Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. | Philemon 1:23-24
Blog by Pastor Andrew Latulippe
Sunday, I talked about the tiny little gem of the New Testament, called Philemon in our sermon titled, The Cost of Forgiveness. But, there is one more point I’d like for us to take note of in Philemon and it’s in the final greeting.
For me, it’s always been easy to glaze over these final greetings, mostly because they seem to be just a formality of the letter and not really applicable to the real meat of the message. (Also, I can’t pronounce all the names). Well, the more I’ve spent time in the Epistles, the more I find that there are a lot of extra lessons for us to learn if we pay attention in these sign-offs.
Philemon is no exception. In verse 24, Paul mentions Mark as being with him and being his fellow worker. And in the letter of Colossians, sent and written at the same time as Philemon, we see Paul refer to Mark as someone the church is to welcome, and that Mark has been a comfort to Paul in prison.
Well, that’s no big deal unless we remember that Paul and Barnabas had a big disagreement (see Acts 15) because Paul refused to take Mark on another journey since he had left them before. Apparently there was some bad blood between Paul and Mark because of whatever had happened, but Philemon offers us proof that Mark was now a ‘comfort’ to Paul and a ‘fellow worker.’
My point? As Paul enters into the situation with Philemon and Onesimus, he comes as someone who has done the work of reconciliation. He and Mark had made amends, and Paul no longer was holding anything against him, but considered him one of his closest friends while in prison.
If we are to be bridge builders, or as Jesus put it in the Beatitudes, peace makers, we have to be willing to do the work of restitution and forgiveness ourselves. If we try to fix everyone else’s problems without doing that same work in our own lives, we risk negating our witness. If you can’t apply the Gospel to your life, how can you apply it to others?
Like I said on Sunday, Christians tend to fall into camps that either lean towards personal holiness or social justice. Either only looking inward or only outward. The reality is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn’t allow us to choose one or the other. We have to put in the work both personally and in the world around us, if we are to follow the example of Christ.
Remember that the world is watching how we act, and react to the darkness around us.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. | Ephesians 5:15-16