Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

What is a friend?

At its most basic definition, a friend is a person you know well and regard with affection and trust.

What is a true friend?

What is a faithful friend?

A true and faithful friend does not stray away when life gets difficult.

A true and faithful friendship reaches to a level of loyalty.

For the Christian, friendship takes on a whole new level.

It is a level that the unsaved cannot comprehend or achieve.

It is a relationship that bonds together through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

It centers itself in each persons personal relationship with God.

It is the love of Christ, the Word of God, the Spirit of God that enables the Christian to live faithful to ones friends.

Friends are such an important aspect to the individual’s life.

Each individual has a friend of some kind.

Some friends are closer in relationship than others but none the less a friend.

By its basic definition the church is to be friends with each person.

We are to stand by and be loyal to one another as one entity.

We are to be sharpening and growing each other with the gifts and talents given to us (Ephesians 4:1-3 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace;

Philippians 2:1-4 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.)

Unfortunately, due to sin and our flesh this does not always manifest itself.

It is sin and the depravity of our flesh that some friends are good some are bad.

Remember the basic definition of friendship…anyone that you know well and regard with affection and trust.

In our text this evening, Paul lays out in 2 Timothy 1:15-18

“15 You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me— 18 the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.”

a few traits of what a true, faithful, and gospel-centered friend should look like.

Context:

Before we dive into our text we need to take a brief look at the surrounding text to better understand our text.

In the preceding paragraph Paul is encouraging Timothy to not be ashamed of the testimony of the gospel or even the messenger of the gospel.

He rather encourages Timothy to join in the suffering for the gospel, which comes by God’s power (2 Timothy 1:8-12)

2 Timothy 1:8–12 (NASB95)

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Twice in these verses Paul iterates the action of not being ashamed of the gospel even though the circumstances worked against him and his life was one suffering trial after another.

Our text tonight continues from this discussion and seems to be a type of parenthetical or a living illustration of the importance of not being ashamed of the gospel.

It seems to be a parenthetical because the beginning of 2 Timothy 2, Paul goes back to the principle of being faithful to the gospel through three characters; a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer.

The gospel is central to all of it.

It seems then that this friendship of Onesiphorus stands on the gospel.

It seems that Paul is likening faithfulness to the gospel and faithfulness to himself in Phygelus and Hermogenes.

They abandoned Paul along with many others because of his chains.

He was in chains because of the gospel.

This leads us to our main truth this evening...

Main Truth: The gospel empowers faithful and loyal friendship.

I.

A godly friendship consistently encourages others (he oft refreshed).

Explanation

The word Paul uses for refreshed is unique because this is the only time in the entire NT he uses it.

The root of the word is the word for life or soul.

The prefix for the word refers to

Behind this text lies the fact that Paul was a lover of people and that he had an immense capacity for friendship.

(R. Kent Hughes and Bryan Chapell, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: To Guard the Deposit, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 186.

Onesiphorus is commended in verse 16 for his encouragement to Paul.

He had looked for Paul diligently and finally found him.

When he found Paul, he encouraged him in the Lord.

Paul was discouraged and lonely.

Many from the churches in Asia had forsook Paul.

Imagine with me for a minute and place yourself in Paul’s circumstance.

Paul was imprisoned and most likely never going to be released.

He most likely was going to die or be executed.

It is here we get a glimpse of Paul’s humanity and God’s mercy and grace.

We see God’s providential care for Paul.

He impresses on the heart of Onesiphorus to search out Paul and find him and once Paul was found to return multiple times to encourage and life Paul’s soul up in gospel-centered encouragement.

Onesiphorus brought energy and life to Paul.

The common bond between these two men was the gospel.

Onesiphorus was not ashamed that Paul was in prison for the gospel.

The refreshment and encouragement was more than social or material.

It was definitively spiritual in nature.

Again the term used for refresh comes from the word for life or soul.

We know from Philippians 1:21 “21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” that Paul’s life was the gospel, it was the person of Christ (Philippians 3:10 “10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;”).

Onesiphorus new what would encourage Paul.

He was consistent and frequent in his encouragement.

Paul in return showed his faithful and loyal friendship by praying for Onesiphorus and his family to receive mercy from the Lord presently (16) and futuristically in the day of judgment (18) when the Lord returns.

Paul in this letter to Timothy exhorts him to follow after the example of Onesiphorus and encourage those other believers around him.

He showed kindness to Paul.

Paul’s example of Onesiphorus is used as an illustration of the centrality of the gospel.

Remember, 2 Timothy 1:8, 12 “8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God; 12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.) discuss not being ashamed of the gospel but rather share in the suffering of the gospel.

Onesiphorus did just this.

In the following paragraph Paul further illustrate the centrality of the gospel to life and his desire to see people saved (2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory).

Paul in return for his encouragement and kindness desires for the Lord to be merciful to him and his household.

Also in verse 18 prays that Onesiphorus will find the mercy of the Lord in the time of judgement.

Are you encouraging in Lord to your friends?

Refutation/Application

What do your friendships look like?

How are you in relation to each person in our church family?

What do your conversations go like with those in our church family?

Those outside our church family?

Do you encourage others when you are with them to walk in the spirit of God.

Do you challenge him or her to let the Holy Spirit control them?

Jonathan and David are a good example of one friend challenging another to be controlled by the spirit and live for God during the easy and hard times of life.

As we seek to have a disciple-making culture here at First Baptist Church, it is this organic example of Onesiphorus we need to follow.

The bible studies that we are encouraging each person to engage in and some have is for this purpose.

It is not to say we have a program but to see each person in the church grow in Christlikeness.

We clearly see in our text this morning that gospel-centered encouragement is the bedrock to true refreshment in the Christian life.

I am not saying that every person needs to be every persons best friend.

What scripture teaches is that every Christian needs to be living a gospel-centered relationship with every person.

One summer in college, I worked up at Northland Christian Camp as a counselor.

Three weeks before camp was done one of the guy counselors found out that his dad had committed suicide.

What do say to a person after something like that?

All you can say are words of encouragement to live for God and let him know that you are praying for him.