WWUTT 026 Agree In the Lord (Philippians 4:1-3)

The Apostle Paul has said to the Philippians, as the Holy Spirit communicates to us even now, to be of the same mind, having the same love, and being in full accord with one another.

But because we are sinners, there are times that we are going to disagree. And when that happens, it's up to the whole church to see that everyone comes back into unity in the body, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text. My name is Pastor Gabe. A joy to be with you as we have been studying through Philippians together this week, starting in on chapter 4.

A lot of popular passages come out of Philippians chapter 4. One that I've used several times over the course of this study thus far is

Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice.

Just punctuating that theme of joy that we have all the way through this wonderful letter.

We also have a very popular verse. Verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Verse 7. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And also verse 8. 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.

Another popular verse quoted from Philippians chapter 4 is verse 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

We'll talk more about that one as we get closer to it. So join me this week as we dive into Philippians chapter 4.

It will probably take us a couple of weeks to get through this chapter. But hey, I'm loving every minute of it. Along the way as we are digesting the word of God and learning these things together.

Thank you so much for participating. And if you would consider a gift to this ministry, go to our website, www .utt

.com. You will see the give button on the top right hand corner of the page. I promise the money that you give does not go to me.

It actually goes to our church. If you feel so compelled to give something to me, you can buy a book.

That's what I would tell you to do. You can also find my books through the what website, www .utt

.com. Alright, before we get into Philippians chapter 4, only covering the first three verses today.

Why don't we come before the Lord in prayer. Our great God, such a wonderful thing it is to be able to open your word and read your mind.

Your thoughts know something about the heart of God by what we see written in these pages.

It's all scripture. It's all true, tried and true. There is no reason for us to doubt what it is that we read.

That it truly came from God communicating to his people so that we might know your will.

We might know your plan of redemption for us through your son Jesus Christ.

It is him that we worship. It is him that we want to exalt and glorify in all that we read and come to understand.

Fill us up with more of Christ. Help us to understand more clearly this theme of joy that we have been pulling out of this letter that the

Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church 2 ,000 years ago. Still relevant to us even now.

And filling us up with the joy of the Lord which is our strength. Guide us in these things according to your spirit.

And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Philippians chapter 4 verses 1, 2 and 3.

Same way we started off chapter 3. We just covered the first few verses there. So in chapter 4

Paul says, Therefore my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the

Lord my beloved. I entreat Jodea and I entreat Sintash 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 with the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

Alright, so we go back to verse 1 of chapter 4. And the first word that we see there is therefore. And anytime

I see the word therefore, no matter what I'm doing in my study, I always want to get a clear picture of what we just came from.

Because Paul is obviously speaking in light of the previous thought when he says therefore.

Alright, let's go back to verse 17. So we're just going to jump all the way back into the previous paragraph.

This is verse 17 of chapter 3. By the way, Paul says to the Philippians, Brothers join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk.

According to the example that you have in us. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears.

Walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly and they glory in their shame with mindset on 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 to subject all things to himself.

Therefore. My brothers. So do we get a picture of the therefore now?

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

So going back again into chapter 3, verse 17. Okay, Paul is encouraging the fellowship in Philippi to imitate those whose.

Hang on, let me structure my sentence properly here. To imitate those whose faith has been clearly displayed before them.

Paul and his missionary brethren. The pastors and the deacons or the elders and deacons that we saw addressed at the beginning of the letter.

They would also serve as examples in that church as to how one should behave as a steadfast

Christian. Okay. And so he is encouraging them to imitate those who walk according to the example that they have been given.

Why is that so important? Because there are many out there who are false teachers. We started chapter 3 talking about them.

And there are also those who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction.

Their God is their belly and they glory in their shame with mindset on earthly things. So Paul means to encourage the

Philippians to not let that happen to them. Remember, as he encourages them, our citizenship is in heaven.

And from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body.

So we're going to struggle in this flesh for a time. But it is it is only for a time.

Christ Jesus is going to complete the work that he started in us. Paul started the letter talking about that.

Philippians 1 6. I am confident that he who began this good work and you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ.

So he's bringing these things to light again. The work that was started in you.

God will transform your lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

Therefore. All right. Because of the example that you have in solid brothers in Christ.

Realizing that you need to keep yourself from the dogs and the mutilators of the flesh and those who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

Because, you know, that the Lord Jesus Christ will transform this lowly body in the earthly things that you are experiencing right now.

It's only for a time. It will pass. He will transform your lowly body subject to decay and pain and, you know, aches.

All the things that come with living in this flesh temptations. God will transform that body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, you are my joy and my crown.

Paul expressing again something he really doesn't have to express again, but he just wants to because he loves

Philippians that much. My brothers, whom I love and I long for, you are my joy and my crown.

I am laboring for you. And I am telling you, because this love that I have for you,

I'm saying to you, stand firm thus in the Lord. My beloved, stand firm.

He can't say this too many times. Going back to chapter three, verse one. Rejoice in the

Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and it is safe for you.

And so he is saying some of the same things again to encourage them to stand firm in the

Lord. My beloved. Okay. And then after saying that, after talking about those who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ, follow the example that you have been given.

Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, who will deliver us from sin and death.

With all of these things in mind, he says, out of love, which he just expressed in verse one of chapter four, he says,

I entreat Yodia and I entreat Sintesh to agree in the Lord. Now, these are two women that we are told labored with Paul side by side for the gospel.

There is a disagreement between the two of them, and we don't know what it is. We don't know what

Yodia and Sintesh can't agree on. But apparently it's significant enough that when

Epaphroditus came and visited Paul while he was under house arrest in Rome, of course, that's where he's writing this letter from.

Okay. So when Epaphroditus came and visited Paul, he told Paul about it. So Paul knows that these two women who have labored with him for the gospel are in disagreement with one another.

And as Epaphroditus has come back to the church with this letter that he is sharing with the

Philippians, he stands in front of the Philippians. Maybe he's doing or maybe one of the elders are doing it, but they stand before the congregation and they read the letter that Paul has sent back.

Can you imagine Yodia and Sintesh sitting there and hearing their names called out by the apostle

Paul as this letter is being read aloud? That might have been an awkward situation for a lot of people in that church.

Imagine Yodia and Sintesh sitting there and they hear Paul say, I entreat Yodia and I entreat

Sintesh to agree in the Lord. And they're kind of shrinking down like, oh, my goodness, word of our disagreement has gotten all the way to the apostle

Paul in Rome. But who does Paul put it on to see to it that Yodia and Sintesh agree?

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 with the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

Now, there are a couple of ways that we could interpret. I ask you also, true companion, help these women.

There could be a person specifically that Paul is talking to. And that's a very likely case, in fact, because the the

Greek word that appears there, syzygos, means true yoke fellow.

So it's singular and it's talking about one person. So there's somebody in that congregation, apparently, who would know themselves as Paul's true companion.

So as Paul says, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together.

But OK, here's another possibility to understand that passage is that Paul is talking to the whole church and and talking to them as a singular group of one mind.

Right, because we've we've already seen that address previously in Philippians two to the apostle.

Paul says, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

So then he's telling Yodia and Sintas be of that one mind. Agree in the

Lord. And I ask you, true companion. OK, so the church singular who should be of one mind help these women.

So it could be that Paul is putting it on the whole church to see to it that these two women agree.

And that would not be with with beyond the bounds of speculation that Paul would be calling the whole church to to to see that unity is filling that church.

If two people are out of alignment, then there is not any true display of unity happening in that church.

So it would be the church's responsibility, not just the elders, not just the deacons, not just the true yoke fellow, but the whole church working together with Yodia and Sintas to see to it that they agree in the

Lord. 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.

And what a great comment that is. OK, so even though Yodia and Sintas are in a moment of disagreement and it is caused a disunity enough so that Paul has had to address it.

He does not discount them as believers. All right. He actually includes them along with Clement and the rest of his fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

It's as if he's saying, look, I know Yodian Sintas are saved. There's no doubt about that. But as we are to display the grace of Christ that has been poured out upon us.

So we need to show grace within the body. We need to show grace with one another. We're still in the flesh. We're still going to disagree.

In fact, Paul said to the Corinthians that there must be factions among you so that those who are genuine might be revealed.

There are people with different gifts and different callings in the body of Christ. And because we're different and it is necessary, folks, for us in the body of Christ to be different.

It is necessary for the members of the church to be different. Yes, we're supposed to be of the same mind and one accord.

But because we are different parts of the body, we work together so that we have a functioning body.

If everyone had the same spiritual gift and the same calling, that would actually be a dysfunctional body because not every part of the body can be afoot.

All right. Let's say that I'm borrowing this example from Mark Dever. I did not come up with this. But let's say that that you wanted to go to a church that was missions minded.

I have a passion for mission. So I'm going to go to a church that is all about missions. And so you're going to a church where you can find a bunch of other feet.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news that Paul talks about in Romans chapter 10.

So you want to go to a church where everybody's afoot. All right. I love I'm afoot.

I want to go to church with some other feet. You're going to end up in a very smelly church. It's a dysfunctional church because not everybody can be afoot in order for it to be a functioning body.

There must be hands. There must be arms, torsos, holding everything together. Eyes to see the needs of others.

Ears to listen to others concerns. A mouth to speak and prophesy the word of God. We have legs and feet that can take the message to others or can do the work for others.

You know, these these kinds of parts in the body are all necessary so that we have a functioning body. So there are going to be differences and those differences are necessary.

But as Paul says, the Corinthian to the Corinthians, there must be factions among you so that those who are genuine might be revealed.

It means that because we're different, there are at times going to be disagreement. But the grace of God is displayed in that we can still love one another despite those disagreements.

You know, on tertiary matters, we're going to disagree, but we still love one another despite those disagreements.

And then the genuineness of the love of God is displayed. So we have this situation here where Yodia and Sintash are still acknowledged as believers just because they disagree does not mean

I don't know about their faith. We might need to call this in question now. They're being compared with Clement and the rest of Paul's fellow workers whose names are written in the book of life.

But as we are supposed to display the grace of Christ within the body of Christ. So it is important that Yodia and Sintash agree that they come into agreement in the

Lord. The apostle Paul doesn't say agree to disagree. I really hate that term agree to disagree.

I think I've expressed that before. The reason why it's such a bad term is it is it leaves something unresolved.

It's like, you know what? I am still going to stick to my opinion because I think that I'm right. You stick to your opinion because you think that I'm right.

Although I really know that I'm right. So why don't we just agree to disagree instead of continuing to argue about this and set a bad example?

It actually leaves something completely unresolved to follow that term. Agree to disagree.

But what have we been told that we need to be? We need to be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, doing nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.

But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This is Philippians 2, 2 through 4. And Paul is saying this to Yodia and Sintesh in light of what he had previously said in the letter and including them with those whose names are written in the book of life.

The Lamb's Book of Life. That's what we're talking about. The registry in heaven that has the names of every believer written in it from the foundation of the world, as it says in Revelation 13, 8.

Yeah, that's the book we're talking about. Paul saying Yodia and Sintesh, they're Christians.

Clement, the rest of my fellow workers, myself, our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We know that we are secure for eternity.

And in light of this, in light of the grace that we have received from Christ Jesus, display unity in this body.

Display grace between one another. I entreat Yodia and Sintesh to agree.

And may we learn something from this account as to how we should behave in the body of Christ as well.

Our Lord Christ, we thank you for this word and we thank you for this conviction and whatever it was, this disagreement between Yodia and Sintesh.

I pray that we can learn from this, from these two women who had a moment of quarrel that I'm sure that they repented of and displayed unity within the body again, which the church helped them to do.

I pray that we can learn something from this experience and apply it to ourselves, to our home life.

The ways that we interact with our spouses or with our siblings or roommates or whatever our living situation might be.

Our co -workers, the ways that we interact, especially with others within the church. Help us to learn from these things and apply it, displaying the peace that surpasses all understanding found in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. In whose name we pray, amen. In first century

Thessalonica, there were some individuals who decided they weren't going to work anymore and started living off the charity of the wealthy.

Sure come a long way since then though, right? When the Apostle Paul and his missionary brothers were there, they labored to earn their stay.

It would have been within their right to expect payment for their ministry, but Paul wanted to give the Thessalonian Christians an example to follow.

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, he wrote, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it.

But with toil and labor we worked night and day. He said, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the

Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and earn their own living. He went on to say, do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

Now Paul was not talking about people who were infirmed or physically incapable of working. He was talking about those who were able to work, but wouldn't.

Preying off the welfare of others and having plenty of time to meddle in other sins. By giving charity to those who don't need it, such undeserving persons are taken from those who truly do need it.

As we read in Proverbs 18 .9, whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

It is the command of God to work. So encourage one another in that very thing and do it for his glory when we understand the text.

Continuing this theme of correcting one another in love. Our question today has to do with that what video.

This is from Terrence in Missouri. He says, dear what? Thank you for your videos and your ministry.

I particularly appreciate your video on working to earn a living. If a person doesn't work, let him not eat.

Second Thessalonians 310. I shared it with a friend of mine and we disagreed on what

Paul was actually saying. My friend said that Paul was talking about the Lord's Supper. If a person doesn't work, he doesn't get to participate in the

Lord's table with the rest of the church. He argued that Paul wasn't going as far to say that person doesn't get to eat at all.

Is that true? Would you be able to unfold that a little bit more? Thank you for your email, Terrence. To give you a straight answer.

No, Paul is not talking exclusively about removing a person from the

Lord's table. But to fully understand this, I want to take you to a few different passages here. Let's first look at second

Thessalonians 3 in context. So starting in verse 6. Now we command you brothers in the name of our

Lord Jesus Christ that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it.

But with toil and labor, we worked night and day that we might not be a burden on any of you.

It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies.

Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and earn their own living.

So we're talking about a lifestyle pattern here. We're not just talking about volunteering in the church.

And if you don't volunteer in the church, you don't get to participate in the Lord's table. OK, this is not a limited thing.

We're talking about lifestyle Christian living. And Paul says, we gave you this instruction when we were with you.

If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. So what kind of church are we talking about here where a person would be excluded from even able even being able to eat bread because they were not doing their jobs?

Think of what the early church looked like by the picture that we have in Acts chapter two.

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

OK, this is Acts two. I've started in verse forty two. If you're following along with me here and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed.

Sorry, I turned my page early. All who all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising

God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved.

You get in the picture here. It's almost like the church existed as a village and served and cared for, cared for one another, feeding one another.

And Paul is saying to the Thessalonians, if a person doesn't work, you got to you got to work to earn your living.

There were people in Thessalonica who were praying off of the wealth of the generous, which was mentioned there in that in that particular video.

So they were not working. They were taking advantage of the fact that, hey, everybody in the church is supposed to care for one another.

Right. Somebody is going to feed me and I don't even have to work to earn it. Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, no. We gave you the instruction that we were when we were with you.

If someone is not willing to work, he doesn't get to eat. In fact, we see this instruction given also to the

Corinthians. First Corinthians five eleven, I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother.

If he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one.

Now, the instruction that's given to the Thessalonians is a little bit different context because they didn't have you know, we're led to understand that they did not have a problem with sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, drunkenness and swindling one another.

What they did have a problem with, though, was people who were not willing to do their work. You have to work to earn a living in the secular society.

It's no different in living as a Christian. You still have to work to earn your keep. Work is not part of the curse, folks.

Work is something that was designated for Adam to do even before he sinned. It says in Scripture in Genesis one and two, you can read

God created Adam and put him in the garden to work it. That was before there was ever any any curse of sin.

We have been called to work. It is a blessing of God to work. And so a person who doesn't work doesn't get to reap the benefits of what a person gets from their work.

They don't get to eat until they learn to do their work quietly. A person who doesn't work has too much time on their hands.

They become busy bodies. That is the result. We see that right there in Thessalonica. Thank you again,

Terrence, for your question. Let's close in prayer quickly. God, thank you for this instruction today. I pray that we heed it with joy.

In your name, amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

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.com. Thank you for listening. Tomorrow we'll continue Philippians, rejoicing together in God's truth when we understand the text.