news of Jesus.  As we hear at the end of the letter: this little church had often supported Paul—right from the very beginning—through gifts and encouragement in times of need as he went about his missionary work.  The Philippians were invested in this spreading of the gospel—partnering as full communion partners in the work of sharing the good news of Jesus.  Secondly, what the Philippians were working out in partnership with Paul, were the very same things that God was working into them.  The Gospel was being knit into the lives of the Philippian church through a sharing in the sufferings of the cross and the joys of the new resurrection life of Jesus: a dying and rising, a taking up the cross and following.  God had once and for all saved these people through Jesus, and through the Spirit, God would continue to sanctify these people into the likeness of Jesus until the day of Christ's return.  Paul was confident of this, and the gospel he preached everywhere confirms it.  As does Jesus in John 5:17, where he says: "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working."  Thirdly, when these threads were taken together as the gospel's fruitfulness in the life of the Philippians—for Paul, it was a cause for joy.  Even if church life still had conflicts, even if Paul was in prison and being poured out like a drink offering, even if hardship faced the daily life of the Philippian Christians—even still—God was at work, and what God was working into them was working itself out in a good word about Jesus that they, by their very life, were living. It's true: church life is not always beautiful.  At times we fight.  At times we feel in the cultural minority and rather ineffective.  At times our heroes and leaders in the faith fall or are lost.  But that does not mean that God is not at work or that his church is no longer fruitful.    No matter how dark the situation, there is always a reason for joy and thanks before God.  Because God always carries on his work.  And if God is any God at all: the gospel news of Jesus that he works into us cannot but be fruitful as our life is lived out.  Ultimately, Paul can give joyful thanks and we can too, because the emphasis does not rest finally on our work, but on God's.      

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