Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning Church, it is great to gather together with you again.

Last week we gathered among the trees enjoying the fresh air, humming birds and gentle breeze of God’s creation.

It was a joy to be the Church with you all in such an environment.

This week we have gathered to be the Church again but in the building that God has provided for us to steward well.

We can meet as a Church anywhere, but God has given us this building as a Kingdom resource and so we want to use it for his glory.

And I am sure that you have seen that we have been taking some visible steps this summer toward stewarding the property that God has given us.

We have installed new carpet in the lobby and JoAnn and the decorating team have begun to rejuvenate that space with some new fixtures and furniture in order for it to be a welcoming and inviting environment here in the building.

We are also looking to make some improvements to the outside of our building.

James and Facility Maintenance Team are looking for help in updating some of our landscaping and our playground equipment.

You probably don’t know this, because you aren’t here all week like I am, but many of the families in our neighborhood use our play ground.

Every week I see families coming over on bikes and wagons and strollers to play on our equipment, and if you look closely at it you can see that it is not as secure and stable as it should be.

So this is not just about is it good enough or our kids, but does it reflect our care for our community around us.

I have often walked out and talked to parents who have brought their children over, it’s a great opportunity for community interaction.

So If you are a handy type guy and would like to help with that then you can connect with James, and if you have some feedback for the Decorating Team please connect with JoAnn if she hasn’t connected with you already.

So we want to care for the resource of our building here, even as we look for ways to also connect outside of our building like we talked about last week.

If you weren’t with us last week, we introduced our fall plan for what we are calling “life groups”.

It is our next step to moving our connections with one another beyond our Sunday Morning Gatherings.

The goal of these groups is to help us to be more visible in each others lives so that we can help each other grow into deeper levels of maturity in Christ.

More information will be coming in the next couple of weeks, but at this point all we are asking you to do is to pray about how God would have you and your family be involved in this deeper level of commitment to growing toward becoming a healthier Church.

Because we don’t want to just spend the summer talking about what a healthy Church looks like, we want to start putting those things we are learning into practice.

we are starting out with two groups at the Taubert and the Prissel homes, and right now all I am asking you to do is pray over how God would have you be involved in this next step toward becoming an even more healthy church.

Tension

It seems clear from what we have been learning from Philippians that if we are to become a Joyful Gospel Partnership as Paul describes then we will need to become more visible in each others lives.

The only way that we will be able to encourage one another, learn from one another and challenge one another into deeper levels of maturity in Christ is to know what is going on in each others life.

I whole heartedly believe that this will be a fruitful step for us as a Church, and I am excited about having the opportunity to get to know you all better.

And I know that many of you are excited about this as well, especially if you are a people person, but all of us know that growing deeper in a relationship with someone also has it’s risks.

I whole heartedly believe that this will be a fruitful step for us as a Church, and I am excited about having the opportunity to get to know you all better.

And I know that many of you are excited about this as well, especially if you are a people person, but all of us know that growing deeper in a relationship with someone also has it’s risks.

The more we get to know one another and begin to challenge one another the more opportunities there are for conflicts to arise.

Most of the conflicts in a Church are not doctrinal, they are typically relational.

Even when working together in building and decorating endeavors as I described can bring up the possibility of conflicts.

Churches have even been split over things as silly as the choice of the color of the carpet, so maybe it is better to just keep you distance in order to not risk getting hurt.

If we keep all of our relationships floating along on the surface level of a the hearty handshake each Sunday then their is little risk, but there is also little reward.

There is always risk in deepening relationships, but the reward of becoming the Joyful Gospel Partnership that God intended His Church to be - is worth the risks.

And I am convinced that at times God himself leads us into some of these conflicts, in order that we will come out on the other side having grown closer together and even more dependent on Him.

as we grow as a Joyful Gospel Partnership, we will see our conflicts, which we will have, be handled in such a way that they grow us closer together instead of driving us further apart.

So how does a healthy church handle conflict?

Well Paul tells in Chapter 4. Turn with me if you will to Philippians chapter 4, page 982 in the Bibles in the chairs.

I’ll pray, and we will look into Paul’s answer to conflict in a healthy Church.

becoming more visible in each others lives is an important step in becoming a Joyful Gospel Partnership, but what I did not focus in on is the nMore information will be coming on that, but for now I have asked you to be in prayer over

[Tug A War example with three volunteers]

Tension

Truth

I have been using visual aids all summer to highlight the truths of the book of Philippians and I didn’t want you to be disappointed this morning so I have brought with me this morning my “Tug A War” Rope.

I invited three volunteers to come up with me to demonstrate something.

How many people here have ever been to an event with a tug a war?

It is a common event at Summer Fairs and Family reunions and the like.

The idea is that there are two teams so I have invited these strapping young men (and Nick) up here to demonstrate this for us.

Sometimes there will be a mud pit or just a marker in the middle and which ever team gets the other team across that line wins.

Set up the guys...

[Tug A War example with three volunteers]

1…2… Just kidding, you guys can have a seat.

Thank for helping out.

The reason that I wanted you to see the panic on Nick’s face was because I wanted to help us to understand a particular word that is in the center of our text today.

It is literally in the center of the text, as well as it is central to all that Paul is saying in this section of scripture.

The word is “anxious”.

begins by saying “do not be anxious about anything”

Clearly Nick was a little anxious there, but more than that I wanted to bring us to the meaning of the word.

The Greek Word is “merim-now” μεριμνάω which means to be anxious, full of cares, particularly cares that are pulling you in opposite directions.

Much like these guys were about to pull Nick in opposite directions.

And when we think being anxious that makes sense.

This is what was happening in the Church at Philippi.

While the Church was by all acounts a healthy Church there was conflict there that was causing the Church to be pulled in opposite directions.

It was bringing in anxiety and Paul then had to address it.

But did you hear that?

The church in Philippi, the Church that by all accounts is a healthy Church, also has conflict.

This is so important for us to see and understand.

Healthy Churches Have Conflict.

The presence of conflict in a Church does not make it an unhealthy Church.

We should expect that conflict will happen, because even healthy churches have conflict.

It is not the presence of conflict that makes a Church healthy or un-healtly, it is how the church handles the conflict.

Healthy Churches Have Conflict

Healthy Churches Handle Conflict in a healthy way

So lets look at how Paul instructs the Church to handle conflict in a healthy way

Philippians 4:

Whenever we are reading the Bible and we see the word “Therefore” we have to stop and look backwards because what is about to be said is contigent on what was said previously.

In this case, Paul is about to give specific application to the Doctrines that he laid out in the previous Chapter.

Chapter 3 explained that we cannot be saved by our works of righteousness, but only by our faith in Jesus and then as we are maturing in that faith we do more and more works of righteousness.

It is the Doctrine of Justification and Sanctification which we have covered at some length over the last several weeks.

So in his love for the Church in Philippi, Paul gives them these direct instructions on how to apply the things that he has been teaching.

Paul knows that learning the ways of God is worthless unless it leads to obeying the word of God.

[Evelyn and Sarah]

“Evelyn” “Sarah”

ok, obviously I substituted in more modern names because I didn’t want you to distance yourselves from the experience because of the difficulty of these ancient names.

These were two women in the Church who were well know and their conflict with each other was having such an impact on the Church that Paul calls them out by name.

For 2,000 years Christians have read of their correction by the Apostle Paul.

And you thought getting your name in the paper for speeding was bad.

This was not a doctrinal issue or Paul would have addressed it as such, it was a relational one.

It was an issue that Paul did not take sides on.

He purposely didn’t list their names together lest they think the order meant he agreed more with one than the other.

He list them out seperately “I entreat you___________ to agree in the Lord” and to exactly the same degree “I entreat you _____________to agree in the Lord”.

What does it mean to agree in the Lord?

Paul has already told the entire Church to do this.

Look back to where Paul instructs the Church to:

Paul has already told the entire Church to do this.

Look back to where Paul instructs the Church to:

Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:1-

This is the same Greek word, “Phro-ne-oh” φρονέω to be of the same mind.