Adult Bible Study

In that prayer, I noticed the other day, driving by the Knapp's house,

Bob and Jody, they have a for sale sign out there now. So I pray that that does sell quickly.

Those funds are needed to help Jody. So all right,

Gary. Well, good morning.

There is a handout in the back, so if you don't have that, maybe,

Peter, you could grab a couple of extra, whoever, and pass them out. Join me, if you will, please, in Philippians chapter 4, as we're getting close to finishing out this incredible epistle.

This morning, the basic theme of Philippians chapter 4, the first five verses, would be conflict management.

I'm assuming all of us have been involved in that at one point in another, whether growing up in a marriage, in interpersonal relationships, in the church.

In this one, of course, resolves around a conflict in the church at Philippi. So some of my introductory comments are not going to be on the handout, and if I see any of you reading ahead,

I'm going to just come and rip the sheet out of your hand. So don't get too far ahead of me, please. Obviously, if there is conflict within a church, it's always bigger than the two or three people that it involves.

It can get so big as to cause an actual splitting of the church. So conflicts are never, almost never, just about two individuals.

As an introductory thing, we can say that there is nothing new under the sun. I think that's even a biblical phrase from somewhere, right?

So if we go back, and you don't need to look at this, I'll just hit it for you. In Genesis chapter 4, the first 16 verses, we read about a couple of guys by the name of Canaan.

Was there a slight conflict there? There was a slight conflict. And as we read through, because of man's sinful nature, they're just all over the place.

We can get over to James chapter 4 in verse 1, a very familiar passage, and it is actually quite strong in its language.

And so this is what we read in James chapter 4 in verse 1. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?

Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder.

You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. Really? Murder?

Yeah. We can speak figuratively. We can get in a conflict with someone, and we just don't like that person.

We can get to the point, what's that four -letter word that starts with the letter H? And what did

Christ say? If you've hated someone, you have murdered them, essentially, because it's in your heart.

But do you think conflicts have gone to the point of murder? Only if you read the news.

We have it all around us. So conflict is a big deal. Think of all of our cultural implications this morning as we reflect back upon the news that we hear.

You've heard of the terms diversity and inclusion? I just get sick of hearing that stuff.

So I did a little research on diversity and inclusion. If you work for a company of any size, an international or even a national company, they're going to put you through diversity and inclusion training.

So I worked at SOC for 19 years, and over the past few years, along with all the other force programs, the indoctrination videos, there was diversity and inclusion.

So in the year 2020, just for the corporate world, not educational world, but just for the corporate world, we spent $8 billion in retraining people for diversity and inclusion.

And if we get to the educational part of it, the figures skyrocket from there, because essentially all colleges, junior colleges,

I believe a lot of high schools are requiring them the diversity in education. So not only do we have to pay for the training programs, but there's the lost time.

Because as I would sit in my office and look at these videos, it was typically two to three hours to go through.

So it's a lost time. And it's interesting, as I continue to read about this, that when they reviewed the three most popular approaches for diversity and inclusion training, how do you think those programs worked out?

They actually found in retrospective studies that as that was done, there were more problems rather than less.

Now, if I was still at the college, I would be tempted at one of these things to just say, can

I have the floor for just a second? Rather than all of us wasting two to three hours every year going through this protocol, here is my plan of attack.

And I would simply go ahead and read the following. Let me get the right here, 22.

Yeah, get to the right section. There we go. And I would say, you shall love the Lord your

God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And I would just say, go work on that.

Would that be effective? But I couldn't say that.

You couldn't do that in the corporate world. So we spend billions and hundreds of millions of lost man hours,

I'm sorry, people hours every year to do this training. And the answer is tucked away right there in chapter 22.

So individually, each of us individually, and as a church, we must correctly address conflict in a hostile, or excuse me, in a timely manner.

And by the way, have you heard of the terms microaggressions and intersectionality?

Pastor's nodding his head. See, he doesn't just study the word. He goofs around reading this stuff.

But anyhow, intersectionality and microaggressions. And the idea of this is basically this.

Any statement, and I wrote it down because I wanted to get it word perfect. Any statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group.

Who is that? That's everybody. So literally, folks, what our culture today is doing, it is encouraging people to look for offenses against them.

And then it brings these programs in to resolve the problem that culture has basically created.

It's a mess. Why? Because we're not biblically oriented. So what's a conflict?

It can be a dispute, a quarrel, a dissension, a clash, a discord, a strife, hostility, contention, feud, schism.

All those are synonyms for the mess. So the church at Philippi, we could probably rank it as a five -star church.

There have been some commentators that said, wait a minute, there's a lot more problems at Philippi than really we think.

But I would still rank it up there as a pretty doggone good church. And yet, two women are called out by name and recorded in biblical perpetuity.

Right? How would you like to have your life history written down in the

Bible? Not good. So what I want to do just this morning, and I apologize that we're live streaming because somebody's going to take what

I say over the next three minutes and get it wrong, and they're going to just start rumors about the church. So just hang on to your hat.

So I'd like to develop a scenario for you which will help us understand better what's taking place in the church at Philippi in chapter four.

So you all know we've been trying to get Pastor to retire, right? And he just won't.

So finally, he does. And I'll tell you where I did a little research. I know where he's going. I found this out.

So he's moving to Millinocket, Maine. Millinocket, Maine. Familiar with that?

Okay. See? I know what's going on here, folks. I'm brighter than I look. So he's moving to Millinocket, Maine, which is really close to Baxter State Park.

And Baxter State Park contains this mountain known as Mount Katata.

Okay, it pronounces differently. That is the end of the Appalachian Trail. So that's where he's moving to, with or without Chris.

We're not sure. But what's really ironic, and this you probably didn't know, there is a church in that town of five or six thousand known as Faith Baptist Church.

Whoa, yeah. So if he's not here next week, I'm sorry I gave him the wrong idea.

So he's going to be off to happy land. But anyhow, so he retires and moves up there. In the meantime, we have this conflict that is continuing to grow and simmer and just get bigger and bigger.

And this is between Kevin Hemmon and Dan McCann, two leaders in the church.

Now, I will tell you that their kids get along okay. Some of them have even gotten married.

But these guys just, they have this ongoing battle, and it's getting to be a big, big conflict.

So pastor hears about this while he's sitting up on the mountaintop with a mountaintop experience, and he decides to write a letter.

So he writes the letter, sends it to Ed Brill, chairman of the deacon, and Ed gets up here in the pulpit.

I have given him that letter, so he's going to come up and read it now. No, he's not. So he gets up in front of the church on a

Sunday morning, and he addresses this to Kevin and Dan and basically says, you guys got to get your act together.

Would that be a pretty serious warning? That's exactly essentially what happened at the

Church of Philippi. So let's move on. We're back in Philippians chapter one.

We're going to start with the first verse. Yes. Not that we're aware of.

No, there's yes. Thank you. Bill, that was all fictitious. What I'm going to say now, thank you,

Pastor, especially since we're live streaming. Okay, so we ready to move on now? Okay.

So we come to the first word in chapter four, verse one.

Therefore, what I want to do is I want to go back and speed read

Philippians chapter three verses 12 through 21.

Now, this is the section that Mike taught on last week, but to refresh your memory very quickly so we can look at that first word in chapter four, verse one.

Verse 12 of chapter three, not that I have already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Jesus Christ has made me his own.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.

Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if anything, if anything, and if in anything you think otherwise,

God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we obtained.

Brothers, verse 17, join me in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

For many of you whom I have often told you, and I tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, they glory in their shame with mindset and earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a

Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

That's a lot of stuff. Some really good theology that Mike explained to us last week.

Have you noticed frequently in scripture, especially when Paul is writing, when he dumps a whole bunch of good stuff on us, we get to this what word?

Therefore. So this would be an interesting study for you to do individually.

Just start going through the New Testament, especially the epistles. Every time you see a therefore, back up, see what it says.

It will be a great Bible study. So we come to the therefore of chapter 4, verse 1.

In light of this section that Paul has just written, this is what he says.

Therefore. He's essentially saying this is how we need to live between Calvary and the second coming.

We need to have Christ -likeness. That's what the therefore is there.

That's why it's there. All truth must be followed by a therefore.

Do you catch that? All truth must be followed by a therefore because all truth has implications for daily life.

So we come to the meat of this section, and this is Paul's eight -point plan for dealing with conflict.

This works in the church. This will work in any situation, essentially, that you come into, how you can use biblical points, a biblical plan.

This is masterful. It's wise. We could even say it's divine because it is.

So look at how Paul starts in chapter 4, verse 1. He uses seven terms in this verse to describe the folks at Philippi.

He starts with the word my, and again, in your handout, all the bold terms are the words that are found, at least in the

ESV. So my is a very personal, intimate term.

He's not doing you guys. He's referring to them as my.

He wants them to understand that there is a wonderful relationship. Then he refers to them with the word brothers.

Brothers literally means from the womb. That's pretty close.

That's pretty close. A little bit later, towards the end of verse 1, he uses the word beloved.

Back in Matthew 12, 18, God the

Father refers to his son as my beloved.

Do you catch the depth of that? The word beloved means a deep and abiding love.

So he's saying, hey, you're mine. You're my people. You're from the womb.

You're brothers. I have this deep and abiding beloved love for you.

He, of course, uses the word love. He uses the term long for.

You catch on this? It's almost like he's tripping over himself to let the folks at Philippi, because he's writing from a distance, and the letter was delivered by Epaphroditus.

He's almost tripping over himself telling these folks how much he loves them.

He longs for them. This is a strong desire with intense affection.

So just a rhetorical question for us. Are we lukewarm today in our love for each other?

Are we just putting up with some people? Are we accepting of some people?

Or do we have these terms that we can apply to everybody within this congregation and other

Christians that you know? And if not, do we need to do something? They will know us by our love.

This challenged me as I was reading. Whoa, I got to work on this. I got to work on this.

Five times he uses the word joy in the book, this epistle, and he uses it here in verse one.

And then he says, you are my joy. You are my crown.

Now, the word crown can be used two different ways. Number one, it can be used at the end of a race where a crown was put on the victorious individual.

It can also be used at a banquet celebrating a fruitful life. Most commentators say this is the application here.

So when Paul stands before Christ at the end of time and he receives the what?

The crown for a life well lived for his Savior? He's saying, you folks at Philippi, you are my crown.

That's some intense love. So the first thing is compassion. Then the charge is given.

Second point. Notice how we go ahead and tucked away in the middle of verse one, it says stand firm.

Stand firm. Stand firm is a military term. You've probably heard this before. He uses the same term in Ephesians when he's talking about the armor.

In battlefield engagement, Paul is, wait, are we engaged in a battle?

No, I'm not talking about between Dan and Kevin. No, no, let's forget that one.

We already know that's not true. This is the battle with the enemies of the cross, the enemies of the cross, which that's the world around us, right?

We are in a battle with them, so let's not be battling with each other. So we must hold our position.

That's an imperative. We've already learned several times Paul likes to use imperatives, which is essentially a command.

This is not optional for us. He is commanding us in the name of the Lord. You must be united.

You must be loving and encouraging one another because the real battle's out there that we have to be up against.

So Lawson says this. They must hold their position in the midst of a godless culture.

I think we're there, folks. They must not compromise over the gospel. They must not collapse under the pressure of persecution.

They must never retreat and yield the high ground of divine truth. That is an exceedingly important statement.

We've already, I think I've already established, we could essentially address all the problems of diversity and inclusion by getting people to read and think about two verses in the

New Testament. That's higher ground. We can't give that up. We must stand firm on that.

They must not go AWOL and flee from the battlefield. They must stand firm in what they have been taught.

You know, this whole idea of standing firm is a very dominant theme. It's in Philippians 1 .27,

1 Corinthians 15 .58, 1 Thessalonians 3 .8, 1 Peter 5 .12. Standing firm.

Why do these guys have to keep reminding us? Because we like to give up the ground sometimes, don't we?

We like to compromise. So compassion, charge, we stand firm.

What do we stand firm in? We stand firm in the Lord. Look at that in verse 1.

Stand firm thus in the Lord. That means thus or so in this way.

Standing firm again in the Lord. So there's a couple of questions that we can ask ourselves.

The how and the why. How do we stand firm? Well, we stand firm in the truth, and God provided resources.

Now, a while back when we were in chapter 2, verse 13, and if you want to go back and look there,

Philippians 2, verse 13, it says, It is

God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Do you remember that verse? So does God give us the desires and the abilities?

Yes. That's how we can stand firm. We can stand firm in that because we know he is giving us the resources.

Spiritual stability is an attitude and not circumstance related.

No matter how bad the circumstances get, we can't say, oh God, that was just too big of a battle.

No, no, no, no. If he's giving us the will and the way, can we handle anything?

Absolutely. Everything can be resolved by obeying proper theology.

Have you thought about that? And you say, well, what about if I'm going to buy a green

Chevy or a brown Chevy? No, no, no. First problem is you don't buy a Chevy. Sorry, Brails.

No, no. We're talking about matters pertaining to life and godliness.

Anything pertaining to life and godliness, God has promised that we have the resources. He gives us the will.

He gives us the way. And why do we do it that way? Well, Ephesians 3 .10

says that it is through the church that the manifold wisdom of God might be known.

Now, I know the context of that verse is especially in regard to angels, so God has worked through the church to provide the manifold wisdom of himself so that the angels can observe that.

But if the angels are observing that, do you think the world might be? So it's the same wisdom coming through the church.

We are the keepers of the truth, so we need to share it. So that's how we do it, both to will and to work.

And why do we do it? Because we've got the truth, folks. We need to constantly share it.

Third of the eight point is the conflict is addressed.

Paul understands that this is the heart of the matter. This is the trigger point. Now, all of you know what a trigger point is, right?

You can reach over and grab your whoever's sitting next to you. Just reach over and grab it, squeeze that real hard, and then stand back because they're going to probably whack you.

Great for headaches or, you know, up here in the show. Those are trigger points. Do trigger points get your attention?

Yeah. So when I was in practice, a lot of spots that I would work trigger points to begin to do a reflex action to calm nerves and muscles down.

So Paul addresses it. There's a lot of churches with ostrich syndromes where when a conflict arises, they bury their head.

I knew of a church, this is a long time ago, where there was a couple with children.

I'd say they were probably in their early 30s. The guy got really caught up in gambling, left his wife, went down to a different state, and he just walked away.

He was the son of a pastor. The board just wrestled with this for months.

They're saying, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? They didn't want to take action because they were afraid of stepping on some toes.

Wrong way to do it. Now, on the other hand, some churches go looking for problems.

The leadership, they're looking for problems that don't exist. But if there's a true problem, then the church needs to address it.

Chapter 4, verse 3 tells us that these gals, Euodia and Syntyche, they were well -known, and probably most likely heavily involved in ministry.

And I know of other churches that have said, we don't want to address a conflict because these folks that are having the conflict, they're doing this and this and this, and they might leave, and then we won't have anybody.

Wrong approach. Let's follow Paul's plan for this. So their breach between the two of them began to affect the unity of the entire church.

Most commentators that I've read said it was probably not a theological conflict, but probably relational, and it was unreconciled.

And I would say in the years that I've been walking on the face of this earth and being involved in different churches, most of the conflicts were not theological.

They were interpersonal. And these things are usually progressive. Keep a finger where you're at, and then go back with me to Ephesians chapter 431.

Ephesians 431. In Ephesians 431, we read this.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.

Now, there's a progression to that, and when conflicts begin, if they're not nipped in the bud early, they can progress.

So I looked up some of the terms on these as they're in order, and I think Paul gives them in Ephesians in order to show.

Bitterness is a smoldering resentment. It's just kind of sitting in here. Wrath is rage, the passion of the moment.

Anger is more internal, deep hostility. Do you see the smoke starts, and it gets worse and worse?

Clamor is the outcry of strife out of control. Then slander, where you're verbally attacking the person.

And then malice is just a general proliferation of evil. So things have gotten to the point that Paul needed to address them.

So here he goes. Fourth, go back to verse 2. This is Paul's plea,

Paul's plea. I entreat. Now, entreat, and so he entreats

Iodia, and I entreat Syntyche. So two times he uses this term to urge.

It is a strong pleading, a fervent imploring. Now, I would imagine that most of us have examples of something like this.

I know in our personal lives, Deb and myself, this was probably about 30 years ago, there was a

Bill Glass crusade, and we were involved in it to a degree.

So there was this gal that responded, a young single parent who responded, and they called and wondered if, because she was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, she wondered if Deb and I could help out.

So we said sure. This gal and her little son came and lived with us for several months.

They got involved in a church. We found her a job. Things were going along just wonderfully.

And then one day she said, so -and -so's coming by tomorrow. I'm going back to him.

We were in tears pleading with her, don't go, don't go.

And I still remember, fortunately, when the guy came, he didn't park his thing in the driveway.

He parked out on the road. But there she walked up with her son. It was just terrible.

Many of you have been in situations. That's what Paul is doing with these two ladies. He's imploring them.

So Moitra says this, Paul does not specify the problem or try to act as a mediator.

He does not sum up their rival claims. He does not say to one or to the other, you are wrong, you must apologize.

The plea I entreat is made to each contestant alike. No doubt each said

I am right, she is wrong. But to Paul, each was under the same obligation to make the first move.

So what does Paul urge them? He urges them to agree. Agree, in the

Greek, means to exercise the mind. Now, I like to exercise more than my dear wife.

I mean, she does it, but I really, I like to exercise. She says, you're nuts. And I will accept that, that's a legitimate claim, that I'm nuts.

But if you exercise, is it hard work? Tie that over to what it says.

Phronia means to exercise the mind, which means it takes effort and work.

Paul is literally saying, you guys have to work on this. Do you get the idea?

So to agree with people in the Lord, that can take real work or effort to achieve that.

They must adopt the same mind in the Lord, this is the sphere in which they are to find their harmony.

It's in the Lord. So I told Mike to pay attention and not fall asleep this morning, because I was going to do a math illustration.

And I was hoping for, but, you know, we're here instead of over there, otherwise I would have been on the whiteboard.

I don't think you want me on that whiteboard. So here we go. Follow me. If X equals five and Y equals five, does

X equal Y? See, I got an agreement from a math guy, so I feel really smart.

So if we agree to the, if Iodia and Syntyche both agree with the

Lord, then they're going to be agreeing with each other.

That's what Paul's saying. Conflict always has the presence of pride in the absence of humility.

Lawson says our conflicts are not spiritually neutral. They undermine the church.

They display a lack of submission to the Lord by at least one and usually two parties.

And in resolving conflicts, we are never to be passive, waiting for the other to apologize or change.

That's step number four. Let's move on to five. And we find this in verse three.

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.

Literally the beginning of verse three would read this. Yes, yes, indeed.

In other words, what Paul is saying very emphatically, this must be brought to pass.

This is not optional. You got to get Dan and Kevin to agree, which they do.

But this is really strong language, folks. And then he says,

I also ask true companion. Now, true companion, that's a little bit of a strange, and if you read the footnotes in your

Bible or if you've studied this before, you know that there's three major interpretations for this.

The one that I have found that seems to work the best from my vantage point and with the commentators who

I hold in the highest regard says this. That phrase, true companion, can be interpreted true companion.

It can also be interpreted loyal syzygous because that's what it is in the

Greek. So what does that mean? Syzygous means yoke fellow.

What does yoke fellow mean? Now, follow me here. Yoke fellow means close companion.

You know what a yoke is? It's not a Swedish joke. Okay, it's the yoke, and if you're a close companion, are you in the same yoke at the same time pulling the same direction?

So here's this true companion, probably a guy named

Syzygous. His name means yoke fellow.

So literally, this is what the idea is in verse 3.

You are a genuine syzygous in that you are a yoke fellow.

Do you catch that? So Paul most likely is addressing a gentleman by the name of Syzygous, and he says, be what your name is.

In other words, Syzygous, I want you to be a true yoke fellow, and help these two gals resolve the conflict.

Never met a guy by the name of Syzygous? I've met a lot of people that act that way.

They're true companions. They come along and step where a lot of people don't want to step, and they realize that for the sake of the unity of the body, they need to get involved.

I've been in leadership enough years that I know that this is probably one of the least favorite, let me put it this way, it's one of the most uncomfortable, difficult things that leadership needs to do.

I know some pastors, it just almost destroys them when they have to go in and resolve conflicts.

And then there are no pastors that avoid it, which is unfortunate. So here we have this true companion, be what your name is.

And then this word, I love this word in verse 3, help these women.

Do you see that word help or something, whatever your... It means to seize, to grasp, to apprehend.

It's way understated in your translation. That same word is used when they seized

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. I don't think when all those folks showed up, it was just, hey dude, you want to come with us?

They just grabbed him and off they went. It's also used in Acts 12 when one of the disciples was grabbed and taken off to jail.

That is a very strong term. So he's basically saying in verse 3,

Sisychus, I want you to grab these gals and let's get this thing resolved.

Very strong. So let's go to the next point.

Rejoice despite the conflict. We now come to verse 4. Was 3 a happy verse?

3 is not a happy verse. It's Sisychus, I'm basically commanding you, you get in and you work with these two gals who

I've implored to agree in the Lord. And then Paul in verse 4 starts out with rejoice in the

Lord. I think he had a little dementia there. And he forgot what he just wrote. But it's there for a reason, ladies and gentlemen.

In spite of the conflict, he uses the word rejoice.

Again, I will say rejoice. It's almost like it shouldn't be there.

And yet it's there for a reason. In its structure, it's the present imperative which means it is continual, habitual, there is no excuse.

Notice Paul doesn't tell them to be happy. Happy is circumstance related.

This is not a good circumstance. He's telling them to be joyful. So Lawson says this.

Circumstance may cause us to be saddened or less than joyful. After all, we should be grieved by what grieves the heart of the

Lord. Nevertheless, we can rejoice in who God is as well as in what he has done is doing will do on our behalf.

A high view of God produces overflowing joy. But a low view of God of him yields little joy.

So a low view of God that he is not sovereign, he's not providential, he's not omniscient, omnipotent, any of those things.

If he's not that, then who do we have to depend on? I'm not going to rejoice in that because there's a lot of circumstances way beyond my control.

That's why verse four is one of those sleeper verses. In spite of this conflict that is wreaking havoc at the

Church of Philippi, Paul says, hey folks, you can still rejoice. Now remember,

I'm not teaching this. Ed is reading this on a

Sunday morning from the church pulpit. That's a whole different perspective.

And he's not sitting there cutting the Greek apart and doing all this explanation.

He gets up, he reads it, and how would you like to have been in that congregation?

Think it was quiet? Guarantee, and nobody was sleeping. Okay. Then in the

Lord. So we can rejoice again, not under circumstances, we rejoice in the

Lord. And this was the common denominator for Euodia and Syntyche.

This needs to be the common denominator for all of us in any circumstance. I know some of you have had very sad circumstances through the course of the last year or five years.

And if we're not in the Lord rejoicing, it's easy to give up, right?

Easy to give up. So in the Lord, Tozer says this. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

The most portentous fact about any man is not what he at any given time may say or do, but what in his deep heart conceives

God to be like. The world is watching. How do we respond to difficult situations?

Continuing, verse five, let me read it. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone the

Lord is at hand. That word can be translated gentleness, sweet reasonableness, which

I love that phrase, humble graciousness, all meaning ready to forgive with no idea of retaliation.

Is, are a lot of people because of our culture wound for instant retaliation?

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Well, God said, let me deal with those situations, right?

So let your contentment be known to all in the church, out of the church.

This calls for patience. Ugh. This calls for patience to avoid a wrong response and a call to not dwell on the faults of others.

We need to be willing to accept less than we might think we are due compared to the world that says what?

You're entitled, you deserve. That's all we hear, commercials wherever we go.

In fact, the whole idea of diversity, inclusion, intersexuality, all of that stuff is saying entitlement and you deserve.

So the government is fomenting a whole idea of you deserve, you deserve.

And Paul and Christ are saying what? Be humble. Find your joy in the

Lord. And yet in the midst of that conflict between our biblical approach and the world's approach, we must never compromise the gospel.

So finally, as we're winding this down, the last point is this in verse five.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is near or at hand.

Now, I would love to go on to verse six, but I can't, so you can't. So don't read about this whole idea about don't be anxious about anything.

Tell your husband not to do that. He's reading about it. So I have to stop there because that's the end.

Here's the idea. The Lord is near to his people to give his joy to troubled hearts.

Conflicts must be taken seriously and confronted by those involved and those around.

When conflict occurs between believers, by definition, what they have in common in the

Lord is always greater than anything that is driving them apart. Our common faith in the

Lord is greater than any conflict that we're gonna experience on Earth. And those who will spend an eternity in joyful unity and peace ought to start living in it now.

Okay, since I printed this at a size 10 font and some of you are older than me,

I'll read it for you. Here we go. The last couple of paragraphs by Moyter. Relationships can become atrociously tangled, and Christian relationships are no exception.

Starting, however, where things are fairly simple, there is a situation where one believer has wronged another.

Maybe it was this for Euodia and Syntyche. Neither is to wait for the other. The one is not to say,

I am perfectly ready to accept an apology when it is made, nor the other, I am perfectly ready to make an apology when

I have a hint that it will be accepted. Each must make the first move. More difficult is the case where each believes the other to be in the wrong and where no amount of talking the thing through can make sense of it.

Yet even here, there is no need to allow a breakdown of Christian love and communication. Conditional apologies are in order.

I do not see where I have wronged you, but it is plain that I feel I have hurt you, so please forgive me. In all the realities of grace and power, forbearance and gentleness available in the

Lord can be brought to our aid. The place of prayer is open, and even though the past cannot be resolved, it need no longer be an open sore.

Worst of all are the cases where a breakdown in trust is involved. Perhaps one

Christian has betrayed a confidence and the other, the betrayed, has to say, how can I ever trust him again?

And sadly, the answer sometimes has to be that the old trust cannot be recovered, that from now on, all serious communication must be with a third party present to vouch, if necessary, for what was said, and that where there was once frankness, now there must be wariness.

It is sad when things are so, but fellowship is not foolishness, and we need to be as aware of each other's weaknesses as we are admiring of each other's strengths.

Nevertheless, in the Lord, we can find strength to eradicate bitterness of heart, and even though we cannot speak of the past again, never mind mend it, we can understand one another, express practical concern, and pray for each other.

Let's pray. Father, we indeed are so thankful that we can have an agreement in you.

We thank you for your indwelling and inworking Holy Spirit. We thank you for the truth of your word.

Help us as mere mortals, Lord, to depend more upon you. Help us to love one another unconditionally, seeking the unity of the body of the believers as we stand against a world that so desperately needs to see your righteousness and hear the truth of the gospel.