That Paul desired unity among believers is evident in a number of his letters. In Paul’s view, salvation was about so much more than just securing “fire insurance” . . . it was the launching pad for a life with potential to bring glory to the Savior and to the Father. And while some of this potential might be realized on an individual level, I’m thinking that it really happens on the corporate level . . . at the “body of Christ” level. If I think back to Ephesians, when Paul says to walk in a manner worthy of our calling in Christ, the first thing he launches into is how to live as a body of believers in order to “maintain the unity of the faith” (Eph. 4:1-3). Reading in Philippians this morning, he again speaks of letting “your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” as you “stand firm . . . striving side by side for the faith” (Php. 1:27). And as I read Philippians 2 it’s clear that this “corporate challenge” is made in light of a common experience.

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 2:1-2)

The word “if” here is best understood as “since.” These are not attributes which are in question, but realities which are being experienced. They knew the encouragement of being in Christ . . . they had encountered the love of God and the warmth and comfort it brings . . . they could point to times when they sensed the intense desire and mercy of the Father, and . . . this one really caught my eye . . . they had known “participation in the Spirit.”

Other translations render it “fellowship of the Spirit.” The Greek word is koinonia . . . i.e. fellowship, association, community, communion, interaction, intimacy, joint participation. Because these believers shared in the common experience of the Holy Spirit, they were to make every effort to live in such community with one another that the community, in and of itself, would testify to the truth, power, and reality of the gospel.

And I think about “participation” or “fellowship” in the Spirit and I’m reminded of the privileged dynamic afforded the believer in terms of the depths to which we can interact with God as Jesus lives through us by the Holy Spirit, and the bond created among believers that makes us “instant family” in the Spirit.

My “participation” is with heaven itself through the agency of the Spirit of God. I have been made alive to the things of the kingdom of God and, as I learn more to hear the Spirit’s voice and seek to walk in and be led by the Spirit, I experience the realities of communion with the Father . . . I know more the mind and heart of Christ . . . I leverage increasingly the power of the resurrection. Not that I have “arrived” . . . but that I am gaining more and more a “real life” understanding of that “participation in the Spirit.”

In addition, this “fellowship in the Spirit” is about the community I’ve come to know with other believers. It’s about the kinship and responsibility I sense towards other “sinners saved by grace.” It’s about more than shaking hands on a Sunday morning, but it’s the privilege of being drawn into pathways of other pilgrims working their way home. It’s that bond that connects us as living stones being built into a holy temple, a dwelling place for God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:21-22). It sensing the reality of being a body part in the body of Christ . . . have a role . . . being part of the “building itself up in love” dynamic He has designed (Eph. 4:16). And it’s because of the reality of this common experience in the Spirit that I’m called to humbly count my brothers and sisters “more significant” than myself . . . that I’m to look out for their interests and not just consider my own (Php. 2:3-4).

A common experience . . . a divine participation . . . for the glory of God.