Partakers

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, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. (Philippians 1:7 ESV)

Remember that this epistle is a thank-you letter. It was inspired by the unselfish giving of the church at Philippi to Paul while he was in prison. That generosity brought on this letter in which Paul expresses his love for them.

Paul loves the people at Philippi who are members of the church there. He holds them in his heart. There is a bond between them, not generated just by this act of generosity, but established long ago upon solid grounds, things they share, things that go far beyond geography and culture and even language. Here he elaborates on those things. Today I want us to look at the first of them. Grace.

. . . for you are all partakers with me of grace . . .

As Christians we are undeserving, wholly undeserving of anything good from God's hands. As Christians we understand that anything we receive from God is because of his goodness, not because of ours. We have earned nothing from God but death. Yet God has given us life. We have earned his curse, yet he has given us blessing. This is grace.

Paul knows something of that grace. His own testimony is one of bitter anger against Christ and his church. Paul called himself the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because he persecuted the church. But God, in his grace, confronted him on the road to Damascus. Instead of justice, Paul received grace.

Paul knows them, too, and how they are recipients of grace. One of the members of that church there had ordered Paul beaten unlawfully. Opposing Paul and the gospel this man had tried to silence Paul. And yet just a few hours later this man had come falling down before Paul, trembling, and asking how he could be saved.

Grace. Amazing grace. It is what every Christian has in common. We are unworthy sinners who, if left alone, would lead lives in total opposition to God. Yet we were not left alone. God intervened.

For this reason alone, one stranger can meet another and within just a few minutes there is a bond between them that the world knows nothing about. They are immediately allies. There is an immediate love. It is because they are Christians and they know what it is to experience grace.

Have you been forgiven? Then you know that grace. It is impossible for those who have experienced grace not to love others who are partakers of that grace as well. No wonder Paul held them in his heart. If you have been given grace then give grace freely. If you have been loved undeservedly, then love others in spite of the fact they are undeserving as well. After all, we are partakers of grace.