OnFire #105 Unlocking Faith and Love

Hi Folks:

Another week has passed by, quickly it seems. Mark finally had his tryout for speed stacks. He had a great time, but we haven't heard yet whether he made the team. More waiting, but at least we should hear by the end of the week.

Ian turned 13 today. Its hard to believe that we have a teenager now. We got him some tools of his own and a youth devotional book. We were thinking tools for handywork, and tools for faith.

He had a few friends over after school yesterday. It always amazes me how they are growing. The thing I noticed especially is how tall they are becoming and that they are starting to fill out. We joked with Ian about needing to shave. His peach fuzz is starting to darken.

Ian got his third term report today, 88 average. We are proud parents anyway, but this is all the more reason to be proud.

Thanks you for adding Shelburne Baptist Church and our town to your prayers. Please continue to pray for us here. Its cool to know there is a network of people in prayer support for the work here.

Today we start a short series on the book of Philemon.

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Background

Philemon is a short book tucked just before the book of Hebrews. It is a short book, just 25 verses long, and it is among the more personal of Paul's letters.

Here's the summary. Paul wrote to Philemon to ask him to accept back a servant, Onesimus. Philemon was part of the church in Colossae, and was probably converted under Paul's ministry in Ephesus. Without church buildings, the early believers met in homes. Part of the Colossian church met in Philemon's house.

We are short on details, but it appears that Onesimus left Colossae and ran into Paul, probably in Rome. Under his ministry, Onesimus became a Christian and his character was transformed. Its a small world, as they say, and Paul knew Philemon. He took it upon himself to write Philemon to take Onesimus back. In addition, Paul pledged to make restitution for any damages incurred.

Now - a word about slavery. Slavery was an accepted part of the ancient world, and there were different levels of servitude although they were all covered under one word, "doulos." We don't know whether Onesimus was a household employee, or a slave. It was also common for people to sell themselves into a form of slavery for a fixed period of time.

Part of Paul's appeal to Philemon was to accept Onesimus back as a brother (v.16). Paul was not in a position to change the system, but he could remind individuals and churches that being a Christian ought to change our relationships for the better. The implication was that Philemon ought not return Onesimus to slavery.

Reputation

"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints." (Philemon 1:4-5*)

I sent the boys on an assignment on Saturday. They were going with Jan to a yard sale for our local Baptist camp, Camp Jordan. I sent Mark to find chocolate fudge, my favourite. I sent Ian to find a cool tool or gadget for under two dollars.

Mark found me some good chocolate fudge, smooth and creamy. It went down great with coffee. Ian came back with a combination trigger lock. Definitely high on the cool scale. There was just one thing wrong with it - there was no combination.

The lock has three rows of dials, numbered 0 through 9. That leaves 1000 possible combinations. Ian tried every combination twice, with no result. I've worked up to 200. I remember once forgetting the combination for by briefcase. It took me two hours to open it. Looks like I'm in for a while on this one, too. Until I can open it, the lock is really nothing more than a paper weight.

Its interesting that Paul mentions both Philemon's faith and his love. We need both to lead a balanced Christian life. That's like my lock. I need both the lock and its combination to make it work properly.

Faith has two important primary meanings. First, it means to believe in what we cannot yet see. Think Hebrews 11, sometimes called the "Hall of Faith."

Faith is also the ability to trust God under trial and difficulty, or when the outcome is uncertain. We see the role of faith in Ephesians 6:16, the passage where we find the spiritual armour. Faith protects us from the arrows of doubt fired by Satan and his cohorts.

Faith is not to be confused with zeal. Sometimes faith and zeal go together, but sometimes zeal pretends to be faith. In other words, it is possible to be active in the church and community, but have only a weak faith. When difficulties or temptations arise, this active believer crumbles.

Love is more than a romantic feeling. It is even more than a warm feeling for someone who likes us. Jesus defined it in John 15:12-13. "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." The kind of love Jesus calls us to is a self-sacrificing love, even for those who do not love us back.

We need both faith and love to be mature Christian believers. Paul said it plainly in 1 Corinthians 13:2. Faith without love is nothing.

Faith without love runs over people. Reach the goal, whatever the cost. People become expendable, something to be used and discarded. There are plenty of examples of this sort of thing happening in the outside world. Even worse is when it happens among Christians, because it happens in God's name.

Faith without love is often judgmental, harsh. It cares more about keeping oneself pure than about helping someone else. It cares more about how righteous people think I am. It thinks no one is as committed as I am. It looks down on people who aren't as mature. It is, well, without love.

To be a growing Christian is to show both faith and love in increasing measure. I hope that someday someone will say about me that I have both faith and love. That's the kind of reputation I'd like to have.

Hope this helps. Be Onfire.

Troy

May 1, 2007.

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