PT-5 "Intro to Phil. 8-18"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/10/2017 10:43 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-5 Intro to Phil. 8-18

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 1-10

            Message of the verses:   “8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you-since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus- 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,”

            I may have mentioned that the word “therefore” in the New American Standard 95 version of the Bible is found 907 times with 257 times in the New Testament.  The word therefore has always been an interesting word to me as when you see it, it takes the subject back to previous verses and that is the case found here as the therefore links you back to the introduction of the main body of the letter.  We can be sure that Philemon knew and understood what the doctrinal foundation of forgiveness was as Paul does not go over it now.  Paul had enough confidence in his apostolic authority founded in Christ to order Philemon to do that which is proper, he did not want to make Philemon forgive out of the authority of Paul, but do it because Philemon had been forgiven of everything because of what Christ did in his life.  Paul was appealing for loves sake.

            We know that from reading the first section of his letter to Philemon that Paul loved him as Paul called him agapetos “beloved.” 

            In spite of Philemon’s spiritual maturity and his deep love for Paul, Paul knew that it was going to be difficult for him to forgive Onesimus.  I don’t think that we, living in the 21^st century can understand what slavery was like during Paul’s day; therefore it would be difficult for Philemon to forgive Onesimus.

            John MacArthur writes that “Paul includes two statements about himself.  He thereby hopes to persuade Philemon to grant his appeal for Onesimus.  That appeal comes from ‘such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.’”  Perhaps Paul was similar in age to Philemon but as I have heard many times when I was working at my job in a large foundry when someone speaks of a person who seemed older than their years “he has been run hard and put away wet too many times.”  This is true of Paul as he had a lot of miles on his body, sometimes running for his life, and also he had pressure on himself to work for the cause of Christ.

            MacArthur concludes “If that were not enough to elicit Philemon’s sympathy, Paul rattles his chains again.  He reminds Philemon that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus.  Philemon could not possibly turn down a request for a man in such honorable suffering.

            “Beginning in verse 10, Paul moves into the specifics of his request.  In verses 10-18 he describes three actions that one who forgives must take.  Forgiveness involves reception, restoration, and restitution.”  That is the outline we will follow as we move through verses 10-18.

7/10/2017 11:06 PM

PT-4 "Intro to Philemon 8-18"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/9/2017 8:01 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 Intro to Philemon 8-18

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 8-18

               8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you — since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus —  10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15 For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. 18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;”

           

            Message of the verses:  In our SD for this evening we will continue looking at the important subject of the eight foundational elements of the biblical doctrine of forgiveness by looking at numbers 6-8.

            “Sixth, an unforgiving spirit makes believers unfit for worship.” Let us look at Matthew 5:23-24 “23  "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24  leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” 

            John MacArthur writes “It should be noted that reconciliation, forgiveness, and restoration can and should be initiated by either party.  Maybe the one who has something against you has not asked for forgiveness and is enjoying his bitterness.  God can offer forgiveness anyway.  Seek reconciliation.  Maybe you have offended him and never asked forgiveness.  Go and ask.

            “Unforgiveness makes Christians unfit for fellowship not only with other believers, but also with God.  Worshiping God, though living in an unrestored relationship with another believer, is hypocrisy.”

            “Seventh, the injuries and offenses believers suffer are their trials and temptations.”  Once more we want to go to the Sermon on the Mount and look at Matthew 5:44-45 “44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  MacArthur adds “If we obey that command and forgive those who offend us, their offense becomes a trial.  It will produce growth and strength in our lives.  If we disobey and refuse to forgive, it becomes a temptation resulting in sin.  We should be little concerned about the actions of others against us.  We should be greatly concerned that our response makes them a trial and not a temptation.”

            “Eight, forgiveness should be given even if it is not sought.”  The best example of this is found from the cross of Christ as just before He dies He says “Father, forgive them.”  We can be assured that those who crucified Christ were not looking for Him to forgive them, but He did anyway.  Steven said pretty much the same thing that Jesus did right before he died from those who were stoning him.  I believe that Steven learned this from what he had heard the Lord did and felt the same way.  MacArthur adds “Though the relationship will never be restored until the offending person desires forgiveness, still we are not to hold a grudge, but forgive from the heart and be free from any bitterness—showing only love and mercy.”

            As we looked at these eight foundational elements of a biblical doctrine of forgiveness we can see that in and of ourselves they are impossible to follow.  When we are hurt because of what someone has done to us it is at times hard to get over, but if we pray about this and ask the Lord to give us the grace to do what He desires for us to do we will be showing that we love the Lord by following the commandments that He has given us to forgive others. 

            We will be looking at verses eight and nine in our next SD which will be the last SD looking at the introduction to verses 8-18.

7/9/2017 8:26 PM  

           

PT-3 "Intro to Philemon 8-18"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/8/2017 9:28 PM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Intro to Philemon 8-18

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Phil. 8-18

            Message of the verses:  I am not going to copy the verses on this SD because as I stated in an earlier SD this introduction to these verses will take a number of Spiritual Diaries to complete as we are talking about forgiveness and John MacArthur senses that most believers do not have the knowledge of what biblical forgiveness is all about and so he has written in his commentary eight foundational elements of a biblical doctrine of forgiveness, and we will look at number three through five in this SD.

            In today’s SD we will begin looking at the third of eight foundational element of a biblical doctrine of forgiveness.  The first two were looked at in our last two SD’s on Philemon.

            “Third, Christians who fail to forgive others will not enjoy forgiveness from God.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15, ‘If you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.’  Failing to forgive others hinders our fellowship with God and puts us in danger of His chastening.  That is too high a price to pay for wickedly enjoying a lack of forgiveness.” 

            “Fourth, believers who manifest an unforgiving spirit will not enjoy the fellowship, communion, and love of other saints.  In the parable of Matthew 18, it was the unforgiving slave’s fellow slaves who reported him to his lord (Matt. 18:31).  That is a picture of church discipline.  An unforgiving attitude will destroy a believer’s relationships with his fellow believers.  They will then, through church discipline, ask God to bring chastening into his life.  Unforgiveness not only hinders our relationship with God, but also with other Christians.”

            “Fifth, by refusing to forgive others and seeking our own revenge, we usurp the authority of God.”  As I think about this fifth element of biblical doctrine of forgiveness I have to say that this is unlikely that many believers in our culture in the 21^st century church ever think of this.  It has been a few months since a particular Wednesday evening prayer meeting when our Pastor was talking about the Apostle Paul, and I asked a question that caused him to think for a moment.  My question was how many people do you think were praying for the salvation of Saul of Tarsus before he became a believer.  Saul of Tarsus was a tyrant in the early church killing some believers and putting others in prison.  His answer to my question was another question as to how many people were praying for him which I said that I had no idea.  He then quoted a verse from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount about praying for one’s enemies.  Paul would later write “bless those who persecute you; bless and cruse not.  Never take you own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord (Romans 12:14, 19).” 

            We absolutely know that God is so much more intelligent than any of us and so He knows the best way to take care of those who have wronged us.  MacArthur writes “He is impartial and just; we are partial to our own selfish interests.  He is omniscient and eternal, seeing how everything will turn out.  We are shortsighted and ignorant, seeing nothing beyond the moment.  He is wise and good, and does everything for righteous purposes.  We are often blinded by our anger, and our purposes may be evil.  We must then leave vengeance to God.”

7/8/2017 9:50 PM

PT-2 "Intro to Philemon 8:18"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/7/2017 5:15 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Philemon 8-18

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 8-18

            Message of the verses:  “8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you-since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus- 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15  For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16  no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. 18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;”

            In today’s SD we will begin looking at the second of eight foundational element of a biblical doctrine of forgiveness.  The first one was looked at in our last SD on Philemon.

“Second, whoever offends us gives greater offense to God.”  I have not read ahead to find out what all of these elements are, but this one has to be one that I am truly interested in and want to remember as it will help me understand life a bit better.  When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he sinned against her, her husband and against God, and David knew that.  “Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge (Psalm 51:4).”  MacArthur adds “Whatever his offense against men, he gave a greater offense to God.  God has forgiven those who wrong us of the greater offense of sinning against Him.  Can we not forgive them of the lesser one of offending us?”  As you think about that statement we can understand that if we don’t forgive others who sin against us and against God we are actually putting ourselves above the just and holy God. 

            Everyone reading this has probably been offended by someone at one time in their lives, some more than others, but the truth is no matter how much that person has offended us it does not compare with how we have offended God, and yet God in His great mercy sent His only Son into the world to take our place on the cross so that all of our offesenses against Him was cared for.  Now when we have been forgiven so much, (everything) we need also to forgive others.

7/7/2017 5:41 PM

A Concern To Be A Blessing (Philemon 7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/5/2017 10:45 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: A Concern To Be A Blessing

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 7

            Message of the verse:  “7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”

            What I am about to write I don’t know if it is accurate or not, but I was wondering if perhaps Paul knew that Philemon would forgive Onesimus and I also wonder if Paul had an idea of whether or not this letter would be a blessing to all who would read it, and to help those who perhaps were on the fence as to whether or not to forgive an offender.  He may have had an idea, and may not but the fact still remains that his letter to Philemon has probably helped millions of people throughout the church age thus far.

            As we look at verse seven we can see that Philemon had a reputation for love a fact that Paul brings up as he writes “much comfort in your love.”  We can also see that “the hearts of the saints” had “been refreshed.”  John Macarthur writes that “hearts” “translates splachna, which literally means ‘bowels.’  It refers to the seat of the feelings.  People struggling, suffering, and hurting emotionally, had been refreshed by Philemon.  Refreshed is from anapauo, a military term that speaks of an army resting from a march.  Philemon brought troubled people rest and renewal; he was a peacemaker.”

            As we have been looking to what we might entitle the introductory portion of this letter we may conclude that Paul was kind of “buttering up” Philemon, but I don’t think that is the case, but I believe that he is just telling the truth about him.  A story comes to my mind that perhaps does not fit perfectly in here but at any rate it is a good story nonetheless.  One of the presidents of the Moody Bible Institute was being investigated by a private detective at for unworthily reasons to try to pin something wrong on him.  The report from the detective came back to the person who hired him and it was found out by him that he could find out nothing bad about him at all.  I am sure if someone would have been investigating Philemon they would not come up with anything either.

            Philemon was probably a business man, not a preacher, teacher, or deacon, and this makes the story that we read about him even more impressive.

               John MacArthur includes the following poem in his commentary written by Coventry Patmore who was a 19^th century English poet.  The poem is entitled “The Toys.”

My little Son, who look’d from thoughtful eyes

And moved and spoke in quiet grown-up wise,

Having my law the seventh time disobey’d

With hard words and unkiss’d

-His Mother, who was patient, being dead

Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder sleep

I visited his bed,

But found him slumbering deep,

With darken’d eyelids, and their lashes yet

From his late lobbing wet.

And I, with moan,

Kissing away his tears, left others on my own;

For, on a table drawn beside his head,

He had put, within his reach,

A box of [tokens] and a red-vein’d stone,

A piece of glass abraded by the beach

And six or seven shells,

A bottle with bluebells,

And two French copper coins, ranged there

With careful art,

To comfort his sad heart.

So when that night I pray’d

To God, I wept and said:

Ah, when at last we lie with [tranquil] breath,

Not vexing Thee in death,

And Thou rememberest of what toys’

We made our joys,

How weakly understood

Thy great commanded good,

Then, fatherly not less

Than I whom Thou hast moulded from the clay,

Thou’lt leave Thy wrath, and say,

“I [forgive] their childishness.

            “If God can so tenderly forgive us, can we not, like Philemon, have the character that forgives others?”

7/5/2017 11:21 PM

 

 

PT-1 "Intro to Phil. 8:8-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/6/2017 10:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  PT-1 Intro to Phil. 8-18

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 8-18

            Message of the verses:  “8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you-since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus- 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15  For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16  no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. 18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;”

            John MacArthur entitles this second chapter on the letter to Philemon “The Actions of One Who Forgives.”  We will take a few days to look at the introduction to verses 8-18.

            We have been talking about the fact that forgiveness is the main theme of this letter; however that word is not in this letter at all.  There is actually no theological foundation for forgiveness found in this letter either.  Paul appeals to love and not to law or principle to show what forgiveness is all about.  Philemon was a godly mature man in the Christian faith, and therefore Paul could appeal to love to him.  This truly is not the case with all believers, however it should be.

            In his commentary introduction on verses 8-18 John MacArthur writes “Unfortunately, I cannot assume that all Christians have that knowledge (the knowledge of forgiveness), so it is important to note eight foundational elements of a biblical doctrine of forgiveness.”  We will begin to look at these in this first SD of the introduction to these verses.

            “First, it is not merely murder that is forbidden by the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13), but also anger and lack of forgiveness” writes John MacArthur.  Let us look at Matthew 5:21-22 “21 "You have heard that the ancients were told, ’YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ’Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22  "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ’You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ’You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”  We can see that when God gave the commandment not to murder it was much more involved as He also forbade hate, malice, anger, vengeance, and lack of forgiveness toward anyone.  The question is how are these negative attitudes to be dealt with?  First we need to remember that everyone born is created in the image of God and that is reason enough.  Believers have the life of God in them so that should make it easier for believers to forgive others, but not always the case.  MacArthur writes that “We are to love and forgive people for that image of God that is in them.  Seeing people as created in God’s image should replace lack of forgiveness with reverence.”

            Look at Matthew 22:39 to help us deal with negative attitudes “"The second is like it, ’YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’”  Sometimes people may think that they don’t love themselves much but that is not true for we spend a lot of time taking care of ourselves.  For one thing we are very quick to forgive ourselves, making excuses for our actions, but difficult to forgive others.  This makes us selfish.  MacArthur adds “Selfishness also causes us to exaggerate the faults of those who offend us.  Humble, unselfish people, in contrast, do not see offenses against themselves as significant.”

7/6/2017 10:46 PM

Concern for Glory (Philemon 6c)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/4/2017 4:42 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  Concern for Glory

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference Philemon 6c

            Message of the verse:  “For Christ’s sake.”

            I have been mentioning that this Spiritual Diaries will be very short as I am following the outline from John MacArthur’s commentary.  Today’s lesson will probably the shortest, but since it is a holiday that fits in well.

            “The Christian life, with all its joys, duties, and responsibilities, is ‘for Christ’s sake.’  The Greek text literally reads, ‘unto Christ.’  The goal of everything believers do should be the glory of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31 ‘Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’).  Someone devoted to Christ’s glory would certainly forgive another, as an unforgiving spirit does not glorify Christ.  Paul was convinced that Philemon would forgive Onesimus because he knew of Philemon’s great concern to glorify Christ.”  (John MacArthur’s commentary.)

            I would like to add one more verse that I believe is very meaningful.  “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (2 Peter 3:18).”  This is the last words of Peter found in the Bible.

7/4/2017 4:52 PM      

A Concern for Knowledge (Philemon 6b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 09/22/2024 9:08 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  A Concern for Knowledge

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 6b

            Message of the verse:  “through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you”

            “Epignosis (‘knowledge’) refers to deep, rich, full, experiential knowledge.  It is the knowledge that comes through personal acquaintance with the truth” writes John MacArthur as he gives a wonderful definition of the word knowledge.

            The question we have here for Philemon and as that matter for all of us is how can we experience forgiveness?  Well we could read about forgiveness or we could hear a sermon about forgiveness, but the only way to experience forgiveness is to forgive someone.  Jesus Christ has forgiven every true believer that belongs to Him, so then obliviously we should forgive others who have wronged us because of Christ’s forgiveness for us.  MacArthur writes “By forgiving Onesimus, Philemon would experience that good thing in him known as forgiveness.  By walking in obedience to God’s will, believers experience the good things God has placed within them.” 

            MacArthur goes on to talk about the difference between reading a book about downhill skiing and the actual thrill of doing downhill skiing, and there is a vast difference.  When we read the Bible and it tells us about forgiveness then this is completely different than stepping out by faith to do the things that you have read about in the Word of God and then determine that you are going to forgive someone, as it is an exciting thing to live out this truth.  We know that we need to forgive someone but it is difficult to do the right thing as it probably was for Philemon.  I remember back when I was a pretty knew Christian that we had a guest Pastor come and speak at our church and he told the story of a man who had had someone cheat him out of some money, and I don’t think that it was even that much money, but in his wallet was a piece of old yellowed paper with the amount of money he was owed.  Do you think that it would have bothered that person who owed him the money after all of the years that this man became bitter about it?  My guess is that it would not.  As we practice the truths of Scripture it will lead us to the epignosis that will bring spiritual maturity.  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13).”

            MacArthur concludes “Paul is confident that Philemon will want to experience a true knowledge of forgiveness by forgiving Onesimus.  He gives both Philemon and us a gentle reminder of the importance of a concern for knowledge.”  7/3/2017 9:34 PM  

A Concern for Fellowship (Philemon 6a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2017 10:05 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  A Concern For Fellowship

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 6a

            Message of the verse:  “and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective”

            If you have real faith and love the result will be a concern for fellowship.  In the body of Christ there is no room for individualism as that would cause people not to care for one another.  Paul is telling this to Philemon because his runaway slave Onesimus is now a believer so Philemon needs to forgive Onesimus and also rejoice that he has become a believer in order to maintain harmony, peace, and unity in the Colossian church.

            Koinonia writes John MacArthur “is difficult to render precisely in English.  It is usually translated ‘fellowship,’ but it means much more than merely enjoying each other’s company.  It refers to a mutual sharing of all life, and could be translated ‘belonging.’  Believers belong to each other in a mutual partnership, produced by their faith in Christ.  By forgiving him, Philemon would acknowledge that he belonged to Onesimus as a brother in Christ. ‘Effective’ translates energes, which literally means ‘powerful.’  Such an act of forgiveness would send a powerful message to the church (cf. Gal. 3:28).  Forgiving a fellow believer, no matter what their offense, makes a strong statement of concern for fellowship.”

            A couple of things and that is that I have mentioned that there will be a series of short Spiritual Diaries as we work our way through verses 5-7.  The other thing I want to mention is that from the first time that I read this letter I have always wondered if Philemon had forgiven Onesimus for his offence of running away.  Now as I study this letter more carefully I think that it leaves little doubt that Philemon did.

7/2/2017 10:22 PM

A Concern for People (Philemon 5:b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2017 10:18 PM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  A Concern For People

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 5b

            Message of the verses:  “because I hear of your love…toward all the saints”

            I have to say that these next few Spiritual Diaries from the letter to Philemon are going to be very short.

            John MacArthur writes “This verse exhibits a chiastic construction in the Greek text.  The first part of the verse, ‘love,’ goes with the last phrase, ‘toward all the saints.’

            “Agape (‘love’) is the love of will and choice, of self-sacrifice and humility.  Love is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) and a manifestation of genuine saving faith (Gal. 5:6; 1 John 3:14).  Believers should not need to be taught this love (1 Thess. 4:9) because its source is already in them in the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” (Gal. 5:22).

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6).

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death” (1 John 3:14).

“Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;” (1 Thes. 4:9).

“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5).       

“Because Philemon’s faith was real, it manifested itself in true biblical love.  That love expressed itself in a concern for people.  Philemon’s concern for people gave him the ability to forgive.”

            Forgiveness is the major theme of this letter that Paul wrote to Philemon.  It is a wonderful thing, to me, how the Bible is put together, especially the New Testament as we see in this letter to Philemon that his slave just happened to run away and end up in the presence of the apostle Paul while he was in prison in Rome.  This was all God’s plan from eternity past and sometimes we as believers don’t see things that God is doing in our lives until we take the time to look back and take a good look at our lives.  I am sure that Philemon and Onesimus took the time to look back at their lives.

7/1/2017 10:29 PM

A Concern for the Lord (Philemon 4:5a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2017 7:09 PM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  A Concern for the Lord

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 4-5a

            Message of the verses:  “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, because I hear of…the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus,”

            As we look at this verse and a half we see that Paul is praising Philemon, but this happens in many of his letters and it is not that he is trying to flatter him, rather Paul knew that legitimate praise feeds virtue and also provides a solution for sin.  MacArthur adds “The honorable character of Philemon becomes the foundation upon which Paul bases his appeal for him to forgive Onesimus.”

            Paul was the one who led Philemon to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and so he knew about his character first hand.  When we studied Colossians we found out that the pastor of the Colossian church came to see Paul in order to tell him about the troubles that were going on there and so Paul would have had time to talk to him about Philemon and Paul would not have given Philemon praise if he did not deserve it.  Paul continues to praise Philemon as he writes “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers.”  Once again this is typical of most of Paul’s letters as Paul begins most of his letters by praying for the one or ones he is writing to and then near the end of his letter he will ask them to pray for some specific needs that he has.  As we look at Paul praying for Philemon we see that when he did this that he knew nothing negative against Philemon and was then able to pray in this way for him.  As we go through the book of Philemon we will see that this is true, nothing negative is written about to him.

            MacArthur writes “The first characteristic of one who forgives is a concern for the Lord.  Paul had heard of ‘the faith which’ Philemon had ‘toward the Lord Jesus.’  As a genuine believer, Philemon was concerned about the Lord and desired to please Him.  Because the Lord had forgiven him Philemon could forgive others.  Conviction from the indwelling Holy Spirit and from the Word of God would also provide the impetus for Philemon to do what was right.  The present tense of echo (‘you have’) demonstrates the continuous nature of Philemon’s concern for the Lord.  His unwavering faith gave Paul confidence in his willingness to forgive.

            “Christians forgive because they are reconciled to Jesus Christ.  Unbelievers do not have that capacity.  Paul points that out in Romans 3:10-16:

‘10  as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11  THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12  ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE." 13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS"; 14 “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS"; 15 “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, 16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS.’”

“Those Controlled by bitterness will find it difficult to forgive.”

6/30/2017 7:28 PM

PT-2 "Intro to Philemon 1:1-3"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2017 9:58 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                Focus:  PT-2 “Introduction”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  Philemon 1:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            I am not sure if I mentioned it or not when we went over the introduction to this letter, but Philemon was a wealthy member of the Colossians church, as it meets in his house.  The Greek word for “beloved” is Agapetos and it is a familiar word of Paul’s from his writings.  Fellow worker is from sunegos, and this is a term used by Paul for those who had worked alongside him for the cause of Christ.  So we see familiar words in Paul’s introduction to this letter.  We mentioned when we were studying the book of Colossians that Paul never was at the Colossian church so this means that he and Philemon must have meet in Ephesus.  As we get into what this letter is about and we have looked at words like slavery, and also forgiveness we will see that Paul is putting his friend on the line for the sake of the spiritual principle of forgiveness and also reconciling Philemon with his slave Onesimus.  As I have been studying for some time now the 17^th chapter of John which truly could be called the “love chapter,” as we see Christ demonstrating exactly what love is throughout that chapter.  Jesus went to the cross in order to forgive us because He loved, and still loves us, and yet it is difficult at times for us to forgive someone of something that is actually small.  “My friends this should not be!”

            We see that the letter is also addressed to Apphia, who was probably Philemon’s wife, and to Archippus who may have been their son.  He then describes Archippus as a fellow soldier, and in 2 Timothy Paul describes Timothy as a fellow soldier. 

            Next we look at the fact that Paul also addressed the church that was in Philemon’s house as in the first century it was common for churches to meet in houses as it is still in some countries, especially those where persecution is found.  It was not until the third century that churches began to meet in their own buildings.

            Next we look at another standard part of Paul’s introduction “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  John MacArthur concludes by writing “Grace is the means of salvation, peace its result.  The linking of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as joint sources of grace and peace would be blasphemous if Jesus were a mere man or angel.  That phrase is to be understood as an affirmation of the deity of Christ, His equality with God.”  It is too bad that many people in this world do not see this truth as it is made clear in the Word of God in many places.  6/29/2017 10:19 PM

PT-1 "Intro to Philemon 1-3"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2017 10:23 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-1 Introduction

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            When letters were written when this letter was written the name of the one who wrote it was at the top of the letter unlike the way we construct a letter as we put our name at the end of the letter.  However even though it is different today than then most of the time when we get a letter in the mail today there is a return address on it to tell us who it came from.

            We know that Paul led Philemon to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but Philemon probably was excited to receive a letter from the apostle Paul, the man who turned the Roman world upside down as he helped spread the gospel to much of the Roman world.  Timothy and Titus were the only two other men who got letters from Paul that are found in the Bible.

            As we look at this first verse we see that Paul describes himself as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”  This is unique as no other letter he wrote that is found in the Word of God that Paul wrote begins this way.  We have written that Paul wrote Ephesians and also Colossians from prison and yet neither of those letters began by saying that he was in prison, only this one.  Many of his letters that he writes he says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, but I think with the content of this letter he did not want to go that route for he wanted Philemon to make his decision about Onesimus on his own with putting any pressure on him.

            Paul considered himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ even though he was in prison in Rome.  It was because of his work in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ that he was in the prison; otherwise he would not have been in prison for even before he left for Rome it was said that he had really done nothing wrong and would have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.   John MacArthur writes “By mentioning his imprisonment, Paul makes a subtle appeal to Philemon.  He sets up his case by saying in effect, ‘If I can face the harder task of being in prison, can you not do the easier one that I’m going ask you.’  Philemon knew all that Pau had suffered for the cause of Christ.  That knowledge was bound to have an effect on his willingness to do what Paul asked him.”

            We now move on to Timothy who was the coauthor of Philemon, but he was with Paul when he wrote the letter.  Paul’s description of Timothy was “our brother” as Timothy knew Philemon.  Paul mentions Timothy first and later mentions others.  Paul mentions Timothy at the beginning of his letters in many of them.  6/28/2017 10:46 PM

PT-2 "Intro to Philemon 1:1-7"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2017 10:11 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Philemon 1:1-7

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  Philemon 1:1-7 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; 6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”

            In our last SD we were talking about forgiveness and so we want to finish up that discussion in this SD, and then in our next SD from the letter to Philemon we will be looking at verses 1-3 which is actually the introduction to this letter.

            John MacArthur states that there are 75 different word pictures about forgiveness found in the Word of God and they help us grasp and understand how important the nature, and also the effects of forgiveness.  Now the following is a quote found in the commentary written by John MacArthur that he gets from John Nieder and Thomas Thompson Forgive and Love Again.

·        To forgive is to turn the key, open the cell door, and let the prisoner walk free.

·        To forgive is to write in large letters across a debt, ‘Nothing owed.’

·        To forgive is to pound the gavel in a courtroom and declare ‘Not guilty!’

·        To forgive is to shoot an arrow so high and so far that it can never be found again.

·        To forgive is to bundle up all the garbage and trash and dispose of it, leaving the house clean and fresh.

·        To forgive is to loose the moorings of a ship and release it to the open sea.

·        To forgive is to grant a full pardon to a condemned criminal.

·        To forgive is to relax a stranglehold on a wrestling opponent.

·        To forgive is to sandblast a wall of graffiti, leaving it looking new again.

·        To forgive is to smash a clay pot into a thousand pieces so it can never be pieced together again.

John MacArthur concludes this introduction by writing “Forgiveness is so important that the Holy Spirit devoted an entire book of the Bible to it.  In the brief book of Philemon, the spiritual duty to forgive emphasized, but not in principle, parable, or word picture.  Through a real life situation involving two people dear to him, Paul teaches the importance of forgiving others.  Following the introduction in verses 1-3, Paul describes the spiritual character of one who forgives in verses 4-7.  Such a person has a concern for the Lord, a concern for people, a concern for fellowship, a concern for knowledge, a concern for glory, and a concern to be a blessing.” 

6/27/2017 10:29 PM

PT-1 "Intro to Philemon 1-7"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2017 10:57 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Philemon 1-7

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 1-7

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; 6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”

            What Paul is writing about in this short letter to his friend in the Lord is all about forgiveness, something that our society that we live in knows little about as in most cases we are always looking out for number one, and we don’t care how that happens.  Forgiveness is foreign in our society as it is looked upon as being weak; however Christians must forgive for after all Christ has forgiven us for everything, past, present and future.  John MacArthur writes that if we fail to forgive there will be four unpleasant results.  “First, failure to forgive will imprison believers in their past.  Unforgiveness keeps the pain alive.  Unforgiveness keeps the sore open; it never allows the wound to heal.  Dwelling on the wrong done feeds anger and resentment and robs one of all the joy of living.  Forgiveness, on the other hand, opens the prison doors and sets the believer free from the past.

            “Second, Unforgiveness produces bitterness.  The longer believers dwell on offenses committed against them, the more bitter they become.  Bitterness is not just a sin; it is an infection.  The writer of Hebrews warns, ‘See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled’ (Heb. 12:15).”

            “Third, Unforgiveness gives Satan an open door.  Paul warns believers in Ephesians 4:26-27, ‘Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.’  To the Corinthians he wrote, ‘Whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes’ (2 Cor. 2:10-11).  It is no exaggeration to say that most of the ground Satan gains in our lives is due to Unforgiveness.

“Fourth, Unforgiveness hinders fellowship with God.  Our Lord solemnly warned, ‘If you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions’ (Matt. 6:14-15).  As noted in the introduction, that passage speaks not of the completed, past forgiveness of salvation, but of ongoing relational forgiveness between believers and the Father.  It is a serious matter nonetheless to know that one cannot be right with God if he is unforgiving of others.  Forgiveness restores the believer to the place of maximum blessing from God.  It restores the purity and joy of fellowship with God.”

            There is some more things we want to look at in this introduction that we will do in our next SD.

6/26/2017 11:21 PM