Overcoming The Thieves Of Joy

A Desire for Unity

"Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." - Philippians 4:1-9 (ESV)

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” - Psalm 133:1 (ESV)

As we get started, let’s start with verse 2 of Philippians 4, Paul says, “I entreat (or in some translations it says "beseech" – meaning to address or speak to) Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.”

So what this is saying here, at the foundational level, is that these two women in the church in Philippi were not getting along. And that’s surprising, right? People not getting along in a church? I bet that was the first and last time that ever happened.

“To dwell in love with saints above— Oh that will be glory! But to dwell below with saints we know— Ah! That’s a different story!”

- Christopher J. H. Wright

But what the Lord wants is for us to maintain the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace. For example, in John 17 Jesus prays. A great high priestly prayer.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one…” - John 17:20-22 (ESV)

Has that prayer been answered? I believe so.

I believe that it has been answered in that we are one body in Christ. But the desire that Christ has here is that we live out that unity in a world that is lost. He wants us to live out that unity before a lost, watching, world. So let’s return to these two women mentioned here: 1) Euodia and 2) Syntyche.

Again, they were arguing. But what’s more is that we know from the text that they were believers, members of the church of Philippi. And they had labored with Paul in the Gospel. Here’s what we don’t know, and honestly it kind of drives me crazy. There’s a few things that I want to ask God one day:

“What was Jesus writing in the sand before the Pharisees brought the adulterous woman before him?”

“What were Moses and Elijah saying to Jesus during the Transfiguration?”

And here’s what we don’t know from our text today: “What were these two women fighting about? What were they arguing about? What were they divided over?”

But the Bible doesn’t tell us. Paul doesn’t mention it. So first I thought, maybe a doctrinal issue? But then you’d think that Paul would have addressed that, right? He didn’t hesitate to deal with those issues and correct them. But you know, here’s my guess – my guess is that it was personal, and maybe even petty. That’s why we have Paul basically telling them, “You guys need to get together in the Lord.”

See, one of the reasons that I think the Church could experience disunity is that our focus drifts from the heavens, and down to the horizon. We begin to look at one another. What’s sad to me is how often, as Christians, not New Hope specifically, we let things like personal and petty issues divide us. People will argue, bicker, fight, and ultimately divide over, what is most often, the most ridiculous issues.

Reasons for Conflict

Thom Rainer, who runs a popular Christian blog actually conducted a survey, pretty informal survey in which he asked for people to send him reasons for conflicts in their congregation. He had a lot of responses, and shared a few on his blog, and I’d like to share with you some of what he received. He said that among the absurd ones, there were the ones we’ve all heard before: temperature in the worship center, volume of the music, color of carpet, order of worship, and color of walls.