And please turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians chapter four. Again, it's close to the back. If you kids are looking it up, your moms and dads might help you. And we'll consider together just the first four verses of this chapter, this prison thank you letter. General encouragement, general instruction, a call to rejoice. Rejoice with growing confidence in the sure spread of the gospel. Having been saved, rejoice to serve. Rejoice in the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And this morning, the general call repeated, rejoice in the Lord. And this evening, and really one of the few if you will, negative or corrective statements in the text, in the book, Paul deals directly with a problem in the church. Anyway, to consider with me a scenario, not to do with a problem of not agreeing, but to do with importance. Imagine a normal, busy day. Maybe it's a full day at work, full of meetings, And you get a phone call. A regular doctor visit showed a critical health matter for your wife, and the doctor arranged a meeting with a specialist in an hour. You would drop everything. You would cancel your meetings. You would tell your boss, I have to leave. I'll be back when I can. It's urgent that you be with your wife to meet this specialist. And do you realize, do I realize that it's this urgent, even more urgent that you agree in the Lord? Do you realize how urgent it is to agree in the Lord? Are you content to let disagreement fester in hopes that the one with whom you disagree will eventually come to your view and then you'll agree? we have here in Philippians 4, a call to agree in the Lord. And so hear the word of God, Philippians 4, just the first four verses. Therefore, my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Please join me in your hearts as we pray. Father, would you give us an urgency whenever we come to your word to hear, as we've already been encouraged, the call of Jesus to us. May we hear that this evening in this text, and may we find both the will and the ability to work to please you, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You are all urged to agree in the Lord. And I just want to say I have no particular disagreement of which I know among you. I'm not seeking to address a particular or even a general problem. I'm simply opening the word of God as it calls us to something to which we need to be urgent about. So in the very beginning there in verse 2, Iodia and Syntyche, none of you have named your daughters either of those names, I don't know why. These two women named in this text to be read to the church. We don't know anything about them other than this text. We know their names. Syntyche means lucky. I suspect she wasn't feeling very lucky when her name was read out to the congregation in this urgent call to agree. Now, I'm pretty sure that they're not the last people who have disagreed in the church. Disagreement in the church happens, but it needs to come, it needs to be put away. And what are we told about these two? We're told that they were of two different minds. They didn't agree in the Lord. Therefore, their minds weren't together. And sometimes we have this way of thinking. We live in individual focused America. You know, we can all do it by ourselves. And maybe you've heard this expression. Maybe you've said this expression. If two people think alike, one of them is not needed. Well, that's not what God says about us. Back in chapter two, verse two, he says, I want you to think alike. Here in chapter four, verse two, he wants these women to agree, to think alike, to be of the same mind. We want to allow room for disagreement. And perhaps there comes a time and a particular matter upon which we have to agree to disagree. But let's not be quick. to agree to disagree. Rather, let us see an urgency in a call to agree. Don't be content to wait for heaven to be united. You've perhaps heard this expression, one commentator has it in his text on these verses, to live above with the saints we love, oh, that will be glory. But to live below with the saints we know, Well, that's another story. And yet, that's what we're called to. And when we disagree with another Christian, we can't just say, well, we'll get along in heaven. No, the call is to get along now. Make unity in the Lord a high priority. I wonder if you took the time to write out a list of the 10 most significant matters facing Springs Reform Church. You're welcome to do that, I don't mind, it's not an assignment. But I think thinking about things like that, what are the things that are most important to us as a church that we need to do? And how united are we on these things? Agree in the Lord. These two, Euodia and Syntheke, were called out publicly in what would now be considered a sermon to the congregation. I urge Suzanne and I urge Nancy to agree in the Lord. You all looked up and I suspect that the saints in Philippi all looked up when perhaps Epaphroditus read this letter from Paul to them. Now I will tell you I can't imagine doing that as a pastor. I can't imagine publicly calling out someone in the church in the middle of a sermon. We always have to consider the word of God. Is this text normative or is it informative? And it seems that this is informative. But preachers often positively call people out in the congregation, sometimes by name. So and so has done such and such and we thank the Lord for their service in that. Or sometimes after resolution happens, they might refer to a negative situation that was going on. But while it's going on, publicly call out Well, don't forget, this is the breathed out word of God. The Holy Spirit carried the apostle Paul. Paul didn't make a mistake. Oh, I wish I hadn't called those two women out in chapter four, verse two. Of course, he didn't have chapters and verses. No, this is the God breathed word. Now my sermon is not, and that's probably one reason I'd be hesitant to call someone out publicly from the pulpit. But we must note as we read the scripture that God does this often. through the human writers. He often calls people out and calls them to account. So let me encourage you to live as if your pastor might, or better yet, live as if God might call you out, call you to account, even as you dare ask him to. When a sermon is preached, what generally is your attitude? And it probably depends on what the preaching is and what's going on in your life. But is it, I think the preacher is targeting me, and I don't like it. Or is it, I think God is speaking to me, and maybe still I don't like it. I had a man in a congregation that I pastored who said both of those things to me about my preaching. He didn't like that I was targeting him, but he thought God was speaking to him, and I understand that tension. I feel that as well. But when you hear the word of God preached, don't think, well, so-and-so really needs to hear this. I hope she or he or, you know, I hope Yodia and Syntyche are listening, because they've got a problem. Well, I think Paul was addressing everyone in the church, not just Iodia and Syntyche. And so it's not just Iodia and Syntyche who are urged, but you are all urged to agree in the Lord. If this is serious enough business for God to call out these two godly women publicly in his inspired word, Then understand that if you are in disagreement with a brother or sister in the Lord today, or if you come to be in disagreement with a brother or sister, then the Lord is calling you out today, or is preparing you today by his word. This is serious business. Are you committed to do all that you can in order to come to agreement in the Lord? Are there relationships between you and you in which you can't honestly say there is agreement in the Lord? I don't know if there are and I don't know what they might be but I encourage you to consider God's call to agree in the Lord. But the Lord is not only calling you out, calling me out, he wrote this to help us come to agreement. Paul called out these two women to help them come to agreement in the Lord. And it's in the Lord that there is to be agreement. Calvin says this, every combination, that's every connection, will inevitably be accursed if apart from the Lord. In other words, you can't really even agree unless you agree in the Lord. And why is it that it's so important? Well, at least one reason that it's important is because your disagreement has a bad smell. Your disagreement has a bad smell. These women didn't agree in the Lord, and maybe you're in that situation, or you've been in that situation, or you might be in that situation. not agreeing with the Lord, with someone else here in Jesus's church. And this disagreement has an odor. We're gonna sing at the conclusion from Psalm 133. And Psalm 133 tells us that when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity, it's a pleasant aroma. It's like the pleasant aroma of that anointing oil that was put upon Aaron and flowed down from his head to his beard. This disagreement has a bad smell that obscures the fact that we have a great high priest. The bad smell of disagreement hinders our coming together in worship. The bad smell of disagreement hinders our witness to be lights to a dark and crooked world. Disagreement stinks. To you, to the one with whom you're disagreeing, and to the Lord. When we were in Pittsburgh, we came home from a little time away visiting some of our grandchildren, and we walked into the house and into the kitchen to the, I have to be blunt, to the vomitous aroma of stinking, rotting tomatoes. There's not much that stinks more than rotting tomatoes. Except Christians not agreeing in the Lord. And these rotting potatoes in our potato bin in the kitchen, we're oozing, not fragrant anointing oil uniting us, uniting us to worship with our great high priest, but we're oozing their stinky slime. I spoke of it as potato blood, and my wife said it's more like potato poo. And I can assure you that we did not leave those stinking rotten potatoes in our house for more than the few minutes it took to get them in the garbage outside. There was an urgency to get rid of that bad smell. And so might you and I. always have a same sense of urgency to rid Christchurch of the bad smell of disagreement. We have to understand, we don't know what the disagreement was about, but it was clearly a spiritual matter. It's not worth, I think, trying to figure out what was it that they were disagreeing about? Simply that there was tension between these two women in the church. And so rather than say, what was it that Yodi and Sintke weren't agreeing in? What would be so severe that Paul would call them out publicly? Instead of that, let me encourage you to consider what matters might I not be in agreement with someone else in the church? And it's not limited, I think, to spiritual sounding matters, to questions of doctrine and theology. Many of the practical day-to-day sorts of decisions that we face, we can come to spiritual disagreement about. What color will we paint the assembly hall? Or what color carpet will we use? Or what sort of flooring? Or how will we prepare and use our new building? Or how will we educate our children? You can think of all sorts of things at which Christians have disagreed. You may not have the same philosophy about education or paint or whatever it is, but this is beyond that. This is a disagreement instead of an agreement in the Lord. And I think we know from the whole of Scripture that matters of agreement and disagreement are not necessarily theological matters. Otherwise, why would Paul have said to the Corinthians that they could not take a brother to a court of law? They weren't taking a brother to a court of law to sue them over their theological viewpoint on some doctrine of the scripture. They were taking their brothers to a court of law for some physical disagreement. And Paul said, wouldn't it be better to be wronged? Wouldn't it be better to suffer than to take your disagreement to the world's courts? Now the call is to always try to come to agreement ourselves. We know that from all of scripture. Matthew 5. If you realize that your brother has something against them, go to your brother. Matthew 18, if your brother sins against you, go to your brother. There's this call to go. There's this call, as much as is possible, as much as depends on you, seek to be at peace. And how much of us can ever say, I've done everything I could possibly do? Perhaps we have at times, but it's not very often that we could even say that. And even if we could say that, I've done everything that I could possibly do, all that we can say is, God, I'm an unprofitable servant. I've done everything you've commanded. It's so easy to want them to change, to want them to do this or that so that we can come to agreement. But how important is it to me that we agree? How much am I willing to give? What does it cost in order to come to agreement? Will it cost that you hold Christ as your highest regard? And it costs that you think of others as more important than yourselves. As urgent as it is that you come to agree in the Lord, we must realize that you may need help to agree in the Lord. You may need help to agree in the Lord. And we see that there in verse three. As Paul urges His true companion, some of your English Bible translations might have a name there. Syzygous is the best way I can pronounce it. Maybe that's why most English Bibles translate it instead of transliterate it. It seems likely that that was a name and a description of one that Paul called. And so, do you need to be called to the side of your pastor and your elders? That's what Paul's doing there in verse two, I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche. I urge them both. He doesn't just say I urge Euodia and Syntyche, but he stresses that it's a call to both of them and it's a call to them to come alongside. That's what the word means, to come alongside. It's translated variously to beg, to encourage, to plead. It's not unlike a father who might call his fighting children to his side and say, come here you two, what's going on? What's the problem here? And maybe when they're young enough he sits one on his right knee and one on his left knee and he calls them to himself. Let's talk about this. Let's talk about what the problem is. Let's come to agreement here. An agreement in the Lord is but one of the things in which we're called to be together in the Lord throughout the scripture. Over and over we're called to these one and others and here the call is to be together in the Lord. Ryder said it this way, praying together and leaning hard on him, they will again become of the same mind. And I can recall a particular situation, I will give you no details, in which two were disagreeing, were not agreeing in the Lord, and the assignment was given to them to pray together. If you're in disagreement with the Lord and you can't figure out any way to come to agreement, let me encourage you, just ask that person, can we pray together? Can we pray together? And it may be that in the praying, you come to agreement. One of the most painful memories of any of my pastoral ministries was when I knew that another had been hurt by me. And I said, can we pray together? And he said, no. And I don't blame him in that. The wound was serious. But if somebody's wounded you and they come and say, can we pray together? I urge you to say yes. It may be that when you're praying together and you're coming together to the Lord that you come to agree in the Lord. You may need to be called to the side of your pastors and elders. If offered help, will you accept it? And you may need someone to come alongside you. So do you need to be called to the side of your pastor and elders? Do you need someone to be called to your side to help? Sometimes we just have to admit that we need help. And sometimes someone may be told to help you. And here we have this syzygous, this true companion, this loyal yoke fellow. Hendrickson says Syzygus is true to his name. He helps people pull together in the yoke, and a yoke is not just the yellow middle of an egg. It's that wooden harness, if you will, that oxen that are pulling a plow or a wagon together, and it goes over both of their necks and it holds them together so they can pull together. And Syzygous is a loyal yoke fellow. He helps people pull together. And even the word help, it's the idea of help them come together, hold them together. Syzygous, which I think is probably a name, but it doesn't terribly matter if it's just a description or if it's a name that is reflected in the description of this character. That word is derived from the word that means join together in marriage. That's the idea, that this one would come and he would join these two together. These two that are at odds, these two that don't want to be together, that he would come alongside them and hold them together, put them in a yoke together. You kids, again, maybe sometime when you're fighting, your mom and your dad come together and they bring you together and they say, you gotta give her a hug. And you know, when you're fighting with your sister or your brother, giving them a hug is about the least likely thing that you want to do. But sometimes it's in that giving of a hug, if you're willing to submit, that you find yourselves coming together. And it's not merely a hug, but it's so that these two, who have battled the enemy with Paul, they have contended with him for the sake of the gospel, that they can once again fight together for the sake of the gospel. that they can be a light to this crooked and unbelieving generation without grumbling and arguing. You are urged to agree in the Lord. You may need help to agree in the Lord. You are in the Lord, so agree. You are in the Lord, so agree. You can agree in the Lord. I can do it. It's too hard. Yes, you can in the Lord. It felt to me as Keith was presiding that we had the same God talking to us, which of course we did. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work. for his good pleasure. You can agree in the Lord. The one who called you is faithful and he will do it. You've perhaps heard this quote of Augustine, a prayer of Augustine quoted in his confessions. Command what you will and give what you command. In other words, God, whatever you command us to do is, you are right to do that, but whatever you command us to do, enable us to obey. And that was in a battle with Pelagian, who said, we don't need grace to obey. And Augustine said, yes, we do. And God gives grace to obey. You can agree in the Lord. Whatever God requires, God provides. And you may be in a disagreement, or you may know of a disagreement, or you may have observed a disagreement where you think, how in the world is this gonna be settled? And I admit, there are many times that I don't know how it's gonna be settled But you can, I can, we can agree in the Lord. But not only you can agree in the Lord, you must agree in the Lord. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, hey, he's a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And we have this command from him, the one who loves God must also love his brother. And maybe you say, well, I don't hate them, I just don't agree with them. Well, the call is to agree with them. So if you're not doing what God calls you to do, is there a sense in which you're not loving them as God calls you to love them? As we read in Psalm 119, oh, that my ways might be steadfast. You can do it and you must do it, but you're gonna have to do it in the Lord. You can agree in the Lord. You must agree in the Lord because you are in the Lord. Paul is writing to the saints in Philippi. These for whom Christ died. These who had been rescued and purchased by the blood of Christ. You are in the Lord. The one who is described in chapter two as having emptied himself. You are in the one who, although fully God, left his place in heaven, broke into human history some 2,000 years ago as he became fully man. He took on our flesh and he lived in this life like us, except he lived perfectly. You are in the one who became obedient unto death so that in his death and resurrection, you might be obedient in your life. You are in the one who knew no sin, but became sin for you so that you might become in him the righteousness of God. You are in the one whom God highly exalted and gave the name that is above every other name. You are in the one. Who wrote in the book of life, Iodia's name. And Syntyche's name. And Syzygos' name. and Clement's name and Paul's name and Paul's fellow workers names and your name and the name of the one with whom you are disagreeing. You have been written, you are in the one who wrote your names in the Lamb's book of life. You are in the Lord so agree in the Lord. And if you're not in the Lord, then friend, your disagreement with another is the least of your problems. For if you are not in the Lord, then your name is not written in the Lamb's book of life. And when your life here comes to an end, and all of our lives will, all whose names are not written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire, into hell, into a place of deserved eternal punishment. So if you're not in the Lord, repent and believe the gospel. But you who are in the Lord, agree in the Lord. You can and you must agree in the Lord. How are you doing? Are there brothers and sisters in this church with whom you're not agreeing? Are you content to leave that disagreement there or have you caught the urgency? Are you ready to come to agreement in the Lord? Are you ready to start even today? Do you need a syzygous, someone to come alongside you and help? Ask me, ask the elders. We are far from perfect. We may at times disagree in the Lord and need a syzygous to come alongside us, but if you need help, ask a mature Christian in the church and ask the Lord to help you agree in the Lord. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we want our relationships to have that beautiful aroma of unity in the Lord. And we know that at times if we're honest we don't agree in the Lord and Lord I don't know of particular disagreements and if there are some I pray that you would be speaking to those involved and if necessary loyal yoke fellows might come alongside and help them agree in the Lord. And perhaps, Lord, you're just preparing us for a time when a disagreement may come. Whatever it is, would you help us as this part of the bride of Christ agree in the Lord, convince us that we can, convince us that we must, and help us do what you command. And we ask this for our good but mostly for your glory and we ask it in Jesus name, amen.