Paul the Faithful Pastor - The Call for Harmony in the Church

Please take your Bible and turn to Philippians chapter 4, whether it is a physical copy or an electronic copy. Either way, let's just make sure we bring God's Word with us when we come to study God's Word together. But tonight we're going to be in verses 1 to 3 of chapter 4. Now we have finished up chapter 3, and in chapter 3 we saw that almost all that Paul taught centered around presenting himself as an example, not in a sinful way, of course. He contrasted himself against the Judaizers to the Philippian believers. They needed that contrast.

He used himself and some others as an example for the priceless privileges from knowing Christ and for pressing on for the prize. And we saw that all of these things were for the benefit of the church, for those believers, those brothers and sisters that he loved so much. But starting here in chapter 4, Paul makes a subtle but a noticeable change. He gives the Philippians certain much needed specific teaching. I'll give you an example. We see this in our verses tonight, verses 2 to 3. Paul says, "I entreat Eodia 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 and the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life." That is a specific teaching for a specific problem that we will address tonight. Then in chapter 4 he gives them certain much needed general or nonspecific teaching. I'll give you another example here. We see this in verses 8 and 9.

Paul says, "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." That's a lot. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, here's his example again. Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. But here in chapter 4 we certainly see one thing that has remained all throughout the book and that is Paul's love for this church and these believers. Here we see that Paul is ministering to them out of a great joy that he had for them.

He's ministering out of this great thankfulness that he has for them. He is thankful and joyful for their partnership with him in the gospel. We saw that early on in the ministry. In his summary of chapter 4 and how Paul ministered to the Philippians, the scholar William Hendrickson describes Paul as the tactful pastor. I like that. That's resonated with me for two or three weeks. The tactful pastor. In chapter 4 at times we will see Paul as a loving pastor like we've seen before. At times we will see him as a faithful pastor, faithfully giving these believers what they need.

At times we will see Paul as a tactful pastor as he tactfully but directly addresses a touchy, touch and go problem in the church. At times we will see Paul as an encouraging pastor as he encourages these believers in certain areas of life. Seems like Paul is wearing many hats. Well that's what a faithful, tactful pastor does. I will point these out as we go through this chapter, chapter 4. I will point out when we see Paul the loving pastor, I will point out when we see Paul the faithful pastor, the tactful pastor, the encouraging pastor as we finish up the book. Really this is the last chapter.

Now here in verse 1 we see Paul the faithful pastor, Paul the loving pastor. This is the Paul we have seen all throughout the letter and that is and was because the Philippian church was his joy unlike some of these other churches. And in verses 2-3 we see Paul the tactful pastor as he tactfully, purposefully, directly addresses a problem in the church. There were two prominent women who had a disagreement and these were believers. And I have said this before, it really appears that this is the only problem that we see in the life of the church. Now let's read verses 1, 2, and 3 and then we'll cover them all throughout the message as always.

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 Eodia 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." Now this is how we're going to examine these verses. First we'll look at verse 1 and then we'll look at verses 2-3. It almost seems like verse 1 is an introduction to verses 2-3. It can be.

I will treat verse 1 as an introduction for these verses and really this is an introduction for the rest of the teaching that goes together all the way down to verse 9. So the introduction. Number 1, Paul the loving pastor. We see this at the beginning of the verse. Verse 1, Paul the loving pastor. Now when I call Paul a pastor that can seem strange and it should. It should because Paul was a chosen apostle assigned to the office of an apostle and he had unique authority. That was apostolic authority. He introduced himself as an apostle in Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.

In 1 Corinthians 9-1 he declared in defending himself as an apostle. He said, "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" Now the reason he does that is this. There were some who were questioning his apostleship and the Corinthians were not seeing him in light of his apostleship as they should have. And in the book of Philippians, especially this verse, we really see Paul as a pastor. We really see Paul as a faithful, loving, joy-filled pastor. But notice the language here. He calls them brothers. He says that he longed or yearned for them and then he says that they were his joy. Notice that language, his joy and crown.

This shows Paul's strong love for these believers. This shows us how Paul felt about them. This shows us the intimacy between them, between Paul and these believers, this church. But notice they were not a source of frustration. They were not a source of frustration or even anger, maybe like the Corinthian church or the Galatian church. That might surprise you, but if you study the book of Galatians you will find that Paul was really angry. He was angry. And he says that they were his joy. And then he adds to this by saying that they were his crown. That's rather odd language for us. And the crown mentioned here was one of two things.

In their day they had what was called a wreath or a crown, a laurel wreath that it was given to winners in athletic events in their day. And they had a similar crown that was given to honor individuals a lot like we would give someone a plaque or a trophy in our day. So notice what Paul is saying to us here. Notice what he's showing us. He loved them. And he longed to be with them. Have you ever longed to be with the church? Have you ever longed to get away from a church? Well Paul loved them and he longed to be with them. And he is showing us that they were his joy in his crown.

They brought him joy and they were his joy and they were a crown, a crown of honor, victory and success, ministry success, victory in the Lord. And there is a lesson here. There is a goal here. There is a challenge for us here. If we were to have a personal relationship with Paul, our goal must be a church that he would love and long for. Our goal must be that we would be a body of the believers and we would be his joy and crown. Now would we be a joy to Paul? Would we be his joy today? Could we even be his joy individually and corporately? Would we be a crown of honor and victory for Paul individually and corporately?

Well we can be, although we cannot have a personal relationship with him, we can be if we are just like the Philippian church in every way. If we see them as a model and we mimic them and we have an individual responsibility here and a collective responsibility. So here we see Paul as a loving pastor there at the beginning of verse 1. Next we see Paul the encouraging pastor in his call to stand firm in the faith. We see this at the second part of verse 1. Paul the encouraging pastor and he gives them this call to stand firm in the faith. Look back at the verse.

"Therefore my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord my beloved." Here Paul moves from his loving pastoral comments, even to bragging on them, to a call and a command to stand firm in the faith. And this is a very important call. John MacArthur points out that this is the main verb in this section of teaching. And this section of teaching is verses 1 to 9. And if that is the case, and I think it is from my study, that means that Paul was calling them to stand firm and to stand firm in everything that he commands and teaches from verses 1 to 9.

But notice what this call to stand firm actually means, how it unfolds. First this is an imperative command, which means this is not a suggestion. Second this is a military command. More than one commentator that I studied pointed out that this was language that could have come from the military, which would have had a great significance for these believers. The city of Philippi had a strong military presence. We learned that way back when we introduced the book and we got into the background. And it seemed that some of them may have even come from a military background, those in the church.

So this language could have definitely had this military ring which would have resonated with him. Third, this is a specific command. Paul was calling them to stand firm in the Lord. I like how Hendrickson describes this call to stand firm in the Lord. And I'm quoting him, listen to this, this is good. In view of their high calling, the blessings they have already received and the inheritance that awaits them, we've learned about all of that, let them remain ever firm in steadfast over against hostilities from the pagans, merely nominal Christians such as the legalists and the libertines and the promptings of their own sinful hearts.

And think about the pressures and temptations that they faced. They had external pressures from the pagan culture and these false teachers that lurked outside the door of the church. They had internal pressures and problems as well. We're going to look at one of those, yes, this conflict and this division that was front and center. And they had the internal temptations to at least entertain the false teachers and their teaching that obviously they faced. So here we see Paul, the encouraging, the exhorting pastor out of his great love for them and the joy that he had for them, he called them, he commanded them to stand firm.

As a military would hold their position while they were under attack, he called them to stand firm in the Lord. He called them not to surrender to the temptations, the trials, all that they faced outside and inside the church. You know, we need this same exhortation today. We must be a people who stand firm and stand firm in the Lord. As a soldier, as a military would stand firm while under attack, we must do the same thing. Now we're through with verse one, I kind of see it as the introduction and now we transition into the heart of the teaching verses two and three.

And we will see that Paul moves into being the tactful, purposeful, direct pastor. But he does not move away from being faithful and loving at all. But notice what we have here in verses two and three, we see that there is a division in the church, two well known and respected women in the church have a disagreement. And what Paul did was this, in love he called them to stand firm in the Lord. In love he called them to stand firm in the Lord and then to deal with this problem in the church properly. And look, there is a huge lesson here.

The first step in dealing with any and all problems in the church is to start off by standing firm in the Lord. Otherwise we will stand firm in our own ideas. Otherwise we'll stand firm in our feelings. Otherwise we may even stand firm in our own sinful desires. You see that? That's why it's important to cover verse by verse, verse by verse because the introduction matters. So number three, verses two and three, I call this Paul's call to harmony in the church. Paul's call to harmony in the church. Let's read verses two and three again. He says, "I entreat Eodia 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." Now right away we can see that Paul was calling for unity in the church. He's calling for harmony in the church. He's calling for agreement in the Lord in the church but specifically between these two women. And this obviously tells us that there was a disagreement between these women. There was a division between these women in the church. And who knows if others were involved? Paul doesn't say. We could speculate. We really don't know.

Now this is how I want to divide the verses. First I want to look at the women. Second I want to look at the disagreement. And then third I want to look at Paul's solution. First these women. Now we do not know much about these women other than what is mentioned here in the verses. But if we pay attention we can learn a lot, quite a lot about who they were. First we see that they were long time members of the church. They were not trouble makers from outside the church and it does not seem that they were newcomers or recent converts. Second we see that they had been workers.

And not just workers, side by side with Paul in his gospel work and with Clement and with other fellow workers. It is interesting that this word labored is an athletic term in the original which speaks of hard work. It speaks of effort. So this points to the fact that they were long term members and that they had been at the center of gospel work in the church even laboring side by side with Paul. Then third there was in fact a disagreement between these two women. Paul is calling them to agree in the Lord so they obviously were not in agreement.

MacArthur speculates that this disagreement was not theological or doctrinal because if it had been Paul would have chosen the right side and pointed out the wrong side. And I would agree to that. Then fourth they were definitely believers. This is important, both of them. At the end of verse 3 Paul clearly says their names were written in the book of life which tells us that Paul was confident and sure of their salvation. One scholar that I studied said that Paul really didn't make comments like this often. So notice what we have here with these women. They were truly born again women. They were truly born again women.

They were long time prominent members of this church because they labored side by side with Paul and others which would make us believe that they very well could have been some of the first converts of the church. And they were not agreeing in the Lord. They were in fact disagreeing. There was some sort of conflict and there's a lesson here. Real believers, respected believers can and sometimes do disagree. They can. And that disagreement may not be over something black and white. That disagreement may not be something like a moral issue or an immoral issue. It may not be a disagreement over some clear doctrinal issue.

It just may be something personal or maybe not as important as some of these other things. And the warning here is this. When this happens in our church, I'm not saying if. If it happened to the Philippians it can happen to us. When this happens in our church we must address these things just like Paul did and all of those who were involved. What happens if it's not addressed? The pain and the sin, the sin and the pain of broken fellowship between brothers and sisters. And folks, that's another sermon for another day that I'm working on and that is the pain and the sin of broken fellowship. But then second, their disagreement.

And I've already touched on this but I need to mention it again. It really does not seem that there is a clear right and wrong situation. It does not seem that one of these ladies was in some kind of moral sin or into some kind of faulty doctrine. Otherwise Paul would have surely addressed a sin. He would have addressed a doctrinal issue. We would assume he's been addressing the potential doctrinal problems that they faced. So it seems that the cause of this disagreement and division is not a big deal for Paul. Let me repeat that.

It seems to me that it's obvious that the cause of this disagreement and the division was not a big deal for Paul. For Paul the big deal was that two sisters in the Lord, they were long term members. Very respected. Co-labors with him and the gospel, they were in a disagreement. That was the big deal. And the lesson here for us is this. There very well may be a time when there is a disagreement that is just like this. The reason for the disagreement is not the main point. The main point is that brothers and sisters are in fact in a disagreement. And to me when this happens, not if this happens, it must be dealt with properly.

I've shared this testimony before, I was involved in a situation like this once. You know sometimes I share stories and I really don't share names and dates and times. You know you do that to protect the innocent and the guilty and everybody in between. Well I've shared dates and names and times. Most of you know, many of you know that I served at East Haven Baptist Church across town. I was there in 2002, stayed there on staff to 2006. When I moved there, the church administrator's name, still there, Phil Turner. Tons of you know Phil Turner.

Well the way I did church budgeting was a little different when I was at First Baptist Church in Ellisville, Mississippi. And when I got there, the way Phil did church budgeting was the opposite of the way I did it. You know what happened was this, because I was younger and I was arrogant and I felt like I knew better. I just did it my way. Well there's a conflict. That conflict got greater and greater and greater. And finally one day, our pastor, Ben Ngan, took us to a meeting all the way across the church on the other side of the church, away from everybody and set us in a room. And he said, "We've got to work this out.

And I'm telling you Phil turned five shades of red. He almost had a heart attack and a stroke all at the same time." And I thought, "I've made him mad. I mean this guy is ready to blow a top." And I humbled myself. I said, "Phil, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I had made him so mad he couldn't hear me. Brother Benjamin said, "Phil, he's apologizing. Phil, he's apologizing." I humbled myself and I said, "I'm sorry." I wasn't in moral sin. The issue between us wasn't that big of a deal. The big deal was there was an issue between us. And I said, "I was sorry.

I repented and he happened to be more right than I was." We had some communication gaps there and we worked that out. He had some and I had some. And lo and behold that saved me some heartache later. But it's the exact kind of situation. Benjamin was wise enough to know that the issue between us was that the issue, the issue was there was a disagreement and it couldn't linger. And I had to humble myself and repent. And thankfully, Phil forgave me. And if he was here, I'd share that story. Then third, Paul's solution. Let's look back at the verses. Verse 2 to 3. Paul says, "I entreat Eodia 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." Here we see that Paul had this twofold solution. This solution comes in two parts to me, but his solution was all centered in the church. And this is very important. But let's look at Paul's solution. First Paul gets personally involved. Here Paul says, "I entreat Eodia. I entreat Syntyche." And this word "entreat" is a key word. The New American and the Legacy Standard Bible uses the word "urge." This speaks of an encouraging.

This speaks even of begging and pleading. So Paul was encouraging even begging, even pleading with these women to resolve the situation. But notice how he addresses them equally. The same. Look at the verse. "Exactly the same. I entreat Eodia. I entreat Syntyche." Just the same. There's no difference. He urges and even begs both of them to do the same thing. So it does not seem that Paul takes any kind of side in any way. And he urges them to do what? He calls them to agree in the Lord, the English Standard says. But notice how the different translations translate this.

The New American says, "Live in harmony in the Lord." The King James says, "Be of the same mind in the Lord." The Legacy Standard Bible says, "To think the same way in the Lord." Now a question, which is it? Well, all of them are correct. This simply means to agree. This means to be of the same mind in thinking, to be in harmony and not in disagreement. The original simply means be of the same mind in thinking. I like what the Amplified says. The Amplified reads, "I urge Eodia, I urge Syntyche to agree and to work in harmony in the Lord." That's very good.

So we see that Paul personally encourages, he even begs them to work together so as to agree in the Lord. That's what I had to do with Phil Turner that day. I had to work to agree. And this is a lesson for us folks. This is a lesson for all of us. This is a lesson for all of us in the pew, for church leaders, especially church leaders and pastors. When situations like this come up, we have to be tender, we have to plead, we have to call them to our side, we have to call them together to work towards harmony. And there has to be work. There has to be repentance where repentance needs to be offered.

There has to be humility with each and every one involved. It is a working together as a team and we come alongside to be a part of that team. I love how Hendrickson says this. He says, "Paul tenderly pleads with, as it were, calls to his side each of these women, begging each to return to a harmonious disposition so as to work together as a team." And I'll add to that by saying at one time they were a team with Paul. And then second, Paul calls others to personally get involved.

The beginning of verse 3 says, "Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women." The New American says, "Indeed, true comrade, I ask you also to help these women." And here Paul calls what I call a third party. And there's much debate about who this third party person was. Some have suggested that this could have been Timothy or Luke or a Papariditis. Some have suggested that this is actually the name of a particular individual. Some have even suggested that this is one of the elders of the church. But who this is is not important.

The fact that Paul calls upon someone that he knew, that these women knew, that Clement knew really seems to suggest that this individual was from within the church. It seems that Paul was insinuating acting like they all knew who it was. There's no explanation as to who it was. But the point is this. Paul called on another fellow faithful servant to help these sisters in their conflict. I believe they're in the church and he says, "Help out these sisters." And the lesson for us here is clear. We must be a church full of third parties.

We must be a church full of brothers and sisters who were able to come in and help brothers and sisters in conflicts, in disagreements as one who initiates and also the third party. You see? So here we see that Paul addresses a conflict, this conflict in the church. He dearly loved these believers and he longed to be with them. They were his joy. They were his crown of apostolic success and victory. And he called them to stand firm in the Lord. And then he addresses this conflict between two well-known, very respected, much needed sisters in the Lord, in the church. He does not address their problem.

He simply calls each of them to agree in the Lord. And notice how much of these things depended on being in the Lord. This was all to be done in the Lord. There's a lesson here. No one can live the Christian life much less deal with problems in the church properly unless they are in the Lord. The solution here depended on Paul, these ladies, the third party, Clement, any who were involved, the solution to this conflict depended on all of them being in the Lord in all of these things. Paul calls for harmony, agreement in the church. Now I want to close out by offering a few practical lessons and observations here.

Sometimes when I give lists like this, I say that this could be incomplete. You might think of something that could be added here. And that's okay. Now the first observation comes from William McDonald. And I'm prayer phrasing some things he said and I'm quoting him as well. But that's where I got it from. But it is impossible for believers to be united in harmony in all things pertaining to life. But as far as things of the Lord go, it is possible for us to submerge our petty personal differences in order that the Lord may be magnified in his work advance. That comes from McDonald. And we need to hear that again.

It is impossible for believers to be united and to be in harmony in all things pertaining to life. But as far as the things of the Lord go, and I'm quoting McDonald, it is possible for us to submerge our petty personal differences in order that the Lord may be magnified in his work advance. Now here is my call. Here is my encouragement. Here is my very, very strong pastoral instruction for you. Make sure that you do not divide in any way over personal differences, especially matters of Christian liberty. Look years ago I had a friend of mine who was serving on church staff up in North Mississippi.

And years ago in the late 60s, early 70s, that church had inherited some money and they had their own Christian school. So you had the church on one side of the road and down the road on the other side of the road you had a Christian school, ball fields, everything. Really the school was much larger. But I'll tell you what, in the life of that church, if you didn't go to that Christian school you were ostracized. Petty differences. I bring this up sometimes because we need to be reminded. You know here we have a church full of people who home school.

We have a church full of people who public school, a church full of people who private school. You do those things according to the way the Lord leads you. There may be a day where nobody who's a Christian can send their kids to public school, but it could come a time where we're like those believers in Scotland where they don't have a choice. But the issue is we do those things how the Lord has led us and we do not divide over those things. When we get closer to one another we see that we all live our home lives a little bit different. How we raise our children can be a little different. We might have rules over here that I don't have.

But we don't divide over those things. We don't get in a car and slam the door and say, "Honey, I can't believe they do that in their home. They must be wicked and lost." We don't do that. Your job might be different than mine. Your wife might work. Your wife might not work. That is an incomplete list. These are things that fall under the umbrella of what's called Christian liberty. These are personal things and we do not divide over those things. Oh, but the things of the Lord we are always unified in and on. Second observation, only believers can do these things folks. We cannot expect goats to act like sheep.

We cannot expect wolves to act like sheep. Goats always butt heads every time and wolves always attack and devour. Look, these women were true believers and I'll tell you I could sit down with you and I could take a piece of paper and I could go down the list of my experiences in the life of the church in tons of conflict, tons of problems, tons of division comes from wolves and goats in the life of the church. I can name names and describe circumstances. You cannot expect goats to act like sheep and wolves never will act like sheep. So only believers can do these things.

Oh, but if you have what we strive for, which is a regenerate church membership and we practice loving patient church discipline, when these things come up we discipline those who are involved and you'll find out who the wolf is, you'll find out who the goat is and you'll find out who the sheep is. Third observation, immature selfish believers cannot resolve these matters. They must grow up in the Lord first. Look at the Corinthian church. They were divided in many ways, in many ways because of their terrible lack of maturity.

There was even the super-duper spiritual group who said, "Oh, we serve Christ, we follow Christ," but yet they were divisive. But these ladies here were true servants. They were mature. Look, look that sink in. They had been co-labors alongside Paul. It seems that they were in the early work of this church. Do you think Paul would have had them laboring with him if they were immature people? And look, let me show you something. The more we grow in the Lord, the more mature we grow in the Lord, and the more we grow and mature in the Lord together, these kind of differences will be worked out organically.

They'll be worked out before they get big. Oh, but it doesn't matter how mature we become, something like this can sneak in on us. It did with the Philippians and it did with these two ladies. Fourth observation. To resolve these matters, this takes a willingness to be subject to the authority of the church, the authority of the scriptures, and the authority of the leaders. Let me repeat that again. To work these things out properly, this takes a willingness to be subject to the authority of the church, the authority of the scripture, and the authority of the leaders.

Look, if there is one in the church and they have a disagreement or conflict with someone in the church, if they will not be subject to the scripture and to the leaders of the church, there's no hope for resolution. You can beat your head against the wall all day long. There is no hope for resolution. We had someone in the life of our church a few years back like this, making false accusations, stirring up conflict, going to different people. Look folks, division is a serious sin. This person kept going to people, kept going to people. He would not listen to scripture.

He would not listen to the elders of the church and he would not listen to other men as I brought them in to hell. He always, always, always had some other way to sidestep, to go around, "I want to bring this person. I want to get this advice." He never just sat down and look, we had served and loved him for years. When you have a situation like that, there's no hope. There's no hope. You can't get a goat or a wolf to act like a sheep, folks. I've tried. Fifth observation, this takes the work of the entire church at times. This takes the work of many in the church at times. At times this takes the pastor and the elders.

This takes other leaders. At times this takes peers, brothers and sisters, you see. It does. It takes the work of the entire church, if that's what it takes. But listen to this warning. If someone is being contentious and they were always wanting to bring someone from outside the church and they would not allow the appropriate people inside the church to help, look out. That is a clear, clear, clear warning that you got a serious problem. Let me repeat that. Listen to this warning from your pastor.

If someone is being contentious and they are always wanting to bring someone from the outside, always wanting to bring someone from the outside and they will not allow the appropriate people inside the church to help with the conflict, look out. Now look, our church is healthy. We've got elders and other men, mature men. And if there's a situation where someone needs to bring someone from the outside, we would see it. But in the case of the other person, no. He had committed all those sins in the church and he wanted someone that he had persuaded to come from the outside to vouch for him and we wouldn't have it.

Now what are we looking at in these verses? Verses 1 to 3. Verse 1 is really the introduction but it really sets the tone for the verses. These verses are all about what I see as Paul the faithful pastor. Paul the faithful pastor, the call for harmony in the church. It was a conflict. It was a problem. The call for harmony in the church. That's the title of the message. Paul the faithful pastor, the call for harmony in the church.