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Strive for Unity (Philippians 4:2-3)

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Named in the Scriptures

I entreat Euodia 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.

(Philippians 4:2–3)

In the church, these two women get ensconced for all eternity in Scripture. I mean, false teachers get called out, those who claim to be Christians but fall away get called out, and they do get named, but apart from the Gospels where the disciples get called out pretty regularly by Jesus, and once in Galatians where Paul calls out Peter, I mean, this is really the only place where believers get called out and are named. What does this mean? Well, it was a serious enough issue for Paul to bring up and address. And it’s likely at this point that at least part of the church, maybe the whole church, knows something that’s going on. We don’t have a lot of details. This is about all that we have, and people have tried to theorize about different things, but it’s just theories. So here we are where these two people are named, and really what Paul’s wanting to get at is true unity in the body of Christ, including between these ladies.

Unity Grounded in the Lord

When he says, if you just look at verse 2, that phrase “agree in the Lord” is very similar phrasing to his general exhortation back in chapter 2, if you look at it, where he says in verse 2 of chapter 2, “complete my joy by being of the same mind.” That word “same mind”—he’s using a similar phrase here when he says “agree in the Lord,” that he wants them to be of the same mind, to have unity together. So we have this command to unity, but notice a couple things. One, there is an exhortation to each of them individually. So when it says, “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche,” those two words “I entreat” are there in the Greek, and most versions put it there in the English. So he’s making a point: I’m entreating you individually, Euodia, and I’m entreating you individually, Syntyche, as well. Why is that? Because Paul didn’t want them to think that he was favoring one over the other. So there’s a repetition there. But notice, what it’s grounded in? It’s grounded in the Lord. So it’s based on their common relationship with the Lord. What can they have? They can have unity.

If you remember, it goes back a few years, but one of our themes for the church—it was actually 2021, our theme for the church for the year. Anybody remember it? Unity in community. It was unity in community. And part of the reason that I chose it was because if you remember it, wasn’t that long ago, but in the midst of COVID and everything, there were a lot of different opinions on vaccines and masks and all those different things, right? Right? It was important for us to be unified in the things that the Scripture called us to be unified in, and to give lots of grace to people. Y’all did an amazing job, by the way. Amazing, amazing job. We were blessed by the Lord. We were one of the few churches that grew during COVID. So that was our theme, but the reason we can have unity is because Jesus is the foundation for it. Because each one of us has Jesus, we can have unity with one another. Why? Well, we already have a unity with the Father, a unity with the Son, a unity with the Spirit, but we can have unity with one another. So it’s not human-based; it’s really based on Christ and really his finished work.

Just hold your place in Philippians. We’ll just look at a couple passages briefly. Ephesians chapter 2. In verse 11 he says:

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

(Ephesians 2:11–16)

That’s all of us before Christ, right? Now, here specifically, he’s talking about the Gentiles and the Jews, and being like, hey, because of what Christ did, they can be one; the hostility is removed. There’s no animosity. But the same idea applies. How much more so—if Jew and Gentile can, can Americans, can people who grow up looking like one another? Can people be who grow up in the same culture? Yes, unity is possible.

One Body and One Spirit

Look also at Ephesians 4: “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” And then look what he says in verse 3: “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Right? So we should be eager to maintain the unity. Why? Well, as we’re going to see, if you don’t maintain the unity, bad things happen. All right? Fissures happen. Fractions happen. Factions happen. So he goes on:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

(Ephesians 4:1–6)

Right? There’s one. That’s the emphasis. One. You have to be careful. I know some people are very passionate about different things that they believe. That’s fine. The more important the issue is that the Scripture makes it, the more like right you have to be passionate about it. But we have to be careful, because there’s other believers out there that disagree with us on secondary issues, even tertiary issues, and those are issues not to divide on, ultimately. So yes, you can be very passionate about certain things, but definitely we should never get to a place where we’re looking down on someone because they have a different position than us on issues that are not related to gospel and salvation issues. Does that make sense? I think we’re guilty of that sometimes. The call and the focus is unity, not division—unity. We should focus on the unity and not the places maybe on smaller issues we might not agree.

Look at Galatians chapter 3; we’ll see a similar idea. He says in verse 27, chapter 3:

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

(Galatians 3:27–28)

If you have Christ, you’re one in Christ. Even 1 Corinthians 12 talks about it, right? We might be different parts of the body, still part of the same body. Even Acts 4, the early church, God’s saving people left and right. Thousands are coming to know him. What does it say? “The full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” Acts 4. So the issue at hand here, this is not some small struggle that Paul is addressing. It’s not some small issue between two women. That would not have been warranted being called out in the whole letter of the whole church. But it was a big enough issue that the church was aware in some fashion, and it needed to be addressed, and it needed to be worked through. What was the issue? We don’t know. But whatever it was, notice what Paul is doing here. It didn’t require public rebuke or censure. He doesn’t rebuke them. He doesn’t even really correct them. He’s calling them. He’s entreating or pleading or exhorting them to come to unity. Why? Well, because it was disrupting the unity of the church. What happens when unity is disrupted? Well, the focus, if you’ve ever been involved in a dispute with anyone before, the focus becomes very inward-focused. Where you should be ministering, what you should be doing, how you should be serving, what you should be focused on—it all becomes about me. Well, that’s not helpful at all. And pastors, what happens with pastors, even if you think about it, well, they have to give their attention to these issues. And they’re more than willing to give their attention, but what happens when the pastor’s addressing issues in the church of disunity? Well, it pulls away from him giving his attention elsewhere to other matters that are important matters. Now, think about it for just a minute. What if a pastor called out two people for this today? Seriously. I mean, if this was done by a pastor, he’d be tarred and feathered and run out of the church. I’d say wrongfully so. Even more so if it was two women that he named. Serious.

Why Public Issues Must Be Addressed

But listen, the more public an issue is in a church, the more it publicly needs to be addressed. Why? Well, there’s a few reasons. One, so the church knows it’s being handled. Once an issue is going on amongst the members, or even just two members, but everyone is kind of talking about it, well, the church needs to know that it’s being handled. The church also needs to know that things aren’t swept under the rug and ignored when issues arise. The church needs to know that the leaders are addressing it and that they’re not afraid to address it. I mean, we see Paul do this. I mentioned it already. If you’re still in Galatians, turn back a couple chapters. Galatians chapter 2. We have a rather straightforward, blunt example of Paul doing this. Galatians 2:

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

(Galatians 2:11–14)

So Paul, I mean, here he really rebukes him and he calls him out publicly. In this case, the essence and foundation of the gospel was at stake. So the bigger the issue, the more important it is to address. Even elders are held to a standard that not all necessarily are held to in different areas of their life, but one of them is in 1 Timothy 5. 1 Timothy 3, it kind of gives all the requirements for elders. Then it goes to the deacons. In 1 Timothy 5, if you just want to look there, I just want you to see it for yourself. 1 Timothy 5, he starts out in verse 17:

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

(1 Timothy 5:17–20)

So he’s kind of dealing with—I mean, this whole section here is on elders. All right, so even elders here have a standard by which if they persist in sin they are to be rebuked publicly in a way that you might not potentially rebuke other believers in the church. Why? Again, because they’re held to a higher standard. Why? So that the church knows things are addressed, they’re not swept under the rug, and the leaders are willing to address it.

Christians Can Have Conflict

Well, what do we learn in these couple verses here about Christians? One, Christians can have conflict. You probably know that personally. You’ve probably been, if you’re honest with yourself, the source of conflict. I have. But Christians can have conflict. Look back in Philippians. He says in verse 3, “I ask you also, true companion, help these women,” and look what it says about them, “who have labored side by side with me in the gospel.” Right? I mean, they’ve been working with Paul. They know Paul. He knows them, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers. And then look what it says, “whose names are in the book of life.” So Euodia and Syntyche, they’re both believers. Their names are written in the book of life. So Christians can have conflict. They can have major conflict. Enough so that Paul has to address it in the Scriptures. But here’s the thing: Christians can’t continue in conflict. They can’t continue on. It has to be worked through. Even more, Christians can’t let it disrupt church life.

Help These Women

In verse 3, he specifically says and appeals to this person who he addresses as true companion. “Yes, I ask you also, true companion.” He’s asking a specific person to get involved. There’s many theories on who this true companion might be. Again, they’re just theories. So there’s no real hard evidence. It’s possible it was Epaphroditus. He’s the one that’s delivering the letter, right? So he’s delivering it, and he’s like, Epaphroditus—he calls him all these other great names and honorifics a chapter earlier. So it’s possible it’s Epaphroditus. He’s like, hey, like you’ve got the gifting. I need you to be involved. But whoever it was, they were either a part of the Philippian church or one of the people who had been ministering to the Philippian church and had the gifting to try to help. So Paul’s like, hey, I can’t be there. I ask you, true companion, help these women. So Christians can’t let it disrupt church life.

Here’s the thing. You want to find out a little something about someone? You want to see where their hearts are at? You want to see if they have like a servant-like attitude? Just give them a little bit of power. Just a little bit of power. It is interesting. You give someone a little bit of power, it is interesting sometimes what people do with that power, that authority, that responsibility. I have seen, thankfully not a lot, but I’ve seen people be given a little power, and it’s like night and day, it’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I mean, who they were in their life without the power, and who they were with the power, it’s crazy. It’s like they turn into egotistical despots. If you don’t agree with them, look out. Their way or the highway—that’s not the way of Christ. Christ came to serve, not to be served, and to give his life as a ransom. One of the things we need to realize, you’re having conflict with someone, you need to realize this: it affects more than just you and the other person. At a minimum, it’s going to affect your spouse, it’s going to affect your family. Especially if they go to the same church, it’s going to affect the church. Especially if it’s allowed to build up and allowed to go on for a while. Sometimes we’re like, what’s the big deal? I’m the only one that has to deal with it. No, it affects more than just you. People get dragged in willingly or unwillingly. Sometimes you drag them in because you’re sinful. And pretty soon, two becomes four people involved, and four becomes eight people involved, and so on, and so on, and so on.

Listen, Christians are called at times to get involved and help the conflict, but not to gossip about the conflict. They’re called to help, just like this true companion, help these women. So if you know of a conflict and you get involved, it’s not to take sides. It’s not to listen to just one side; it’s to bring the parties together for reconciliation. Your goal is to work towards reconciliation. I had someone years ago call me, a friend, start telling me about the issues in their church, the conflict they were having. Clearly, they were at the center of the conflict going on. And I said, look, I’m happy to help and get involved, but if I get involved, like, I’m going to reach out to your pastor and I’m going to bring him into this, because I’m going to work towards reconciliation. I just don’t want to listen to you, you know, complain about what’s going on in your church. So are you interested in that? Crickets. They just wanted to complain and gossip. Well, that’s not appropriate, so I’m not interested in that.

So if you get involved, you don’t have the luxury of taking sides. You don’t have the luxury. You know, our church has had its fair share of conflict, just like any church has. But you don’t have the luxury of taking sides. It’s a lot easier to address stuff like this when nothing’s going on, all right, that I’m aware of. But you don’t get the privilege to favor one side. I know I’ve said this before, but years and years ago, this goes back quite a ways. I was talking to someone in this church and saying, look, if you’re going to get involved in this situation, then like you got to wade in the whole way. And right now you’re just ankle deep and you think you’ve got a clear picture and know everything going on. And I’m just telling you, you don’t. So you got to get in waist deep and you can see the seriousness and the depth of the issue. You have to go further in to really see what’s going on. Right. You just don’t have the luxury to just kind of dip your toe in the water and you’ve got it figured out and you’re helping. No, you’re just participating in the disunity occurring.

Strive for Unity

So let me say this, if there’s one exhortation from the sermon, here it is: strive for unity. Strive for unity. Christians are called to unity. It’s not an option for the believer. We’re supposed to do what it says here in verse 2, agree in the Lord. We can disagree about a lot of things. Even smaller, minor theological matters. We can disagree, but agree in the Lord. So you can’t let it affect the unity of Christ’s church. Well, what’s required of a believer that knows the dispute is going on between two people? Well, partly it depends on how well you know at least one of the parties involved. The closer you are, I’d say the more the requirement to say something. You’re not required to try and fix every situation. In fact, most times it’s better if you don’t. However, the closer you are to the situation, the more the requirement to say something. If you just think of it, if you put it maybe in the context of like a family, like if your child has an issue, clearly that’s on you to address, correct? If your nephew has an issue, I mean, you might be addressing it. It kind of depends on how well you know the nephew, how well a relationship you have with a brother or sister. If you’re a third cousin, once removed, that you’ve met twice, has an issue, you’re probably not going to be that involved. Well, same is true as church. You know, the closer you are, the more it is incumbent upon you to say something.

What’s required if you’re one of the people in the conflict and you’re part of the broken-relationship dispute? Well, one, it’s not an option to do nothing. Some families, too many families, it’s just like they kind of operate on, oh, if we just ignore it long enough, it’ll just go away and it’ll be done. We know how that goes. It doesn’t go very well, does it? You know, you sweep it under the rug, well, pretty soon the rug gets a pretty big bump in it and everyone’s tripping over it. So it’s not an option if you are part of the broken relationship, you’re part of the dispute, you’re part of the issue causing the disunity—it’s not an option to do nothing. You have to seek reconciliation. Listen to Romans 12:18: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Right? So if possible, that means you’re doing what you can to seek peace and reconciliation with whatever broken relationship you might have. Now sometimes you do your part and you reach out and you apologize and you own what you own—and let me just say, own what you own. Like, own what you’re to own. I mean, if it was like a big old pot of gold you’d be wanting to own all of that. But when it’s a big old pot of sin you’re like, oh, that little part’s mine right there. That’s what I’m going to own. Like, be truthfully, completely honest with yourself and own the sin that is yours to own and go to that person and apologize. Start the process. But you do need to seek reconciliation. We are equipped, each one of us is equipped, to overcome any circumstance and work through challenges, disagreements, and sin. Why? Because Jesus is our Lord. And we have a unity. It might not seem like it at the time, but we have a unity with one another. We’ve disrupted it personally, but it is upon us to seek it out and look for a restoration.

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

Paul, think about it. A lot of us, all of us, we can talk in great abstracts and talk about the great works of God that he’s doing. We can talk about great theology. We can talk about these deep things in the abstract, but then when it’s time for us to actually walk it out, I mean, we’re like, oh, forgiveness. Yep, I got that down. And reconciliation. Yeah, we’re supposed to do that. Unity. Yeah, that’s from the Lord and he wants us walking. But when it’s time to put like our feet to the fire and walk through it, well, that is when we really find out if we believe it. Think about it for a second. Back in Philippians 1, look at it for a moment. Look what he says. Philippians 1:27:

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.

(Philippians 1:27)

There’s that “one mind,” same phrase again. He goes right into it again. At the beginning of chapter 2, we already read it. So in a sense, he’s kind of talking in the abstract. I mean, it’s great stuff. But then when we get to chapter 4, he’s like, okay, I’ve been talking about unity. Now we’re going to apply it to a specific situation. Let’s see how you do. Well, same is true for us. We can have it all in the abstract, but the truth becomes, hey, when it’s time to apply it in our own lives to particular situations, will we actually do it? And that’s really, and I’ve mentioned it before, I mean, that’s the difference between orthodoxy—good, straight teaching, true teaching, orthodox—or orthopraxy, good practice, straight practice. So we can have all the orthodoxy in the world, all the true teaching, and we assent to it and we say we believe it, but we got to have the orthopraxy. We actually have to walk it out. The straight way, the right way, the true way.

One author said this: no dichotomy can exist between what we believe and what we practice. If we believe—and he’s kind of putting it in the context of the Apostles’ Creed. If we believe that God is the creator of heaven and earth, we cannot exploit his creation in ways that dishonor him. If we believe in the forgiveness of sins for the death of Jesus Christ, then we cannot refuse to forgive the sins of others. If we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, then we cannot grieve over death as if we had no hope. But especially in light of this passage, if we believe in the holy catholic church—catholic meaning universal, FYI—if we believe in the holy catholic church and in the communion of saints, then when relationships within the church are broken, we must work for their reconciliation. It should be unthinkable to confess our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, but to refuse to associate with our brothers and sisters across the church aisle. Amen.

Two Buckets

So we’re talking unity in the church. It’s also true by way of extension, unity in the family. I mean, the church is a family of sorts, but I’m talking specifically about the family. When kids are acting up at home, whether through anger, problems, bad attitudes, stubbornness, guess what that’s an attack on? An attack on the unity of the home. It’s a serious offense. That’s why parents must address it. Same way it must be addressed in the church, it needs to be addressed, these issues in the home as well. It has to be dealt with. An attack on the unity of the home, it threatens the home, the entire home, and the well-being of the home. If you’ve ever had kids, they sin, right? They’re just like you. Congratulations. But what happens? You’ve seen it before. You have a couple kids and just one of your kids can kind of set the whole family off-kilter, right? It’s true. Well, what do you do as a parent? What’s your job? Set things back straight. Orthodoxy and orthopraxy, set straight.

Well, as church members, you need to think about it like this. If you want to walk away with an illustration, here’s the illustration to walk away with: all church members carry around two buckets, water and gasoline. When there is a fire, they throw one or the other onto it. So you’re carrying around both buckets; which one are you going to be putting on the fire? Well-meaning believers can cause great damage to the body. I don’t think Euodia or Syntyche set out to disrupt the unity of the church. Well, that’s [audio unclear]. If you can’t make progress, you bring someone in—not to be on your side, but to help work through it.

Do Not Leave It Unresolved

And let me say this: you should not leave a church over someone that you can’t work through. When Paul gives his exhortation, what is his exhortation? Work it out. Work it out. Work it out. Not leave the church. He doesn’t say leave the church. No, you shouldn’t leave a church because you have an issue with someone you can’t agree with or you can’t work through the issue. Get people involved to work through it. That’s not a legit reason. So we have a lot of weak, namby-pamby Christians that get knocked over by a simple breeze from a ceiling fan. Okay, they get all offended and worked up on small issues. If that’s you, you’ve got to learn to let stuff go. You have to learn to let it go.

All right, even last night, something happened in our house. It was the dog’s fault. It truly was. But I was getting a little bent out of shape. And my daughter was like, “Are you really going to let this ruin your whole night?” I was like, that’s a fair point. So don’t get knocked over. And sometimes we create our own disunity because we’re just so, you know, what’s the word we like to use? Snowflake, or snowflakes. Just get blown all around, right? Don’t get so easily offended. Like, learn to—love covers a multitude of sins. And you have to learn to be gracious and gracious and gracious and gracious and gracious. Because that’s what you want people to do for you, right? You’re going to be at a place where you’re going to want people to be gracious and gracious and gracious, but even more so, that’s how God is with you. He is gracious and gracious and gracious and gracious and gracious. He is very, very, very, very gracious. We just looked at a couple weeks ago, like, “Imitate me,” Paul says, “as I imitate Christ,” right? We’re trying to imitate God. Well, how does he act? Is he calling out every little tiny minor offense and jumping all over us for it? No, he’s super gracious. It takes us a while to get the message, but he shows it to us. But he’s very gracious. Very, very gracious. You know, parents, we’re trying to look at how to parent our kids—like, look to your heavenly Father. He shows us how to parent. We want to be very gracious.

One of the things that we need to do is we need to encourage reconciliation. “Help these women” is the command. Reconciliation is always the goal. It should always be encouraged. It might not always be possible, but as much as it depends on you, back to Romans, as much as it depends on you, be at peace with all. Sometimes you might have been in a situation where it seems like things are broken, you reach out, you’re trying to make it right, you’ve apologized, and there’s just no interest. You’ve done what you can and you’ve left the door open. Okay, then it’s on them, for them and the Lord to work it out, and you’ve got to give them grace, and you have to continue to give grace. Also, side note, reconciliation doesn’t mean things always go back to the way they were. That’s great when it happens, and sometimes it does, but it doesn’t always happen, but you can have reconciliation, you can have forgiveness, and even that relationship still looks a little different. If there’s been major, major sin, that’s going to affect the relationship, especially as trust has to be rebuilt, but we should always be quick to forgive, always be quick to reconcile, always be ready to reconcile, and always seek to reconcile.

A Solemn Warning and a Gracious Invitation

So what are we seeing here? Unity is not optional for the believer. We kind of have, in a sense, a solemn warning here, but also a gracious invitation. Solemn warning, gracious invitation. Two believers allowed a conflict to fracture the unity of the church. And Paul didn’t ignore it, he didn’t sweep it under the rug, he didn’t tell them to get over it. No, he called it out publicly, actually graciously urged them—not commanded, urged, urged them—to come to unity. And he enlisted the church to bring it about.

Yes, Christians are going to have conflict, but you can’t allow that conflict to divide. You can’t let that conflict be a cause for festering. You can’t let that conflict continue. Our job is to seek out the reconciliation. If you’re in a broken relationship right now, here’s Paul’s command: address it. If you know of a dispute between brothers or sisters, and you’re close to the situation, this is not an excuse for some of you that may be kind of fight against nosiness. That’s not your invitation to get involved whenever you want. Okay. Don’t do that. But you know if it is between brothers and sisters, you’re close enough to the situation, especially maybe one of them. I mean, encourage reconciliation. Offer to help. Especially if you see the greater the damage, the more you need to encourage, exhort for that. If you’re tempted to throw gasoline on the fire, well, don’t do that. All right, take the other bucket, use the water. All right, use the water. We must walk in unity for the good of God’s kingdom and for the building up of Christ’s church.

Much, much damage, brothers and sisters, has been done to the kingdom because of disunity. Churches split over it regularly. Isn’t that horrible? Think of the witness that that gives. You hear about a church split—think of the witness that that gives to unbelievers. These things can be worked through. These things can be worked through. Right? What can’t be worked through? Sin. That has to be repented of. Sometimes there’s going to be sin and major sin involved in those situations. But don’t ever be the cause for any type of huge division or disunity in the church. Be willing to humble yourself. Sometimes that just means letting stuff go. Sometimes that means walking in for forgiveness. Sometimes that means covering a multitude of sins with love. And that is very hard to do. Again, the abstract, right? We can say that, oh, cover a multitude of sins. That’s so true. And then when it’s time for us to do it, can we do it? Abstract, concrete. No, we have to walk these things out in trueness. Anyone who’s ever been in a place where there has been disunity, though, and has been willing to humble themselves, and the other party has too, like it is a beautiful thing. When God does that, both parties come together. I’d like to imagine and believe that’s what happened here. Like God was gracious. Euodia and Syntyche, they came together and they followed the exhortation from Paul to be of one mind. To agree in the Lord. Does that mean they agree on all the things? No, but agree in the Lord. And to set aside whatever the differences were, to humble themselves, repent where needed, confess their sins where needed, and walk in love. That’s our call too. That’s our call. So let’s walk in that manner. Let’s walk with that heart for God’s glory. Amen. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer

Lord, I do pray for the unity of this church, that you would continue to protect it, continue to strengthen it. Let us walk in unity with one another. I pray for any division that there might be in our midst, that it would be dealt with rightfully, righteously, justly, humbly, Lord. I pray for any brothers or sisters here that maybe just have conflict or brokenness in relationships in their own lives. Maybe it’s been going on for a long time, Lord. They’ve tried to address it; it just hasn’t gone where they’ve wanted it to. I pray for you to give them mercy and grace, let them continue to trust you, let them continue to pray for the situation. Lord, I pray that perhaps others here, Lord, realize there’s a situation they need to deal with, one that they’ve caused or have been a part of, that they would humble themselves, truly humble themselves, not in the abstract but in the concrete, Lord. Humble themselves, seek out the other person, look to be at peace, apologize and repent and ask for forgiveness where needed, Lord. We thank you, Lord, that you are a God who forgives us. But you’re the one that sought us out. You did no wrong, Lord, but you wanted to be reconciled with us. We thank you by the blood of your Son, Jesus, that’s possible. We thank you that you made a way back to you, that we’re reconciled with the Father. Lord, let us walk out that reconciliation, not just with you in our relationship, but also in practicing it with others, God, walking in the same manner that we’ve seen you walk. We pray this for your glory. Amen.