October 2003 chaplain's corner
The Chaplain's Corner is a monthly message for chaplains.
Chaplain's Corner - October, 2003
Rev. Rich Hines
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as
their own Lord and Savior, and are serving as correctional or rescue mission
chaplains within the United States.
This month I want to have you look at a biblical response to a problem I know
from personal experience both Christian inmates and Christian chaplains face. It's the problem of disunity, discord and a
general lack of peace between each other. It is a serious problem.
On this issue I once heard an official from a good evangelical mission say:
"The number one reason missionaries quit the foreign ministry and come
home is that they can't get along with other missionaries on the field." I
believe him, and I think this is also true with evangelical correctional and
rescue mission chaplains. They leave the ministry because they can't get along
with each other.
Fractures in the true body of Christ are tragic. They hurt our corporate
testimony to a watching and critical society.
As we turn to God's word for answers, remember the principles I'm about to give
should be first applied to your own relationships with others in your ministry
- even other chaplains. They also can be used in helping Christian inmates (or
residents) get along with other Bible believing inmates (or residents).
Our text is Philippians 4:1-5
1 Therefore, my beloved, and longed-for brethren, my
joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.
2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche
to be of the same mind in the Lord.
3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in
the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names
are in the Book of Life.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
This section of Philippians deals with a lack of peace, a disunity in the local
church at ancient
Philippians 4:1-5 contains four commands, and some other statements which give
Christians eight solutions to this problem of disunity and dissension between
believers.
The word "Therefore" at the beginning of verse 1, ties what follows
to the last half of chapter 3. The end of chapter 3 speaks of Christian growth
and maturity, and eventual glorification in a new, sinless body that Christ
will give each one of His own heavenly citizens one day in the future. Paul
called it the "Day of Christ" (Phil.1:6,10; 2:16)
Looking back into Philippians 3:15,16 note that it reads -
15 Therefore let us, as many as are MATURE, have this mind: and if in anything
you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, LET US WALK BY
THE SAME RULE (standard), let us be of the same mind.
With that background, Philippians 4:1 says -
1 Therefore, my beloved, and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, SO STAND
FAST IN THE LORD, beloved.
Here, the Apostle Paul twice called the believers he knew, his loved ones. He
told them he longed for them, which is yet another affirmation of Christian
love. He said they were considered by him as his joy and crown, which meant on
the Day of Christ, he regarded them as his reward from the Lord.
Then he gave them a command from God, "so stand fast in the Lord."
This was a command to continually hold their ground in regards to Christian
maturity. Whenever this passage uses the word "Lord" (four times),
it's referring to Jesus Christ. In His strength, and out of His love through
spiritual leaders, believers are to resolve to not let anything cause them to
slip backwards into a lesser state of maturity. In context (from chapter 3)
that's what is meant by "Stand fast in the Lord."
So THE FIRST SOLUTION TO APPLY TO A LACK OF UNITY AND PEACE BETWEEN TRUE
BELIEVERS IS:
1. Remembering Christ's power to hold your ground, don't give up the spiritual
maturity He has caused you to attain.
How is Christian growth and maturity maintained? For starters, by feeding on
the word, by fellowship with Christ and by passing not failing, the tests to
your faith which trials bring.
Moving into verse 2, note some amazing things that Christian love through a
spiritual leader does and see the SECOND SOLUTION.
2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche
to be of the same mind in the Lord.
Literally translated it's even more powerful: "Euodia,
I beseech you and Syntyche, I beseech you - to think
the same thing in the Lord"
Sadly, what the Apostle Paul did here amazes modern Christians, because we often
cave in under the constant pressure we feel from unbelieving society - the
world, to never ever mention someone by name when referring to their wrong. But
Christian love mentioned these two women by name. Love did this even when the
known practice of the day was that this letter would be read aloud to the
gathered church in
With God's love, Paul begged these two women to continually set their minds on
Christ. If that were their contemporary practice, they wouldn't have time to
think about how the other had wronged them.
When two pianos are out of tune, the wrong thing to do is to try to tune them
to each other. Rather, a tuning fork that rings a perfect "middle C"
is the standard by which the pianos may be tuned. If they are in tune with the
fork, they will be in tune with each other. Christ, not anyone else, is the
believers Perfect Tuning Fork.
This of course runs afoul of the psychological mumbo-jumbo and humanistic
solutions to being out of harmony, but this is God's wisdom, not man's! The last thing those in ministry who are out of
accord with each other need is worldly advice. They need to tune into the same
Lord, Jesus Christ, then they'll be in tune with each other.
So, the SECOND SOLUTION TO A DISUNITY BETWEEN BELIEVERS IS:
2. Focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, not your personal differences.
Moving along through the text, Philippians 4:3 gives THREE MORE SOLUTIONS to
the problem.
3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in
the gospel,
with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the
Book of Life.
In commanding a Christian man, nick-named "true companion" to
"help these women," we see God through the Apostle saying "GET A
SPIRITUALLY MATURE MEDIATOR INVOLVED IN HELPING THE STRUGGLING BELIEVERS BE
ACCOUNTABLE TO RESOLVE THEIR DIFFERENCES."
This mediator-helper in the Philippian case was
expected to urge the two women to truly apologize to one another, ask
forgiveness of each other, and be truly reconciled. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
Consider PEACE.
The biblical concept of peace is very different from the world's.
The peace the Bible speaks of carries the idea of harmonious relationships
accompanied by a quietness and wholeness within the heart and mind. The
biblical word for peace is closely linked to the concept of reconciliation,
which means a change of relationship from bad to good, so that now with peace,
everything is A-OK.
The Old Testament Hebrew word "Shalom," often translated as
"peace," is also linked to the concept of salvation. It carries the
idea of being made whole and being at one with the LORD. Looking ahead
prophetically to God's salvation from sin coming into full bloom during the
literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth, Isaiah 32:17 says:
"The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness,
(which only the Messiah-Christ can bring) quietness and assurance
forever."
The word "PEACE" occurs in 26 out of the 27 books of the New
Testament. Therefore, it is a key Christian concept.
Condsidering Romans 5:1 which says, "Therefore
having been justified by faith, we have PEACE WITH GOD through our Lord Jesus
Christ,"
And considering Colossians 1:20,21 which says, "and by Him (Jesus, the
Son) to RECONCILE all things to Himself ... having MADE PEACE through the blood
of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by
wicked works, yet now He HAS RECONCILED"
Thinking of the truth of these Scriptures we cannot claim to have made peace with
God through the blood of Christ's cross and at the same time allow for it to be
OK to NOT be at peace with one another in the blood bought family of God.
So, when a disunity between you and another true believer exists and has not
been fixed, like with Euodia and Syntyche,
get a spiritually mature mediator involved in helping you be accountable to
resolve your differences. That's the THIRD OF EIGHT SOLUTIONS in this passage.
Two more solutions are suggested by the rest of verse 3.
3 ... help these women WHO LABORED WITH ME IN THE GOSPEL, WITH CLEMENT ALSO,
AND THE REST OF MY FELLOW WORKERS, WHOSE NAMES ARE IN
THE BOOK OF LIFE.
Here, Paul first said the two women that were at odds with one another, had in
the past together with Clement and some unnamed believers, helped him in gospel
outreach. That means they were all part of a TEAM.
A team that is divided (usually over who gets the bigger billing - which again
is a form of pride) will not be effective. If there is disunity in your gospel
outreach, it cannot be hidden. The basis of true unity is that both individuals
are true Bible-defined Christians. If both believe in and proclaim and pray for
the advance of the saving message of faith in Christ alone, they are in fact on
the same team. So the FOURTH SOLUTION offered by our text is:
4. Remember you're both on the same team.
The FIFTH SOLUTION is suggested at the end of verse 3:
3 ...these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the
rest of my fellow workers, WHOSE NAMES ARE IN THE BOOK OF LIFE.
The Book of Life, also called in Scripture the Lamb's Book of Life, is Christ's
register of the saved, written before the foundation of the world by Him. It
contains the names of all who will be saved and be with Him eternally in heaven.
In Revelation 13:5 Jesus said:
"He who overcomes (by faith in Christ alone) shall be clothed in white
(representing total purity received from Christ), and I WILL NOT BLOT OUT HIS
NAME FROM THE BOOK OF LIFE; but I WILL CONFESS HIS NAME BEFORE MY FATHER and
before His angels."
No wonder Jesus said to the disciples that returned from a seemingly successful
ministry - "...do not rejoice in this, that the spirits (meaning demons)
are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
(Luke 10:20)
By saying both women, Euodia,
Syntyche, together with Clement, and the rest of
Paul's fellow workers names were in the Book of Life, Paul was reminding them
all that they would spend eternity together in heaven worshiping the Lamb that wrote
their names down, and saved them.
So SOLUTION NUMBER FIVE is:
5. Remember you will spend eternity together with the other person you are
having a difference with - in the presence of the Lord Jesus in heaven.
Next, look at verse 4 and see a SIXTH solution - in a twice repeated command.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Here, God through the Apostle, commands the followers of Christ to constantly
rejoice in the Lord Jesus. For emphasis He even does it twice, at the beginning
and at the end of the verse. The concept of doing it continuously is in both
command verbs, "rejoice." And then, just for extra emphasis, the Holy
Spirit added the word "always!"
The SIXTH SOLUTION to a lack of peace and harmony between believers is:
6. Rejoice in the Lord Jesus' accomplishments, continuously.
Remember the command is to keep on rejoicing IN THE LORD'S accomplishments. We
are not to focus on the other person so much but rather to continuously rejoice
in Jesus. This goes along with the SECOND SOLUTION which was in verse 2, to
focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, not your personal differences.
But how is it possible to rejoice in Christ ceaselessly? Someone well wrote:
"The secret of perennial joy is in the realized companionship of the
Redeemer."
Christians who obey this command to keep on rejoicing
in Christ, will find it hard to hold grudges against their spiritual brethren.
Rejoicing in Christ's love for us and complete victory over our sin is a
solution, because those who do it regularly have as a result, a predisposition
towards harmony with other Christians.
The last two solutions to the disharmony that's being addressed are in the two
sentences of verse 5. The first sentence reads:
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men.
All truly redeemed people have a "gentleness" which they receive from
Christ's presence in their lives. Here in Philippians 4:5, the command for
Christians is to let it show, to let it be known to all.
This "gentleness" is sometime translated as "moderation"
(KJV), or "forbearance" (ASV) or forbearing spirit (NASB). Most
literally translated the word means a "sweet reasonableness." It is
the exact opposite of the word translated "implacable" in Romans
1:31(KJV). Implacable means unable to be appeased and therefore unforgiving.
The moderate, forbearing, gentleness of Christ is a merciful clemency that
doesn't hold a grudge, therefore it is ready to
forgive.
Jesus modeled this heart attitude so often in the gospel record. You see it in
how He dealt with his disciples when they were disobedient in John 21. You also
see it in His first words from the horrible cross "Father, forgive them
for they do not know what they do." (Luke 23:34).
The SEVENTH SOLUTION TO DISSENSION IN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP IS THEN TO:
7. Practice the "sweet reasonableness" of Christ.
Finally, the second sentence in verse 5 reads:
5 ... The Lord is at hand.
Literally it says "The Lord is near." "Near" can mean near
in proximity or time. Jesus is always with believers, because by His Spirit He indwells
them, but here the context has already hinted at the time of Christ's return in
verse 1 as an extension of 3:20,21. So the meaning is
clearly that the Lord Jesus' time to return is always near.
Christians are to live each day with a sense of Christ's immanent, sudden
appearing. What a motive to live in harmony and a solution to any disunity
among believers. When the sound of the trumpet of God and the voice of the
archangel is heard, do we want to be found festering over an unresolved
conflict with a fellow believer in Christ? I don't think so!
SOLUTION NUMBER EIGHT IN THIS PASSAGE THEN IS:
8. Remember Christ could appear at any moment!
REVIEW: The Problem of DISUNITY AND DISSENSION Between
Christians
Philippians 4:1-5 EIGHT SOLUTIONS
1. Remember Christ's power is available to hold your ground, so that you don't
surrender the spiritual maturity He's caused you to attain. (Phil. 3:15,16 and 4;1)
2. Focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, not your personal differences with other
believers. (Phil. 4:2)
3. If necessary, get a spiritually mature mediator involved in helping you be
accountable to resolve the difference. (Phil. 4:3a)
4. Remember all true Christians are on the same team. (Phil. 4:3b)
5. Remember you will spend eternity together with the other person in the
presence of the Lord. (Phil. 4:3c)
6. Rejoice in the Lord Jesus' accomplishments, continuously. (Phil. 4:4)
7. Practice the "sweet reasonableness" of Christ. (Phil. 4:5a)
8. Remember Christ could appear in glory at any moment! (Phil. 4:5b)
Oh may we practice these solutions, and have peace among ourselves! May we
truly be able to give a watching and critical world the most powerful witness
we have in Christ, LOVE. May God truly bless you in your chaplaincy ministry.
Rich Hines
Minister To Chaplains -