Motives

PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE:

Almighty God, and most merciful Father, we humbly submit ourselves, and fall down before your Majesty, asking you from the bottom of our hearts, that this seed of your Word now sown among us, may take such deep root, that neither the burning heat of persecution cause it to wither, nor the thorny cares of this life choke it. But that, as a seed sown in good ground, it may bring forth thirty, sixty, or hundredfold, as your heavenly wisdom has appointed.

Sermon:

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It continues to be a great pleasure to bring the Word of God to the Saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church.

I recently read a story from the Voice of the Martyrs. It said, “Rami Ayyad was the director of the only Christian bookstore in Gaza City. One evening in 2007, shortly after closing the shop for the day, he called his family and told them he was with some bearded men and might be away for some time. That was the last they heard from him. Rami’s body was found in a field the next morning. He had been shot and stabbed multiple times.

His wife Pauline was four months pregnant with their child at the time. She was utterly devastated. For the next five years she battled depression as she struggled with grief. She said, ‘Many times I felt down. And I asked “God, you made me a widow; why are my kids without a father?”’ While those years were difficult, she knew God was still with her. ‘I would wake up and look to God and get strength,” she said.

While working through her grief, Pauline’s anger grew toward those who killed her husband. Living in a predominantly Muslim area, she heard the Islamic call to prayer five times a day, and each call from the minarets served as a potential provocation. Christian friends urged Pauline to forgive Rami’s killers, but she felt it was easier for them to say than for her to do; their lives had not been destroyed.

Forgiveness seem an impossibility for Pauline, especially around the anniversary of Rami’s death. But she eventually became exhausted by her anger and started praying a specific prayer. ‘I know that I am your daughter,’ she prayed, ‘and I know that I need to forgive. Help me; let me be able to forgive in a way that is real.’ Pauline said she prayed that prayer regularly for a year.

Five years after Rami’s death, Pauline and her children were invited to a conference focusing on forgiveness. At one point in the conference, a pastor asked everyone to close their eyes and imagine a person they needed to forgive. Pauline immediately imagined the man who killed her husband. She knew God wanted her to forgive that man, whoever he was.

On the last day of the conference, when the pastor asked if anyone wanted prayer to help them forgive someone, Pauline responded. As other Christians gathered around her to pray, she cried out to God, ‘I want to forgive!’ Pauline said in that moment she felt the the Holy Spirit touch her soul. ‘I opened my eyes and felt like a new person!’ she said.

In 2017, roughly another 5 years after she attended the conference, authorities arrested the man believed to Rami’s killer. Pauline said the arrest at first rekindled the anger she had worked so hard to overcome. But GOD reminded Pauline about her testimony, that Rami had died because of his faith in Christ and that she had already forgiven Rami’s killer. ‘So I repented of my thoughts,’ she said. ‘Then I posted online that I had renewed my forgiveness toward the man and prayed for a blessing in his life.’

‘You cannot forgive by your own strength, but … God will help you to forgive,’ Pauline said. She continued, ‘I thought I had forgiven already, but God prepared me until I could enjoy true forgiveness.’”

Christians forgiven of their own sin by the grace of God are empowered to forgive others by the grace of God. Pauline’s story highlights a supernatural preparedness to forgive that can be found time and time again throughout history.

Sir Thomas More was unjustly sentenced to death. This is what the record shows as his last words towards the judges who condemned him to death. “As the blessed Apostle St. Paul consented to the death of St. Stephen, and kept their clothes that him to death, and yet be they now both twain holy saints in Heaven, and shall continue there friends forever, so I verily trust, and shall therefore right heartily pray, that though your Lordships have now here in earth been judges to my condemnation, we may yet hereafter in Heaven merrily all meet together, to our everlasting salvation.”

To put that into our terms today, you may see in movies or read in fiction, someone look at their opposition and say something to the effect of “see you in fiery pits of the DMV,” if you know what I mean, but Sir Thomas More looked at his executors and genuinely said, I know we are at an impasse today, but I sincerely hope to see you in heaven. What grace! What forgiveness!

A similar sentiment is expressed by the Stephen whom Thomas More mentioned!

Acts 7:59–60 ESV

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

In our flesh we are quick to berate those who do us wrong. But through the experience of the grace of God, we are enabled to see even those who harm us greatly as image bearers of God. We are empowered to forgive when worldly wisdom would tell us it is not necessary. We are enable to extend grace as we received it from the Lord.

With that in mind, if you have not already, please open your Bibles to the book of Philemon. This small letter comes right after Titus and just before the book of Hebrews. Today we are coming to the conclusion of this letter that has been a masterclass on Christian forgiveness. We have the character of someone who has been empowered to forgive by the grace of God. We have seen the steps, or the actions of forgiveness and how it plays out in the life of the believer. It is important to remember that Paul writes this letter to Philemon with the intention of facilitating forgiveness between Philemon and Onesimus, but not to compel Philemon to act against his own volition. Rather the intention is to show that those who have been saved by the grace of God are especially equipped and motivated to extend forgiveness to others. Today we will walk through the last 6 verses and see 6 motivations for Christian forgiveness. Let us begin in verse 19.

Philemon 19 ESV

I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self.

This is a very interesting verse that we may look over a bit in our modern print Bibles. When Paul wrote most of the letters to the New Testament churches, he would use a secretary that would write down the words as he dictated the message. I won’t go into it this morning, but our own Miss Ann has a wonderful story about dictation and legendary University of Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp. Dictation is a very common way to record messages. When Paul would do this for the New Testament Letters he would often end the letter with a greeting written in his own hand. Check out the end of 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians sometime. In each of them you’ll find this similar statement, “I, Paul, write this with my own hand.” Typically this was just one sentence towards the end of the letter that would provide authenticity to the receiving church, showing this message is actually from Paul.

In Philemon, it is very interesting that here in Philemon Paul does this much earlier. There are still a lot of things yet to be said. So this shows us that Paul wanted to personally write out at least the last six verses we read today and some believe that he may have even written the entire letter himself. This should reiterate to us the importance of this letter. This is a serious enough matter to garner the direct attention of the Apostle Paul.

As we concluded last week with verse 18, we saw that Paul was willing to pay the debt Onesimus owed to Philemon. We saw that in all likelihood, Onesimus stole from Philemon before running off to Rome. So here we see Paul stepping in and signing with his own name his intention to make the debt right.

After declaring he will pay the debt, Paul then shows us the first motivation for a Christian to forgive.

He writes to Philemon, all of this is to, “say nothing of your owing me even your own self.”

This seems like a curious phrase. Why would Philemon owe Paul anything, much less everything!

Paul is showing Philemon that while Onesimus owes a physical debt, Philemon owes even more spiritually! It is through the ministry of Paul that Philemon would find salvation in the Lord! Through the preaching of the apostle, the earthly master would be reconciled to the Master of Heaven. The gift of salvation that Philemon has received goes beyond any value or comparison.

Now the point of this verse is not so that those of us whom God has used to tell others about the gospel will hold that over their heads and compel them to do what we want. The point of this verse is to show Philemon and all us here today that we all owe quite a bit to others. All of us have benefited both spiritually and temporally from the efforts of others. We have untold debts to those who have been a blessing to us. So when someone offends us they very will may be in our debt, but we should remember how much we owe others!

I owe my parents for introducing me the gospel. I owe the seminary professors who poured into my education. I owe my wife whom the Lord has used to sanctify me in innumerable ways. I owe pastors who have poured into me. I owe this congregation for the God-breathed support and encouragement that has been given to me thus far in my ministry.

If you were to think through your life, you would find the same! So when we understand how much we owe to others, we should be quick to forgive those who owe us!

So first we see we are motivated to forgive because of how much we owe. Let’s look now at verse 20.

Philemon 20 ESV

Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

Paul says to Philemon that if he were to receive Onesimus back into his home, that it would be a great refreshment, a blessing to the Apostle Paul. If you remember or refer back to verse 7, you’ll see that Paul commended Philemon for being a refreshment to the saints. That refers to Philemon’s spiritual conduct being well received and a blessing around the church. Now Paul is saying, would you be that blessing for me!

“By forgiving Onesimus, Philemon would maintain the unity in the Colossian fellowship, and that would bring great joy to Paul.”

A great motivation for forgiveness is maintaining unity and bringing joy to the body of Christ.

Church, I would hope that all of us genuinely desire to be a blessing to the church at large. I’ve been doing some reflecting on the state of the American church lately and one of the biggest problems I see in church culture is a consumerist approach to church membership. That is to say we view our participation in the church through the lens of “What do I get out of this?” That could not be more backwards from the example of Scripture. All of us are called to served through and support the church. There are very well going to be times in which others in the church are a blessing TO you, but your individual priority ought to be how the Lord can be a blessing to others THROUGH you.

When you forgive others, particularly in the case of this letter others within the body of believers, you are showing that being a blessing to the body of Christ and maintaining unity are more important than personal grievance. This is a wonderful apologetic to the impact of the gospel to the world and a great benefit to the Kingdom.

May we all seek to be a blessing to others through forgiveness.

Let’s press on to verse 21

Philemon 21 ESV

Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Paul recognizes that Philemon is an obedient follower of the Lord and so forgiveness in this situation is almost certainly going to be the outcome. Not only will Philemon accept Onesimus back into his home, but he will go above and beyond in welcoming his former offender.

We mentioned last week that Philemon had a biblical foundation for forgiveness. He understood the biblical teaching and commands of Christ that would necessitate a forgiving heart in the Christ follower. Christ taught that there are no limits to the forgiveness we are to show others.

Peter once asked Jesus how many times he should forgive the brother that sins against him. Peter thought he was being pretty pious when he suggested seven times. Jesus’ teaching would go well beyond seven times.

Matthew 18:22 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Jesus also told the parable of the prodigal son. In many ways this parable correlates to the situation between Onesimus and Philemon. The son mistreats his father by asking for his inheritance early. He then leaves home and the tender care of his father and squanders his inheritance. He eventually heads home hoping for his father to receive him back as a slave. The father, though well within his rights to chastise the boy, receives him like this:

Luke 15:22–24 ESV

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

In our look at Philemon, Paul is confident that Philemon will receive Onesimus and will do even more better than Paul asks, because Philemon understands Christ’s teaching and is obedient to the Word of Christ.

Obedience should motivate our own forgiving of others. I often like to explain things and we will see many valid reasons to forgive others, but honestly, Because Jesus Says So, should be reason enough for us all!

If Jesus is our Lord, then we understand Him as master of our lives! If there is any command that we should follow blindly it should be the command from the King of kings and the Lord of lords! Obedience motivates our forgiveness.

Let’s go on to Verse 22.

Philemon 22 ESV

At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.

If you remember back to the beginning of this letter, Paul introduces himself as a prisoner. But he feels good that the case against him is weak, he will soon be venerated and enabled to travel back to the churches he has spent so much of his life serving. Some think that this statement means Paul thinks he’s going to be getting out really soon. He’s saying, “Hey Philemon get my room ready ‘cuz I’ll be there shortly!”

That’s all well and good, but how is this a motivation for forgiveness? Well, this statement is a not so subtle way of providing Philemon with accountability in this situation. Paul is saying “I’m coming to town and I have a good idea on how you’re going to handle this situation, but I want to see it in person.” Paul is basically letting Philemon know that he can’t just ignore the situation. Paul even wants Philemon to pray for Paul so that Paul can visit. Philemon would in effect be praying for his own accountability.

I have often said that the local church is a grace of God. It is a grace of God that we do not have to do this life alone and that we come together for the unified purpose of serving the Lord. The church exists to spur one another along in love and good works. One of the great ways we do that is by holding one another accountable.

I have brothers in this very congregation that I confide in and they in me. And we keep it real with one another. We talk to one another about life and the things going on. We often ask if we are handling a situation correctly. We expect truth from another. We sometimes step on one another’s toes. And you know what? It’s well received for the glory of God.

The church doesn’t exist to stroke your ego and make you feel warm fuzzies. These relationships that the Lord has graced you to have around you exists to push you, to sharpen you, to reprove you, to correct you, to train you, to spur you. We have to be real, honest, and Christ-centered with one another or we are not living up to the calling the Lord has placed on our lives.

Proverbs 27:5–6 ESV

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

We shouldn’t take being real with one another as a license to be rude, but we should absolutely hold one another accountable.

If I were to be discussing a situation with my brothers and I’m going on and on about a grudge I’m holding against someone, I would hope they love me enough to remind me the truth of Scripture and forgiveness of God. Accountability is not always the most fun topic in the church, but it is highly valuable. Church member, be willing both to receive accountability for the glory of God and hold those around you accountable for the glory of God.

Now, verses 23-24.

Philemon 23–24 ESV

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

If you were with us as we concluded our look at the book of Colossians just a few weeks ago, you’ll remember that Paul gives a similar list there and we walked through each of those individuals. For our purposes this morning, we wont go into the details of each of these characters, but rather the over arching motivation for forgiveness we see from their inclusion to this conclusion.

These five men would have been figures with whom Philemon was familiar of through his knowledge of Paul’s ministry. They were other missionaries and Christian workers and as Philemon hears their names, it would have reminded him of the scope of Christianity.

Here’s a statement I think we should all understand: Christianity is bigger than you.

Christianity is bigger than you. Our service to the Lord is more important than even our personal preferences. Philemon seeing those names would have been reminded that all of these brothers were there in Rome with Onesimus. They had seen the change in the one who once Philemon. If they are supporting the return of Onesimus and Philemon were to reject him, he would also be rejecting them. He would be fracturing the bond of fellowship.

Sometimes in life we have to put on our big boy pants, swallow our pride, and make reconciliation for the sake of the Bride.

I’ll say it again, put on your big boy pants, swallow your pride, and make reconciliation for the sake of the Bride.

Now, I worded it that way because I liked the way it rhymed, but the principle is true! When I talk about the bride, I am talking about the bride of Christ, the church. If we love the Lord, and are part of His Church, we should not want to see fractures within the Church, His bride.

This means we have to look at our disputes with a Kingdom mentality. We should desire to not put our personal desires first so that there can be unity in the Church. We should actively seek reconciliation cheerfully because the mission of the church is greater than our squables!

Make reconciliation for the sake of the Bride.

But there is one more motivation for forgiveness in our text today.

Philemon 25 ESV

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

All of the motivations we’ve seen so far could be classified as internal motivations. We started with understanding our own debt, the the personal desire to be a blessing to others, wanting to be obedient, being accountable, and lastly wanting to fit into the large whole of Christendom.

The final motivation we see here in verse 25 is set apart because it really has nothing to do with our personal ability or desires. The final motivation for forgiveness is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that He has richly bestowed upon all those saved by grace through faith.

By concluding this letter with verse 25, Paul is in essence saying, Philemon, ultimately you cant forgive Onesimus on your own. You can’t forgive through the power of your flesh, the flesh seeks vengeance. You can’t give forgiveness through the law, the law seeks justice. You can’t forgive through your own strength at all, you are weak. But Philemon, remember, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with your spirit! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ empowers you to extend forgiveness when the world would tell you to seek revenge. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ gives you peace and reminds you that you are called to be one body with other believers and thus seek reconciliation. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same grace that shone down upon you as you received forgiveness for your sins enables you to see your offender as your brother. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in your spirit allows you to say, “I am forgiven, I forgive.”

And it is with the consolation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s rich grace that the letter to Philemon comes to close. We don’t exactly from history what happens in this situation, but we can undoubtedly say that Philemon forgave Onesimus. Practically speaking, it is unlikely such a book would have been included in the canon of Scripture if Philemon did not comply with the request. But also from the true testimony we see about Philemon’s godly character, forgiveness was bound to be the outcome. Paul would eventually be released from prison and likely traveled to Colossae to check in on the group. Some 50 years later there would be an Onesimus who was the pastor of the church in Ephesus. It is not stated if this is the same Onesimus, but that would be an excellent conclusion to his story.

Pearl Harbor was one of the most devastating attacks on US soil in all of history. In less than two hours 2403 Americans were killed with 1178 more wounded. The leader of the attack was a Japanese Navy Pilot named Mitsua Fuchida. Fuchida survived the attack, though his own plane was shot several times. When the war was over, Fuchida was haunted by the things he had done, the death he had witnessed. So he took up farming in Osaka, hoping to find some solace in simple living. Living in simplicity, he focused all his mental faculties on peace. He wanted to write a book on the subject that he intended to call No More Pearl Harbors. Through his work he wanted to urge the world to pursue peace. But he had a big problem. He couldn’t find a universal principle to base the idea of peace on.

Through his research, two stories really seemed to get him close to figuring this peace thing out. One was about a Japanese lieutenant who was captured by Americans and was a POW in America. Eventually he was released back to Japan and Fuchida rushed to meet him to ask how he was treated in the POW camp. He was shocked to hear this report, “Something happened at the camp where I was interred, which has made it possible for us who were in that camp to forego all out resentment and hatred and to return with a forgiving spirit and a feeling of lighthearted praise.” I’ll just give the short of the rest of the story. In the camp a young girl named Peggy treated the prisoners very respectfully. When they asked her why, she said she did so because her parents were killed by the Japanese government. Her parents were missionaries that were falsely accused of being spies. Peggy was angry at first, but then remembered her parents relentless love of the Japanese people. She decided to minister to the Japanese prisoners in the POW camp as a proof of her forgiveness and a continuation of her parents ministry.

Fuchida was touched by this story. Then he was confronted with another story. That of Jacob DeShazer. DeShazer was an american who ended up in Japanese POW camp. The conditions were horrible. The prisoners almost went insane due to the conditions. Then one day while in solitary confinement, a guard slipped DeShazer a Bible. He read it over and over for three weeks. Eventually he would write, “the miracle of conversion took place June 8, 1944.”

He determined that if he lived until the war was over that he would go back to the US to engage in deep Bible Study, and then go back to Japan to share the message of Christ with the Japanese people. And that is what happened.

Fuchida heard both of these stories and was intrigued by the ability to extend forgiveness and the connection between the Christian God. Fuchida, furthering this study, picked up a copy of the New Testament. A few months later, he began to read two or three chapters a day. This in September 1949, Fuchida read Luke 23. This was the first time he had read the story of the crucifixion.

“The Calvary scene pierced Fuchida’s spirit. It came alive in St. Luke’s starkly beautiful prose. In the midst of the horror of His death, Christ said, ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’ Tears sprang to Fushida’s eyes; he had reached the end of his ‘long, long, wondering.’ Surely these words were the source of the love that Deshazer and Peggy had shown. As Jesus hung there, on the cross, He prayed not only for His persecutors but for all of humanity. That meant He had prayed and died for Fushida, a Japanese man living in the twentieth century.”

By the time Fuchida finished reading Luke 23, he had received Jesus Christ as Lord. The book he ended up writing wouldnot be called No More Pearl Harbors, but rather From Pearl Harbor to Golgotha.

Forgiveness empowered by the grace of God changes the world. May we all able to clearly say I have been forgiven, and so I forgive.

How can you know you’ve been forgiven? If you have Jesus as Lord, you are forgiven. If you have questions about that, I’d love to talk with you more about it during this hymn of response.

Let’s pray.