Title: Life Reversal (Pm 1:8-16)
Contents
There are 77 reasons to lose if you do not believe in Jesus. Man-je Kim must have lived a life without remission of sins, without salvation, without life, without heaven, without peace, without freedom and rest. When we believe in Jesus, our temperament and our nature change and we become a whole person. Just as a spark occurs when the negative and positive poles of electricity meet and there is an event, if you touch the life of Jesus just once, your whole personality will be regenerated, renewed and changed. There are two people who have been transformed by coming into contact with the person of Jesus. One is Philemon and the next is a man named Onesimus.
Philemon evangelized by Paul
If you believe in Jesus and meet Jesus, your view of life, values, and world view will change.
1) Receiving people and getting recognition. Philemon writes in verse 1 that the Apostle Paul wrote Philemon as a recipient of a human being. If you believe in Jesus, you will be loved by the Lord and loved by people. I hope that you will be loved by both pastors and members of the congregation.
2) It is to become a co-worker of the Lord. (1) To work together. The Lord and we are doing the Lord's work together. It means that God has used me. You have entrusted me with a heavy duty because you are loyal to me. The Lord works through us. I am a co-worker in the work of the Lord with you.
3) The family was saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and you and your household will be saved. Philemon's family calls his wife Abbia as sisters in the position of co-workers.
His son Archippus was a child who served the Lord as a soldier in his household. Not only that, but also introducing the church at home. He opened the family and invited everyone to preach the gospel (2).
4) We are blessed with a family overflowing with grace and peace.(3)
5) I lived with love and faith. Christ lives in him.
6) Paul is praising Philemon, who lives according to the movement of the spirit that brings peace to the saints and gives joy and comfort to Paul and his co-workers.
The second introduces Onesimus, who was transformed by Paul. (10) Onesimus, who was born while in prison, gave birth to Onesimus according to the gospel of the Lord through the nurture and love between parents and children through the labor of childbirth. He calls Timothy a “bearer in the faith.” Onesimus is a criminal who escaped as Philemon's servant. He met in a prison in Rome and received the Lord through Paul's evangelism and was born again as a person of the Lord. We are transformed by receiving the Lord who lives in Paul.
In the ancient society, the system of slavery was a custom, with some people enslaved. Or they may be sold to prisoners of war or slave traders to become slaves. Slaves were registered in the master's inventory and could be bought and sold. If you're lucky, you get the letter F for the fugitive (Fugitivus) on your forehead. That's why it's branded as a fugitive. The legal basis for defense is an example in which a friend or colleague of the owner guarantees a fugitive and restores it if trusted.
Onesimus, a servant of Philemon, was born again after meeting Paul as a transgressor.
1) An unprofitable person has been transformed into a useful person. Onesimus was named after the beneficial one. The purpose for which God created us is to be useful and to glorify God. There are three kinds of people. A person like a bee is a person who benefits everyone. People like ants are people who live a selfish life for themselves. A spider-like person is a person who only harms others. He is a useless person. Today Onesimus says that I have become a useful person to you and me. Paul himself had previously been a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an assassin, a useless man. However, after meeting the Lord, he was born again and became a useful person for the Lord and the Church.
Paul also confesses this in 1 Timothy 1:13. I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a rapist, but on the contrary, I received mercy because I did it without knowing it in unbelief.
1 Peter 2:10 You were once not a people, but now you are God's people, and once you had not found mercy, but now you are receiving mercy. so yes As children of God, we are now heirs to enjoy the Lord's inheritance and have become useful ones.
2) He was transformed into Paul's servant. (12) To become Paul's servant with the heart of Christ means that he has the heart of Christ in him and can correctly understand the will of the Lord. He became a servant who was absolutely loyal to the word and command of the Lord, and became a person who gave up his sovereignty and possessions and completely devoted himself to the Lord, Christ. Philemon was the poet of the Lord and a servant of Paul who was loved and recognized as a servant of Paul.
3) The status changes from the status of a servant to a brother who received a man. Although they are slaves to the flesh, they are brothers in the Lord. Colossians 3:10-11 Having put on the new man, who has been renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him, where there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, halal and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. It cannot be, but Christ is all and in all.
Paul, who has received the new man through Christ, tells Philemon that there can be no discrimination between slaves and masters, and everyone is equal before the Lord, and there is no sense of discrimination.
Theologian William Barclay explains it this way, using an example of ancient history. “Once upon a time there was slavery. A slave is a slave for life once sold as a slave. He has no ownership. His talents, his abilities, and the money he earns belong to the master. Everything about it belongs to the master. .Life itself belongs to the master.Sometimes if the slave works more faithfully and with great sincerity than the master demands, the master will be moved by it and give him some money from his possessions.The slave then puts this money into the temple. After that, when the slave works well for a while and the master is happy and satisfied, he gives some money, and the slave takes it back to the temple, and then gives it again... After repeating the above steps, when the amount is reached a certain amount, the slave takes the master to the temple, collects the money he has saved, and pays the ransom. From then on, the slave is free."
Through the redemption of Jesus Christ on the cross, all our sins were paid and we were redeemed, that is, our sins were forgiven.
A humble slave who had to be crucified was able to become such a wonderful overseer of a church because of the love of the apostle Paul and Jesus Christ.
As president, Lincoln abolished slavery by proposing the abolitionist theory. It is said that Lincoln also read this book of Philemon at that time. This is where the emancipation came from. Equal liberty This is the only grace in Christ.