March 25 2026

Wednesday March 25

“Your Fellowship in the Gospel”

Philippians 1:3-5

Today, I want to take a moment to ask for your prayers as we begin traveling up to Roanoke, Virginia, to pick up my son Jonathan. From there, we will be going up to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on our way to northern Connecticut. We are going to attend the funeral of my brother-in-law Charles Baldis’s dad. Charles is flying in from Slovakia, where he and my sister Janet have been missionaries for more than thirty years. His dad passed away, and he will be participating in the service for his father. His dad’s name is also Charles Baldis. Please be in prayer for their family too.

We will be on the road all the way through Saturday evening, returning here on Sunday. I will not be back on Pastor’s Chat until Monday morning. Forgive me for having to skip a few days, but I trust you will go back and look at some of the Pastor’s Chats you may have missed for devotional purposes or simply to encourage you. We will try to keep you updated on the road through our Facebook posts. We wanted you to know that we need your prayers and that we will be absent from our regular commentary on Philippians for the next several days. Thank you again for your prayers.

Let us look at Philippians 1:3–5. The reason we are looking at these verses together is that they form one continuous sentence from verse 3 all the way through verse 7. Today, we are just going to read through verse 5. Paul writes in verse 3, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests for you with joy.” Then in verse 5—and this is what we are focusing on today—“for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”

Paul is thanking God for these dear believers and for the joy he has experienced with them. He is remembering Lydia, the demon possessed girl and no doubt the Philippian jailer and his family, and all those who also became followers of Christ. (“from the first day till now”). Here, he is speaking of their fellowship in the gospel. He is making requests concerning their fellowship in the gospel in his prayers, and he is thanking God as he remembers their fellowship in the gospel.

This fellowship in the gospel is more than simply being together. Paul is in prison in Rome, while these believers are in Philippi in northern Greece. Yet the Philippian believers were not just spectators—they were participants in the work of the gospel, and that is very important. The word “fellowship,” koinonia, in the New Testament has to do with working together and sharing in a common purpose. Someone has described it as “four fellows in the same ship.” When you are in that kind of fellowship, you are close—doing the same work, moving in the same direction, and serving the same purpose.

Paul is thankful for their fellowship in the gospel. He may be thinking especially, as he later writes in Philippians chapter 4, of how they partnered with him through giving. They gave of their substance. They gave financially. They also gave encouragement through Epaphroditus, who came from Philippi to visit Paul in prison. They supported him in the ministry. Even when he was in other places, they sent gifts to encourage him and help him carry out the work God had called him to do. In this way, they were truly fellowshipping with him.

God has called all of us into the fellowship of the gospel—the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you want real joy in your life, you must be a participant in that fellowship, joining with others who share the same purposes and goals. You want to be part of a church where people do more than just gather, talk, or enjoy time together. You want to be among those who are committed to taking the gospel to the far reaches of the world. Jesus told His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We are to teach them, baptize them, and disciple them to follow Jesus Christ so that they, in turn, can reach others. That is the fellowship of the gospel.

When you are working together with others—participating in evangelism, giving, sharing, encouraging one another, helping each other grow, and holding one another accountable—you are experiencing true fellowship. We fellowship in the grace of God. We fellowship in worship as we gather together on Sunday mornings. We are united. We are participating together with other believers to fulfill what God has called us to do. That is what Paul is so thankful for here. And we should be thankful and encourage one another in the same way.

Let me ask you today: Are you just a believer in the gospel, or are you a partner in it?

Thank you for your prayers over these next few days. We will be in touch, and we will see you on Monday morning.

God bless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.