Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Mission trips are a beautiful thing as you are able to serve others and get out of your comfort zone as you’re away from your regular schedule and all the distractions that we face on a daily basis.. Most mission trips are a very unifying time for individuals and also for the team in general.

Think about that unity for a minute though.

Why are we so unified whenever we travel away from home on a trip like this?

For one you’re outside of your comfort zone.

For another you don’t have the responsibilities that you normally have.

Maybe most importantly, though, is that you have the same purpose on a mission trip.

You’re not on a vacation with different adventures and experiences that you’ve been waiting to do - you’re on a mission trip and you’re going to accomplish something bigger than yourself alongside other people.

On these types of trips you bond with the people that you travel with and relationships form as you help those in need.

Some of the best memories I have of my younger years are from mission trips and the worship times and service opportunities on those trips.

Whenever our mindset is on our collective mission, there’s usually a deep sense of unity because we remember our purpose and as Christians, we’re united in having the same purpose.

One of the problems with being a person, though, is that we forget.

It’s been said that people are people and that’s our greatest problem.

We read in the Bible time and time again that people forgot what God had done and instead did what was right in their own eyes.

Whenever we forget our purpose or whenever we put ourselves and our ideas at the top of the list, we’re in danger of causing some problems for ourselves and for others as well.

Psychology Today said this about 5 years ago, “Human behavior is by far the single largest cause of the difficulties that each of us experience in life.

Most problems are people problems, and the people who cause our problems are quite often us.”

We are often our own worst enemies and the problems that we can cause simply by forgetting what God’s Word says or by forgetting to focus on the finish line can be catastrophic.

Jesus Christ died for His bride, the church.

He wants His bride to be unified and much of the New Testament talks about how the church can stay united in difficult times.

Today as we begin the last chapter in Philippians, we’ll find ourselves in the middle of an argument that is threatening the unity in Philippi.

Rather than picking sides, Paul reminds this church to focus on Jesus and to rejoice in Christ alone.

This is the message that FBC Salem and every church needs today: In times of division and delight, focus on Christ Alone.

True Agreement is Found in Christ Alone (1-3)

Paul loves this church and these people.

Outside of Ephesus, Paul didn’t usually hang around the cities where he planted churches for more than a few months… Yet in the short time that he was in Philippi, this congregation left a lasting mark on this man.

He calls them his joy and crown - meaning that they were his joy in the Lord because God had worked in their lives and they were his crown in the sense that all of his hard work laboring for Jesus wasn’t in vain.

They were the proof that his work of proclaiming the Gospel had fallen on fertile soil.

His instruction to these people is simple: Stand firm in the Lord.

Philippi was a secular city.

The people worshipped the Roman gods and many of them were retired Roman soldiers… At the conclusion of this book, Paul writes to stand firm and as we understand the context of this letter we better understand what Paul is getting at.

Paul is arriving at another military illustration.

Just as Epaphroditus was a fellow soldier to Paul in Philippians 2:25 and how Paul instructed the Philippians to stand firm and not be frightened by their opponents in Philippians 1:27-28, here he gives them yet another command.

Stand firm in battle formation against false teachers and enemies of the faith.

Stand firm against enemies of the cross.

Their only hope to do this is to be united in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to stand upon His Word.

Ephesians 6 talks about the armor of God and this is the same image that Paul is painting here - there’s a battle taking place and if you’re a Christian, you are commanded to stand firm in the Lord.

This phrase “In the Lord” is so important and it shows up 3x in these 9 verses.

See, we live in a world where we place our confidence in ourselves and in our knowledge and possessions.

But the Bible doesn’t tell us to do this.

The Bible tells us instead to

See, if we have to stand upon our own understanding we’ll be good to go for some things because we know how to do things.

You’re likely an expert at something… But what about an area that you have no understanding?

Can you stand firm in your own ability across the board?

We all fall short and if we rely on ourselves we’ll let ourselves and others down eventually.

Instead, we trust in the Lord.

We stand firm in Who He is rather than what we know or what we do.

As we stand on God’s Word we look to our left and right and we quickly realize that there are others, at least here at FBC Salem, who are standing on God’s Word as well and that we are not alone.

That even though we don’t always remember it, we’re in agreement in Christ.

Think of some of the different agreements that are out there.

Whenever you get a new phone or electronic device you usually have to set it up and this process takes far longer than it should and at the very end there’s usually a long document with lots of bold words and if you’re anything like me you just begin to scroll mindlessly down to the bottom to click the “I agree to the terms and conditions and have read everything in this document” button so that you can move on!

Sometimes we agree to things that we don’t fully understand or even care to understand.

Other times we agree with someone on something even though we disagree with them on other things.

With high school sports about to start up around Missouri this is a timely reminder.

Even though you might disagree with another person from another town about which high school team to root for, if you’re both from Missouri, chances are you’re both Chiefs fans or Mizzou fans.

We might agree about some things but we’ll disagree about others.

This is even true in relationships - regardless of how many years you’ve been married or known one another, couples still disagree over certain things.

Who is the better driver?

Who cooks the best food?

Who is the smartest?

Where is the best vacation destination?

What to watch on TV after the kids go to bed?

The list goes on - even with the people that we love the most, there can be disagreement.

We’re all people and we’ll always disagree about some things… But disagreement can quickly lead to disunity and disunity can quickly cause division if we’re not careful!

As much as Paul loves this church, this isn’t a perfect church.

Here he names names… this is a big deal!

There’s a disagreement going on between 2 women, Euodia and Syntyche.

What was the debate or disagreement?

We aren’t told.

Scholars share that it probably wasn’t a theological issue because Paul doesn’t side with one or the other and if it was a theological issue he would certainly set the record straight.

The problem was probably relational - you know these types of relational problems, right?

So and so sat in my pew last week, why on earth would they do that?

So and so said this thing a couple of months ago and it rubbed me the wrong way, I’m not going to talk to them anymore.

This person is wired this way and I’m wired the other way, they must be wrong and I must be right.

We understand relational problems because we all have relational problems!

Here’s the problem: Problems outside of the church can lead to division inside of the church.

This is why Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that whenever you’re worshipping, if you remember a problem that you have with a brother or sister, it’s better for you to stop worshipping, solve the problem, and then come back and worship after your heart is in the right place!

Problems are a big deal.

This is why Paul urges them to stop this disagreement and agree in the Lord.

There’s that phrase again… You and I will disagree about a lot of things.

We’ll disagree about silly things like which food group or color is the best, we’ll disagree about more serious things like our dream job or our likes and dislikes… We might even disagree about some Bible things like which book is our favorite or about our interpretation about a particular idea or topic… But what unites us?

What can we all agree about as Christians?

We MUST all agree on Jesus.

Think about this problem going on.

It was serious enough for Paul, in prison, to address in a letter.

It was serious enough to be read aloud for the entire church to hear - talk about awkward for these 2 women!

And it was serious enough to be written in the Bible for generations thousands of years later to remember these women by this disagreement.

Does God take disagreement seriously?

You’d better believe He does!

Now, does this mean that we’re robots and that we can’t have differences of opinions?

Absolutely not.

God has wired us all differently and that’s a wonderful thing because we’re able to accomplish so much more together than we could ever do apart… But when it comes to following God’s Word and being united in His Word, we have to take our calling seriously.

True agreement isn’t found in liking the same food or teams, it’s not even in being apart of the same earthly family or going to the same school.

True agreement is found in belonging to Jesus Christ and having your name written in His book of life!

Whenever you agree on Jesus, you can disagree on a whole bunch of things and still love one another and worship together because we put the needs of others above the needs of ourselves.

Jesus wants us to be bridge builders, not bridge bombers.

If we ever put our needs first and don’t humble ourselves, we will quickly allow differences to cause division.

This isn’t what Jesus wants - He wants His church to be a beacon of unity and light for the nations to see.

True Joy is Found in Christ Alone (4-5)

Just as true agreement is found in belonging to Jesus, true joy is found in belonging to Jesus as well!