10-06-13 Live In Harmony In The Lord

We are studying the book of Philippians together.

We have been studying the book of Philippians together

for exactly one year.

Last week we began chapter 4,

making it all the way through verse 1.

Today we’ll make it through

at least the next two verses.

Paul takes a definite turn in his letter

when he reaches

verses 2 and 3 of this 4^th chapter.

Let me read them for us

and you’ll see what I mean.

Phil. 4:2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.

Phil. 4:3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Now obviously these two verses

are highly personal in nature.

They are addressed to three specific individuals,

two woman,

and one man,

all of whom were members of the church at Philippi.

Paul refers to the two women by name-

Euodia and Syntyche,

and then refers to the man

only by the phrase true companion

or possibly true comrade.

Obviously, all three of those addressed

knew who they were.

All three were known personally by Paul.

He praised the two women

for the role they had played in his life

when he was with them.

They both “shared (his) struggle in the cause of the gospel”.

We don’t know what role they played

in Paul’s work at Philippi,

but we do know it established

a friendship between them and Paul

that he valued a great deal.

The true companion Paul refers to

was probably one of the elders at the church,

a man who most likely traveled with Paul on one of his missionary journeys,

a man with whom Paul shared

both a significant history

and a strong friendship.

On the surface Paul’s request seems

both straightforward

and rather insignificant.

Most likely through his conversation

with Epaphroditus,

the Elder from the church at Philippi

who had made the trip to Rome

with the gift from his friends at Philippi,

Paul had learned that there now existed

some sort of strain or tension

between these two Christian ladies.

In a single sentence

he urges them to live in harmony in the Lord.

Then, in one further comment,

he enlists the help of his comrade there in Philippi

to help these two ladies

restore harmony between them.

When we first read verses like this

we may have a tendency to skip over them.

Reading them

makes us feel as though

we have accidently opened

someone else's mail.

All three of these people

died nearly 2000 years ago.

Obviously, whether they resolved their conflict or not,

it’s a mute issue now.

But if we look a little closer

at what’s happening between these four people,

between Paul,

and Euodia,

and Syntyche,

and Paul’s trusted companion,

I think we’re going to see

that the principles being communicated

in these two verses

are as relevant to us as

anything in the entire letter.

You see, it’s reasonable to assume

that, as a result of his face-to-face communication with Epaphroditus,

Paul not only knew that these two ladies were in conflict,

but he also knew WHY.

He knew what the issue was,

what was causing the tension between these two.

Obviously it could have been anything.

It could have been doctrinal.

They might have both held strong convictions about some aspect

of Christian belief,

or Christian practice,

or Church life,

and been unable to resolve

their different points of view.

It might have been a relationship issue,

a family conflict,

or a stress that grew out of the way in which one of them

had dealt with the other’s children.

Maybe their children

had wanted to marry

and one or the other didn’t approve.

Maybe it involved money,

with one of them feeling as though

the other had cheated them

or been dishonest with them.

Paul certainly knew

what the issue between these two was,

and the first thing that hits me

as I read this single verse addressed to them

is that we never do!

Paul doesn’t tell us what the issue is

because it doesn’t matter.

When Paul addresses this strained relationship

in this public letter

he doesn’t attempt to resolve the conflict

by telling them who’s right

and who’s wrong.

If it was doctrine,

he doesn’t declare who has the right idea and who has the wrong one.

If the conflict concerned their children

he doesn’t tell them

which one behaved properly

and which one was improper.

If it involved money

he doesn’t attempt to determine

who was honest and who was not.

He doesn’t try to resolve the issue

because the issue is not the issue.

The real issue is that

two prominent Christians,

most likely two leaders in the church,

had broken off their friendship with one another

because they allowed an issue,

ANY issue

to become more important

than their unity in Christ.

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus gave the world the right

to evaluate whether or not

we are truly His disciples

on the basis of whether or not

we are able to establish and maintain visible love relationships with one another.

When these two ladies

in the Philippian Church

allowed a public, visible breakdown

to occur in their relationship with one another

they were proclaiming

to all those who were watching

that the presence of Christ in a person’s life

really makes no difference at all.

I want to try to say something here

that could easily be misunderstood.

Purity of doctrine

can never communicate

the reality of Christ.

We Christians spend a tremendous amount of effort

building and refining our doctrinal belief systems.

We wrestle with difficult doctrinal

and theological questions.

What do we believe about the return of Christ?

Will Christians go through the tribulation?

Where will the AntiChrist come from?

What is the mark of the beast?

What do we believe about the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Are the sign gifts relevant for today?

If not, why?

If so, how should they be incorporated into the life of the church?

How should a local body of believers organize themselves?

What is the role of church leadership?

How should a church handle

divorce?

division?

open immorality?

Those questions

and hundreds of others like them

send growing Christians

deep into the Bible

looking for guidance,

for principles,

for answers.

In the process we build,

precept upon precept,

doctrine upon doctrine,

our systematic Christian belief system.

In the process

we also learn about our God -

who He is,

how He relates to us,

what it means to be His child.

His Word becomes food

that literally feeds our spirit

and equips us to grow.

It is understandable that,

given the effort,

and sometimes agony

that we invest in building our doctrinal systems,

in the end they become very valuable to us,

very important to us.

And they should be.

But the truth is

if we could take our entire personal doctrinal system

and write it up

and hand it to a non-Christian,

they would probably respond by saying, “So What!!”

And you know something,

their response would be absolutely valid.

From their perspective

our funny little group of ideas about God

is of no more value

and no more significance

than the hundreds of thousands of other

little religious systems flooding our world.

The non-Christian drives down the street

and passes one group that believes

that Christians will be pulled out before the Tribulation,

and two blocks farther on

he passes another group

that believes Christians will go through the whole Tribulation,

and two blocks beyond that

he passes a group

that doesn’t even believe

there will be a Tribulation

and it would be difficult

to find anything apparently less relevant

to his life,

with less power to draw him to God

than our little package of doctrines.

Because what he’s looking for

is not the best system,

that covers all the verses,

with all the diagrams,

and footnotes,

and proof texts.

What he’s looking for

is something that can change his life.

And so, the question he’ll ask

and the one he has every right to ask

is not, “What do you believe?”,

but rather,

“How does what you believe

affect your life?”

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Paul addressed

this broken relationship between

these two Christian women at Philippi

because what was happening in their lives

was publicly proclaiming the message

that in the end the presence of Christ

in a person’s life

makes no practical difference in our relationships with one another.

And in this single verse

Paul is saying,

“My good friends,

I know you are both children of the King.

PLEASE, illustrate that truth

in your relationship with one another.”

Now, that sounds great,

but how, then, are they suppose to

resolve whatever issue it was

that brought about this breakdown between them in the first place?

Doesn’t somebody have to change their doctrine?

Doesn’t somebody have to change their position?

Doesn’t somebody have to be ‟RIGHT”

and the somebody have to be ‟WRONG”?

Well, to tell you the truth, NO they don’t.

What they need to do

is to choose to make their relationship with one another

more important than the issue that has divided them.

And I need to offer one more point of clarification here

in order for this to make sense.

God has never called us to a structural unity within the Body of Christ,

He has called us to a unity of spirit.

Or, stated differently,

it is not our organizational structure

or our shared doctrinal statement

that unites God’s people,

it is our shared submission

to the Lordship of Christ in our lives.

If it was doctrine that divided these two

Paul was saying,

“I want you to accept and respect the other person,

even though you believe their ideas are wrong.”

If they were fighting over

how to organize the women’s Bible study,

Paul is calling them to say to one another,

“Our friendship

is more important than this project.

We’ll set the whole thing aside,

or we’ll each work separately

on the approach we think is best,

while preserving our friendship with one another.”

If they found it impossible

to teach the class together

without friction developing between them,

then don’t teach the class together

for the sake of their friendship.”

Simply stated,

Paul is calling them to make

the preservation of a workable relationship between them

a higher priority than their individual rights,

or their possessions,

or their ideas.

Maybe some personal illustrations will help.

A little known fact in our fellowship

is that I was once on staff

at another church here in Soldotna.

I was their youth pastor for a year.

Then I was on their deacon board,

and for a brief time I even held the position of assistant pastor.

The longer I was involved in the church, however,

the more I realized how strongly I disagreed with the goals

and the structure of the group.

In the end I finally realized

that the healthiest thing I could do

for my relationship with my fellow Christians in that church

was to break off STRUCTURAL ties with them

so that I could preserve my relationships with them.

I left the church.

That was more than 30 years ago now.

I still see some of those Christians around town occasionally,

and every time I see them

I share with them a strong friendship

and a deep unity of spirit.

Here within our own fellowship

we have a wide range of different doctrinal beliefs.

Even on our church board

the five of us see some things very differently.

If we allowed it to,

any one of the countless differences

that exist between us here in this church

could destroy our visible unity in Christ.

And the only reason it doesn’t

is because every time we meet together,

every time we see each other,

we each bring to those meetings

a value system that says,

“My relationship with you as my fellow Christian

is more important than anything else.”

It doesn’t mean we sacrifice our beliefs,

or our convictions,

it means we choose not to sacrifice our friendship with one another

because of them.”

And that, ultimately, is always a choice

we can and must make.

After close to half a century in the family of God

I now see some things so much differently than I did in the early days.

The calling of being a child of God here and now, on this earth,

is both far more simple

and at times far more difficult than I ever realized.

It is simple in that at the heart of the calling given to each of us by our Lord

is that we invest our lives

in seeking to understand

how to truly love each of those people He has placed around us.

That’s not complicated in the least.

But it is also far more difficult at times

than I ever realized

because it requires from each of us

a very active, daily submission to the leadership of the Spirit of God in our lives,

and a fierce determination

to order my priorities in such a way

that building and maintaining those love relationships

is forever more important to me

than my rights, my things, or my ideas.

It is in every way

the most radical,

the most challenging,

and yet the most fulfilling approach to life we can ever know.

Phil. 4:2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.