10/1/23 Philippians - Part 10 “A Team United”

“A Team United”

Philippians 4:1-3

As all of you are probably aware, football season is once again upon us.

Sunday afternoons…..and Sunday evenings….and Monday nights….and Thursday nights are all now a sacred time of the week for many men (And some ladies, too) who enjoy the spectacle of witnessing 22 freakishly large and fast men beating each other to a pulp while trying to move a piece of pigskin across a 1 acre parcel of lawn.

Don’t get me wrong, Lisa and I both enjoy football…. in fact, for about a 10-year span we would celebrate our anniversary every Fall by attending a Green Bay Packers away game somewhere – it just became ‘our thing’ for a while.

The girls would get shipped off to Grandma & Grandpa’s for a few days while Lisa & I followed the Pack to what was usually a non-conference game somewhere in a warm climate!

We had the opportunity to travel to places like Washington DC, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, and New Orleans to catch Packer games and to take in the local sights.

In fact, when we were at the Saints game in New Orleans about 10 years ago, I sat right next to an older man from Kiln, Mississippi who just happened to be Brett Farve’s 6th grade teacher.

We chatted for much of the game….and I heard some very interesting stories about the family upbringing and youthful antics of ole’ #4....some that I honestly wish I hadn’t heard.

Anyway, when we would attend these games, we usually sat up in the cheap seats where you could see the entire field quite easily.

Over the years, I began to appreciate this high-altitude view for one main reason: It was easy to watch offensive plays develop.

From the snap of the ball until the referee’s whistle signaling the end of the play, this vantage point provides the opportunity to see how the movements of each individual worked toward the goal of the entire offense.

If each individual on offense performs their specific job to a high level, the play typically results in a movement of the ball down the field toward the goal line.

If mistakes are made during the play – sometimes by just a single player – the play has a much lower chance of succeeding.

When plays do work, they are fun to watch from an ariel viewpoint because you can see how each player moves according to his individual assignment in order to accomplish a collective, team goal.

It’s almost as if the offense resembles one large organism as it tries to slither its way past the defense on the playing field.

This analogy from football reminds me, in many ways, of the church – where each of us plays a role on offense and a role on defense.

Here in this church, we are all offensive players in the sense that we each have spiritual gifts and abilities that must be utilized in order for this body of believers to be successful in glorifying God and bringing people to Christ – something that our adversary, Satan, and his defensive team of demons do not want to see happen!

Similarly, we are also defensive players, as we look to stop our opponent’s team (Satan and his team of demonic influence) from successfully moving the ball into our territory.

In verse 1 of our passage for today (Philippians 4:1) Paul is like an inspiring football coach yelling from the sidelines – he is imploring us to “Stand firm” in the Lord.

Scripture is telling us to form a stout defensive line against the plays of the enemy….and Satan knows how to put in some trick plays as well that have the potential to catch us off guard if we are not a disciplined defense!

Any defensive coach will tell you that an undisciplined defense will result in yielding too much ground to the opponent…

Our church is a “team”, we can ill-afford to ever put ourselves in such a position.

“Standing Firm” in the Lord involves each player (Each participant) staying focused on their lane of responsibility, their defensive assignment.

Some offensive plays are designed to intentionally trick the defense and tempt players to forego their assignments, leaving a certain part of the field exposed for the offense to take advantage of.

If a church is undisciplined in their defensive strategy, then Satan’s offensive plays consisting of moral relativism, humanistic philosophy, and watered-down doctrine will be very successful against the church– and unfortunately, Satan’s gameplan is working quite well in certain churches in our day and age.

Pray that this lack of defensive discipline never happens in this church!

Pray that we all stay in our assigned lanes of obedience and resist the temptation to become distracted by complicated offensive sets and trick plays.

The more we read the defensive manual (God’s Word) the more we will be a stout defense – giving no ground to the enemy.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11 to “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”

1 Corinthians 16:13 also reminds us to “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”

Regarding the NFL, when we look at these enormous human beings that are brave…Well, some would say “Stupid”….enough to participate in such a violent sport, we notice something about them.

We notice that their bodies -they don’t look like ours!

These giant people are FIT…they spend hours every day in the gym working out – I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to spend hours every day researching which nearby Culver’s has the best Flavor of the Day for that day!....

Oh, come on now…I know I’m not the only one here that does some Culver’s research from time to time…I mean if you’re going on a Menards run through Reedsburg to Baraboo, you gotta know which Culver’s has the better flavor for that day, right?! 😊

Well, we may never be as fit as a professional athlete, but we CAN be extremely fit on a spiritual level!....and, folks, at the end of the day, it’s much more important to be spiritually fit than it is to be physically fit (Although staying active is important too – God does tell us to take good care of our bodies)

So, How do we become spiritually Buff? How do we build those large spiritual muscles that will enable us to endure the wear and tear of daily battle with our enemy on the battlefield of life?

Well, just as a weightroom really isn’t rocket science, neither is the process of building powerful spiritual muscles.

It begins by immersing ourselves in the Word of God…Shocker, right?

Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”

Not only does scripture build our spiritual muscles, but it also shows us where we are going….

What happens if you walk outside in the middle of night – during a lunar eclipse – in an unfamiliar area.…sooner or later, you will most likely stumble into something and fall.

Same thing happens spiritually, if you try to walk around in absolute darkness – which, by the way, that’s what our world is in – until Jesus returns, our world will remain in the darkest shadow of sin – if we try to walk around in this place without some sort of light source, you will stumble and you will fall….and that allows your evil opponent the opportunity to advance into your territory – maybe even score some points against you.

Jesus says in Matthew 4:4 “…It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 here and he is responding to Satan’s attempt to temp him.

Satan thinks that if he can just force Jesus to turn the ball over – If he could cause Jesus to disobey the Will of the Father (Even in the slightest way)….then maybe – just maybe – he could scoop up a fumble and run it the other direction for a spiritual touchdown….and, by so doing, this would have ended man’s hope of redemption through a sinless savior.

Satan knew that if Jesus had yielded any points to him, even a little 2-point safety, then the plan of salvation would not have worked.

Jesus would have been guilty of sin and, consequently, man would have no hope for redemption….the score had to be a blowout – Satan had to have a big fat zero in his score column for the plan of salvation to come to fruition.

Fortunately for us, that is exactly what happened!

Jesus stood his ground – even when his body would have been on the edge of death from not having eaten for 40 days…He stood his ground!...can we get excited about that this morning?

I know it’s easy to hoot and holler at a football game when your team scores a touchdown because every one else is doing it – but, folks, let’s get excited this morning about the eternal victory that Jesus has established for those who place their faith and trust in Him !!

When we look at the field of battle in the desert chronicled for us in Matthew chapter 4, we notice something….Every time Satan temps Jesus, Jesus responds with these 3 words: “It is written”!

This response drives home the point that knowing scripture is the key to a successful spiritual life.

Every time we are tempted, we need to also respond to Satan with “It is Written”!

Another way that we build spiritual muscle is through time in prayer…

I don’t know about y’all, but Personally, I could use some strengthening of the prayer muscle?....and I’m willing to bet that many of you, if you’re honest, could afford to spend a few more hours in the gym each week toning this particular muscle as well.

Paul writes in Ephesians 6:18 that we are to “….Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests….”

James reminds us that there is deliverance through prayer…He writes: “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray…..”(James 5:13)

Prayer brings peace and healing to our lives, but prayer also brings us closer to God – and the closer our walk is with the Lord, the stronger our spiritual muscles are going to be.

Let’s look at verse 2 of our passage for this morning (Philippians 4:2)

Here, Paul mentions by name two important ladies in the Philippian Church: Euodia and Syntyche.

These ladies may have been some of Paul’s first converts on His missionary trip to Philippi that we looked at a few months ago in Acts chapter 16.

We don’t know a lot about these ladies – but we can deduce a few things:

1)     They were church members, they were not troublemakers from outside of the church.

2)     They were prominent women who were very well respected within this specific congregation.

Unfortunately, the main thing we understand about Euodia and Syntyche is that they had a long-lasting spat – they just did NOT get along!

Imagine being mentioned in the Bible with centuries of future generations remembering you for not getting along with a fellow believer!.....Isn’t that sad!!?

These ladies will forever be remembered for what NOT to do!

So, what was this spat all about, anyway?

Well, Paul doesn’t tell us the exact reason for their dispute, but I think we can confidently rule out a disagreement over a doctrinal issue – otherwise Paul would have sided with whoever had the better doctrinal position.

So, if that assumption is correct, and the dispute between these two ladies did not involve something doctrinal, it was most likely an argument involving a relationship or personal preference of some kind.

Whatever it entailed, Paul was deeply concerned about how it was negatively affecting the overall health of the church.

Remember, these ladies were well respected leaders in the church – making this situation all the worse.

This is one of Satan’s go-to schemes in his offensive play book. If he can cause division and strife between people within the church – on the same “team”, so to speak, how easy his job will be to render the church ineffective.

Infighting within any organization brings trouble – but infighting within the church can have eternal consequences!

Sticking with our football theme this morning, Back in 2003, there was an on-field incident during an Oakland Raiders practice between Bill Romanowski and Marcus Williams….this was in practice…these guys were teammates !!

As the story goes, Romanowski, a defensive player,  was upset over what he perceived as an extensive amount of holding on the part of Williams, an offensive player – so – Romanowski decides to punch Marcus Williams (His Teammate!) in the face, breaking his left eye socket and essentially ending his career.

Not only was it a horrible action on Romanowski’s part, but the team lost a player that day – AND – they lost a ton of morale in the locker room….and by the way, the Oakland Raiders went 4-12 that season!...Pretty ineffective!

I’m guessing Euodia and Syntyche probably didn’t punch each other in the face, but the effects from their dispute had the potential to be just as damaging to the church in Philippi.

Unity is one of the most important characteristics that should define the church.

In 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul says: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought,”

And in Jesus’ emotional & powerful prayer in John chapter 17, he says this: “I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:23)

Do you see what is being said in these passages?

Paul is stressing the importance of unity within the church in order to efficiently and effectively carry out its mission.

Jesus is also stressing unity amongst his followers for the benefit of those who are currently not a part of the household of faith.

If there is a strong sense of unity within the church, it will send a strong message to the world as to the legitimacy of our faith – and the reality of the gospel message.

I remember sitting next to more than a few people at Packer away games and many of them would say to us that even though they are pulling for their home team that day, they generally root for the Packers against other teams because they appreciate how the organization in Green Bay is managed….In other words, they respect the team from Green Bay.

Does the village of LaValle respect the team from LaValle Advent Christian Church?

Does Sauk County respect the team from LaValle Advent Christian Church?

…More importantly, does Jesus respect the team from LACC?

….I pray that he does!

Unity in the church conveys the spiritual truth that Jesus really is the way, the truth, and the life!

In the game of football, they call it having a “cohesive locker room”

The locker room is where plans are made, collective goals are set, and personal differences are hashed out –  and if these are done in a healthy way – the team generally succeeds.

In the same way, our church needs to be a cohesive spiritual locker room – a place where we can come together as one entity on Sunday before individually doing battle for the Lord the rest of the week…

Finally, In verse 3 of our passage for this morning (Philippians 4:3) Paul places the responsibility for resolving this feud with one certain individual at the church in Philippi – someone he calls his “Loyal Yokefellow.”

Although Paul does not disclose the name of this individual, he charges this person with the task of helping to heal the broken relationship between Euodia and Syntyche.

Paul obviously knew that this ‘loyal yokefellow’ would be the best person for the job in healing the wounds between these two women – and consequently – strengthen the church as a whole.

Let this be a message to us as well…

Some of you are gifted with the ability to be natural peacemakers – don’t let that talent go unused!

If you find yourself in the middle of a spat between two fellow believers who each respect you and your opinion – use your position to bring these people together….remind them of their identity as fellow siblings in Christ and fellow Children of God.

If you think about it, arguments in the church involving areas of personal preference are almost always rooted in selfishness or pride or traditionalism or sentimentality….They Never stem from a spirit of humility or modesty.

So, In conclusion, the church (This church) needs to be committed to standing united as one team – one organism – one entity…with one goal.

And that goal is to glorify God and to carry out the great commission issued to us by our savior, Jesus Christ.

The church exists to praise God and point others to Jesus – let’s make sure we are doing these things….and doing them effectively!

Let’s perform efficiently as a spiritual team – this means we commit zero turnovers – this means not allowing the enemy to move the ball down the field against us– this means standing our ground in the trenches of life!

Let’s Pray.