Harmony (Phil 4:1-5)

Intro

Friends, I love harmony. Love it everything. I prefer in music more harmony all the time. So to begin our service today….we are going to go to music school for a just a second!

Harmony in musical terms is coinciding moments that reflect atleast one if not both things......a rhythmic relationship and a pitch relation the sport world…a chant at a game. When I say Team, you say defense…team (defense!) Team (Defense). Or if your team isn’t good....when I say “leave”, you say early...”leave” (early) Leave, early....am I right blazer fans?

Everyone understands the rhythm of how those words are to come out. There is harmony in how everyone rhythmically serves one goal, one purpose to communicate the message of the song. Our team needs to play better defense…or we need a better team.

We have all seen where just this type of harmony can go from good…to bad real quick. In fact, just to outline it....I want this half of the room to say defense when I say team…and I want this half of the room to say snacks…ok.....when I say team you say

chaos.....it can get to chaos so quickly.

of course We usually think of harmony in pitch. You have consonance....pitches that work together and create pleasing chords. This is based on notes that have perfect relationships. relationships of notes. A root... A major 3rd and a 5th for example. C major. G major. F major. Do you have some relationships that feel like this? This is the case for major and minor chords. Obviously, a different feelingAll based on consonant relationships with one another. Very effective in communicating the message of the song.

Then you have dissonance. Pitches that create tension. Not much of a musical story is told with out both consonance and dissonance. Like this interval. A major second. This is often used to sustain chords and then resolve the tension to consonance. Because often…the tense moments resolve to the pleasing chords. Also extremely effective in communicating the message of a song.

The interval you want to watch out for is the minor 2nd. It has a place in music but often not in chording. In fact, I find that when two notes are trying to occupy the same place, you often get this warning with the major second....play Jaws Theme.

but with the right foundation a minor second can be beautiful play f7

You see …even the minor second interval is useful in communicating a message in a song.

I was perusing the interwebs and found this group, Kings Return. They are a gospel acapella group that really showcase harmony. Listen to this. (Play Video 2 min)

Harmony

Did you hear that? 4 distinct parts all working in conjunction for one clear purpose....no one is vying for attention but rather they are valuing others before themselves, supporting one another at different aspects to showcase one another’s gifting.

How horrible would that video have been if each member was trying to out sing the other....to be louder…to get higher.....to shine more in the limeLight. If there goal to serve the song and each other was not uniform between them, the message of the song would have been lost.

I would argue today that Harmony is an essential part of the Christian life. As essential as anything else. Harmony is essential because it tells the rest of the world whether we actually believe what we claim. If you and I as followers of Christ cannot strive to live in harmony with our fellow believer, it reflects on the God we say we believe in.

Steven Lawson in his commentary writes this “How we deal with disagreements and discord shows what we believe way deep down about the sufficiency of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And how we help others navigate disagreements shows what we believe way deep down about the unity and uniqueness of Christ’s church”

Harmony is essential

Non-musically speaking, harmony is an old Greek term meaning joint or being able to live together in agreement, in on accord. The world knows we are Christians by our love of God and our love for one another. Living together in agreement on the one main thing....Jesus Christ... is essential to the Christian life.

In our verses today in Phil 4:1-5, I want to point out 4 ways we can strive for harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ. To live out the essential need for harmony among us.

The 1st way we can strive for harmony with others is to

Start with Love (verse 1a)

Philippians 4:1 (NIV)

1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Paul begins this break esteeming so much love and admiration and affection to the church in Philippi. In the NIV, the word for brothers and sisters is communicating “ those who have the same origin story, the same mission.

Paul was not writing to his biological brothers and sisters. But he was writing to those he felt shared in being saved by Jesus. In being saved by his grace. Not only that, but there mission was to be the same.

To gather together, be in His word, share in building up one another through Christ and go out to the world to tell more and more people about the son of God who saves. Same mission. That is what we are to do. That is the unifying point....Jesus and the mission to love Him and love others.

Make no mistake....Paul is giving admonishment…correction. He is going to name names in a 4 chapter book

But Paul starts with so much love.

To have harmony, you need to start with love. If you try and start with anything else, you are doomed from the beginning. Parents, friends, spouses, brothers and sisters in Christ…we all experience when someone is giving us correction out of something other than love.

Start with Love. Start with longing for…having a deep affection. Hoping for the best possible outcome for someone from the very beginning before any more words come out of your mouth. Before any other feelings originate in your mind and heart.

Check yourself before you wreck not only yourself but set the relationship on a path that is not pleasing to the Lord. Start with Love

Crown

Paul refers to them as his crown. He is making a connection to athletes who receive a medal on the winners podium. A sign of a race well run. That sign in this case is those with whom Paul has shared the gospel. Those he has poured himself into. Other verses point this out, most notable is 1 Thess 2:19-20

1 Thessalonians 2:19–20 NIV

19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

Paul both in Philippians and 1st Thessalonians is showcasing what it means to love others and that love is reflected in how you consider those whom you have loved in Christ as your greatest achievement.

I am, according to the metrics and data....at the halfway point of my life. And it can be so tempting to drift into discouragement. Dreams of playing music all over the world, of creating musical legacies, of accepting big awards on big stages.......none of those have quite materialized the way I thought.

But then I think about the people I have invested in. People I have had the honor of walking beside....through hard times, and joyful times....and all the sudden I am thankful for those achievements…thankful for the Life God has given. thankful that some situations didn’t work out....so that I wouldn’t have missed watching poeple grow in Christ. Watching people heal, discover their new identity as a child of God and walk with him. That is better than any stage or award I can think of because it lasts!

Here is a question for you today! What do you consider your best achievement? What do you want the medal to say around your neck if one was given to you?

As you think of harmony with your fellow believes in Christ....what do you start with? Do you start with your superior intellect? WIth your certainty that you are right?

I would urge you to begin with love.....ponder 1 Corin 13 and look for patience, kindness, not being envious, not boasting in pride, not leading with anger, or keeping record of wrongs…love that always protects, always hopes. Start with this and watch the harmony between you and your fellow believers in Christ grow exponentially.

We are to start with love. We consider the achievements of our lives to be reflected in growth of others.

Paul also reminds us that we are

Stand Firm in the Lord (verse 1-2)

The very first word in verse 1.....therefore....it helps connect this thought to what Pastor Paul talked about last week. Those who don’t know Christ…their glory is their shame. Their god is all the things they desire and crave…their want....do not live as they do but follow the Apostle Paul’s example....Start with love....consider others more highly than yourself and stand firm in the Lord.

This is a constant theme through out the apostle’s teaching

One of the reasons it is a major theme is that it is easy to get scared or distracted. It can be so easy to waver. And Paul has been spending time in Chapter 3 reminding the church that they are to not waver…but identify that they, the church, are different than those without Christ. The church stands firm by counting everything as loss in order to have Christ (v. 8), trusting in Christ alone (v. 9), seeking to know Him more (v. 10), pressing on to Christ (v. 12), and keeping our eyes on the prize of becoming like Christ (v. 14).

Standing firm depicts the idea of soldiers shoulder to shoulder in a line on the battle field as the enemy runs toward them. It is not just individually but in community. A soldier is exposed if the person to their left is not also standing firm.

We are to stand firm.... This means Our feet are planted. Eyes fixed on our goal of bracing against the attack. We trust the fellow believer to our left and right…there eyes our fixed ahead, not wavering, stumbling, or easily moved. His use of military imagery also brought with it all the other aspects of a soldier life…discipline, honor, sacrifice, and obedience.

But the real critical component is that we stand firm IN THE LORD. How many times I have stood firm on something. My own idea. My own way. My desire to avoid pain, hardship. My desire for control. What have you stood firm in that wasn’t the Lord?

In 1 Cor 16, Paul says it another way. We are to stand firm in the faith. This means that we are, like the imagery of a solider standing firm, make the very ground that we plant our feet on.....the gospel of Christ. We find it in the Word of God, in the help of the Holy Spirit, and in community with the church. We do not build our lives on sand, but on the rock of Christ....

We stand firm in the fact that our sins are forgiven and our hope is secure. We anchor ourselves to the truth that Jesus has reconciled us to the Father. We find this firm foundation through the Holy Spirit’s power to sustain us and shape up to be steady in our faith. We do not try to stand alone, but lock arms with other brothers and sisters of the faith. There we find help, encouragement, and strength. We stand firm in the Lord

When striving for harmony with our fellow believers in Christ, We are to Start with Love, We are to stand firm in the Lord, we are also to

Safeguard Against Bitterness (verse 2- 3 ) don’t read.

Philippians 4:2–3 NIV

2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Paul now gets to some specific ways we need to live out all that he is talking about.

Paul is pleading with two specific individuals in the church there in Philippi....UODIA - Euodia and her fellow co-worker in Christ SIN-Tuh-CHEE..He says to be of the same mind…in the Lord. Euodia means fragrant and Syntyche means fortunate or good natured.

The fact that he urges them to live in harmony, strongly implies they were at odds with each other. This was such an issue in the body of believers at Philippi that Paul had even received word of it all the way back in his Roman prison cell!

All of our squabbles and disunity ring out louder than we understand. They display a picture to more people than we care to admit. It is not the song and it is not the picture we desire for people to see of God’s family.

Paul does not give any indication of what the disagreement was about. Most if not all commentaries agree that it was not a doctrinal issue but a relational one. And yet Paul’s tone in verse 2 is one of pleading, of urging, of continuously and directly calling for aid in this matter.

Disagreements with our fellow church family members happen. Remember, there is dissonance when making music but we have the same goal and it can resolve.

We find harmony when we don’t let bitterness into our disagreements. You know the bitterness I am talking about. Paul actually pokes at this bitterness and what it leads to in Ephesians 4:30

Ephesians 4:31–32 NIV

31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Bitterness creeps in to our minds and hearts as we engage with other fellow believers. Pride, hurt, anger fuels us to be bitter toward them. Left unchecked, that bitterness turns to to rage or wrath. This is the flare up....you get heated and say something out of hot moment…once you calm down…you recognize the reality of what is going on. You make an apology. But left unchecked....it turns to anger. Anger is the always on rage that simmers all the time. It might not look like rage but just below the service, you are ready to come unglued. Every conversation involves this anger.

From there, if left unchecked, we find fighting, slander. Now we are purposefully injuring physically. We are hurting a reputation in hopes that our anger, our bitterness will be avenged. Left unchecked.....we have malice. This is pure evil. This is evil for no other sake than to gratify the evil desires. These very naturally turn from one into another.

We must safeguard against these by being of the same mind. Paul is telling the church......be of the same mind. Don’t let bitterness start a wildfire in your spiritual home. Notice here that he urges both Euodia and Syntache…he doesn’t even allow the sentence to give an indication for who should make the first move. Both are to make steps toward having the same mind.

He does not say they are to agree. I shudder at the thought of every person in tghe church only coming at issues the same way. The same mind here means that we must have our minds geared toward Christian love, seeking the highest good for one another; even in our disagreements we have humility love and kindness to one another.

He also encourages another in the church to come alongside for this reason. Remember these are not people in the church who like to create trouble. No! He says in verse 3 these are folks who have worked by my side in the cause of the gospel. These are folks who have jumped in the trenches to spread the gospel, to build community, and who are saved by Christ.

bitterness and disunity is like a fire everyone needs to jump in and help fight. We are called to come alongside one another and root it out. Put it out the right way resolve it and safeguard against bitterness

We strive for harmony by starting with love, by standing firm in the Lord…by safeguarding against bitterness....we are also to

Surrender Pride and Rejoice (verse 4-5)

We must surrender our pride. Root out the things we have build our lives on that is anything other than Christ.....

GracePointe, the Holy Spirit desires for us to be in harmony because it brings honor and glory to God It tells a world that is dying the God we follow saves.

In his book, The Mark of a Christian, Francis Schaeffer said, “In the midst of the world, in the midst of our present culture, Jesus is giving a right to the world. Upon his authority, he gives the world the right to judge whether you and I are born-again Christians on the basis of our observable love toward all Christians.”

But too often I find that people treat being in harmony relationally as a faith community the same way they treat being able to sing harmony. Right now, if I ask someone to come up on stage and sing harmonies with me....quite a few of you would say things like “nope....not for me. I can’t hold a tune. You don’t want to hear that....our attendance would go down due to my lack of skill.

I find people treat harmony relationally the same way. There is a scoffing at the idea that we can be in harmony with one another. They roll their eyes and go “that is not realistic....for people to always get along”. i can’t be asked to always get along

Friends That is pride talking. And we see that through out his word, He is pleased when those He has saved love Him and one another. When they are of the same mind.

So it is correct to think that we can’t do this. But in Christ, we absolutely can. GracePointe has rich differences....all through out her history. But what brought us together is our desire for church potlucks and wood astetic building design! NO…what knit us together is Christ. let us surrender our pride and choose Christ

Gentleness

Later in verse 5, Paul concludes with encouraging people in the family of God to let their intellect, their ability to argue, their gift of persuasion be evident…

oh wait…it doesn’t say that at all....it says let your gentleness be evident to all. Your gentleness. Other translations refer to patience and being satisfied with less than what you are due! Bearing one another’s burdens...

We see. in 2 Timothy 2:20, characteristics that showcase the God we serve. we must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting opponents with gentleness.

Imagine the last argument you had with a fellow believer....perhaps that is in your own family or it is here in GracePointe. If that feels to uncomfortable, think about an argument you witnessed between two other believers. You were sitting off to the side with your bag of popcorn, just watching it all go down.

Was their gentleness evidence? Did you notice them listening to one another? Were they able to articlute the others point of view even as they disagreed with it? This is the stuff that sets followers of Christ apart from the world. Even as we disagree, we long to love one another. We have our gentleness evident to all!

We do this because God showcases this gentleness with us. How many times have you or I had to go to God and say....”sigh…I thought I could do it. But you are the only one who can do it. I have sinned against you Lord. Forgive me and help me to walk the path you have put before me.

God could be irritated, could be angry, could be sick and tired of my constant failing. But he isn’t....is he. He is gentle. He is patient.....forgives and is long suffering with his people. We should do likewise.

Tim Keller puts it this way “remember where you’re from. You’re citizens of heaven. Remember where you’re going, the glory. Realize and remember what Christ has done so this could be true. If your minds are filled with that, there should be no room for pettiness, divisiveness in the presence of the reality that we are now with God.

Lift up your thoughts,” he says. “Lift up your eyes. You’re not seeing the big picture. That’s the only possible way you could be so upset with each other.”

Rejoice

In verse 4 we see that we should be glad. we should rejoice! We should delight in the Lord. Rejoicing is unique for times where difficulty. When there is division. When we rejoice, it begins Internally and showcases externally.

Some of us need to tell our faces that we have joy! Why should our faces radiate Joy? Because we have Christ! He is our source and the one who helps us produce joy to begin with. The Lord is near! He is not far away. Let us rejoice

We are to rejoice in the Lord just as we stand firm in the Lord. All kinds of things can produce happiness.

But joy comes from the Lord and it is joy that helps produce harmony. Joy is not a feeling but a confidence that God, through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit is bigger than anything we are going through. That the promises of God are trust worthy. That our identity is found in the magnificent one who is mighty to save. That my identity is not found in my mistakes but in the saving work of Christ.

Psalm 73:25-26 reminds us how we should joyfully boast.

Psalm 73:25–26 NIV

25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Gracepointe may we have harmony As we leave this place to go enjoy one another…may we remember that God has gathered us together May we honor him with our pleasing and soon to be resolving relationships And may we have joy always!

let’s pray

gracepointe I hope you are excited for some fun today as you have brought a ton of food parents make sure you get your kids

friends may we move to gym to enjoy food and felloeship Burgers and hot dogs will be out as soon as possible Plenty of food and games for everyone! lets have some fun!