An Entreatment To Agree

Well, if you still have your Bible open to Philippians, you can stay there. If you have closed it, open back to the same passage. Philippians chapter 4, we'll be looking at verses 2 through 3. As I mentioned before, Pastor Kyle will be joining us for the next two weeks.

And then on top of that, we did just finish Isaiah 43. And so I've been thinking about what to do after that. I do want to return to Isaiah, but it seemed like a good time to do a particular sermon that I've had on my list of miscellaneous messages to give for some time.

I've wanted to address this particular passage. Ending God's providence today, it also happens to lie immediately after our scripture reading from just a moment ago. When you have that, go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word.

Philippians 4, verses 2 through 9. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We ask that you would grant your church the gospel unity of which this passage speak, and many passages speak.

We pray that you would accomplish your purposes within us. In Jesus' name, amen. It is a growing epidemic, people cutting each other out of their lives. If you look at the statistics, there is an increase in number of people who have estranged family members.

Statistic is something like either over a quarter or even well over a third of people have an estranged family member, someone who would be close otherwise, but has been completely cut off for reasons of disunity.

And this is true not only in natural families, but also in the body of Christ. May it never be, but it is, that in the body of Christ, many people cut each other off. There are all kinds of reasons that this seems to be an increasing thing.

For one, just the way that things have evolved has accommodated all sorts of cutting people out because there are so many people in the world today, and population is just something that has increased, increased, and the number of churches are such in the world today that it gives you a lot of options.

You can find other friends. You can find other churches. Imagine if you lived in a time where moving wasn't really an option. There really was only one church. You wouldn't have the ability to have the kind of conflicts that you allow just completely create massive rifts.

You would have to work things out. And then in other ways, social structures are worse, such that those factors in your life, other people in the same network who would encourage you to agree with one another are not there to promote that thing.

So in some ways, there are better social structures that permit disagreement. In other ways, there are worse social structures that permit more disagreement. And then on top of all this, things good and things bad both working towards the same end of increasing disunity, there is also the case that there is simply more and more worldly philosophy that encourages this kind of thing.

You see language like toxic behavior, terms like that are designed intentionally to label certain people as factors that you should just not have in your life at all. People talk about creating boundaries and boundaries can be a good thing.

But the notion of boundaries has been so formalized and clinicalized that basically it is a remedy. It's used as a remedy to cut people out of your life very often. Yet the body of Christ is supposed to have unity.

This is not a side aspect of the gospel. This is the gospel. Christ died to unite Jew and Gentile. But beyond uniting Jew and Gentile, he died to unite people together in himself. People have strength when they are bound together.

And what happened through the fall and then most in a great illustration with the Tower of Babel is a scattering of people no longer having the kind of unity that people were meant to have before sin entered the world.

But in the gospel there's supposed to be a unity that brings brothers and sisters together and indeed there is that unity. But we are called to walk in light of that truth given that it is indeed truth that Christ died to unify people in himself.

We have just read the previous context of this passage that talks about rejoicing in the Lord and the things that would inhibit that rejoicing. And now he particularly talks about the need for unity between these two sisters, Euodia and Syntyche.

These two sisters have some kind of conflict. It is not named, but they are at odds with one another and they need to agree with one another. They need to agree in the Lord. And he says, yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women.

Now there are many different conclusions on what this true companion is. Some say it is the one who carries this letter, that is Epaphroditus, that he is the one who is supposed to help them agree. But it's odd that the one carrying the letter would get a second person address when he's the one reading it to everyone.

Or the one bringing it to everyone. Also, it could be that Paul has someone in mind who will just so know that he's the one who he's talking about that he will recognize this as referring to him. It's also possible that Paul could be speaking of just a proverbial you.

You know, you who are a true fellow worker, please help these women. But it seems most likely, in my opinion, that he has someone particular in mind and even names him. If you notice the footnote, if you're using the ESV, it says, or loyal, Syzygus.

Yoke fellow, or companion here, very well may be a proper name. And so he says, true yoke fellow, meaning you are truly a co-laborer, please do this for the sake of laboring with us in the gospel. This is not the only time Paul makes a pun out of someone's name.

When he speaks to Philemon about his runaway slave, Onesimus, and Onesimus has converted to Christ, he returns Onesimus and tells him to set him free and says that Onesimus used to be useful, or used to be useless, but is now useful.

Onesimus' name meaning useful. So these kinds of puns around names are not things that are something that is entirely foreign to Paul. And it seems clear that he, maybe not clear, but it seems likely that he has someone in particular in mind.

Yet this is something that it is not a matter just for these three parties, for the one woman, for the other woman, and then for the one who is to help them. But this is something worth naming because it is something that everyone should care about.

They should all care about this. Why? Because they must agree in the Lord. And they are women who have labored side by side with Paul in the gospel, with others whose names are written in the book of life.

These are different phrases, in the Lord, laboring side by side in the gospel, names written in the book of life. The gospel motivates agreement that they must deal with their conflict, they must reconcile.

If these are people whose names are written in the book of life, then we should care about maintaining that unity. Now when it talks about whose name is being written in the book of life, it's most likely that it's the most recent mentioned noun here, my fellow workers.

So not necessarily the women that he has in mind, but the fact that these women have worked side by side with those whose names are in the book of life implies that their names are in the book of life.

And therefore, we will all be with one another one day in the presence of Christ. We will agree then. We should agree now. When he mentions Clement, Clement is a presumably notable figure. He is not mentioned elsewhere in scripture, but according to church tradition, he is Clement of Rome, who is the same one who wrote an epistle to the Corinthians.

If you look up the epistle of Clement, it was written to the Corinthians. It is likely, not certain, but it is likely that it is this Clement who wrote it. Not a book of scripture, yet something that does testify to the state of Corinth after Paul's two epistles, et cetera.

And if there are great names like that written here, Clement, et cetera, and Euodia and have worked together with Clement and they have worked together with Paul, how much more should they continue working together?

We must agree. We are obligated to agree in the Lord. It is a reality that people will struggle to agree. Conflict will enter your life. Conflict with brothers, with sisters will enter your life. It is interesting that in this example, it is two women.

It does seem that this is a more common problem among women to allow bitterness to grow in certain ways that prevent any kind of reconciliation. In 1 Timothy 5, verse 13, it says, besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

And so this is part of the reason why younger widows are not to just go on being widows, but rather to marry so that they are not idle and given to the particular sins that a young woman might be given to, to gossip, to slander, to cultivate bitterness.

Yet, of course, it is a problem with both sexes. Both sexes fight with one another, either between the sexes or among themselves. One other thing that I was looking at recently, this was a study done, I think it was back in 2016 or something like that, but they compared the length of time it takes athletes to go from having competed to giving some kind of signal of affiliation, that was the term used.

So this is like a competitor, you know, shaking hands or giving a pat on the back or something like that. And it was consistently the case, men and women would both do this, but in women's sports, the delay is longer consistently every time.

This is something that seems to be more difficult for women to work through disagreement, and that seems to be part of why the Holy Spirit would give this example of women. But, of course, this is a problem with both sexes.

We must agree, difficulties will arise, and they will rise among brother and sister. They will arise in ways that need to be addressed with the importance of the gospel, and this is a priority. This is a, this is not a side issue.

Okay, this is not a secondary thing. Matthew 5, 23 -24 tells us that if you're, if you are offering a gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. What is that saying? That's saying immediately deal with this problem. Do not wait. Do not delay. Immediately deal with the problem of division in between brother and sister.

It is not, it is not a secondary thing. Worship does not come first. There are all kinds of people who you will talk to about their disagreements with one another, and that they should work them through, they should work on reconciliation, and they will give you all other kinds of priorities, and maybe even piously appeal to God and what the Word says about the importance of other things, and in so stressing the importance of those other things, attempt to demote agreeing together in the Lord.

This comes before all the other things. It comes before worship. You can think of no higher duty of the Christian before the Lord other than to worship him, and God says, forget it. Leave that aside. Leave your gift at the altar and go.

Do that later. Be agreed with your brother. There are ministers of the gospel who will do the same thing, who will say something along the lines of, look, I don't have time to deal with this issue. I've got sheep I need to take care of, right?

And so they need to be equipped for their lives and the difficulties they're facing, et cetera. But what are they, what difficulties are they being equipped for? If not to agree with one another. This is such a primary thing to place other things up here is to miss the importance of agreeing.

If you think that it's important to be equipped for a Christian life and that's more important than agreeing, you don't know what the Christian life is. The Christian life is about unity. Now, who bears the initiative in this case?

Who must do something to reconcile when one has offended another? Well, that verse I just quoted to you from Matthew 5 says that the one offended needs to, one who did the offending needs to drop his gift immediately and go.

Later on in Matthew 18, it says, if your brother has sinned against you, what do you do? You go and you confront your brother. So there it's the one who's been offended. So neither has the, neither has the exclusive burden, both have the burden.

And then moreover, it is not just on those two parties. It is likewise on third parties. We have Syzygus, this true companion, and then we have Paul dealing with this. And then we have him naming it in front of the whole congregation.

Clearly the whole congregation is supposed to care about this. They are supposed to know that these women are not in agreement and want them to agree. He does not assume the problem. He does not assume the solution.

But he does recognize that there is a problem and he names the names so that it will be dealt with. Can you imagine that? If an apostle or Christ through an apostle sent a letter to us and we were to open it, what names would be listed?

And I implore these two to agree. We would all just hear those names listed. This is important stuff. It's not something that needs to be swept under the rug because these are noble women who have worked side by side with great names in the gospel.

And so we don't, we don't speak of that. No, it is precisely for that reason that it needs to be named and dealt with. We have an obligation to agree in the Lord. The phrase in the Lord is an interesting phrase because you see a number of times in Scripture, children are supposed to obey in the Lord.

If you're going to marry, you're supposed to marry in the Lord. Later on in this passage, we see that we're supposed to rejoice in the Lord. And we are also supposed to agree in the Lord. And if you ask yourself, what is it that unites all these together?

It's hard to say what exactly it is. But I think that the simplest thing is just for that which is fitting for Christians. How are you supposed to agree in the Lord? What does that mean? You agree in a way that is fitting for Christians.

On matters of the faith, there should be an agreement in the substance of the matter. In matters otherwise, there's supposed to just be a general harmony between brother and sister that they would be able to, to live at peace.

This is what God requires. This is something that is in the Lord. If you are in the Lord and someone else is in the Lord, you are both united to him. And therefore, you have an obligation to uphold that unity that you have in him.

Consider several of these phrases that are used here. Help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers. Okay, so they have labored in the gospel.

John 13 35 says that, says that by this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. What is it to work side by side for the gospel? It's to help the gospel go forward, the saving message of Jesus Christ, that these are his disciples.

You can become part of them. You can be united to them by turning to Christ in faith and having your sins forgiven, being united to this body of forgiven people. That is supposed to be identified by unity.

If we do not love one another, we are working against the proclamation of the gospel. It's not that you're just not working for the gospel together. You are working against it together when you are against brothers and sisters.

He talks about working together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers. Why is it important that they would be, that they were together? Well, that makes it more grievous that there be a conflict.

Lots of people know these women. They know how well they get along, got along before. They know the good work that they've done. It makes it all that much more grievous. Moreover, it increases the kind of obligation that they would have to care about these women in order to have them be reconciled.

You see this elsewhere in scripture, right? Dorcas, why is it that she is prayed for especially in order that she would be healed? Well, it is because of the good that she has done for the sake of the kingdom.

As we read in 1 Timothy 5, that passage I just mentioned about widows, what it talks about the duty to widows is coordinate with their service to the church. Why is it that these women should be so cared for?

Well, in particular, it is because of that service. Like I said, it's not that their service should lead you to sweep it under the rug and preserve their honor that way. No, instead, honor is preserved by actually reaching agreement, by actually being united and at peace.

It says after that their names are in the book of life. That those who have worked with them, their names are in the book of life. And these women, their names then, if they are in the Lord, their names are in the book of life.

This is an important truth because one, if your name is in the book of life, it means you've already been forgiven by God. And so if you are at odds with someone else over something that they have done, know that whatever offense they have committed, Christ has already forgiven them for it.

There might be more reconciliation that needs to happen between you and that other person, but you need to know that Christ has already forgiven them for it. Their name is already written in the book of life, and that needs to guide the way that you think about this.

There is, Christ has no offense against them. God has no offense against them because it's already been taken care of. That needs to guide you. And also, these things will be adjudicated in the end. We will all stand before our maker, every single one of us, and not only give an account for our sins that were done in private, but for the way that we interacted with each other.

And that is something that most people do not think about. Most people do not think about their need to stand before God and give an account for how they handled their relationships. If you try to pursue real peacemaking, it is a difficult work.

You will be called naive for thinking that it is possible even. But you must be blameless before God as you pursue these things, knowing that you will have to give an account, even if you are not able to broker peace, even if you are not able to accomplish peace, because peace is something that comes from the Spirit.

It does not come from you. Then at least be one who can stand before God on the day of judgment with a clear conscience about the way you went about it. Don't settle for less than that. Maybe you're aware of Jonathan Edwards, the early American theologian, greatest American theologian.

Now, this is before the Declaration of Independence, so before the country is officially formed. But he is a man who is well known for being a faithful minister. However, he had come at odds with his congregation, and they booted him from the congregation, but they still needed him to preach for them.

So he continued preaching at this church, and the church he preached immediately after this was known as the Farewell Sermon. You can look it up. And what he goes through is this detail, that we will all stand before God, and these matters will be adjudicated.

Everyone will have to give an account of how they handled that relationship, and truth will come to light, and there will be no one who is bleary-eyed or heedless in that day as they deal with these things, and as they answer for themselves on that day.

This is not only important because we owe it to the Lord to agree with one another. It's also important for our rejoicing. It speaks here in this passage immediately after, Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I will say rejoice. Just to recount the context here, he talks about the things that can get in the way of rejoicing. He talks about legalism. How does legalism get in the way of rejoicing? Well, it gets in the way of unity.

There are those who are the circumcision, who would take people away from the uncircumcision, dividing Jew and Gentile, etc. You see how Galatians is all about unity. Then he talks about license. How not following the law of God can lead to disunity.

And he speaks in verse 18,. Of those of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly. Okay, what is it that led people to disunity?

Caring about themselves, just doing whatever they wanted regardless of God's law, not following in the ways of righteousness. And remember what passage was before all this. The humility of Christ. Do 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 interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, by his humility, by his caring, for his brothers and sisters.

Was under the power of death even for a time, but then was raised up and exalted in order to rejoice and to bring many others with him into rejoicing. Paul's concern as he tells them to love one another is that they would be able to rejoice.

And that rejoicing is found in their unity together. They rejoice more as they're unified together and it's only by being unified that they can be in the gospel that would grant any kind of rejoicing.

How can you rejoice in the Lord if you do not agree in the Lord? Psalm 133 says, how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. The inverse or converse of that is also true. How bad and unpleasant it is for brothers to be at odds.

It is unpleasant for brothers to be at odds. The joy of the gospel is found in unity together. Think about other ways that it affects the joy that you can have. Just in this passage afterward and telling us how to rejoice and instructing us how to be joyful people, something that a lot of people struggle with.

If you want to be a joyful person, think about this passage. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be made known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Okay, what's the key to rejoice? There's a number of things that he says, but you do not be anxious, but instead go to the Lord in prayer.

He will give you peace. Okay, you go to the Lord in prayer. If you ever thought about the relationship between unity and peace, I have a number of passages I'd like to read to you that relate to this.

Excuse me, unity in prayer, unity in prayer. Your prayers before God are robbed of their power if you are not at peace with others. 1 Peter 3, 7 says, Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Your prayers are hindered when you are at odds. Okay, husband and wife, their family prayers, those prayers are hindered when they are at odds. This is true in the body too. Our prayers as a church are hindered when we are at odds.

This is true of the universal church, when the universal church is fighting, when people among it are fighting. Prayers are hindered. They are hindered before the Lord. Now he hears his children, but what kind of a father is going to give a child something when that child is working against it?

If you want the blessings of the gospel, but you are actively working against the gospel, it is of no help to you to reinforce you in that, right? A father whose child asks him for something, maybe let's say money.

Let's say, you know, Dad, I'd like $5 in order to go buy this thing, but that child has been throwing away his money. What kind of father is going to hand him $5 without trying to get some correction first in order that he can actually appreciate money?

Why should God give the blessings of unity, the blessings of true peace, of a working of the spirit if we are actively working against the spirit? On Wednesday nights, we pray according to the six petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

This is a traditional way of breaking up the Lord's Prayer. It's very sensible. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, et cetera. Think about each of these things. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

God's name is supposed to be holy. What happens when you are at odds with one another? God's name is not made holy. You can see this all through Ezekiel. In Ezekiel, the people have been cast out into Babylon.

They are scattered. They are not gathered together. And that scattering, that desecrating of his people, also desecrates God's own name in a way. Because all the nations of the world look on and they say, God is not a strong God who can keep his people together.

And so he must not be a very good God. And so what the promises God keeps going back to is that he is going to unite his people together. He's going to gather them so that he is recognized to be holy.

Just one verse. There are many. Or one passage. When through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes, I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

He will vindicate his holiness before their eyes. How? By gathering his people. His holiness is made known in gathering. How can you pray, hallowed be your name, and at the same time be odds with someone?

It is that very activity that makes his name not hallowed. John 17, 11 through 12 says, and this is the high priestly prayer. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. See how Jesus in talking about unity, the high priestly prayer being largely about unity. He talks about that being in the name of God.

Okay, when there is not unity, there's not the proclamation of the name in the same way because the people look on and what do they see? They do not see a holy God. They see one who is just like any other God, had no real uniting substance.

And then as we pray for Christ's kingdom to come, Mark 3, 24 says, if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. Romans 14, 17 through 19 says, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. Okay, so Mark says a kingdom divided cannot stand. How can you pray for the advance of the kingdom if you are willingly at odds with each other?

That is actively working against the building up of the kingdom. And then if the kingdom of God is found in peace among brothers, according to Romans 14, once again, same problem. How can you pray for this and then act otherwise?

We move on to the next petition, that the Lord's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. First John 3, 23 says, and this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he has commanded us.

Well, clearly God's will that he has commanded is that we love one another. Maybe that's obvious enough. But then on top of that, note that what we're praying for in that, that God's will will be accomplished on earth as it is in heaven.

Who obeys his will in heaven? The angels do. How do the angels obey him? The picture that's given in Ezekiel 1 is the spirit has so filled the angels that serve as God's chariot, that they move exactly identically in harmony with one another.

It is a picture of unity. Okay, the will that is accomplished in the angels is one of unity. That is the will that is supposed to be accomplished among us. Give us this day our daily bread. Paul specifically appeals to manna.

Okay, manna was the daily bread. Paul specifically appeals to manna when he speaks of the need to pursue unity through the blessings that God gives. He unites those things together. He says, as it is written, whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack.

That's him encouraging unity through taking those things that God has blessed you with and helping others who are in need. Okay, now, if you are asking for physical blessings without the interest of what those physical blessings would be for, according to God, using even the same passage about daily bread, about the manna from heaven, you're not going to be answered.

In 1 Corinthians 11, because each one eats and another drinks and they're just concerned about themselves and their own needs, they push each other aside. James 4, 1 through 3, talks about how brothers quarrel among each other because they don't have the things that they want.

Once again, the idea of possessions there is for the purpose of unity. And people who are asking for possessions, asking for their daily bread to be met without any desire for unity are going to misspend that thing that they're asking God for.

Then, of course, there's the reality that blessings from God are not enjoyable apart from unity. Proverbs 15, 17 says, better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it. You know, it would be better if we just ate just dry kale and had love with one another than to have a good meal and be at odds with one another.

God giving you your daily bread, that is of so less value, so less joy than the particular kind of daily bread of unity in relationships. Proverbs 17, 1 says much the same, better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

That is true in the house of God. Then we go on to the next petition that God would forgive us. Well, now this one's very obvious. Matthew 6, 14 through 15 says, for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. This is him explaining that part of the Lord's prayer. All right, we pray, forgive us our sins as we have forgiven others.

We even put that part in there that we have forgiven others. If you can't with a clear conscience say that you've pursued reconciliation with others, how can you count on God to forgive you? How can you count on the light of his face being restored to you in any given situation where you want peace with him?

Matthew 18, 35 says, so also my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. And it is describing destruction. You will be destroyed if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

Going on to being protected from temptation. We pray that God would protect us from the hand of the enemy. Ephesians 4, 26 through 27 says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.

Okay, so what does it mean if you're going to pray to God, keep us from temptation while you're willingly walking directly into temptation? You're making lots of opportunity for the devil. You're letting the sun go down on your anger.

You're making a huge, huge home for Satan. Now imagine that you made a little area, you prepared a bed for him, et cetera. And then you say, God, please don't let Satan come here. Okay, that's what happens when you do not pursue unity.

And then you pray these kinds of prayers. It's hypocritical. Second Corinthians 2, 10 through 11 says, anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive so that we would not be outwitted by Satan for we are not ignorant of his designs.

It is necessary to pursue unity among brothers in order to be free from the temptations of Satan. Because what he wants to tempt you into is more disunity, it's bitterness, it's biting and devouring one another.

He knows that the kingdom of God is strong. The kingdom of God is very strong. It is led by a very strong king, the strongest king that has ever lived, Jesus Christ. But he knows where the weak point is.

The weak point is within. And if he can get brothers and sisters to fight with one another, he will have some ground. Now, ultimately Christ will win, but this is a good strategy, an evil one, but a successful one that the enemy has.

Do not give him an inch. Christ has died not only to forgive us, but to unite us to him and to unite us to one another. Understand that that is the gospel. That is not secondary to the gospel. That is the gospel, is union with Christ.

And if we believe that union with Christ is the gospel, we must walk in light of that. What does Paul say immediately after he says, have this mind among you, et cetera, talking about how to be like Christ?

He says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

As I mentioned this morning, when we read this, that means live in accord with salvation. What does salvation say about this matter? What does it say about unity? Unity is the heart of the gospel. Union with Christ is the gospel, which implies union with one another.