‘I thank my God on all my remembrance of you, always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy, for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now,'
Right from the very first day when he had found Lydia by the riverside with the small group of Jewish believers, and had been invited into her palatial home where the needs of he and his companions had been supplied, and a small church had had its beginnings (Acts 16:15), until this time when they had provided for his need in a Roman prison situation, the Philippians had been open-hearted towards him in every way. But to suggest that all that Paul had in mind was their monetary gifts would be to debase Paul. Rather he rejoiced in their gifts because they demonstrated their overall desire to partake in the spread of the Gospel and the extension of the Kingly Rule of God. That was why he thanked God for ‘every' remembrance of them. And that was why he was able to pray for them with such joy. In their spiritual advancement they were one of ‘his' major successes. And they were always a joy to him as they looked to Christ.
The word ‘fellowship' signifies ‘participation in common'. They shared with him in their prayers (Philippians 1:19), in their monetary support (Philippians 4:10), in their witness (Philippians 1:27; Philippians 2:15), in their suffering for Christ (Philippians 1:29-30), in their maintenance of each other's faith (Philippians 2:3-4), and in their worship together with him (Philippians 2:17-18). And it was all as co-partners in furtherance of the Gospel.
Note how Paul continually and abundantly prayed for their spiritual well-being. In the busyness of his daily life (for he had many letters to write, and had on him the care of all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28), and experienced many regular visitors, at least until near the end - 2 Timothy 4:10-11), he did not forget the Philippians. Furthermore he prayed for them with ‘joy'. This joy of Paul's as he considered the Philippian Christians comes out constantly throughout the letter as we saw in the introduction, and it was a joy in which he expected them to share. It no doubt partly arose because of his consideration of his own circumstances as the servant of Jesus Christ who was suffering, and even facing death, for His sake, and out of his recognition of the willingness of the Philippians to do the same. For he saw it as a joy to suffer for Christ's sake (compare James 1:2). But it was more than that for it was also a joy at their whole advancement in Christ.