A Chip Off the Old Block--Sermon on the Mount Series

            There was once a man who attempted to sail all the way around the world by himself. He didn’t make it very far before a storm in the Pacific Ocean destroyed his boat and washed him ashore on a deserted island. A massive search-and-rescue effort was launched, but the man wasn’t found until five years later when a low-flying plane spotted his campfire. The plane radioed the location back to a US Naval Base, who sent a boat out to rescue the man.

            The man was ecstatic when he saw the ship coming to the island. He ran out to the beach and started jumping up and down, and when the sailors stepped foot on the island he just started hugging all of them. They were about to take him out to the ship when the man said, “Could I take a few minutes to show you around at what I built during the last five years?” The sailors figured it couldn’t hurt, so the man took them over to an impressive cabin that he had made for himself. Then he said, “Here’s a garden that I planted, and I even diverted a stream that flows down from the mountain so I could irrigate my crops. And here’s a canoe that hollowed out from a log so I could paddle out into the ocean and go fishing. But let me show you the best thing of all!”

            So he took the sailors up to the highest point on the island, and there they saw a small hut with a cross on it. The man said, “Here is my church! This is where I come to worship God. I built it on the highest point of the island because I feel so close to God up here.” As the man was speaking, the sailors noticed another small hut with a cross on it about 50 yards away, so they said, “What’s that over there?” The man looked a little annoyed and said, “Oh, that place? That’s the church I used to attend.”

            Sometimes that joke seems all too real—that if a Christian were by himself on a deserted island, he would still find a way to have a church split! We are not universally known for our ability to get along, which is very sad on so many levels—especially in light of the next Beatitude that we’ll be discussing today. In Matthew 5:9, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” As we study this Beatitude today, we’ll see just how attractive this idea of being a “peacemaker” really is, and it should inspire us to have that kind of reputation in our own lives and in our church.

“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS…”

            This phrase presents us with a clear example of how easily ideas can sometimes get lost in translation. Jesus was quite possibly speaking these words in Aramaic, which was a dialect of Old Testament Hebrew, Matthew then recorded them in Greek, and this morning we are reading them in English. Our English word “peace” doesn’t capture everything about the concept of peace of Jesus and his fellow Jews would have had in mind.

            We basically define peace as the absence of something—the absence of war or the absence of fighting. Its good to be in that kind of state of peace, but the Jewish people would have said that we have a pretty wimpy idea of peace. After all, by our definition, a nation like Haiti has enjoyed peace for a long time, but obviously they still haven’t had very pleasant conditions in their country. The United States was technically at peace with the Soviet Union during the Cold War because we never issued a declaration of war, but no one would say that our nations had a good relationship.

            Instead of defining peace as the absence of something, the Jewish people defined it as the presence of something. To them, peace was really the presence of all good things. The Hebrew word for this idea was shalom, and I don’t think we have any single word in English that’s just like it.

            When the Jewish people spoke of shalom, they probably would have pictured two things—the Garden of Eden and the kingdom of the Messiah. In the Garden of Eden, there wasn’t merely the absence of war, there was the presence of all good things. Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect relationships with God, each other, and the animals all around them. They had perfect health and perfect strength; they were surrounded by natural beauty that had no trace of death or decay. The ground was fertile and cooperative for growing good things.

            The Jewish people also looked forward to shalom in the kingdom of the Messiah. Isaiah 9:6 called the Messiah “the Prince of shalom,” and the prophecies about his kingdom describe not merely the absence of war (although that’s included as well), they describe an almost complete return to Edenic conditions—long life, good health, sincere worship of God, godly behavior, peace between men and animals, and fertile, productive ground.

            So when we read this Beatitude, we should think of a “peacemaker” as someone who works toward shalom in the lives of others—someone who not only removes a bad thing like hostility but actually replaces it with good things in the lives of others. When we think in these terms, we start to see how woefully inadequate our concept of peace really is compared to the concept we find in Scripture. This is never more obvious than when we have a fight or a disagreement or a misunderstanding with someone else. Our concept of peace tells us that as long as we are not actively hostile to someone else, then we have fulfilled the biblical commands. In other words, as long as I’m not doing bad things to you, then I’ve forgiven you and I’m living at peace with you.

            But then Scripture comes along and says, “Wait a minute! Don’t stop there! That’s the first step, but now how are you seeking to do good for that person?” That’s a much different way of thinking than our normal concept of living at peace with each other.

            I’m going to hit very close to home for just a moment. I think in a small town like ours, we are very good at maintaining this appearance of “peace” where we’re not actually doing bad things to each other because we know that’s wrong, but under the surface we’re not quite getting along as well as we let on. In larger towns and cities, when people have fights or disagreements they normally just end up avoiding each other. If two people in a church butt heads, one of them normally just ends up leaving. If you’ve lived in a larger town, you know what I’m talking about—there’s practically an invisible conveyor belt between churches that just takes people from one church to the next. People just sign their kids up for a different baseball team, or they join a different health club. They just avoid each other.

            Well around here, we don’t really have that option so much. You’d basically have to move away if you wanted to avoid someone completely, so in some ways I’m tempted to think that we’ve perfected the skill of putting up a good front. We mumble “hello” to each other and then we pat ourselves on the back for the great thing we’ve done, when all we’ve really done is the bare minimum that we could do to truly have healthy relationships with each other.

            I’m not going to lie—living at peace with each other is one of the hardest things that God calls us to do. But if we’re going to hit the bull’s eye on this one, the first thing we have to do is make sure we’re aiming at the right target! Peacemakers are those who work to see good things come about in the lives of others. Jesus pronounces a blessing on such people because, as he says, “they shall be called sons of God.”

“…FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD.”

            In Jewish culture, calling someone a “son of” something was simply a way to describe what kind of character they were displaying. For example, Jesus called the Apostles James and John the “sons of thunder,” probably because of an incident when they wanted to call down fire from heaven on a village of Samaritans. Judas was called the “son of perdition,” which means utter loss or ruin.” In Acts 4, the apostles gave a man named Joseph the nickname “Barnabas,” which means “son of encouragement.”

            So to put it simply, I think Jesus was saying that peacemakers are blessed because they display the same character as God. Its like saying that peacemakers are “a chip off the old block.” After all, God has set an example of doing good things even to those who are hostile to him. Notice what Jesus says just a short while later in this sermon in Matthew 5:43-45 [READ 5:43-45]. When Jesus says, “love your enemies…so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven,” He reveals that the idea of showing love is synonymous with the idea of being a peacemaker. That connection shows us that being a peacemaker is central to our mission as Christians.

            In John 13:35, Jesus told us as plain as day how other people would know that we are his “disciples”—a word that means “student.” How will people know that we are students of Jesus, that we are learning His ways? Here’s what he said: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).” When people see us loving each other, then they will know that we are students of Jesus because they will see that we have learned his way of life.

            On the night before Jesus died, he prayed a very moving prayer that’s recorded in John 17—why don’t you turn there with me? In that prayer, people just like you and me came to his mind at one point, and what do you suppose his prayer request was for us? Let’s read it, beginning in v. 20. The Lord had been praying for the apostles, and now in v. 20 he says, “I do not ask for these only (meaning the apostles), but also for those who will believe in me through their word”—that’s you and me and all the other people who have been saved since Jesus returned to Heaven. What was his request for us? “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.”

            But why? What would be the result of this unity? “So that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Why is it that some people refuse to believe that Jesus came from Heaven? Could it be because they see nothing heavenly among the people who call themselves His students? Let’s go on to v. 22: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

            Do you know why some people don’t believe there’s a loving God in Heaven? Its not because they see tornados or earthquakes or because they get cancer or because they lose a child. Its because they see Christian people who can’t get along, and then they hear us say, “We’re God’s children!” If you see grown-up siblings who can’t get along, does it lead you to think that their parents must be kind, gracious, and loving? No, you’re led to think just the opposite.

            My friends, we do unimaginable damage to our proclamation of the Gospel if we cannot live at peace with one another. What does it do to our testimony if people see us fighting and then hear us say, “You know, you can have peace with God, too, just like we do?” Living as peacemakers—according to a biblical standard of peace—is absolutely essential to Christ’s mission for us to make disciples of all the nations.

            I’ve mentioned over the last few weeks that there are a lot of similar themes in the Sermon on the Mount and in the book of James (that James was actually the Lord’s brother). In James 4, he tells us exactly why it is so hard for people to get along with each other [READ James 4:1-2; when you read “murder,” remember that Jesus said harboring anger in your heart is just as bad as murder].

            It all really comes down to selfishness. It starts with the fact that my desires are at war within me; my sinful desires are battling in my heart for supremacy, and if I indulge them, before long I’ll be battling you for supremacy. My sinful desires put me in that mindset where I want what I want, when I want it, and from exactly the people from whom I feel I deserve it. When I allow that mindset to reign in my heart, its like a conquering general—always looking for new lands to conquer.

            So how can we become peacemakers, so that we can have the blessing of living like a chip off the old block? I think we’ve taken an important step today by realizing that we often assess ourselves by the wrong standard. We’ll never hit the bull’s eye if we aim at the wrong target! We need to repent of patting ourselves on the back simply because we’re not actively doing harm to others. As we learned last week when we talked about purity of heart, our hearts will not be pure as long as we assess ourselves by the wrong standards, because we will ignore the dirt that needs to be cleaned up.

            The next step is fairly obvious—we need to actively do good to others. We need to pray that God will bless them with every good thing in their lives, and do what we can to make that happen as God gives us opportunity.

            May we be a community that presents a convincing case to the world through our unity that God is love because they see the family resemblance in us, his children.

"Keeping the Peace"--Philippians 4:4-7

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!

"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.