Bob Lloyd - Class 5: Be of One Mind

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   In the School of School 1982, we now invite our brother Bob Lloyd to continue with his studies based on the Epistle to the Philippians. The topic for today is Be of One Mind, Brother Lloyd.

2. 0:22

   Good morning, brothers and sisters. You're a little late, Carl. Are we ready to recite? Wherefore, I love it. May I compliment? May I compliment you on your good reading? That was a little longer, wasn't it? It was a little harder. I hadn't memorized that one either. And I have now, but I couldn't even think about it until after the lecture was over last night, so I took it to bed with me.

3. 1:39

   And I put a flashlight in bed with me. And before I went to sleep, I shone on it a while. And then I woke up in the night and shined it on it a little bit. And then as soon as it was light this morning, I laid there and worked on it. And so I have it down now.

4. 1:55

   It's not as thoroughly down as it will be because it needs to seep. But you see, if you will take these verses and work on them and work on them, pretty soon they are just part of you. You know them like you know your name. Now, I'm sure some of you thought you just couldn't do that one.

5. 2:12

   That was too long. Well, I asked my Sunday school class in Glendale to memorize the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. And they didn't think they could do it either. But they all did it. Every one. Now, if you think you can't do it, and you're convinced that you just simply cannot memorize, of course that's faulty because you already know your name and address and your phone number.

6. 2:38

   So you have memorized. But I predict that I could pick anyone in this audience who did not do it, who is convinced that they could not do it, and they would do it. And I'll tell you how I would do it. I would say, well, would you do it if I gave you a dollar?

7. 2:58

   And they would look at me with scorn. Of course not. Ten dollars. Absolutely no. A hundred dollars. No. A thousand dollars? Well, ten thousand dollars, and you'd do it. And then I would ask you, how is it that you could do it if I gave you ten thousand dollars for memorizing two verses when you thought you couldn't?

8. 3:31

   And your answer would be, oh, well, now you've made it worthwhile. I mean, there isn't anyone in this room that for ten thousand dollars couldn't memorize those two verses. Which means that you could if you wanted to. You're safe. I'm not going to offer you that. But now, you can do it, and it doesn't take any time at all, really.

9. 3:56

   I came into the question and answer period yesterday, and Brother John Somerville is sitting in his chair waiting for things to happen. Nothing was happening. Nobody had come yet. He's sitting there working on his verse. This morning I'm out in the back, and I see Brother Howard Slotman walking along. I'm glad he didn't fall.

10. 4:13

    He was working on his verse. You see, he had to walk anyway. Brother Slotman has programmed his mind that he's able to put one foot in front of the other without thinking, I'm picking up my foot, I'm now putting it forward, putting it down. He can chew gum and walk at the same time.

11. 4:31

    He also can memorize at the same time, and so can you. So, you see, little moments that are just wasted. When you get down to the dining room, and you're waiting, and there's everybody above, and they say, Will you all please be quiet, quiet, and it takes a few minutes for everybody. You can be working on your verse.

12. 4:47

    In those few moments while you're waiting for everybody else to be quiet, little moments all through the day, if you will take the little moments that other people just blow, use them for the glory and honor of God, you'll change your life. So don't ever say you don't have time, and don't ever say you can't.

13. 5:04

    You could if you wanted to. In previous classes, we've traced the theme of joy and gladness and rejoicing that Paul exhorts the brethren and sisters of Philippi to embrace. We've also seen how that Paul exhorted them to work out their salvation, that the work is really God's work, and that's the verse you've learned or are learning.

14. 5:34

    You don't have to stop learning just because you leave Bible school. Take the verses home. Most of you won't be driving, and you can help the driver memorize. If you repeated this verse all the way down the hill, the driver would know it as well as you by the time you got home.

15. 5:50

    And what else are you doing in that time? You're just sitting. Why not use that time to the glory and honor of God? And if you want to memorize verses that I haven't given you, then open your Bible, pick out verses, and recite them, and learn them, and make a game of memorizing verses as you go along.

16. 6:07

    It will change your life. And so it's God's work you're doing and not your own, both the will and the do of His good pleasure. And this work, we remember, is to be done without strife and without vainglory. Never act for motives of rivalry or personal glory, says the Phillips translation. So now this brings us to today's theme, the one which we want to explore today, and that is the theme of being of one mind.

17. 6:43

    So if you'll open your Bibles to the book of Philippians, you're going to see, and I've colored mine in and encircled them, and it's beautiful how these themes of Paul in this little letter are all through it. I mean, they start off in chapter 1, and they go all the way through. We saw how joy and rejoicing was found 19 times.

18. 7:04

    Now we're going to see how that, throughout this letter, Paul is talking about being of one mind. Chapter 1 and verse 27. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

19. 7:41

    Be sure to conduct yourselves as citizens of Christ, says the Berkeley translation. Another one. Whatever happens, make sure that your everyday life is worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I do come and see you, or merely hear about you from a distance, I may know that you are standing fast, in a united spirit, battling with a single mind, for the faith of the gospel.

20. 8:16

    So point number one. Whether Paul is absent, or whether he's present, you're to do this. It's something like we learned in our verse, wasn't it? Whether he was absent or present, we're to work. And now whether he's there or not, we're going to get along with each other. We're going to be on one mind.

21. 8:32

    We're going to work together. So, we're to stand fast, in a united spirit, battling with a single mind. And you do it, all the time. Not just when we're here at Bible school. Not just when you go to a meeting on Sunday. All the time. And notice there are two things you're to do.

22. 8:55

    One, stand fast in the spirit with one mind. And two, striving together. Not striving against each other, but striving together, for the faith of the gospel. Now this word, stand fast, is actually a military term. Don't you forget, that Philippi is a little Rome. And the military influence, is very strong in Philippi.

23. 9:16

    And so when Paul used these military terms, everyone there, would be familiar with them. And the word is stekete. S-T-E-K-E-T-E. And it means, an unbroken battle line. Now this word, became famous, in the Roman army. Because the Roman army, perfected a new way, of fighting. And they lined up, in battle lines. And the first row, would fight.

24. 9:41

    And the next row, would stand at attention, ready. And soon as they began to fall, then they would begin to fight. And the enemy, just could not cope, with this, new method, of standing together, to fight. As an unbroken line. And so, Paul's saying, not militarily, but with one spirit, with one mind.

25. 10:02

    We'd be together, he's saying here. And then you don't just stand there. We do something. We strive together. Vigorously cooperating, says the diaglot. So that's a marvelous exhortation. To stand together, to work together, and forget about your petty quarrels. Now Paul goes on, to tell us how to do this. Chapter 2, verse 2.

26. 10:32

    Fulfill ye, my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. There it is again. This, love each other, work together, be of one accord, of one mind. You know, if it weren't for the fact, that this was Paul speaking, and these words are words of inspiration, some people would be unkind, and say it's like a broken record.

27. 10:59

    Paul keeps saying the same thing, over and over. But he's saying it for a reason. He wants it to sink down. He wants it to have an effect upon us. And the sad thing is, is not having an effect upon us, that it ought to have on us. Because if it was having an effect on us, it ought to have on us, we would be getting along better, than we do now.

28. 11:17

    And so it's very important, that we compete, keep on repeating these things, until we really do them. Because talking about them, is not enough. Live together in harmony, is another version. Live together in love, as though you had only, one mind, and one spirit, between you. True love, agape love, will do this.

29. 11:47

    Whenever we hear of trouble, between two people, we always know one thing. You just hear about two people, that are not getting along together, and right away, you know something. You know, that there is agape love missing. It doesn't matter, whether it's husbands, and wives that aren't getting along, or parents and children, or brethren and sisters, in the ecclesia, or ecclesias not getting along, with each other.

30. 12:15

    In every instance, you know, that if there was enough, true, self-sacrificing, agape love, on both sides, they would find a way, to solve their problems. The problem is, we are not putting others, ahead of ourselves. As Paul says in verse 3, none of you, should think only, of his own affairs, but should learn, to see things, from other people's, point of view.

31. 12:41

    One of the, a little magic phrase, that you might learn, it's not in the Bible, but you learn it, in human relations. If I were you, I would feel, the same way you do. Now it doesn't matter, how that person is feeling, and how ridiculous, to think they are, if you were them, you would feel that way.

32. 12:58

    I remember once, being very angry, at the phone company. I was so angry, that I was taking my business, to another phone company, but there isn't another. And I called up, the phone company, about something, I forget now, all I remember, how I thought, I was so angry. And the lady on the phone, had been taught, I'm sure the telephone company, has taught their, people who get the complaints, all the right things to say.

33. 13:21

    And every time, I said something, that, because I was really, really, what up, she said exactly, the right thing. And this is one thing, she said to me, well if I were you, Mr. Lloyd, I'd feel the same way you do. Well, it kind of takes you back, a little bit. You try to argue, with somebody, that says, I would feel the same way, you do if I were you.

34. 13:37

    And you can say that, in all honesty. I don't care, if they're crazy. I mean, if they're crazy, and they're tearing their hair out. I mean, if you were them, you'd be crazy, and tearing your hair out too. So,

35. 13:50

    if you were them, you would feel the way they do. And that helps disarm people. So, many arguments go on, because, instead of, trying to put oil, on the troubled waters, here's water, you know, the water is all troubled, and we think, we put a little oil on it, no, we throw gasoline on it.

36. 14:10

    Boom! We got an instant fire. I mean, that's not a good thing. That's not being Christ-like. That's not thinking of others. By the way, this is what Jesus did. Let Jesus Himself, be your example, as to what your attitude, should be. And what did Jesus do, in verse 7? He humbled Himself. He emptied Himself.

37. 14:37

    He did not count, equality with God, a thing to be grasped at. He made Himself, of no reputation. He took upon Him, the form of a servant. Jesus, the servant, the Son of God, washing the feet, of His disciples. And Peter, poor Peter, just couldn't bear to do that. You can't wash my feet.

38. 14:55

    Well, if I don't wash your feet, I have nothing to do with you. Oh, well, then wash all of me. But you know, Judas stuck his foot right out. I mean, Peter, Peter was humble enough that he didn't feel right sitting there with Jesus on his hands and knees in front of him.

39. 15:09

    Didn't bother Judas a bit. Now, if I'd have been Jesus, and I'd been washing the feet of Judas, I'd have picked that foot up.

40. 15:21

    And as I lifted it up, the coins would jiggle in his pocket because he already had the money, you know. And I would look at that foot that was swift to do evil, and I'd grab the big toe and I'd twist it off.

41. 15:35

    That's flesh. That's wrong. That's what I have to fight. That's what you have to fight. And the way we do it is we put others first. Look after number one, says the world. Look after number one. We went to Jamaica, and on the radio in Jamaica, the Jamaican radio is constantly broadcasting, look after number one.

42. 16:02

    You are a Jamaican. You're number one. Put yourself ahead of everybody else, and the country is in a deplorable condition. I went into an office the other day, and there was a young girl there wearing a gold chain around her neck with a big number one on it. And I know that she's religious.

43. 16:18

    And we've talked religion. And I said, that's a nice little sign there. Who's number one? And she said, well, no, I am. And I said, no, you're not. You're not number one. Because if you put God first, God is number one. And your brothers and sisters should come next. And so they are number two.

44. 16:46

    And the best you can ever be is number three. The Texans in the audience know where I got this shirt. They gave it to me. I was in Texas for a fraternal gathering last fall, and we talked about being number three. And the young people went out one afternoon and had this shirt made for me, and also a pair of socks that say number three.

45. 17:18

    But I think we need to remember it. It's important that we remember that you never are first. Do look after number one. That is right. But you've got to have the right number system. Brother Mansfield talked this morning about loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your might.

46. 17:40

    God is number one. Yes, look after number one. But when the world says it, they have everything backwards. Do you remember when they said that these men had turned the world upside down? They were accusing Paul of turning the world upside down. He was trying to turn things right side up. Because the world has everything upside down.

47. 17:59

    They have me as number one. And I'm to never be number one. And not number two. Because you come ahead of me. That's what Paul is trying to teach us. Are we learning the lesson he's trying to teach us? That's the question for you to answer for yourself. The problems Paul faced, we face today.

48. 18:33

    And so in verse 20 of chapter 2, I have no mind like-minded who will naturally care for your estate. Did you notice we had one mind in chapter 1, verse 27. We have one mind in chapter 2, verse 2. A loneliness of mind in chapter 2, verse 3. Let this mind be in you, chapter 2, verse 5.

49. 19:01

    And now in verse 20, we have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your estate. I have nobody else with a genuine interest in your well-being. All the others seem to be wrapped up in their own affairs and do not really care for the business of Jesus Christ. That's another version. We need, brethren and sisters, we need more Timothys.

50. 19:30

    We need people who are like-minded. We need people who really care care for one another. Now Paul is all this time, he's building up to something which we're going to get to today in chapter 4. He's building up to a problem that they have in Philippi. He's going to treat it very delicately.

51. 19:50

    We'll see how carefully he treats this problem. Because there's trouble in Philippi. There are two sisters, two lovely sisters squabbling among themselves in Philippi. And Paul wants to help, but not hurt. He wants them to be like-minded. The factions, the rivalries, the envies, the strife that besets us as Christadelphians today and this present day just before Jesus is coming.

52. 20:23

    It's so sad. In fact, it's going to keep some people we fear out of the kingdom. And some of them will be very strong. They will be deep in the word. But they have no use. They hate one another. And if we feel that way toward a brother and sister, it doesn't matter what they've done to you.

53. 20:51

    It doesn't matter what they said or done or looked like. If you have no love for that person, they need your love because they're obviously wrong because certainly you are in the right. I mean, you wouldn't be in the wrong, would you? So we're assuming you're 100% right and they're 100% wrong. We don't question that.

54. 21:10

    But you are to love them anyway. But how can you love anybody like that? Well, that's what it's all about. And if we have this ill feeling toward others, it's going to jeopardize our salvation, not theirs. And sometimes they don't even know it. Sometimes we have an enemy and we don't even know it.

55. 21:39

    Sometimes, of course, we do know it. And if you have an enemy and you know it, you have an obligation right away to try to turn that enemy into a loved one. You love them right away. You can't make them love you, but you can work at making them love you. It's really almost fun to find somebody that really doesn't like you and say, I'm going to make you like me whether you want to or not.

56. 21:58

    And you just keep loving them and you shower them with love and you think loving thoughts and you do kind things and they finally end up loving you and they didn't even want to. I mean, to accept that as a challenge when you find somebody that isn't nice to you, somebody that is mistreating you, somebody that is saying false things, just keep loving.

57. 22:15

    Don't react and do what they're doing to you. You're nice to me, I'll be nice to you. You're not nice to me, I'll be nice to you. I mean, if you're like that, you just got buttons on your head and people can push a button and you do just whatever they say. And so people do push your buttons and you do react if you're not Christ-like.

58. 22:32

    But if you're Christ-like, you do what's right no matter what. And so the exhortation is we take it to heart. We learn to be like-minded. We have the same love, this agape love. We're of one accord. We're of one of mine. Can I be one of mine with him? He thinks the opposite of me.

59. 22:51

    Well, you just keep loving him and trying to help him. And no matter what he does, you keep loving him. Jesus forgave those that killed him. Nobody's ever killed you. I know, I can see you. You're not dead. No one's ever stoned you. Peter, Jesus and Stephen both prayed for those that were doing terrible things to them.

60. 23:10

    And so, one of the things you're going to get today is a little prayer list. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, all the way and every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy. It's a little one. You may need a bigger one. But, the Philippian brethren and sisters were on Paul's prayer list.

61. 23:29

    Paul had a list of people he prayed for. And the Philippians were on his list. So were the Thessalonians and the Galatians and the Romans. And when he was in Rome, they still, you know, you know it would be a wonderful thing if you do it.

62. 23:43

    It's been done. Every time it's been done, it's been wonderful. When you go home to your ecclesia, I assume you have an ecclesial dress list. You may have a very small ecclesia, you may have a large ecclesia. In fact, after this talk, once one dear sister came to me and she says, since then, my prayers are so much longer than they used to be.

63. 24:02

    But you see, prayer should be praying for other people. Don't be like a little kitty with Santa Claus. God, give me this, give me that, give me the other. Stop asking God for things and start thanking Him for things. And ask Him to bless every member of your ecclesia. Which means if you can't see very well, you may have to put on your glasses as you get down on the edge of the bed at night.

64. 24:25

    Because you won't be able to read your prayer list without them. But that's alright. Get down on your knees and put the prayer list on the bed put your glasses on and start at the top and go down and the next night start at the bottom and go up so the people that begin with Z won't feel left out.

65. 24:39

    And pray for every member of your ecclesia every day. When you look at their name, you know them, visualize them in your mind, tell God that you love them, ask God to bless them, go to their next name, tell God you love them, ask God to bless them. And if every member in your ecclesia did that every day, do you know what happened to your ecclesia?

66. 24:58

    Try it. You are going to be gloriously surprised at what will happen. But it won't work if you don't. chapter 3, verse 15. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

67. 25:36

    So there is two verses, there is thus minded, wise minded, and mind. God is really trying to tell us something through Paul. Now, the word perfect is a difficult word because it doesn't mean what we mean when we say perfect. It means complete. The mature is the word that the RSV has in.

68. 25:59

    A spiritually adult is in the Philips. A perfect or a mature attitude in Christ involves the awareness of our imperfections. We're not perfect. Somebody says, well, he was a perfect stranger, but then nobody's perfect. And we're not perfect, but we're to be mature. Paul wasn't perfect. He felt himself that he hadn't attained.

69. 26:20

    He didn't think he'd already arrived. And this shows how wrong these people are that think they've already saved. Once saved, always saved. Paul, at this point in time, says, if by any means I might attain of the resurrection of the dead. a perfect or mature attitude in Christ involves the fact that we aren't perfect.

70. 26:38

    Paul has just told us that he did not feel he was. He was not complacent. Nor was he going to sit back on his laurels. You know, we can sometimes say, well, I've done my good deed for the day like the little boy scout. He goes down to the corner and he finds the little old lady standing there and he drags her across the street.

71. 26:54

    She didn't want to cross the street. But he takes her across anyway and then he says, well, I've done my good deed for the day now and go out and please myself. And you can never be that way and you can never have that attitude if you're living a Christ-like life. It's so important that we don't get a superior or a self-righteous attitude as we are better than our brothers and sisters.

72. 27:17

    This is why we need to be thus minded. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing, he says in verse 16. And we're all so very human. There were Christadelphians in Paul's days whose actions, whose attitudes made him weak. Paul wanted all the Philippians and us to think more of our brethren and sisters than of ourselves.

73. 27:41

    To put them ahead of us. Are their needs ahead of our needs? Their desires ahead of our needs? Our desires. Not everyone did that then. He says why. They all were concerned with what was important to them. We could go to the graveyard of Philippi and look at all those graves and we think, those people, they were so wrapped up in things that really didn't matter.

74. 28:01

    Whatever it was that Paul was talking about, they all were seeking their own. It really doesn't matter. Now look at you dumb Philippians dead. If you'd only reminded the things of Christ and look at you. And the same thing is true of us. Whatever we think is so important, from God's viewpoint, from the eternal viewpoint, it's not important at all.

75. 28:25

    Paul wanted them to put their brothers and sisters first. But they didn't want to do that because they were selfish instead of selfless. And these people who are selfish, Paul says they're the enemies of the cross of Christ. And he says their God is their belly. These can be Christadelphians. You think, oh, no Christadelphian would be an enemy of the cross of Christ.

76. 28:54

    No Christadelphian would have their God, their belly. Well, the belly is synonymous here with the symptoms and the lusts of the flesh. They were motivated by the things of this life instead of the things of God. By their fleshly instincts. We talked yesterday about being a bear in the zoo. And they glorified the very things that they should have been ashamed of.

77. 29:19

    And they minded earthly things. And Paul is saying, don't you be like that. You're in a world where that's true today. Many of the sins of the world today, they're not new. They haven't invented any new sins. But people used to do them and were ashamed of it. And now they brag about it.

78. 29:35

    And they get big cards out. And they walk down the streets of San Francisco saying that God loves gays. And God hates them. And so the things that they ought to be ashamed of, they are proud of. It shows you how far human nature has gone. Paul is pleading with us not to be carnally minded.

79. 29:55

    Not to be fleshly minded because to be fleshly minded, carnally minded is death. Paul is pleading with them and us to follow him, to be like him, to be like minded, to imitate Paul. Paul wasn't being egotistical when he said this. He cared for the brothers and sisters of Philippi and they knew how sincere he was.

80. 30:17

    They knew of his commitment and his conviction and the fact that he lived for Jesus and to remember whoever is following you are you taking them closer to Jesus. We look back at these brothers and sisters and realize they were short sighted, they were foolish and we don't want to be like that.

81. 30:36

    But sometimes we are. What is it that keeps us from the business of Jesus Christ? Can we be counted on to be at the public lecture when we have one at your home ecclesia?

82. 30:54

    Can you be counted on to support the weeknight Bible class? Just your presence can be an exhortation to somebody else. I have known people who say, why don't you attend the Bible class? Well, why should I? Brother X doesn't go. He's a lot older than me. He's been in the truth all his life.

83. 31:10

    He doesn't go. Why should I go? I'm just a young brother. And so this old brother is leading a young brother away from Jesus. He says, I never did a thing wrong. I just stayed home and it's my night to watch TV or my night to do this or what. But I don't have time to go to the Bible class, of course.

84. 31:26

    And he is by that action leading a young impressionable person away from Jesus instead of closer to him. And he doesn't even know he's doing it, maybe. And so the only way you can be sure that you're not leading people away from Jesus is beginning as close to Jesus every opportunity, every time you can.

85. 31:47

    If something is happening, try to be there. Support it with your presence, support it with your dollars, support it with your prayers, support it every way you can. Whatever the ecclesia is doing, or the ecclesias in your area are doing, or even families. Go see somebody that's sick, even when you're tired and you don't want to.

86. 32:08

    there are people in rest homes that are languishing. My mother is in a rest home, and there are people in that rest home that never, ever, ever have anybody come and visit them. Never. And that's very sad. They're just sitting there waiting to die. And so if you know of people that you could help in that way, you don't have to be smart, you don't have to be clever, you just go and say hello, and sit down and hold their hand in bed as they lie there, and just pat it a little bit and say, you know, we all love you.

87. 32:45

    You don't have to be bright to do that, you just have to love. Oh, well, I have other things to do. My garden. I mean, you can have the most beautiful garden in the world, a show place for everybody, and there's people languishing for love, and you're putting all that love on flowers instead of people, and the flowers die, and the people do too, and now you send them flowers.

88. 33:11

    Give people their flowers while they can still smell them. Let's decide that we're going to make a list of kind things we can do, because love is a doing thing.

89. 33:31

    We mustn't be wrapped up in ourselves. These are probing questions, but Paul is wanting us to be active of one mind with this love. And how do you do this? Well, first of all, he says, you forget what's behind. And our brother Ali talked this morning, talked about Naomi, and she didn't forget what was behind.

90. 33:54

    All the terrible things that happened to me in Moab. And she always was moaning about what had happened. well, we're sorry that Naomi had such a rough time in Moab. But that's behind you now, Naomi. Get going. And some of us, if you stop and talk to us, we start telling you about all our old aches and pains.

91. 34:16

    Not the new ones, but the ones we, oh, when I had lumbago three years ago, oh, wowee. Well, you don't have it now, do you? No, but oh, was it terrible? Well, fine. Go down and get going. I mean, forget the past. That's what Paul says. Forget the things which are behind and reaching out to the things which are before.

92. 34:34

    I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And we need to forget the past. Paul did. You only learn from the past and then forget it. Don't look back unless you plan on going that way. So let's look forward. Put the past behind us and pressed on.

93. 34:57

    Let us get the mind of Christ. Let us love one another. Our love for Jesus, our love for God will be so great that we'll be on the same wavelength. See, that's what he said. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

94. 35:14

    Think like Jesus thought, is what he's saying. Paul says, I can do all things, you know, through Christ with strength with me. And how did he do this? Well, he made himself one of the people he was trying to help. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 9 and 20, he says, and under the Jews I became a Jew.

95. 35:30

    Why? So I could help the Jews. To them that are under the law is under the law. Why? So I could help those under the law. To them without law is without law. So I could help them. I might gain them without law. To the weak became I as weak. Then I might gain the weak.

96. 35:43

    I made all things to all men that I, by all means, save some. And again, when you go see people, I mean, when you're seeing a person that's sick, you try to understand how it would be if you were in pain all the time. In a bed and couldn't get out of it.

97. 36:04

    You don't say, well, you're sure of weakening, but thank goodness I can get around. I mean, some people go to visit the sick people and after they leave, the sick people are sicker than when they got there. I mean, we need to have compassion. We need to try to understand how they feel and how you would feel if you were like that and then be like that while you're with them.

98. 36:26

    I don't mean because they're hurt and start screaming yourself, but be compassionate of their problems. Paul was, he's trying to teach us this. You shouldn't think about yourself all the time. Try to learn and think of other people and see it from their point of view. Now, when we do this, a lot of our problems will go away because when you care for other people, you try to understand their feelings, then your problems, you can forget them.

99. 36:59

    In fact, one of the best methods of getting over your own sadness, your own misery, your own mourning, is to go out and help somebody worse off than you. And as you're helping them, you forget yourself, and when you come back, you feel so much better. You'd have stayed home and felt sorry for yourself, you'd have felt worse and worse and worse.

100. 37:20

     Forget yourself and go out and help them, and it's like a miracle. But it won't work if you don't. Just remember that. Nothing works if you don't. Work, that is. You have to work. Work out your salvation, but it's God working in you, both to do and to will of his good pleasure, right?

101. 37:42

     And so now we come to this little problem between two lovely sisters. It's in chapter 4, and it's in verse 2. I beseech Iotus, and I beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind, there it is, same mind in the Lord. Notice he puts beseech before each word. I beseech Iotus, and I beseech Syntyche.

102. 38:12

     He didn't say just one beseech, he's got two of them. He's pleading with them. I beg you, says another version, by the name, I beg you by name to make up your differences as Christians. And now I want to plead with these two dear women, Iotus and Syntyche, please, please, with the Lord's help, quarrel no more, be friends again.

103. 38:34

     How accurate those translations are, but they certainly give a good sense. Notice how gentle Paul is. He makes no attempt to take sides. He does not try to arbitrate. He appeals to them to find oneness in the Lord. Be of one mind in the Lord. Now, if he knew they were quarreling, he probably knew what they were quarreling about, because you usually hear what it's all about.

104. 38:56

     Well, this sister did that, and this sister said that, and they got into this big argument, and this sister won't go over to this sister's house, and if this one goes to meeting, this one will stay home, and all these things. And he probably knew some of the details. But you see, he stayed away from that very wisely.

105. 39:13

     These sisters had worked with Paul. They were good sisters, but they were having a problem. They were quarreling. The work of the Lord suffers when we stop working to bicker with one another. Now, you can almost be sure that each sister had a following. I mean, after all, her husband would be on her side.

106. 39:32

     He'd better. And then they had kids, and they're with Mom, and then they had some relatives, and blood is sicker than water. So you've got this sister, and her husband, and her kitties, and her little family, and this sister, and her husband, and her kitties, and her little family, and boy, and then somebody else is in the middle, and they're not related to either side, and they want to stay neutral.

107. 39:51

     And these people say, now look, you've got to be on our side, because she said something terrible. Oh, wow, that was awful. And the other side said, hey, now listen to it. Don't you listen to what they said. I'll tell you why. It was just like this. And so, the funny thing about this kind of a problem in a meeting, is that so often, we seem to think that we've got to choose up sides.

108. 40:09

     And we actually go, well, we've got to find out who's right here. Whose side are we going to be? It's like going to a ball game. Who are you going to root for? You don't have to root for anybody. You root for everybody, is what you really do. I mean, don't get drawn into this and take sides.

109. 40:22

     Paul didn't. He's teaching us something by this. he doesn't mention at all what the problem is. He just asks them to get along. It's often better not to know. You know, Jesus himself was asked to be a mediator and he refused to do so. You remember the quote in Luke 12? One of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.

110. 40:54

     Look, he won't share. Now, obviously, no agape love here either. See, if neither of these brothers was playing number three, because if these brothers had been playing number three, their brother said, oh, sure, brother, here, you take what you want and I'll take the leather. Oh, no, brother, you take what you want and I'll take the leather.

111. 41:09

     Well, okay, we'll split it down the middle. I mean, they would have worked something out, but no, sir, I want it all. No, I want it all. Like a bunch of little kids squabbling. It's so sad. We are so childish. And Jesus said, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

112. 41:26

     The judge of the whole world. Jesus Christ said that. He is going to be the judge. He didn't want to play that role now. Don't be too quick to be the judge when Jesus Christ in his mortal state refused to be the judge. Don't think you've got to jump in the middle of this.

113. 41:47

     You have two mad dogs fighting each other and you stick your hand in the middle and what happens? You get bit by both. Jesus and Paul both were smart enough not to get embroiled. And so he went on to say, take heed and beware of covetousness because these two boys, these two men were quarreling because they were each coveting what the other thought he should have.

114. 42:13

     He says, beware of this. For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And so beware of covetousness. Don't be like that. Don't want things best for yourself. Don't put yourself ahead. If you're always number three, you think, well, if you're always number three, you're always going to get left out.

115. 42:35

     You try it and see what happens. God is willing to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you if you'll put first things first. But he won't do it when you put yourself first. It's a strange thing. Now, Paul goes on here in the Philippians and he says, I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help these women.

116. 42:54

     So he's appealing to somebody else to help them. It doesn't say who yoke fellow is. Some commentators think it could have been Luke because Luke was left with the city of Philippi. One commentator takes the word yoke fellow and he uses, he finds out what the original word for yoke fellow is and he thinks that it was a person by that name.

117. 43:14

     If I can find it in my notes, I'll tell you what it is. Suzuki or Suzukus, S-U-Z-U-G-O-S and Suzukus means yoke fellow. And he thinks that Paul was making a play on words. He's calling this Suzukus by what his name meant, yoke fellow. He also, the same commentator, he shows how Paul sometimes does make a play on words where he quotes in Philemon, Onesimus, which means useful, was once useless, but to you now he is useful, to you and me.

118. 43:48

     So he takes the word Onesimus, which means useful, and he says he once was useless, but now he is useful, using the name to make his point. So this commentator thinks that Suzukus was his name and he was using him by changing his name to yoke fellow. But you know what a yoke fellow is?

119. 44:05

     It's a person that yokes up and helps. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly and hardy, and you shall find rest unto your souls. We need to be yoke fellows. We need to be willing to get down and yoke up with this person who is infirmed, because this person is having a hard time with their load.

120. 44:26

     And if you will hook up with them and pull with them, you can help this weak, sick person along. And you can say, well, I can make it, why don't you? And care nothing for them. And that's not being Christ-like, that's not being number three. We need to be of one mind. We need to be yoked together.

121. 44:50

     And this is why it's so important not to be yoked together with an unbeliever. Let's hope that these two sisters resolve their differences and work together. Yoke to Christ, pulling the load together. This is what our walk in the truth is all about. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

122. 45:11

     And in our little booklet which we were given at the Bible school, the class schedule, it has another, I was so pleased to have this sign. On the back it says, quotes Proverbs 6, 16, it says six things, no, seven things God hates. The first is a proud look. So whenever you see anybody puffed up and proud, you know that God hates that.

123. 45:34

     Help that person, pray for that person, help them because we have nothing to be proud about. The person sitting in the gutter, you know, he's a drunk, complete drunk, he's, well I still have my pride. And he's got nothing but pride and that's the one thing he shouldn't have. If he got rid of that, he maybe could have some of the other things that are worthwhile.

124. 45:52

     But what's the seventh thing God hates? There's seven things he hates and the first one is pride and the seventh one is he that soweth discord among brethren. And so, peacemakers are blessed by God and troublemakers are hated by God. So we see that one of the great themes of this beautiful letter to the Philippians is to be of one mind, to be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

125. 46:23

     Never act for motives of rivalry. Never act for motives of personal vanity, but in humility. Think more of each other than you do yourselves. Know you should think only of his own affairs, but should learn to see things from the other person's point of view. Let Christ himself be your example of what your attitude should be.

126. 46:47

     So we're going to close with some words that Paul wrote to another ecclesia, the one ecclesia where he is at the present when he's writing this, in Romans. He says, we then that are strong, and you think, well, I'm weak. But you're all stronger than somebody else. There's always somebody weaker than you.

127. 47:05

     Be sure that you listen to these words and apply them to yourself and not think, well, I'm the weak one. Those other brothers are all supposed to be doing what I want. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.

128. 47:32

     For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grants you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus.

129. 48:08

     That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. we're going to sing to close hymn 294. Just help, just think of the words as we sing them. Give me to know how frail I am and spend your time, spend your energy to the praise of God because your days are shorter than a span.

130. 48:50

     A little point your life appears. How frail at best is dying man. How vain are all these hopes and fears. Vain is ambition, noise and show. Vain are the cares which rack his mind. Oh, be a nobler portion of mine. We'll ask Brother Richard Stone to lead us in a prayer after we have sung hymn 294.

131. 49:07

     Florida Florida Florida Florida Florida I will be greater than my grave For here's the measure of my age Give me to know how great I am And send the breath to thy praise Why do ye the shorter let us stand A little boy my life appears How great the best is dying man The pain are all his hopes and fears They give his ambition The Lord can show They are the fears which drag his mind And he needs the treasures mixed in gold The eyes and knees and all the eyes For here's the measure of my life For here's the measure of my life My God I've known before I've grown Like the treasures I reside And wish my hope on thee alone Our merciful and eternal Heavenly Father It has been good for us to be here this day It is always a matter of great joy and happiness Among thy children to meditate upon thy word For we know Heavenly Father That only the entrance of thy word Giveth light within Help us all to benefit from these exercises this day We pray that we might indeed Mind the affairs of others That we might esteem each his brother Greater than himself For we know Heavenly Father As we serve one another We serve thy beloved Son and thee We pray therefore that These thoughts and these principles That have been discussed this day May sink deep into our hearts That thy word may truly transform us Into disciples of Jesus Christ That at his coming we might Receive an answer of peace And be among those that are invited Into thy everlasting kingdom

132. 52:32

     This is all our hope and our joy And we seek all these blessings And would ascribe to thee the rock of Israel All the praise, the honor, the glory, and majesty That is thy due In Jesus' name we pray Amen