DISSENSION -- Phil. 4:2-6

A. Euodia and Syntyche were two prominent women in the church who had gotten into an argument.

1. The cause of their difficulty is not stated.

2. But if it is true to form, it probably was not a big issue.

3. Most people get hurt in the church because they were passed over for an office or which side of the church to put the piano.

B. As believers, let's refuse to make room for dissension.

1. these women had labored with Paul in establishing of this church (4:3) now they were contributing to its downfall.

2. Dissension is not necessarily a mark of Christianity's failures.

3. It has been stated "Christianity has to be of divine origin for it lives in spite of its adherents."

4. We limit the effectiveness of God's work through our carnal living but we do not destroy the value of God's truth.

5. There is a resilience in the gospel that makes it outlive the defects of its proponents.

C. The principals in this incipient dissension were women of distinction in the church.

1. They who had helped in the work were now hindering the work.

2. The remedy for this disunity is found in the words "be of the same mind in the Lord."

II. What Does It Mean to be of the Same Mind?

A. It doesn't mean thinking alike on every issue

1. It does mean that our vital union with Christ would soften and rub out the sharp and harsh line of difference and unite us in thought and affection.

2. Part of that same mind is found in the meaning of 4:5.

B. The word moderation has several meanings - agreeableness, forbearance, sweet reasonableness.

1. It is the attitude of life that forbears and puts up with the injuries others inflict upon us.

2. It never seeks revenge, is always ready to forgive and possesses a gentleness of temper.

3. Dr. Kingsley Williams translates this word moderation this way - Let all the world know that you will meet the other person half way.

4. Wiest translates it -. being satisfied with less than your due.

5. Then he goes on to say - Don1t keep your sweet reasonableness in your heart. Let it find expression in your conduct, thus others will experience its blessings also.

C. Paul is pressing these two who are in conflict yield on their previous positions.

1. We can afford to yield particular points. It is only matter of principle that we refuse to yield.

2. Paul is asking them to exercise a sweet reasonableness, he is asking them to be forgiving and gentle.

III. He gives Them the Reason Why 4:5

A. The Lord is at hand.

1. Literally it is translated - the Lord is near.

2. The nearness of the Lord should cause us to be gentle and forbearing.

B. It can mean one of two things:

1. It could refer to the coming of the Lord for his bride.

2. It could mean we are to be gracious and kind to each other because the presence of the Lord surrounds us.

3. We are to live in the consciousness that all we do is done before and in the presence of the Lord.

IV. This Is the Cure for Anxious Care (3:6)

A. The phrase - be careful for nothing is literally - don't fret or worry about anything.

1. In the greek it is a prohibition against the continuance of an action already habitually going on.

2. The word nothing is literally - no even one thing.

3. So the phrase so far reads this way - "Stop worrying about even one thing."

B. What's the cure for worry? Prayer

1. To be without worry does not mean we are indifferent to our circumstances. It means we are more concerned about God than we are the circumstances.

2. When we take our eyes off the circumstances and put them on Jesus, we have them off the source of distress and upon the secret of peace.

3. Unrest of soul breeds worry and worry never brings an answer to prayer.

4. It is faith in Jesus that will result in answered prayer.

C. Note the text does not say - be careful for nothing, period.

1. It says be careful for nothing BUT in everything by prayer.

2. We are to bring the living God into our difficult situation.

3. It is not only to be careful but to be prayerful.

4. Be careful for nothing, be thankful for everything, be prayerful in everything.

D. Bringing the Lord Jesus into our problems is not abandoning our responsibilities but it is recognizing God as my partner in life.

1. We are thankful as well as prayerful.

2. Thanksgiving precludes anxiety and worry. Thankfulness recognizes that the majority of experiences is on the credit side of life.

3. Faith does not flourish in the spirit of gloom and pessimism.

4. Peace and joy are born and nourished in prayer.

"The celebrated Austrian composer, Haydn, was in company with other distinguished persons. The conversation turned on the best means of restoring their mental energies, when exhausted with long and difficult studies. One said he had recourse, in such a case, to a bottle of wine - another that he went into company. Haydn, being asked what he would do, or did do, said that he retired to his closet and engaged in prayer - that nothing exerted on his mind a more happy and efficacious influence than prayer.

In Summary:

We are to be a reasonable and gentle people

We are to be a prayerful and gracious people

We are to be a thankful and grateful people

Why - because the Lord is near. (He is in you if you are his. II Cor. 13:5)