In chapter 4, Paul will get specific with what like-mindedness looks like as he challenges two women to be reconciled – As we walk through the first 3 verses of chapter 4 this morning, there are 3 things I want to point out:

1. Forgiveness and reconciliation are non-negotiable in the Kingdom of God.

2. Women are to be honored as equals, not less-thans, in the Kingdom of God.

3. The Kingdom of God is a team sport.

4. Disagreements between believers is not a deal-breaker in the Kingdom of God. Let’s jump right in – Philippians 4:1-3

V1 – “Therefore…” – Back to Phil. 3:15 – call to SPIRITUAL MATURITY – All of chapter 3, Paul addresses living for the things that matter, moving from his religious resume in V1-6 to life in Jesus, counting all the religious posturing GARBAGE compared to knowing Jesus in V7-21 – Specifically, he has been talking about the importance of following his example, again an example of being like-minded, remembering in V20 that our citizenship is in Heaven, meaning we don’t live for the accolades of the world, but for those things that matter to Jesus – 1 Corinthians 13:11 – put away childish ways - THEREFORE…

“Stand firm in the Lord, you whom I love and long for, MY JOY and MY CROWN…” – Paul’s language here is strong – “I love you, I long to be with you, you bring me great joy, and you are my legacy, so stand firm in Jesus!

Paul’s call to the Philippian church is to stand firm for the things that matter – let me remind you this morning, that our call is the same – call to spiritual maturity – stop allowing spiritual immaturity to dominate your life - don’t stand firm for the sake of religion (about you), stand firm because you are a citizen of heaven (about Jesus) – don’t stand firm for your political affiliation, stand firm in your relationship with Jesus, meaning let Jesus inform your politics and not the other way around – stand firm for the sake of the kingdom of God, not for your own personal kingdom – ok, let’s get into meat of subject matter today -

V2 - Euodia and Syntyche – 2 women in the church who are in disagreement – welcome to every church in the world apparently since the beginning of time – but seriously, remember that Paul has been calling for unity in this church since early in chapter 2, a call to laying down their agendas (Phil 2:3-4), and embracing the mind of Jesus (Phil. 2:5-11) – what started as a general call in chapter 2 has now become aggressively personal, almost as if Paul had heard something, intended to call it out generally, but has now decided to go after it head on.

“Be of the same mind in the Lord…” – Be like-minded, again HUGE THEME, IN THE LORD – but here is the heart of what he is saying – “Be reconciled in the Lord” – Paul is saying there is no way to have a united front as a church is there is fighting from within, so make things right! Let’s camp here for a few minutes, because there is a lot at stake for us here.

1. Forgiveness and reconciliation are non-negotiables in the Kingdom of God. Paul has spent this letter coaching them up about living for the things that matter – my friend Jamie Winship says that “forgiveness is the air we breathe in the Kingdom of God” – on the surface, sounds like a pretty narrow thing for us to breathe, but realistically, following Jesus is about living/staying in right relationship with Jesus, and living/staying in right relationship with others.

This is not about your agenda but the agenda of Jesus – and what was the mindset of Jesus? HUMILITY and SACRIFICE – Laying down your life! What was Jesus’ example? When it comes to the cross, Jesus laid down his life, and he was THE ONE WHO WAS IN THE RIGHT! Ephesians 2:14-16 – Jesus made peace with all people for all time through the cross – 2 Corinthians 5:21 says the one who was sinless became sin so we could be made right with God – what does that have to do with forgiveness and reconciliation with each other? If Jesus was without sin and sought out reconciliation, how much more should we? Jesus in Matthew 5:14: The peacemakers are blessed – conversely, unwillingness to make peace with others will RECEIVE NO BLESSING – peacemakers are called children of God – Sam talked about this at YA on Monday night, said that “Peacemaking is part of the family business” – 1 John 4:20-21, you can’t say you love God but not love the people right in front of you – it's non-negotiable.

Matthew 6:14-15 – in Lord’s Prayer, call to forgive, but doubled down on at end of the prayer: “If you don’t forgive, the Lord won’t forgive you” – this is not an issue of salvation, but a reminder that at the heart of the gospel is FORGIVENESS – He who has been forgiven forgives – It’s a HUGE DEAL to GOD – if he can forgive you, then what right do you have to withhold forgiveness from someone else? Hard truth.

Matthew 5:23 – Jesus makes it even harder – don’t make an offering to God if you know SOMEONE HAS SOMETHING AGAINST YOU – Wait, so now it’s not enough for me to forgive others, but if I know someone is living in offense, I have to go be reconciled with them as well? Again, these are difficult words from Jesus –

Practically, what does this mean? It means that as a citizen of heaven, you don’t get to hold grudges, you must walk in forgiveness, AND if you know others have been hurt by you, whether you think you’ve done anything wrong or not, you are to seek reconciliation – What does reconciliation mean? It means you have done everything in your power to make things right on your end – it means you can pray and hope good things for the other party – you are not responsible for their response, only your part in seeking reconciliation – think: “I’ve done EVERYTHING I CAN DO” –

V3 – Paul asks an unnamed “companion” to mediate reconciliation conversation with these two women – and here is the second point I want to make:

2. Women are to be honored as equals, not less-thans, in the Kingdom of God. Paul says here that they have “contended by my side for the sake of the gospel” – I don’t want us to miss that Paul is specifically honoring these two women – He didn’t need to make this personal to make his point, yet went out of his way to honor these women, just as he did Timothy and Epaphroditus in chapter 2 – gives insight into his view of women in the church – the KOG is not a boy’s club – these women were by Paul’s side, fellow warriors, contending for the sake of the gospel – Remember in week one, Acts 16, the first convert in Philippi was Lydia who was leading a women’s prayer group outside the city – so, the church at Philippi was basically founded through a women’s bible study – point is this: WE ESTEEM WOMEN as CO-LABORERS in the Kingdom.

Great reminder that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, and both male AND female have a seat at the table in the Kingdom of God – Ephesians 2:10 is applicable to all – now, there is still biblical headship – men are still to be the leader of their families, no doubt, but as Jeff Wells puts it, “I am the head and Gayle is the neck” – we all have a significant role to play in the Kingdom of God, and every gift is necessary

3. The Kingdom of God is a team sport. Paul consistently points to teamwork – Timothy and Epaphroditus in chapter 2, now Euodia, Syntyche and Clement here in chapter 4 – no lone rangers in KOG – takes us all working together – talking to Ted other day – Restoration is a team sport – every staff member, volunteer working together is what is helping Kingdom Advance.

4. Disagreements between believers is not a deal breaker in the Kingdom of God. Good people with good hearts can get sideways – Paul says that both Euodia and Syntyche’s names are both written in the Book of Life – In Revelation, John talks about this book, which is basically imagery of eternal security – here Paul is saying that both of these women have been faithful workers for the sake of Jesus, both are fellow believers, AND they need to handle their business and make things right.