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The Friendship and Fellowship

Of the Gospel, Part 5
Philemon 6 (continued)
June 5, 2005

Introduction

Last week it seemed that the Lord did not desire us to

move past our first point in the sermon. You’ll recall
there that we began observing the effects of gospel
friendship and fellowship as being the application and
advancement of the gospel. And the first effect we saw
to support this thesis is found in the first part of verse 6,
namely that “the living out of our faith will become more
effective.”

To review briefly, I did some thinking out loud on the

meaning of two phrases in their context. The first
phrase was “the sharing of your faith,” which as you
recall, I preferred to translate as “the fellowship of your
faith.”

The word koinonia here emphasized the sharing of one’s

resources which proves to everyone else around you
that your faith is genuine. Philemon had done this in the
past, and Paul was praying that Philemon’s fellowship in
the past would continue to demonstrate itself towards
Onesimus in the future.

The second word we discovered was the word

“effective.” Paul was praying that the sharing of
Philemon’s faith would become effective. That is, the
fellowship of Philemon’s faith would be effectual,
effectively working itself out in blessing others and
himself.
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Together, in our thinking session we sort of concluded
that the local gathering of believers, the local church,
the fellowship becomes a means of grace where God
uses you as an individual to share your resources with
others – whether encouragement, rebuke, counsel,
service, financial, or whatever…and God uses others to
serve you.

We also saw that the local church creates a context of

divine, spiritual peer pressure to encourage us to press
on in doing what is right. That seems to be what Paul
may have been after in a certain sense in his letter to
Philemon. On the one hand, the letter was written to
Philemon, and Paul was putting a little brotherly peer
pressure to get Philemon to see the Onesimus situation
through the lens of the gospel.

On the other hand, others may read the letter and also
create an unspoken sense of peer pressure as they
watch Philemon to see what he is going to do.

So you have this inward and outward thing going on

here. Philemon is being inwardly compelled by the
gospel to forgive Onesimus and set him free. And
Philemon is being compelled outwardly by the local
church in which he served to do the right thing with
Onesimus.

The last phrase in verse 6 is what I want to think through

this morning. And it was based on that phrase that we
concluded last week with the challenge that if you find
you’re just not growing in your relationship with Jesus
Christ through Bible Study and prayer alone, it is
because fellowship is missing – that opportunity and
context through which you can give to others and
receive from others.

Further, since it is this context of fellowship, this sharing

of your faith, that proves whether or not your faith is
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really genuine, if you have ever found yourself lacking in
assurance of your salvation, this could be the ticket also.
By examining where you are currently sharing in love
and service to others, you will be able to determine
whether or not your faith is genuine.

Transition

Now that’s the first effect of gospel fellowship and

friendship. The first effect is that your faith will be more
effective, more genuine and lasting. The second effect
is this.

2. The effectiveness is seen in the

way it impacts others, in the way
it helps them apply and advance
the gospel.

Along with Philemon’s liberality and generosity to all the

saints, he would also have a profound experience and
encounter for himself and for all the saints with the
principle of 2 Corinthians 9:6 – “he who sows bountifully
will also reap bountifully.” The more he gives, the more
he knows just how much Christ has given him
personally.

Oh guys this so rich here! When we remember what it is

that Paul is asking Philemon to do in this letter, we see
and taste the richness of it all. Remember the primary
thing Philemon should do for Onesimus? It was
forgiveness, right? I agree with William Hendrickson,
noted scholar and theologian, that “the best
commentary on Philemon 6 is probably the one found in
Col. 3:13, ‘Just as Christ has forgiven you, so do you also
forgive’” (Commentary on the Epistle to Philemon, p. 7).

When you forgive others, and we’ll talk about this most
central theme of the book in a couple more weeks, but
when you forgive others, you cannot help but do so out
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of a profound sense of the forgiveness God has already
given you in Christ. And further, you cannot help but to
experience Jesus Christ in a more profound way after
you forgive someone. Forgiveness is a sort of whirlpool.
When you throw yourself into it, you are plunged in
spiral fashion deeper and deeper into the love of God in
Jesus Christ. Listen to Hendrickson again.

“The more thoroughly Philemon

recognizes how greatly he himself has
been benefited, the more inclined will
he be to extend mercy and pardon to
others, specifically to Onesimus”
(ibid).

Man, I’m so tempted here to get ahead of myself, but I

must exercise some restraint. This is really, really
powerful here…so much for us to learn and live. But I’ll
save it for later. Just know now that, as I said earlier,
this concept of being generous and liberal with whatever
we have – whether forgiveness or finances, or whatever
– and experiencing the effectiveness that comes from
loving and being devoted to others, is what the rest of
the letter is about. Giving to others because Jesus gave
to us, and giving to others in the same way Jesus gave to
us…that’s what Paul wants Philemon to do for Onesimus,
just as he had already been doing for the other saints in
his house church.

Now the neat thing about this is that not only does
Philemon experience a deeper, richer, more experiential,
personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, but all
the saints looking from the outside in on Philemon’s
actions will experience this as well. And the more he
knows how much Christ has given him, the more he and
the saints will be able to take hold of that promise in 2
Corinthians 9:8,
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“God is able to provide you with every
blessing in abundance, so that you may
always have enough of everything and may
provide in abundance for every good work.”

Remember, Paul is about to ask Philemon, in so many

words, to send Onesimus, the runaway slave, back to
Paul in prison. Really, Paul is asking Philemon to
basically set Onesimus free, to give him his freedom, to
set him free to come and be useful for the ministry. If
Philemon sends a very useful slave back to Paul, what
does that mean with reference to Philemon being able to
provide for his household, and provide for his means?

Basically, Paul is saying that if Philemon continues to be

as generous as he has been to all the saints, by sending
Onesimus, then such wonderful generosity toward Paul
will only mean that Philemon personally will experience
in profound ways the ability and faithfulness of God to
provide for him more than ever before. By giving
Onesimus away, Philemon could not but help experience
God’s abundant provision more than he ever had before.
And the saints surrounding him could not help but be
impacted by that as well. That is how Paul wants
Philemon’s fellowship of loyalty and faithfulness
to become more effective.

But his faith, according to the text, becomes “effective

for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us
for the sake of Christ.” What does Paul mean by that
last lengthy phrase. We’ve already hit on it time and
again this morning and last week as well.

Basically, Paul is telling Philemon that when he forgives

Onesimus and sends him back to Paul in prison, other
people looking on, will know without a shadow of a doubt
that Philemon’s faith is real and genuine. Philemon will
know his faith is real, because it is accompanied by love
– that faith expressing itself through love thing again.
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And all the saints will know that too without a shadow of
a doubt. Listen to Calvin once more. Paul

“wishes that, by its effects, faith may be

proved to be effectual. This takes place,
when the men with whom we converse
know our godly and holy life…for everything
in us that is good makes known our faith”
(Calvin, ibid).

With others looking on, this effectiveness means, as I

referred you to a couple of weeks ago, that the gospel
cannot help but be applied to the lives of others in a
deeper, more profound way, and that the gospel cannot
help but be advanced in broader ways.

Philemon has an audience around him, whether he

knows it or not, and whether he likes it or not. People
will be watching him intently, wondering what he will do,
and how he will react to seeing his runaway slave again.
Matthew Henry summed it up very nicely when he wrote,

“The apostle joins prayer with his praises,

that the fruits of Philemon's faith and love
might be more and more conspicuous, so as
that the communication of them might
constrain others to the acknowledgment of
all the good things that were in him and in
his house towards Christ Jesus; that their
light might so shine before men that they,
seeing their good works, might be stirred up
to imitate them, and to glorify their Father
who is in heaven. Good works must be
done, not of vain-glory to be seen, yet such
as may be seen to God's glory and the good
of men” (Commentary, Philemon 1-7).

Beloved, when the saints around us see our faith in

action, it spurs love and faith on in them as well. When
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they see us presented with difficult circumstances and
situations, like Philemon was going through, and they
see us handle it with love and faithfulness to Christ and
even toward those who offend us, they see the gospel in
living color.

And that can’t help but spur them on in their application

of the gospel to their own lives. Basically, how we live
not only tells others whether or not we are truly
Christians, but it also builds love and faithfulness into
others, encouraging them that they can do it too!
That’s at least part of what Paul was praying for
Philemon here. He wanted God to make Philemon’s
service effectual for Onesimus, but also for the church
around him. So be careful how you live, because others
are hopefully benefiting by your faithfulness to Christ.

3. Our faith becomes more effective

for the purpose of helping us and
others know Christ more.

Moving along, the third effect that is seen in gospel

friendship and fellowship is found in the little word that
follows the word ‘effective.’ It is the word ‘for.’ It is a
causal word. Paul is explaining why he wants Philemon’s
faith to become effective. He wants Philemon’s faith to
become effective for the purpose of fuller “knowledge of
every good thing that is in us.”

Or, Paul wants Philemon to know in a more profound

way, in a deeper way, a more experiential way, just how
much he and the saints have really been given in Jesus
Christ. That, I think, is what Paul is saying here. In
short, their faith would become effective for the purpose
of being able to appreciate Jesus Christ more deeply.

That’s what Paul prayed for himself, isn’t it, in

Philippians 3? He wanted to know Christ and the power
of his resurrection and to share in the fellowship of his
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sufferings. He wanted to be found in Christ and to gain
Christ. He wanted to know the height, depth, and
breadth of God’s love for him in Christ Jesus. Christ
Jesus, and everything pertaining to Him, was what Paul
wanted for himself. Isn’t this what it’s all about anyway?

Look at the epistle to the Colossians, the letter to which

Paul’s letter to Philemon was attached. This passage
will, I believe, give us more insight on how this
happens…how Paul saw it happening in Philemon’s life.
Look in Colossians chapter 1, verses 9-10. Paul prays
that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of
his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, in
order to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him,
bearing fruit in every good work, and ‘increasing in the
knowledge of God.’

There is a pattern here that we have probably missed

before. We are given the knowledge of God’s will in
Scripture so that we will walk worthy of the Lord. And
we walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, in order
to bear fruit through our good works. And as we bear
fruit through our good works we will know more about
God, thus starting the cycle all over again.

Knowing the Lord Jesus Christ cannot happen apart from

knowing His will in Scripture, apart from pleasing Him,
and apart from bearing fruit in good works. To know
Christ is to follow Him and do what He commands, to
please Him. When we do that we bear fruit. And when
we do that we know more of Him than we did before. If
ever there was some supposed secret to knowing Christ
it is this: study about Him where He has revealed
Himself, live your life to please Him in every way, work
toward bearing fruit through good works, and you are
guaranteed to know Him.
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4. Our Faith will be effective because
the glory of Jesus Christ will be
our motivation.

Lastly, I want you to recognize that while others are

looking on your life, critiquing and studiously observing
your works, our motivation cannot be to please them.
We just saw that in Colossians 1. It should be to please
Christ and Christ only, ‘pleasing to Him in all respects.’

Philemon’s motivation for forgiving Onesimus and

sending him back to Paul does not arise out of peer
pressure. And neither does whatever you do in your
Christian life arise out of peer pressure. I know what I
just said earlier and what I said last week. I did not say,
however, that Philemon’s motivation in his actions
towards Onesimus arose from peer pressure. I merely
said that it encouraged him to do the right thing.

Paul doesn’t pray for Philemon to forgive and be more

generous because others are watching him. No! Look at
the text again. Notice the last phrase in verse 6: ‘for
the sake of Christ.’ Philemon forgives and gives ‘for the
sake of Christ,’ because of what Jesus Christ had
forgiven Philemon of and because of what Jesus Christ
has already given Philemon.

The love and generosity of Jesus Christ are to be

Philemon’s sole motivation in everything he does, just as
it had already been, which is why Paul remembers such
giving with thanksgiving and prays for more giving just
like it.

‘For the sake of Christ,’ is to be understood as being ‘for

the glory of Christ.’ And it is in forgiving others and
giving to others that we most glorify Christ. We point to
Him, make much of Him, and magnify what He has
already done for us on the cross when we do those same
things for others. Isn’t it so simple?
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That’s about as simple as glorifying God can get. Do for

others what He has done for you. Do for others what He
is doing now for you. Treat others as He treats you.
Deal with others as God has dealt with you. Imitate God
in your relationships with others, whether you like them
or not. That is how to make much of God, to magnify
Jesus Christ, in your life.

Application

Now as we head toward a conclusion here, let’s think

about a more direct application. If you hold back in
doing for others what God has already done for you,
then your faith will not be effectively letting others know
you are a real Christian. That’s the whole point behind
Paul’s prayer here, isn’t it? It’s all about knowing for
sure whether or not one’s faith is real and genuine.

Do you forgive others when they sin against you? How

quickly do you forgive? Do you hold grudges? Do you
maintain a bitter spirit toward them?

Do you give to others generously what you are able to

give? Do you give for the advancement of the gospel?
Do you give so that the gospel will be applied in others’
lives? Do you give to those who have offended you?

Do you experience a deeper and richer, more personal

and intimate relationship with the person of Jesus Christ
when you have demonstrated acts of love towards
others? Do others notice that you love Christ more and
more as you love the saints more and more?

Your answer to these questions will prove whether or not

you are being loyal and faithful to Jesus Christ. Paul
prayed that Philemon would be faithful to Christ. And
Jesus prays that you will be faithful to Him. Demonstrate
that faithfulness as Philemon did, in forgiving those who
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offend and hurt you, no matter how much it costs you
(whether emotionally or physically or mentally or
financially), and be generous to them in return for their
offense toward you.

Conclusion

If you truly love the Lord Jesus Christ and consider

yourself to be faithful to Him, this text this morning
teaches you that you will be demonstrating your love
and devotion to Him through your love and faithfulness
to all the saints. And that demonstration of love and
faithfulness to all the saints will show itself through
giving and forgiving, just as it did in Philemon’s life.

Grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. Grow in the full

knowledge of every good thing that God has already
given you in Jesus Christ. Grow by giving and forgiving.