The Parting
Notes
Transcript
22 But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
23 There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;
24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.
25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Introduction
Introduction
Tonight, we will conclude our study of the book of Philemon. We have looked at “The Prisoner”, “The Partners”, “The Prelude”, “The Prayer”, “The Plea”, “The Payment”, and tonight, we will look at “The Parting”, the closing of Paul’s letter to Philemon.
This little letter shows the power of the Gospel in winning a runaway thief and slave, and in changing a Master’s mind.
It makes me think of something Voddie Baucham said, “Do you know it was His mercy that woke you up this morning? Because His judgment should’ve killed you last night.” - That’s so true ya’ll! Before Christ pleaded on our behalf, before Christ gave His life as a perfect, sinless, sacrifice on our behalf, there was nothing but wrath from an Almighty God for us, but Christ went before us and changed the Master’s mind, and because of Him, I can now stand before the God of this universe, and when God looks at me, He doesn’t see my sin, but He sees His Son, and that is grace!
Let’s take a look at three things in these verses tonight:
Paul’s Hope
Paul’s Hope
22 But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
No doubt, like all of Paul’s other numerous friends around the world, Philemon was praying for Paul’s release from prison.
Paul says right here, “I have a feeling that your prayer is about to be answered.”
There’s some great things that could be said about prayer right here:
In the word of God we are encouraged to become people of much prayer, not just throwing up dull repetitions towards heaven, but real heart felt heaven moving prayer.
If we as believers could ever grasp the seriousness and strategy of prayer we could turn this world upside down and battle hell with a water pistol.
Paul reassured Philemon that he believed that God was going to answer their prayers and his release was pending not on the approval of Rome, but of God.
We are talking to God folks! God is in control of all things! It’s Him we are asking! He can do anything!
I think back over in the book of Acts chapter 12 when Peter was thrown in jail after James had been martyred by Herod.
The church prayed Peter out of prison and didn’t even believe it! I might preach out of that sometime soon…It’s an amazing passage.
The delight of heavenly prayer is that we can actually move the hand of God in human affairs.
Spurgeon said, “Prayer moves the hand that moves the world”!
We have no greater resource than the resource of prevailing prayer. The prayer warrior should get extremely excited in asking God to move in his life.
The prayer that Paul’s brethren had been asking in his behalf; were only waiting for the hand of God to move, and then Paul would be released.
It seemed as if the Roman government had full rights to the life of Paul and he may have been facing death face to face. The fact is that as the brethren prayed for the release of Paul, their appeal was higher than the Roman government.
The reach of prayer exceeds any venue that earth has to offer.
Paul’s Helpers
Paul’s Helpers
23 There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;
24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.
Paul wanted to publicly acknowledge his appreciation for his helpers and fellowlabourers.
He recognized the faithful folks that stood with him, beside him, and helped him in the ministry.
Mark Twain said, “I can last 2 months on a good compliment”
We need to tell people that we appreciate what they do. Paul didn’t do everything himself, he had some labourers with him and he give them recognition. Paul didn’t hog the limelight for himself.
Paul makes mention of five of his helpers in the closing part of this letter.
Epaphras: His name means “lovely” - We don’t know much about him other than he was a fellow prisoner, a fellow servant, and he was a fellow minister. Col. 1:7 tells us these details.
Marcus: This is the same Mark in the Gospel of Mark, or John Mark. This name means “a defense”...
Aristarchus: His name means “the best ruler.”
Demas: His name means “the governor of people.” It’s an interesting thing how the Bible describes Demas. He’s mentioned three times in Scripture...
In verse 24, he’s recognized as a fellowlabourer…This tells us that he stood with Paul, he worked with Paul.
In Colossians 4:14, he is not a fellowlabourer, or anything, he is just Demas, nothing is in this verse to describe him.
In 2 Timothy 4:10, the Bible says, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed...”
I’ll just mention here that when a man gets away from God, he does so gradually and slowly…That’s what happened to Demas and that’s what is happening to fellowlabourers all around us!
Lucas: This is the Luke we know from the Gospels. His name means “light giving”...
We need dedicated people in the ministry, people that will be fellowlabourers for Christ!
I’m glad Paul had helpers! And they stood by him even when he was imprisoned! And he acknowledged them for it!
Paul’s Hymn
Paul’s Hymn
25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
It’s not surprising that Paul closes this letter with grace because the entire letter is a picture of grace!
We see what grace did for the people in this letter, what grace did for Onesimus, and what grace did to help these fellowlabourers of Paul.
If you miss the grace of God in your life, then you will live a wasted life and spend eternity without ever knowing the grace of God!
Philemon was to think of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was to think of what that grace had now done for Onesimus. He was to think of how that grace was manifested at Calvary. He was to look at Onesimus in the light of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philemon was to think, too, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, Paul spells out the whole lovely name so that Philemon can think again of the glorious person, power, passion, and position of the Savior. He was to look at the Lord Jesus Christ, then he was to look at Onesimus. He was to look at Onesimus, then he was to look back at the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he was to decide what to do.
And he was to remember that he is our Lord Jesus Christ—Philemon’s, Epaphras’s, Mark’s, Luke’s, Aristarchus’s, Demas’s, and even Onesimus’s Lord Jesus Christ. The whole body would be effected by his decision.
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” The decision, in the final analysis, was spiritual. It would affect Philemon’s own spiritual life. He might be richer or poorer materially by his decision regarding Onesimus, but that was neither here nor there. He would certainly be richer or poorer spiritually.
“Amen!” says Paul. “That’s an end of it!”
Speaking of grace, before closing tonight, I want you to know that experience grace is as easy as ABC:
A - Acknowledge you are a sinner.
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
B - Believe the Gospel.
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
C - Call upon His name and ask Him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Let me close with three parting thoughts of this text:
1. What do you think that Philemon did? What would you have done? What are you doing with similar issues in your life where a conflict of interest exists—where the claims and considerations of this world clash with the claims and considerations of the world to come?
2. Paul fully believed that God was going to move on the behalf of the prayers offer up by his brethren.
We need to make much of prayer that prevails.
3. Paul had the personal pleasure of having deeply committed and faithful men help him in the work. It was also a wonderful thing to see him publicly recognize these men, he appreciated and acknowledged them.
We need to thank God for the people that help us…We need to pray for them!
Paul was a man of prayer, his brethren were people of prayer, and we need to be people of prayer!