The Importance of Maintaining Fellowship (Philemon 23-24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/19/2017 9:17 PM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  The Importance of Maintaining Fellowship

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 23-24

            Message of the verses:  “23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, 24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.”

            When one becomes a believer in Jesus Christ they will soon learn that the Christian life is not lived in a vacuum.  Believers are not to act alone, independent of the fellowship.  So now at the end of this letter, as in many of Paul’s letters we find a list of names, names that Philemon would truly be familiar with.  There may be a special reason that Paul included these names in his letter to Philemon, and that would be that if he did not follow Paul’s message to forgive Onesimus that these men would also be disappointed, thus we see the body of Christ at work.  Paul had the right to bring Philemon under discipline if he so desired.

            We have just concluded the book of Colossians not long ago and these five men were mentioned in that letter too.  However Tychicus who was mentioned in Colossians is not mentioned in this letter.  Tychicus was the one who would be delivering this letter to Philemon and the letter to the Colossians.  He could give his own greeting to Philemon.

            I want to briefly go over these names beginning with Epaphras who probably came to know the Lord under Paul’s ministry.  He was the one who founded the Colossian church as we learned in our study of Colossians.  Epaphras was probably the one who was the pastor of the Colossian church that meet in Philemon’s house. 

            Next we look at Mark, Mark who wrote the gospel of Mark as he undoubtedly had both Peter and Paul’s help with his gospel.  There is much to say about Mark in the New Testament, things like he went back home before he finished the first missionary journey and thus Paul did not want him to go with him on the second one.  Later on Paul writes that John Mark was valuable to him. 

            Next is Aristarchus who was a Jewish believer which during this time of the early church was not likely to happen since Paul ministered to the Gentiles and they were actually in Gentile territory, and according to Acts 20:4; and 27:2 he was native to Thessalonica.  He was with Paul when the riots happened in Ephesus and with Paul and Luke during that most difficult sea voyage to Rome.

            Demas is mentioned next and with that we have a sad story as Paul wrote to Timothy that Demas had left as he was lured by this present world.

            Luke is number five and we know a lot of Luke as he, the doctor, who was probably the first missionary doctor, wrote the book of Luke and also Acts.  Paul has much good to say about Luke as he should. 

            I have one more very short SD on the last verse in this letter to Philemon and then I will look mostly what John MacArthur writes at the conclusion to this letter.

7/19/2017 9:40 PM