This is a very easy passage to divide up because the headings are in the text:

(A) Stand firm in the Lord. v1.

Paul is calling upon the Philippian Christians to stand fast in the shock of battle. There are many types of battle varying from short, sharp skirmishes to long, drawn out, exhausting campaigns. All of them involve extreme testing. Men were tried to the limit of their endurance, and beyond, in both the First and Second World Wars. The writers of the New Testament left their readers in no doubt that they considered the Christian life a struggle in which endurance was an essential virtue. I suppose a persecuted believer in a militant Muslim country or a hard line communist state who gets to read this would say, "What have you Western Christians got to endure? You have it easy." One of the worst experiences of ancient warfare was to be besieged. In some respects you were safe in your fortified citadel - the walls were strong. However, eventually a besieged city would starve to death. I feel, here in Britain, that we are besieged. We are surrounded by a sea of indifference, apathy and distaste. On Saturday I was travelling with a car load of veteran hockey-players when we passed a church that was all lit up. One of the passengers said, "I've been in that church - just the once. We went as a family to a carol service. My son wanted to watch the football on TV and went into a mega-sulk. We haven't been since." That just about sums up the attitude of the vast majority of people in Britain! No, longer can they even be bothered to attend church once a year to celebrate the birth of the Saviour who is Christ the Lord. Children used to enjoy attending a carol service with their parents - now they go into a mega-sulk if this means they miss their favourite TV program. Many churches are dwindling away. We are being starved to death. In such circumstances it is not especially easy to stand firm in the Lord.

Paul gives Christians three incentives to stand firm in the Lord:

(a) If you give way you will, at worst, seriously distress and, at best, disappoint others. Paul addresses the Philippians as my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown......dear friends. v1. Paul would have felt unutterably wretched if the Christians at Philippi had abandoned the cause in any numbers.

As I sit here I can easily bring to mind those who attended our church and made a profession of love for Jesus who have gone back into the world. It makes me, and others of our declining fellowship, sad. We were so pleased when they joined with us and seemed enthusiastic for the things of God; for a time they strengthened and heartened us. In falling away they dealt heavy, strength sapping, body blows to the church.

Sometimes in the wickedness of my imagination I fantasize about romance and marriage to some non-Christian acquaintance. Could I do it? Always in my fantasy I imagine the disappointment and shock this would cause my fellow Christians and I say to myself, "No I couldn't do it." Fortunately I have never, in reality, been put to the test! However I am certain it helps us to resist temptation and to stand fast in the shock of battle to consider how weakness and selfishness would adversely affect others.

(b) Your brothers depend upon you. The main motivating force in battle is small group loyalty. Soldiers do not fight so much out of loyalty to a cause, their country, their commander in chief or their regiment but out of loyalty to their immediate brothers in arms - the platoon in which they serve. Soldiers at war realise that their comrades - their mates - depend upon them for their very survival. They are loyal to those that they know. That is why I am deeply suspicious of those that talk about loyalty to the Universal Church. We are called upon to be loyal to the local church, the Christian platoon, the small family to which we belong, those we know. It is devastating to the morale of the local church when Christians who do not have to leave - do so. It saps the strength and threatens the spiritual well being of those that remain. There is no doubt of that - it threatens the spiritual safety of those that remain who are placed in greater spiritual danger.

(c) You are standing shoulder to shoulder with your Commander in Chief. Paul reminds the Philippians in verse 5: The Lord is near. It surely makes a difference to fight along side the Captain of our Salvation. He is not remote, says Paul, the Lord is near.

I like the story told in 1Sam14v1to13 of Jonathan's attack on the Philistine outpost. Jonathan said to his young armour-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."
"Do all that you have in mind," his armour-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul."
The young armour-bearer was happy to fight along side his inspirational leader. They climbed up to the Philistine stronghold together and we read: The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armour-bearer followed and killed behind him. Jesus has gone before us and gained a mighty victory over our greatest enemy, Satan; we are called upon to follow on and defeat the enemy behind him.

How Jesus loves to hear his people say, I am with you heart and soul.

(B) Agree with each other in the Lord. v2.

I am afraid that there are a lot of Christians like Euodia and Syntyche who cannot get on but who are at loggerheads and constantly feud and make trouble. There are even some who appear to enjoy creating divisions and causing strife. Paul pleaded with these two women to make up and sink their differences in the Lord.

There are three ways we can be helped to bury our differences:

(a) By remembering that we are all sinners and Jesus died to save us. Every single one of us has failed God but he has forgiven us if we believe in his Son. We are not forgiven for any merit of our own but by God's boundless grace. The wrong done us by a fellow Christian is as nothing compared to the wrong we have done Him. If we want God to forgive us our sins we need to forgive those that sin against us.

Jesus told a most pointed and graphic story in Matthew 18 to illustrate what he expects of his followers. A man owed his master millions of pounds. He had absolutely no hope of paying him back even though he fell on his knees and pleaded with his master, "Be patient with me, and I will pay you back everything. v27 Jesus said, "The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go."

In loving kindness Jesus came, My soul in mercy to reclaim And from the depths of sin and shame Through grace he lifted me.

Then this servant who had been forgiven so much went out and found a fellow-servant who owed him a few hundred pounds. He grabbed him and began to choke him. "Pay back what you owe me!" he demanded. He ended up throwing his debtor into prison. Eventually his master was told and these are the chilling words with which Jesus finishes his story: Then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said, "I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow-servant just as I had on you?" In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is an awful story because it is the only teaching of Jesus that suggests unrelieved pain is the consequence of unforgivable sin. It should give Christians, many of whom have been very unforgiving of one another, a great incentive to agree in the Lord. Jesus didn't teach his followers to pray: "Forgive us our debts. And lead us not into temptation," but: "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." Why are we so disobedient and so foolish?

(b) By remembering that Jesus is Lord and that his interests come first. Eoudia and Syntych had once contended at Paul's side in the cause of the gospel. There names were written in the book of life. What a privilege and how wonderful! Now they were wasting their time quarrelling with one another. They have given up contending for the gospel to contend against each other.

Jesus is Lord. Christians should sink their differences and unite to serve him. We are faced by mighty foes. Perhaps we shall face increasing opposition and restrictions upon our dearly bought freedoms here in Britain. It needs something like this to draw us together. No army can deal effectively with the enemy if it is engaged in a civil war.

(c) Where differences occur help should be sought and accepted to put things right. It is not clear whom Syzygus or the loyal yokefellow was. It might have been the elder at Philippi, a man who had worked with the two women and who was trusted and respected by both or anyone at all who had contended in the cause of gospel. The most important point is this: all concerned - Eoudia and Syntche, their closest friends and all the church should desire reconciliation as a priority.

Jesus gives clear and expert guidance on how Christians should deal with conflict in Matthew 18vs15to20. If his advice was followed to the letter an enormous amount of trouble would be spared the church. If a fellow Christian wrongs you then in the first instance go and see him, or her, alone. Jesus is quite specific - have it out between the two of you. This is not usually the first step we take. So often we will talk it over with someone else - we begin to involve others. The second step, if no reconciliation can be achieved, is to have the matter out with one or two witnesses. Jesus says that if two or three are met together in his name he will be there with them. This should be a powerful inducement to reach agreement. However Christians can be proud and obstinate. So the third step is to bring the matter before the church. If a person is unwilling to accept the authority of the church they have to be treated as an unbeliever. In other words it might be appropriate to involve the civil authority. Jesus invests a lot of authority in the church. He says, "I tell you the truth whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Mt18v18. Nonconformists, in particular, do not take the authority of the church seriously. They are much more likely to consult a solicitor than to follow the procedure set out by Jesus. In my experience Christians rarely consult the church before taking important decisions. Erring brothers are more likely to leave a church that attempts to discipline them rather than submit to discipline. Worst of all, many church members want nothing to do with personal conflicts - they don't under any circumstances want to get involved. If the church doesn't exercise authority it ends up without any.

(D) Rejoice in the Lord always. v4.

Sometimes it is easy to rejoice in the Lord. I find myself rejoicing as I listen to a Christian testimony, at baptisms, at the funeral of a believer, in Christian service well done and whenever a fellow Christian is particularly good to me. I had an e-mail yesterday from a second cousin who had accessed my website. She acquainted me with how being a nurse in a cancer ward made trial of her faith. I was able to e-mail her back some comments that I hope she finds helpful. I rejoiced in the Lord that she had made contact through my website - one of the first to do so. However, it is often hard to rejoice in the Lord. I write as one who through the years has not rejoiced as much as I should. We should notice that Paul does not tell us to rejoice in our circumstances but, whatever they are, to rejoice in the Lord. So I am going to look at four difficult circumstances in which we should try and rejoice in the Lord.

(a) Ill health or the ill health of a loved one.
I have to say that I would find it hard to rejoice in the Lord with chronic asthma. I suffered from this as a child and young man and found it very depressing to struggle for every breath. However, there are Christians who can give God thanks in their weakness. My old friend Henry has Parkinson's disease and osteoporosis but he can still say whenever I go to see him, "I've a lot to be thankful for." My uncle David, when he was dying from motor neuron disease, could write and tell me that all was well - God had given him Jesus and what more could he ask for.

I have to say that I hated my father's Parkinson's disease. I hated it for all the eighteen years he suffered from it. I loathed and detested it for what it did to him. I was never, ever, reconciled to it. But as a Christian I knew that my father would not always be the way he was. I would hear him sing again. He would never be his old self but one day he would be his new self and then he would sing with even greater sweetness and power than in the pomp of his earthly youth. I rejoiced in the Lord who made this possible for, as Paul puts it: We eagerly await a Saviour who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Phil3v20and21.

(b) Unproductive, unappreciated and disregarded Christian service.
One of the episodes in my life that puzzles me a lot happened when I was a young and very busy teacher. The Faith Mission held a weeklong campaign in the neighbouring village to mine where we ran a mission hall. They established a children's meeting and hoped that someone would take it over after they left. I felt called by God to do this. So for about six years I held a meeting every week, except for the summer months, in the Rede mission hall. I did this with help from Richard who played the organ. I invested a lot of time, money and energy into this meeting. In the end numbers dwindled and it closed without any beneficial results whatsoever. I felt called to a work that appeared, in retrospect, to be a total waste of time.

It is necessary in these circumstances to recall Paul's words to the Colossians: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Col3v23and24. We can rejoice in the Lord when our service yields no obvious earthly reward in the knowledge that Jesus notices the smallest offering made in his name - the widow's two mites and a cup of cold water. We can rejoice in the Lord who notices all we do, who cares how we do it and who appraises the worth of all our efforts.

(c) In times of testing.
There are many kinds of testing circumstances. Paul found opposition and loneliness particularly trying. You can tell this by the way he wrote to Timothy from prison: Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me..... . Only Luke is with me. 2Tim4v9to11 These are sad words.. It is sad to be alone. It is especially sad to be abandoned for making a stand for Jesus. Paul goes on to write, At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. .... The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. .... The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. v16to18.

When we are lonely and feel let down it will do us good to ponder the words of Paul, to assert with him that Jesus is by our side and he will rescue us from every attack and bring us safely home to glory. In other words we can dispel our gloom and resist the greatest opponent of the sons of men by rejoicing in the Lord. I have found it very theraputic when feeling low and sorry for myself to sing a hymn.

Now none but Christ can satisfy, None other Name for me; There's love, and life, and lasting joy, Lord Jesus, found in Thee.

(d) When we are asked to do something we cannot face.
Moses was called by God to return to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery to the Promised Land. Now Moses was well equipped for the task. God had prepared him for it. He just felt a deep repugnance about returning to the people who had once decisively rejected him. So Moses made a whole series of excuses. God had to reiterate several times, in one way or another, his great promise to Moses: "I will be with you." Ex3v13. Moses should have been able to rejoice in that!

When I retired from teaching I had more time to help with church work. One area where more help was needed was in the youth club. Like Moses I am well qualified for this sort of activity. I was the sports organiser at a Christian camp for 20 years. However I didn't want to do it. I felt that I had worked with children long enough. I have had to overcome a great reluctance to get involved.

In these circumstances, when faced with a task God wants us to do but we are unwillingly to undertake, we should be able to say with Paul: I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Phil4v13. We should be able to rejoice in the Lord.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Christ is in you, The hope of glory in our hearts. He lives! He lives! His breath is in you, Arise a mighty army, We arise.