Philippians Sermon Week 9 - Unity is not Uniformity

Big Idea:

Unity in the church is not uniformity. As the church we have both the opportunity and the call to seek unity in the Church. This doesn’t mean we agree on all things. Seeking unity means having healthy conflict while having the same mind, attitude, posture and purpose in the Lord. Jesus is both the pattern and the power for seeking this kind of unity.

Intro/Welcome

Good morning

Hard week, one of those weeks

Spiritual Warfare — Midweek Series Week 1

Join us — no pre-work needed

Living the text, not just studying the text.

Talking about Unity in the Church

Unity is not uniformity.

possible: unity is not uniformity but conformity to Christ.

This means: Unity is not the absence of conflict

Conflict is not the absence of unity, but rather its necessary predecessor. (repeat & pause)

This is extremely important for the Church to understand.

We are in Phil 4:1-3 today

Let me go ahead and read it and then we’ll pray.

Text: Phil 4:1-3

Philippians 4:1–3 So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. 2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 Yes, I also ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the book of life.

This is the Word of the Lord

Let’s Pray

Pray

Pray for unity in the church and conformity to you.

Unity requires affection

Philippians 4:1 So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

We have to pause here and take note of the language.

Paul commends them in some of the most affectionate and endearing language he ever uses in his letters.

Paul is speaking from a deep affection and a sincere love for the Philippian Church.

“My dearly loved” — from the root agape — unconditional love

again in “dear friends”

“Brothers and Sisters” — this is family, spiritual family, we’ll come back tot hat.

the greek word is adelphoi — from which we get Philo - delphia

Love of brothers — the City of Brotherly Love

This is family.

“my joy and crown” — The church is his JOY!

Is the church our joy? Do we have this affection for one another?

John 13:35 CSB

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

My Crown — in the NT this is a metaphor for the “eternal reward of the faithful”

It looks forward to the Final Day, where we ended last week.

Paul is always pointing us forward to the last day! to Finish the Race

But he always points us to another crown, The Crown of Thorns which bought for us this Crown of Eternal life.

Paul bathes his command to Stand Firm in a deep affection and joy for Christ and the Church.

We then, are to stand firm, against enemies from outside the Church (last week — enemies of the Cross) and from division within the Church (This Week)

Look at what he says next.

Unity is not uniformity

Philippians 4:2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

Euodia and Syntyche were two prominent women in the Philippian Church

Apparently they have some kind of disagreement

We don’t know exactly what the disagreement was

Maybe they both had strong personalities

Unable to come to agreement and were at odds with each other.

So Paul’s urging them to agree in the Lord.

Unity is not a quick thing but it is an urgent thing (I urge you)

Unity takes patience, but it is still URGENT

Paul urges both Euodia and Syncthe (uses the same word twice to each of them) to ‘have the same mind”

Unity takes time, but is an Urgent call.

We are going to break this down, but first let me take moment to point out something.

Women in Leadership

Here are two women that have ‘contended for the gospel’ with Paul

They were women of strength and influence

In the Philippian Church, women played a vital role and held prominent positions.

so much so that Paul directly addresses them.

I just want to take every opportunity I can to point out when Scripture honors women and shows their importance.

At One Hope we believe this as well

We have many incredible women ‘contending for the gospel’ and we are not One Hope Church without these women.

Partners, Group Leaders, Coaches, and ministry leaders

But I digress.

“Agree in the Lord”

Paul is calling these two women to ‘agree in the Lord’

Now what does this mean to agree in the lord?

Does this mean they have to believe exactly the same thing about a particular solution to a problem? (i.e. whatever they are disagreeing about)

BTW we know this isn’t a Doctrinal Dispute b/c everywhere else Paul is very forward and direct in rebuking false doctrine.

I don’t like the translation here b/c it doesn’t capture what Paul is trying to say.

Paul is not saying to agree on a particular issue, rather he is saying agree in the way to go about resolving a particular issue.

This word for ‘agree’ is actually the word for think.

A literal translation would be ‘to think the same thing’, and is an appeal to Euodia and Syntyche to be at one in their mental attitude and so in the basic aim, direction, and orientation of their behaviour.

So the idea here is a ‘uniformity’ of thought, but rather a unity in posture.

This isn’t the first time in this letter that Paul has used these exact greek words

Let’s look at Phil 2:2

Philippians 2:2 make my joy complete by thinking (same word) the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose (same word).

A fuller translation would be”

Philippians 4:2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche have the same mind, attitude, posture, and purpose in the Lord.

This is so important

This is not SAYING we have all believe the exact same things (not talking about doctrinal issues here) but we do need to agree on how to approach these disagreements.

Another way to say it:

Conflict is not the absence of unity, but rather its necessary predecessor.

Every healthy family has conflict, but not every family has healthy conflict. (repeat)

Conflict or disagreement is a sign of health.

Now there is unhealthy conflict to be sure.

But if there is no conflict in a relationship then one of two things are happening:

Either people aren’t actually being honest about what they think

Or people are giving into a fear of conflict.

Conflict will naturally arise because we are all different people, with different stories, experiences and values.

Ill — how I have grown in this

I’ve done a lot of premarital counseling in the last couple years, praise God

I always tell the couple this.

Conflict is not what destroys marriages.

It is the inability to resolve conflict.

Unity in the Church, as in marriage comes from the ability to work through conflict.

Paul is saying here that the way to do that is to ‘have the same mind in the Lord”

“in the Lord”

The phrase is crucial.

“in the Lord” — means both Christ as the Power and the Pattern of having the same mind.

Let’s look back at Phil 2:5 to make this point.

Paul says something nearly identical:

CSB - Philippians 2:5 “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus”

ESV - Philippians 2:5 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus”

Same greek work here: phroneo — to think.

This is only made possible in its deepest sense because of and in the Lord.

Paul then goes on to unpack ‘what this attitude of Christ Jesus was”

here we have the pattern of how to engage in healthy conflict.

Phil 2:6-8 — Christ’s example of humility.

Phil 2:6 “who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.”

“did not consider equality a thing to be exploited”

— consider the other person.

Sometimes it is not about being right

It’s about using what God has given you to serve the other, to empty yourself for the sake of others.

In our current cultural climate:

This is Not a black white issue, but a Christian issue.

The call of a Christian is to always thank God for what he has given and then to ask how we can serve those in need.

Phil 2:7 “Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant”

Rather than proving a point and showing power

Jesus serves, and humbles himself.

Seeking what is best for the other, rather than self.

Philippians 2:3–4 CSB

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

Phil 2:7 “taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,

— entering into the story of another.

This means listening to them, asking question and seeking to understand them.

Jesus Christ left heaven to literally enter our story

Hebrews 4:15 CSB

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus enters to our story

We too should enter into the story of others.

First and foremost this means listening to others.

not listening in such a way that you are waiting your turn to speak.

But listening to understand.

This is so important. We are not naturally good listeners. (two ears, one mouth)

why? — 1st issue — we think it’s about us, rather than seeking to know and serve another.

This works individually.

Example: Married couples — Active Lisetning

It also works corporately

Current Racial/Political/Societal Divide

Seek to Serve Others

Use what God has given us to serve the other

Enter into their story

What is it like to be a black man in America?

yes, we need to do this so we can understand what we have never experienced.

What is it like to be a police officer in America?

You guys need to know, talk to a cop. Ask them the kind of suffering and evil they are exposed to almost every day.

Death, suicide, abuse, drug addiction, domestic abuse, i mean just pure evil.

They risk their lives to serve and protect.

Should we be having this conversation with them?

before we radically change things?

We need to first and foremost listen and stop talking.

There is much division today because we are only talking.

We may be uncomfortable, we may be passionate but what we need to most is having unity of how we are going to approach these divisive issues.

Then what? — Seek the Lord

Philippians 2:8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

“he humbled himself by becoming obedient” — obedience to the Lord

Ultimately we are called to obey the Lord, not our spouse, not ourselves.

Obey the Lord’s call, not your own. What does the Lord say?

This is seeking Him in prayer for wisdom and direction.

And reflecting in what his Word says

Which is the ONE THING WE CAN TRUST in these times

Summary

1. Seek to Serve the other party.

2. Enter into their Story (listen, seek to understand)

3. Submit in obedience to the Lord

This is the call to Eudia and Syntche — to have this same mind for each other.

If they do this, if we would do this, we could have unity.

We will need help to do this

This will take effort and time.

We need help.

Luckily we have a help.

1st the Helper

Remember we are to do this ‘in the lord’

This means that Jesus is not just the pattern for us, but the power.

We have been given the Helper, the Spirit of Christ to live this out.

In fact without theSpirit of God, unity is impossible in the church.

So in Humility, we need to cry out to Holy Spirit to help us to be these kinds of people.

2nd Pastoral Leadership

The Second source of help is leadership in the church.

Look at Phil 4:3

Philippians 4:3 Yes, I also ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the book of life.

Who is this true partner?

He is unnamed, which probably means he didn’t need to be named, everyone knew who Paul was referring to.

Who was this person? A couple clues:

The only other place this word “true” is used like this is in the introductions to both 1st Tim and Titus.

There Paul uses it with the word for child so it translates “My true Son”

Which makes sense because Paul seemed to disciple these two young men himself.

but here it is ‘True Partner’ or literally True Yokefellow’ which i take to mean that he was not directly discipled by Paul as Titus and Timothy were, so he is not a True Son, but a True Partner.

So this person, in my opinion, he was either the Pastor of the Philippian Church or one of the Elders.

The point is, this person was one of the Main Leaders.

His job was to help these two women — have the same mind in the Lord.

This may have involved helping to mediate their disagreements and pointing them each to the Lord.

This is not surprising.

The whole practice of counseling is predicated on this fact.

A lot of conflict is really about underlying values, which have been shaped by our story and our personality.

ILL: Values of Nutrition and Taste for Elise and I

3rd The Church Community

Philippians 4:3 Yes, I also ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the book of life.

These are other leaders in the church.

Maybe other partners or community group leaders

They too are a source of help to bring about unity.

They should encourage and listen and engage with these women for the sake of the gospel.

In other words its a family affair.

A Final Plea to the Church

here’s the truth.

Nothing of any lasting value will change without the church.

Do you know why?

Laws don’t change people’s hearts, only Jesus Christ does.

Should we pursue Just laws? Better laws?

Absolutely.

Should we expect even the best laws to produce the kind of heart change that is required for real reform?

No! No person’s heart was ever changed by the Law (Romans 7)

Only Jesus Christ can do that.

And the role, the aim, the purpose of the Church is to make Jesus Christ known!

in WORDS through the preaching of the Gospel

and IN ACTION by loving our neighbors as ourselves

The Spirit reminds us of Christ’s Work on our behalf.

You and I were both in the wrong in God’s sight

But Jesus Christ loved us and entered into our story

And became our wrong, that we could become his right

Only the gospel can transform our society.

This is what unifies us Christ Jesus and his death for all sinners, black, white, asian, latino.

We have the Only Message of Hope, the One Hope of the City, Nations and Generations

What a call for the Church!

What a responsibility for the Church!

What a joy for the Church!

Application

Can we engage in healthy discussion, disagreement as every family does.

(example of Melo’s church?)

Can One Hope Church — have this same mind in the Lord.

Seek to Serve, Enter into Story, Submit in obedience to the Lord

Can we have UNITY without uniformity

because we all have the same Gospel Mission

and are all united to the same LORD

I want to close on this Video which I think really illustrates unity in the church especially in light of our present circumstances.

Let’s Pray