Title: Practicing Peace
Text: Philippians 4:2-9
Introduction
Today our text begins like an episode from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills complete with:
• Hair pulling.
• Crazy Drama.
• Packaged insanity.
The Apostle Paul says, “When peace is broken… fix it!”
I. When Peace Is Broken… Fix It!
Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche (Sintysha). Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. Philippians 4:2-3
This is an interesting text in that there are a couple of curves in the works at the onset.
First there was and to some extent still some question about the two characters named in verse 2. Some translators say the conflict was between Euodias and Syntyche. In this case Euodias is a man’s name, which would mean the conflict was between a man and Syntyche, a woman’s name. Speculators suggest it was a married couple. However most believe the names are Euodia (a woman’s name) and Syntyche… or two women. (Conflict is not gender specific!)
The second stickler is the place of women in Greek culture at that time. In Greek culture women were very much behind the scenes… they were seen little and heard even less. So for two women to be named as members of the Church at Philippi is unusual. However we know that in Paul’s writings women played a prominent role in the life and ministry of the early Church.
On at least two occasions Paul made a point of stating that in Christ there is no gender distinctions… There is no longer male and female…for you are all one in Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:28 In Colossians 3:11, …in this new life distinctions do not matter… Christ is all that matters.
So it is apparent that there are two prominent women in the Church at Philippi who were in conflict with each other and the Apostle Paul is very concerned. He is concerned enough to confront it.
Here’s why.
A. Quarreling Christians Do Not Honor Christ
• Because you belong to Christ! 4:2
No one can be at peace with God and at odds with other believers.
B. Quarreling Christians Must Restore the Peace
• Settle your disagreement! 4:2
C. Quarreling Christians Leave a Sad Legacy
• Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche…
Interestingly, these two women were known for their hard work in the life and ministry of the Church at Philippi. The Apostle Paul wrote passionately about how hard they worked for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “They worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
Euodias’ and Syntyche’s names are recorded in the Book of Life referenced in Revelation 3:5, “All who are victorious will be clothed in white and I will never erase their names from the Book of Life.”
They were Christian women. They had faithfully served the Church of Jesus Christ and had been a blessing to many people. Their names were recorded in the Book of Life. At the time of the final judgment their names will be found there and they will enter the bliss of eternal life. But that is not how they are remembered is it?
When I was a boy we often spent Sundays at my grandpa and grandma’s house. My dad’s side of the family was large… 8 boys and 2 daughters and all their spouses and all their kids. My memories of those days are fun filled.
There were softball games in the hay field and clod fights in the plowed field. We slid down a grassy hill on an old car hood in winter. We fished for catfish in the creek. It was a fun place.
But I remember one thing that was all out of whack… I had two aunts who had gotten into some kind of spat and they refused to speak to each other or be in the same house with each other. So on those days when both were there one of my aunts would sit in the car while the other was having a good time in the house. Then at a specified time the aunt who was in the house would go out to her car and sit while the other aunt went inside where everyone was having a good time.
They were both lovely and fun-loving women and I am pleased to say their reconciliation was as public as their spat and the story had a wonderful ending.
But can you imagine what it would be like to have your name go down in history with a reputation for being quarrelsome? Can you image your name going down in history so that you are forever remembered because you couldn’t get along with someone in Church or at home or at work or in the neighborhood or at Jewel Osco?
Not only is there no peace when peace is broken, there is no joy when and where there is no peace.
II. There Is No Joy Without Peace
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Philippians 4:4-5
A. The Christian’s Joy Is Contingent On the Presence of Christ
• Always be full of joy in the Lord, 4:4
B. The Christian’s Joy is Contingent On Living In Peace With Each Other
• Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. 4:5
My translation speaks of peace and joy being contingent on being considerate. Others translate it: being gentle or being patient or being forbearing or gracious but the understanding I like best is one I remember from Paul Radford, who was my senior pastor and friend when I first began my pastoral ministry. Paul understood this passage to say, “Let your sweet reasonableness be seen in everything you do.” Sweet reasonableness. Sweet reasonableness knows when graciousness is more important than what seems right.
Remember when they brought the woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus hoping to get him to adhere to the letter of the law… the law said she should stoned to death. They expected Jesus to do the right thing but instead Jesus demonstrated a gracious sweet reasonableness when he said to her accusers, “He who is without sin must cast the first stone.”
C. The Christian’s Joy Is Contingent On Understanding Life Is Short… (Too short to be spent in conflict.)
• The Lord is coming soon. 4:5
Life is too short to be spent in insisting on being right or demanding justice or an apology or fussing over petty differences. As much as it be up to you, live in peace with one another… without peace there is no joy and no happy anticipation of the Lord’s return.
A life list or a bucket list— Phoebe Snetsinger had her "Life List." That's what bird watchers call the summation of their years of devotion. Phoebe had long been an enthusiastic birder, but when a doctor gave her a diagnosis of terminal cancer near her 50th birthday, she began traveling to ever more distant and daunting environments to see rare bird species. Meanwhile, her disease went into remission. By the time she died, in 1999, at age 68, she had spotted a then-record 8,400 species, nearly 85 percent of the world's known winged creatures. Her achievement is an admittedly extreme example of what the life list has become in the broader culture: things to experience while you still have time.
Others prefer to use "bucket list," a term from the 2007 film in which Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play stricken men who set out to do all the things they've wanted to do before kicking the bucket.
You may have given some thought to what you would put on your “To Do” or your “Life List” or your “Bucket List” bucket list given the relative brevity of life… perhaps a simple reminder to live in peace with others would be good.
In case you are thinking that living in peace is the outcome of super human effort… it is also the outcome of divine intervention.
III. There Is No Peace Without Prayer
Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
A. Worry Is a Peace Buster.
• Don’t worry about anything. 4:6
When we worry we let our thoughts and emotions give way to anxiety. We become uneasy as we allow our minds dwell on a perceived difficulty or problem. We fret. We over-think. We brood. We stew in our juices. We lose sleep. The challenge is to not worry about anything. Anything means everything.
B. Prayer With Thanksgiving Is a Worry Buster.
• Pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for what he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace. 4:6
The challenge is to pray about everything.
When we pray something very important is taking place. When we pray we are looking beyond ourselves. When we pray we are not looking within ourselves in search of a solution. When we pray our focus in no longer an inward look, it is an outward look. When we pray we are lifting our eyes and our hearts and minds to see and seek what God can do.
The added challenge here is also to pray with thanksgiving… Praying with thanksgiving does three things:
1. When we pray with thanksgiving we are reminding ourselves that we do experience good things in life as well as not so good.
2. When we pray with thanksgiving we are bringing to mind the ways God has cared for us and blessed us in the past, which helps us trust God for the future.
3. When we pray with thanksgiving we experience the peace of God. There are two things we need to understand about the peace of God:
• God’s peace exceeds anything we can understand. That does not mean we cannot experience it… it means we cannot understand it. It means it is a God thing. It means we cannot create a round table or a think tank or laboratory experiment wherein we can, from a human standpoint, recreate it. It only comes to us from God. The peace is beyond us.
• The second thing we need to know is that God’s peace actually acts as a guard in our hearts and minds against worry. God’s peace is like a military sentinel who is on guard duty… marching back and forth around the perimeter of our hearts and minds to keep worry out.
The Minnesota storyteller Kevin Kling was born with a birth defect—his left arm was disabled and much shorter than his right. Then, in his early 40s, a motorcycle accident nearly killed him and paralyzed his healthy right arm. While he was in the hospital recovering from the accident, Kling learned a life-changing lesson about "the three phases of prayer."
In the first phase of prayer, we pray to get things from God. In the second phase, we pray to get out of things. While he was in rehab for his accident, Kling learned the third phase of prayer—giving thanks to God.
Kling says: I'd been through many surgeries during my six-week stay in the hospital. And each day, I would ride the elevator to the ground floor and try and take a walk. That was my job. 9/11 had happened the week before. And as our country was entering trauma, I was living one. After my walk, my wife Mary and I went into the gift shop, and she asked if I wanted an apple. She said they looked really good. Now, I hadn't tasted food in over a month … I lost a lot of weight because food had no appeal. So I said no, but she persisted. Come on. Try it. So finally, I said all right. And I took a bite. And for some reason, that was the day flavor returned, and that powerful sweetness rushed from that apple. Oh, it was incredible.
I started to cry, cry for the first time in years. The tears flowed and as the anesthesia and antibiotics flushed through my tears, it burned my eyes. And between the sweetness of that apple and the burning for my tears, it felt so good to be alive. I blurted out, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for this life." And that's when my prayers shifted, again, to giving thanks.
Conclusion
In November of 1994 the New York Times ran a movie review for The War, a 1970s film set in rural, dirt poor, Mississippi. Kevin Costner play the role of a Viet Nam vet with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who is back from the war and trying to adjust to life as a husband and father and breadwinner for his family.
It is a film that spends a good deal of time focusing on the conflict between his children and their friends with another group of children who are portrayed as town bullies.
In this scene, 11-year-old Stu and his father are at a crowded country fair and auction. They had gotten separated when his dad went to buy cotton candy to bring home to his wife and daughter. Stu is looking for his father in the crowd and comes across four raggedly dressed brothers who have it in for him. They taunt him and his father's desire to bid for a house at the auction. One of them says: "Hey punk! Don't you know you can't buy no houses with food stamps?"
Meanwhile, the dad is holding two large cones of cotton candy and is looking for his son. He sees one of the boys hold his son from behind while another head-butts him in the stomach. So he runs to his son. "Hey! That's enough!" The bullies run away, and he helps Stu up.
Stu has a bloody nose. "I hate those kids." His father prevents him from running after them. Stu’s father says, "I guess this is all my fault."
They slowly walk back to their car. Two of the kids are waiting for them. "Hey, trespasser. I know of a house your daddy can afford. Course, couple of robins living in it now." They laugh.
Stephen tells his son, "Get in the car." He walks toward the two kids. They step back apprehensively. He hands them each a cone of cotton candy. Stu looks on in amazement as his dad walks back to the car.
Stu angrily says, "I hope you know they're the kids that just beat me up!"
"I know who they are, son," his father answers.
"Then why'd you just give them Mom and Lidia's cotton candy?"
"'Cause it looked like they hadn't been given nothin' in a long time."
In closing, herein is our challenge: Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Romans 12:17-18
