The Church's Duty

A pastor arranged for a gathering of the women’s auxiliary. It was to be a garden party on the church lawn, under the old oak. At the last moment, the morning of the party, Mrs. Preacher discovered she left Sister Hissyfit off the invitation list. The parson called the dear sister and begged forgiveness. “I’m so sorry we didn’t catch this sooner, Mrs. Hissyfit, won’t you please come to the garden party?” cajoled the pastor. “Beggin’ won’t help now, Preacher,” said the offended Mrs. H., “I’ve already prayed for rain.”

Matthew 5:23–24 KJV

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Mark 11:25 KJV

25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14–15 KJV

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Philemon 1-25

I. The Scope of Forgiveness

(v.1)

Forgiveness sometimes needs to be given from many.

The Epistle to Philemon was written to many, not just Philemon

Taking an offence for someone else is wrong.

God has not given you the grace for that wrong.

II. The Source of Forgiveness

(v.3)

The source of forgiveness is the source of our forgiveness (v.3)

Grace and Peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ

How oft shalt thou forgive thy brother? That depends: How often has thy Lord forgiven thee? Thy debt was great; it could not greater be And yet thou art forgiven and set free! Wilt thou not then forgive thy brother Who offends? Or, wilt thou thrust him in the darksome jail And cause him at thy discomfiture to quail Until he pays thee all thou dost entail? If thou wilt not forgive thy brother, What impends? As thou hast done, thy Lord will do to you: He’ll punish thee till thou hast paid His due; In all His dealings God is righteous, true.

III. The Supplication for Forgiveness

(v.4)

Forgiveness sometimes comes by prayer

Sometimes the offended needs to pray

Sometimes the offender needs to pray

Sometimes the witness needs to pray

Truth is, many all-around need to pray – rather than take an offense.

IV. The Sacrifice without Forgiveness

That the communication (koinonia / participation/fellowship) of thy faith may become effectual

It’s not worth losing your ministry (vs.5-6)

Keep loving God

Keep loving the Saints

Continued ministry comes from remembering what Christ has done for you.

Matthew 6:14–15 KJV

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Some are even held back from true repentance themselves because of their lack of forgiveness.

R.A. Torrey tells of this very thing, “One afternoon in Cleveland, after Mr. Moody had been speaking, he brought me to a lady to show her the way of life. I had been speaking to her trying this and that passage to see what was in the way of her accepting Christ, when suddenly I turned to her and said, “Is there somebody you cannot forgive?’ She looked quickly at me, and said, ‘Who told you?’ I said, ‘Nobody told me, and I have never seen you before tonight.’ That was her trouble, and that is the trouble with some of you. Someone has done you an injury, or you think he has, and you will not come to Jesus Christ because you want to cherish this bitter grudge in your heart.

We sacrifice too much when we hold on to unforgiveness.

V. The Stir for Forgiveness

(vs8-10)

Paul was stirring the pot.

He told him he could, as his pastor, order him to forgive, but he was begging him to forgive.

Be open to hearing the truth about forgiveness.

Whether they come and seek forgiveness

or the Lord speaks to your heart

or a preacher tells you of the need.

It may take bold truth

It may take beseeching love

VI. The Switch after Forgiveness

(vs.11-16)

A. Allow for a change to be made

(v. 11)

The offender may have gotten right

Our profitableness is a result of Christ

So is theirs

B. Receive the person back

(v.12-15)

Allow them to be profitable

Do this willingly, not out of duty-

Remember the Eternal value of this forgiveness

A Christian worker was having difficulty forgiving a wrong done to her. After much counsel and seeking for forgiveness on the part of the counsellor, she said, “Well, I forgive her, but I never want to have anything more to do with her,” The counselor asked her, “Is that how you want God to forgive you? Do you want him to say He will forgive you, but He will have nothing more to do with you?”

Colossians 3:13 KJV

13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

C. Receive him closer than ever

(v. 16)

Not as a servant, but as a brother.

VII. The Sake of Forgiveness

(v. 17-19)

Receive for the bodies sake

Paul asks this for his sake

We must remember an illness in a member effects the whole body.

A little boy, being asked what forgiveness is, gave the beautiful answer, “It is the odor that flowers breathe when they are trampled upon.”

Ephesians 4:30–32 KJV

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

VIII. The Side-Effect of Forgiveness

(v.20)

This decision will affect others

Brings joy

Brings refreshing

IX. The Season for Forgiveness

(v.21-25)

Obey without delay

Oh how important and life changing is forgiveness.

Oh how damaging and destructive is unforgiveness.

Shortly after the turn of the century, Japan invaded, conquered, and occupied Korea. Of all of their oppressors, Japan was the most ruthless. They overwhelmed the Koreans with a brutality that would sicken the strongest of stomachs. Their crimes against women and children were inhuman. For years Koreans lived with the physical and emotional scars from the Japanese occupation.

One group singled out for concentrated oppression was the Christians. When the Japanese army overpowered Korea one of the first things they did was board up the evangelical churches and eject most foreign missionaries. It has always fascinated me how people fail to learn from history. Conquering nations have consistently felt that shutting up churches would shut down Christianity. It didn't work in Rome when the church was established, and it hasn't worked since. Yet somehow the Japanese thought they would have a different success record. The conquerors started by refusing to allow churches to meet and jailing many of the key Christian spokesmen. The oppression intensified as the Japanese military increased its profile in the South Pacific. The "Land of the Rising Sum" spread its influence through a reign of savage brutality. Anguish filled the hearts of the oppressed -- and kindled hatred deep in their souls. One pastor persistently entreated his local Japanese police chief for permission to meet for services. His nagging was finally accommodated, and the police chief offered to unlock his church ... for one meeting.

It didn't take long for word to travel. Committed Christians starving for an opportunity for unhindered worship quickly made their plans. Long before dawn on that promised Sunday, Korean families throughout a wide area made their way to the church. They passed the staring eyes of their Japanese captors, but nothing was going to steal their joy. As they closed the doors behind them they shut out the cares of oppression and shut in a burning spirit anxious to glorify their Lord.

The Korean church has always had a reputation as a singing church. Their voices of praise could not be concealed inside the little wooden frame sanctuary. Song after song rang through the open windows into the bright Sunday morning. For a handful of peasants listening nearby, the last two songs this congregation sang seemed suspended in time. It was during a stanza of "Nearer My God to Thee" that the Japanese police chief waiting outside gave the orders. The people toward the back of the church could hear them when they barricaded the doors, but no one realized that they had doused the church with kerosene until they smelled the smoke. The dried wooden skin of the small church quickly ignited. Fumes filled the structure as tongues of flame began to lick the baseboard on the interior walls.

There was an immediate rush for the windows. But momentary hope recoiled in horror as the men climbing out the windows came crashing back in -- their bodies ripped by a hail of bullets. The good pastor knew it was the end. With a calm that comes from confidence in His Lord, he led his congregation in a hymn whose words served as a fitting farewell to earth and a loving salutation to heaven. The first few words were all the prompting the terrified worshipers needed. With smoke burning their eyes, they instantly joined as one to sing their hope and leave their legacy. Their song became a serenade to the horrified and helpless witnesses outside. Their words also tugged at the hearts of the cruel men who oversaw this flaming execution of the innocent.

Alas! and did my Savior bleed? and did my Sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?

Just before the roof collapsed they sang the last verse, their words an eternal testimony to their faith.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe: Here, Lord, I give myself away 'Tis all that I can do!

At the cross, at the cross Where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away -- It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day.

The strains of music and wails of children were lost in a roar of flames. The elements that once formed bone and flesh mixed with the smoke and dissipated into the air. The bodies that once housed life fused with the charred rubble of a building that once housed a church. But the souls who left singing finished their chorus in the throne room of God. Clearing the incinerated remains was the easy part. Erasing the hate would take decades. For some of the relatives of the victims, this carnage was too much. Evil had stooped to a new low, and there seemed to be no way to curb their bitter loathing of the Japanese.

In the decades that followed, that bitterness was passed on to a new generation. The Japanese, although conquered, remained a hated enemy. The monument the Koreans built at the location of the fire not only memorialized the people who died, but stood as a mute reminder of their pain.

The Korean people who found it too hard to forgive could not enjoy the "peace that passes all understanding." Hatred choked their joy.

It wasn't until 1972 that any hope came. A group of Japanese pastors traveling through Korea came upon the memorial. When they read the details of the tragedy and the names of the spiritual brothers and sisters who had perished, they were overcome with shame. Their country had sinned, and even though none of them were personally involved (some were not even born at the time of the tragedy), they still felt a national guilt that could not be excused.

They returned to Japan committed to right a wrong. There was an immediate outpouring of love from their fellow believers. They raised ten million yen ($25,000). The money was transferred through proper channels and a beautiful white church building was erected on the sight of the tragedy. When the dedication service for the new building was held, a delegation from Japan joined the relatives and special guests. Although their generosity was acknowledged and their attempts at making peace appreciated, the memories were still there. Hatred preserves pain. It keeps the wounds open and the hurts fresh. The Koreans' bitterness had festered for decades. Christian brothers or not, these Japanese were descendants of a ruthless enemy.

The speeches were made, the details of the tragedy recalled, and the names of the dead honored. It was time to bring the service to a close. Someone in charge of the agenda thought it would be appropriate to conclude with the same two songs that were sung the day the church was burned. The song leader began the words to "Nearer My God to Thee." But something remarkable happened as the voices mingled on the familiar melody. As the memories of the past mixed with the truth of the song, resistance started to melt. The inspiration that gave hope to a doomed collection of churchgoers in a past generation gave hope once more. The song leader closed the service with the hymn "At the Cross."

The normally stoic Japanese could not contain themselves. The tears that began to fill their eyes during the song suddenly gushed from deep inside. They turned to their Korean spiritual relatives and begged them to forgive. The guarded, calloused hearts of the Koreans were not quick to surrender. But the love of the Japanese believers -- unintimidated by decades of hatred -- tore at the Koreans' emotions.

At the cross, at the cross Where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away ...

One Korean turned toward a Japanese brother. Then another. And then the floodgates holding back a wave of emotion let go. The Koreans met their new Japanese friends in the middle. They clung to each other and wept. Japanese tears of repentance and Korean tears of forgiveness intermingled to bathe the site of an old nightmare.