A Good Christian

(Philemon 1:4-7 – A Good Christian)

In these opening words of the letter of Paul to Philemon we find that Paul considered Philemon to be a great friend and a good Christian.

Philemon was a man of faith and showed love to all who came into his sphere of influence. He helped, aided and supported the saints. And it is evident that Paul considered Philemon a close friend and brother in the Lord.

However, as we continue reading the letter to Philemon we will see that even though he was a good Christian, there were still issues. We will look at those in the next post, but for now we shall consider the life of Philemon.

A Good Christian

Philemon was close enough to Paul to be in his thoughts and remembered regularly in Paul’s prayers. This shows how close he was to Paul and how Paul felt about Philemon. These are the words Paul wrote to Philemon.

4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. 8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you–I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus– (Philemon 1:4-9)

Philemon lived his faith. It was not just lip-service but his faith ran deep and he showed the depth of his faith by his actions. This is similar to the words of James when he related how his actions proved his faith.

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe–and shudder. (James 2:14-19)

Faith alone is not enough. It is not enough to say you believe in God or in Christ Jesus, and then deny Him in your life.

A good Christian believes first and then acts. Their actions and behaviour give evidence of the faith they hold in Christ Jesus.

Works of Love

The key to being a good Christian is working the works of love that flow from our faith. If we believe in Christ and if we love Him, then we should act and behave as He behaved.

When Jesus said “Follow me,” He was indicating that we ought to lead a life consistent with the will and the ways of God. To follow Christ is to walk as He walked and so prove our faith by how we live.

This is what Philemon was doing as Paul testified. It was clear that Philemon’s faith and works of love preceded him. Paul had been updated by others who met and visited Philemon and testified to the love and faith that they received and saw.

This is the aim of our Christian walk too. We are to learn how to walk and live in the love of God. And to do that we need to reflect His love by our life and our actions and behaviours.

The work of the Holy Spirit in us is to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God the Father. And we know from the words of John in 1 John 4:8,16 that “God is love.” We also see these words with respect to the love of God:

3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

We already have God’s love given to us and growing within us when we receive the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes into us to dwell within our flesh, the love of God is poured into us to do the work of transformation so that the love within can be seen.

A good Christian has struggles too

What we see in Philemon’s example is that even though he was greatly loved by Paul, he still had issues. Philemon still needed to learn and change his attitude, which we will discover in the next post.

This is comforting because we all suffer from setbacks and failures in our Christian walk. To know that Philemon also suffered as we do is comforting because Paul loved him greatly and recognised he was a good Christian. And it is evident that the Lord loved Philemon greatly too.

But, like all of us, he was still a work in progress.

The basic tenet of this letter to Philemon from Paul is to show Philemon what he needed to change. Paul was pointing out a problem that Philemon needed to rectify.

We also see the love that Paul had because he was prepared to be responsible for the needed change. Paul wasn’t just scolding Philemon. He was also showing Philemon what to do, how to do it, and softening the perceived blow that Philemon might feel by taking personal accountability for parts of the change that were needed.

Paul was putting his money where his mouth was, so to speak, to make it easier for Philemon to do the right thing.

A Good Christian walks in love

The other aspect we see in this letter is Paul’s attitude. He indicates that he is bold enough in Christ to command Philemon to do the right thing, he would rather appeal to Philemon in love.

This is a great example of how those who are in authority in the church ought to behave. When they are approaching another Christian they need to do so in an attitude of love.

Love is the ultimate aim for all Christians. We are aiming to walk as Christ walked, and He walked in the image of the love of God. The bulk of His teachings were based on the principles of love. And we see even in the laws of Moses that love was the key that underpinned the law. Note these words:

35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40)

The entire law can be summed up in these words. In the end, it’s all about love, because love is the only thing that never ends, as we are shown in Corinthians.

8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:8-10)

Everything else, whether knowledge, gifts of the Spirit, insight, or whatever will come to an end. Only love remains. And that is the ultimate aim a good Christian seeks and hopes to achieve. To be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment of the love of God.

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