παρακαλέω

ME

Opening: Philippians is often remembered as the “letter of joy.” Maybe it has been taught to you in that way. Maybe you have heard preachers preach this message.

This morning I want to throw a rich into the mix. While I do think Joy is a big theme seen in the book of Philippians I don’t think it is the main idea.

Does understanding what the main idea is even matter?

Illsutration: Well lets illustrate this question…Remember newspapers? I remember my papa would read it every morning with his cups of coffee. He would usually have it read by the time my grandma would have his eggs bacon and toast done.

My Grandma was a fan of the crossword puzzles.

But usually the biggest story was always on the front page. That it was the headline and that headline usually helped you understand what was going on.

But lets say you read all of the paper except for the front page.

It is September 12, 2001. Your Nokia cell phone has been messed up for a week. To make matters worse you have been sick and had to ask off from work for the past couple of days. All the symptoms were the worst on the 11th so you stayed in bed all day long sleeping and just feeling terrible. You felt so terrible you didn’t even get up to go and answer the house phone.

But now it is a new day you feel a little better and as you are waking up you here the Newspaper hit the front porch.

You quickly open up to see the sports section. All of week 2 of the NFL has been cancelled bummer I wonder what happened.

Now you are in the business section and oh my the stock market fell 7.1% the day before!! Whew not a good day for the business.

You also looked at the local news and noticed some schools had let of our school and thought to yourself why in the world are kids getting out of school right now. It is Wednesday.

You see the problem with this person is that they haven’t read the main headline. That their had been a terrorist attack on the USA and the Twin towers had been destroyed by 2 airplanes.

Now all of the stories make sense.

The little lessons make more sense in conjunction with the main idea.

Joy is one of those little lessons we find throughout the Philippians. You also have another big lesson about the mind of Christ in chapter 2. HeaThen in chapter 3 we learn about our heavenly citizenship. We learn about the generosity of the Philippian church in chapter 4.

Because all of those revolve around this Mindset of Others before self — HUMILITY.

Look at the text

Philippians 1:27 “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;”

— Paul introduces the being of the same mind concept here in 1:27 and then he builds on it at the beginning of Philippians 2:1–2 “…make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”

— Philippians 2:3–4 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Is this not the same mind we see Christ having toward us. Christ displays exactly what it means to be humble Philippians 2:8 - “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We will also see two other examples with Timothy and Epaphroditus towards the end of this chapter. But again Paul will bring out this mindset in Philippians 3:17 “Brethren, join in following my example.. walk like me | imitate me. Have the same mindset as me. Let’s focus on our heavenly reward together. “Paul is calling the church to think the same way Christ thinks—putting others first in humility—so that together they can strive as one toward heaven.”

TRANSITION TO THE MAIN Text — Then we get to Chapter 4 where we see a personal message being sent to two ladies that really help show the purpose to this letter.

GOD

Philippians 4:1 ESV

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Chapter 4:1 - is a summation to what Paul just said at the end of Chapter 3 when he was discussing the heavenly citizenship we have and how we are eagerly waiting to be in heaven one day and have these bodies be transformed into glorious bodies.

— he is telling these christians to STAND FIRM IN THE LORD! Implied in this text I hope you can see is that Paul’s joy comes from Faithful followers of Christ.

That’s why he says the next verses…

Philippians 4:2–3 ESV

I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4:2 becomes a very vital verse to understanding the full picture of Philippians. Paul takes them moment to Exhort two women who are apart of this church.

Explain Parakaleo -

The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament 3870. παρακαλέω parakaléō

To call upon someone to do something, to exhort, admonish,

Now for Paul to use this word for each of them makes his point even louder. This is important and this needs to happen immediately.

Now if continue in this verse you will see what he is exhorting them to do…

“TO AGREE IN THE LORD” - ESV

“TO BE OF THE SAME MIND” - NKJV

“TO LIVE IN HARMONY” - NASB

Contextually it seems as though the translators of the NKJV get it. They understand what Paul is preaching throughout this letter about being of the same mind or as we have seen earlier having this one mind. The mindset of Christ which is a humble mindset.

Implied through the context is that these women were not of the Same Mind. They were not striving together for the Gospel.

What exactly was going on we are not privy to that information

But we can always speculate — Did these ladies have a differing of opinions on how they could serve the community best? Did these women think they should be the ones that were in charge of certain ministries?

Look below to V. 3. They were ministry workers with Paul. They laboured with him. We can assume they even traveled with him.

Maybe because they had been apart of this Apostle’s ministry they thought they deserved more honor.

This disunity of mind between these two women was so bad that it earned a letter from an apostle.

It was probably even bad enough that it was affecting the whole congregation…

Illustration: I want you think with me how much damage can happen in a congregation if 2 women are not being of the same mind? You can see the damage when there is a divided eldership in a church. Anytime there is division and not unity the congregation suffers.

But I also am disheartened when I find out what the division is over. Maybe one person is upset about the flowers that are out and think it should be other ones. Or maybe one person is upset that a certain color of carpet was put down and not the one they wanted. Or maybe there is disagreements about how certain events are ran and so division grows.

I would love to say that all of this is usually resolved pretty quickly because the two people come together and talk and come up with a way they can be of the same mind…

Sadly its not…The disagreement will usually bring about gossiping about each other and then that creates two sides and those two sides gain followers and they grow and now the disagreement that was between two people grew in to a church being split over the original disagreement.

I am curious to know at what stage they were at in Philippi. Had it gotten to the point where this disagreement had grown out of control and now there was a worry that the church would split or was Paul able to address it quickly enough to where it was still a simple disagreement between these two women?

We are not sure but we do know the goal is to be of the same mind and that mindset is humility. The same humility that Christ portrayed and that humility of mind will help us spread the gospel.

YOU

Can I exhort us to be of one mind here at Hilldale? I think we have a great deal of unity in a our midst but as you can assume with a congregation this size there is probably some division somewhere…I am not sure where it is but I think we could diminish the division with these Practical points

1. Forgive quickly

If you have something against your brother or sister go them…don’t wait…don’t wait…I want to make sure I emphasize this…DON’T WAIT…waiting to have the conversation opens the door up for Satan. I promise I have seen it countless times. A mole hill becomes a mountain because someone waited to have a conversation to try and dissolve the situation.

2. Assume the BEST

Oh why is this so hard to do. Maybe it is because this world pushes negativity. That negativity has filled our hearts and minds and now we always think the worst.

Can we strive to assume the best…Brother so and so walks into church on Sunday morning and sees one of the elders pass right by him without saying a word. Tom thinks, “Well, I guess he’s mad at me… Did I do something wrong? Did someone tell him something?”

By the time worship ends, Tom has built an entire narrative in his head. Hurt turns into resentment, resentment into distance. Unity suffers.

But the reality?

The elder had just received a text that his granddaughter was being rushed to the ER. He wasn’t ignoring Tom — he was distracted and anxious.

When we assume the worst, we create conflict where none existed. When we assume the best, we protect relationships and preserve unity.

3. Speak Directly, not through others

We are brothers and sisters. We are family. If we need to talk let’s talk. I love you and I assume you love me and we are working on helping each other get to heaven. That may mean we need to talk something out.

I am not sure if this has ever happened here but other churches I have been to and apart of I have practical point to be totally diregarded..

ILLUSTRATION: How? Let’s say Suzy is upset about something. She is actually really upset that she was not asked by Lorraine to help her teach a children’s Bible class. This is the third quarter in a row. SOOO Suzy has finally had enough…Guess what she does?

She goes straight to the elders and gives them an earful about how Lorraine is mistreating her and not letting her teach the Bible class. She is demanding that the elders go and speak with her about this.

So now the elders are put into a tough position because they don’t want either woman to be upset…

Thankfully these elders are wise and encourage her to have a conversation with Lorraine…So she does. Guess what happened in this hypothetical story?

Lorraine was grateful to hear someone wanted to volunteer to teach the children’s class. She didn’t even know that Suzy wanted to help. Then Suzy remembers oh yeah I had told someone else to tell you…

Please go directly to the person you need to talk to and not to others.

4. Refuse to Gossip

I think that is self explanatory.

5. Encourage rather than criticize

To “encourage rather than criticize” doesn’t mean we never address problems or concerns. It means our default posture toward others is to build up rather than tear down.

Criticism focuses on what someone did wrong.

Encouragement focuses on what someone is doing right — and how they can keep growing.

Both can correct. But one corrects through hope and the other through hurt.

Scenario:

A young man leads a prayer for the first time. He stumbles over words, loses his place one time, and sits down looking embarrassed.

Two responses are possible:

Criticism:

“You need to prepare more next time. You skipped part of the prayer and it was distracting.”

Encouragement:

“Thank you for being willing to lead. That takes courage. Keep growing — I’d love to see you do it again. Hey and if you would like help feel free to ask me”

Both responses address reality. Only one of them makes him want to try again.

Encouragement builds the church. Criticism shrinks it.

Read the mission statement from Hilldale…

“Our mission is to evangelize (Matthew 28:18-20) and to prepare God’s people for works of service, that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:12).

In fulfilling this mission, we are committed to using our energy and talents for the spiritual, moral, and physical health of our congregation, the community of Clarksville, and on into the world.”

Let’s do this together! I love you all. Lets pray together.

WE

This week I want to charge you to do something hard…

Repair one strained relationship. Reach out, reconcile, or encourage someone you’ve been distant from.