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 an solution for sin.
MacArthur adds “The virtuous 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
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