Philemon's name, meaning 'lover of good things,' is explored as the central theme, contrasting the Greek words for love, 'phileo' and 'agape,' to highlight the selfless, enduring love exemplified in the epistle. The sermon traces the various instances of love mentioned in the letter, from Philemon's affection for his household and fellow believers to Paul's expansive 'agape' love that extends even to enemies and those considered unlovable. It emphasizes that true love, particularly 'agape,' is not merely an emotion but a deep-seated commitment that values and venerates others, leading to refreshment, rejoicing, and reassurance in relationships. The message concludes by urging listeners to embrace this profound love, recognizing that it is more blessed to give than to receive and that such love bears fruit and draws people closer to God and each other.
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Well, I was very happy that Dr. Ironside agreed with me. I would have made sure it had been exposed to having written the paper. That was very good. That was a nice film, and I think it just speaks, it just serves to impress upon us what we've been thinking about this week. Let's turn to this little epistle, and Dr. Ironside did something for us. That is very helpful. More about that in a moment. Let's have a word of prayer, shall we? We have three fellows working on the building right across from us here. One of them was stinging away when I came in.
But when Mrs. Clark passed by, the one who was teetering on the corner there, looking very, very unsafe, said, Will you please say a prayer for us? while you're in there. So that's what we're going to do. There are three of them. We're going to pray for them. Let's have a word of prayer, shall we? Our Father, we thank thee again for this lovely letter. We've been getting a little more acquainted with during this week. We thank thee for the film that has, in a very graphic way, brought the story before us. Now we pray that our last study this morning showed thee a vehicle for thy Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts in a real way and continue we pray that you instruct us in these things we pray for these three young men we realize that just watching folk come into this building they associated it with praying we thank you for at least that kind of a witness and testimony they've asked for prayer we don't know what their needs are there may have been a little fun in their thinking when they ask we do pray for them because we know that praying changes things
we ask that the lives of these three through their contacts with the past might be changed in Jesus name. Amen. I don't think they thought that's what he prayed for but that's what we've been concerned about. Do you have that little letter? Then I wonder if you noticed how Dr. Ironside referred to this man, the Master. He didn't call him Spine Eamon. What did he call him? Bill Eamon.
Did you notice that? Yes. Bill Eamon. Now, I'm glad he did that, because I asked you to do a little research on the name of this man, calling him Spine Eamon is one thing, calling him... Philemon is another thing, and there's a clue to the meaning of his name. How many of you have ever been to Philadelphia? Well, don't go now. Anyway, Philadelphia means what? The city of brotherly love. That's right. In the Bible there's the word Philologus, which means lover of the word.
There's also another word which means lover of money. P-H-I-L. Now that's a Greek prefix and it means love. So it's very striking that Philemon, as Dr. Ironside called him, Philemon had in his name this word for love. Now I thought we'd spend, now really and truly this morning, I had a little conflict with myself because there were four little phrases that I noticed in looking through the letter that I thought would make a nice little message all packaged up this morning, but in the end I decided not to talk about them.
But I'm just going to mention them. You might like to put a little sermon together. I noticed a little expression in verse two, the church in thy house. In fact, there are four expressions here, and they're linked by their form, and they're also linked by an alliteration. The church in thy house. That's verse two. Verse six, the communication of thy faith. Verse seven, the consolation in thy love and in verse twenty one the confidence in thy obedience I thought my that would make a nice sermon now I'll be able to preach it some other time at Parker the Palm when the conference is over but there are four very lovely things and each has some practical lessons to teach the church in thy house the communication of thy faith the consolation in thy love and the confidence in thy obedience.
He must be a wonderful man whose house and faith and love and obedience are so commended. That isn't the message for the morning. Instead, I thought we ought to talk about this business of loving a little more because Philemon or Philemon's name means lover of good. things. And while Onesimus didn't live up to his name, Philemon certainly did. He was a lover of good things. Now very quickly, take a look through this little letter, how many references to loving or beloved or love can you find?
Very quickly, let's go down and see what we can find here. We get an early start in verse one, unto Philemon our dearly beloved. All right, that's number one. Where's the next one? Verse two, and what does that say? And to our beloved Afia. That's right. Interestingly enough, if you look in the revised version, you will find it is Philemon, our beloved, and in verse two, our beloved Afia. There really is no distinction. One is not dearly beloved, and the other simply beloved. But you don't have to feel that that takes anything away, because the word that is used to you is exactly that same word, this is my beloved son.
But in the revised version, the dearly is left out. It isn't really necessary, actually, and so for loved Athea, as much as he loved Philemon. So don't be disturbed about the difference here in our English translation. Let's go on to the next reference. Where can you find the next one? Verse five and that says what? Hearing of thy love and faith. That's number three. Now go a little further down and let's see what else we can find. Number seven, who was that gave me number seven? Who was it that gave me number seven? Would you read it for just give us the phrase there?
The constellation in thy love. That's right. Now that's number four. Are we through yet? Go a little further down. Nine, that's right, and what do they say there? That's right, yet for love's sake, I'd rather be free. See, now that's number five. Go on a little bit further. Can you find anything else? Just keep going. All right, I give you the last one. It's number... It's verse... Aha, you have it. Verse sixteen, that's right.
Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved. And there it is. All right, now we've got six mentions of love here. Now, Philemon's name means love, or lover of good things. But it's rather interesting. The word for love that's in his name... is not the word for love that's used in this little letter. Now, that's significant. Now, there are two Greek words. I know this is old half to some of you, but I'm just reminding you, there is the word phileo, which means love, and there is the word agape, which means love.
Now, in this letter, there's only one form used, and it's that form agape. Phileo is not used in the letter. Now there's a difference. I suppose we could say of these two words that there is, it's interesting and significant to look at how they are used, to look, or if you will, for the sake of alliteration, the deployment of them, and then the difference between them, and then the distinction that is indicated by the use of the one here in this letter. Now... Both of these words are used by the Father of His Son.
Filio and Agape. They are both used by the Father of His Son. They are also both used by God of His people. I have some references here. I jot it down, but I'm not going to take time to give them to you. They are also used by the Lord Jesus of the one who's called a certain disciple. Both words, phileo and agape. So they are both very good words. The word phileo means tender love. But it's a word that is also used sometimes in a way of rebuking.
That's rather striking. Interesting. The Lord Jesus used it on at least one occasion when he was rebuking. And you will remember, Lovest thou me, Lord, you know that I'm fond of you. There's a different word used here in the interview between the Lord Jesus and Peter. But when we come to Agape, this is a word that stands absolutely positive. every time it's used. It isn't easy to define it, but if we go to the negative side and see what it's not, we'll get an idea of the force of the word agape.
It is not an impulse that comes of our feelings. Now that can be said of filio, but it cannot be said of agape, though. It is not just an impulse that rises to the surface, Because we feel a certain way at a given moment. It's something far more deep-seated and constant than that. Not an impulse. It's not always shown toward those that we lean toward. In other words, it is an emotion that can be known even for a person to whom we may feel an aversion.
You don't have to necessarily like a person in order to love them, in the sense that agape means love. Now that is possibly not true of filia. Now again, it is not only, it is sometimes, but it is not only dispensed by the one who loves in this fashion. to people with whom they have a oneness or affinitus. This agape love is the kind of love that Paul is concerned about in this letter, and so he uses only that one word in these six instances.
I suppose if we were to sum up those two words, we would say that phileo is a love that values. A tender love... that it is ready to serve. But agape love is the love that venerates. And that's a long step forward that means to cherish above everything else in the world. Unfortunately, this word got banded around by the hippies. It became quite popular during the time of the hippie movement. and people spoke of agape and they didn't know the first thing about it.
Paul did. And he saw fit to use it six times in this letter or a word that is derived from it. Now how widely did his love go? Well, his love went out to this affluent and wealthy householder and master of slaves. He loved Philemon, our beloved, he called her. It also went out to Philemon's wife. He loved Athea. He called her too, beloved.
It was a kind of love that went out to, I'm sure, Archipus too. He's called a fellow soldier. There is no mention of beloved in connection with him, but I'm quite sure that in the self-same way, especially since Archipus was the kind of man he was, and we do read about him elsewhere, you know, you might like to look that up and do a little research on that. Also, I'm sure that Paul loved him. When we come to Onesimus, we find Paul not only loved... the saint, a fellow saint, happier.
He also loved a fellow servant, Philemon. He had love for a fellow soldier, Artemis. And he had love for a fellow son, a brother. Verse sixteen says of Onesimus that he also was beloved. Now that covers a wide expanse. Love moving in every direction. But you know, these are the only ones that are mentioned here. But his love went out to all of the people of God. You know, Paul was such a loving man. He not only loved the church of... loved the Lord Jesus and loved these people who worked side by side with him, but he loved the church of God even those he had never met face to face.
It must be wonderful to have a heart as big as that. that in this agape fashion reaches out to all the saints. You remember we made reference to the fact that it says of this man Philemon that he loved all the saints. That's the expanse of love. Also in this letter we have what I'd like to call the expression of love. Verse five says, hearing of thy love. Now that love is meant to be, as we saw a moment ago, universal.
Reaching out first to the Lord Jesus. You're not going to be able to love anybody in a gappy fashion if you do not first of all love the Lord Jesus. And our love for one another won't increase unless we love him increasingly. Somebody has said the Church of God is like a spoked... Now picture a spoked wheel. The closer the spokes get to the hub, the closer they get to one another. Do you ever notice that about a spoke wheel? That's how the church is. The closer we get to the Lord Jesus, the closer we automatically get to one another. For its love for the Lord Jesus, that's the beginning of it and the controlling factor of it.
I don't know how much you would say you love the Lord Jesus. Sometimes you realize that you don't really know. Remember that drunken man I mentioned the other night? He was so stirred up by hearing the preacher preaching the gospel in the open air. I guess it carried him back to the days of his youth, maybe when his mother would talk to him and pray with him and so on, and so stirred up, drunk as he was, he pushed his way through the crowd and stood swaying in front of the preacher, and he said, ah, preacher, I die for Jesus Christ. Remember the preacher's response? He hasn't asked you to die for him. He's asked you to get converted and live for him, and you don't seem to be making a very good job of it.
If we love the Lord Jesus, it's going to be evidenced in our lives and one of the evidence will certainly be our love for fellow believers so there's a reference here to love toward the Lord Jesus verse five love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus that's the order him first and then toward all saints we know also that this love digressing from our letter a little, but recognizing the teaching of Scripture, we are told that we are to love all men, and we are even to love our enemies.
Now you've really got to love the Lord in order to be able to love all saints, and you've sure got to be able to love the world in order to love all people. I think you know that I was associated for a number of years, some twelve years, with the Macaulay Water Street Mission in New York City, which is the oldest rescue mission in the world. Just a few years ago, in nineteen seventy-two, the city of New York made the Macaulay Water Street Mission a member of the Century Club, which is a rather prestigious club, and they are only members who, as businesses or institutions, have continued for over a hundred years.
So the mayor sent his representatives and Newsweek and Time and these all turned up at our banquet and we had a great time. But however, people used to say to me, knowing that I had worked for many years among young people, they used to say, how in the world can you get involved with a work like that? It seemed to them staggering that I should be able to step into the shower with a man who was drunk but badly beaten and hurt and helped shower. It seems strange that I should spend my time among people who were called by so many others by a word I never used to use, bums.
I never used that word. I don't use that word. These are people that God... loves. Do you know what I found out in working among these alcoholics? I would get a call sometimes from one of the bars down on the Bowery. I knew all the barmen, all the barkeeps, bartenders. I would pick up a phone and a voice would say, Mr. Woodhouse, there's one of your men in here. I don't think you want him here. Then I would have to make up my mind. Do I go down there and haul him out of the bar and bring him back and clean him up? Or do I leave him till he's so sick he comes crawling back on his hands and knees?
Every case had to be judged on his own merits. Every man had to be dealt with in a different fashion. There was some men, and the moment I heard they were in the bar post-taste, I was in my car and on my way, and I would to pick him up and bring them back, even though they were drunk. Because I knew that particular man had to be helped in that fashion. There's another man, and I would say to the bartender, when he's sick enough, he'll be back. And I'd leave him there until he got deathly sick, and then he'd stagger into the mission, and we'd start all over again with him. And it's amazing to people that this doesn't become nauseating and so on. But I found out these men, without a single exception, are like little children.
And very sneakily, they have a way of really getting around you. They really get into your heart. They wrap themselves around your heart. I really found it's not difficult to get to love these men. And I suppose it's because God does work miracles, but God expects us not only to love those who are lovable, but to love those who are not lovable. And then as surely as we do it, He promises to honor that kind of love for Him. So we're told even to love our living. If it's tough to love the alcoholic, it's tougher still to love your enemy.
And yet this is the way love is meant to be expressed. And the man who loves, the woman who loves and loves God that much, that his love reaches out to all of these others, is the kind of man whose testimony is effective who gets places for God. Because everything else, God loves God. a lover in that sense. So you will notice this love of Philemon was spread over a wide area. It was meant to be, as is yours and mine, a universal thing. And it wasn't possible to love like that without people finding out.
Hearing of thy love and faith. There are so few people who really love in these days. that when somebody does, and it's obvious, everybody gets to hear about it. Pilemon's love was like that. He was, in that sense, noted as a man who cared. You know, that kind of love simply cannot be balanced. It has to produce fruit. It can't help but produce fruit. Paul appreciated what Pilemon's love meant. And it was because of his love that Paul prayed for him. Where do I get that from?
He says, I thank my God, making mention of the always in my prayers, hearing of thy love. It was because Philemon was such a loving man that Paul couldn't help praying for. So you have the extent of love. Spreads over a wide area. The expression of love illustrated in this man. Then you come to the excellence of love. It's here in verse seven. We have great joy and consolation in thy love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by the brother. He is rejoicing.
He is refreshing. And here is reassuring. That word consolation. Again, it's another interesting Greek word. It's the word paraclete. Now, can you think of any other word that sounds like that? Yes, the paraclete, the comforter. And so here you can see love is such an excellent thing among other things. It puts one man... alongside the other, that's the meaning of the prefix para. You know what parallel lines are? They are lines that run alongside one another, and the para-clete is one alongside the other for the purpose of comfort.
Love is an excellent thing. It refreshes, it rejoices, and it reassures. I remember when I was a boy at school, so it was one hundred and five years ago, As part of my assignment in school I had to learn, yea, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. And so, I am sorry our children don't have to learn passages of the Bible at day school. I learned I first Corinthians thirteen there.
I learned Isaiah fifty-three there. I learned Psalm fifteen there. I learned Psalm one there. I learned John chapter fourteen there at school. And they still stay with me. That's right. Romans, you must have come from England too. Yeah, and these things really stay. They really stay. But First Corinthians thirteen, that's the description of nothing. Somebody has said it's the portrait of the Lord Jesus. But there's one other thing I want to point out to you here, and it's in verse nine. Yet for love's sake, I'd rather be such thee. Now here's the expectancy of love.
For love's sake. The apostle Paul says, I want you to show a readiness to receive this man. And I want you to show a willingness to bestow upon him. You know, Paul was as much concerned about Philemon's good as he was the good of all estimates. Because the words of the Lord Jesus have been preserved for us by revelation it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now you won't find that in the gospel, but by revelation that which is spoken of as a word of the Lord Jesus. He was the one who said it.
It has been preserved for us. Jesus said it. Not in the gospel, but it's there. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. So he had Philemon's good as much in mind as he had the good of Onesimus. It's more blessed to give than to receive. Mr. Majonia was saying, I would at last know how Philemon looked when he met Onesimus. I'm still not sure that I know. But I do think I know how he looked after he received oneness.
I think he looked very happy. I think he looked very grateful. I think he looked very excited. Because he saw what God can do in the life even of a runaway. Now we have the opportunity to go and manifest the same things that Philemon manifested and it can come upon us and do it. We started early, so we're finishing early. Yeah, I'm just going to say there may be comments we'd like to add and we have a few moments. Reassured.
Yes, that word, paraplegic. You must be taking notes. I wonder if anybody has a comment, something to add to this, something that it would be profitable for us to take away in addition to what we've been pondering. I'm sure... Yes, it's a very lovely little film, and I hadn't seen it before. I must admit, I was down when it was shown, and yes, it's a very lovely gospel message, and there's no question at all about it.
Does anybody else have a question or something you'd like to add to this? My, I realized I was wonderful, but I didn't know I could exhaust my topic like that. I'm sure there's a lot more in it than we've touched on. But because the pages of our Bible stick together so readily, a little epistle like this, very often is lost. We turn over two pages and we even forget it's there. It's a good idea to read it occasionally. And I think you'll find the more you read it, the more it will grow. Shall we pray? Yes, the joy of heaven to earth has come down, fixing us by humble dwelling.
All by faithfulness shall we pray. Our Father, we know that the Bible has a lot to say about love. It says love covereth the multitude of sins that we love. we're not going to parade the shortcomings of other people. It reminds us that love suffers long and is kind. If we love, we shall not get offended, and we shall certainly want to dispense kindness to those of us.