Coming Together

Philippians 4:2-3

What makes a group effective?

Today there's a lot of emphasis on the individual. If you go to your local bookstore, you will find literally hundreds of books in the self-help section. Most of these books are targeted to individual needs. They are there to help you be a better person as an individual. And that's because most of us think in terms of our individual needs. We value individuality.

Less than ten miles from here, just across the river, is the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, the birthplace of freedom. It was there that we declared our freedom in a document called the Declaration of Independence. We value independence. We value freedom. We value individuality.

Now, there is nothing wrong with this, unless we emphasize individuality at the expense of community. And I think we do. The message of our culture is to be happy no matter what. If we have to sacrifice our marriage or our children to do so, then that is just the price we pay. We have elevated the pursuit of happiness and the right of personal choice to sacred places in our cultural philosophy. The bottom line is that we are not very good at group stuff. We are not very good at living in community.

But back to my original question. What makes a group effective? Any group. It could be a group at work, struggling with a project. It could be a civic club, working on a community endeavor. It could be a sports team, trying to win a championship. Or it could be a church, trying to reach its community for Christ. What makes these groups effective as groups?

We have all heard of group dynamics. The dynamics of a group are interesting. Some groups just "have it." It is something intangible. It is something that makes the group work. People study group dynamics in order to try to understand how to make their particular group function well. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they don't. Often they don't, because it is so easy to get off track.

In a group, if one or two people are out of sync with the others, then the whole group suffers as a result. You see, group dynamics depend on the people in the group, their actions, attitudes, reactions, and relationships. And it doesn't take much to upset the effectiveness of the group.

The apostle Paul had a single purpose in life. It was to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to see people come to know him. But this was not simply an individual effort on his part. In order to accomplish this goal, he established churches. He did this because this was Jesus’ idea. The church is not something that some pastor dreamed up, it is something that God established. It is the community of called out ones. It is the community of the King. In other words, God knew that we could not do this alone. He knew that we needed one another. Christianity is a group thing. That's why we must learn how to live together in such a way that we can be effective.

In our text today, Paul addresses a couple of areas that are essential in our coming together. In his personal comments to several Christians in the church in Philippi, he addresses two issues that apply to every church. Let's look at them. Firstly, he indicates that for God's people to be effective, we must...

We find here a situation in the church where there was conflict. Euodia and Syntyche were two women in the church who had worked with Paul. We do not know very much about them at all. And even here Paul does not tell us very much about them. We don't even know what the conflict was over. All we know is that they weren't in agreement and were having problems.

Of course, the church today doesn't have problems like these, right? Wrong! Unfortunately, problems like these are everywhere in the church today. Sadly, it seems as if conflict is the rule rather than the exception. Anywhere you find pastors getting together, they are talking about church conflict. And church conflict is devastating to the spiritual life of the church, especially when it is not handled in a biblical way.

Why is there so much conflict? Well, one reason is that we allow our old sinful nature to reassert itself. In other words, we fail to live up to who we are in Christ. We live like we are not children of God. We allow selfishness, personal preferences, and our own opinion to control how we deal with one another. We let the independent spirit of our culture dominate.

One of the main reasons why we have so much conflict in the church is because we operate out of our own self-interest. All of us were pretty selfish before we came to Christ, and unfortunately, sometimes we continue to live that way. And the reason why we have conflict is because we want our way. But there is no healthy relationship in which everyone gets their own way all the time.

Take marriage for example. Marriage is the joining together of a man and a woman in a covenant relationship for life. There is a unity in this relationship that has to be developed over time. And for that to happen, each person must change. Where you have two people, each of whom is unwilling to change, you will soon have conflict. I have seen a lot of marriages and I have counseled many married couples. I have never seen a marriage where change was not needed in both individuals. And I believe that God planned it this way. Marriage deals with our selfishness. And so does the church.

If we are going to be effective in the church, we must walk together in agreement. Unity is another word for this. We must come together in what we believe. We must share a common vision. And to do that we all must change. Listen to what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.

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. (1 Corinthians 1:10 NIV)

Paul indicates that it is possible for us to agree. It is possible for us to be perfectly united in mind and thought. Is this true? It doesn't seem true from our personal experience. We have seen so much conflict and disagreement that it is hard for us to believe that the church can exist without it. But the church can not only exist without it, the church must exist without it. Paul gives us a strong exhortation here. It is even stronger in the original language. In the Greek, the implication is that we can be in agreement even in our opinions. Let's look at the same passage as it is translated in the Amplified Bible.

But I urge and entreat you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in perfect harmony, and full agreement in what you say, and that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you; but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding and in your opinions and judgments. (1 Corinthians 1:10 Amplified Bible)

Can we do this? Some of you may say that this is impossible. It is if we look to our own self-interest. It is if we demand our own way. But if we will begin to see ourselves as part of the community of the King, under the leadership of the King, seeking to make his will our will, it is possible. But his will must become our will, not the other way around. Often, we pray and tell God what we want and ask him to bless it. In other words, we ask God to make our will his will. Instead, we need to discover his will and adopt that as our will. And if we all do that, we will be of the same opinion.

The church in our day desperately needs people to walk together in unity. Our effectiveness depends on it. Our testimony depends on it. The Gospel message depends on it. Listen to what Jesus said concerning the importance of our unity:

I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. (John 17:21 GW)

Our unity is a testimony to the world that God the Father sent God the Son into this world to be our Savior. That is how important unity is to the effectiveness of the church. We must determine to walk together in unity for the sake of the Gospel.

You see, unity is a choice. Unity is not a feeling but rather a decision that we make that we are going to pull together for the common good. In order to do this, we must lay down our personal preferences recognizing that we are part of a bigger picture. If we can do that, we will have unity. And we will be a testimony to the watching world that Jesus Christ makes a real difference in the lives of those who follow him. In order to be effective, we must walk together, but we must also...

We must not only walk together, we must work together if we are going to be effective in the church. And this is precisely what Paul is speaking to here. He asks this "loyal yokefellow" to be of help to those who have served alongside him in the ministry.

We don't know who this loyal yokefellow was –– perhaps it was Epaphroditus, who was carrying this letter to Philippi. But it really doesn't matter who this person was, because Paul wanted whoever it was to be of help. He was asking this person to work together with those who had worked together with him. And this is an important principle.

We must see that we are interdependent in the body of Christ. We cannot do it alone. We need one another. I need what you have in Christ and you need what I have in Christ. Listen to what Paul says to the church in Corinth.

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12 NLT)

The picture is one of the human body. Our bodies are made up of many specialized parts. My hand, for example, is quite unlike my forearm. It is far more specialized, and one could argue that it is far more useful in what it can do. But if my hand were not attached to my forearm, it would be useless. And the same is true for every other part of my body. You see, the parts of our bodies must not only be present, they must also be connected.

The same is true for the church. You must not only be present, but you must also be connected. God does not want you to simply attend church; he wants you to be an active participant in the life and ministry of the church. You are needed.

Listen to what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus:

Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. (Ephesians 4:15-16 NLT)

As you are connected together with other Christians in the body of Christ, you help each other to grow. That is why we of each been given a gift of the Spirit. We have been given gifts so that we can bless others. That is the purpose of spiritual gifts. God does not gift us so that we can wear them like merit badges. God gives us gifts so that we can use them to encourage others, build up others, help others, and minister to others. In our self-centered, individualistic, and self-serving society, we have developed this notion that somehow God is here to bless us –– that everything centers on us. But the truth of the kingdom of God is that we are here for one another and that we have our needs met in the process of meeting the needs of other people.

Unity is essential, and teamwork is vital. We need both if we are going to be effective in our mission to the world. Both are indispensable values of truly Christian community. When one or both are missing in a church, that church is in trouble. When both are present, that church can accomplish a great deal.

If you are a Christian, then God has given you spiritual gifts. Your challenge now is to plug in to what God is doing in the local church and use those gifts for his glory and for the good of others. And you know what will happen? God will begin to meet your needs. You will be blessed. But you have to be present and you have to be plugged in. You must make a choice to pull together in unity for the sake of the cause of Christ, a cause bigger than any of us. And you must make a decision to work together with all of God's people for the sake of that cause.

Just think of what could be accomplished if these two principles were at work in every church. If the people of God were united, and if they were pulling together, helping one another, serving one another, encouraging one another, and ministering to one another, the results would be incredible!

May we begin to focus outward. We need to look around us at our brothers and sisters in Christ and ask ourselves how we can be of help to them. We need to focus on the values of unity and teamwork so that we may grow together into what God has created us to be –– fully devoted and fully mature followers of Christ.

Copyright © 2001 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.

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