Power Of Agreement 3b

The Power of Agreement Part 3b

Scriptures: Philippians 2:1-5; 13-15; Matthew 5:16

Introduction

Last week I started this message and we looked at the first five verses in Philippians chapter two. I shared with you the beginning process of things we must do internally in order to come into agreement with each other externally. I walked you through what Paul said about our giving up selfishness; how we should regard others as more important than ourselves; and how we really should be looking out for the interests of others. This morning I will take up from where I left off last week.

I. Why We Should Come Into Agreement

Last week I focused on the "how" and this week will look at the "why". When I first started this message several weeks ago, I shared with you what Jesus said in Matthew 10:20 that when two or more come together in His name He would be in our midst. Let's take a look at what Paul wrote in Philippians 2:13-15 which also reconfirms what Matthew quoted from Jesus.

"For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world." Philippians 2:13-15 (NAS)

In the verses above, Paul gives us the "why" behind our need to come into agreement with one another. In verse 13, Paul says that God is the one who is at work within us. What does this mean? It means that God is using us to get His will done hear on earth. The second part of verse 13 Paul confirms this stating that God is using us for His good pleasure. Remember last year when I told you that anything that is going to be done on earth for God is going to be done by those who believe in Him? When we begin to walk with God, He begins to use us to get His will accomplished. Remember what Jesus said in John 6:38 when He said He had come here not to do His own will but to do the will of the One who sent Him, His Father? That is also what we are here to do, the will of God. If God is going to work His will through us, we have to be open to allow Him to operate. This comes about when we seek to come into agreement with one another focusing on what God wants done versus what we want done.

If we begin to understand that God is working through us to get His will done then it makes us more sensitive to how we interact with others. For example, you may have an interaction with someone on your job who is not saved. Through your interaction, that person gets a glimpse of God and decides to accept Him in their heart. Through your brief interaction, a soul was saved. God used you, even without your prior knowledge, to save a lost soul. That is the beauty of how God operates. When we begin to yield to Him, we do not have to know all of the particulars of how God will use us, we just need to be available and open. But in the process, we begin to expect God to use us in our every day interactions so we become careful about the things we do and say. So the first "why" behind our need to come into agreement centers on the fact that God is using us and He can get a lot more accomplish through people who are in tuned with Him and in agreement with each other.

Next Paul tells us that we should do all things without grumbling or disputing. Oh I cannot tell you the number of times that I have done things while grumbling. When I was growing up, sometimes I would try and talk back to my parents in a very low voice. Sometimes I got away with it and sometimes I would not. I would do this when they told me to do something that I did not want to do. Ever done that? Have you ever had to do something on your job, at school or even at home that you did not want to do so you grumbled while you were doing it? This is what Paul was talking about. When we come into agreement with each other, whatever we decide to do, everyone must be in agreement and then we move forward as one. It does not mean that you started off in agreement, but once the decision is made, we all walk in that decision as one body. This will require that we not grumble once we start to move. If we are being used by God for His will to get His things done on earth, we must be very careful about grumbling because we could actually be grumbling against God. Every thing that we do is a reflection on the one we serve. The attitude we display when we are doing everything in our lives will reflect on God if you call yourself a Christian. I told you before that people have a different expectation of Christians and how we are supposed to act in different situations. To this point we must always be mindful of what display in our actions.