Live in Harmony

Philippians 4:1-3 NIV
"Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!
I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life."

In a day and age where the words 'divided' and 'separated' get thrown around so much and we're so busy talking about how different we are it seemed like it might be a good idea to post about unity.

I think that at times it's too easy to skip over Scriptures like this that talk about specific people. It doesn't seem to apply to us, after all we never knew Euodia or Syntyche or even what their issue with each other was. But we all know someone, another believer, that we've had an issue with. We all know two believers who once worked together but now there's always tension between them. Far too many of us have seen churches torn apart because of believers refusing to set aside difference and work together. And what's the outcome? People are hurt, many will go to new churches, others won't go to any church but will cling to their faith and still others will abandon their faith completely. And there's the outsiders, the non-believers, who see this all happen and think "well if that's how Christians treat each other then why would I want to be one?" and that's what I believe Paul was trying to keep from happening in his letter to the church in Phillipi.

So let's break this down. Paul writes to this church, he expresses his love and pride in them. He calls them 'my joy and my crown' and encourages them to 'stand firm in the Lord'. He obviously wants what's best for them but then he immediately addresses a problem that's reached his ears. Somehow, someway these two women who both worked alongside Paul in his ministry, are now fighting with each other. They're bringing division into the church. Maybe it started out as just a bit of a spat between friends but left unresolved that discontentment always starts to affect the others around us. Paul begs the women to be reconciled and then he goes a step further.

He asks others to help them to 'be of one mind'. See as believers we're not only called to unity, we're also called to help others on this journey of discipleship that leads us to becoming more and more like Christ. So when we see two believers who are fighting or have a division between them we should do what we can, with much prayer and an abundance of love, to speak the truth into their lives and help them to be reconciled.

Sometimes this will mean helping a couple repair their marriage or helping a family learn to communicate better, maybe it's helping two friends repair the friendship after a fight or just two congregation members learn to serve on a committee together. Not everybody is going to be best friends and we're certainly not all going to agree on everything but throughout Scripture we're called to love one another. Isn't it more important to focus on the Lord we worship, to set aside our differences, not abandoning our beliefs, but focusing on being able to work together then it is to spend our time fighting?

Isn't about time that the church starts showing the world what Christ meant when He said to love our neighbor? And where better to start with the one who sits in the pew across from us? Or even the pew across town from us?