I Exhort Euodia and Syntyche

Driving home: no church can stand fast in true biblical steadfastness in its corporate life apart from a context of, of internal harmony and unity.

Pastor Clark's humorous reference to Euodia and Syntyche as 'Mrs. Oodia and Mrs. Tsun Tachi' is used to introduce the women's names and add a lighthearted touch before delving into the serious nature of their conflict.

no church can stand fast in true biblical steadfastness in its corporate life apart from a context of, of internal harmony and unity. And there was perhaps very present in the mind of the apostle Paul, a direct line from the exhortation of verse 1, So stand fast in the Lord, my beloved, I exhort Oodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of the same mind in the Lord. Now as we attempt to open up the passage this morning, and then to apply, consider with me first of all, the identity of these women. The names set before us are Oodia and Syntyche. In our elders meeting prior to coming up to lead the se...

4:43 - 5:47 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It can tolerate the widest diversity on everything that does not pertain to those distinct dynamics that grow out of our union with Christ and the implications of that union.

The example of differing preferences for eating spaghetti (winding on a fork vs. chopping with a spoon) illustrates that Christian unity does not demand wooden conformity in all personal tastes, only in matters derived from union with Christ.

They are free to have a differing mind as to their preferences with respect to men, whether they like tall men, short men, fat men, skinny men, rich men, or poor men. They are free to have distinctive tastes with regard to whether or not they wind their spaghetti on a fork or chop it up and eat it with a spoon. In other words, this is not a call to the kind of wooden conformity that is the mark of all cults.

14:13 - 14:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It can tolerate the widest diversity on everything that does not pertain to those distinct dynamics that grow out of our union with Christ and the implications of that union.

The mark of a cult, characterized by wooden uniformity and intolerance of differences, is contrasted with true biblical Christianity, which allows for wide diversity outside of core Christ-derived dynamics, to clarify the nature of Christian unity.

You see, one of the marks among many of a cult is that there can be no toleration of any differences at any level. There is a wooden uniformity that runs clean through every dimension of shared life. Not so true biblical Christianity. It can tolerate the widest diversity on everything that does not pertain to those distinct dynamics that grow out of our union with Christ and the implications of that union.

14:42 - 15:12 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It can tolerate the widest diversity on everything that does not pertain to those distinct dynamics that grow out of our union with Christ and the implications of that union.

A hypothetical conversation between Paul and Epaphroditus is imagined, where Paul's persistent questioning about Euodia and Syntyche eventually reveals the rift between them, illustrating how Paul likely learned of their disunity.

He even elevates them beyond the level of mere fellow workers and says they were fellow soldiers. They stood with me shoulder to shoulder in the great conflict of the progress of the gospel. And Paul, who had such a large heart into which he took so many friends in deep, intimate friendship, sooner or later had to ask, and how is dear, who are you doing? And how is Mrs. Soon-Touchy doing?

16:37 - 17:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And great servants of Christ are often great sinners. The very energy that carries them in the direction of virtue when turned aside from virtue carries them with greater force in the direction of vice and of sin.

The quote, 'He loved God greatly. He served God greatly, but he also sinned greatly,' attributed to David, illustrates that great servants of Christ can also be great sinners, explaining how prominent women like Euodia and Syntyche could have a significant falling out.

They were women of tremendous spiritual stature and gift and earned reputation and no doubt were strong in faith and courage. And when you get people who have some degree of stature and gift and earned reputation, strong in faith and courage, they have the ability to be something for Christ. They also have more than enough ability to be what they ought not to be when they act in a manner that is, contrary to the norms of Scripture. Someone said of David, he loved God greatly.

18:27 - 19:00 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Paul entreats a 'true yoke-fellow' to help Euodia and Syntyche, implying that their reconciliation would require external assistance. The term 'help' is illustrated as coming…

The account from Luke 5:6-7, where fishermen beckon partners to 'help them' with a breaking net full of fish, illustrates the specific meaning of the Greek verb for 'help' in Philippians 4:3, showing the true yoke-fellow's role as coming alongside to assist in a difficult, overwhelming task.

If you look at Luke 5 and verse 7, here's the verb found in a gospel setting.

23:30 - 23:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Paul entreats a 'true yoke-fellow' to help Euodia and Syntyche, implying that their reconciliation would require external assistance. The term 'help' is illustrated as coming…

The analogy of a referee getting caught in a prize fight or someone breaking up a fight and getting hurt illustrates the unpleasant and often dangerous nature of mediating reconciliation between conflicting parties.

Now that's an unpleasant task and often a dangerous task. Occasionally you've seen what's happened with the poor referee in a prize fight. Someone lets go a roundhouse and he gets caught in the chin and he ends out down on the deck for the count. Some of you have seen humorous things like that.

25:34 - 25:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water. What happens when there's just a little fissure at the top of the wall of a dam?

The analogy of a small fissure at the top of a dam wall, which grows and ultimately inundates the countryside, illustrates how even a small 'rippling on the waters' of disunity can lead to widespread fragmentation and disaster in a church.

Why is he so passionately concerned with just this little rippling on the waters with respect to this matter of disunity? Paul understood the statement of the wise man in Proverbs. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water. What happens when there's just a little fissure at the top of the wall of a dam?

31:06 - 31:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Rejoice in the unity God has given the church and recognize its crucial importance.

Martin uses a bundle of pencils to illustrate the strength found in unity: a bundled group is hard to break, but a single pencil is easily broken. This shows how unity provides strength and protects against error, while disunity makes individuals vulnerable.

And he knew that people are always more vulnerable to error when there is disunity in the church. You children, let me illustrate this for you. My wife has a place where she hides pencils. And I snitched her pencils this morning.

32:41 - 32:59 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This kind of business is spiritual neurosurgery. One slip and you've killed a patient.

Reconciliation work is likened to 'spiritual neurosurgery,' where one slip can kill or seriously impair the patient. This emphasizes the delicate, precise, and potentially dangerous nature of mediating deep-seated tensions between individuals.

This kind of business is spiritual neurosurgery. One slip and you've killed a patient. When the neurosurgeon's going after that tumor on the brain, just one slip of one slightest deviation from the proper path, and if the patient is not killed, he may be seriously impaired for the rest of his life. Well, when you start bringing together two people who have resisted the general and normal means of grace to work out their difficulties, and there are deep-seated tensions that warrant this kind of public dealing, I tell you it's no easy thing to sort all of that out and get the two back together a...

38:38 - 39:41 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This kind of business is spiritual neurosurgery. One slip and you've killed a patient.

The humorous analogy of nervous teenagers at a mixer, waiting for the other gender to cross the room, illustrates the natural human tendency for conflicting parties to wait for the other to take the initiative in reconciliation, which Paul's tactful exhortation overcomes.

Jodea, I beseech you to be of the same mind with Syntyche. Syntyche, I beseech you to be of the same mind with Jodea. In other words, he bound the conscience of each woman and each of them with explicit words so that they could not sit back and wait for the other to take the initiative. You know, like teenagers, when they're just getting over that nervousness of boy-girl relationships, I love to see that.

40:00 - 40:31 Read in full sermon