Unity in the Gospel

Philippians 4:1–3 ESV

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.

Title: Unity in the Gospel

Sermon 30 August

Intro: Being satisfied-fast food

Philippians 4 has several verses that are familiar to us, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” but it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees. I want to take some time during these two sermons today to dig a bit deeper into some of the themes of this chapter.

In some ways, this is a difficult passage to divide. Whenever you see the word “therefore” in the Bible, one has to ask “what is it therefore?” Because I am not preaching through this entire book, it is difficult to place the division. I want to talk through why I have chosen to preach this passage and what it can say to us today.

I am preaching this evening as well. Both sermons are coming from Phil. 4. This morning our theme will be joy in the Lord, and this evening contentment in the Lord.

Though I want to focus on Paul’s words in vv. 1-4 this morning, let’s take a brief look back at what Paul is saying in the verses prior. Let’s begin with v. 17. Throughout our Scripture reading today, we will see a theme of growing in spiritual maturity through imitating those who are growing in the faith.

One can also see that in 4:1, Paul is switching from theological matters to practical matters as they go hand in hand.

Throughout this letter Paul strikes a tone of close friendship. He often refers to the Philippian believers as his “beloved.” He says several times that he has longed to see them.

It’s also worth remembering that these are letters to individual churches, and God through the Spirit has inspired the writers of Scripture so that they remain instructive for us today.

As such, we will hear individuals mentioned and advice given to them, but what they are told are still timely truths for 2020.

I. Stand firm

Question: What are we standing firm in?

Background: We are beginning tonight with a transitional verse. 4:1 begins As Rick mentioned in his sermon last week, there is much background in chapter 3 that helps one to understand Philippians 4.

I want to point out just a few background concepts that will help us better understand chapter 4.

In Philippians chapter 2 we have the beautiful hymn in which Jesus empties himself and takes the form of a servant. Because of this God has highly exalted him and given him the name above every name.

In chapter 3 we have Paul saying that if anyone should have reason to boast it is him. Yet, all this is loss for the sake of knowing Christ.

This also reflects what Paul said in the beginning of the letter in Phil. 1:27- “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.”

Paul begins his letter saying to stand firm, and he also ends the letter saying to stand firm.

Paul ends chapter 3 by saying that believers should follow him in his example, and also to follow others who can serve as an example. He then provides a warning not to live only for temporary pleasures. These warnings are important. Most of us do not experience direct persecution for our Christian belief, but rather there are subtle allurements of the world.

This, now, brings us to “therefore”.

Whereas some of Paul’s letters deal in depth with serious theological or moral problems in the church, we should not be under any allusions that Philippians was a perfect church. We see a few cracks in this facade, and we will begin to examine that today.

*Maybe this is familiar to you as well: maybe there are not serious blatant problems in the church, but are there some cracks which are effecting the body as a whole?

John MacArthur on stability in the church:

  So there was some stumbling and some instability in leadership as well as in the congregation. It is obvious also that there was some depression there in that church, some unfounded sorrow, some harshness of spirit, some anxiety, some failure to take prayer seriously. There were some troubled minds. There were some minds filled with all the wrong kinds of things who needed to think on the right kind of things. There were some people who weren’t trusting God. There were some people who weren’t thankful. In other words, it was a church … just a plain ole church, just like every church.

And there were all levels of spiritual stability, all levels of spiritual strength. Paul is deeply concerned for the stability of this congregation. But it wasn’t just Paul, I mean, this is reflected through the whole of the New Testament. Jesus was concerned about the stability of the church. I think about it in the restoration of Peter at the last of John’s gospel in that final chapter where Jesus restores Peter back to function and as Peter begins immediately then to manifest another weakness, He says, “Stop right there and do what I tell you. Follow Me and it will cost you your life. Be strong.” He says to Peter to feed my sheep and follow me.

In Matthew 10 He clearly delineated for them to anticipate difficulty, anticipate trials. He would repeatedly point out to them the weakness of their flesh, the weakness of their faith wanting in some ways to instruct and insulate them from future instability.

-It is certainly a truth that if we can deal with spiritual immaturity and instability now, it will prevent problems in the future.

And so this becomes a rather constant theme in the New Testament and I think one that needs to be addressed in the church in which we live today. We have a very unstable church … unstable leadership, unstable congregations. And sadly trying to prop themselves up with all the wrong things.

I stand in the succession of the Apostles in a sense. You remember Peter in 2 Peter 2:14 he wrote about false teachers and agents of Satan who were always attempting to, and here was his phrase, “entice unstable souls.” Do you realize that that is part of pastoral duty to somehow try to protect those unstable souls? Why do you think Paul warned for three years in his ministry in Ephesus with tears? Why does Peter repeat things and say I’ve told you these things over and over again to put you in remembrance so that when I’m not there you can stay strong? Because they concerned themselves with the stability of unstable souls.

Peter even said in 2 Peter 3:16 that Paul’s letters, the great inspired epistles of Paul were taken by … he says … untaught and unstable people and they distorted the writing of Paul to their own destruction. What a statement! Boy, they’re not alone, folks. They are not alone. There are many untaught and unstable people today who are distorting the teaching of Paul, who are distorting the teaching of Scripture, who are confusing people, who are misrepresenting and misinterpreting the Word of God.

James warned about the same thing. James said that the spiritually unstable are the double minded. People who waver about things. They don’t know what they believe, they don’t know what is right. They can’t make decisions. They vacillate between doubt and faith. They are the spiritually unstable. They’re not single minded, they’re not fixed on righteous truth. They’re not focused on the character of God to the degree that they understand Him, that they understand His revelation and thus they have a single mind.

And so, we return to the context of Philippians 4.

There have been indications throughout the letter that all was not well at Philippi. Hints have been given of selfishness, self-interest, conceit, and pride existing with harmful effects within the Christian community. Now one of these problems surfaces: intense disagreement, along with the names of those who are party to the quarrel. Two women could not agree, and the church may have been in danger of taking sides and dividing. Equally troubling to Paul, the spiritual leaders within the congregation were not taking the problem seriously enough to become involved in solving it. He was forced to ask them specifically to do what they should already have been doing.

That is certainly one of the tasks of spiritual leadership-when a problem arises in the church to address it and deal with it, rather than let it simmer under the surface.

Let’s approach v. 1 thinking of Paul as a pastoral presence to this congregation.

Paul begins with affection. You whom I love and long for. That is important: his admonition and call for unity is not done in harshness, but out of love.

In many ways, the words Paul uses here to wrap up the letter are reminiscent of how he begins the letter. In 1:8, Paul says, For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

He offers words of endearment so that this church understands how much he loves them.

In this one short verse, Paul has five terms of endearment:

Brothers and sisters

Love

Those he longed for

His joy and

crown

Joy: χαρά, “joy,” is a word that belongs to the special vocabulary of Philippians (1:4, 25; 2:2; cf. also 1:18; 2:17, 18, 28; 3:7; 4:4, 10) and gives expression to a fundamental Christian emotion. But what is worth noting here is that the Philippians are Paul’s joy, which is a striking way of saying that they are his source or cause of joy.

Crown: στέφανος, “crown,” as Paul uses it here, is not to be thought of as the diadem (διάδημα) worn by a king (cf. Rev 19:12; and see Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, 315) or the martyr’s crown (Lohmeyer), but as either the garland placed on the head of a guest at a banquet (Aristophanes, Ach. 636; Plato, Symp. 212; see Vincent) or a victor’s wreath presented by the judges to the winner in the Olympian games1

1 Hawthorne, G. F. (2004). Philippians (Vol. 43, p. 240). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

Philippians are a cause for his celebration-like joy, on the one hand, and informing them that they are also a source of great honor for him, on the other.

5. Beloved

Why does Paul do this?

One commentator on this passage said, “Paul’s people are in constant need of both praise and blame.”

And so, after giving this words of endearment, Paul says “this is how you should stand firm in the Lord.” And how is this? As we said earlier, turning away from evil, and looking to Jesus in how we live and act. By following godly examples.

V. 2-3 Reasons we may not stand firm

There are four people mentioned in vv. 2-3, and three are listed by name. We have two women, Euodia and Syntyche, an unnamed person called “true companion,” and Clement.

Who are these people?

Let’s begin with Euodia and Syntyche. There are two questions that have to be asked here: who are they and what was wrong?

There is no clear indication who they are outside of these verses. I looked at several Bible dictionaries, and there is simply not definite evidence for who they might be outside of this passage. In some ways that makes the passage easier to relate to, and we can all say that at some point we have had a disagreement with another believer.

*Ex. Let’s say we had a Huw and James in this congregations, and everyone present knew their disagreement. There is not a reason to directly state the cause.

There are a few aspects that should be noted about this disagreement. First, it could be an underlying cause of the disunity seen throughout the letter. The letter is read to the entire congregation, and Paul decides to call them out by name. That would indicate that the disagreement is unusually significant. The sentence construction also demonstrates how important this is to Paul. He could have said, “I please with Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Instead, he says, “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche. We have the repetition of this word “plead” before each name.

What is it he is pleading of them? To be of the same mind in the Lord.

What does it mean to be of the same mind? Does it meant to simply acquiesce if someone thinks differently than you and try to think like them? I don’t think that is the meaning. The Bible also commends us not to be tossed by every wind that may come and to be ready in season and out of season to give an account of what we believe.

This word can mean to think the same thing; to be in harmony.

The issue is not mentioned, and Paul does not say which opinion they should take. Therefore, I would say it is most likely not a theological issue with which they are disagreeing. Euodia is not saying, “I do not believe Jesus is God’s son,” and then Paul says, well you two work it out. Who knows what the issue is, but it is an issue that the two of them need to work out.

Unity is an essential element in a Christian way of living. Notice how they are to agree: they are to agree “in the Lord.” This is the same phrase Paul uses in verse 1. He says, “Stand firm in the Lord” and here is says, “agree in the Lord.”

He addresses each of these women equally, he does not take a side, and he encourages them to seek unity. That would lead us again to think this is not a matter of theology or moral indifference.

Paul is saying to agree with each other. Earlier in chapter 2 of Philippains he uses this word before he states let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus of being a servant.

Perhaps these two prominent church members were dealing with self-serving, self-seeking attitudes.

And what did Christ do? He poured himself out, unselfishly in obedience for the good of others. Paul uses the example of Jesus pouring himself out, and Paul has made himself a servant. He then says at the end of ch. 3 to join together in following my example.

Application: what can we learn from this? We have almost all had a self-seeking attitude at one time or another.

B. v 3The third person in this group is called in the NIV a “true companion.” The old King James version translates this as “true yokefellow.” Other translations include: true partner

I like the word yokefellow. Now what is a yoke? I remember doing a children’s sermon almost 20 years ago, and the passage was “take my yoke upon you for my burden is easy and my yoke is light.” I asked the kids, does anyone know what a yoke is? One of the kids said “Yes! that’s what is in an egg.”

A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.

This word indicates someone who comes alongside to share a burden.

Who was this yokefellow? I looked at one commentator who compiled a list of nine different possibilities, and one is not necessarily more possible than the others.

Just as we are not definitely sure who Euodia and Syncthe may be, so we are not sure who this fellow co-worker may be.

Because the person is not named, it could very well be the church as a whole who is the yokefellow, who is the true companion.

And why should the church body go to such great lengths to help? Every effort should be made because they are co-laborers in the gospel. They have a common task of making Christ known in the community. It is simply not worth getting distracted by these side issues.

Here are Paul’s co-laborers in a united struggle to preach the gospel. Should the church be divided because of self-serving?

What can we learn from this unknown dispute that happened among these unknown people?

It is always important to look at our own hearts. What type of self serving sprit may be alive in your heart today? Are you working to build up the church and the individuals in it or to tear it down?

Disagreements between Christians; even mature Christians are not new. The deeper issue is how can we get to a place to work through these differences with a spirit of reconciliation?

Prayerfully consider how you can

Reconcile with those with whom you may have a disagreement.

How you can be an agent of unity and peace with others in this body. How can you come alongside to bear the burden as a “true companion?”

Just as we do not know who Euodia and Syncthe are, we do not know who Clement is, other than a Christian in this Philippian church.

The final group we have in this passage are the co-laborers that Paul mentions. Although we do not know these co-laborers names, God knows their names and they are written in the book of life.

When there are disputes, when there are disagreements, it is important to take an eternal perspective on this issue.

Is it worth continuing a self-serving argument with those whom you are contending for the gospel, and with those whose names are also written in the book of life?

Vv. 4-5 Rejoice! The Lord is near

How would putting on an attitude of rejoicing alter how we interact with those around us? If we have a disagreement with another, how would it change if we approach it “in the Lord” and with an attitude of rejoicing?

I mentioned earlier that when Paul said, “I plead with you Euodia”, and then “I plead with you Syncthe” he has this double emphasis. Here again, in the span of four verses, Paul has said “in the Lord” three times. “In the Lord is what makes this meaningful, especially when you are faced with situations that are conducive to sorrow or marked with difficulties, hurts and trails.

As you are aware, the word “joy” appears throughout this letter. Whenever it does, it also asks one to be joyful in that context. And joyful praise to the Lord leads friends to set aside grievances in order to worship the Lord in unity. In contrast to a bitter, belligerent spirit that drives people apart, a sweet, exuberant spirit brings people together.

I want to end the sermon today with the phrase at the end of verse 5, “The Lord is near.” Without any warning and without any conjunctions to join it either with what precedes or with what follows, Paul suddenly interjects this phrase. The word “near” in Greek can refer to space or time. So, “the Lord is near could mean that the Lord is close, present, and hence aware of a person’s conduct, concerned about a person’s attitude, etc. Or, it could also mean that Christ’s return in imminent.

For Christians, this is reason to rejoice as well as reason to be thankful. The Lord’s coming brings judgment as well as mercy.