During my wife’s recent pregnancy, and now since our daughter has been born, I’ve found my protective instinct getting stronger. I have always been a very sound sleeper, but while my wife was pregnant I never slept as well as I did before. I’m sure there are several reasons for that, but I think one reason is that I always wanted to be “on the alert;” I always wanted to make sure that she was doing okay. But ironically, I have become a sound sleeper again now that our baby has actually been born! It’s funny how that happens…
But as I think about trying to protect my daughter, I find myself thinking, “What kind of world are we bringing her into? What kind of world will she face in twenty, thirty, forty, or even fifty years?” As I think about questions like that, it becomes very easy to worry, and to have a feeling of pessimism wash over me.
It seems today that many American Christians are dealing with those exact same feelings. We look at our society and we sense a general decline in morality and godly behavior, and we become worried. We watch the news, and we become frightened. We listen to the cultural commentators and we feel anxious about what tomorrow has in store.
It can all add up to a general anxiety or fear about life that’s kind of like a nagging cold—its not bad enough to keep you down, but it just keeps hanging around. Philosophers refer to this general feeling of anxiety as “angst.” Angst is not the fear of a specific threat, like the way that you would be afraid of a dog chasing you. Rather, it is a general dread or uneasiness about the world and how you will make your way through the world.
If I could check the spiritual health of Christians in America today, I think I would find a lot of people dealing with angst. But its probably no surprise to you that the Bible tells us that things don’t have to be this way. We don’t need to be dogged by doubts or fatigued by fear. But what should characterize us instead?
What traits should characterize our lives at all times and in every circumstance?
That’s the question before us today as we look at God’s Word together. Turn with me, please, to Philippians 4:4–7. Paul has just dealt with a very specific situation facing the Christians in Philippi, and he told them what to do to handle it. Now in 4:4–7, it seems that he turns his thoughts back toward the general life setting that the Philippians found themselves in. You might remember that these believers were under persecution at the time that Paul wrote to them. Back in 1:27–30, Paul mentioned some opponents who had brought suffering and conflict into their lives. So considering their situation, what traits were to characterize the lives of the Philippians—not only in that situation, but at all times? Let’s find out [READ 4:4–7].
I. A joyful attitude born out of our relationship with God (v. 4)
Paul’s repeated commands to rejoice might sound like a broken record if they weren’t so sweet to our ears! Here in v. 4 he issues this command again and says, “Rejoice in the Lord when things are going well, and complain when they’re not.” Wait…you mean that’s not the biblical approach? Then why do Christians take that approach so often? Hmm…that’s funny.
No, Paul says “rejoice in the Lord always.” Remember, he wrote these words to people who were being persecuted for their faith! He didn’t say, “rejoice in the good ol’ days;” he said, “rejoice in the Lord always.” Then he repeated his command: “again I will say, rejoice!” The verb that Paul used here is in the future tense, so it’s like he’s saying, “I’ve said it today, and I’ll say it again tomorrow—rejoice!” Every day that we receive from God is a day in which we can rejoice—every day without exception.
Now of course, this can only be true if we remember the source and the object of our joy, which Paul spells out for us here. He says, “rejoice in the Lord.” Our joy comes in light of our relationship with Jesus. That’s why we can rejoice every day! Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” so his love for us and his promises to us never change. That’s why we can rejoice in the midst of changing circumstances—because we have this constant in our lives!
So we may not always rejoice over our circumstances, but we can rejoice in our circumstances because the Lord never changes. But this reminds us that we must allow Jesus to be the delight of our hearts. We must not derive our primary pleasure from our circumstances, our possessions, or even our human relationships because they are all subject to change, and if they do they will take our joy with them.
But delighting in Jesus will allow us to be joyful people no matter how other things may change around us. To quote the author of Hebrews again, the hope we have in Jesus is “an anchor for the soul” (Heb. 6:19) to keep us from being tossed about every time the winds of circumstance may change. A joy that is grounded in the Lord is a joy unshakeable!
And so we should, at all times and in every circumstance, be characterized by a joyful attitude born out of our relationship with God. And second, we should be characterized by…
II. A gentle spirit toward all people (v. 5)
In v. 5, Paul simply says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.” We must recognize here that Paul once again offers no exceptions to his command—just as we are to rejoice always, without exception, so we are also to be gentle to all people, without exception. The word that is translated as “gentle” here speaks of being patient with the faults of others, or acting reasonably toward others even if they act unreasonably toward us. Remember that Paul was writing these words to people who were suffering persecution. A situation like that could easily breed thoughts of revenge and retaliation, so this command was very fitting for their situation.
Notice also that he gives this command in light of another reality—the return of Christ. At the end of v. 5 he simply reminds them that “the Lord is near.” His point seems to be that there is no need for them to take matters into their own hands by seeking retaliation, because the Lord Jesus is coming back, and He will make all things right. There is no need for us to respond to others with vindictiveness because God will make all things right.
Not surprisingly, our best example of this behavior is the Lord Jesus himself. Peter makes this point in 1 Peter 2:21–23. Just before these verses, Peter wrote about submitting to the government and doing what is right as citizens, and then he wrote to slaves telling them to be submissive even to unreasonable masters. Then he wrote this, beginning in v. 21 [READ 1 Peter 2:21–23]. That really is the key—when we entrust our lives to God, we don’t have to worry about taking matters into our own hands, because God will sort everything out and see to it that perfect justice is achieved.
Now, commands like this—to be gentle to all people—sound somewhat crazy to our modern ears. It’s easy for us to think, “Sure…an approach like that may have worked back then, but it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there today! I’ll get walked all over if I respond to people like that today!” When we think like that, we rather naively and ignorantly assume that we’re living in conditions today that no one has ever faced before. We are all also quietly suggesting that God doesn’t really understand the human heart if He’s going to ask us to do something like this.
But the heart is much like our bones—both will break if they are surrounded by gentleness. In a healthy person, our bones are hardened as we walk around and work. When our legs are constantly confronted by the hardness of the pavement or the ground beneath our feet, our bones compress with each step and grow harder. But when a person is bed-ridden for long periods of time, their bones become fragile and will break much more easily because they’ve been so long in the soft and gentle environment of the bed.
Our hearts are very similar. When we are consistently confronted by hard-heartedness in other people, our hearts tend to become hardened as well. But when our hearts encounter gentleness and patience, they tend to soften, and the hardness in our hearts breaks down. That’s why God asks us to respond in this way, because gentleness can actually lead to the end of hostility between people.
By the way, this is a good lesson for parents to remember. If we are constantly hard on our kids, we’ll often harden their hearts against us. If we’re always critical of them or impatient with them, they will usually just grow to resent us. But if we will balance our discipline with gentleness, we’ll give them not only the correction that they need, but our gentleness will give them an affection for us that makes them want to obey. That’s easier said than done, isn’t it? But it’s what we must strive for.
So at all times and in every circumstance we should be characterized by a joyful attitude, a gentle spirit, and…
III. A peace of mind sustained by prayer (vv. 6–7)
Many of you have probably memorized the words that Paul wrote in verses 6–7. He says, [READ vv. 6–7] Such a beautiful promise of the peace of mind that we can have through prayer. Let’s see how we can get there.
We see first that Paul again offers a command with no exceptions. He says, “be anxious for nothing.” There is no situation in which anxiety should overwhelm us. Will it tempt us? Certainly; but we should allow anxiety to settle in our hearts no longer than we would allow a thief to settle in our homes. That’s what anxiety is—a thief. It steals our peace of mind, our trust in God, and sometimes even our sleep and our physical health.
But what’s the difference between anxiety and just thinking about something a lot? How can we know if we’re giving proper thought to our problems, or if we’re worrying about them? It’s interesting to note that the Greek word that is translated “be anxious” is actually used elsewhere as a positive frame of mind. In fact, Paul uses it in 2:20 when he says of Timothy, “I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.” In that verse it is clearly a positive frame of mind.
So I think this tells us that anxiety is simply a good thing gone bad. It’s a healthy thoughtfulness that’s become diseased. Anxiety is like spoiled food—it comes from something that used to be good for you, but now its just rotten. But how do we know when we’ve crossed the line? Well, our emotional response often tells us, doesn’t it, as we start to feel stressed out and sick? Our ability to think about other things will usually tell us as well. If we find ourselves unable to set those thoughts aside in order to focus on other necessary things, then we’ve crossed the line into the realm of anxiety.
The cure for this malady of the mind is to prayerfully ask God for what we need with an attitude of thanksgiving. Paul says that with “prayer and supplication” we should let our requests be made known to God. “Prayer” is a more general term that encompasses everything we might do in prayer, such as praising God, confessing sin, or making requests. “Supplication” is a more specific word that focuses on offering specific requests to God for the things that we need.
So in order to overcome anxiety, we are to pray to God with specific requests for the things that we need, and we are to do it all with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is so powerful for overcoming anxiety because it reminds us about how good God has been to us in the past. In order to say “thank you” we have to identify specific blessings that God has already given us, and when our minds start down that path, we start to remember how faithful God has been to meet each and every one of our needs.
The result of this kind of prayer is that God’s peace becomes a shield of protection for our emotions and our thoughts. Paul says that God’s peace will “guard” us. The Greek word behind that translation can also be used to describe a garrison of soldiers keeping watch over a city. So God’s peace is like a divine warrior, fighting off the arrows of anxiety that Satan shoots at us. And this peace is one that passes all comprehension; it is beyond our ability to understand. How many times in your life have you seen someone amazed by the way they’ve seen a Christian handle bad news? I don’t envy doctors when they have to tell patients that they’re dying, but I’ve heard so many stories about doctors who have been led to praise God because of the incomprehensible peace that their patients have received from Him. When our minds run wild with worry, the peace of God can tame even the most stubborn doubts and fears.
Rejoice in the Lord always; let your gentle spirit be known to all men; be anxious for nothing. There is no situation that you might face where joy, gentleness, and peace cannot be yours. Rejoice in the Lord; let your gentle spirit be known for the Lord is near; in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. God can carry you through the deepest valleys in your life—center your joy in Him, remember His return, and go to Him with your needs. You will not be disappointed!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
"Why Can't We All Just Get Along?"--Philippians 4:1-3
The New Testament occasionally refers to believers as soldiers who are in the midst of a spiritual battle. Sometimes, Christians take that metaphor of fighting a bit too literally. Every so often, we stumble across a story in the newspaper about some people who got into a fistfight at church. Sometimes tempers flare after a board meeting or a congregational meeting, and sometimes people bring their own differences into church with them, but these stories always make headlines because of the sheer irony of a fistfight breaking out in a place that is supposed to promote love and forgiveness.
Charles Colson writes about one rather extreme church fight in his book Being the Body.* This particular church had grown to the point where they needed to expand their facilities. In the past they had raised funds for improvements through things like bake sales, but their new pastor informed them that they needed a fundraising plan that was much more ambitious. So, he decided to introduce some friendly competition into the situation by dividing the congregation into two groups to see who could raise the most money. These two groups then decided that they would compete by hosting weekly bingo nights and inviting their friends.
The bingo nights quickly became a popular attraction around town, and before long the church was pulling in about $7,600 a week for their building project. But with that kind of money coming in, accusations of theft and embezzlement started flying back and forth, and tensions in the church reached a fever pitch. It all came to a head one night when the police had to be called in to break up a brawl that had broken out between 50 church members who were fighting each other with broken beer bottles!
Now I hope that none of you have ever witnessed a fight like that in a church—let alone participated in one! But we all know that disagreements and arguments are sadly far too common in churches everywhere. We might be pursuing love and forgiveness, but we don’t always practice it, do we? So how can we resolve conflicts between church members when they come up? This is the thought that I want to focus on today:
How can we resolve arguments that may come up within the church?
Turn with me if you would please to Philippians 4:1–3. In these verses, Paul is going to address the issue of a disagreement that has come up between two women in the church at Philippi. So far in this letter, Paul has repeatedly urged the Philippians to stand united with each other, and he probably had this particular situation in mind the whole time. And now, as Paul turns his attention to this matter, he gives us three helpful lessons about how to resolve arguments that may come up within the church. Let’s see what he has to teach us [READ 4:1–3].
So how can we resolve arguments that may come up within the church?
I. By cultivating a sincere affection for each other (v. 1)
Paul sets the example for us in this area through the description of his feelings for the Philippian believers in v. 1. Notice the way that he describes them. He writes, [READ v. 1]. What a beautiful picture of the affection that should exist between believers! Notice how Paul twice refers to them as “my beloved,” as if he wants to make sure that they don’t miss that point. He also refers to them as “my brethren,” which is the biblical way of thinking about each other. The people around you in these pews aren’t just people who happen to attend the same church that you do—they are your spiritual brothers and sisters, which reminds us of the affection that should exist between us.
Then Paul tells them that he longs to see them. How often is that our attitude when we come to church? How often do we find ourselves longing to see the other people in our church? Most of the time we’re probably just longing for the kids to get their jackets on and get in the car! Or maybe we’re just longing for our Sunday nap before we try and tackle another long week.
But can you imagine the spirit that we would have in our times of worship together if every time we met, we were like long-lost friends being re-united? Think of the joy that we would have if we would allow the Lord to train us to long to see each other! Perhaps we should all take a minute every Sunday morning to pray to God and say, “Lord, you know my frame of mind this morning. You know that I’m distracted by this, that, and the other thing, but please help me today to turn my focus toward other people. Please give me a heart-felt desire to worship you with my brothers and sisters and to do what I can to encourage them.”
I think an attitude like that would certainly help us avoid the arguments that we might be tempted to have with each other. Or at the very least, it would minimize the intensity of our personal disagreements with each other so that we could allow more things to just roll off our backs rather than escalate into a fight.
So we can solve arguments that may come up by cultivating a sincere affection for each other. And second, we can solve arguments that may come up…
II. By remembering our common ground in Christ (v. 2)
Euodia and Syntyche apparently had their differences at the time of Paul’s writing, but that hadn’t always been the case. In v. 3, Paul wrote that both of these women had shared his struggle in the cause of Christ. They had apparently worked together effectively before, and they still had so much common ground spiritually that there was no need for them to be at odds with each other.
Now from our vantage point so many years removed from this situation, we really have no way of knowing exactly what had come between these ladies. It probably wasn’t a dispute over doctrine, because Paul was never shy about correcting people that he felt were promoting error. And notice that Paul doesn’t single out either woman as being primarily at fault—he repeats his command to each of them.
In doing so, Paul reminds us of the biblical process of resolving conflict with another believer—whenever disagreements or offenses occur, both parties involved should seek to take the first step to make things right. If you sin against a Christian brother or sister, you should be willing to take the first step to repair the relationship. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:23–24, “If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” If you need to confess your sin to someone and ask for their forgiveness, that is priority number one—even over other acts of worship!
But likewise, if you have been sinned against, you should also be willing to take the first step to repair your relationship. Let us hear the words of the Lord Jesus once again, this time from Matthew 18:15—“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.” Obviously, that is not an easy step to take; we must “speak the truth in love” as Ephesians 4:15 says. We must not go into such a conversation in anger or with an air of superiority. Instead, we must approach such a conversation in humility, with a genuine desire to repair our broken relationship. This is a step that we must take if we have been sinned against, particularly when we start to feel the temptation to be bitter and resentful toward the other person. We cannot allow such feelings to fester in our hearts. We must not give in to the temptation to say, “Well! If so and so wants to be my friend again, let them come and beg for my forgiveness.” That attitude is nothing but pride on our part.
Now notice what Paul was specifically asking Euodia and Syntyche to do—he asks them to live in harmony in the Lord. His language here calls to mind his command of 2:2, where he said [READ 2:2]. Normally when we get into arguments within the church, its either because we’re not acting in love, or we’re pursuing the wrong purpose. Sometimes we just plain fail to act in a loving way toward each other, and that understandably causes division and strained relationships.
But at other times, we start to pursue the wrong purpose in church. Perhaps we start to get a selfish focus, and our primary purpose is no longer to simply serve God, but to get our own way. Everyone has their own ideas about what the church should be doing and how the church should operate, and if other people don’t immediately recognize the genius of our ideas, its easy to get offended. And when that happens, we may continue to push harder and harder for our ideas, not because we’re still focused on simply serving God, but because now we want to get our own way.
But no matter what may cause divisions in the church, we can get ourselves back into the right frame of mind by remembering the common ground that we have in the Lord. In v. 3, Paul stated that these women had served together effectively before. I can hear him saying, “Remember the good times of ministry that you’ve enjoyed together before! You can work together—just turn your focus back to serving God.”
But I think Paul mentions the most important piece of common ground at the end of v. 3, where he states that Euodia and Syntyche and Clement and the rest of his fellow workers all have their names written in the book of life. They were all born-again; they were all children of God, and someday they would all enjoy the peace and joy of heaven together. And if that’s true for them—if that’s true for us in our church, can’t we get along with each other today? Can’t we put aside the petty differences that we face from time and time and live in harmony? The next time you find yourself at odds with another believer, picture yourself standing beside them in heaven, singing together the praises of God for all eternity. Doesn’t that make our differences today seem pretty small by comparison?
So we can solve arguments that may come up by cultivating a sincere affection for each other and by remembering our common ground in Christ. And finally, we can solve arguments that may come up…
III. By helping each other overcome our differences (v. 3)
In v. 3, Paul asks a third party to step in and help these two women resolve their differences. It’s not clear to us today exactly who Paul was addressing in this verse, but he asks this individual to step in and get involved. Notice that he doesn’t ask Euodia and Syntyche to seek out help—he speaks directly to the third party and asks this person to get involved.
This request may strike us as being a little strange, because we live in a culture that prizes individuality and privacy. In our society, we tend to think that our lives are no one else’s business, and we resent it when we feel like people aren’t “minding their own business.” But within the church, we are supposed to act like a family, which means that we need to help each other resolve our arguments and disagreements.
The Bible calls us brothers and sisters, so we can compare the church to an immediate family. Within an immediate family, everyone is affected when two members are fighting with each other. Other members of the family may feel pressured to take sides, and overall there will be a lack of peace and an increased level of anxiety.
But within that family structure, the other members do feel like they have a right and a responsibility to get involved and help resolve the conflict. And within the church, we should have the same mindset. If two members of our church are fighting, that is the church’s business! We are not intruding if we seek to help. The rest of us should offer our help to resolve the conflict, particularly those who already have a close friendship with the people involved. If we turn a blind eye and say “It’s none of my business,” we are not practicing love toward each other.
And it may be quite obvious by now, but with each principle that we have just looked at, a tremendous amount of humility is required to carry them out. If two believers find themselves at odds with each other, it takes humility for one to approach the other and seek to make things right. And for those who would seek to help two Christian brothers or sisters make peace with each other, it takes tremendous humility to step into that situation with love and fairness rather than partisanship and heavy-handedness.
But if we will carry out these principles, we can restore peace with each other when disagreements arise. As much as we might hope that we will never be at odds with another believer, we are all still imperfect. We still struggle with sin, and so we might find ourselves in precisely the same position as Euodia and Syntyche. But if we will cultivate a sincere affection for each other, remember our common ground, and allow others to help us when need be, we need not allow our disagreements to linger. Instead, we can resolve our differences and enjoy peaceful fellowship with each other once again.
*Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn, Being the Body (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2003), 69–71.
Charles Colson writes about one rather extreme church fight in his book Being the Body.* This particular church had grown to the point where they needed to expand their facilities. In the past they had raised funds for improvements through things like bake sales, but their new pastor informed them that they needed a fundraising plan that was much more ambitious. So, he decided to introduce some friendly competition into the situation by dividing the congregation into two groups to see who could raise the most money. These two groups then decided that they would compete by hosting weekly bingo nights and inviting their friends.
The bingo nights quickly became a popular attraction around town, and before long the church was pulling in about $7,600 a week for their building project. But with that kind of money coming in, accusations of theft and embezzlement started flying back and forth, and tensions in the church reached a fever pitch. It all came to a head one night when the police had to be called in to break up a brawl that had broken out between 50 church members who were fighting each other with broken beer bottles!
Now I hope that none of you have ever witnessed a fight like that in a church—let alone participated in one! But we all know that disagreements and arguments are sadly far too common in churches everywhere. We might be pursuing love and forgiveness, but we don’t always practice it, do we? So how can we resolve conflicts between church members when they come up? This is the thought that I want to focus on today:
How can we resolve arguments that may come up within the church?
Turn with me if you would please to Philippians 4:1–3. In these verses, Paul is going to address the issue of a disagreement that has come up between two women in the church at Philippi. So far in this letter, Paul has repeatedly urged the Philippians to stand united with each other, and he probably had this particular situation in mind the whole time. And now, as Paul turns his attention to this matter, he gives us three helpful lessons about how to resolve arguments that may come up within the church. Let’s see what he has to teach us [READ 4:1–3].
So how can we resolve arguments that may come up within the church?
I. By cultivating a sincere affection for each other (v. 1)
Paul sets the example for us in this area through the description of his feelings for the Philippian believers in v. 1. Notice the way that he describes them. He writes, [READ v. 1]. What a beautiful picture of the affection that should exist between believers! Notice how Paul twice refers to them as “my beloved,” as if he wants to make sure that they don’t miss that point. He also refers to them as “my brethren,” which is the biblical way of thinking about each other. The people around you in these pews aren’t just people who happen to attend the same church that you do—they are your spiritual brothers and sisters, which reminds us of the affection that should exist between us.
Then Paul tells them that he longs to see them. How often is that our attitude when we come to church? How often do we find ourselves longing to see the other people in our church? Most of the time we’re probably just longing for the kids to get their jackets on and get in the car! Or maybe we’re just longing for our Sunday nap before we try and tackle another long week.
But can you imagine the spirit that we would have in our times of worship together if every time we met, we were like long-lost friends being re-united? Think of the joy that we would have if we would allow the Lord to train us to long to see each other! Perhaps we should all take a minute every Sunday morning to pray to God and say, “Lord, you know my frame of mind this morning. You know that I’m distracted by this, that, and the other thing, but please help me today to turn my focus toward other people. Please give me a heart-felt desire to worship you with my brothers and sisters and to do what I can to encourage them.”
I think an attitude like that would certainly help us avoid the arguments that we might be tempted to have with each other. Or at the very least, it would minimize the intensity of our personal disagreements with each other so that we could allow more things to just roll off our backs rather than escalate into a fight.
So we can solve arguments that may come up by cultivating a sincere affection for each other. And second, we can solve arguments that may come up…
II. By remembering our common ground in Christ (v. 2)
Euodia and Syntyche apparently had their differences at the time of Paul’s writing, but that hadn’t always been the case. In v. 3, Paul wrote that both of these women had shared his struggle in the cause of Christ. They had apparently worked together effectively before, and they still had so much common ground spiritually that there was no need for them to be at odds with each other.
Now from our vantage point so many years removed from this situation, we really have no way of knowing exactly what had come between these ladies. It probably wasn’t a dispute over doctrine, because Paul was never shy about correcting people that he felt were promoting error. And notice that Paul doesn’t single out either woman as being primarily at fault—he repeats his command to each of them.
In doing so, Paul reminds us of the biblical process of resolving conflict with another believer—whenever disagreements or offenses occur, both parties involved should seek to take the first step to make things right. If you sin against a Christian brother or sister, you should be willing to take the first step to repair the relationship. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:23–24, “If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” If you need to confess your sin to someone and ask for their forgiveness, that is priority number one—even over other acts of worship!
But likewise, if you have been sinned against, you should also be willing to take the first step to repair your relationship. Let us hear the words of the Lord Jesus once again, this time from Matthew 18:15—“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.” Obviously, that is not an easy step to take; we must “speak the truth in love” as Ephesians 4:15 says. We must not go into such a conversation in anger or with an air of superiority. Instead, we must approach such a conversation in humility, with a genuine desire to repair our broken relationship. This is a step that we must take if we have been sinned against, particularly when we start to feel the temptation to be bitter and resentful toward the other person. We cannot allow such feelings to fester in our hearts. We must not give in to the temptation to say, “Well! If so and so wants to be my friend again, let them come and beg for my forgiveness.” That attitude is nothing but pride on our part.
Now notice what Paul was specifically asking Euodia and Syntyche to do—he asks them to live in harmony in the Lord. His language here calls to mind his command of 2:2, where he said [READ 2:2]. Normally when we get into arguments within the church, its either because we’re not acting in love, or we’re pursuing the wrong purpose. Sometimes we just plain fail to act in a loving way toward each other, and that understandably causes division and strained relationships.
But at other times, we start to pursue the wrong purpose in church. Perhaps we start to get a selfish focus, and our primary purpose is no longer to simply serve God, but to get our own way. Everyone has their own ideas about what the church should be doing and how the church should operate, and if other people don’t immediately recognize the genius of our ideas, its easy to get offended. And when that happens, we may continue to push harder and harder for our ideas, not because we’re still focused on simply serving God, but because now we want to get our own way.
But no matter what may cause divisions in the church, we can get ourselves back into the right frame of mind by remembering the common ground that we have in the Lord. In v. 3, Paul stated that these women had served together effectively before. I can hear him saying, “Remember the good times of ministry that you’ve enjoyed together before! You can work together—just turn your focus back to serving God.”
But I think Paul mentions the most important piece of common ground at the end of v. 3, where he states that Euodia and Syntyche and Clement and the rest of his fellow workers all have their names written in the book of life. They were all born-again; they were all children of God, and someday they would all enjoy the peace and joy of heaven together. And if that’s true for them—if that’s true for us in our church, can’t we get along with each other today? Can’t we put aside the petty differences that we face from time and time and live in harmony? The next time you find yourself at odds with another believer, picture yourself standing beside them in heaven, singing together the praises of God for all eternity. Doesn’t that make our differences today seem pretty small by comparison?
So we can solve arguments that may come up by cultivating a sincere affection for each other and by remembering our common ground in Christ. And finally, we can solve arguments that may come up…
III. By helping each other overcome our differences (v. 3)
In v. 3, Paul asks a third party to step in and help these two women resolve their differences. It’s not clear to us today exactly who Paul was addressing in this verse, but he asks this individual to step in and get involved. Notice that he doesn’t ask Euodia and Syntyche to seek out help—he speaks directly to the third party and asks this person to get involved.
This request may strike us as being a little strange, because we live in a culture that prizes individuality and privacy. In our society, we tend to think that our lives are no one else’s business, and we resent it when we feel like people aren’t “minding their own business.” But within the church, we are supposed to act like a family, which means that we need to help each other resolve our arguments and disagreements.
The Bible calls us brothers and sisters, so we can compare the church to an immediate family. Within an immediate family, everyone is affected when two members are fighting with each other. Other members of the family may feel pressured to take sides, and overall there will be a lack of peace and an increased level of anxiety.
But within that family structure, the other members do feel like they have a right and a responsibility to get involved and help resolve the conflict. And within the church, we should have the same mindset. If two members of our church are fighting, that is the church’s business! We are not intruding if we seek to help. The rest of us should offer our help to resolve the conflict, particularly those who already have a close friendship with the people involved. If we turn a blind eye and say “It’s none of my business,” we are not practicing love toward each other.
And it may be quite obvious by now, but with each principle that we have just looked at, a tremendous amount of humility is required to carry them out. If two believers find themselves at odds with each other, it takes humility for one to approach the other and seek to make things right. And for those who would seek to help two Christian brothers or sisters make peace with each other, it takes tremendous humility to step into that situation with love and fairness rather than partisanship and heavy-handedness.
But if we will carry out these principles, we can restore peace with each other when disagreements arise. As much as we might hope that we will never be at odds with another believer, we are all still imperfect. We still struggle with sin, and so we might find ourselves in precisely the same position as Euodia and Syntyche. But if we will cultivate a sincere affection for each other, remember our common ground, and allow others to help us when need be, we need not allow our disagreements to linger. Instead, we can resolve our differences and enjoy peaceful fellowship with each other once again.
*Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn, Being the Body (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2003), 69–71.
Monday, August 16, 2010
"Follow With Care"--Philippians 3:17-21
How many of you heard your mother say something like this when you were a child: “If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” We have probably all vowed that we will NEVER use lines like that with our kids, but I bet that many of us have found words just like that coming out of our mouths. I’m not sure how effective clichés like that really are any more, but we know of course that our moms were just trying to tell us to be careful about imitating other people or following someone else’s lead.
Perhaps some of you have heard of a little rodent called a lemming. Lemmings are often used as an illustration of the dangers of following the wrong leader, and for good reason. Like a lot of creatures, lemmings reproduce quickly, and so every few years they find themselves at a point where there current habitat can’t feed all of them anymore. So one day, some of the lemmings head out in search of a new home, and as they leave, they quickly attract many other lemmings to follow them. Now their typical behavior when they migrate like this is to set out in one direction and just keep going in that direction until they find a suitable place. Well, as you can imagine, sometimes that works out okay, and sometimes it doesn’t, because these little creatures don’t stop when they run into danger. Sometimes their path leads them to the edge of a cliff, and rather than head in a new direction they just run right off the cliff, and many—if not most—of them die. Sometimes their path leads them to the ocean, and instead of turning around they swim out into the ocean, and they just keep swimming until they eventually become exhausted and drown.
I think you can see how this illustrates the fact that we need to be careful about whom we choose to follow! Perhaps the people that we follow and imitate in our lives aren’t going to lead us off a cliff anytime soon, but could they be leading us into some sinful ways of thinking? Could they be pointing us toward the wrong goals for life? Those whom we choose to follow could be leading us down paths that a spiritual dangerous, so the lesson that we need to grab hold of today is this:
Make sure the people you choose to follow are leading you in the right direction!
And how do we know what the right direction is? From the Bible, of course. But we can also see it in the lives of people who are living out biblical principles in their lives. That’s what the apostle Paul is going to encourage us to look for in our study of Philippians today. Would you turn with me please to Philippians 3:17–21? Let’s read this together [READ vv. 17–21]. In this passage, Paul sets up a contrast between two groups of people—the kind that we should follow, and the kind that we should not follow. Let’s first see what he says about the kind of people that we should not follow.
I. Reject the example of those who seek only to satisfy their personal desires
Paul begins and ends this passage by talking about the people we should follow and the kind of mindset that they possess. But in the middle—in vv. 18–19—he describes the example that we should reject and the kind of people who set that example.
In v. 18, we see that Paul has tremendous compassion for these people; he says that he weeps over them. But nevertheless, Paul tells it like it is—he says that they are “enemies of the cross of Christ.” Notice that Paul doesn’t just say “enemies of Christ.” He focuses on the cross—they are enemies of the cross of Christ. From what Paul says about them in v. 19, it seems that these individuals are enemies of what the cross represents. As we saw in chapter 2, the cross of Christ represents humility. The fact that Jesus was willing to die in such a painful and humiliating way demonstrated his tremendous humility. The cross also represents self-denial, as we can see from Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:14—“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” These individuals however were advocating a very different lifestyle, and thus they were opposed to what the cross represents.
Because of this, Paul notes in v. 19 that they had a terrible end to look forward to. He states that their “end is destruction.” They may appear to have enviable lives now, but their ultimate end is utter loss and ruin. This is all because of their idolatry, which Paul describes next. The next three phrases describe their overall mindset—Paul writes, “whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
Their minds were set on achieving earthly goals and satisfying their own earthly desires, and so they sought to indulge their physical desires and cravings, and they “gloried in” or took pride in doing things that they actually should have been ashamed of. And as I think of people in our own society today who would fit this description, my mind goes directly to celebrities—actors and actresses, rappers and rock stars, reality show stars, even sports stars.
Now certainly not everyone in those industries would fit Paul’s description in v. 19, but the vast majority of them are living examples of what Paul said here. When you look at the lifestyle that characterizes most celebrities—the drug use and alcoholism, the immorality and infidelity, the repeated cycle of divorce—it is clear that they are living simply to satisfy their own fleshly desires. And if we are going to take Paul’s warning to heart, we must make sure that we don’t follow their example.
But the reality is that we are probably already mimicking their behavior in ways that we don’t even realize. Friends, if we think we can watch TV for hours each week, and watch movies for hours each week, and listen to secular music for hours each week, and yet somehow emerge with our behavior unaffected by those things, we are simply being naïve. Consider a few things with me—think first of all about the slang words that you use, or the popular phrases that you use. Where did you learn those words? Maybe you learned them from a friend, but where did he get them? At some point down the line they more than likely came from a movie or a TV show. Lines from movies and TV have a way of entering our cultural vocabulary, and often times we end up using those lines without even realizing it.
How about your idea of what romance looks like? Do you think it comes from the Bible? Let me ask you—have you ever actually read the Bible with that question in mind? If the answer is no, then are you sure that your idea of romance comes from the Bible? Or does your idea of romance actually come from Twilight, or Sleepless in Seattle, or Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Gone With the Wind?
How about your attitude toward something like homosexuality? I imagine that we would all say it’s a sin, but do you really feel that it’s a behavior that destroys people’s lives, or is it something to laugh about with our favorite characters on Modern Family, or something to sweep under the rug about as we’re being entertained by Ellen DeGeneres?
So what I am trying to say, friends, is that we may be imitating celebrities and the Hollywood mindset in ways that we don’t even realize because its influence can be so subtle. And the best way to counteract its influence is to saturate our minds with Scripture and minimize our exposure to entertainment like TV and movies.
You can really think of it like a balanced diet for your mind. The Bible is the meat and grains and the fruits and vegetables that you should take in at every meal, and entertainment is like dessert—we should take it in only in small portions and less frequently than everything else.
I do think it is helpful for us to be aware of what the entertainment industry is producing, but I think a quote that Warren Wiersbe once applied to TV is very helpful here. He says, “True, we ought to [be familiar with it]; but only as chemists handle poisons—to discover their qualities, not to infect their blood with them.”*
So, we must make sure that we don’t follow the example of those who seek only to satisfy their personal desires. And in our passage, Paul points toward a better example for us to follow.
II. Follow the example of those who live as citizens of heaven in the here and now
In v. 17, Paul called the Philippians to follow his example, which he had just spelled out for them in vv. 2–16: namely, his example of placing everything on his list of values below the ongoing pursuit of gaining an intimate knowledge of Christ. At the end of v. 17 he also mentions others who are walking according to the same pattern. Undoubtedly he had Timothy and Epaphroditus in mind here, but there were probably others in the Philippian church as well who already followed Paul’s example.
Then down in vv. 20–21, he describes why his example is the correct one for us to have. At the end of v. 19 he tells us not to have our minds set on earthly goals and values and priorities, but why not? Well, he tells us in vv. 20–21 [READ vv. 20–21].
We are not to focus our minds on earthly things because our citizenship, our homeland is somewhere else! It’s like when you’re on vacation. When you go on vacation, you don’t have the same concern for the area that you’re visiting as you do for your hometown. You’re not thinking about putting down roots there because you know you’re only there for a short time. You don’t find yourself thinking, “Maybe I should go to the city council meeting here tonight and find out about the local zoning proposals!” No! You’re on vacation! You’re just passing through, so you don’t focus on settling in and making a life for yourself.
That’s the kind of mindset that we’re supposed to have about this world, because it is no longer our home. Our true home is in heaven, so that’s where we should center our lives; that’s where we should invest; that’s where we should put down roots! The old spiritual says it well:
“This world is not my home
I’m just a-passin’ through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.”
Paul also goes on to remind us why we should be so eager for our temporary stay in this world to be over—we are awaiting the return of Jesus, who will make us fit to enter our homeland! In v. 20, Paul refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as “savior,” which is significant for more reasons than you might think. The Greek word here is soter, and its actually a title that many of the Roman emperors had adopted for themselves. They sometimes referred to themselves as the “Savior of the World” or the “Savior of Humanity.”
But we who have our citizenship in heaven know who the real Savior of the World is—the Lord Jesus Christ! Our highest allegiance is to Him, not to any petty rulers in this world who might put themselves in His place. And when He returns, He is going to complete the work of salvation that He has started in us by transforming our bodies to make them fit for our homeland.
I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that you are still living in a body that is under the curse of sin. We still have to live not only with daily aches and pains, but also with diseases that are much more severe and deadly. But someday, Jesus is going to return to “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” As the apostle John put it in 1 John 3:2, “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” We have that time to look forward to that is described in Revelation 21:4, where God “will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain.”
That is our destiny! That is where our lives are headed—we are headed home! So that’s why we should focus our lives upon our homeland; that’s why we should live with heavenly priorities rather than earthly priorities. Just as it makes no sense to adopt a California lifestyle if you live in Kansas, it likewise makes no sense to adopt a worldly lifestyle if your real home is in heaven! So we must make sure that we follow the example of those who have this mindset, and not just follow them from afar, but develop a relationship with them and learn from them. It would benefit every one of us to cultivate a relationship with someone who is more mature in the faith than we are, so that is my challenge for you today. Find someone who is more mature as a Christian than you are and get to know them. Invite them over; take them out to eat; ask them for their advice and guidance and prayers. We will always be imitating someone, so let’s make sure we’re following the right example!
* Warren W. Wiersbe, Preaching & Teaching with Imagination, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Books, 2002.) pg. 75.
Perhaps some of you have heard of a little rodent called a lemming. Lemmings are often used as an illustration of the dangers of following the wrong leader, and for good reason. Like a lot of creatures, lemmings reproduce quickly, and so every few years they find themselves at a point where there current habitat can’t feed all of them anymore. So one day, some of the lemmings head out in search of a new home, and as they leave, they quickly attract many other lemmings to follow them. Now their typical behavior when they migrate like this is to set out in one direction and just keep going in that direction until they find a suitable place. Well, as you can imagine, sometimes that works out okay, and sometimes it doesn’t, because these little creatures don’t stop when they run into danger. Sometimes their path leads them to the edge of a cliff, and rather than head in a new direction they just run right off the cliff, and many—if not most—of them die. Sometimes their path leads them to the ocean, and instead of turning around they swim out into the ocean, and they just keep swimming until they eventually become exhausted and drown.
I think you can see how this illustrates the fact that we need to be careful about whom we choose to follow! Perhaps the people that we follow and imitate in our lives aren’t going to lead us off a cliff anytime soon, but could they be leading us into some sinful ways of thinking? Could they be pointing us toward the wrong goals for life? Those whom we choose to follow could be leading us down paths that a spiritual dangerous, so the lesson that we need to grab hold of today is this:
Make sure the people you choose to follow are leading you in the right direction!
And how do we know what the right direction is? From the Bible, of course. But we can also see it in the lives of people who are living out biblical principles in their lives. That’s what the apostle Paul is going to encourage us to look for in our study of Philippians today. Would you turn with me please to Philippians 3:17–21? Let’s read this together [READ vv. 17–21]. In this passage, Paul sets up a contrast between two groups of people—the kind that we should follow, and the kind that we should not follow. Let’s first see what he says about the kind of people that we should not follow.
I. Reject the example of those who seek only to satisfy their personal desires
Paul begins and ends this passage by talking about the people we should follow and the kind of mindset that they possess. But in the middle—in vv. 18–19—he describes the example that we should reject and the kind of people who set that example.
In v. 18, we see that Paul has tremendous compassion for these people; he says that he weeps over them. But nevertheless, Paul tells it like it is—he says that they are “enemies of the cross of Christ.” Notice that Paul doesn’t just say “enemies of Christ.” He focuses on the cross—they are enemies of the cross of Christ. From what Paul says about them in v. 19, it seems that these individuals are enemies of what the cross represents. As we saw in chapter 2, the cross of Christ represents humility. The fact that Jesus was willing to die in such a painful and humiliating way demonstrated his tremendous humility. The cross also represents self-denial, as we can see from Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:14—“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” These individuals however were advocating a very different lifestyle, and thus they were opposed to what the cross represents.
Because of this, Paul notes in v. 19 that they had a terrible end to look forward to. He states that their “end is destruction.” They may appear to have enviable lives now, but their ultimate end is utter loss and ruin. This is all because of their idolatry, which Paul describes next. The next three phrases describe their overall mindset—Paul writes, “whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
Their minds were set on achieving earthly goals and satisfying their own earthly desires, and so they sought to indulge their physical desires and cravings, and they “gloried in” or took pride in doing things that they actually should have been ashamed of. And as I think of people in our own society today who would fit this description, my mind goes directly to celebrities—actors and actresses, rappers and rock stars, reality show stars, even sports stars.
Now certainly not everyone in those industries would fit Paul’s description in v. 19, but the vast majority of them are living examples of what Paul said here. When you look at the lifestyle that characterizes most celebrities—the drug use and alcoholism, the immorality and infidelity, the repeated cycle of divorce—it is clear that they are living simply to satisfy their own fleshly desires. And if we are going to take Paul’s warning to heart, we must make sure that we don’t follow their example.
But the reality is that we are probably already mimicking their behavior in ways that we don’t even realize. Friends, if we think we can watch TV for hours each week, and watch movies for hours each week, and listen to secular music for hours each week, and yet somehow emerge with our behavior unaffected by those things, we are simply being naïve. Consider a few things with me—think first of all about the slang words that you use, or the popular phrases that you use. Where did you learn those words? Maybe you learned them from a friend, but where did he get them? At some point down the line they more than likely came from a movie or a TV show. Lines from movies and TV have a way of entering our cultural vocabulary, and often times we end up using those lines without even realizing it.
How about your idea of what romance looks like? Do you think it comes from the Bible? Let me ask you—have you ever actually read the Bible with that question in mind? If the answer is no, then are you sure that your idea of romance comes from the Bible? Or does your idea of romance actually come from Twilight, or Sleepless in Seattle, or Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Gone With the Wind?
How about your attitude toward something like homosexuality? I imagine that we would all say it’s a sin, but do you really feel that it’s a behavior that destroys people’s lives, or is it something to laugh about with our favorite characters on Modern Family, or something to sweep under the rug about as we’re being entertained by Ellen DeGeneres?
So what I am trying to say, friends, is that we may be imitating celebrities and the Hollywood mindset in ways that we don’t even realize because its influence can be so subtle. And the best way to counteract its influence is to saturate our minds with Scripture and minimize our exposure to entertainment like TV and movies.
You can really think of it like a balanced diet for your mind. The Bible is the meat and grains and the fruits and vegetables that you should take in at every meal, and entertainment is like dessert—we should take it in only in small portions and less frequently than everything else.
I do think it is helpful for us to be aware of what the entertainment industry is producing, but I think a quote that Warren Wiersbe once applied to TV is very helpful here. He says, “True, we ought to [be familiar with it]; but only as chemists handle poisons—to discover their qualities, not to infect their blood with them.”*
So, we must make sure that we don’t follow the example of those who seek only to satisfy their personal desires. And in our passage, Paul points toward a better example for us to follow.
II. Follow the example of those who live as citizens of heaven in the here and now
In v. 17, Paul called the Philippians to follow his example, which he had just spelled out for them in vv. 2–16: namely, his example of placing everything on his list of values below the ongoing pursuit of gaining an intimate knowledge of Christ. At the end of v. 17 he also mentions others who are walking according to the same pattern. Undoubtedly he had Timothy and Epaphroditus in mind here, but there were probably others in the Philippian church as well who already followed Paul’s example.
Then down in vv. 20–21, he describes why his example is the correct one for us to have. At the end of v. 19 he tells us not to have our minds set on earthly goals and values and priorities, but why not? Well, he tells us in vv. 20–21 [READ vv. 20–21].
We are not to focus our minds on earthly things because our citizenship, our homeland is somewhere else! It’s like when you’re on vacation. When you go on vacation, you don’t have the same concern for the area that you’re visiting as you do for your hometown. You’re not thinking about putting down roots there because you know you’re only there for a short time. You don’t find yourself thinking, “Maybe I should go to the city council meeting here tonight and find out about the local zoning proposals!” No! You’re on vacation! You’re just passing through, so you don’t focus on settling in and making a life for yourself.
That’s the kind of mindset that we’re supposed to have about this world, because it is no longer our home. Our true home is in heaven, so that’s where we should center our lives; that’s where we should invest; that’s where we should put down roots! The old spiritual says it well:
“This world is not my home
I’m just a-passin’ through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me
From heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.”
Paul also goes on to remind us why we should be so eager for our temporary stay in this world to be over—we are awaiting the return of Jesus, who will make us fit to enter our homeland! In v. 20, Paul refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as “savior,” which is significant for more reasons than you might think. The Greek word here is soter, and its actually a title that many of the Roman emperors had adopted for themselves. They sometimes referred to themselves as the “Savior of the World” or the “Savior of Humanity.”
But we who have our citizenship in heaven know who the real Savior of the World is—the Lord Jesus Christ! Our highest allegiance is to Him, not to any petty rulers in this world who might put themselves in His place. And when He returns, He is going to complete the work of salvation that He has started in us by transforming our bodies to make them fit for our homeland.
I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that you are still living in a body that is under the curse of sin. We still have to live not only with daily aches and pains, but also with diseases that are much more severe and deadly. But someday, Jesus is going to return to “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory.” As the apostle John put it in 1 John 3:2, “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” We have that time to look forward to that is described in Revelation 21:4, where God “will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain.”
That is our destiny! That is where our lives are headed—we are headed home! So that’s why we should focus our lives upon our homeland; that’s why we should live with heavenly priorities rather than earthly priorities. Just as it makes no sense to adopt a California lifestyle if you live in Kansas, it likewise makes no sense to adopt a worldly lifestyle if your real home is in heaven! So we must make sure that we follow the example of those who have this mindset, and not just follow them from afar, but develop a relationship with them and learn from them. It would benefit every one of us to cultivate a relationship with someone who is more mature in the faith than we are, so that is my challenge for you today. Find someone who is more mature as a Christian than you are and get to know them. Invite them over; take them out to eat; ask them for their advice and guidance and prayers. We will always be imitating someone, so let’s make sure we’re following the right example!
* Warren W. Wiersbe, Preaching & Teaching with Imagination, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Books, 2002.) pg. 75.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Reconciliation--Moving From War to Peace
Shortly before the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, he warned his disciples that until the end of this period of human history, there would be wars and rumors of wars (Matt. 24:6). History has shown that Jesus was no false prophet—war has been the norm rather than the exception throughout human history ever since that time (and even before then as well). In fact, a convenient way for historians to trace the history of a kingdom or a nation is to move from one war to the next!
Late last year, I had the opportunity to tour the Museum of French Military History in Paris while I was visiting some missionaries, and let me tell you, it was a huge museum because France has a lot of military history! The French have been almost constantly at war with someone throughout their entire existence as a nation. In fact, most of the European continent has been a battle zone since the times of the Roman Empire.
Even the relatively short history of the United States has been characterized by war. I think we had a couple of decades in the 1800’s where we were at peace, but the last 115 years in particular has seen war after war after war! We can trace our history from the Spanish-American War to World War I to World War II to the Korean War to Vietnam to the Cold War to the Gulf War and now to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With this kind of track record in the world, its no surprise that so many people are willing to give up almost anything for peace. But so far in history, the story of humanity has been a lack of peace. And while this has been true of human beings’ relationships with each other, the same could be said for our relationship with God as well. According to the Bible, when we are born, we all receive the desire for sin that first tainted humanity when Adam and Eve rebelled against the Lord. So at least initially, our relationship with God is characterized by a lack of peace.
But is there any hope of resolving this situation? Can we find peace with God that will restore our relationship with Him? Today we’re going to discover this hope as we look at the meaning of the word “reconciliation.” This is a great theological term that describes one of the things that Jesus accomplished for us in His death and resurrection. So today we’ll take a look first of all at what this word means, and then we’ll take a look at the implications of this idea both for our relationship with God and our relationships with other people.
I. What does the word “reconciliation” mean?
As we look at what the word “reconciliation” means in the Bible, what we find is that it has the same meaning as it does when we use it in common conversation. This isn’t always the case with these theological words. More often than not, if we still use the word in normal conversation, we use it with a slightly different meaning than the Bible does. But that’s not the case here, which makes it easy for us to understand what this word means.
The word “reconciliation” describes the restoration of peace in a relationship that has been broken. And so, we might speak of a husband and wife being reconciled after they’ve worked through some differences in their relationship, or we might talk about two old friends being reconciled when they patch things up after a fight.
So when Scripture says that we are “reconciled” to God, it means that our broken relationship with Him has been repaired; we have been restored to the relationship of peace and friendship that humanity once had with God prior to the Fall. We can see this clearly in Colossians 1:21–22. In these verses Paul writes, [READ vv. 21–22]. In v. 21, Paul describes a time when we were alienated or estranged from God, which means that we were separated from Him, and we were actually hostile to Him in our minds because of our desire to do evil deeds.
But notice that Paul says this condition is formerly true of us, and the difference is that in v. 22 Paul states that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ. So now for those who have accepted Jesus, we are no longer alienated or separated from God; we are no longer far from Him, but now we are near to Him. And we no longer have hostility in our relationship with Him—instead, we now enjoy peace and friendship.
What a wonderful reversal of fortunes! Friend, let this fact sink into your soul—God feels no hostility toward you! Some believers still feel like God sits in heaven eagerly waiting to punish them for something, but nothing could be further from the truth. As Paul put it in Romans 8, God is “for” us—He is on our side! When God looks at you, He looks at His own child, with eyes of compassion and love. When He looks at you, He doesn’t see the tattered rags of your sin—He sees the robe of righteousness that Jesus has supplied for us.
And notice from these verses who it was that took the initiative to restore our relationship with God. Was it us, or was it God? It was God, wasn’t it? God broke down the barrier that divided us. This belief is one of the central doctrines that makes Christianity different from all the other religions in the world. Every world religion believes that there is something in the human condition that makes us estranged from the divine being (whatever they believe that divine being is). But in every other religion, the responsibility is on us to make peace with the divine being; we are responsible to somehow bring ourselves back into harmony with the divine.
But friends, that idea is a lie from Satan, who is a deceiver and the father of lies. He has turned the truth upside down to hide from us the fact that there is nothing we can do to repair our relationship with God. Our sin is so offensive to God that there is nothing we can do to remove that offense. But God in His infinite love took the initiative to restore our broken relationship with Him by sending His Son to pay for our sins by dying on the cross so that we could once again have peace with God.
That is the glorious idea of reconciliation, that God has picked up the pieces of our broken relationship with Him and has made it whole once again. So we have seen what the word “reconciliation” means, and we have seen that it really captures well the work that Jesus has done in our behalf. But we also see in Scripture that our reconciliation with God is supposed to lead us to be reconciled with others. So the second question we need to deal with today is this:
II. What does our reconciliation with God mean for our relationships with other people?
A. Our relationship with other believers should also be one of peace and friendship (Matt. 5:21–24)
If our relationship with God is now one of peace and friendship, our relationship with God’s children should be the same. According to Scripture, when we accept Christ, God adopts us into His own spiritual family. This makes us spiritual brothers and sisters with everyone else who believes in Jesus. And just as you don’t want hostility in your family, God doesn’t want hostility in His family either.
Let’s take a look at what Jesus had to say in Matthew 5:21–24 [READ vv. 21–24]. Now there is much that we could say about vv. 21–22, but I want to focus your attention on His command in vv. 23–24. Jesus was speaking to Jewish people at a time when they still offered animal sacrifices, and he tells them that if they are in the middle of offering a sacrifice, and they remember that they’ve done something to offend a brother, they should stop what they’re doing, make things right with their brother, and then they can offer their sacrifice.
What this tells us is that God considers living at peace with each other to be more important than performing acts of worship. This should be no surprise, because God said this through the prophets over and over again in the Old Testament. God was often upset with the people of Israel because they were sinning against each other and then performing acts of worship as though nothing was wrong.
In our society today, we’ve come up with numerous ways of handling conflict that we think are acceptable. Perhaps one of the most common methods we use to deal with conflict is simply to avoid other people. If we do something that offends someone else and our relationship becomes strained because of it, often times we just avoid each other. And we justify this behavior by saying, “Hey! We don’t get into fights anymore! He has his circle of friends, and I have my circle of friends, and we just keep our distance from each other.”
Friends, let’s not think that God is deceived by our little charade. If we choose to simply avoid someone after we sin against them, what we’re really avoiding is God’s clear command to confess our sin to them and ask for forgiveness! We should seek for reconciliation with someone if we have sinned against them. It is certainly true that they might reject our efforts to make peace, but their response is on their own shoulders. Our choice must be to seek for peace when we have sinned against others.
But sometimes, divisions in the body of Christ are much more superficial. The idea of reconciliation teaches us that…
B. Our cultural and racial differences should not disrupt our peace and friendship with other believers (Eph. 2:14–16)
Sometimes differences in the body of Christ come up over things as petty as racial differences. But the idea of reconciliation reminds us that in heaven we will be part of a choir from every tribe, tongue, and nation that will be singing the praises of our Lord.
Notice what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:14–16. In these verses he is talking about how the death of Jesus abolished any wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles. There was a lot of racism that existed between Jews and Gentiles at this time, but for believers there is to be no room for racism whatsoever because of our reconciliation in Christ [READ vv. 14–16].
In our corner of the world, we encounter people from several different minority groups who have immigrated here to the United States. Anytime cultures collide like this, there is going to be some uneasiness as people get to know each other, but I’m sure we all hear emotions expressed at times that amount to nothing more than sheer racism against another group of people. Friends, we need to make sure that no such hatred exists in our hearts. We cannot allow something as superficial as race to cause us to be hostile to others—especially if someone from another race embraces the Lord Jesus as we do. There should be no such divisions in the body of Christ, and we must make sure that we never feed such divisions by our own words and actions.
In fact, from a biblical perspective, it would be best if we stopped talking about different races of people at all, because there is only one race—the human race. According to the Bible, all humans are descended from Adam and Eve, and then again from Noah and his wife after the Flood. We may have different languages and cultures and nationalities, but we are not from different races. So let’s make sure that we do not perpetuate racial distinctions, particularly within the body of Christ.
Finally, as the Bible speaks of reconciliation, it reminds us that we have a mission to accomplish.
C. Our mission is to bring other people into a relationship of peace with God (2 Cor. 5:17–21)
Since we now have peace with God, we are given the privilege of calling all other men to lay down their arms and receive the King’s offer of a pardon. Let’s read what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 [READ vv. 17–21].
God the King has not only gladly welcomed us back into His kingdom, but He has also made us His royal ambassadors, His representatives to all those who are not at peace with Him. And what a great honor this is! Theoretically, God could have allowed angels to spread the Gospel. He could have sent a hundred million angels out into the world to pay a personal visit to every man, woman, and child on Earth.
But who better to deliver the King’s terms of peace than us, the very ones who used to be on the wrong side of the conflict? Remember, we were alienated from God and hostile toward Him in our minds, but He reconciled us to Himself, and now He has sent us back to our fellow rebels to tell them that the King offers peace, to proclaim that the King will not only accept them back into the kingdom, but will welcome them into the royal family!
Friend, if you have never accepted God’s terms of peace, I pray that you will today. You must understand that you were born into this world in a state of hostility toward God because of the sin that has tainted all of us. Your relationship with God is broken, but God sent His own Son to undergo in your place the punishment that you deserve by dying on the cross. God then raised Him from the dead to show that the price for sin had been paid, and that there was now hope of eternal life for those who would place their faith in Jesus as their Savior. Those are the King’s term of peace—if you will accept Jesus as your Savior, your relationship with God will be restored; you will be reconciled to God, to live no longer as His enemy, but as His child and friend. If you will accept Jesus, you can know that peace in your life today, and know that you will be warmly welcomed into heaven after this life.
Late last year, I had the opportunity to tour the Museum of French Military History in Paris while I was visiting some missionaries, and let me tell you, it was a huge museum because France has a lot of military history! The French have been almost constantly at war with someone throughout their entire existence as a nation. In fact, most of the European continent has been a battle zone since the times of the Roman Empire.
Even the relatively short history of the United States has been characterized by war. I think we had a couple of decades in the 1800’s where we were at peace, but the last 115 years in particular has seen war after war after war! We can trace our history from the Spanish-American War to World War I to World War II to the Korean War to Vietnam to the Cold War to the Gulf War and now to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With this kind of track record in the world, its no surprise that so many people are willing to give up almost anything for peace. But so far in history, the story of humanity has been a lack of peace. And while this has been true of human beings’ relationships with each other, the same could be said for our relationship with God as well. According to the Bible, when we are born, we all receive the desire for sin that first tainted humanity when Adam and Eve rebelled against the Lord. So at least initially, our relationship with God is characterized by a lack of peace.
But is there any hope of resolving this situation? Can we find peace with God that will restore our relationship with Him? Today we’re going to discover this hope as we look at the meaning of the word “reconciliation.” This is a great theological term that describes one of the things that Jesus accomplished for us in His death and resurrection. So today we’ll take a look first of all at what this word means, and then we’ll take a look at the implications of this idea both for our relationship with God and our relationships with other people.
I. What does the word “reconciliation” mean?
As we look at what the word “reconciliation” means in the Bible, what we find is that it has the same meaning as it does when we use it in common conversation. This isn’t always the case with these theological words. More often than not, if we still use the word in normal conversation, we use it with a slightly different meaning than the Bible does. But that’s not the case here, which makes it easy for us to understand what this word means.
The word “reconciliation” describes the restoration of peace in a relationship that has been broken. And so, we might speak of a husband and wife being reconciled after they’ve worked through some differences in their relationship, or we might talk about two old friends being reconciled when they patch things up after a fight.
So when Scripture says that we are “reconciled” to God, it means that our broken relationship with Him has been repaired; we have been restored to the relationship of peace and friendship that humanity once had with God prior to the Fall. We can see this clearly in Colossians 1:21–22. In these verses Paul writes, [READ vv. 21–22]. In v. 21, Paul describes a time when we were alienated or estranged from God, which means that we were separated from Him, and we were actually hostile to Him in our minds because of our desire to do evil deeds.
But notice that Paul says this condition is formerly true of us, and the difference is that in v. 22 Paul states that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ. So now for those who have accepted Jesus, we are no longer alienated or separated from God; we are no longer far from Him, but now we are near to Him. And we no longer have hostility in our relationship with Him—instead, we now enjoy peace and friendship.
What a wonderful reversal of fortunes! Friend, let this fact sink into your soul—God feels no hostility toward you! Some believers still feel like God sits in heaven eagerly waiting to punish them for something, but nothing could be further from the truth. As Paul put it in Romans 8, God is “for” us—He is on our side! When God looks at you, He looks at His own child, with eyes of compassion and love. When He looks at you, He doesn’t see the tattered rags of your sin—He sees the robe of righteousness that Jesus has supplied for us.
And notice from these verses who it was that took the initiative to restore our relationship with God. Was it us, or was it God? It was God, wasn’t it? God broke down the barrier that divided us. This belief is one of the central doctrines that makes Christianity different from all the other religions in the world. Every world religion believes that there is something in the human condition that makes us estranged from the divine being (whatever they believe that divine being is). But in every other religion, the responsibility is on us to make peace with the divine being; we are responsible to somehow bring ourselves back into harmony with the divine.
But friends, that idea is a lie from Satan, who is a deceiver and the father of lies. He has turned the truth upside down to hide from us the fact that there is nothing we can do to repair our relationship with God. Our sin is so offensive to God that there is nothing we can do to remove that offense. But God in His infinite love took the initiative to restore our broken relationship with Him by sending His Son to pay for our sins by dying on the cross so that we could once again have peace with God.
That is the glorious idea of reconciliation, that God has picked up the pieces of our broken relationship with Him and has made it whole once again. So we have seen what the word “reconciliation” means, and we have seen that it really captures well the work that Jesus has done in our behalf. But we also see in Scripture that our reconciliation with God is supposed to lead us to be reconciled with others. So the second question we need to deal with today is this:
II. What does our reconciliation with God mean for our relationships with other people?
A. Our relationship with other believers should also be one of peace and friendship (Matt. 5:21–24)
If our relationship with God is now one of peace and friendship, our relationship with God’s children should be the same. According to Scripture, when we accept Christ, God adopts us into His own spiritual family. This makes us spiritual brothers and sisters with everyone else who believes in Jesus. And just as you don’t want hostility in your family, God doesn’t want hostility in His family either.
Let’s take a look at what Jesus had to say in Matthew 5:21–24 [READ vv. 21–24]. Now there is much that we could say about vv. 21–22, but I want to focus your attention on His command in vv. 23–24. Jesus was speaking to Jewish people at a time when they still offered animal sacrifices, and he tells them that if they are in the middle of offering a sacrifice, and they remember that they’ve done something to offend a brother, they should stop what they’re doing, make things right with their brother, and then they can offer their sacrifice.
What this tells us is that God considers living at peace with each other to be more important than performing acts of worship. This should be no surprise, because God said this through the prophets over and over again in the Old Testament. God was often upset with the people of Israel because they were sinning against each other and then performing acts of worship as though nothing was wrong.
In our society today, we’ve come up with numerous ways of handling conflict that we think are acceptable. Perhaps one of the most common methods we use to deal with conflict is simply to avoid other people. If we do something that offends someone else and our relationship becomes strained because of it, often times we just avoid each other. And we justify this behavior by saying, “Hey! We don’t get into fights anymore! He has his circle of friends, and I have my circle of friends, and we just keep our distance from each other.”
Friends, let’s not think that God is deceived by our little charade. If we choose to simply avoid someone after we sin against them, what we’re really avoiding is God’s clear command to confess our sin to them and ask for forgiveness! We should seek for reconciliation with someone if we have sinned against them. It is certainly true that they might reject our efforts to make peace, but their response is on their own shoulders. Our choice must be to seek for peace when we have sinned against others.
But sometimes, divisions in the body of Christ are much more superficial. The idea of reconciliation teaches us that…
B. Our cultural and racial differences should not disrupt our peace and friendship with other believers (Eph. 2:14–16)
Sometimes differences in the body of Christ come up over things as petty as racial differences. But the idea of reconciliation reminds us that in heaven we will be part of a choir from every tribe, tongue, and nation that will be singing the praises of our Lord.
Notice what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:14–16. In these verses he is talking about how the death of Jesus abolished any wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles. There was a lot of racism that existed between Jews and Gentiles at this time, but for believers there is to be no room for racism whatsoever because of our reconciliation in Christ [READ vv. 14–16].
In our corner of the world, we encounter people from several different minority groups who have immigrated here to the United States. Anytime cultures collide like this, there is going to be some uneasiness as people get to know each other, but I’m sure we all hear emotions expressed at times that amount to nothing more than sheer racism against another group of people. Friends, we need to make sure that no such hatred exists in our hearts. We cannot allow something as superficial as race to cause us to be hostile to others—especially if someone from another race embraces the Lord Jesus as we do. There should be no such divisions in the body of Christ, and we must make sure that we never feed such divisions by our own words and actions.
In fact, from a biblical perspective, it would be best if we stopped talking about different races of people at all, because there is only one race—the human race. According to the Bible, all humans are descended from Adam and Eve, and then again from Noah and his wife after the Flood. We may have different languages and cultures and nationalities, but we are not from different races. So let’s make sure that we do not perpetuate racial distinctions, particularly within the body of Christ.
Finally, as the Bible speaks of reconciliation, it reminds us that we have a mission to accomplish.
C. Our mission is to bring other people into a relationship of peace with God (2 Cor. 5:17–21)
Since we now have peace with God, we are given the privilege of calling all other men to lay down their arms and receive the King’s offer of a pardon. Let’s read what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 [READ vv. 17–21].
God the King has not only gladly welcomed us back into His kingdom, but He has also made us His royal ambassadors, His representatives to all those who are not at peace with Him. And what a great honor this is! Theoretically, God could have allowed angels to spread the Gospel. He could have sent a hundred million angels out into the world to pay a personal visit to every man, woman, and child on Earth.
But who better to deliver the King’s terms of peace than us, the very ones who used to be on the wrong side of the conflict? Remember, we were alienated from God and hostile toward Him in our minds, but He reconciled us to Himself, and now He has sent us back to our fellow rebels to tell them that the King offers peace, to proclaim that the King will not only accept them back into the kingdom, but will welcome them into the royal family!
Friend, if you have never accepted God’s terms of peace, I pray that you will today. You must understand that you were born into this world in a state of hostility toward God because of the sin that has tainted all of us. Your relationship with God is broken, but God sent His own Son to undergo in your place the punishment that you deserve by dying on the cross. God then raised Him from the dead to show that the price for sin had been paid, and that there was now hope of eternal life for those who would place their faith in Jesus as their Savior. Those are the King’s term of peace—if you will accept Jesus as your Savior, your relationship with God will be restored; you will be reconciled to God, to live no longer as His enemy, but as His child and friend. If you will accept Jesus, you can know that peace in your life today, and know that you will be warmly welcomed into heaven after this life.
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