Graeme

Somebody once wrote that ‘it wasn’t the bits of the Bible they didn’t understand that troubled Him; it was the bits he did understand.’

Many Christians want to follow Christ because they really believe his teachings bring a life worth living. We want to follow Jesus all the way. But then we come up against that teaching which is just too hard…

For many it is this; forgive as you have been forgiven.

But we can’t let go of that hurt that we feel when that person (usually a trusted friend on loved one) did that to us.

The letter to Philemon is all about that sort of situation. Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, ran away. In Roman times this was punishable by death or by being beaten within an inch of your life. If they didn’t do this then all slaves would run away and the Roman economy would collapse for lack of cheap labour.

But Onesimus had run away to the only good person he knew, Paul. Paul had been the one who helped Philemon become a Christian and must have made a big impression on the pagan Onesimus too. We don’t know why he ran away but it obviously doesn’t matter to Paul, because while sorting out his life with Paul a 100 km away in Ephesus, he decided to give his life to Jesus.

This changed everything!

This changed his relationship to Philemon. Before the most important relationship they shared was Master/Slave, now the most important relationship is brother/brother in Christ.

“It may be that Onesimus was away from you for a short time so that you might have him back for all time.

And now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave: he is a dear brother in Christ. How much he means to me! And how much more he will mean to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord!

So, if you think of me as your partner, welcome him back just as you would welcome me.

If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to my account.”

Philemon

How can he have Onesimus put to death or beaten if he shares in Jesus’ rich salvation with Philemon? How can he love him and harm him? Paul insists that Philemon must officially and formally forgive Onesimus. Not only that, he must grant him his freedom! (Bear in mind that slaves costs the modern equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars!) Bear in mind that all Philemon’s neighbours would pressure him to do the ‘right thing’, the legal thing, and have him executed.

So Onesimus returned to Philemon with nothing but the letter in his hand, an apology on his lips and waited to see if he would be killed or reconciled.

That’s courage. The courage of his convictions taken all the way.

How many of us return to apologise when we have done serious harm to another person’s life- knowing that they have every right to ‘tear strips off us’. Most people choose avoidance over reconciliation any day! But Jesus expects us to seek to make our wrongs right. How hard to be in Onesimus’ shoes.

And how many of us try to be reconciled when it is we who have been wronged? How hard it is to forgive when the hurt really matters to us. How hard to be in Philemon’s shoes.

Do you have the courage to go the whole way with Jesus?

If you do, you are going to need the power of the Holy Spirit to help you because some things were never meant to be attempted on our own without God’s strength.

As for Philemon and Onesimus? I wonder what happened next…?

]]> http://www.livingfaithchurch.org.au/blog/uncategorized/extraordinary-courage/feed/ 0 http://www.livingfaithchurch.org.au/blog/weeklymessage/august-29-2010-2/ http://www.livingfaithchurch.org.au/blog/weeklymessage/august-29-2010-2/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:15:58 +0000 webmaster http://www.livingfaithchurch.org.au/?p=1176 This week is a Youth-Led service, in which two of our youth “unpack” readings from Luke about being invited to the great feast. Who are you in the story, and who would you invite?

I read live accounts of evangelism on Melbourne’s streets in the late nineteenth century. I was shocked at how bullying and aggressive it was. No doubt the street evangelists were convinced that in the Christian society of the time where it was assumed that all good citizens were Christian that it was only the most hard hearted of sinners who were yet to hear the good news.

But I didn’t hear about Jesus that way. I was introduced to Jesus by people who cared about me and really thought he would enrich my life. I heard this as a kind of “invitation” to something really good.

These days people who are involved with evangelism often refer to Jesus’ gracious invitations to join him in meals. This parable of the Great Banquet is a beautiful example …

When one of the guests sitting at the table heard this, he said to Jesus, “How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”
Jesus said to him, “There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people. When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, ‘Come, everything is ready!’ …
The master … said to his servant, ‘Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
Luke 14

Evangelism is different now.

Now, it is marked by faith, love and hope. Faith in Jesus to bring about great things in non-Christian lives, love for our friends and relatives that motivates us to invite them on the greatest adventure of their lives, and hope that the Holy Spirit will work in people’s lives.

I naturally warm to the sort of evangelism that is about friendly invitations rather than nervously harassing.
I think it fits in naturally with the way we do things at LFC. I loved hearing about people being invited to the women’s retreat, to Cafe Church, to worship and to some of our study groups.

In fact any group or event in our church can be an opportunity to invite people either to that group or into another group that may take people further in discovering more about Jesus.

Who would you love to invite?

Graeme

This story is set in the context of a number of surprises and quite confronting teachings. Remember last week Jesus was talking about a fire that he is sending on the earth and about divisions in families. Before that he was talking about servants being whipped for their disobedience. Following that he raises the threat of jail and the question of death if people don’t turn away from their sins.

Just before today’s story in Luke 13, Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree which is threatened with destruction because it is not producing fruit. All these stories are confronting and even frightening. They are warnings to people that there are negative consequences for unfaithfulness. Jesus is suggesting that there is something wrong with their faith system. He is challenging the faith culture and he wants to bring change. Maybe this woman is an illustration of the difficulty they had.

Because of their sin they are bent over, unable to see anything but their toes and ground directly in front of them. They have a blinkered view. What Jesus wants to do for them, is to set them free from the evil which binds them to disobedience. He wants them to be able to stand straight, look forward, and have a vision of the Kingdom of God.

Their blinkered view is illustrated by the response of the religious leaders. They have such a restricted view of the Sabbath, that they described his actions as healing and therefore work, which should not be done on the sacred day.

Jesus has a broader view and points out their hypocrisy, because even they treat their animals better than that. I wonder what Jesus preached in the Synagogue that day. Surely the purpose of going to worship is to connect with God, and at least to find mercy if not grace and to find forgiveness and acceptance. These were Jesus themes and I assume they were what he was talking about. This act of setting a woman free on the Sabbath could well have been an illustration of his sermon. He was certainly confronting the rigidity and coldness of their interpretation of the Sabbath law.

I wonder if we are much different from them. What influences have caused us to be bent over so that we cannot see the hope that Jesus gives. Certainly Christians in the early 21st century seem somewhat introverted about their faith. What in our culture binds us to fear so that we would rather look down? Jesus calls us to raise our eyes to the heavens and see the great vision of the Kingdom of God, because this is good news for us, our church, our community, our whole world.

Graeme