{"id":18739,"date":"2021-11-23T22:00:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T05:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/leviticus_27_16-34-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-11-18T23:44:04","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T06:44:04","slug":"philemon-1_1-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/philemon-1_1-7\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Love That Person, Do THIS Before You Challenge or Criticize Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philemon 1:1-7\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today we begin the book of Philemon, a letter Paul wrote during his first imprisonment in Rome between 61 to 63 AD (imprisoned for preaching the gospel).\u00a0\u00a0Here is some background that you might find helpful:<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0Paul wrote this letter to a man called Philemon.\u00a0\u00a0Who was Philemon?\u00a0\u00a0Philemon lived in the city of Colosse and came to faith in Christ through the ministry of Paul (v19).\u00a0\u00a0Later on Philemon would open up his home for the church in Colosse to use as their meeting place.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that Philemon had a home large enough to host a church and owned slaves like Onesimus suggests that Philemon was wealthy.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0Paul\u2019s reason for writing Philemon personally is because one of Philemon\u2019s slaves, called Onesimus, had stolen something from Philemon, ran away, only to meet Paul in Rome and become a Christian under his ministry.\u00a0\u00a0Onesimus becomes useful to Paul\u2019s ministry, but Paul thinks it is best to send Onesimus back to Philemon, encouraging Philemon to forgive his former slave and take him in again.<\/p>\n

From this short letter we can learn some powerful lessons on communication, forgiveness, the greatness of what Christ has done for us, and the kind of lives God calls us to live.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Philemon 1:1-7.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Philemon 1:1-7 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home:
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers,
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-7:\u00a0\u00a0The purpose of Paul\u2019s letter is to write to Philemon about forgiving Onesimus and welcoming Onesimus back.\u00a0\u00a0But before Paul mentions this difficult topic, Paul first affirms Philemon.\u00a0\u00a0He does so in multiple ways.\u00a0\u00a0Paul thanks God for Philemon (v4).\u00a0\u00a0He tells him that he has been praying for him (v4).\u00a0\u00a0He speaks about Philemon\u2019s good reputation as a believer in Christ and as a lover of God\u2019s church (v5). He prays for Philemon that he would continue to grow in his faith and understanding of the riches that are in Christ and in so doing become even more active in sharing his faith with others (v6).\u00a0\u00a0He says that Philemon gives him great joy and encouragement (v7).\u00a0\u00a0He praises Philemon for refreshing the hearts of God\u2019s people (v7).<\/p>\n

What is Paul doing?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If Paul has a difficult message to write to Philemon about, why doesn\u2019t he just go ahead and say it?\u00a0\u00a0Why does Paul begin with so much affirmation?\u00a0\u00a0Is Paul just fattening Philemon up for the kill?\u00a0\u00a0Is his goal to blindside Philemon?\u00a0\u00a0No.\u00a0\u00a0The reason Paul begins by affirming Philemon multiple times is so that Philemon would know that Paul is on his side.\u00a0\u00a0As Paul gets ready to discuss a difficult topic with Philemon, Paul wants Philemon to know that he is genuinely a fan of Philemon, believes in Philemon, and is not against him but for him.<\/p>\n

I believe it\u2019s for this same reason that out of the 13 letters from Paul that are found in the New Testament, Paul\u2019s letter to Philemon is the only one where he refers to himself as \u201ca prisoner of Christ Jesus\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0Paul could have easily taken a top down approach with Philemon and used his authority as an apostle to command, order and even rebuke Philemon (as he will allude to v8-9).\u00a0\u00a0But instead, Paul speaks from a much more modest position.\u00a0\u00a0I believe it\u2019s because Paul wants Philemon to know that he is Philemon\u2019s friend and is on his side.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Here we see an excellent real life example of how to speak the truth in love, or how to confront a person you care about in a loving way.\u00a0When you have a difficult message to give someone, a message that may not be easy for them to hear, take extra care in how you approach that person.\u00a0\u00a0Before you speak that difficult word, make sure that the person knows that you are on their side.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Affirm them, encourage them, and let them know you believe in them \u2013 it is important groundwork.\u00a0\u00a0That way, when it\u2019s time for you to speak that challenging word, they won\u2019t be as defensive or prone to misunderstanding, because they already know where you stand with them.\u00a0\u00a0When you do the groundwork of affirming that person first, it is less likely that the other person will see your words as an attack against them, and more as a challenge given purely in love.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Some relationship experts even say that for every negative or critical word you speak there should be five positive, encouraging and affirming words.<\/p>\n

As Proverbs\u00a016:21\u00a0says, \u201cthe wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words promote instruction.\u201d May you be wise in how you speak the truth in love to others.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, I pray that I would be wise in how I speak the truth in love to others.\u00a0\u00a0May I be generous with my affirmation and encouragement, and careful and restrained in my rebukes and criticisms.\u00a0\u00a0May I be someone whose words and example refresh and inspire those around me.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today we begin the book of Philemon, a letter Paul wrote during his first imprisonment in Rome between 61 to 63 AD (imprisoned for preaching the gospel).\u00a0\u00a0Here is some background that you might find helpful:<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0Paul wrote this letter to a man called Philemon.\u00a0\u00a0Who was Philemon?\u00a0\u00a0Philemon lived in the city of Colosse and came to faith in Christ through the ministry of Paul (v19).\u00a0\u00a0Later on Philemon would open up his home for the church in Colosse to use as their meeting place.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that Philemon had a home large enough to host a church and owned slaves like Onesimus suggests that Philemon was wealthy.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0Paul\u2019s reason for writing Philemon personally is because one of Philemon\u2019s slaves, called Onesimus, had stolen something from Philemon, ran away, only to meet Paul in Rome and become a Christian under his ministry.\u00a0\u00a0Onesimus becomes useful to Paul\u2019s ministry, but Paul thinks it is best to send Onesimus back to Philemon, encouraging Philemon to forgive his former slave and take him in again.<\/p>\n

From this short letter we can learn some powerful lessons on communication, forgiveness, the greatness of what Christ has done for us, and the kind of lives God calls us to live.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Philemon 1:1-7.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Philemon 1:1-7 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker,
\n2\u00a0\u00a0to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home:
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18739"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18743,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739\/revisions\/18743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}