There is a place in earth that is the most peaceful place
ever. It's called the cemetery! If you took the same number of people and placed
them in the same room there will be misunderstandings. That’s the very nature
of things.
Babies are cute but they also mess. Dolls give no trouble.
Proverbs 14:4 says Where there are no oxen the manger is clean. Where there are people there are
disagreements. This is normal.
Q. What about the
church?
We are all flesh and blood. As long as we are alive, we have
opportunity to sin and be sinned against. Is it important to resolve these
things?
“To dwell above with
the saints we love would be grace and glory, but to live below with the saints
we know is a different story.”
In Christian life, misunderstanding can and will happen.
It's important how we handle it.
Phil 4:1-3 “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love
and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear
friends!I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in
the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they
have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and
the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”
Paul is in Rome a prisoner in chains. Paul is writing on
important topics, those who want to go back to the law etc. to stand firm
against persecution. He is strong in his denunciation of these people who were
leading them astray. And then at the end of the letter, which is read up all
the people in the church, to the elders etc. It was not a secret letter. And in
chapter 4 he is addressing two ladies.
1. We cannot live with misunderstanding, and
disagreements.
If Paul is addressing it out must be important. If you have gangrene
on the body you have to deal with it or it will destroy the whole body.
Q. How did he hear about it? We don't know. But it was important
enough.
If we have unresolved
issues we should sort it out. The Bible shows us how in Matt18:15.
The starting point is talk to the person concerned. Talk
about the issue. If it is sorted out, great. If not get a third neutral mature
party. If not resolved yet then get a leader involved. I would like to see this
practiced in the church.
When Paul heard about this, it wasn’t a case of tale
tattling. If there is gangrene in the body shouldn't you know about it? Let’s
see how Paul handles this- Phil 4:1- out of love.
Q. Who is Paul?
Paul is not a casual bystander. He loves them. See how he
addresses them with much love. That's what gave him authority to speak. We need
to cultivate this love before
Q. Who are these
women?
They were not ordinary women. They were known to Paul for a
long time. They had contended for the gospel. Contend- is the word we use for
wrestle. They were mature believers.
No matter how much we have served we can still get caught in
disagreements and miscommunication.
Acts 16:9- 12 During
the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him,
“Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got
ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to
preach the gospel to them. From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for
Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we travelled to
Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia.
And we stayed there several days.
It shows us that the church in Philippi was not an easy
church plant. Normally Paul would go to
the synagogue on a Sabbath. But since there was no Synagogue, so he went down
to the river. There were women there. Lydia gets saved and Paul stayed with
them for some time. We note that they prayed a lot. Paul was troubled by a
servant girl with an evil spirit and he commands the evil spirit to leave. This
caused trouble for Paul. He was thrown into prison and severely flogged and put
into stocks. Paul and Silas start praising God. An earthquake happens and their
chains fall off. The jailer gets saved and his family is baptized that night.
This was the birthing of the church. These women were
probably there from the beginning. Paul is now pleading with them to agree with
each other. He is asking the others to get involved.
Q. What was the
issue?
We don't know. Could not have been doctrine because Paul
would have addressed it. All he asks them is to be at peace. And he asks
someone to intervene. He could be an elder. So we see the importance of living
in peace.
Paul talks about the Book of Life. It's the most important
book. Rev 20:11-15
When you come to faith in Jesus, your name gets written in
this book. Is your name in that book. If you have not put your faith in Jesus
please come talk to us.
Q. So how should we
live?
We should be able to forgive and bear with each other. Eph
4:13- until we all reach unity in the
faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to
the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
We are growing in maturity, not being touchy, keeping short
accounts, giving grace to each other. Accept one another, love as Christ loves
us. So if we have strained relationships let's sort it out.
Scriptures talks of loving, serving, bearing with each
other. Let's practice this. We can't love God and hate each other. We are in
deception. This week we are going through fellowship in Purpose Driven Life.
Let's aim to live like this.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment