The effectiveness of the Chris tian warfare depends upon the conduct of the individual Christian soldier. The single person is whom the world sees. He will be known for either promoting or hindering harmony. How do our lives mea sure up? We must learn to get along with others. Paul mentions in this passage his "true yoke fellow." Some think this was Clement of Alexandria. Another speculates that it was Paul's own wife (although the Creek word here is masculine). Other Bible teachers have taken the position that it is simply a popular name and may well be a reference to Epaphroditus described earlier as a brother, companion laborer, and fellow soldier. When it comes to your endeavors in the church could anyone describe you pro perly as a "yoke-fellow"? There is a need to work together in order that friction may be avoided. There is always the need to rejoice in the Lord (4:4). When such a practice is followed there is not the likelihood to be involved in gossipping and back-biting. I can always tell when people are not happy or contented. They be gin to pick and find fault with the way the minister combs his hair, the kind of ties he wears, or the fact that he does not close soon enough when he is preaching. They do not like the choir or the deacons, and the missionary so cieties heave to be a waste of time. Nothing is good enough for them. Such an attitude needs to be watched carefully and actually done away with. Paul reminds us that one way to get out from under such bondage is to rejoice in the Lord. (Notice, he does not say in
our circumstances.) You remember that the second fruit of the Spirit of God is joy. Joy is one of the Christian's super natural virtues. Happiness is en tirely external and circumstantial. Joy on the other hand does not depend on conditions that prevail around us, but rather on what Jesus Christ has done in our hearts and lives through faith. External things can always be taken away from us. So, our happiness can go with them, too. Joy is internal, not external. One who is constantly rejoicing in the Lord has his eyes fixed on Christ. He does not have time to be defensive and critical. As believers, Paul enjoins us to let our moderation be known unto all men. This is not the same thing as temperance mentioned as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. The apostle may have coined the word himself. Literally it means "reasonableness." Of course, we must be un-compromising in our doctrinal beliefs. Paul is not talk ing about compromise with the world's standards of conduct either. Those who profess Christ should be willing to bend their attitudes, especially when other Christians are concerned. We are not to have a personality so inflex ible and brittle that we cannot tol erate others. In the life of the believer who is victorious and surrendered, close to the heart of God, there are always answered prayers. The Bible examples prove and demon strate the fact that prayer "con quers God." Abraham is a good example of that. We see what happened when he interceded for the cities of Sodom and Gom orrah. Man never does a more
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