Two women were struggling with Paul in ministering, but they had a huge problem. This may be your problem too.
United for Something Much Greater than Myself--But in Harmony
Philippians 4:2-3
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Please turn to Philippians 4:2-3. As you are turning there, I want to share with you that when we think of God in a Biblical manner--in other words, when you think of God according to His revelation to us about Himself, then we think of our God as being perfect. The Scriptures present God as being in perfect harmony with Himself. Think about it. God is one God. God is one, and in God's oneness, the Bible describes God as three distinct persons. Three as one--He is in perfect harmony with Himself. Biblically, we can also think of God being infinitely immense. I start to think about how big infinity is and my brain starts to kind of fade out. It's hard to think about because it is much greater than we are. Our little brains can only go so far with it. Then there is God's creation. It is huge. Galaxies, solar systems, stars, planets, and atoms. The huge volume of it all is staggering. Then there are all the various life forms. Perhaps there are trillions of different kinds. Just thinking about it humbles us. God is infinite, and His creation is finite; and what is just as mind blowing to realize is that our infinite God exists, somehow, alongside His creation. The fancy word that people use to describe this, is transcendency. God transcends His creation. Though it seems impossible, there is harmony there. God invented this harmony. In the midst of the greatness, and harmony, God also created us. But, in one sense we were not born great. We are born in sin. We are born in disharmony with God. But when God recreates us, we are reborn great, because we are born again in the Son. This brings us into harmony with God. But still, we are each individually only a small aspect of God's bigger harmonious plan. When I think of the vast extended body of Christ, I think of billions of people. I'm not talking about just our generation. I'm talking about the body of Christ that God has created over the generations, and is creating, even today. God says He wrote all of their names, your name, and my name, in a book. That book has the family record of the body of Christ. The vast body of Christ is everyone that God loves in self sacrificial love. God unites all of us together as the body, and he wants us to be harmonious. God wants you and me to be united for something much greater than ourselves--but in harmony. You can be joined with people in a cause, but it doesn't mean you are necessarily in harmony with those folks.
Our passage we are studying and learning from this morning is concerned with harmony that God desires from us toward one another. Please read it with me now, starting in verse 2,
"I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. 3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the good news, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life." Philippians 4:2-3
Please prepare your heart to learn from the preaching of God's word, in this sermon titled,
United for Something Much Greater than Myself--But in Harmony
[prayer]
Paul starts out this little section of thought by urging two Christian women to do something very important to God. We don't have a whole lot of details about who these women are. One thing we do know is that they were not living in harmony. Paul says,
"I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord." Philippians 4:2
I think we all realize what it means to live in disharmony. I think of a time years ago when I was in a church that had a big praise and worship team. They were all singing, and everyone was seemingly in harmony, except for one person. She was singing off key. Unfortunately the woman was singing louder than the others. Some of the team that was singing along with her, kept glancing over at her in recognition that she was in disharmony, but for some reason, she was not recognizing this fact about herself. She was in harmony with serving the Lord by glorifying His name with her words, but her voice was in disharmony with the other members of the body. The result was that people were becoming focused on the woman and her off-key, and loud voice. Praise and worship dissipated in one of the worst forms of mass attention deficit disorder I have ever witnessed. So what happened? Well, a lot of folks couldn't focus on God. All they could do is focus on the embarrassing sounds, and the somewhat comical scene that was unfolding before their eyes and ears. Think about the stark difference there is when people are in harmony versus when people are in disharmony. Disharmony is a distraction. Harmony brings focus upon our commonality that we all share in while we do our activities together. Harmony means rightness and flow. The Church is like this. When all the members of the body are living in harmony, the result is like a group of people singing the same worship song in melodic unison in service to the Lord. All the voices blend together so well in unity that we call it beautiful, fulfilling, productive, right, good, honorable, God glorifying. We even call it effective. Everyone knows what it is like to be in harmony with a member of the body of Christ. You also know what it is like to not be in harmony--don't you? But there are people who might not want to admit they are in disharmony with other members of the body, even though they really are. They will say pious sounding things like,
"I love so and so, but ..."
I've got a warning for all of us. Always be careful with the but:
"I love so and so, but I am not going to be their friend anymore."
"I love so and so, but I have decided I just can't fellowship with them anymore."
"You know, I can't really put my finger on it, but I just don't get along with that person."
"So and so loves the Lord, but frankly, I can't stand that person myself. Maybe if I was the Lord, I could love them that way too. But I'm not the Lord, so what can I say?"
I've even heard people say,
"Maybe its wrong, but I wish so and so would go away and never come back."
And what usually ends up happening is that the one in the relationship who says this, is the one who goes away in disharmony. Next time you hear some malcontent say something like this, then ask them this question:
Can you please define from the Bible what love means?; because you just said that you love so and so, and yet you are acting like you don't love them.
What does love mean--Biblically?
Does love mean that you have chosen to divorce from members of the body?
Does love mean that you give up on the body because you don't like parts of it?
Does love mean that the rest of the body gives up on you, if it doesn't like you?
Does love mean that we wish brothers and sisters would disappear because we don't like them?
Does love mean that you disappear?
If you ask those questions, be ready for either not getting an answer, or getting some philosophical answer that comes from a personal opinion that seeks to justify their lack of love for God's people--God's church. Or you will hear people say,
"I really love the people of that church, but I prefer not to fellowship as a community with that church anymore. We just can't seem to get along."
"I don't want to be part of that church. I am angry with some people there. They don't do things my way. They hurt my feelings."
"I am going to leave that church because I just don't think I am in harmony."
Of course you are not in harmony, but that is just a fact you are dealing with wrongly.
My point is that the selfish reasons can go on and on, but according to the full counsel of God, they are not justifiable excuses that dismiss the action of disharmony that the person so self assuredly fosters. The very fact that the malcontent has broken fellowship proves that they are not doing what God says. They are disobedient, divisive, unloving, and it is sin.
So what does God say?
Seek harmony.
According to God, it is His will that all Christians seek to preserve harmony, and steadfastly live in harmony until they die, and God makes it clear what He means. This is part of the problem with the modern church in America. It is also leading to the churches disintegration within our generation. The church is a mess. Christians find it way too easy to live in disharmony, and they find it way to easy to try to attempt to justify their unbiblical, sinful, selfish, self justified, actions. Sometimes, they will even try to convince themselves that what they are doing is biblical. They will search and search the Scriptures after becoming perturbed, and they will try to find anything in the Bible that they think will support their personal rejection of God's people. But contrary to such perversions of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, has been pressing God's concern for us to do everything we can, as far as it depends upon ourself in personal obedience to the Spirit, (Romans 12:18), to manifest God's Spirit by living in relational harmony. God has been urging us through this whole Philippians epistle to struggle with all that we have to stay in harmony in our relationships, by being truly loving, by dying to self, by being nobodies. You and I need to embrace it as those who are seeking to live godly in Christ Jesus. God wants you and I to be a part of spiritual revival in our generation, and this relationship power is one of the preperatory steps to true revival in God's church that He is going to use. Folks, we need to embrace how important harmony is to God. I am finding out that in my pastoring, and in my preaching, and in God's will for His church, for individual fellowships, and for personal relationships among Christians, that harmoniousness in relationship is one of the most important themes in the New Testament. Unfortunately, I am also finding that it is not so very important to a lot of us Christians who read the same Bible. I have seen the curse of disharmony destroy relationships. I've seen it scar God's work in our own body.
Why?--because of thinking personally, and not biblically.
I have seen it permeate other ministries, and churches to the detriment of God's heart for His people.
Why?--because of not thinking God's thoughts, but trying to make personal thoughts into God's thoughts.
Here is the problem; trying to figure out ways to make your own selfish, graceless, judgmental, critical actions, justified by attempting to tweak God's heart to be your heart, will nullify your effectiveness as a Christian slave of the King. It will poison you, and let me tell you what will happen:
You will be poison;
and as poison, you will poison the rest of the body with your false pious stance that you use to be in disharmony with people God loves and Christ died for. But let me tell you something--God is going to have renewal in His church in our generation. It is going to be by the power of His holy Spirit. It is going to be according to love. And God will start with those who humbly seek harmony with Him by loving the body in harmony, and you better be part of what God is doing, and not part of what is against it.
Part of what Paul is pressing you and me to do is become diplomats in this war to battle this tendency toward disharmony in our generation. We do it by continuously, relentlessly, ceaselessly, tirelessly, seeking to recognize people in the body after the Spirit and not the flesh. This step toward renewal means that we will strive to have harmony even if our personalities don't blend well. We are after the Spirit, not the flesh. It means that any personal petty conflicts we had beforehand must become anathema. We are after the Spirit, not the flesh. It means that it is not based upon whether we like each other or not, or whether we feel comfortable with one another or not, or whether we don't personally like the way others do things or not. All those things are things of your flesh. There is only one way to do this relationship that God desires, and we necessarily must do it this way--We must do it in the Lord.
"I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord."
@1 God wants me to live in harmony with other Christians in________________.
That right there will keep you from sinning and it will have you manifest the true character of Christ that God wants you to have by looking at others as being better than yourself. Instead of looking at all the carnal things that you can have disharmony in, (and the list could be endless if you want it to be), God wants us to live in harmony in the place of our Christian commonality. It is the place that matters. The place is a Who. The problem is that we are prideful, selfish people when we are living in the place of ourselves. Think about when you are living in yourself. In yourself, you are irritable. In yourself, you are selfish. In yourself, you don't flow with continuously being a blessing to others no matter what. In yourself, you don't stick with the needs of others no matter what. In our own selves, our minds get clouded with the things earth, and so the things of the Spirit grow strangely dim, instead of the other way around where the things of earth should grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. To have harmony in the Lord--in the Spirit--we must transform our minds and put on the heart of Christ. We must get rid of our brooding, emotional, catty attitudes, and put on the heart of Jesus;
"12 Put on then, as God’s elect ones, set apart and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Colossians 3:12-13
@2 God want me to forgive others as the___________has forgiven me.
You do this, and you are walking in the Spirit. Now think about how essential this is, and yet it is so easy to take it off. It is so easy to leave it on the shelf with our Bibles. To have harmony in the Lord, you and I must be continuously putting on the Lord while in the Lord. Paul calls it the mind of Christ;
"2 ... [be] of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this mind in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus," Philippians 2:2-4
@3 God wants me to regard others as more_____________than myself.
Do you know what this is? All of this is the Holy Spirit at work. It is His mind. It is His love. And when you are led by the Spirit, and you are more full of the Spirit than you are of yourself, then you will be humble. Humility fosters harmony, and that is the fertile ground for the beginning of revival of the sick church of our culture. To search out the depths of our minds in the Lord, let's ask ourselves:
Am I regarding the others in this church as more important than I am?
If you are not in God's will by thinking with this mind, then you will not apply God's will of living in humble, loving harmony. Either you are thinking with the mind of Christ, or you are thinking with the mind of Euodia and Syntyche. It is really that simple.
But the mind of humbleness goes a step further. What I mean is that when we are offended, or when we are perturbed with others, we are in the place that self justification for disharmony can easily become our mind. But in the midst of offense and agitation, we are in the critical moments that the mind of Christ needs to be ours. In the critical moments in our relationships, we must have Jesus thoughts, and Jesus actions should follow--even Jesus words. James says that our mouths are fountains that pour out what is in our minds. Your mouth is one of the biggest action centers around, and unless you are filled with the Spirit, what will overflow out of your mouth in the critical moment will be sewage. Paul went on in chapter 2 to tell us that we need to watch our mouths,
"Do all things without grumbling or disputing;" Philippians 2:14
Grumbling and disputing is disharmony. And so according to the mind of God, we all know we are supposed to be in harmony. But we also know that we are not perfect. So when we ask ourselves: Am I regarding the others in this church as more important than I am? Do I do all things without grumbling or disputing?, sometimes we see the real problem, and the Spirit compels us to say "no." But, I also know that during a sermon time like this, we can hear questions like these, and we can say
Yes, I am in harmony with the people in the body.
We can say this because we are all here joined together in our church meeting. We are all here, like a choir, or a worship team would be some place when it is gathered; but there is something more than just being together in a group of Christians. You might be gathered geographically, but you may not be together in your heart. Okay, now take that principle and think about when you are not here physically either. The question of being in harmony in the Lord extends to when you leave this place. The question, then is:
Am I harmonious, in the Lord, when I leave this place?
Am I together in my heart?
The point is that seeds of discord can easily be sown when you are away from others--in fact oftentimes much easier than when you are in the midst of the crowd.
Now, I want us to see something that God is showing us through His word about the mind of harmony that you and I are to have. Euodia and Syntyche worked for the Lord. Follow what the Holy Spirit is saying. We can think everything is okay when we are doing service to the Lord as bondservants of Him--right? Why would we think this? Because we are actually doing something in the Lord. We are actually participating in the worship team, so to speak--right? Or we are actually not forsaking our assembling together ike God commands us to. Or we are sharing the gospel of salvation in evangelizing, or we are reading the Bible together, or we are listening to learn from a sermon together. (We do listen to sermons to learn, right?) The main point is that you are actually doing Christian things, in the Lord. Think about this. Think about yourself--Think about yourself, while you think about Euodia and Syntyche. Obviously there was a problem with these two woman, but these woman are identified as having shared Paul's struggle in the cause of the gospel. In other words, they are strugglers for the Lord (in the Lord), doing Christian things in a day and age when struggling meant really giving up huge comfort zones, risking their property, losing their reputations, and their lives. But in their struggle, they are failing to maintain one of the most important things to the Lord (in the Lord) that there is, which is harmony among the body. Do you see how insidious this sin is? They are doing all this glorious work for Christ, but they are missing God's glorious work in one huge area. Now think about the story I told earlier about the praise and worship team. Wasn't the team singing words that were meant to bring glory directly to the Lord? Yes. This is what they assembled to do by leading the rest of the body to worship in harmony. They were doing something. They were working together for the cause of Christ. They were wanting to glorify God. So, they're all on God's side. And listen to me--they were also seemingly on the side of the church. But when one of them was in disharmony, the church was distracted from glorifying Christ. My point is that the function of the body continues, but it continues in a less than optimum way. Ministry continues, but it continues off kilter. Yes, God's work goes on in this world, and He gets the praise, worship, and glory He wants, but in the meantime, something is wrong that causes other problems. When I looked around, I noticed that some of the more spiritually minded folks cared less about the disharmony of the worship team. They simply sang with their own gusto unto the Lord. God's work will go on folks. He will get His glory. He will even do it without you, and He can achieve what He wants to in the midst of your disharmony, but here is the huge take home point for us all: (So let's put this in our minds and keep it with us)
God's will for you, me, and the rest of the body is that we love each other, and die to ourselves as our spiritual ministry to the Lord (in the Lord) recognizing that it is our ministry to make sure that we be harmonious.
In other words, doing the ministry of the Lord in one part of His will, does not give you a license to neglect your other important ministry by gossiping, tearing down, being selfishly angry, being petty, being divisive, being jealous, or staying angry with anyone in the body. If you do so, you are not fulfilling your ministry struggle in the cause of Christ. Rather, you make yourself into a mission field where God is going to urge someone to help you start living in Christlike harmony. God says,
"... live in harmony in the Lord." Philippians 4:2
along with your struggling to further the gospel of Jesus Christ. The answer to disharmony in Christ is to minister grace, which involves two things:
1) forgiveness in Christ,
and
2) not being critical.
While I was doing some missions work in Northern India, I noticed that there was a strange coldness and what seemed to be rivalry between two missionary groups. After listening and talking to people from both sides, I could see that lack of forgiveness concerning some things that were done or said by each group, was part of the problem. The other thing I noticed was that each one was critical of just about anything the other group had done, or would do. Remember the "but" comments I mentioned before? They would say,
"Oh yes brother Kerry, they are spreading the gospel, but ..."
and then they would launch into a litany of critical attacks about certain people. I've seen the same pattern manifested hundreds of times among Christians. It starts out with unforgivness in one area. It grows with criticalness about a couple of things that are not personally liked, or accepted, and then it snowballs, and the next thing you know is that unforgivness permeates the mind. Criticalness grows to such an extent that hardly anything good is associated with the victim of the critic's attacks. But harmony in the Lord is the ministry of grace. Grace, forgiveness, and dying to a critical spirit--this is real love in real action. Christ unified a body for Himself by the ultimate ministry act of forgiveness. His mind, His way, His heart, is our ministry pattern. Remember,
"... in the Lord." Philippians 4:2
What the Spirit of the Lord is teaching us to do is reach out to people, and keep reaching out to people with open arms of real enduring love of cutting loose of any offenses. This is what Christ did for you. There is no reconciliation in the Lord, when there is no Christian forgiveness. The question that God wants each of us to ask of ourselves is:
Am I doing the ministry of forgiving the people that God has brought into my life?
Am I doing the ministry of having grace, in real authentic, tangible, Christian love?
I'm talking about the ministry of the Spirit.
Think about someone who has offended you, or who you are jealous of. When you have been offended, you must forgive. God gives you no other option. First come forgiveness in the Lord, then comes reconciliation in the Lord. This is the mind of Christ according to His ministry. We find the pattern in 2 Corinthians,
"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled [brought us back to Himself in peace] us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses [sins] against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
@4 If anyone is in Christ he is a new_______________. God brought us back together to Himself in_______________, not counting our sins against us.
Do you see what God is showing us? God had to do it. God first made the move of forgiveness of sins in Christ. The move comes first, where God doesn't count the trespasses against those whom He loves. To truly have unity, while we exist for something better than ourselves, we are going to have to humble ourselves like Jesus first; we are going to have to make the move first; That's when we are going to get it. But there is another dimension to the ministry of reconciliation. Paul says,
"3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the good news, ..." Philippians 4:3
When we see others doing the work of the Lord, but we see disharmony coming from their attitudes, mouths, and actions for someone, what do we do? Do we take part in it? Do we stand by and do nothing about this grievous activity? This reminds me of an incident in church some time ago, where a few of the people were holding another Christian in contempt. During this critical time, another man was involved with fanning the flames of disharmony those people where burning the other Christian down with. The man was doing this in a certain subtle way. The way that he was doing this was by doing nothing. What I mean is that instead of doing what he should have done in the ministry work that seeks to bring harmony, he actually helped feed the fire of speculation, gossip, grumbling, disunity, and disharmony by what I will call the "silent approval." Grace, forgiveness, and being truly biblical, were the last things on those people's minds. Abandonment, isolation, and sinful speculation was reigning as the king. When I finally figured out what was going on, I intervened, but great damage had already been done. In the meantime, the whole mess of disharmony would have been avoided if that one man would have done something to bring harmony. Whenever we stand by and show silent approval of the disharmony in our midst, and do nothing about it, then we are allowing the body to hurt itself; and we are part of the body. We need to intervene when we see disunity and contentions among the body. It is very easy to stand by and do nothing, especially when the same contention and disunity is hidden in our own heart. Don't stand by and do nothing. Do not be involved in fanning the flames of disharmony either by gossiping, or by showing quiet approval. Just because you are quiet, doesn't mean that you are not an accomplice in sowing the seeds of discord along with other divisive malcontents.
More than a million deadly words can be implied with the compliant slander of a simple nod, a smug smile, or a silent glance.
Notice the harmony contrast; Paul calls this person his true companion;
"3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the good news, ..." Philippians 4:3
The Christian that Paul wants to help bring the harmony that God demands is literally called Paul's yoke-fellow. The epistles that Paul wrote were sent primarily to trustworthy leaders. The pastors of the churches were the ones who had charge of the epistles. This man was probably a noteworthy leading pastor. In calling this man Paul's yoke fellow, Paul indicates that this person was in harmony in both of the big areas that God cares about--
1) harmony in serving the Lord,
and
2) harmony with the body (which is also serving the Lord).
God wants all of us to be true yoke fellows of one another. God is telling us to draw upon the power of Christ within us, and be helpers--not hindrances. Paul says,
"Help these woman ... together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life." Philippians 4:2-3
Our sphere of ministry is bigger than we expect. We must be ambassadors who disperse clique-ish-ness, and we must battle isolationism everywhere. Unity and peacemaking extends to every area, and involves everyone. Paul refers to a man named Clement, and the rest of the fellow workers. They are people of the Lamb, in the cause of the King. They were in harmony in ministry, and in fellowship. Our commonality with them is that we all have our names written in Christ's special book of salvation. Paul calls it the book of life. In Revelation, it is called the Lamb's book of life. Christ Jesus is the great sacrificial Lamb of God. He was crucified, and now He is resurrected. All whom He purchased upon the cross, are all the people who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life. Unsaved people, are not in that book,
"27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, [the eternal Jerusalem of God] but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." Revelation 21:26-27
@5 God wrote all the names of everyone He saves in His special book called the_____________book of___________.
God wrote the names of His people in His special book before the foundation of the world. Those who are opposed to Christ are not in harmony with God, the Lamb, you, or me. John describes such people as,
"7 ... everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." Revelation 13:7-9
In the book, our names are not far from one another. Forever and ever, we will all sing in harmony in our eternal spiritual salvation together because we are the body of Christ. In the meantime, we need to be a harmonious body right now in our relationships. There is no better way to do this than to start right now. Now is the time to examine ourselves for bad attitudes. We need to die to trying to justify any kind of us and them mentality concerning members of the body. Quit judging your brothers and sisters based upon scriptures taken out of context, distorted scriptures, false words of knowledge, false discernment, personal opinions, and no scripture at all. I encourage you to do something that requires the power of the Holy Spirit to apply what He's been teaching us this morning:
Purposely think of some people in the body that you are not in harmony with, and make it a point to pray for them.
Nothing should be able to stop you from doing this now, this morning. Are you going to be sensitive to the urging of God's Spirit? Before we disperse, tell God that you love that person. You know how to pray in your spirit. Tell God right now that you have fallen short of being an obedient child of the family of God. Tell God that you know that you, and that person (or those people), are not in harmony. If it is your doing, then tell God. If it is the other person's doing, then tell God. Ask God to make provision of an open door for reconciliation and harmony. Think of that person, and be starkly honest with yourself. Think of whether you are having real grace with that person--not pretend grace, where you say, "You know, I love that person, but..." Leave the "but" out of it. Too many buts are making true love into pretend language. Instead, love that person. Quit saying, "I really do care for that person, but..." Instead, care for that person. If you are holding a grudge, or if you are making your harmony contingent upon expectations that you have set for that person, then you are not having grace. You may claim you have grace, but your empty claims matter about as much as your empty heart. Even the devil can claim that he has grace for you by telling you that it is great for you to live like you want to live. But that is not real grace. Maybe you don't like the way the person talks. Maybe you don't like the way those people raise their kids. You are perturbed by the social manners of your brother, or your sister. You have created discord among the body because of your own personal graceless opinions. You are not ministering. You are maligning. What you call a wisdom issue, is really just your own issue. Maybe you don't like the way the person avoids you, or looks at you. Here is the point:
The things that you don't personally like should not be a locked gate to manifesting God's grace in the Lord.
Open the gate by opening up your heart right now. Repent, and get in on God's heart. Maybe that person has offended you. You need to let it go, and forgive that person. It is God's law. Do the law of love first, then you can have the reconciliation and harmony that God demands. Don't put it off. Act upon what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you. If you do not die to yourself; if you do not take on the mind of Christ, and think of others as being better than yourself, then you will not forgive. If you do not forgive, then there won't be forgiveness. If there is no forgiveness, then there is no reconciliation. If there is no reconciliation, then there is no harmony. If there is personal disharmony with your relationships in the body, then there is another heart that is not God's. What we are talking about is God's heart--so do it. And you can do it because God has given you all the tools you need to do it. Finally, I encourage you to be a true yoke fellow. Be someone who helps others to live in harmony. Be about the fullness of your ministry in the Lord. Jesus said
"blessed are the peace makers."
When you see the seeds of discord being sown among the brothers and sisters, come in and gently dig up the seeds and replace them with Spirit filled springs of living water. Be a peace maker. This, my brothers and sisters, is what God wants from us right now. Amen.
@1 God wants me to live in harmony with other Christians in________________.
@2 God wants me to forgive others as the___________has forgiven me.
@3 God wants me to regard others as more_____________than myself.
@4 If anyone is in Christ he is a new_______________. God brought us back together to Himself in_______________, not counting our sins against us.
@5 God wrote all the names of everyone He saves in His special book called the_____________book of___________.
