Jump Start # 1528

Philippians 4:2 “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntche to live in harmony in the Lord.”

  What an interesting passage. Tucked away near the end of this wonderful letter that is filled with rejoicing and confidence and admonitions to maintain the same love and be united on one purpose, we find Paul naming two women who weren’t getting along.

Relationships are often hard to maintain. This is true in families and this is especially true in a congregation. We tend to be a bit pushy with our opinions and are quick to tell the other person what they “ought to do.” We wear our feelings and get our feathers ruffled easily. We can say what’s on our minds, even if that thought isn’t very nice. The problems we have the most in church comes from one another and not the Lord.

So, here in this wonderful letter, Paul names two sisters and tells them to get along. Live in harmony in the Lord. Harmony is a musical word for most of us. Singing harmony brings pleasant memories of barber shop quartets, folk music, the songs of the early Beatles and even many of our hymns. To sing in harmony, folks must sing together. Solos and harmonies are not the same. Many like the spotlight on them, but a harmony always includes others. Paul’s words were to live in harmony.

There are some interesting things we see in this simple verse.

First, Paul doesn’t tell us what the problem is. They weren’t getting along, we know that. But why? What was the fuss all about. We’d love to know. We don’t. Any suggestions are just guesses.

Second, Paul doesn’t take sides. He remains neutral. He doesn’t tell one to apologize to the other. He doesn’t say that Euodia is right. Live in harmony. We don’t know which of the two were in the wrong or it may have been that they both were in the wrong. What we know is that Paul said live in harmony.

Third, Paul doesn’t get involved in straightening this out. He tells them to live in harmony. He doesn’t schedule a meeting between them. He doesn’t sit down with both of them. They were to fix the problem, not Paul. We may want others to get involved and solve the problems but Paul didn’t do that here. They were to live in harmony. They were to get along. They were to work things out. Sometimes stepping back and allowing people the opportunity of working things out is one of the best things that we can do. Too many people involved can make things messy and even make things worse.

Fourth, sometimes personal issues spill over and affect the congregation. That seems to be the problem here. In a letter that was to be read before the church, these two names would have been read. This wasn’t news to the church. The problem was well known and hurting things. The fact that their names would have been read in an inspired letter, meant that Paul knew and that God knew. The problem had gone far enough and now it was time to end it. I would think it would be a bit embarrassing to sit in worship and have your name read from an inspired letter and what was read was telling you to get along with another. And as the Bible was recorded, everyone since those days has read those two names. We don’t know much about these two women other than they weren’t getting along with each other. That fact is known through eternity. Imagine bumping into one of them in Heaven. “Oh,” we’d say. “I’ve heard about you.” Indeed. Everyone has. One wonders if the problem they had was worth eternity knowing that they couldn’t get along with each other.

Little feuds and spats with one another can get blown up and can disrupt unity, worship and the good that a church is doing. Hurt feelings can become a major issue. Taking sides and pointing fingers usually leads to more trouble. The lack of harmony between these two could lead to a split congregation. It was time to end it and they were to figure out how to live in harmony.

Live in harmony. Sweet words. Hard to do. Hard to do when you feel like you’ve been neglected or someone has stepped on your feelings. Hard to be on the same page when you feel like someone owes you an apology. Harmony is looking to the other. Harmony is about being of one mind and one voice. Harmony is about blending together. Harmony is about two being one. There is a harmony in marriage. Certainly each person has their own space, especially in a closet full of clothes. The guy has his tools, and his stuff. In our house, I have an office. It’s decorated the way I want it to look. It’s me. We have a piano room that is pretty much my wife’s taste. The piano fills the room. I don’t play the piano, so it’s basically her room. The rest of the house, is a blending. It’s agreeing and compromising and sharing because the rest of the house is shared. Harmony is necessary in a marriage.

Harmony is necessary in a church. Without harmony, unity will not exist. Harmony is about agreeing, compromising and sharing—and that’s what makes a church run smooth. There’s no room for selfishness, me-first, or, my way. Unity works when we stand together on the platform of Christ and His word. When we practice grace and forgiveness, unity has a chance. When harmony is missing, so is getting along. You can tell when a church is missing harmony. It’s in the air. It’s like riding in the backseat of the car with your sister. We want our space and someone is always touching us and annoying us. They chew their gum too loud. They are leaning on us. They are talking too loud. Everything that they are doing, bothers us. It bothers us because we don’t want to be sitting beside them. We don’t want to be there. When that is the spirit, it’s really hard to get along and harmony is shot.

We can allow some folks to really bug us or we can work really hard to be in harmony. It’s a choice. We can focus on the annoying things that they do or we can focus upon the really good things that we have in common. We can continue to pick scabs that keeps wounds from healing or we can work on building stronger relationships. It’s a choice.

One of the things we notice about the Bible is that we are not given the opportunity to follow the end of the story with many people we read about. That’s not the purpose of the Bible. It’s not a biography. It’s a book that tells the story of Jesus. So, did those two women get back in harmony? We don’t know. We certainly hope so. They now had an entire congregation that could help them if they couldn’t do it themselves.

How about your story? Is there someone that you are not in harmony with? Isn’t it time you do what you can to work things out? Isn’t it time for you to offer the peace pipe and even apologize? How would you like your name to be read before a congregation with the admonition, “live in harmony”? Makes you wonder if we make a bigger deal out of things than we ought to.

Live in harmony…That’s what God wants. It starts with each of us doing what we can.

Roger