PT-1 Intro to Phil. 8-18

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/6/2017 10:21 PM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  PT-1 Intro to Phil. 8-18

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Philemon 8-18

            Message of the verses:  “8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you-since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus- 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15  For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16  no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. 18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;”

            John MacArthur entitles this second chapter on the letter to Philemon “The Actions of One Who Forgives.”  We will take a few days to look at the introduction to verses 8-18.

            We have been talking about the fact that forgiveness is the main theme of this letter; however that word is not in this letter at all.  There is actually no theological foundation for forgiveness found in this letter either.  Paul appeals to love and not to law or principle to show what forgiveness is all about.  Philemon was a godly mature man in the Christian faith, and therefore Paul could appeal to love to him.  This truly is not the case with all believers, however it should be.

            In his commentary introduction on verses 8-18 John MacArthur writes “Unfortunately, I cannot assume that all Christians have that knowledge (the knowledge of forgiveness), so it is important to note eight foundational elements of a biblical doctrine of forgiveness.”  We will begin to look at these in this first SD of the introduction to these verses.

            “First, it is not merely murder that is forbidden by the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13), but also anger and lack of forgiveness” writes John MacArthur.  Let us look at Matthew 5:21-22 “21 "You have heard that the ancients were told, ’YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ’Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22  "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ’You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ’You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”  We can see that when God gave the commandment not to murder it was much more involved as He also forbade hate, malice, anger, vengeance, and lack of forgiveness toward anyone.  The question is how are these negative attitudes to be dealt with?  First we need to remember that everyone born is created in the image of God and that is reason enough.  Believers have the life of God in them so that should make it easier for believers to forgive others, but not always the case.  MacArthur writes that “We are to love and forgive people for that image of God that is in them.  Seeing people as created in God’s image should replace lack of forgiveness with reverence.”

            Look at Matthew 22:39 to help us deal with negative attitudes “"The second is like it, ’YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’”  Sometimes people may think that they don’t love themselves much but that is not true for we spend a lot of time taking care of ourselves.  For one thing we are very quick to forgive ourselves, making excuses for our actions, but difficult to forgive others.  This makes us selfish.  MacArthur adds “Selfishness also causes us to exaggerate the faults of those who offend us.  Humble, unselfish people, in contrast, do not see offenses against themselves as significant.”

7/6/2017 10:46 PM