SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/12/2017
7:58 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Restoration
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Philemon
15-16
Message of the
verses: “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.”
I can truly understand what Paul is saying to Philemon in
these verses. Human beings are born with
the sinful nature of Adam and therefore sin because they are sinners. Onesimus ran away, knowing it was wrong
because he was a sinner and therefore probably did not care that he was doing
something wrong. God on the other hand
used this sinfulness of Onesimus to bring him to a saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ, and brought him right to see the greatest Christian who ever lived working
things out for his good and for God’s glory.
I can say been there, done that, so I know this situation very
well. It was truly the providence of God
that brought Onesimus to Paul as it was truly the providence of God to bring me
to listen to some tapes on the end times with the clear presentation of the
gospel on each tape. Paul uses the word “perhaps”
in verse 15 “because no man can see the secret providence of God at work. But it is surely reasonable to assume that
God had this in mind when Onesimus left.
Paul suggests to Philemon that God was using this evil to produce good
(cf. Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28),” writes John MacArthur. God does triumph over sin through His providential
power and also His grace. That is how
great our God is as He can use sinful things that sinful men do and work it out
for His good and glory.
When Onesimus left he was a slave of the world, the
flesh, and the devil, and when he returned to Onesimus he was a slave of Jesus
Christ. Paul is not calling for Onesimus’
emancipation, that is setting him free from being a slave, as Paul would not do
but he does urge Philemon to receive Onesimus not merely as a slave but as a
beloved brother in the Lord of which he was.
Paul knew that he was because he had already become that to Paul and he
wanted Onesimus to know that. Paul concludes
in verse sixteen by saying that Onesimus could be that to him (Philemon) too
both in the flesh and in the Lord. He
certainly is not talking about his sinful flesh, but his service to Philemon. It was much better for Philemon to have Onesimus,
now a brother in his service both in the flesh and in the Lord.
7/12/2017 8:15 PM
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