So far Paul’s letter to the Philippian church has included a greeting thanking God for their friendship, revelation of how he prays for them regularly and an update on his situation. Paul then jumped into the heart of the letter, a call and command to unity with each other through humility as modeled by Christ. This command was so important but also so weighty that Paul immediately followed it with the promise of help, he was sending his best men, their brother Epaphroditus, a man who had risked his life for the gospel, and Paul’s own spiritual son and closest friend Timothy. In chapter 3 the call to unity through humility is further expounded upon by Paul beginning to reveal the issue that is at the heart of the Philippians dissension. The issue, as is often the case, is not something new, it’s something that they have talked through before but Paul makes it clear, it’s an issue that needs to be talked through regularly. The issue is when brothers and sisters allow religious preference, doctrinal understanding and personal heritage to create disagreements, dysfunction and even divides within the church. Tonight, we start to wade our way through the sea of doctrinal disagreement and I pray that we will allow the Holy Spirit to teach us that unity and agreement are not the same thing, in fact, they might not even be related. Unity is a heart condition and a committed decision that doesn’t just endure disagreement, it even welcomes it.