Philemon 1:8-9 “For Love’s Sake” 6/10/18

INTRO> This is a picture of 29yr old Steven McDonald a NYPD, this picture was taken in 1986, that same year Steven was pro-trolling central park and stopped 3 teenagers to ask them about a recent stolen bicycle. One of the teens, took out a gun and shot Steven 3 times, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. He spent 18 months in the hospital and even received a phone call from President Ronald Regan for his service. A few years later, Macdonald would make headlines again (Pic) by publicly forgiving the man who shot him. Just before Macdonald passed away he was asked how he came to forgive the shooter: “Looking back, pondering on my life since that time, it’s clear to me that God was in charge. All he wanted was the opportunity to use me. He just needed my yes, and that was made possible by prayer. It’s that simple, really. Through the family and friends that God put in my life, and their prayers, God spoke to me and said, “Will you love this boy who shot you?” And the best way that I could love him was to forgive him. Left to my own abilities, I don’t think I would have done it. … And I know that I would have died a long time ago had I not listened to God, said yes to God, followed the example of his Son, and loved and forgiven.”

APP> Powerful story isn’t it? Steven Macdonald show what I am trying to teach you but more importantly what these 2 powerful verses show. Last week, Step 1 to forgiveness is: Before addressing what is wrong, stop and acknowledge what is right. Today we are going to learn number to:

Big Idea > Biblical love is the only thing that produces lasting change.

CONTEXT> So where do we start? In these 2 short verses I believe there are 3 things that love requires of us.

1. Love requires action.v8

• • • • “ though I a bold enough in Christ…” Paul uses a strong word here, he is speaking very frank. Paul is now starting to address the situation. He has taken some time.. but he did it. 

APP> Love is not passive it is active. *ILL> Roman had eye surgery recently and we had to put this eye salve on his eye and he hated it. APP> The wounds you never address are the wounds that will never be healed. 

*ILL- Let’s go back to Steven McDonald, only two years after he was shot In the summer of 1988, Officer McDonald sent stamps and a box of stationery to Mr. Jones along with a note saying, “Let’s carry on a dialogue.” He later met with Mr. Jones’s mother and attended services at a Baptist church in Harlem with his grandmother.

2) Love requires surrender.v9

• • • “command you to do what is required of you, yet for loves sake i appeal to you.” This is just beautiful. Paul says, i could demonstrate my apostolic authority here and really flex on you and demand you to do something about this, but it wont be helpful. Paul is “right” but in order to make the true difference he surrenders them. Remember, Paul is dealing with issue of slavery.

“Slavery is a system of bossing people around. If Paul had bossed Philemon, he might submit and grudgingly free Onesimus, but the principle of domination would still be intact. And slavery would spring up again inside the church, in more ways than one. Instead, Paul subverts the entire system of domination by appealing to Philemon’s free decision, to act in a manner consistent with the equality and love between brothers and sisters in Christ.” — David E. Garland, The NIV Application Commentary

• “Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:25-28

*ILL> Parents, come on, you know this to be true. Asking your kids to do something then demanding them to do it produces what? Duty not delight.

APP> The right action with the wrong heart is still rebellion.

“[Love] is the weapon that casts aside the trappings of superiority and is never greater than when it descends, nor more absolute than when it binds authority and appeals with love to love. Such ever is love’s way: to rise it stoops.” — Alexander Maclaren, The Expositor’s Bible: Colossians and Philemon

APP> Sometimes you have to surrender the right to prove a point in order to make a difference. (*Credit- Adapted from an Andy Stanley leadership podcast)

3) Love requires Jesus.v9

• • • “now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus…” I mean… we get it Paul.. your in jail for loving Jesus, why does he keep telling us this?
    • In fact, in 9 verses Paul mentions Jesus, Lord or Christ 5 times! What is the deal here?

APP> Love is not a principle, love is a person and that person is Jesus Christ.

Let me show you this.. each point is dependent upon Jesus:

1. Love requires action.

• • • “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

2) Love requires surrender.

• • • “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:5-7

Big Idea > Biblical love is the only thing that produces lasting change.

• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

APP Questions:

• • • What relationship do I need to start praying about? (hands)
    • Why am I handling this issue of forgiveness this way? (heart)
    • Where am I not letting Jesus lead me?

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”