“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.”
Growing up in church whenever the word “therefore” was used in the Bible, my Sunday school teachers would say that we always ask, “What’s it there for?” That word reminds us to go back to where we left off so we know what Paul means. In this case, “therefore” means, “because we find our belonging and citizenship in heaven…” we stay true to the Lord. We hang on to the mission because we know there is something bigger. There is something more.
Paul next appeals to two women who have had a dispute. I don’t know about you but I sure wouldn’t want to be called out in the Bible for holding a grudge. Notice the way Paul reminds these women and the congregation who they are. He recalls their work to help spread the news of Jesus. He reminds them that they are saved and in the spectrum of eternity an earthly dispute is small enough to settle. He calls them (and us) to a higher level of freedom, joy, and hope.
Paul describes the freedom the Christian life offers, both for eternity and for right now. We are waiting for Jesus to return and we have hope that he will not abandon us. The world will not decay forever. The kingdom of God will restore all that is broken. It is because of this future hope that we can rejoice. It is a deliberate choice to look past our surroundings and our circumstances and cling to what will be. In the midst of that, we don’t just sit around and wait. We work to make the world better. Settle a dispute, bring peace, share the good news of Jesus, be a bringer of the kingdom of heaven. Not a bad to-do list, really. (P.S. – It’s the way to freedom.)