Introduction
Mike Strank, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Jack Bradley are just names for most people. Yet their image was immortalized because of an event that took place on February 25, 1945 in a piece of volcanic rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. An event that happened in all but 1/400 of a second. These were the men who raised the second flag on top of Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima and were photographed by war correspondent Joe Rosenthal.
According to their own testimony, the raising of the flag was no heroic measure and was of no consequence. Yet the photo of the five marines and one navy corpsman raising the American flag in enemy territory became the very symbol of bravery, victory, and hope that the American people had been looking for to sustain them through the end of the war.
Before us today we have another event that took all but a minute to be written and that immortalized for all eternity the names of two women – Euodia and Syntyche. Their names had not been known before in sacred history and are not found anywhere else in the Bible but here.
The reason for their names being immortalized is not as noble as the flag-raisers'. They were not able to get along. They were fighting to the point that the apostle Paul found it necessary to address them by name in a letter that was going be read publicly in the church!
Before Paul deals with the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche, he makes sure that the Philippian Christians, including these two women, knew of his love for them.
I. A Clear and Sincere Expression of Love, 1.
A. Twice he calls them beloved.
1. Beloved means the ones I love.
2. Paul has already expressed the magnitude and quality of his love in chapter 1.
Phil. 1:7-8 – … just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
B. He longs for them.
1. To long for someone is to yearn for him/her, to want to be with him/her, to miss him/her
2. Paul has already told them he wants to see them.
Phil. 1:24-26 – Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.
C. He calls them brothers.
1. We are so used to this expression that we no longer understand the significance of it.
2. For Paul, these people 800 miles away were his family.
3. They weren't just people; they were brothers and sisters.
D. He considers them his joy.
1. Paul is really in love with these people.
2. They are his happiness.
E. They are his crown.
1. The word here is not the word for the royal crown.
2. It is the word for the athlete's wreath or the party goer's garland.
3. It depicts victory and merriment.
4. Paul had already told the Philippians that at the coming of Christ, they will be the proof that he did not run the race of his life in vain.
Phil. 2:16 – holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
F. It is because of this love that Paul exhorts them to stand firm.
1. Don't lean toward the legalist who requires circumcision.
2. Don't lean toward the libertine who use their liberty selfshly.
3. Stand firm on the gospel of Jesus Christ by counting all things loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ (this is all in the word so).
G. Paul's love for the Philippians is normative for us.
1. This is how we are to feel toward one another.
2. This is what each of us should mean to one another.
II. Love in Practice: Pointing out a Problem, 2-3.
A. It is because Paul's love that he can turn to Euodia and to Syntyche and exhort them to change.
1. What we read in verses 2-3 is truly love applied!
2. Can you imagine the situation?
a. The elder in charge of reading the letter finishes verse 1 and perhaps takes a brief brake before reading verse two in order to steady his voice.
b. Then reads verse 2 and there is a good chance that a thick silence fell upon the congregation.
1) I picture Syntyche rejoicing even if for a split second when she heard Euodia's name mentioned, just to be brought back to reality by hearing her name read.
2) Their names now kept for all Christianity to read as examples of disunity in the church.
B. Paul addresses them publicly, not to embarrass them, but out of a desire to help them solve their conflict in a biblical way, 2.
1. So when you look at this verse, I want you to resist the urge to think of it as something negative, but as a display of true love.
2. Look at how he repeats the verb before each name in order to make it more personal to each woman.
a. Word is parakaleo – call alongside, beg.
b. Same word used in Romans 12:1
Rom. 12:1 – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
3. This disunity was something very serious and Paul is begging them to stop fighting and solve the problem biblically.
4. We don't know much about these two women and, in truth, we don't know what the problem was and when it happened.
a. The fact that Paul does not mention what the issue was indicates that it was not a doctrinal issue but a clash of personalities.
b. What we know about Euodia and Syntyche, besides the fact that they were not getting along, is that at one point they got a long just fine.
1) As matter of fact they worked together with Paul and others for the furtherance of the Gospel.
2) They had labored side by side with Paul, Clement, and others whose names were in the book of life (probably Christians who had died and whose names were in the register in heaven of those who were saved).
3) These are women worthy of respect in the church, yet they find themselves fighting.
4) I find it interesting that people say that Paul was a male chauvinist because he says women are not to exercise authority over men when here he considers them fellow-workers.
5) Having different roles is not the same as having different worth.
C. The explicit content of Paul's exhortation is that Euodia and Syntyche would be of the same mind.
1. In essence Paul is saying, "Stop fighting and start thinking like Christ." – think Christ's thoughts after him.
2. Paul now is applying in a more specific way what he already had spoken in general terms to the church as a whole.
Phil. 1:27 – Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel…
Phil. 2:2 – … fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Phil. 2:5 – Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…
3. Often this needs to be done in the church.
a. The pastor speaks of an issue in general from the pulpit and the Spirit of God applies it to the congregation.
b. Yet there are those who think that what is being said is for the person sitting next to him/her.
c. At those times, the pastor, or the elders, need to take that person aside and address the issue specifically.
d. We all suffer of the David syndrome at times – when Nathan came and talked with him about the lamb.
4. So Paul is urging these two women to apply to their lives the content of 2:3-4 as illustrated in 2:6-8.
5. The solution for their personality clash is to be selfless just like Christ was selfless in offering himself up on the cross on their behalf.
a. Having this attitude would not only take care of the problem Euodia and Syntyche were having with each other, but also of a lot of disagreements in life.
b. Relationships between husband/wife, parent/child, fellow Christians would be so much better if we weren't so busy thinking about ourselves and our rights.
III. Love in Practice: Telling the Church to Help, 3
A. Euodia and Syntyche's conflict ran so deep that they are no longer able to solve it on their own; so, Paul instructs the church to help them.
"The Lord has also provided a powerful support system for peacemaking. It is the church. When we are unable to resolve a conflict on our own, God commands the local church to step in and bring its wisdom, resources, and authority to bear on the problem." Ken Sande in the Peacemaker
B. We find this instruction in the word help in verse 3.
1. The word translated help (sullambano) means to come together, to embrace, to put your arm around it.
2. It carries the meaning of two English words.
a. Counsel
b. Mediate
3. So here we have a call for the church to come alongside those struggling and counsel them and mediate a resolution for their conflicts with other saints.
C. Who is this instruction specifically given to in this passage?
1. In our translation (and in all current English translations), it seems that Paul is addressing a nameless person who he calls true companion.
2. However, the word translated companion seems to be a proper noun, a name, a masculine name РS̼zugos.
a. In the Bible times, names usually carried meaning with them.
1) Euodia means good journey.
2) Syntyche means fortunate.
b. So this man's name means yoke-fellow or companion.
c. The word true then is Paul's way of saying that his name really fits his character.
3. So, Súzugos was the pastor or one of the elders of the Philippian church.
4. And Paul exhorts him to help Euodia and Syntyche to solve their conflict.
D. This was the Philippian pastor's call and it is also the call of every pastor in the church of Jesus Christ.
"Christ has not appointed pastors upon this condition, that they may only teach the Church in general in the open pulpit; but that they may take charge of every particular sheep, that they may bring back to the sheepfold those which wander and go astray, that they may strengthen those which are discouraged and weak, that they may cure the sick, that they may lift up and set on foot the feeble, for common doctrine will oftentimes wax cold, unless it be helped by private admonitions.
"Therefore, the negligence of those men is inexcusable, who, having made one sermon, as if they had done their task, live all the rest of their time idly; as if their voice were shut up within the church walls, seeing that so soon as they departed thence they be dumb." John Calvin commenting on Acts 20:20
1. So, it is my duty to try to help you in whatever way I biblically can to glorify God with your lives.
2. It would be negligence on my part not to come to you when there is something that needs to be addressed in your life.
a. This is a haunting task for me.
b. This is not a pleasurable thing to do.
c. But it is a good, necessary, and God-glorifying thing to be done for the good of the church.
E. If giving private counseling and mediation is the duty of every pastor in Christ's church, receiving counseling and mediation is the duty of every member of Christ's church!
"Disciples…are taught, that if they will be numbered in Christ's flock, they must give place to their pastors, so often as they come unto them; and that they must not refuse private admonitions. For they be rather bears than sheep, who do not vouchsafe to hear the voice of their pastor, unless he be in the pulpit; and cannot abide to be admonished and reproved at home…" John Calvin commenting on Acts 20:20
{TRANSITION: At the end of the day, it is the cross of Christ that makes unity necessary and possible.}
IV. Unity Necessary and Possible Because of the Cross
A. Euodia and Syntyche are exhorted to be of the same mind IN THE LORD.
B. It is at the cross that these women are to meet.
C. In the cross, people, who might otherwise have nothing in common, are brought together and are united with an inseparable bond.
1. Because of the cross of Christ, we are no longer just individuals.
2. We are a covenant community, a family bound together by the blood of Christ.
3. We have had the sign of that union placed upon ourselves and our children in our baptism.
D. It is the work of Christ on the cross, coupled with his resurrection, that has broken down that middle wall of separation between all peoples.
1. That is why Paul can say in chapter 2 that "every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
2. When the angels get together in heaven to sing, they sing about this union purchased for us by the cross.
Rev. 5:9 – And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation…
3. Paul declares that, by the work of Christ on the cross, we are one body.
Eph. 4:1-6 – I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
4. We are one in Christ Jesus and we need to act as one.
5. There is no place for bickering, personality clashes, and unresolved conflict in the church of Jesus Christ because of what Christ did on the cross.
E. That is why there is no hope for you if the cross is not at the center of your life.
1. You are burdened with the cares of this life.
2. You want relief from all the bickering and fights and struggles that weigh you down.
3. But without the cross you are condemned to an eternity of being weighed down by your sin in hell.
4. But Christ invites you to come and to place your burdens upon him and to embrace his cross as yours and to have life abundant in him.
Mt. 11:28-30 – Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Conclusion
Unresolved conflict, fighting because of personality clashes, and selfishness are not to have a place among us. We are rather to come together as one focusing on the cross and helping one another to behold God and pursue godliness.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2015/07/true-love-displayed-phil-41-4.html
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