Thanks for God’s Love and His Saints

Transcript

GR 1130
7/26/98
Thanks for God’s Love & His Saints
Philemon 4-7
Gil Rugh

We’re in the book of Philemon. Philemon is only one chapter. The easiest way to find the book of Philemon is go to the book of Hebrews toward the back of your New Testament, and just before the book of Hebrews is the book of Philemon. The book of Philemon was written while Paul was a prisoner in Rome, and he started the letter by identifying himself, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He was in prison in Rome because he preached the truth concerning Jesus Christ. He’s writing to a man who lived in the city of Colossae, a man named Philemon. He’s writing because during Paul’s imprisonment be came into contact with a runaway slave named Onesimus, and by God’s grace Paul was privileged to lead Onesimus to salvation by faith in Christ. And now he is sending Onesimus back to his master, Philemon, in the city of Colossae, and he writes this letter to Philemon, a letter in which he will request Philemon to show love and mercy and kindness toward Onesimus, a rebellious, runaway slave, and appreciate the fact that God, in grace, has brought Onesimus to salvation.

In the first three letters Paul gave an introduction, as was the common practice. He identified himself with those that he was writing to and gave a word of greeting, grace and peace to you. Now Paul will follow further what is a practice in his letters in verses 4-7, and that is he will tell Philemon that he prays for him, and in his prayers, he gives thanks to God for what God has done in Philemon’s life. He prays that God will continue to work his purposes in Philemon’s life. He thanks God for Philemon’s faith and love, and he desires that the growth will continue in Philemon’s life.

You know, I was reflecting upon on the fact as I looked at verses 4-7. Paul’s expression of thanksgiving regarding God’s work in Philemon’s life, and I went through portions of the scripture reflecting upon what a major place gratitude or thanks plays in the lives of God’s people. One of the identifying marks of a person who has truly come to salvation in Christ is his life is characterized by gratitude or thanks to God for who He is and what He has done.


Leave a marker in the book of Philemon if you would and come back to the Psalms in the Old Testament, right about in the middle of your Old Testament, the book of Psalms, and the l07th Psalm. I just want to note here what the psalmist writes about expressing thanks to God. Psalm l07, begins in verse l, Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.; For His loving kindness is everlasting. We are to give thanks to the Lord, He’s a good God, He has an everlasting loving kindness that He bestows upon us. He’s redeemed us, the psalmist goes on to say, but come down to verse 8. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness and for His wonders to the sons of men. In between these expressions of thanks and exhortation to give thanks, he gives illustrations and examples of God’s work. Come down to verse l5, Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness, for His wonders to the sons of men. Repeated in verse 2l, Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness, and His wonders to the sons of men. Repeated again in verse 3l, this refrain that runs through the Psalms. We are to be giving thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness, for what He has done in displaying Himself and His love and His goodness to us. The Psalm closes in verse 43, Who is Wise? Let him give heed to these things; And consider the loving kindnesses of the Lord.

That’s the way Paul will begin his letter to Philemon, reflecting upon the loving kindnesses of God, as shown to Philemon, and expressing his thanks to God for His goodness. If you’re still in Psalm l07, look at verse 22. Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing. The Old Testament law, the book of Leviticus, chapter 7, verse l2 made provision for sacrifices that are called thank offerings. They were animal sacrifices that the nation Israel brought and presented to God and an Israelite was expressing his thanks and gratitude to God in offering that sacrifice. So, they were called thank offerings, and here exhorted. Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving. And in that context, they are to tell of His works with joyful singing. As they offer their sacrifices, they are to be expressing with their lips their gratitude to God for all He has done.

Come over to the New Testament to the book of Hebrews, just after Philemon, the book of Hebrews, chapter l3. In verse l5 the writer to the Hebrews picks up on this thought of the sacrifices of thanksgiving and the expressing with our lips our thanks to God. Hebrews 13:15. Through Him then, referring to Christ, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. So here he picks up the concept of the thank offerings and expressing our thanks to God with our lips and says that is a spiritual sacrifice we offer to God as His people, as we express our praise of what God has done, express our gratitude to God for His loving kindness. That is a spiritual sacrifice that ascends to the presence of God’s throne through our High Priest, Jesus Christ. So thanksgiving, gratitude is a very key part of the life of one who has experienced God’s loving kindness in his life personally in salvation.


Turn back to II Timothy, just toward the front of your bible, in front of Hebrews and Philemon is the book of Titus and just before Titus is II Timothy. Just a few pages in front of Titus is the book of II Timothy, Chapter 3, verse l. But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful. That word ungrateful is the word thanks with a negative on the front, not thankful, without gratitude. It is a mark of a person who is an unbeliever, that their life is not characterized by gratitude and thanks to God for who He is and for what He has done. And this situation will only get worse in the last days, for in the last days men will be lovers of themselves. I think we see a blossoming of this thinking in our day. And when you are a lover of yourself, gratitude does not characterize your life, because everything is owed to you, everything is something you deserve. So, what characterizes us is frustration and anger and bitterness over not getting everything that we deserve, rather than gratitude and thanks and appreciation to God for His loving kindness and goodness bestowed upon us, undeserving as we are.

Looking through the newspaper yesterday and an ad caught my attention because in the big print was you deserve this. That says about our attitude toward everything. The good things of life, you deserve. You deserve to be happy, you deserve to be wealthy, you deserve to have fun, you deserve a good vacation, you deserve a new car, you
deserve. . . .Is there anything we don’t deserve that’s good, that’s fun? And so self-centered people are not thankful people, and in the last days there’s a blossoming of self-love and self-focus and with that goes an open lack of thanks and gratitude. That’s characteristic of the unbelieving world. So we see a contrast, with God’s people their hearts are overflowing with gratitude and thanksgiving to God for who He is and for all that He does, in contrast to the world of the unbeliever who do not know the living God and the wonder of His salvation. They do not have lives characterized by thanks and gratitude and appreciation.

We need to be careful here and examine ourselves carefully. We talk about an issue like this that, indeed, we are bearing the fruit, we have the marks of those who have truly been redeemed. I think over this past week. Has this past week been a week in which I say my life has been characterized by being filled with gratitude and thanks and appreciation to God for who He is and the loving kindness he has bestowed upon me, a loving kindness I see so evident in the lives of so many of His people.


So you come back to Philemon, Chapter l and it’s not surprising that Paul makes a practice of beginning his letters by expressing thanks to God and there’s a pattern that follows in many of Paul’s letters. He first offers thanks to God. Then he assures those who he is writing to that he remembers them in prayer. Then he commends them for their faith and for their love. Then he moves in to what he wants to talk to them about. Paul follows that pattern in his letter to the Romans, first letter to the Corinthians, in Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians as well as Philemon. Start off with thanks, then I tell the people I’m praying for you. I commend them for their faith and their love in Christ.

Well, verses 4-7 in Philemon follow this pattern, prepare the way for what we call the body of the letter, the main substance of the letter, which would begin in verse 8. Verse 4 of Philemon begins I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers. And you know one of the indications of Paul’s spiritual depth, Paul’s spiritual greatness, if you will, that he was a man as he looked at the lives of those that he wrote to and ministered to and with, that he could see the hand of God at work in their lives and he inevitably was filled with gratitude to God for what He was doing. Philemon, I want you to know, every time I pray for you, my heart is filled with thanks and gratitude to God for His work in your life. You know, that’s a great way for us to start off our prayers, a great way for us to function in our thinking of one another. It’s very easy for us to follow the pattern of noticing what we don’t like about someone and I could launch right into prayer for them, because I’ve got a lot of things I’d like the Lord to change in their life and He could start today. But that’s not the way Paul does. He begins by looking at what God has done and is doing in their life, and he sees the hand of God at work in that person and he begins by saying, I thank God all the time when I’m praying for you, and that’s what he does for Philemon. You know, he says I thank my God, and Paul a number of times uses this expression, my God, and it’s usually in the context of his prayer life. Doesn’t mean it’s my God and not your God, but expressing the personal relationship that was his experience in his relationship with God. I talk with my God about you, Philemon. My God, and every time tell Him how much I appreciate what He’s doing in your life. Isn’t that a great encouragement. Just thrills your heart to have someone come up and say I want you to know I was praying for you this week and boy, in praying for you I just had to tell God how much I appreciate the work that He is doing in your life. You say, boy, that is encouraging. I know there are a lot of people praying God will change me, but it is really a blessing to know there are people who are praying, and they say I just want you to know I thank God for what He is doing in your life. And that’s a good way for us to start out, be thinking of one another.


When Paul says always, I thank my God always, doesn’t mean he didn’t do anything but thank God for Philemon, but he says making mention of you in my prayers, and the idea is every time I prayed for you, Philemon, my prayers include thanks to God for His work in your life, and that’s the idea, always, in the context of whenever I’m praying for you. I never pray for you, Philemon, without thanking God for His work in your life. Why is he thankful? Well, verse 5 tells us. Because I hear of your love, and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints. I’m thankful to God because of the testimony of your love and your faith, and my thanks is directed toward God, not toward Philemon. He doesn’t say, I want to thank you, Philemon, for what you’re doing. He says I want to thank God for what He’s doing in your life, Philemon. I see the hand of God. I see the power of God at work in your life, Philemon, and I thank God for that work, evidenced by the love and the faith that is part of Philemon’s life.

Paul says I’ve heard of this, the testimony of Philemon’s life had been carried all the way from the city of Colossae to the city of Rome. How we don’t know. Epaphras is with Paul in Rome. Verse 23 of Philemon says, Epaphras my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you. So, he’s there in prison with Paul. Epaphras had founded the church at Colossae, Colossians 1:7 tells us that. Colossians, Chapter 4 tells us that Epaphras was himself from the city of Colossae. So, it may be that he shared something of the life and testimony of Philemon with Paul. There may have been others from the region of Colossae that came and talked to Paul about Philemon. However, it happened, Philemon’s testimony and impact of that testimony was well know and Paul had heard about it, and he had heard of the two things that were significant, Philemon’s faith and Philemon’s love.

Now as you read verse 5, you might get the idea that the love and the faith are directed both toward Christ and toward the saints. But I think what you have here is the statement that Paul uses in other letters as well. He’s thankful for the love of Philemon that’s directed toward all the saints and the faith of Philemon which is directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Grammatical construction here, called a chiasmus, used several times and we won’t go into the details of it, because I probably don’t understand it well enough myself. But the form here, he starts out with something, love, then he breaks off and mentions the faith and the object of the faith, then he comes back and finishes up with the object of the love. So, the idea is I hear of your love toward all the saints, the end of the verse, and the middle of the verse, of your faith toward the Lord Jesus. Love is the dominant idea in the letter. The letter is not primarily about salvation, although it will be a testimony of Onesimus’s salvation, but the letter is permeated with love and the desire that Philemon will act in love toward Onesimus, as a result of his faith. So, he mentions love first but then he breaks off and deals with that which is foundational to true love, faith in Christ, then he finishes the thought on love. And that thought on love will be picked up through the letter.

Thankful for your love and your faith toward our Lord Jesus. Pick up on that, the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus. Philemon had a strong testimony. I take it, and you’ll see why in a moment, a strong, stable testimony, that his faith was placed in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. If you remember the city and church at Colossae was experiencing the impact of false teachers, who were there teaching, were trying to undermine the truth concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ.


Back up to the book of Colossians if you would, just a few books in front of Philemon, the book of Colossians, Chapter 2. In Colossians, Chapter 2 Paul deals with some of the false teaching that was confronting the believers in the city of Colossae. Philemon would be among them. The letter to the Colossians was written at the same time as the letter to Philemon, Philemon being a personal letter, dealing with personal issues relating to Philemon, the letter to the Colossians, written to the church there, but written at the same time, delivered at the same time. And note in verse 5 of Colossians 2, For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. Philemon was one of those who had demonstrated stability in his faith in Christ. He hadn’t been shaken by the false teaching, which undermined the truth concerning the person of Christ as the one in whom all the fullness of deity dwelt in bodily form, or tried to erode the confidence in the work of Christ as finished and final with his death and resurrection in paying in full the penalty for sin.

Paul commended the Colossians for their stability of faith in Christ during this time of doctrinal instability. And Philemon in the letter Paul writes to him, Paul says I hear of your faith in Christ. Not only that he had trusted Christ, but there was a stability in that faith, and bore ongoing testimony.

Back in Philemon, Chapter l, verse 5, I hear of your love toward all the saints. And the demonstration of Philemon’s saving faith was manifested in the love that he manifested toward all the saints. One of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22 is love. The fruit of the Spirit is, begins with, love. This is agape love, Greek word agape, the love that’s talked about here, is a love of sacrifice. Philemon had demonstrated the work of the Spirit of God in his life as he produced the character of God, manifesting God’s love in sacrificially serving other believers.

Turn toward the back of your bible, almost to the book of Revelation, to the book of I John, chapter 4. This concept of love permeates I John and John says, if love does not characterize your life you do not belong to God, for God is love. And when you enter into a relationship with God, you enter into the relationship with the One who is characterized by love and His character will become your character. Pick up in I John, chapter 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. So you see it becomes an identifying characteristic of a child of God, that you manifest God’s character in loving God’s people.
Jesus said in John’s gospel, by this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The one that does not love, does not know God, for God is love.

Be careful, you can’t turn that around. Does not say love is God, but God is love. Love is one of the attributes of God. And so, when we become the children of God, we partake of the divine nature, Peter wrote. As John wrote in Chapter 3 of this epistle, by this the children of God and the children of the Devil are obvious, those who manifest the character of God demonstrate they have been born of God. So here, the one who does not love, does not know God. If your life is not characterized by that self-sacrificing love demonstrated to the people of God, you don’t know God.

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, a word that means satisfaction, for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Back in chapter 3, verse l6 we read, We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. You see the concept. The love that we’re talking about here is not a love of emotion or feeling, but it is a love of action, of doing what is right and best for someone else, and being willing to sacrifice your own interests, your own wellbeing for the good of that person. The great demonstration being Jesus Christ, stepping from the glory of heaven, being born into the human race, so that He might be crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin, that we might have life through faith in Him.

So, when I’m demonstrating this, I’m not thinking about me. I don’t come to church on Sunday saying, well, I hope they pay attention to me, I hope they notice I’m here, I hope they ask what kind of week I’ve had, I hope they . . . . No! May God use me in their lives. Help me to be an encouragement to someone else. My relationship with my wife, thinking of how she could make my life more enjoyable, I could make lists for her of all she could do, because I’m a self-centered person as a fallen being. But if I’m allowing the Spirit of God to produce the character of God in my life, I’m making lists of how I might please her, what I might do that would please her, that she would enjoy, that would help her grow. I would like to take the day off and go out with the guys and golf all day. There’s nothing wrong with golfing all day, I guess, occasionally, but you know, I may have to stop and think I wonder if my wife would rather me do something with her. I don’t even want to give that a thought, perish the thought. No, you know, I have to think of someone else beside me. Philemon was that kind of man. The testimony of his love toward other believers was well known. Here was a man who was willing to set aside his own interests, his own desires to serve others, and that testimony has been multiplied in this body. I am sometimes so blessed as I see the way people sacrifice, give of themselves.

I was amazed again this past week as we had Vacation Bible School, I mention almost 250 adults take every morning out of their week and are here serving in one way or another. I think, they don’t have anything else to do with their time. Obviously, that’s not it. But they’re willing to set aside what they might have enjoyed doing, to add busyness to their week for ministry, and on it goes. And say what a blessing that is, and it goes on in so many ways as people do things that never get noticed on any scale. You know, they’re doing it why? Because they get great benefit. No, because they want to serve someone else. They see someone else has a need and they want to be involved in helping with that. That’s the kind of love that we’re talking about. That characterized Philemon.

Go to the book of Colossians, if you would again. Just take this as an example. Paul mentions these facts often in his letters and he did in writing to the Colossians. Verse 3 of chapter 1, note how he starts out. We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. And there we go again, what? Thanks! That thanks characterized him every time he prayed for the Colossians. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints. For Paul they go together. When a person has truly believed in Jesus Christ, there is produced in his life a love for fellow Christians that is supernatural. That’s why being together as believers is not a chore, being involved in one another’s lives is a blessing. Not something I want to get out of the way, I want to get over with, what’s the minimum required. I need to back up and say, wait a minute, when you really love someone, the sacrificing love, you’re not looking for less time, you’re looking for more time. You’re always trying to think of what you might do that they would like, I’m going to surprise them, I know they would really like this, I’m going to . . . .That characterizes you when you’re in love. So, it could characterize us in our relationship as God’s people.

Come back to Philemon. It’s a love you have toward all the saints, toward all the saints. A great word and a word I want to be sure we just don’t run over. The love that Paul is talking about in Philemon’s life is a love demonstrated to fellow believers, a love that is shown to others in the family of God, the focus here. Not saying there’s not a place for loving others, but here the concern and the demonstration is you love fellow believers, the saints. This is the same basic word that is also translated sanctify and holy. The basic element in the word is to be set apart. Someone is holy when they are set apart from sin to God. God is perfectly holy because He is perfectly separate from sin completely. You are sanctified when you are set apart from sin. You are a saint because you are set apart from sin to God. So, you would say in reality your love for all the holy ones, would be the same idea, the saints, those who have been set apart by God for himself.

You know, in the book of I Corinthians, chapter l, verse 30 we are told that Christ is not only our righteousness and our redemption, but He is our sanctification. For it is in Him we are sanctified, we are set apart, we are holy, we are saints. In I Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 11, after enumerating some of the sins that characterized the Corinthians before their salvation Paul says, And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified. God washed us clean. He set us apart for Himself. That’s why we are saints.


Turn through the book of Hebrews, to the book of I Peter, just after Philemon, Hebrews, James, I Peter, chapter l, verse l4. As obedient children, and he’s talking about those who are the children of God, do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy one who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior; because it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy, quoting from the Old Testament book of Leviticus. You see that call to holiness, that there is to be a change in transformation of life because I have entered into a relationship with the one who is holy.
I have become a partaker of the divine nature. I have been born again. So I am to be holy. I am a saint, a holy one. Not something conferred upon someone by the vote of a church or a group of individuals. You become a saint by birth, the new birth. You become one of God’s holy ones. I say that because that is a trait that is to characterize us as God’s people, holiness. You know, certain things come out, gratitude is an identifying characteristic, thankfulness of one who belongs to God. Love is an identifying characteristic of one who belongs to God. Faith in Christ identifies us as one who belongs to God. Holiness identifies us as God’s people. Philemon demonstrated love to the saints.

Some people are very uncomfortable when they come into a fellowship of believers. Little time is better than more time in that kind of setting. They may come regularly and faithfully to Sunday morning, but they don’t want to have any more to do with them than they have to, they’re just not comfortable. They’re just not my kind of people. Well, that may well be true, maybe they’re saints and you’re not. Not saying they’re better, they’re different, because we’re all sinners. But there are sinners who have been redeemed and there are sinners who are not redeemed. There are sinners who have been washed by God’s grace and sinners who have not been washed. There are sinners who have been sanctified and sinners who have not been sanctified. That all takes place in Christ.

Philemon had demonstrated the reality of his faith in Christ by his love toward all the saints. Something supernatural had taken place in his life. He had a love, demonstrated in action for God’s people. Back in Philemon, Chapter l. You know to say all of this, that I’m filled with thanks to God for the testimony of your life, the reality of your faith in Christ, the demonstration of the love of God in your life toward all of God’s people. But God’s work in the lives of His people is never static. We have never arrived. So Paul goes on to say, I want you to know, Philemon, I continue to pray for you, and I pray, verse 6, that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing, which is in you for Christ’s sake.
You know, its a natural thing. As you offer thanks to God for someone, for what God has done in that life, that you’re moved on to pray for them, that God’s work will increase in that life. So, again that’s why it’s a good pattern in our prayers to start out with thanks, because that naturally moves us on to pray that God will continue that work and multiplied and magnified in that life for His honor and glory. Paul says I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective. The fellowship of your faith refers more than the faith that you share with others. Naturally involves that, but the word fellowship here has a more active idea, associated with behavior. For example, when Paul wrote to the Philippians, he expressed gratitude, in view of your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Well their fellowship in the gospel involved an active participation with him and others in the ministry of God’s truth. That’s the concept here. When he prays that the fellowship of your faith may become effective. It’s the working of your faith, the expression of your faith in action in the context of others is the idea. I pray that the fellowship, the working, if you will, of your faith in concert with others, may become effective. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t effective because it was already. He has already born testimony that Philemon bore the fruit of his faith in love demonstrated to other believers. I want that to continue to grow, so it becomes effective, powerful. In other words, I want more growth here, more activity. The word here means working, effectiveness, powerfulness. The fellowship of your faith may become effective. Not that that will be the beginning of its effectiveness, but the increasing of its effectiveness, of it’s power, of it’s working, through the knowledge of every good think which is in you for Christ’s sake.

This word knowledge, the epiginosko, we talked about in connection with our study of the letter to the Colossians. It’s a full knowledge, a deep knowledge. It’s the word knowledge with a preposition on the front, which intensifies it in many contexts. It’s an idea of knowledge that carries with it the experience of that knowledge, that knowledge that is not just facts but it has enriched the life. I have entered into the experience of that knowledge in its reality in my life the way I live. Well, I want that knowledge that you have, that you have entered into, that you have enjoyed and experienced in your life, of all the good things that God has provided for them that love Him, the spiritual blessings that you enjoy. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he said in Ephesians 1:3 that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. Now the knowledge of every good thing which is in you, by virtue of your relationship to Christ, that is to move you, to increase the effectiveness in your faith, the out working of your faith, the demonstration of your love. All this will prepare the way because remember Paul is writing to Philemon with a request. I want you to do something. I want you to express your love even in a greater way. I want you to make another sacrifice. I want your faith to bear more powerful impact, become more effective. In preparing the way here it’s part of Paul’s prayer life for Philemon. In the context of that prayer here comes an opportunity, the way the letter is unfolding.


We are reminded here. Our faith, there is to be a fellowship of faith that is becoming more effective, more powerful, working in accomplishing God’s purposes in lives. So, faith is not something static. Now I’m saved, I sit back and wait for glory in heaven. No, there is a developing and a maturing that occurs in the context of fellowship, what we share together, and the working of our faith in that shared context, and is exercised and we serve and we work and we sacrifice and we love, we grow, and the effectiveness is increased. The power is intensified, if you will.

Back up to Colossians again. Taking examples from the letter to the Colossians, since it’s a parallel time and Philemon would have sat in church at Colossae and heard the letter to the Colossians read, which would have reinforced what Paul says to him in a personal letter. In Colossians, Chapter l, verse 9 Paul says to the Colossians, For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. That word knowledge there, same word that we have in Philemon, that full knowledge, that deep knowledge. So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. So, you see in the context of entering even into a fuller realization and understanding of all that we are and all that we have in Christ. That is to motivate us in our walk and behavior. So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might and so on.

So here you have, if you will in kernel form, a summary stated to Philemon in verse 6 of what is elaborated in Colossians l: 9 & l0, a knowledge that you have is to be growing and increasing and impacting the fellowship of your faith, the working of your faith, that becomes more effective and more powerful for Christ’s sake. And so we come together, why do we study the word? Oh, we want to hassle over the details of doctrine, all of that.
No, because we want to increase in our knowledge and the debt of our understanding, so that the truth will work its way down and through and out of our lives and become the richness of our experience in behavior, that we might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. So we sometimes belittle knowledge as though the alternatives were be ignorant or be a nerd, knowledge that just puffed you up. No! The biblical truth is knowledge that is taken into the life and saturates the life and fills the life and overflows the life, to become the richness of the experience of the way we live, and moves us to even greater faithfulness in our service for the Lord.

Back in Philemon l. Verses 4-6 contain the prayer, his thanks and his intercession. Now verse 7 summarizes what he has said and leads into the body of the letter, so verse 7 is the transition into what Paul is writing about to Philemon. 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. So here let me summarize again, I give thanks to God, I pray for you, for I have been impacted by your love and because I’ve been impacted by your love and the way it has impacted others, Philemon, I have a request for you. We have a transition here. For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love and it’s in your love that has impacted and refreshed the saints. So, you see that what Philemon has done has impacted Paul. It has brought him joy and comfort or encouragement in his imprisonment.

John wrote in his third epistle, III John, verse 4, I have no greater joy than this, than to hear of my children walking in the truth. And Paul was thrilled to hear of Philemon’s walk with the Lord. It brought joy to his heart to hear of the faithfulness of this one who had come to trust the Savior. And in the same way it happens to us in the physical realm. You know, some of you children are grown and live in other places and some days, you know, may be just drudging along and there’s not a bright spot in the day, and one of your kids call from where ever they are, and they share with you something what the Lord has done in their life and the blessings He’s brought. You hang up and what, it’s like sunshine in the day. You say what a bright spot that was in the day. All of a sudden, the whole day is different, can’t wait till your husband comes home or whatever and you can tell him what they said, what happened, boy, that’s been so good. That’s the way Paul felt spiritually.

Here’s one of my spiritual children, and I tell you, my heart is filled with joy, to hear the testimony of your life, your faith in Christ, the love you demonstrated. It just filled Paul’s heart, if you will, with sunshine, and it brought comfort to me, a word that means comforter, encouragement. A form of this work is used for the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.
I was encouraged and comforted as I heard of your love, a reminder. Didn’t say that Philemon was demonstrating this love to Paul directly. In fact, it says it was directed toward the saints in Colossae, for there’s a spill over. And I’ve shared, my heart was thrilled and cause to rejoice, and I was encouraged in the ministry, and I saw the love demonstrated through this week in people’s ministries in a variety of ways. I wasn’t part of that directly, but it impacts me. So, our lives have a rippling impact, if you will, that we’re serving the Lord and sometimes think it’s just focused in this one way and it may seem narrow and small. We need to remind ourselves that we are faithful to our God. But He uses our lives then as He chooses, and He pleases and they are often making an impact that goes far beyond what we realize and what we know.

I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love. Love is a key concept that will be developed in many of the things expressed in verse 7 are repeated through the body of the letter. For example, in verse 9, yet for love’s sake I appeal to you. So Philemon, you’ve demonstrated love so much, you’ve been an unselfish servant. I have a request,
do it again. Paul is laying the groundwork for what he wants to ask Philemon to do, and it’s not out of character. Just asking you to do again what you’ve done so many times. Because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother, refreshed through you, brother. That’s a tremendous statement on the life of Philemon and the love that he demonstrated. The saints, the holy ones of God, God’s people have been refreshed by the love, the self-sacrificing of Philemon.


It impacted me greatly when I was checking this word, translated refreshed. Come back to Matthew, chapter 11, look at verse 28. Jesus is speaking and He gives a gracious invitation. Matthew 11:28, Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest, refreshment. Same word we have in Philemon 7. You have refreshed the souls, the hearts, the very being of the saints. Jesus said, Come to Me, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest, refreshment, for your souls. What Philemon had become was an instrument of God, whereby the rest and refreshment of His Son, Jesus Christ, was carried to the heart of the saints. There is the salvation rest that we enter into when we come to believe in Christ and the burden and cares of the world are lifted and we’re washed and made new. But there’s that ongoing ministry of Christ as He refreshes us. He lifts the burdens, encourages us, and He uses God’s people to do it.

Philemon was such an instrument. I say we don’t know what Philemon did. Paul doesn’t say here the details what he did. You’ve refreshed the hearts of the saints. That word translated, hearts, back in Philemon refers to the inner being, the very inner being. You’ve refreshed them. How? I don’t know. This kind of demonstration of love is self-sacrificing. Might not have been glamorous or glorious. As Philemon was carrying out, it was something that needed to be done. It was an opportunity to help and he did it. And here he, what, brought refreshment to the souls of God’s people. Thus, if you will, stood in the place of Christ. Paul said, I stand in the place of Christ and beseech you, be reconciled to God, an instrument that God was using. So Philemon, in demonstrating God’s love and self-sacrificing ways was what? An instrument of God to bring the rest and refreshment of Christ to the lives of these people.

And Paul will pick up this concept, Philemon 7. The saints have been refreshed through you, brother. Jump down to verse 20. Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Philemon, you’ve done it numerous times to many saints, do it for me. Bring that rest and refreshment to my soul, by honoring my request regarding Onesimus. So he’s preparing the way to continue on, become more effective in the fellowship of your faith, sees every opportunity. In other words, Philemon is not to sit back on his laurels.


It’s wonderful what God has done in the testimony of his faithfulness, has been carried to Rome, but I’m praying that you will become more effective in your service for the Lord, brother. There’s a family relationship here and I’m dealing with you as a member of the body. I’m not ordering you as an apostle. I’m appealing to you as a fellow member of the body, as a part of God’s family, to do again what you’ve done so many times. What a great testimony, the life of Philemon. What an encouragement it is to see how Paul begins this letter. You see the characteristics of Philemon’s life, his faith in Christ, his love demonstrated toward the saints.

I trust that for us as individuals here is a personal letter, we take it personally, to see the qualities that people would write about us, that see in us the stability and unshakable faith we have in Christ, and the demonstration of that faith in our self-sacrificing love toward the saints. So that as we individually are doing it, that becomes a testimony of our church as well, and thus God is honored, the saints are encouraged and we become instruments that God uses in Christ’s place, to do His work, because of His Son, in the lives of other people. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful Savior who loved us and died for us, for such a beautiful salvation that is given as a free gift to men, women and young people, as they turn from their sin and believe in the Savior. Thank you for the apostle Paul, his greatness, his humility, his prayer life. Thank you for Philemon, a man about whom we know very little, but, Lord, he was a giant in the faith in his own way, in his own time. His life was making an impact for Christ as he faithfully labored with his faith in Christ and his love being manifested in his dealings with other believers. Lord, may we personally examine our lives. May we long and desire to have lives that bear testimony, reaching out to other places of your gracious work in our lives. May this church, as a group of redeemed people, bear such testimony as well. Lord, I pray for any who are here who are burdened down with the cares, the worries, the labors and burdens of life. By your grace may they come to the Savior, who alone can give rest and peace within. We pray in His name, Amen.