The sermon titled 'Living With the Lord at Hand' by Jason Dohm focuses on Philippians 4:2-5, emphasizing the idea that believers should live with the acknowledgment that Jesus Christ is present and near to His people. The sermon discusses Paul's exhortation to the Philippian church to resolve conflicts and be of the same mind 'in the Lord,' highlighting the importance of unity among believers. It addresses the specific conflict between two women, Yodia and Syntyche, urging help from the 'true companion' to resolve their differences. The sermon underscores that Christians should not only rejoice in the Lord at all times but also handle each other with gentleness and moderation, knowing that the Lord is near. It portrays Jesus as a 'reservoir of joy' and encourages believers to draw from this joy in all circumstances. The sermon also reflects on the role of women in the early church, emphasizing their significant contribution to gospel work. Finally, it calls for guarding unity in the Lord and maintaining a sense of the reality of God's nearness, which impacts how believers live and interact with each other.

The sermon text is four, two through five. I'm gonna start in verse one and read through seven. Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so Stand fast in the Lord, beloved. I implore Yodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 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.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving Let your requests be made known to God and The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The title of The sermon today is, Living with the Lord at Hand.

This is really borrowing from the last phrase of the last verse that we'll be looking at today. The Lord is at hand. This is really what Paul is driving at in this text. The Lord's people would live with a sense of the reality that Jesus Christ is with his people. So it's not that we pretend something in order to behave.

Heaven forbid! Paul is not trying to get us to pretend like Jesus is near so that we will behave ourselves. He is actually wanting us to live with an acknowledgement of the reality that Jesus is the God of His people, is with His people. He draws near to His people. He indwells His people with His Spirit.

The Lord indeed is at hand. This should have tremendous impact on how we think, how we live. That's what Paul is driving at. Last week Paul put before us our citizenship. It's a heavenly citizenship, not an earthly citizenship.

Meaning that we belong there. We are here, but we more properly belong there. A sense of belonging there while we are here should shape how we live on foreign hostile soil. First of all, it lets us know that we are physically here on foreign soil and that it's hostile soil. It's good to know that.

If you're in enemy territory, it's good to know that you've crossed the boundary and you are in enemy territory. While we're here on foreign hostile soil, We are to keep in mind that Jesus is coming. He could come at any minute. And when He comes, He will gloriously transform us. There is a glorious future for those who are in Christ.

And because of having this in mind, we should stand fast. We should dig in our heels and maintain the distinctives of the kingdom where our citizenship abides, and we should advance the interests of that kingdom, even though maintaining those distinctives and advancing those interests mean we have to swim against the current every minute of every day because we are on foreign soil and hostile soil. So that was last week. This week closely follows that theme that our citizenship is a heavenly citizenship, not an earthly citizenship. In our text today, we're going to encounter the phrase, in the Lord, three times in four verses.

Three out of the four verses have the phrase, In the Lord. This has everything to do with our heavenly citizenship. It ends with, the Lord is at hand. The King of the country where the citizenship of all those who are in Christ abides is at hand. He is near to His people.

As we go to the text, Let's go to the text in prayer. Our God and King, we want to know you and to experience you in this life. It is unthinkable to us in light of New Testament scripture that we would have to wait to know you and experience you to heaven. We want to live with an intimate knowledge that you are at hand, that you are near and present, that you indwell your people by your spirit. We want to experience it every day.

We pray that you would use your word to help us. We pray this in Jesus' name. So there are four verses and we'll just simply be taking them one by one today. Beginning in Philippians chapter four verse two. Follow along as I read.

By the way, I'm going to be giving you mispronunciations of these names. I actually went on BlueLetterBible.com and I listened to the proper pronunciation. I don't think I can do it without slowing way down and messing up. So I'm just going to be doing it as I've done it, knowing that I'm pronouncing it wrong. But you probably don't know any better.

So we'll just go with it. 4 verse 2. I implore Eodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Here in this verse we have minds in conflict that need to unite. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks.

It's conflict. Unite. Minds in conflict that need to unite. It's clear from verse 2 that these two sisters in the Lord are not of the same mind. That's why he's exhorting them to be of the same mind, because they're not of the same mind.

And from verse 3, they're in need of help to get beyond the conflict. In other words, this has been going on a little bit, and They're at an impasse. There's no movement towards unity, and they need help to get beyond the logjam of the conflict. There is a conflict. There's no making sense of this passage without having two sisters of the Lord who are in sort of immovable conflict.

They haven't been able to move forward. Who are these women? Well the text does not say, But we do know that Christianity came to Philippi through women. Listen to Acts chapter 16, 11 through 13. This is Acts 16, 11 through 13.

Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we came to Neapolis and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. This brings them to Philippi. We were staying in that city for some days. On the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made.

We sat down and spoke to the women who met there. The Apostle Paul and those who were with him come to Philippi. They were there some days and on the Sabbath day they go where they know the people gathered to pray. While they are there, they speak to the women who are there. And they are preaching the Gospel.

In the next verse it says that the Lord moves Lydia's heart to embrace the Gospel that they are preaching, and then following on from there, we find that the believers are actually meeting in Lydia's house. Lydia's home is host, plays host to the church. And so from the very beginning of the Gospel coming to Philippi, women are a prominent part of that. In verse 3, when we get to the next verse that we are studying this week, we will see that that continues to be true. In these Gospel labors, women continue to, 10 years later, they are still having a prominent part in the Gospel labors.

Now so that we don't miss this, we are back in Philippians. I just turn back to the very first verse of the letter, chapter 1 verse 1. Paul and Timothy, bond servants of Jesus Christ, saw all the saints who were in Christ Jesus, who are in Philippi, with the elders and deacons. So this is to all the believers, this is not a personal letter. Philippians is not a personal letter, it is a letter to the Church, to all the saints who are in Philippi, along with the people who are leading and serving them.

Consider Colossians 4 verse 16. Paul writes this in Colossians 4.16, Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans. This was Paul's expectation of the letters to the churches. Not personal letters, but letters to groups of believers who have formed local churches. He sends them a letter and it's to everyone there, not just the leaders, but it's to all the saints in the church.

The expectation is that it will be read by everyone, and the expectation is that they will actually gather for the reading of it. Now, chapter 4, verse 2, Iodia and Syntyche. The church has been gathered with an expectation that everybody in the church is exposed to every word of the letter. The names of these two sisters in the Lord are called out. There are two things to say.

One, Paul is very careful and gentle in the language that he uses. Look at verse 2 and 3. Paul is very careful in the language that he uses, and he is very gentle in the language that he uses. In verse 3, it's clear that he actually holds both of these women in high esteem. This is not to troublemakers, like get in line troublemakers is not a rebuke that's being delivered here.

These are women that he clearly holds in high regard and he speaks of them very tenderly in verse 3 as co-labors in the gospel, and while he is urgently appealing to them, saying, I implore you, and I implore you, he is not commanding them. So Paul has not come with an apostolic commandment, you knock it off and you knock it off. That's not what is said here. I implore Iodia and I implore Syntyche. So one, Paul is careful and gentle in the language that he uses.

Two, even so, Paul is escalating things to get it resolved. So, if when you imagine the church gathering to hear Paul's letter, and now two names are said, you two be of the same mind. I'm imploring you, and I'm imploring you, be of the same mind. If you don't get that Paul is escalating things in order to get this resolved, you're not thinking rightly about it. Paul is putting something that may have been hush-hush.

Conflict within the church sometimes can become the untouchable, unspeakable topic. It's a speakable topic now. Paul has brought it and put it right in the middle of the table. You and you work hard to be of the same mind. Paul is definitely escalating things to get this conflict resolved.

Paul learned of the conflict probably by Epaphroditus. Remember, this is the whole context of the letter. The Philippians, because of their care and love for Paul, have sent Epaphroditus to provide for him and to encourage him while he is in prison, probably in Rome. They have been talking a lot about The things that are going on in Philippi, this is one of the things that are going on in Philippi, Eodia and Syntyche are not of the same mind. There has been no movement, and now Paul knows about it because he's been speaking with Epaphroditus.

That is conjecture, but it's pretty solid conjecture, I think. He's definitely been talking with this messenger from the church. Paul is not content to leave things alone and hope for the best. We get that from the fact that Paul is addressing this head on by name. Not content to just hope it works out.

Paul is putting it on the table and saying, this needs to be worked out. In Paul's mind this has to be dealt with and it has to be resolved. Now what is Paul's exhortation to these women? Be of the same mind in the Lord. There are two elements to what Paul is exhorting them to.

One is like-mindedness. Be of the same mind. He's already set this up for the whole Church earlier. Just flip back to Philippians chapter 2. Just remind you of what he said to the whole Church in Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if the fellowship of the Spirit in view, with the affection and mercy that comes hand-in-hand with being in Christ in view. Brothers and sisters, be like-minded, having the same love, having one mind. He's brought the whole church to the precipice of this, and now he's applying it in a very particular way. Then he continues on to say, this like-mindedness I'm calling for is having the mind of Christ who humbled himself and gave up his rights in order to serve. This is the mind that we are to have.

This is what Paul has called the whole church to, and now he is calling two specific individuals to who are in conflict. Yodia and Syntyche. The first part of the exhortation is like-mindedness. Be of the same mind. The second part gives the basis for the like-mindedness.

What's the basis for the like-mindedness? In the Lord. It wouldn't be right to come to Paul's exhortation and say, well what he's calling for is just sort of a, hey can't we all get along? Just drop it. Treat everything like it doesn't matter just for the sake of getting along.

Go along to get along. That is not what Paul is saying here. What he is saying is, we are, we, corporately, together, we are bought with a price. And what a price it is. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that has made us brothers and sisters, that has cleansed us all and made us all right with God.

So Jesus owns me, and Jesus owns you, and it gives him the right to govern us and to tell us how we must think and how we must act. I don't think I'm on controversial territory here, am I? If Jesus, the Son of God, has shed His blood to make me right with His Father, He has bought me. He owns me. The same is true of you.

He has laid claim in a special way to the right to govern me and tell me how I must think and how I must act, and the same with you. Now, God through the Apostle is saying, this is the basis of your unity. I'm king. I'm king. And I insist that my people relate with one another in a particular way.

That they think this way. That they act this way. He is our King, and so we want to know His ways, and we want to follow Him. Here's what Matthew Poole says. I think Matthew Poole hits the nail on the head.

Matthew Poole says, He, Paul, does here especially move them to unanimity, meaning like-mindedness. He moves them to like-mindedness according to the mind of the Lord. Think like Jesus and His way for the sake of Him whose honor is to be preferred to all private concerns." Now, this last part is it. That's what this means. That the honor of the king is to be preferred to all private concerns.

You have two sisters in the Lord and they're not like-minded. They've been unable to make progress in seeing things the same way. But Paul comes and says, you serve a common king and his honor means more than either one of your private concerns. It doesn't mean that the issues in the conflict don't matter. Paul's not asking them to treat the issues of the conflict as if they don't matter.

He's asking them to subjugate, to subject, to put as lower their private concerns to the honor of the king who has bought them with his blood. The private concerns have to be subjected to the honor of the king. That's verse 2. Verse 3. Hopefully you are with me back in Philippians chapter four.

Moving on to verse three. Paul writes, 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 verse 3, we simply have a call for help. If you're filling in blanks, taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's just help. It's a call for help.

Paul is calling for these sisters in the Lord who are in conflict to be helped. Paul urges his true companion, and the King James renders it more literally. There's nothing wrong with the rendering true companion, but it's more literal to render it as the King James does, true yoke fellow. With the idea being two animals yoked for work and They're pulling. They have to pull together.

They have to pull at the same speed, in the same direction to accomplish the mission. So Paul is saying, you're my yoke fellow. We're in a yoke together, and we've pulled in the same direction, at the same speed, to get the job done. We've worked together this way. I urge you, my true Yoke Fellow, to engage and help these women get beyond this conflict.

They're in conflict, they've been in conflict, they've not been able to secure any movement in a good direction. Now, true Yolk fellow, engage. Help these women to make progress in a good direction. Who is the true Yoke fellow? The text doesn't say.

Every commentator seems to have a different guess, some as fanciful as Paul's wife. From New Testament text, I think Paul had the gift of singleness. There's no credible evidence that Paul had a wife. But there are commentators out there who say that Paul is writing back to his wife in Philippi. The point is, lots of commentators have lots of speculation, but the text doesn't say.

If you want my guess, I guess it's Epaphroditus. But the text doesn't say that. Epaphroditus has come and probably has carried the letter back. And so that's my guess. And it's as unverified as every other guess.

In any event, it does not matter. If it mattered, we would know. And Paul has a particularly appropriate person to engage in mind, who would know exactly who he or she is, and that they are being called on by Paul to help. The point is this, sometimes we're in a conflict, even with another Christian. Maybe especially with another Christian.

Christians care about stuff. Christians care about things deeply, and in some ways that makes a ground for conflict, because we have a hard time backing away from the things that we care about deeply and so does our fellow Christian and sometimes that means there is conflict without movement. And we get in these conflicts and I am way too close to it and you're way too close to it too. I've sort of lost a sense of perspective that the things that seem important to me in this conflict are really small in the big picture but I've lost sight of that. But you too, you lost sight of the things that the ground that you're protecting, the things that are important to you in this conflict are looming large to you too because you're way too close to it also.

And we need somebody who's not so close to it, who can see the bigger picture and help you see the bigger picture and need the bigger picture, so that there can be movement. That's not uncommon at all to get too close to these issues in our conflict. And they loom so large, it's like the biggest thing in the world. Only if you could step back ten steps you would say, this is silly. This is silly.

This happens all the time. This is how conflict works. You get too close to it and you lose perspective. Even among Christians, and maybe especially among Christians, we need someone else who shares all the same values of the kingdom, the distinctives of the kingdom, who can help us step back and see the bigger picture again. It will not do for everyone to say, this is none of my business, they're on their own.

When there's a conflict in the church. It won't do for all of us to say, pretend like it's not happening. This is their thing. Wow, we hope for the best for what's happening over there, but we're going to face the other way. As if it's not even happening.

It will not do for everyone to do that. At the same time, Paul is also not teaching that everyone should jump into every conflict. If you get that out of this text, you've gotten the wrong thing. Paul actually has a particularly appropriate person in mind to engage in the conflict. It's probably somebody who's really mature.

It's probably someone who has a good reputation with both members of the conflict. So that those two, Iodia and Syntyche, can hear what is being said by this person who is well regarded by them both. Probably somebody like that. So it won't do for everyone to say, it's none of my business, they're on their own, and it won't do for everyone to say, we're all in it. That's called a world war, not conflict resolution.

Listen to how Paul describes Yodia and Syntyche. These women who labored with me in the gospel. So again, it's not like somebody put their foot on the neck of these troublemakers. Paul is tender towards these women. He has memories of laboring together for the Gospel, of being in the yoke with these women, going at the same speed, pulling in the same direction in order to advance the Gospel.

In Philippi, and maybe other places as well, It's not fully explained, but we know that they labored together in the Gospel. Paul thinks a lot of it. Paul is glad for it, thankful for it. Yes, of course women are co-laborers in the Gospel. We experience this all the time, but as I was thinking about what would be an example of this, I immediately thought of our Thanksgiving outreach.

We did a couple of things at the Thanksgiving outreach. One we said, you are only allowed to be in Griffins if you are ready for Gospel action. You are not allowed to be in there eating food unless you are proactively ready to engage with sharing the gospel with the strangers at the table. You can only be there. And James and I were asking around who is going to be there in order to make sure that sisters in the Lord were going to be in there.

We were counting noses to make sure we thought we had enough sisters in the Lord who would be in there elbow to elbow with us in laboring together for the Gospel. This is how it works. Men and women labor together for the Gospel. We see that in Philippi with Paul and his companions coming there. They go to the river where they know people will be praying, and there are women there, and they talk to those women.

Then some of these women become born again, and then they work together, advancing the Gospel in that community. Paul calls to mind others. Clement also. He labored together for the Gospel also. And the rest of my fellow laborers.

Meaning, there's a group who all have first-person, first-hand experience with the Apostle Paul, and they were working together to advance the Gospel in Philippi. Paul is calling this to memory, and I believe that Paul is drawing the readers of the letter, especially Iodia and Syntyche, back to their basic unity around the gospel. Essentially, it's Paul saying, ladies remember when we were laboring together for the gospel? Remember when we were sharing the good news of Jesus Christ together? Remember Clement was there and our other co-laborers whose names are written in the Book of Life.

By the way, on that phrase, Paul is not claiming an infallible ability to know whose name is in that book. If I had time and I thought I needed to, it would be easy to prove that from other places where Paul speaks. He's just saying, there are people there with the fruit of adoption. It seems to me they have been adopted. I think it's just as simple as that.

Their names are written in the book of life. They are bearing kingdom fruit, so it sure looks to me like they are born again. Paul calls to mind this co-laboring. It was Paul, it was Timothy, Silvanus was probably there, and Iodia and Syntyche. Lydia was there, Clement was there, and there were other laborers.

We were working together to advance the gospel. It worked. The church has been birthed out of that. Now they have elders, they have deacons, they've got more believers in this church. They labor together fruitfully in the gospel.

And there is a sweetness to that that is hard to part with. In other words, when you have worked together for the king in that way, and seen it bear fruit, good fruit, there is a sweetness that is implanted in that fellowship that you have had together that it is hard to give up. I think Paul is saying, you don't want to give that up, do you? Christians should have this bond. Those whose names are in the book of life should work hard together for the gospel, and build a bond that's hard to give up.

We've been given work to do together, and It is safe for us to assume that as we engage in doing that work together, and God makes it fruitful through our prayers and our efforts, through the working of His Holy Spirit in and through us, that a sweetness will be implanted into the bond that we have, and it'll make it harder to fight, and easier to make up. Because when faced with the options, I've got to give that up and walk away from that, or that's too sweet to walk away from, we'll choose it's too sweet to walk away from. I think Paul wants us to have that bond with each other. A bond that is born out of fruitful corporate labor, laboring together for the Gospel. It's sweet when God makes it fruitful.

It's hard to give up. God wants it that way. God wants to make it harder for us to squabble and easier to make up because of the sweetness that we have for working together for Him fruitfully. Verse 4. One of the most famous verses in the Bible.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say rejoice. Here in this verse we have a double imperative. Rejoice! So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in the blankets, imperative.

A double imperative, meaning The command is stated twice in the same verse. Rejoice in the Lord always. In case you didn't get me the first time, I will say again, rejoice. A double command, a double imperative to rejoice. Because Scripture is God's word, it means that every word has been chosen with precision, and there's not one too many words, and there's not one too few words.

Are you with me? This is our doctrine of Scripture. This is the doctrine of Scripture of the 1689 Confession, and we wholeheartedly, I hope, together believe this. Scripture is God-breathed. You had many authors, but really only one author.

The God who made everything that we see and know, including ourselves. Because He is the author behind the words, every word chosen with precision, so that we should notice when there's repetition. It matters when there's repetition. Our antenna should go up when there's repetition because God is highlighting it and putting it in bold in italics to make sure that we don't miss something that's important. Now these two verses, verse 4 and verse 5, I want to preach carefully in this sense.

I believe that both of these verses are completely fine standalone. Meaning, even if you take them completely out of the context, they're fine like that. They're valuable and even complete like that. Also, they both fit the context. I believe that these two verses, verse 4 and verse 5, can be taken as a general admonition for all of the Lord's people at all times, in all circumstances, and yet it still is attached to the context here.

So I sort of want to preach out of both sides of my mouth in that way. I want to preach it both ways. I don't want to pick between preaching it one way or the other. Verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always, I will say again rejoice, stands alone." Meaning this is not an admonition just for when there is conflict. It's rejoice in the Lord always.

It's not reserved just for times of conflict. Christians should rejoice in the Lord. The Lord Jesus is a reservoir of joy that the Christians should draw on in any and every time, and in any and every circumstance. So it's fine and wonderful to preach this in a general sense. Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ is a reservoir of joy to be drawn from every day and in every circumstance, and all day every day.

Always, that's what always means. The person of Jesus Christ, who He is, is a reservoir of joy. We just saw in the last chapter, Paul says, I count everything rubbish to know Christ. I'll walk away from everything to know him. He is Paul's reservoir of joy to draw from.

He is sufficient to lavishly make up for walking away from everything else to know him is sufficient that would make Paul turn down every benefit of his former life and turn his back on it. Why? Because Jesus was a pearl of great price. It was more beautiful, more valuable, worth selling all to have. The person of Jesus Christ, who He is, is a reservoir of joy and the work of Jesus Christ.

What He has done is a reservoir of joy. Don't you remember who you were? Don't you remember what it was like to be without God and without hope in the world? To be dead in your trespasses and sins? To be hopelessly separated from God?

And you were actually waging a war against him because everything in you was bent against him. You loved him. You hated him. It's been a long time ago, but I do remember that. His work paved the way for you to go out of the kingdom of darkness into a kingdom of light.

It's a reservoir of joy. If you can't think back to when you were in darkness and think of the beauty and the sweetness and the joy of being enlightened. All that is Jesus' work. It's a reservoir of joy. You can draw from it all day, every day, and never hit the bottom.

You never even lower the water line. This person, his work. Paul, a violent blasphemer of a man, this is his own testimony about himself, has been cleansed and changed and made into an apostle because of the work of Jesus Christ. Paul knows the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't know about Christ.

He knows Him. Christ abides with Him. He has fellowship with Christ. He knows Christ in an ongoing and intimate way, so that while He is in prison, and He might be required to forfeit His life any day now, He is writing letters, exhorting others to joy. This is unbelievable.

This guy, this author of the letter, who is this? Who might be days away from death, who is imprisoned? He has lost his freedom, but believe me, Paul hasn't lost his freedom. Paul is freer than anybody else around him. He is drawing from the reservoir of joy, the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

So it doesn't matter to him that he's in prison. He's writing letters, remember to rejoice. Remember to rejoice. That's a little humbling isn't it? When you get the exhortation from someone whose circumstances are way, way worse than your own circumstances and they're telling you, remember to rejoice.

We can be and we should be like that. Jesus is the same as he was 2000 years ago to the Apostle Paul. Jesus is as accessible to the believer today as he was to the Apostle Paul. This verse does stand alone. You don't have to be in conflict and have the needs of the specific context of the letter for you to be admonished to rejoice in the Lord.

But it also fits the context. If conflict is the sickness, then rejoicing in the Lord is the medicine. Are you with me? Are you following me? If conflict is the sickness, Yodi and Synthache can't be like-minded, they just can't make progress.

If that's the sickness, the remedy, the medicine, the cure, is rejoicing in the Lord. Think of Matthew 18, the parable of the unforgiving servant. A servant owes an incalculable debt to the master. The Master calls it due and is going to just sell him and his wife and his children into slavery. Not to repay the debt, that doesn't even begin to touch the debt, but at least to get something back.

He pleads for mercy and the master forgives the uncountable debt. You can't count that high what he owes. But the master just wipes it away and then he goes with a fellow servant who owes him a little bit of money, he's choking it out of him. The fellow servant pleads with him in exactly the same words that he used to plead with the master, please give me time, but he won't hear it. He won't hear it.

He's going to throw that fellow servant into the debtor's prison until the last penny is paid. And the whole point of this is that he's been forgiven. The reason why we read that parable and look on that man with utter contempt is, he was just forgiven a million times as much as he's choking out of his fellow servant. He's just been forgiven a million times as much. He should be rejoicing.

The last thing on his mind should be the lousy few bucks that his fellow servant owes him. That should be the last thing on his mind. He shouldn't have time to think about that because he's too filled with joy over the debt that has been forgiven. And so it should be with us. If conflict and the things that have started to loom large, which is just a lack of perspective, when that starts to happen, we should turn around and look at the things that loomed large, really loomed large between us and God that He wiped away.

So yes, all Christians should rejoice at all times, but there is a particular application here in conflict. Application here in conflict. When we find ourselves digging in, immovable, against another Christian, We should make sure that we have not lost our rejoicing in the Lord, and we should allow a preoccupation with Christ, with His work, with His person, to make those things small. Because they are really small. They really are small.

Verse 5, are small. Verse 5, let your gentleness be known to all men, the Lord is at hand. In this verse we have the admonition to be gentle, the Lord is at hand. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, gentle hand. Be gentle, the Lord is at hand.

Gentleness is the rendering of a Greek word which has a broad range of meaning. So that gentleness is a fine translation, but it doesn't really capture all the meaning. It explains why the King James renders it moderation. Both meanings are wrapped up in the word, and the translators had to make a choice. New King James picked gentleness.

King James picked moderation. ESV picked reasonableness. When you go and look at a Greek lexicon, all of those are good. Reasonableness, moderation, gentleness. There are really two elements to this word.

One is a steady, even mildness. That's where the rendering gentleness comes from. Steady, even, mildness. By mildness meaning there's not a loud insisting on my rights. You'd be happy to overlook your rights in order to deal kindly with another.

Secondly, an appropriateness, a fairness. This is where the rendering moderation has come from. Equitable. You're fair, you're equitable. There's an appropriateness to your disposition and actions.

These qualities should be evident in the lives of Christians. In other words, this verse can stand alone. We should be at all times, Christians should exude gentleness, appropriateness, fairness, moderation. But this also has a particular application to our context, which is conflict in the body of Christ. As servants of a common king, as children of a common father, we are not at liberty to handle one another roughly." Say that again.

As servants of a common king, Jesus is my king and your king. And as children of a common father, God the Father is my father and your father. This means that we are not at liberty to handle one another roughly. It means things for how we treat each other, for how we talk to each other, for how we act towards one another. It's as if our King and our Father has put a sign on all of His subjects or of His children, Handle with care.

Every believer has a sign on him or her put there by God. Handle with care. How are you going to relate with the king's son? How are you going to relate with the king's son? How are you going to relate with the king's daughter?

Handle with care. In Acts chapter 22, Paul is in Jerusalem. He is in trouble. He is bound and he is about to be questioned under scourging. That is a polite way to say, have the truth beat out of him.

That is the intent of questioning under scourging. Let's beat the truth out of him. So Paul asks this. He is stretched out, he is bound. They are about to start the questioning.

Paul asks one simple question. Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncontemned? You got me stretched out for the beating here. Is it lawful? I'm a Roman.

Is that lawful? Do you remember what happens? Like there is no beating then. Because he has a status that makes that not only improper, but illegal. That's how it is among us.

We're not allowed to question each other under scourging. We are not allowed to beat the truth out of each other. We have to handle each other with care because we are citizens. We are citizens of the King. We are his subjects.

We have the right to be handled well, carefully and tenderly among the people of God. And the obligation to treat others carefully, tenderly, well. For this we're given the ultimate motivation, the Lord is at hand. Now this could mean one of two things. It could mean Jesus is coming back and it could be any second, he could breach the skies any second, the trumpet could blow, and we would be at the time of judgment.

So live like it. It could mean that. There is an immediate context for that. In last week's text it was, we are to keep our citizenship in mind because Jesus is going to come to transform our bodies. So the coming again of Jesus is part of the immediate context.

It could mean that. Or, it could mean that Jesus is always at hand and we should live in His presence with an acknowledgement and a sense that we are in his presence every minute. That is in the context too. It is not as immediate. This goes right to Paul saying to know Christ, to know him, to live in his presence, to experience him in minute to minute life.

I think it is that. It could be either. It could be Jesus is returning any minute, so live like it. By the way, there's a mountain of cross references that teach that. So that's true whether that's what Paul means here or not.

Or it could mean Jesus is always at hand. We should live just knowing that he's here with us. He's present with his people. I think it's this one. I want to give you a couple of Psalms.

I want to give you three verses to just say that. Psalm 119, verse 51. You are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are truth. You are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true. That was Psalm 119 verse 51, or Psalm 145 verse 18.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Psalm 145 verse 18. Or the end of the Great Commission. How do you beat this one? Matthew 28 verse 20, the last part of it.

Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I'm with you. I'm near to you. God is a God who is near to his people. The Lord is at hand.

This isn't a mind trick to pretend that he is so that we behave. This is A reality that is to be enjoyed by His people. It's not a mind trick. It's a reality to be enjoyed. Jesus is near.

We must maintain a sense of His nearness. It will help us to rejoice in the Lord always. It will help us for our gentleness to be known to all. It's supposed to be evident. You are supposed to notice that we are a gentle people.

Applications. There are two. One. Guard our unity in the Lord. We're a local church.

Paul is writing a letter to a local church. Guard our unity in the Lord by being of the same mind in the Lord, meaning acknowledging His Lordship over how we are supposed to think and how we are supposed to act. Handling each other with care and helping each other when we get in conflict. I'll read that again. Guard our unity in the Lord.

Treat it as precious. Collabor together, all together in the Gospel in a way that makes us not want apart with the sweetness of it, and not willing to let our differences break that up. Guard our unity in the Lord by being of the same mind in the Lord, handling each other with care, and helping each other when we get in conflict. Two, keep a hold of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Keep a hold of the reservoir of joy that you can draw from every hour of every day and not diminish the waterline at all.

The person of Jesus, who he is, the work of Jesus, and what he has done. Who he is should make us happy. Who He is makes His people happy. Experiencing Him and knowing Him makes us happy. And what He has done to reconcile us with His Father is to make us happy.

This is a reservoir of joy. God, I thank you for the reservoir of joy, your Son Jesus Christ. May we know Him. May we seek Him. May we follow after Him.

Help us to live with Him near at hand to us, having a sense of the reality that you are a God who is near to your people. Thank you for this truth. In Jesus' name, Amen.