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The Blessing of Refreshing (Philemon 4-7)
14 Plays3 months ago
“…the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”
Paul wrote a letter to Philemon during his first imprisonment in Rome, perhaps around 60-61 AD. Out of the four prison epistles, Philemon is without question the most personal.
Paul had won Philemon to Christ during his third missionary journey while he was evangelizing Ephesus. Even though Philemon was from Colossae, he must have traveled to Ephesus where he heard the transforming message of the gospel through the Apostle.
While being held captive in Rome, Paul met Onesimus, a runaway slave from Colossae, who left the house of Philemon abruptly and secretly where he had served. Onesimus had most likely stolen some money on his way out the door (vs. 18-19) and may have continued stealing from others. Then, Onesimus meets Paul in prison, is led to Christ and discipled by the Apostle.
Paul talks Onesimus in to returning back to Philemon to make things right, only this time he will enter the house of Philemon with a hand-written letter from his mentor, Paul, urging his Colossian friend to receive Onesimus now as a brother in Christ. Paul gladly and generously offers to pay whatever Onesimus owes to make things right.
Paul begins his letter with some heartfelt affirmation of the refreshing way that Philemon treated Paul and others in his life. His statements of Philemon’s life give us a clear pathway of how we tool can share with others the blessing of refreshing (vs. 7, 20).
Resources for the Labor, v. 6
Expressions of Love, v. 5
Faith in the Lord, v. 5
Rejoicing during This Life, v. 7
Encouragement for the Load, v. 7
Sharing with the Lost, v. 6
Hearts with a Lift, v. 7
___
Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Ministry Overview
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Today's Message: Philemon's Example
00:00:44
Speaker
Hey, welcome to Growing in Grace. So glad you're listening today. My name is Victor Morrison. I'm serving as the pastor at the First Baptist Church in Columbus, Texas. I want to share with you today about someone, and maybe immediately you would think, oh, I know he's going to talk about, he's going to talk about Barnabas because he's going to talk about somebody whose life is very refreshing and encouraging. And you would be right that Barnabas is that type of man.
00:01:12
Speaker
No doubt about it. When I think of an encourager, I think of Barnabas. But I want to introduce you to someone else that was an encourager. And whenever he walked through the room, there was just this refreshing that seemed to come with him. So I want to talk today about the blessing of refreshing. And we're going to focus on a man named Philemon. Have you ever read the small book of Philemon? It's in the New Testament.
00:01:40
Speaker
One of the verses that we're gonna read says, the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Have you ever been around anybody that refreshes you whenever you're around them? Well, that's what we're gonna see as we get into this wonderful little book, Philemon. And we're only gonna look at a few verses, verses four through seven. But let me set it up and then we'll read those verses.
Paul's Letter and Onesimus's Story
00:02:06
Speaker
You see, Paul wrote a letter to Philemon—it's a man—during his first imprisonment in Rome, perhaps around 60-61 AD. Out of the four prison epistles, Philemon is without question the most personal.
00:02:25
Speaker
Paul had won Philemon to Christ during his third missionary journey while he was evangelizing Ephesus. Now even though Philemon was from Colossae, he must have traveled to Ephesus where he heard the transforming message of the Gospel through the Apostle Paul.
00:02:45
Speaker
While being held captive in Rome, Paul met Onesimus, a runaway slave from Colossae, who left the house of Philemon abruptly and secretly where he had served.
00:03:00
Speaker
You see, Onesimus had most likely stolen some money on his way out of the door, if you look at verses 18 and 19 in Philemon, but he may have continued that sad pattern of stealing from others. But what happens is the life-changing moment for him was, Onesimus, guess who he meets in prison in Rome? You got it, Paul.
00:03:27
Speaker
Paul meets Onesimus, and Onesimus is led to Christ and discipled by the Apostle Paul. Somehow in their conversations, it comes up.
00:03:39
Speaker
Paul talks Onesimus into returning back to Philemon to make things right, only this time he'll enter the house of Philemon with a handwritten letter from Philemon's mentor, Paul, urging his Colossian friend to receive Onesimus now as a brother in Christ. Paul gladly and generously offers to pay whatever Onesimus owes to make things right.
00:04:09
Speaker
Paul begins his letter with some heartfelt affirmation of the refreshing way that Philemon treated Paul and others in his life.
Modeling Refreshment: The R.E.F.R.E.S.H. Acrostic
00:04:20
Speaker
His statements of Philemon's life give us a clear pathway of how we too can share with others the blessing of refreshing. Are you ready? Why don't we learn what he did and see what God wants to do through us as well? Let me read these verses. I'm gonna read Philemon verse four through verse seven. You don't have to worry about chapters. There are no chapters. There's only just this one one chapter, I guess you could say. Well, let me read verses four to seven.
00:04:50
Speaker
I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
00:05:18
Speaker
For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
00:05:29
Speaker
Isn't that amazing? So what I want you to do if you are on the treadmill or you're driving, don't worry about this. But if you're sitting at home, perhaps on the couch or at the table or maybe in a recliner, then I want you to write the word refresh. But I don't want you to write it you know horizontally. I want you to write it ah vertically.
00:05:50
Speaker
R-E-F-R-E-S-H. Write it down and I want to fill in an acrostic that'll help you know how you can share with others the blessing of refreshing. I think all we got to do is follow Philemon's footsteps. Let's follow them together.
00:06:08
Speaker
When you sit there at the R, you're thinking, what would this have to do with ah being ah someone who refreshes others? Let me give you something to think about from verse six. It says, for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. Here's what I want you to write beside the letter R.
Resources and God's Provision
00:06:31
Speaker
Write the word resources for the labor. Resources for the labor.
00:06:38
Speaker
You know, whatever God has called you to do, God is gonna give you the resources you need to accomplish that task. So I wanna ask you, ah have you thought seriously about all those resources that you have in Christ?
00:06:55
Speaker
For example, let's just think for a moment about that a parable of the prodigal son. Remember when the prodigal son came back home? Remember that the prodigal was welcomed by the father, but he wasn't welcomed by the older brother. The older brother, he refused to even go in the house.
00:07:14
Speaker
And whenever the dad went out to where the older brother was, he confronted him and said, what's the problem? And he said, you never gave me all these things. And you remember what the father said to that older son? He said, son, all that is mine is yours. All that I have belongs to you.
00:07:36
Speaker
I don't know exactly how much is available to each one of us in Christ, but all I know is a promise that's recorded in God's timeless Word in Ephesians 1, 3, and 4, where the Lord says, I have blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And so I'm thinking, whoa, that's bound to be enough for me to carry out God's will. Whatever assignment, whatever situation that I'm in, God can provide for me what I need for that work to be done. You know, Peter repeats the same kind of thing in 2 Peter 1, verses 3 through 4.
00:08:21
Speaker
when he says that the Lord has already provided for us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Everything you need for your life, everything you need to live a godly life, do you know that all of that is so provided for by the Lord? It's it's like it's His provision flowing from Him to us.
00:08:46
Speaker
Do you ever feel kind of sorry for the moon? Maybe you're thinking, what in the world? What kind of question is that? Especially in this context of resources for the labor.
00:08:58
Speaker
Well, if you think about it, you know, the moon has kind of a rough job because everything's dark. And so when he is up there ready to shine, nobody's really awake. It's it's dark and the whole ah planet is shut down. and so But he just shines every single night. Wouldn't that be hard to just keep shining in the darkness, shining in the darkness? Once again, the next night, then it's your time. Sun had the daylight. Oh, but you, you got to shine in the dark.
00:09:28
Speaker
Isn't that a tough job, a tough assignment that God gave the moon? But let me just ask you something. Does the moon supply its own light?
00:09:39
Speaker
No, you know, actually, astronomers tell us it doesn't supply its own light. The moon shines night after night after night because all it does, it receives the light from the sun and then it turns around and reflects that light back toward this dark earth.
00:10:01
Speaker
Do you know, whatever situation you're in, I want you to know that God has got the resources for the labor. So, with that being said, there was a new film that came out about discipling others and mentoring others and so forth called The Forge. I really love that movie, but there's a line in there that I think that's what it's like. That's what it's like for the Christian in life. He says, you will either be a fountain or a drain on others. And so I got to thinking about that and I thought, you know, every Christian should not depend on others to fill them up. We should already be filled up by the light of the Lord, by the love of the Lord, by the fruit of the Holy Spirit flowing through our lives.
00:10:46
Speaker
And so we should say, no, I'm not going to drain other people. I'm going to bring something to other people. So that's why I say, hey, the resources for the labor, they're going to help you to refresh others because you're overflowing. Well, let's move to the second thing. Why don't we go from the letter R to the letter E?
Philemon's Love and Hospitality
00:11:08
Speaker
And beside the letter E, I want you to write the word expression, the expression of the love.
00:11:15
Speaker
He says in verse five, because I hear of your love for all the saints. I thought about two things in terms of Philemon's life. And here's the first thing, the testimony of his life Paul writes him in the letter and says, Philemon, you know what? I hear people talking about your love all the time. That's why he says, because I hear of your love. Other people were talking about this man named Philemon and they said, you know what? That guy just really cares about people. He's got a compassionate heart. He really genuinely has this love for other people. But what type of love was it? It was an agape love.
00:12:00
Speaker
It was an agape love that doesn't depend on others to love Him first. He's able to love them even before they start loving Him. That's God's love. God's love is an agape love. It's an unconditional love. And that's the Greek word that's used here. Whenever ah Paul is writing philemon, he says, because I hear of your agape love, philemon. But notice something else about this type of love.
00:12:25
Speaker
He was for everybody. He didn't pick and choose. He didn't have favorites. He said, because I hear of your love for all the saints. Do you love all the saints? Wow. Do you know that actually, if you were to start at verse one and read the the first introductory part of verses one through three, you would discover that in Colossae, there was a church, but where did the church meet?
00:12:51
Speaker
it met in Philemon's house. You know, for a man to open up his house for a Bible study, or to open up his house for a small group, or to open up his house for a house church, doesn't that take a measure of love and concern for other people? Well,
00:13:08
Speaker
Paul thought so. And he said, Philemon, I hear of your love for all the saints. And he's definitely saying, I know that you've opened up your home to other people. Have you opened up your heart to other people? You know, Romans 5.5 says that God God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The day we said yes to Christ, the Holy Spirit resides within us, and the Holy Spirit brings with Him all the resources, and so we should be able to express the love that we have tasted. Well, let's move to the third ah letter, and that's the letter F.
Faith, Humility, and Service
00:13:47
Speaker
So, R is for resources for the labor, E is for expression of the love, F is for faith in the Lord. Verse 5 also says, because I hear there was another thing, not just his love. He said, I'm also hearing something else of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus. So, of course, he had a reputation of being a person of a quiet trust in the Lord.
00:14:12
Speaker
He just simply trusted that God was there. As a matter of fact, I think it went before and after. It's this reputation of faith, but it's also, there's a rest within his face. He's saying, you know what? I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:14:32
Speaker
Here's what he says, because I hear of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus. Man, that's that's powerful. Have you ever read John 13? John 13 is an amazing passage. In John 13, Jesus has the disciples there and they're gonna have a meal. And before the meal, it says that he gets up and he takes off the outer robe and he picks up a towel, and he picks up a basin of water, and he goes from man to man to man, all of these disciples, and he washes their feet. How could how could anybody do that? Have you ever thought, no, I don't know if I could ever do that. You know, in order to humble yourself to serve other people, you know what you have to be comfortable in? Your own identity.
00:15:23
Speaker
If you're looking for other people all the time to build your identity, to to stoke you and make you feel better, then you're never gonna serve. You're never gonna humble yourself. But listen to John 13, verses three through five. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments and taking a towel,
00:15:52
Speaker
tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel that was wrapped around him." Wow, that's how he could do it. So I want you to find your identity in Christ, to rest in that.
00:16:10
Speaker
And I think if you'll do that, then you'll find, Lord, your faith is enough for me, for my identity. I can rest in who the Bible says that I am in Christ. So the R, resources for the labor, the E, expression of the love, the F, faith in the Lord.
Joy in All Circumstances
00:16:29
Speaker
Now let's go to the the second R, rejoicing during this life. For I've derived much joy, Paul wrote to Philemon, from your love, my brother,
00:16:40
Speaker
You know, I think that a person who refreshes is someone who brings joy to other people. You know, do you fill other people up with joy or do you expect them to fill you up with joy? He says to Philemon, you know what, Philemon? I've derived much joy from your love. You know, he cheered up others with joy. But isn't it interesting that this is in this life I mean, you know, it's great that we're going to have joy in heaven someday. Pleasure's forevermore, the Bible says. That's going to be wonderful. But, you know, life can be hard. And I think that God wants people to have some joy now. And so I think we can have joy. You know, joy and happiness aren't the same thing. You know, happiness is sort of like, well, it's like a thermometer. And it's going to simply reflect what the external circumstances are.
00:17:35
Speaker
You know, if the room is hot, if the temperature is hot, it's only going to tell you it's hot in this place. But you know what Joy's like? Not a thermometer, a thermostat. Joy's like a thermostat because the room can be hot. But Joy says, I can make it cooler in this room. Or if the room is freezing cold, Joy says, you know what? I can make it warmer. I can make it nice and cozy in this room.
00:18:01
Speaker
How about you? Do you cheer others up with joy? Not just in eternity, not just about the message about heaven, of course it will be, but also right now in the complexities of this life.
00:18:14
Speaker
Remember where Paul was writing, right? You haven't forgotten. When he wrote Philemon, he's actually sitting in prison. He doesn't have ah a soft, comfortable chair. He's there in prison. And so I just think, thank you God that your joy is not dependent on our external circumstances.
00:18:32
Speaker
Well, let's drop down to the next letter.
Encouragement and Supporting Others
00:18:34
Speaker
The letter E is encouragement from the Lord. Encouragement not from the Lord. It is from the Lord, and but encouragement for the load, verse 7. For I've derived much comfort from your love, my brother.
00:18:49
Speaker
You know, I think that the abundance of comfort that God gives to us, we should share it with others. you know The Bible talks about how we each have our own load, but it also says we should bear one another's burdens. And so I think that we should help people with that load that they're feeling. And that's what I think he's talking about when he uses the word comfort here. He's talking about the affirmation ah that would be whenever we're under that load, when we're saying, I'm here to help bear the burden that is coming down heavy on you. If I haven't shared this with you before, I want you to know that Galatians 6, 2, and 5, when it uses those two different you know commands, bear one another's burden, bear your own load,
00:19:38
Speaker
the The words are very different in the Greek. Burden is a boulder. It's something really heavy like a big rock. But the load, that's just a soldier's backpack. Everybody's got a backpack. But sometimes in life, we're we're trying to carry more than a backpack. A big, heavy rock is coming down on us, and we need help to lift it up. And you can count on somebody to be an encourager. You know, that word comforter kind of means like a coach.
00:20:08
Speaker
Someone who comes alongside, walks alongside with us and says, you're not alone in this. I'm with you. That's encouragement for the load. So we've got encouragement for the load and rejoicing during this
Sharing Faith and Evangelism
00:20:21
Speaker
life. We've got faith in the Lord, the expression of the love, and we've got resources for the labor. We're almost done. Let me give you another one for the S.
00:20:31
Speaker
sharing with the lost. Sharing with the lost. You know, verse 6, he says, and I pray for you, Philemon. What were you praying for, Philemon, Paul? He goes on to say, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective.
00:20:49
Speaker
Do you ever share the gospel with those who are lost? Do you ever pray for those who are saved that they would have opportunities to present the plan of salvation with those who are lost? But along with praying for an opportunity, have you ever considered praying this right here, verse six, to pray that when they share their faith, when they share the gospel, when they present Christ to other people, that it would be effective I wonder what would happen if the whole church starts praying for one another. Lord, give us opportunities this week that we could present the plan of salvation so we could share our faith. But when we share our faith, Lord, would you please help it be effective, help it be fruitful? So I thought to myself, there's two parts to that request in sharing with the lost.
00:21:42
Speaker
evangelism, of course, but also effectiveness, just something to consider. Definitely ah the Apostle Paul was writing that for Philemon, but I got a feeling he knew that Philemon was the type of man who wanted to share the love of Christ with other people. And so he's telling him, I'm going to be praying that you'll be effective whenever you tell others about Christ.
00:22:08
Speaker
Well, let me give you one last letter in the word refresh, and that's the letter H.
Community and Uplifting Hearts
00:22:13
Speaker
Hearts with a lift. Hearts with a lift. You know, verse seven says, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. How about that?
00:22:25
Speaker
You know, I think that hearts with a lift when I was thinking about this, I thought, Lord, I see here a connection to the lives of other people. I know that you could live for Christ all by yourself. All you gotta do is just know Christ, stay at home.
00:22:42
Speaker
Just keep it to yourself. Don't ever get involved in a local church. Don't ever get involved in a circle of brothers or sisters in Christ that are studying the word together. You might get hurt. Somebody might say something. Somebody might disappoint you.
00:22:58
Speaker
But you know what? Philemon's leading the way on saying, that's no way to live life, especially if you know Christ. And that's why Paul is saying to him in verse seven, the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. You see,
00:23:15
Speaker
Philemon knew that if God has given me these resources and this love, this joy, and I want to refresh other people and I want their hearts, I want their hearts to have a lift and not to be downcast. And so he thought, if I'm ever going to be able to say a word of encouragement to other people, then I'm going to have to have a connection with them.
00:23:39
Speaker
So, friend, I just want to encourage you, just objectively, go back to the book of Acts, read through the book of Acts, and see, did God call them to be Lone Ranger Christians, Lone Ranger disciples, or?
00:23:55
Speaker
Did the Father call them in Christ to gather together, to do life together, to win the world together, to disciple together? Like iron sharpening iron, so one man sharpens another man. I believe there's a lot of evidence through the book of Acts and all into Paul's letters in the New Testament that would tell us No, we must, we must be connected to a local church. So find a local church where you live and and plug in, get connected to the people.
Call to Action: Refresh and Bless Others
00:24:30
Speaker
and say to God every day before you go, you know let's say on Sundays, before you go to church, say, Lord, help me to find one heart that's feeling down today that I can lift up today. you know Help me to bless the lives of other people. I believe that that's what is meant when it says the hearts of the saints have been refreshed. How? Through Christ? Oh, certainly through Christ. That's definitely the way, but not only through Christ,
00:25:00
Speaker
because the hearts of the saints, Paul wrote, have been refreshed through you, Philemon. God worked through you, Philemon. God wants to use each one of you that are listening to this message. And God has a place for you to be used in his great work. And so let him refresh other hearts through you. So let me sort of review this whole thing once again. We're gonna spell out the word refresh R, resources for the labor. E, expression of the love. The F, faith in the Lord. The R, rejoicing during this life. The E, encouragement for the load.
00:25:46
Speaker
The S, sharing with the lost, the H, hearts with the lift. That is how Philemon refreshed other people. So here's my question to you. How are you going to refresh those that you're around this week?
00:26:01
Speaker
I pray that God would give you incredible opportunities you've never had before to refresh the body of Christ that's around you. And don't forget, even those who aren't in the body of Christ, you know, we should be salt and light to them. And we should say, you know what? I pray, Lord, that you would make other people thirsty for Jesus through my life. Why don't we pray together and ask him that he would give us opportunities this week.
00:26:30
Speaker
Lord, I thank you so much for these biblical characters that are sprinkled throughout the Bible from the Old Testament into the New Testament. Lord, there's just so many that we want to emulate. We want to imitate. We want to follow their footsteps. Certainly one of those is this guy, Philemon.
00:26:48
Speaker
He's just an incredible spiritual giant that was living in Colossae at that time. Thank you so much for him. And Lord, um I thank you that Paul is another example of someone who refreshed others because he met a guy in prison named Onesimus who had run away from working for Philemon. And now he's trying to help these two guys to get get things together, iron things out, forgive one another, and reconcile. And so I thought that was such a beautiful picture, Lord, of someone one who refreshes.
00:27:22
Speaker
But we saw in this passage so many ways that you would have us to refresh, to encourage the downcast hearts, or maybe to say a word of encouragement to someone, to bring joy into their lives. Lord, help us remind people of what they have available to them in Christ. So to think about all of those blessings that are ours in the Lord, but certainly to express love and to live a life of faith.
00:27:52
Speaker
So Lord, thank you so much for our listeners today. I pray you would bless each one and help them to be a blessing to other people. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, thank you so much for listening today. I pray that God blessed you. He certainly blessed me as I was reading through Philemon the other morning. So you have a great day and look for those that you're gonna refresh as you go through the rest of your day.
00:28:22
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.