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
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