Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that every person is born with three inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It’s the third of those, the pursuit of happiness, that has become known as the American Dream.

Over the generations, that pursuit has taken many different forms and aimed at many different targets.

It’s led some to go to California during the gold-rush and others to homestead Alaska.

It’s the primary driver behind the student debt crisis and the reason that teenagers are throwing their arms out over the course of the year in pursuit of a college scholarship.

The real American Dream is not home ownership or a nest egg or giving your kids more than you had.

The real American Dream is far simpler than that: it’s to have joy and not worry.

That’s why Americans have become so famous for home ownership and student debt and credit cards and 401(k)’s.

It’s because those things have become so closely associated with the pursuit of happiness in our minds that they become apparent ends in themselves.

And, the devastating reality that so many of us have come to realize and so many in our community have come to realize is that you can have a savings account and still be anxious.

You can have your dream home and still be miserable.

You can have the right career and the right family and the right five year plan in place and still feel as though your spinning out of control.

This morning, we’re going to hear Paul teaching us about the pursuit of joy and peace.

In fact, he’s going to give us some clear prescriptions for us to implement into our lives that we might have the type of peace that the Powerball can’t offer.

God’s Word

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Conditions for the Pursuit of Peace (Headline)

You’ll notice in verse seven and again in verse nine that everything that is aimed at peace.

Verse 7 promises to us the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” will be in us, and verse 9 promises to us that the “God of peace” will be with us.

And, as wonderful as it is to think of the peace of God being in us and the God of peace being with us, each verse of promise is preceded by a imperatives, commands, exhortations.

They’re conditions that must be realized in the life of the believer if we are to know the fullness of peace that Christ has offered to us, as verse nine puts “Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

That is, the peace that surpasses all understanding is not automatic to the Christian, but rather the result of living out the fullness of the gospel in their lives.

So, I want us to examine these conditions together.

“Unite” in Passion.

v. 2 “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.”

The first condition that we’re exhorted to meet is to “Unite in passion.

You can imagine this letter being read out loud before the whole church.

Everybody has gathered to hear what the great Apostle has written to them.

Then, you get mentioned by name for a divisive relationship that you have with another sister in the church.

That would get your attention.

And, this is exactly how it would have played out.

A disagreement had arisen between Euodia and Syntyche that had begun to bring division into the life of the Church, and Paul is pleading and urging them to overcome this disagreement together with the help of a mediator.

And, what’s interesting to me is the description of these ladies, who were apparently influential leaders and workers in the church.

You might expect a harsh rebuke or a stern warning, but Paul is pastoral and gentle in his approach, aside from addressing them publicly of course.

He describes them as co-laborers, those that have worked together in the past with him, those he desires to work together even more in the future.

He says that their ‘names are in the book of life.’

That is, these are faithful, sincere, serving, Christian women.

Their status in the Kingdom of God seems apparent and clear to Paul.

And yet, conflict and division has arisen between them, something neither of them probably would have ever imagined that they would be a part of.

Herein lies the paradox of the church that we all know too well.

The paradox of the church is that The Church is a source of “joy” for Christians, and the church is a source of “pain” for Christians.

And, Philippi was no exception.

You can imagine this letter being read out loud before the whole church.

Everybody has gathered to hear what the great Apostle has written to them.

Then, you get mentioned by name for a divisive relationship that you have with another sister in the church.

That would get your attention.

And, this is exactly how it would have played out.

A disagreement had arisen between Euodia and Syntyche that had begun to bring division into the life of the Church, and Paul is pleading and urging them to overcome this disagreement together with the help of a mediator.

And, what’s interesting to me is the description of these ladies, who were apparently influential leaders and workers in the church.

You might expect a harsh rebuke or a stern warning, but Paul is pastoral and gentle in his approach, aside from addressing them publicly of course.

He describes them as co-laborers, those that have worked together in the past with him, those he desires to work together even more in the future.

He says that their ‘names are in the book of life.’

That is, these are faithful, sincere, serving, Christian women.

Their status in the Kingdom of God seems apparent and clear to Paul.

And yet, conflict and division has arisen between them, something neither of them probably would have ever imagined that they would be a part of.

Same Passion, not Opinion

APPLICATION: With whom do you need to reconcile this morning?

Is there a relationship from which you used to find joy and you used to find encouragement that has drifted over a disagreement?

In other words, where in your life is there an opportunity to show how much greater the gospel is than your opinions or your offenses?

With whom do you need to reconcile with this morning so that you can know the sweet joy of being right again with your brother or sister in the faith?

Reconcile with each other!

And so, Euodia and Syntyche are called back to what he had written in chapter two to ‘agree in the Lord’ or to ‘be of one mind.’

They’re called to action to overcome their disagreement and division to be reconciled.

To ‘agree in the Lord’ doesn’t mean that they have to share the same opinion.

Unity isn’t always sharing the same “opinion”; unity is sharing the same “passion”.

That’s what it is to be ‘of one mind.’

It’s to be sold out together to the singular passion, the singular obsession of the mind, the glory of Jesus Christ.

That is, they are to view their differences, not through the lens of separation, but through the lens of the gospel, through the lens of grace, through the cross of Jesus Christ that had brought them together to begin with so that it might bring them together again.

Disagreement is an “opportunity” to show the “strength” of the gospel.

Disagreement provides us with an opportunity to live out the very grace that Jesus showed us.

We’re able to ‘agree in the Lord’ that the Kingdom is greater than our differences and the Kingdom is greater than our disagreements and the Kingdom advancing is more important than me getting my way.

What matters is that Christ is glorified, not that every person views the world through my eyes.

And so, it’s the very gospel that reconciled us to God and brought us to each other to begin with that enables us to remain together.

APPLICATION: I don’t want us to all think and view the world the same way.

That would be boring.

What’s far more beautiful is for us to come with differences of opinion and differences of perspective and differences of experiences to unite behind our singular passion for Jesus Christ.

With whom do you need to be reconciled this morning so that your passion for Jesus can be set free?

With whom this morning can you agree to disagree so that your common passion in Jesus might take precedent?

“Rejoice” through Anything.

v. 4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice.”

The second condition for peace that we see is that we must “Rejoice” through anything.

Beginning in verse 4, Paul begins to move on from the situation with Euodia and Syntyche to more general counsel for the congregation at large.

But, I think what we’re seeing is an expansion of that situation so that it can apply to the division and lack of peace found in the whole congregation and for any future issues that may arise.

You’ll notice there’s two major exhortations, each followed by a ‘let your’ statement that expands the thought.

First, he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

And, it’s the word ‘always’ that stands out to me.

The call is to open-ended, unimpeded, relentless rejoicing regardless of what’s going on around you or happening in your life.

Think of how this flows out of what has just been said.

When someone disagrees with you, rejoice in the Lord.

When someone offends you, rejoice in the Lord.

When someone corrects you, rejoice in the Lord.

And, it doesn’t stop there.

‘Always’ keeps going.

When you have plenty of money, rejoice always.

When you don’t have enough, rejoice in the Lord.

When you feel good, rejoice in the Lord.

When your health fails, rejoice in the Lord.

When your pregnant, rejoice in the Lord.

When you’re unable to be pregnant, rejoice in the Lord.