Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Introduction

In our study of Philippians, we’ve seen how Paul loves this church who are in partnership with him in the gospel.

But there’s a reason why Paul is writing this letter.

Yes, it’s to encourage them.

Yes, it’s to let them know that he is still rejoicing in prison - that his circumstances haven’t gotten him down.

But there’s another reason - possibly the main reason why Paul is writing this letter…and a lot of what has been written so far has been building up to this one thing - the purpose for writing this letter...

2 Women in the church can’t get along.

Of course this never happens in churches today.

People always get along great in churches today.

We never have conflict in our churches today.

Of course we do, but thankfully Paul has given us a step-by-step guide on how to deal with conflict in churches.

And to be fair, our own minister is probably best placed to preach this sermon, because he is on the conciliation panel which are a group of people who are sent out to churches to try to stop conflict and arguments from tearing the church apart.

Or, when churches are starting to rip at the seams, the conciliation panel can help to resolve the conflict.

But it’s my turn to preach tonight...

And from what I can tell from our passage today, we have a 6 step process to conflict resolution.

And I noticed something when studying this during the week that I had never noticed before.

You see, there are these 2 ladies in the church, Euodia and Syntyche, who aren’t getting on.

And we don’t know why, but they aren’t.

And Paul tells them in verses 2-3, ladies, get along...

Now, previously, I thought Paul stopped there and then went on to something new in verse 4, when he says...

Phil

But after studying the passage throughout the week I’m not so sure Paul has moved on to something new in verse 4.

What works better, especially for conflict resolution, is to look at verses 4-7 as part of Paul’s address to the ladies who are at each other’s throats.

So that’s what we’re going to do tonight.

We’re taking verses 1 - 7 as a 6-step guide to conflict resolution, according to Paul (the apostle)...

So step 1...

1. Affirm

Paul has been leading up to this point in his letter.

And up to this point of his letter, he’s been affirming these people.

I thank God when I remember you.

You are my partners in the gospel.

He calls them my dear friends in chapter 2 and brothers and sisters in chapter 3.

And then in chapter 4 he continues this...

He calls them his brothers and sisters again, but not just that - brothers and sisters whom I love, whom I long for.

Brothers and sisters who are his joy - they make him joyful and they are his crown.

And the word crown that is used is the crown that would be worn as a crown of victory in a competition.

In other words, the church in Philippi is Paul’s trophy church.

They are the flagship church - the one of whom he is most proud.

The one about which he would boast to his friends… ‘guys, let me tell you about this church in Philippi...’

Paul is affirming them.

He’s building them up.

And in a place where there is conflict, where there are sides to be taken and a disagreement - a lot of the time, all that people want is to be heard.

They’d like to know that they have a place, that their voice is at least being heard.

People like to feel like SOMEONE cares.

And Paul shows this in this part of his letter.

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