Philem 1-7 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother: To Philemon, our dear friend and co-worker,2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your house.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 Philemon’s Love and Faith I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers,5 because I hear of your love and faith toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.6 I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ.7 For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
Video Illustgration: Animated Movie “Ten Commandments”
An Ordinary Man An Extraordinary Calling
Plot Outline: The classic Old Testament tale of Moses comes to life in this animated feature.
In Rick Warrens book “40 Days of Purpose” He list five distinct purposes of a Christian life, Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry and Missions.
We must understand that God has a plan for our lives.
Ps 40:5 LORD my God, You have done many things —
Your wonderful works and Your plans for us;
none can compare with You.
If I were to report and speak of them,
they are more than can be told.
Job 37:19 Teach us what we should say to Him;
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
Isa 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not My ways."
This is the LORD’s declaration.
Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you" — this is the LORD’s declaration — "plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.
1 Thessalonians 1:8 For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out, so we don’t need to say anything
1. Our Purpose of “Love and Faith”
Philem 5 because I hear of your love and faith toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints
1) Our Faith
John 3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
Gal 3:11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.
Phil 3:9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ — the righteousness from God based on faith.
Heb 10:38 But My righteous one will live by faith;
and if he draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.
Heb 10:38 But My righteous one will live by faith;
and if he draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.
Heb 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
2) Our Love (215 times in the NT)
Matt 19:19 honor your father and your mother;
and love your neighbor as yourself.
Matt 22:37 He said to him, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Rom 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
Rom 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing
will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Rom 13:9 The commandments:
You shall not commit adultery,
you shall not murder,
you shall not steal,
you shall not covet,
and if there is any other commandment — all are summed up by this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Col 2:2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love , so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding, and have the knowledge of God’s mystery — Christ.
1 John 3:1 Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him.
1 John 3:11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another,
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love ; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love .
2 John 6 And this is love : that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love .
Illustration: Quote: Given Clean Away
Jonathan Edwards said:
I have this day been before God and have given myself--all that I have and am--to God; so that I am in no respect my own. I have given myself clean away.
-- Jonathan Edwards, quoted in Men of Integrity, (November/December ’99).
2. Our Purpose of “Participation in the Faith”
Philem 6 I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ
2 Cor 9:12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God.
Phil 1:9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment,
Titus 3:14 And our people must also learn to devote themselves to good works for cases of urgent need, so that they will not be unfruitful.
Heb 6:10 For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints — and you continue to serve them.
James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith save him?
James 2:17 In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.
3. Our Purpose of “Joy and Encouragement”
Philem 7 For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
Ilustration: The Gift of Encouraging Words
A great place to glean some profound insights into life is from children’s stories. On a Winnie the Pooh record, for instance, there is a scene that is a delightful illustration of our desire to hear words that are friendly and warm, rather than harsh or hard:
One day Pooh Bear is about to go for a walk in the Hundred Acre wood. It’s about 11:30 in the morning. It is a fine time to go calling--just before lunch. So Pooh sets out across the stream, stepping on the stones, and when he gets right in the middle of the stream he sits down on a warm stone and thinks about just where would be the best place of all to make a call. He says to himself, "I think I’ll go see Tigger." No, he dismisses that. Then he says, "Owl!" Then, "No, Owl uses big words, hard-to-understand words." At last he brightens up! "I know! I think I’ll go see Rabbit. I like Rabbit. Rabbit uses encouraging words like, ’How’s about lunch?’ and ’Help yourself, Pooh!’ Yes, I think I’ll go see Rabbit."
--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 227-228.
Acts 4:36 Joseph, a Levite and a Cypriot by birth, whom the apostles named Barnabas, which is translated Son of Encouragement ,
Rom 14:19 So then, we must pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.
Rom 15:2 Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, in order to build him up.
(from Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers.)
1 Cor 14:12 So also you — since you are zealous in matters of the spirit, seek to excel in building up the church.
1 Cor 14:26 How is it then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, another language, or an interpretation. All things must be done for edification.
Eph 4:29 No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, in order to give grace to those who hear.
1 Thess 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.
Jude 20 But you, dear friends, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
Illustration: Affirmation and Huggin’
In a world where people are finding themselves being rejected in so many ways, it is vital that they find the affirmation that is in Christ through the ministry of the Church. Personally, I’ve always believed in the power of positive hugging as a form of affirmation. Reader’s Digest mentioned Virginia Satir prescribing hugs for the blues. They quote her as saying: "Our pores are places for messages of love and physical contact.. .. Four hugs a day are necessary for survival, eight for maintenance and twelve for growth." According to the report I read, she delivered this happy prescription to those attending an orthopsychiatric convention, whatever that is.
--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 321.
Illustration Thinking with the Saints
Saints are people who manage to love God more than life itself. They manage to love neighbor more than self and thereby find true life. Saints are people who just push their way into our modest present and make the God-question and the neighbor-question the only interesting intellectual questions. Christians are those who’ve learned to think with the saints, and thereby we think much more creatively than we could if we’d been left to our own devices.
St. Francis, Martin Luther King, Teresa of Calcutta, Gideon, Mary--they help us to think beyond ourselves. They help us to think despite ourselves and thereby in this act of holy remembering and saintly thinking, new options are envisioned. We are encouraged; a new world not of our own devising is offered to us. We get some big ideas. Torah and the saintly lives thereby produced is a kind of intelligence by proxy.
-- William Willimon, "Don’t Think for Yourself," Preaching Today, Tape No. 114.
