HM 5000 1st Sermon
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Transcript
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Passage:
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
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.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Introduction: Much like the Christians at the church in Philippi, we often deal with interpersonal conflict that comes with doing ministry. As a result, the Lord calls us to unity but reminds us that we are not alone in that effort. Paul urges the church to “let their requests be made known to God” and promises that God will grant his peace in response. The second thing Paul urges the church towards is a consistent pattern of God-focused reflection that also results in God’s peace.
Some of the epistles are written to clarify a gospel issue (Galatians) or to correct error (1 Corinthians).
Philippians is interesting because it’s really a letter of an encouragement to a church that is , by and large, doing pretty well.
And like many of us in this room, the early Christians at the church in Philippi are laboring for the gospel with other Christians,
walking alongside the wounded,
dealing with various criticisms and struggle
and they find themselves struggling now with some interpersonal conflict amongst themselves
We don’t know what it’s about or what started it — but Paul addresses it firmly and lovingly
Introduction: Much like the Christians at the church in Philippi, we often deal with interpersonal conflict that comes with doing ministry.
As a result, the Lord calls us to unity but reminds us that we are not alone in that effort.
Paul urges the church to “let their requests be made known to God” and promises that God will grant his peace in response.
The second thing Paul urges the church towards is a consistent pattern of God-focused reflection that also results in God’s peace.
Primary Claim:
THE BIG IDEA OF THIS PASSAGE is: “By pursuing genuine Christian unity, aimed towards the Lord, we can enjoy God’s joy-filled peace.”
And that is good
As people who desire to faithfully and consistently minister in a healthy manner, it’s what we need!
Organizational Sentence: Let’s pay attention to Paul’s call, invitation, and reminder.
Paul calls the church to be unified (vs. 2-3).
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.
Euodia and Syntyche are two women in the church community — apparently there is some sort of struggle between them.
Paul calls them to resolve the matter.
Again, we don’t know what’s going on, and it’s interesting that Paul doesn’t mention it specifically… because that would probably take away from the point he is trying to make.
Paul’s point is: regardless of the relational problem, it’s of utmost important that the church remains unified!
Sometimes because of (1) offense or (2) misunderstanding or these types of (3) things that cause conflict between Christians — we get so focused on the problem that we miss the “forest for the trees”… in essence, we forget about what is MOST IMPORTANT.
So it’s almost as if Paul is saying, “friends, you done good ministry. Don’t let this disagreement take you off course. The church's unity hangs in the balance and this is not worth compromising that!”
I think it’s easy for anyone doing ministry to deal with this — it’s a real struggle. Interpersonal conflict and disagreements are commonplace and we must keep the church’s unity as a priority.
Paul invites the church to offer their requests to God (vs. 4-7).
II. Paul invites the church to offer their requests to God (vs. 4-7).
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Encouragingly, Paul doesn’t just end with a call towards unity, although that is significant.
Paul acknowledges the difficulty of relational struggle in ministry and follows the call towards unity with an invitation to make our requests, our needs, known to God!
This sounds and seems so simple.
But it’s so easy to take that conflict to everyone but God.
In an effort to relieve anxiety, I’m tempted to go tell a friend or an ally — I’ll go somewhere to try and alleviate this anxiety.
Paul encourages, “you can take that to the Lord, in fact, you should!”
[RHETORICAL] “What are we after here?” —> We’re after PEACE!
And Paul’s words are so encouraging and I believe it applies to the church at Philippi as well as it applies to us.
INVITATION
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
PROMISE
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
“You may be so anxious, based on the situation, that peace makes no sense!”
Paul is clear: “through prayer, let God know what you need! Wrestle through the problem with the Lord.”
And ends with, “God’s peace, which is beyond your understanding, will GUARD your hearts and minds...”
That is such an encouraging invitation and promise!
Remain focused on God regardless of circumstances (vs. 8-9).
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
III. Remain focused on God regardless of circumstances (vs. 8-9).
Paul calls the church towards unity in the midst of struggle!
Paul invites the church to make their requests made known to God!
Bring them to the Lord
Paul ends with a reminder:
REMAIN FOCUSED ON GOD REGARDLESS OF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES!
“you’re going through it. You’re doing your best and there’s still relational difficulty.”
Instead of focusing on the:
(1) offense or focusing on the
(2) pain or focusing on how
(3) your right or wrong or whatever it may be...
THINK ABOUT: what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise… Think about these things!
Remain focused on God… he’s the source of our peace!
Simply being right isn’t going to bring us peace… it’s focusing and relying on Christ!
“Remember your training...”
Paul says, “all that you’ve learned and heard and seen in me — put it into practice!”
Paul is exhorting them, “I’ve talked to you about sacrifice and the difficulty of ministry… we’ve talked about the importance of humility — don’t forget all of that now that you’re facing a problem!”
This list of virtues is really just a basic summary of what it means to have a Godly focus… Paul is essentially, “friends, don’t be distracted! You’re doing well, don’t run off course now because of this disagreement and struggle.”
Conclusion:
Unity is difficult, conflict produces anxiety, and these are issues we all experience.
Fortunately, Paul offers us a helpful exhortation:
“As we pursue genuine Christian unity and remain focused on the Lord, God’s peace will guard us in Jesus.”
That is good news.