Philippians 4:1-3

So let's go ahead, open your copy of God's Word.

We're back in Philippians today, Philippians chapter 4.

This is week 24 of our study in the book of Philippians

and I have to be honest with you, I feel like we're flying through it at warp speed.

I feel like we're moving through but I'm sure some of you are thinking, I'm glad we're at the last chapter, let's get

this thing rolling people.

But it's amazing when you see such a rich book because a lot of other

epistles when we preach through them there's a lot of different principles, there's these different

precepts and these different things that God's calling us to and so it kind of changes throughout but the book of

Philippians is extremely hyper -focused, isn't it?

It's funny because Paul starts writing a letter and he says, hey I'm telling you this and then he goes, I'm going to tell you the same thing

but in a different way.

And the next week I'm going to tell you the same thing in a different way and it just goes on through the book but it really helps to

focus and align our minds to where Paul is driving the thrust of this book.

So I hope you've been encouraged.

I have been edified and challenged as I've prepared and studied for these Sundays and

we only have a handful more weeks left in it.

But let's go ahead, I'm going to read our passage here, Philippians chapter 4 starting in verse 1.

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 Iodia 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.

This is the reading of God's word.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer one more time as we talk through this.

Lord we thank you for this time.

God I pray that as we open your word, as we talk through this I pray that you

guard me from error for I am just a man.

I pray that my opinions and my perspectives would pale in

comparison to your truth.

So God I pray that you guard the ears of the hearers here if I am in error.

God I pray that you would reveal your truth to us for if we

are in Christ this morning we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and we now have the power to understand your truths and your

word.

Help us to understand it.

Give me clarity of thought as I speak.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

If you've been with us over the past 24 weeks of this study you're going to recall, at least if you've been

here for part of it, you're going to be able to acknowledge that the Apostle Paul in this letter has been

calling these believers at Philippi and us the readers today to an

extraordinarily zealous, all -consuming

way of life and thinking.

It's been amazing what Paul is calling the believers to and saying this is the Christian life.

It's been a bit overwhelming as we've gone through that study.

It's extreme in the way we think and the way we perceive things.

It's such a way that it's totally antithetical to the way the world thinks and the

way the world perceives things.

It's completely opposite.

If you think about it as we've gone through this, the world tells you that you're a

victim, doesn't it?

World tells you you're a victim.

You're a victim of your raising.

You're a victim of your childhood.

If you're violent then your daddy spanked you and so you're a victim.

You're a victim of something.

You're a victim of your boss not giving you the promotion.

You're a victim of your teacher not giving you the right grade because they may not

like your personality.

That's the way everyone thinks within our culture and within our world is victimhood.

But yet we have the Apostle Paul in this letter while sitting in

prison and falsely accused of wrongdoing

saying, now this has turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

He's not claiming victimhood.

The reason he's able to say that is because he knows the God that he worships.

He knows the God that he serves and he knows that he can't possibly be the victim of anything or anyone

and the reason is because he serves a God that is sovereign over every little move and every

action in this world and everything that anyone might do isn't done and cannot be done

apart from God's ordaining purposes.

And so when Paul is falsely imprisoned and chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day writing this

letter, he's able to say, I'm not a victim.

God did this to me and he did it for a reason and he did it for a purpose.

That's very different than the world's way of thinking, isn't it?

The world's also going to tell you to look out after number one.

Look out for number one.

We like to talk about how we want to help everyone else, but get to the root of it.

Everyone's always like, eh, but you got to help yourself before you can help anyone else.

Look out for number one.

Look out for yourself.

You have to look out for what is yours.

But Paul, in this letter, what does he say?

Look out for the interest of others.

It's very different.

It's a very different way of thinking.

Then also the world tells you to be individualistic,

that you're an individual and that you have a truth in and of yourself.

That's the way the world thinks.

You have your truth.

You've got your truth.

I've got my truth.

Who am I to say your truth isn't good and who are you to say my truth isn't good?

That's the way the world thinks.

But yet the Apostle Paul, again, in this letter, is calling believers to be of

one mind, of one mind, and that is the mind of Christ, isn't it?

As a matter of fact, this is a large thrust of this

entire letter, is one -mindedness.

As a matter of fact, I want you to see it.

I know if you've been here, we've talked through it, but I want you to see it briefly.

As a matter of fact, turn in your Bibles back to chapter 1 there in Philippians.

Back to chapter 1, verse 27.

Do you see this driving theme that Paul is

pushing towards throughout this entire letter?

Be reminded of it.

Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, Paul says, "...only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so

that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are

standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving

side by side for the faith of the gospel.".

There's chapter 1.

Flip over a few verses, chapter 2, verse 2.

Chapter 2, verse 2, Paul says, "...complete my joy.".

How are we to complete Paul's joy, the one that has learned to be content in all circumstances?

Well, to complete his joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, and in being full

accordant of one mind.

It's like a broken record, isn't it?

It just keeps going.

Now, flip over to chapter 3, verse 15.

I know I got you flipping around a lot today, but at least we're in the same book right now.

Philippians 3, verse 15, Paul says, "...let those of us who are mature think

this way.".

This is the one -mindedness that the Apostle Paul has been driving to in every

single section of this letter that he is writing to the church at Philippi.

And now we see this exact same theme in our passage here in chapter 4.

As a matter of fact, it's the same word that Paul uses in all of these

instances.

And if you were here near the beginning in chapter 1, you'll recall that I brought forward this Greek word,

phronio.

Phronio.

And again, just like anything else, the English language is limited in its ability to really comprehend the

gravity of this word.

But this Greek word that Paul uses in all three of those verses we just read, and our verse today,

this word encompasses both the visceral truth

of acknowledging the heart matter, it's deep within your heart, within your gut, within your very

essence of being, but then also the cognitive, the mind.

Some of you that were here, you'll remember that, this word, phronio.

And this is the word that Paul uses now that he gets into chapter 4.

He uses this exact same phrase driving their attention.

But instead of it being within the context, like the other three verses, of this

theoretical admonition, let's face it, you're told to

do something.

It's a little theoretical, it's a little vague out there, isn't it?

But instead of it being like those other three verses, now as we get into chapter 4, he puts hands and feet on it.

It becomes real.

He turns it into a very practical and very personal admonition.

Very personal.

As a matter of fact, we begin to see the possible reason at the Church of Philippi that

he wrote this letter in the first place.

Why he's writing these people and driving them to have one mind, this phronio,

this one mind together.

Because there in verse 2, there in our passage in chapter 4, I entreat Iodia and I entreat Syntyche

to agree in the Lord.

There's that word.

It's the same thing.

And at a surface level reading, if you've read through the book of Philippians in one setting as you've gone through,

these two verses do seem a bit disjointed from the rest of the letter, don't they?

It's almost as if the Apostle Paul is writing these admonitions and calling for them to be

of one mind and blah blah blah.

He's going through and it's very cut and dry and now, boom, two verses of something

very personal and very practical.

And then after those couple verses, he goes right back into the same flow of thought.

So it seems disjointed, but I would argue that it is not.

That's the way it feels like to us because we don't know who these two women are.

Iodia and Syntyche.

We don't even know if we're pronouncing their names right.

Nobody does.

We can only make our best guess because we know nothing about these women.

This is the first we've been introduced to them and it's the last we see of them.

We don't even know the circumstance of conflict that these two women are in.

We just know that he's introduced them to us.

But I would say that the readers at Philippi, now they were trekking with the Apostle Paul's

thought process here because they knew what was happening.

They knew, obviously, about this conflict.

Now, as I read through it, I've often thought, just as some of you might

have, well, Paul, why didn't you just give us the instance?

Why don't you just tell us what the conflict was?

Wouldn't that be easier?

If you just tell us what the conflict was, well, now we know.

Now we know not to have that conflict and everybody's happy.

Well, the church at Philippi knew what the conflict was.

Why can't we know what the conflict was?

Well, I think that Paul left it out for a reason, wouldn't you say?

He leaves it out.

It's okay that we don't know what the specific context of this argument and this disagreement

between these two women that are not being of one mind and are not being fronio.

We can assume some things though.

It's left out for a reason and I want us to see three things about this conflict.

Three things about this conflict in these couple of verses.

And the first one, and I pray that these will be helpful to you, both as the church and as

individuals as we most certainly will encounter conflict.

If you're not in conflict with someone right now, you will be going into it or you've just come out of it.

That's the nature of our sinful flesh, right?

But I hope these will be helpful.

The three things that I want us to see is number one, what this conflict was not.

The second thing is what this conflict was.

And our third thing is how to combat this conflict.

So the first one is what this conflict was not.

Paul, though he does not tell us, at least us, the modern

day reader, precisely what the conflict was, we can surmise

from other parts of scripture what this conflict would not have been.

Are you following my train of thought here?

Even though we don't know what it is, we can surmise from other aspects of scripture what it is not.

And I think it's important that we identify this negative assertion.

And the reason is because of our modern day sensitivities to confrontation and

conflict.

Let's be honest, we avoid conflict and confrontation at all costs, don't we?

It's funny because our world is in total conflict, but us as individuals, we want to avoid it.

So I think it's necessary that we see what Paul is not saying because we see

today's, really, our culture's existential

individualistic mindset has permeated the church.

And as a result, while us having good motives and trying to be

peacemakers, we have capitulated in this area, in areas that we should not.

Because I would say that conflict and confrontation are an absolutely necessary

thing done properly.

We'll talk about that in a moment.

And that's why we have to address this.

For those of you that were here last week, Easter Sunday, I spent a moment just briefly talking about

first, second, third tier doctrinal issues.

Some of you are going to recall that we used the dartboard analogy.

We have the outer circle.

These are third tier doctrinal issues, things of conviction, things that are not super

clear in scripture.

And so we want to be able to have unity there, but it's a matter of conviction.

We get close to the bullseye.

We get into that second tier doctrinal issue.

This is a matter of conviction and interpretation.

So we can sell a fellowship within there, but then as we get into that first

bullseye area of that dartboard, it's a non -negotiable, right?

Now bear with me.

This gets us to where I want us to go, because we have subpoints within our points.

We get a little complicated here.

But what this conflict was not, and the first thing this conflict was not,

was it was not a matter of first importance doctrinally.

It was not a matter of that bullseye, first level doctrine.

And we know this because Paul calls them brothers in verse 1.

Remember, we talked about that a few weeks ago about Paul using this phrase

when he says brothers.

He's referring to the sisters also.

He's only referring to professing saints, people that are in Christ, people that are a part of the church.

And he lumps these two women into this category when he calls them brothers.

But then he also, he doubles down on it and he affirms at the end of verse 3 that

their name is in the book of life.

So these are sisters in Christ.

And if we compare that with what the Apostle Paul said over in Galatians 1, then

we know he must not be talking about first level gospel

distorting doctrine or conflict.

The reason is because what did Paul say over in Galatians 1?

He said, if anyone comes to you with any other gospel, they are to be an anathema,

they are to be accursed.

Right?

So if a person comes and distorts the gospel, goes after a first tier doctrinal issue,

something like maybe Jesus wasn't really deity.

He was a created being.

That's a first level issue.

That's a gospel issue.

And Paul is saying if somebody comes to you with that, they are to be accursed.

That anathema is, he's saying they are cursed to hell.

And a true believer, someone whose name is written in the book of life, like he's affirming about these two

women, cannot be an anathema.

They cannot be accursed.

Right?

So, with that being said, we can deduce that Paul is not talking

about a doctrinal issue of importance.

You know, I had a pastor friend of mine not too long ago while we were talking about unity within the

church.

He said, he said, Nathan, we just need to strive for

unity at all cost.

At all cost.

And you can tell as he said it, he felt very pious and very noble in how

he was approaching it.

Hey, we've got to have unity.

That's what Paul called us to, that's what Jesus called us to.

But this again is why I mentioned that the world's perspective has permeated the church.

Because this man thought that this was such a great concept that we should have unity, that we should have unity at all

cost until I started poking holes in his water balloon.

I said, at all cost?

What are you going to do when someone comes in and denies the deity of Christ and they want to teach a Sunday school class?

You going to have unity there?

Is that going to be okay with you?

What are you going to do when somebody denies the virgin birth?

What are you going to do in that?

What are you going to do when someone comes in and says, I want to be a member of your church?

But by the way, I live in an open adulterous relationship and I refuse to repent.

Well, this statement is absurd.

Unity at all cost?

Well, that's not what God has called us to.

He's called us to unity.

He's called us to one mind.

But that's where we get it distorted.

We begin to think of one mind within this paradigm of what we're accustomed to within our culture.

And our culture accepts everything because your truth is your truth.

So we have to identify what this conflict between these two women is not to help us as we move forward in

conflict.

So this conflict was not a first -tier doctrinal issue.

Second thing is, it was not a matter of unrepentant sin.

This conflict between these two women is not a matter of unrepentant sin.

Now, is this entire situation with these women tainted in sin?

Of course it is because they're sinful beings just like all of us.

They're affected by sin and we would have no conflict if sin wasn't present whatsoever.

But this does not negate the fact that these women are not in.

There's a difference between Christians being guilty of and affected by sin

and a Christian or a professing believer being in unrepentant sin.

There's a big difference.

And I don't think these two women were in that.

I don't think this is what Paul's calling to.

And why is that?

Well, let's affirm it with Scripture some more.

Turn back to Matthew.

This is a very common passage.

Most of you are going to know it well.

Matthew chapter 18.

This is where we get the concept and the principles from Jesus' own words about

church discipline and unrepentant sin and a professing believer.

Matthew chapter 18, starting in verse 15.

Let's read this.

This is Jesus speaking, mind you.

If your brother sins against you, there's conflict.

Go and tell him his fault.

That's the conflict.

Probably not different than what the two women are going through, but we start to see a distinction here.

It says, between you and him alone.

Well, there's step number one.

You've done the first step.

That's what Jesus says.

Go to him.

And then he says, if he listens to you, you have gained a brother.

Conflict resolved.

Easy.

Everybody's good.

Everybody's happy.

The conflict has been resolved.

And then Jesus goes on.

He says, but if he does not listen, take one or two

others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three

witnesses.

Step two.

Remember, this is Jesus saying this.

Thou shalt not judge, Jesus.

He's saying, bring a couple people with you.

This is step two.

This is important.

If there's conflict, if there is a fault between you and a brother, then it has to be resolved.

And you have to go through great steps to resolve it.

Go alone.

Go together then.

And then let's keep reading.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

Step three.

Tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as

a Gentile and a tax collector.

I know when I say that, that kind of falls on deaf ears a lot of times.

Okay, I'm a Gentile and, you know, my neighbor's a tax collector.

What's Jesus talking about here?

But within the context of the readers and the listeners as Jesus is speaking here, you have to understand what Jesus is

saying.

Jesus is saying that a Gentile is an unbeliever.

Remember, at this moment, this idea of the Jewish people were God's chosen people.

People that were outside of that were unclean.

And Jesus is speaking to them in their understanding.

He's speaking about a lost person, a tax collector, someone that is of very

little moral character, hence a lost person, someone lost in their sins.

Now, this does not mean, Jesus is not saying that we shun them.

Jesus is not saying that we hold a funeral for them and they have

died to us.

That's not what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is saying treat them as a lost person whom, by the way, Jesus calls us to love.

But the key is we have no fellowship with them.

We have no fellowship with this person if they are an unrepentant sin.

Well, Paul carries this thought.

As a matter of fact, you don't have to turn there, but you can jot these passages down.

Paul carries this thought in his letter to one of his protégés, Titus.

A young man, he writes to him and in chapter three verse nine he says, but avoid foolish

controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about

the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and warning him

twice, have nothing more to do with him.

Knowing that such a

person is an unbeliever.

Because a believer cannot be condemned, right?

They've proven themselves to be outside of the faith and we are to treat them as such.

Paul says it over in 1 Corinthians 5 11, he says, but now 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.

This is, this is Jesus and Paul affirming this truth that these are

unbelievers and we're to treat them as such if they are in unrepentant sin.

Hence, is this what Paul is doing with Euodia and Syntyche?

No.

Paul's not, Paul's not approaching this conflict in the way that Jesus has prescribed, in the way that Paul

himself has affirmed needs to be approached.

He's treating them as sisters.

He's affirming their standing in Christ, so we must assume that this is not unrepentant sin on their part.

So now we've seen what this conflict was not.

The second thing I want us to see is what this conflict was.

And so as we've gone through this practice of elimination, we should have a

better understanding of what this conflict was between these two women.

And while there's no way of knowing, obviously, the precise conflict, we can assume the heart of

the conflict, knowing that it is not unrepentant sin, knowing that it is not a first -tier doctrinal

issue that needs to be addressed.

This was a difference of opinion.

No matter what the conflict was, it was a difference of opinion.

One that hindered gospel growth.

One that hindered gospel fellowship.

One that hindered gospel ministry within the church there at Philippi.

It was obviously enough for the Apostle Paul to address it.

These women's personal convictions, their pride, and their lack of fronio,

one -mindedness, is causing devastating effects to this church.

It's causing devastating effects to this kingdom work that God has called

the church at Philippi to.

And so this conflict is wreaking havoc, obviously, even though it's not any of

those things that we've already affirmed.

But that's what conflict does.

Otherwise, Paul wouldn't have addressed it to the entire church.

I mean, think about that for a second.

We think of these letters, maybe they went to the elders, and the elders read the letter to each other in a closed room and then

dealt with what they needed to deal with.

It's not the way it worked.

These elders stood up, opened the letter in front of the entire congregation, and read.

Can you imagine being out there in the audience, and now, and I entreat Syntyche, and I entreat Iodia.

They just called me by name.

He just called out my sin in front of the entire congregation.

That doesn't seem loving in our perspective, in our culture, does it?

But I would argue it's the most loving and compassionate thing that the Apostle Paul could have done, and those elders there at the church at Philippi,

because of just how important it is to address conflict, and two

members, two women within the church, not having from one mind.

It's important.

It's of utmost importance.

We must deal with it.

As Paul brings this to the forefront, I can't help but think that he is being reminded of the devastating

effects of unresolved conflict within his own life.

Some of you are probably familiar back in Acts chapter 15, old Barnabas.

Paul and Barnabas were tight.

They went on mission together.

They served hand -in -hand with great freneo, great one -mindedness, great

unity moving forward, and now they run into a conflict.

Paul and Barnabas, it says, had a sharp disagreement.

So sharp that they had to go separate ways.

Even the Apostle Paul is not above it.

Now again, I need us to be mindful of the fact that this situation between

Paul and Barnabas is not a situation of unrepentant sin.

We need to make that distinction.

This is not a situation of that.

This was a sharp disagreement between brothers.

There is a vast difference.

I've seen circumstances where people say, well, those two brothers or those two sisters, they just have a disagreement, just like Paul and

Barnabas, just like Paul and Barnabas, and they shrug it off.

But in reality, it was one brother or one sister calling that other one to repentance, to

repent in turn from open, unrepentant sin.

That's different.

That's not what was happening with Paul and Barnabas.

But I can't help but think that Paul was probably feeling the weight of this sharp disagreement

with Barnabas.

If it would have been sin, obviously they would have carried out that Matthew 18 that Jesus laid out, but

it still had the effects of conflict, this human conflict and sinfulness,

bearing on the weight of the church.

So, God undoubtedly used that situation in Paul's life.

Praise God He uses these situations, doesn't He, for His glory.

And He did in Paul's life because now, I think Paul understands as he writes this letter to the church of Philippi, just

how important that phreno is, that one -mindedness.

Just how important this is.

He understands it because he's seen it.

So we've seen what the conflict was not.

We've seen what the conflict was.

Now, third and lastly, I want us to see how to combat this conflict.

How do we combat this conflict?

Well, the first one is with love.

Just like Paul said over in 1 Corinthians, without love I'm like a clanging cymbal.

You're not even going to be able to hear what I have to say because it's without love.

So we must combat conflict with love.

Look there at our passage, Philippians 4, verse 1.

He says,

That's love.

He's getting ready to lead into calling these women out by name.

But He affirms this great passion and compassion that He has for these women and the people there

at the church.

And He longs for them.

He calls them His joy and His crown.

You know, we think of confrontation and conflict exclusively in the negative.

We think it's always negative.

It's always bad.

But it's not always bad.

Because within the context of brotherly love, brotherly affection, it can be the most

compassionate thing you could possibly do for a brother or sister.

Is confront them and to deal with conflict head on.

Not just set it aside and let it stir.

Not just let it affect the entire church because you're trying to be too loving and compassionate.

No, the most compassionate thing you can do is affirm your love for them by confronting and dealing head

on with the conflict.

So we have to deal with it with love.

Second way we deal with it is without partiality.

Without partiality, look at verse 2.

He says, I entreat Iodia and...

It's interesting the language he uses here.

He could have just said, and Syntyche, but he doesn't.

And when you go back to the original language and you see why Paul might have written this this way, it's

repetitive.

He says, I entreat Iodia and I entreat Syntyche.

He identifies them as individuals.

He's calling them out evenly, equally.

Identifying them both at a personal level.

Paul treats these sisters with equality.

He's not pitting one against another.

Paul's not coming in and saying, hey, Syntyche, Iodia is right in this little

matter of conviction.

You need to align yourself with her.

That's not what he's saying.

He's not picking sides on this non -essential.

Because remember, we've already affirmed it's not an essential.

So it must be a non -essential.

It must be a matter of conviction on their part, and he's not picking sides.

He's not being partial.

There's no partiality.

He's meeting them in love and compassion and meeting both of them where

they're at.

That's a good example for us as we deal with conflict, isn't it?

So not only in love and without partiality, we combat this conflict with pastoral

oversight.

Look at verse 3.

He says, yes, I ask you also true companion.

Now, this true companion, we're not sure who this is, but most theologians believe that the way

he phrased this, he's speaking to possibly one of the pastors there, one of the elders, an overseer

maybe that has a relationship with both of these women in some way.

But he's calling for a pastor, and he says to this pastor, this overseer, this leader within the church,

help these women.

Help them.

You know, I see a lot of churches and pastors that are detached.

You know, they get up and they say, well, hey, I'm going to give you the word, and that's my job, and that's what I'm going to do.

Now take that word and do it as you will.

See you later.

I'm going to go study.

And there's a place for that.

There's a place for study.

I think my primary job is study and prayer and preparation for today.

But a pastor, a shepherd, an overseer, he's going to get down into the dirt.

He's going to come help these women.

That's what Paul's calling him to do.

That's what a pastor is going to do.

That's what an overseer is called to do.

We must give them practical ways to resolve conflict, practical

ways that are in line with God's word.

And if we are studying and we know God's word, then we know what's in line with God's word, and

we're able to help.

You must have pastoral oversight.

But this also means that these women have a pastor, which means

they're officially a part of a church.

They're officially a part of this church at Philippi.

Now we can have the discussion and argument about, did the early church have membership, or what did it look like?

We don't know the ins and outs and details, but we know from a practical perspective that they identified themselves with that church,

and that was their church, and they had oversight, pastoral and elder oversight,

over their lives to help them in these situations.

Which leads us to our fourth and final way that we can combat conflict, and that's

through biblically sound community.

Biblically sound community.

Look there at verse 3 again.

He says, Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who

have labored side by side with me.

That's Paul talking.

These women have obviously served with the apostle Paul.

Probably when he went and helped establish the church right there at the beginning.

These women were probably with him working side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement.

Now we're introduced to a third person we don't know anything about.

But apparently they had some understanding in the church as to who this person is.

They've probably known quite well.

Probably served with these women, but together with Clement and the rest

of my fellow workers.

This is community.

This is a church.

This is a biblically sound place for them to be in to

help them combat conflict.

And I would argue that if you are not placing yourself under the authority of God's

ordained church within the context of the local church, who's going to help

you combat conflict?

Because it's coming.

It's going to be in your life.

I can guarantee you that.

Sin is going to bring you into conflict with a brother or sister in Christ.

And Paul is saying and affirming that there needs to be pastoral oversight and there needs to be community to come

alongside you.

Because sin is a powerful thing and it's going to drive a wedge between us and our brothers and

sisters every single chance it gets.

And we must, we must combat it the way that Paul is calling for these people

in Philippi to address this conflict between these two saints, these two women in this

church.

And we need it.

So I leave you with this.

Are you currently in conflict with a brother or sister?

Someone that professes Christ, are you in conflict with them?

So I implore you, I beg of you, I plead with you that you evaluate that conflict.

Repent where you need to repent.

And restore where you need to restore.

Because it is a dangerous and terribly destructive thing in the

life of a believer.

It destroys kingdom work in your life.

It destroys your witness and your ability to minister and move forward with what God has called you to do.

Then also place yourself under God's prescribed means of the local church.

That way you can have help hand in hand to combat this.

But more importantly, I'm going to leave you with hope here.

Look to the cross.

Ultimately look to the cross.

That's the only resolution we have for conflict is because of the cross.

And because we've been set free in Christ.

Because of our Savior and who He is and what He has done to set us free.

He didn't seek out after His own interest, did He?

He sought after the interest of others.

And now He's called us, be like me.

Be of one mind.

Be for Neo.

Be under my mind.

The mind of Christ.

And look to your Savior.

And be reminded of what He did.

That's the only resolve that we have.

That's the only way we can avoid conflict.

That's the only way we can resolve conflict.

Look to your Savior and trust.

Trust in His providence to help you through that conflict.

Have one mind.

The mind of Christ.