is gratitude for them is expressed in all his
prayers which are all thank-offerings. He never thinks of them nor prays
for them without thanking God for them. Then comes the reason for his
gratitude--their fellowship in furtherance of the gospel, from the first
day when Lydia constrained him to come into her house, until this moment
when now at the last their care of him had flourished again. The Revised
Version's rendering 'fellowship in furtherance of' instead of
'fellowship in' conveys the great lesson which the other rendering
obscures--that the true fellowship is not in enjoyment but in service,
and refers not so much to a common participation in the blessedness as
in the toils and trials of Christian work. This is apparent in an
immediately following verse where the Philippians' fellowship with
Christ is again spoken of as consisting in sharing both in His bonds and
in the double work of defending the gospel from gainsayers and in
positively proclaiming it. Very beautifully in this connection does he
designate that work and toil as 'my grace.'

The fellowship which thus is the basis of his thanksgiving leads on to a
confidence which he cherishes for them and which helps to make his
prayers joyful thanksgivings. And such confidence becomes him because
he has them in his heart, and 'love hopeth all things' and delights to
believe in and anticipate all good concerning its object. He has them in
his heart because they faithfully share with him his honourable, blessed
burdens. But that is not all, it is 'in the tender mercies' of Christ
that he loved them. His love is the love of Christ in him; his being is
so united to Jesus that his heart beats with the same emotion as throbs
in Christ's, and all that is merely natural and of self in his love is
changed into a solemn participation in the great love which Christ has
to them. This, then, being the general exposition of the words, let us
now dwell for a little while on the broad principles suggested by them.

I. Participation in the work of Christ is the noblest basis for love and
friendship.

Paul had tremendous courage and yet hungered for sympathy. He had no
outlets for his love but his fellow Christians. There had, no doubt,
been a wrenching of the ties of kindred when he became a Christian, and
his love, dammed back and restrained, had to pour itself on his
brethren.

The Church is a workshop, not a dormitory, and every Christian man and
woman is bound to help