Focal Point

Dave Bruey: Today, on Focal Point, with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pray for divinely fueled unification. Pray for divinely fueled unification. I don't want you just to suck it up and say I'll try to forgive, I'll forgive, I'll forgive. Great, you should forgive. But there's a way for you to have that be divinely fueled.

Dave Bruey: A dad once handed his son a pocket knife and told him to keep watch by the car while trouble stirred somewhere out in the neighborhood. And Pastor Mike still brings up this story when he teaches on unity in the church. Today, on Focal Point, we're continuing our series Fighting for Peace. And Pastor Mike opens the short letter of Philemon, where the Apostle Paul makes his appeal to a divided congregation, hoping old grudges won't win out over a shared calling. Pastor Mike calls this message Glimpses of the Goal.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: I'm supposed to be advancing the cause of Christ in my community and my world. And here's the thing about the world. It lies, 1 John 5, in the hands of the evil one. He's out there trying to blind the minds of the and eyes of the unbelieving, 2 Corinthians 4. This is a battle for people's souls. And it's not just work, it's a battle. The mission we have is a is an arduous mission. It's one that Satan is going don't you dare. It's the one that makes you puts you on Satan's radar. As Jesus said to Peter and the and the team, Satan has demanded to sift you all like wheat.

I know he's talking to Peter, but he says all of you guys, you want to advance the cause of Christ into enemy territory as he writes to the Colossians. He says I want to see people transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his son, this kingdom of light. I'm trying to get souls from the enemy territory and bring them back. They're hostages over there. We've got to get released. Do you understand this battle? You will be the target of the enemy. Satan will be there soon. You're not going to take another one.

You're not going to take another one. Not from this neighborhood, not from this office. And you're supposed to go assault these walls, these gates, these electrified barbed wire fences of hell and go in and retrieve the loss. That's our job. And you know, when there's something heavy like that involved, when there's something like that just takes our our sense of safety and and we we have to join together. I tell the story. My parents will have to give you the the clear view on this. My mom probably didn't even know, but when I was a kid, I don't remember how old I was.

My older brother, he was he was designed by God basically as a reflection of the Wonder Years older brother, if you ever watch that show. He picked on me endlessly. I had plenty of reason not to like my brother. He's a pastor now in another state, but I'm telling you, we could we couldn't get through dinner without some kind of frustration. We were out to dinner one night, Mexican restaurant, and of course, we had plenty to argue with. Well, we come home and as often happened when there was something bad going on in the neighborhood, we didn't run lock our self inside.

My dad, who was a cop, would say we're going to go and and do something about it. So, we come home and I don't remember what it was. Someone jumping over a fence, ski mask, something in our little East Long Beach neighborhood. And And dad drops mom off, puts her inside, and has the Fabarez boys drive. I was probably eight, nine, 10, I don't know, fourth grade. Dad's not on duty. We just went to go get, you know, wet burritos from the from from the Mexican restaurant. And and dad reaches into his sock holster and pulls out a little snub nose 38, hands it to my brother who's writing now in the front seat.

He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a buck knife, opens it up, hands it to me in the back seat. Takes out his 357 and now all the Fabarezes are armed. We're chasing down some hoodlums in some neighbor I don't even remember and it was just this I I can see it in my mind's eye as we're chasing these people and I'm sitting in the back seat with a buck knife. And I remember them getting the doors open and them going out and dealing with these guys and I'm just watching the car with my knife.

And And I'm thinking to myself, I got a lot of reasons not to like my brother, but that day we were best friends. Right? I mean, if you can't shoot them, Dave, I'm going to knife them. That just just was like we're going to we going to get through this. All I'm telling you, you got conflict in the church. You and the person you have conflict with, go out and share the gospel with three people this week and engage in conversation in demon territory. And I assure you, you'll have no time for your little petty problems with your neighbor, your brother and sister in Christ.

You're going to say our efforts got to be to join together. We are in a battle, we're in a war. The familial motifs, the business motifs, and the military motifs, the brother in arms, that's a big deal in a fox hole. We're going to get along cuz we're fighting a common enemy. The setup for this is great. See yourselves as siblings with a mission. Philemon, it's printed there for you in verse three. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, Lord Jesus Christ. Hey, guys, all of you, Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, hey, church at Colossae, grace to you.

Grace to you and peace. Where's it coming from? Our our Father, God our Father. And of course, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, applied of course by his spirit. All of that needs to be done and it needs to come from heaven. God's favor and and his peace be given to you. Now, here's the interesting thing about that redemptive work, that what here's a good word for that reconciling work. We read in our DBR this week from from Isaiah 59:2 about the separation our sins make. What we need is a reconciliation with God. We're born sinners, we're born apart from God, we're born as children of Adam.

We need to be reconciled. So, God goes and reconciles us. He does the work to reconcile. He sends us a God so loved the world, he gives his only son. And he reconciles us. God wants his church unified and wants you to to be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Grace and peace to you has been grace and peace to him and you two should be at peace with each other. That's the picture. Philemon, it's printed there for your worksheet. What does he thank God for? Well, he thanks God.

Not only is he praying grace and peace to them, that's a prayer. He says in my prayers, I thank God that you have love and faith toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. I know we've gotten quite a far into point two without giving the title cuz I want you to see all the things he is praying. Mostly the core of it in verse six, it's all about the fact that the connection we have with God that brings forth love and trust in other people is something organically given. You share in the faith and therefore all of this stuff works its way out that the organic connection, the divine work that God has done in your life is making a difference outside.

And what's the whole point of this letter? Get get reconciled. Get over and forgive each other, be unified. Let's give the point then we'll unpack it just a little bit more. Number two, pray for divinely fueled unification. Pray for divinely fueled unification. I don't want you just to suck it up and say I'll try to forgive, I'll forgive, I'll forgive. Great, you should forgive. But there's a way for you to have that be divinely fueled. Love, jot this down. 1 John chapter two. Let's turn there. 1 John. Let's go to chapter four. We could go to two.

Let's go to chapter four. 1 John chapter four. Look at verse seven. You remember this? Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. That's a pretty clear statement as deep and profound and philosophical as it sounds, but the whole point is you draw near to God. God is love. God so loved the world, he loves sinners. He he justifies the ungodly. He reaches out and forgives people that don't deserve it.

He doesn't have to settle the score with his own children. That God of love, that's the thing that you ought to be doing with each other. In this, love of God was made manifest among us. How do we know love? Because God defined it. God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. We get life, we get forgiveness even though we don't deserve it. Verse 10. In this love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the payment, the propitiation, the satisfaction of what justice demanded for our sins.

That's love. Beloved, you're loved by God. That's what beloved means. If God so loved us, so also ought we to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. You want to say you love God, you better be loving each other. We could read it all if we had time, but drop down to the bottom. Verse 19, bottom of the chapter. We love because he first loved us. I hope that's the measure of what you know you ought to bring to other people.

If anyone says verse 20, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. Pastor got a stuttering problem all the son in the in the third service. You should have seen it. It was weird. Why am I saying that? Cuz that's a hard pill to swallow right there. We could hear it another three times. This is crazy. What? If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, unless of course he has a good reason to hate him, then he is a liar.

No, that's the Mike Fabarez translation. That's that's not it. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, if you hate your brother, fellow sibling in Christ, metaphorical co-worker in Christ, brother in arms, if if you both been reconciled and have peace from God, if you hate that person, you don't love God. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God We've gone from ought to must. Must also love his brother. What is your problem with your brother or your sister in Christ?

You got to get over that and stop searching for a theological reason. If there is one, bring it to your pastors. And it better be a big one. If you're going to maintain some distinction, some difference, some distance between them, you got to solve this. Paul sends Onesimus right back to Philemon. Fix this face to face. And he's going to ask for forgiveness. We're going to dig into forgiveness sex with this huge. Verse six, Philemon, verse six. I said this is the key verse. I pray and I explain this enough as I read it. The koinonia, the sharing of of your faith, not of evangelism.

This is you participating in Christianity. May become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing in us for the sake of Something in me is coming from my connection with God that is supposed to make me think about doing the right thing and actually doing the right thing for God's sake, not for my feeling's sake. One passage on this, John chapter 15. Your koinonia with the triune God of the universe, that should make you do something. Something positive, something right, particularly when you're miffed and your feelings are hurt with someone in the church. You know this passage too.

Verse one. I am the vine, the true vine. My father is the vine dresser. He's the gardener. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. That's where he's going to go in verse six. That's a terrible thing. And every branch that does bear fruit he prunes it. He's going to try and say this is a fruitful branch. Let's Let's cut this back a little bit. Oh, ouch. Why? That it may bear more fruit. God wants you to be more fruitful. Maybe that's why you have this trial. Maybe the problem you have with your sister in Christ in this fellowship is because God is trying to make you a more fruitful Christian.

Oh, that sounds weird. That's what the Bible's telling us. Fruit. Great. He's going to put you in situations that feel painful. Pruning is not a fun experience so that you can bear more fruit. You're already clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Abide in me. Okay? So, you're a Christian now. What you need is a organic spiritual connection with me. Abide in me. And I and you if we're if we're copathetic, if we're sympathico, if we're in in connection, then you're going to bear fruit as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself. I just laying on the ground, I going to bear fruit unless it abides in the vine.

Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he who bears much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. And here's one thing you can't do. You can't forgive, you can't make up, you can't overlook it, you can't fix the relational problem you have with another Christian without Christ cuz it should come from the divinely fueled desire to make this right. Verse six, the bad news. Verse seven. If you abide in me and my word abides in you, ask whatever you wish, it'll be done for you.

Do you think the things that we ask for like at our prayer meetings once a month we get together, we pray or you're in your small group you're praying. You think planning more churches, winning more souls, making this place the way it should be made, right? An excellent place where worship is done right. Do you think the preaching of the word on all the platforms that we pray to be fruitful, do you think God is in favor? Of course he is. But there may be some problems. Maybe we're not bearing the kind of fruit we should and therefore we can ask and receive.

By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. God will be glorified if this church could do all that we aspire to do. And we'll prove to be his disciples, his effective, fruitful disciples. As the father has loved me, so I loved you. Abide in my love. We get right to this virtue of love, the very first fruit of the spirit, the first thing God is at the top of the list. Love, love, love, love, love. You better have love in your congregation. By this, my father's glory, bear much fruit, prove to you my disciples.

As the father has loved me, so I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and I abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Don't forget that verse. This is not just a slap you on the knuckles and say hey, Philemon, I know he wronged you, but let's just all forget it. You just going to you're going to have to live with it, lump it.

No, this is for your joy. Philemon, you embracing Onesimus, the guy that ripped you off and ran from you. If you can embrace as brothers in Christ as fellow soldiers, you know what? It's going to be good for you. It's going to be good for God. God's going to feel good. You're going to feel This is going to be great. Doesn't feel that way when we're doing it, but it's going to be this commandment verse 12 that you love one another as I have loved you. This is my commandment. Do that. Christ loved us when we didn't deserve it.

You're supposed to love the person in your small group even if he doesn't deserve it. Greater love is no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Jesus about to be killed because he's saying he loves us. How about you swallow your pride to say that you love that person? That's what God says we're supposed to do, to love each other even if it costs us. You're my friends if you do what I command you. No longer verse 15 do I call you servants. Servant doesn't know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends for you know for all that I have heard from the father I've made known to you.

You didn't choose me, I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. What kind of fruit are we talking about? That your fruit should abide, your relationship should abide, your harmony should abide, your unity should abide. For ask what whatever what whatever you want. So, whatever you ask of the father, it'll be given to you. These things I command you so you so that you will love one another. Can I just put this very practically? All the things we aspire to and I hope it's part of your your desires for this church and churches like ours to be fruitful, reach their communities for Christ, plant more churches here and across the country, to change the landscape of of our culture that is that is barreling toward hell and to see people plucked from the fire as Jude says.

How? Well, maybe the problem is your relationships with people in this church. Maybe we don't we're not loving each other. All right, verse seven as though we had time. Back to Philemon. I want you to have divinely fueled unification, organic connection with God. You cannot read your DBR, you cannot the Bible study, you can't pray through your prayer list, you can't worship God if you're not imbuing in the kind of thing that creates love and forgiveness and harmony and overlooking an offense and joining together even when it doesn't feel good for Christ's sake. Verse seven.

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Three things about Philemon's love. Paul says brought me comfort, brought me joy. And I've been refreshed. Clearly he has, but he's saying and you refreshed a lot of other people. Number three, you need to get excited about the rewards of Christian love. I pointed that out in John 15. This is a joy for you. This is a joy for you. If you have a unified church, if you have love in this church like you've never seen in any other organization and couldn't see because we're living by a different set of rules.

We have a different kind of of of internal power, of fuel from God to do this. It'll be good for you. Number one, letter A, let's put it this way. Unity. Here's the word joy. It feels good. Do you know how good it feels to be a part of a small group where in everyone's got everyone else's back and we are in harmony with each other and whatever has been said or done to miff the person next to it's forgiven. It's over. Even if someone steals from someone, it's over. It's done. That feels good. I I put on the back of the worksheet for your small groups this week, Psalm 133.

How good and how pleasant it is for the brothers to dwell together in unity. How good would it feel for you to be in a church that is really loving each other to the place of real harmonious and unified connection. Comfort. What comfort do we get from love? Hey, think about that. What kind of comfort do we get from If the people in my church love me, I get a great deal of comfort from that. I hope you do too. If I really have your back and you have my back, it doesn't matter what happens.

We are strong together, a cord of three strands not easily broken and a cord of 3,000 strands. That'll hold a ship to a dock. Think about this, right? You will be able to have an anchor for your soul, not just in your ethereal theological truth which is absolutely true, but yet unseen, but the things that you can see. I don't care what happens to my life, seriously. I could I could get a disease and be dead by next Sunday. Let's just say I die. I still don't even worry because I know I'll leave behind people, some people like my wife that may miss me and my kids.

But here's the thing. I don't worry for I don't worry about it. Well, you're too old to get insurance anymore. You're right. I have no life insurance anymore. But it's okay. Shoot me in the head cuz here's the thing. No, don't. I'm not worried about my wife. You think you might take care of my wife? I think so. I don't care what My house can burn down today. I'm not going where I'm going to live. I'm going to move into the holiday inn. That's not what it's going to happen. I'm moving into your house. I'm just telling you what.

I'm just telling you what. There's nothing to worry There's talking about comfort. I'm talking about I put it this way. Unity feels good and unity provides security and I want that security. And we need that security as human beings. Jot down Proverbs 17:17 next to that and look it up. A friend born for adversity. We know that no matter what happens, if it's bad, people that I'm right with, people that I'm in love with in terms of the Christian love that we should have in a church, they've got my back. Refreshment. Just jot it down.

We won't turn you but 2 Chronicles chapter 30 verse 12. 2 Chronicles chapter 30 verse 12. When he says it refreshes the hearts of people, there's nothing more refreshing than this little scene where Hezekiah brings the reforms to to Judah and it talks about all the other tribes and talks about humility and all the rest, things that work just like we saw there in Ephesians chapter four when there's sympathy and compassion. They all pull together. And I just want to read you this one verse. The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord.

Just a great line. The hand of God was on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded the right things according to the word of the Lord. I just think if the hand of You want to feel God's hand upon a congregation, a church, right? Let's just Let's make sure that we are of one heart. Let's make sure there's nothing This is this this is an Old Testament depiction of what 1 Corinthians chapter one verse 10 says. Perfectly united in mind and judgment. Our minds are on the same page.

We're finding the commonality. I wish I had more time, but just know the strength of this church, the fruitfulness of this church really comes down to the something that comes up between you and a brother or sister in the church and how you solve it. Let it fester, church split inevitable. Solve it, right? We can be fruitful, we can be strong. God can do great things. That was his prayer in John 17. Look it up sometime today and read it. He wants us to be one. The power of his disciples in this world comes down to our relationships with each other.

We'll get into the heavy lifting next week as we start in verse eight, but may God apply this to your hearts. If not presently, may it safeguard you for the next conflict that you find yourself in. Let's pray. God, help us to process this truth. Let us be honest in our discussions with each other about the need that we have to sometimes do things for the sake of Christ and not for the sake of my sense of justice or not for the sake of my own feelings. Let us do what's right because you produced in our heart through that organic connection with you a knowledge of what's right and the power to do it.

It's hard to love. It's hard to love. It's hard for Jesus to love. In the garden, he showed us how hard it was. It's tough sometimes to do the right thing and it was going to be tough for Philemon to hear that he needed to forgive the surreptitious thievery of of Onesimus. But Paul was going to lean on him to do it. And he sets it up well with this theological foundation. May we process process that this week in a way that prepares us for whatever conflict comes next in our lives in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dave Bruey: You're listening to Focal Point and a message from the book of Philemon by Pastor Mike Fabarez called Glimpses of the Goal. Every one of Pastor Mike's messages is available anytime at focalpointradio.org or download the free Focal Point app and take these messages with you. Good for a commute, a walk, or anywhere you go. And right now, we have something truly special we want to tell you about. Pastor Mike has just released a brand new book called The Bible, a book like no other. He wrote it to answer a question skeptics and believers both ask sooner or later.

Why should this ancient collection of writings be trusted more than anything else on the shelf? Inside, he walks through the history behind it, the way it was copied and preserved across thousands of years without losing its message and the predictions that were recorded centuries before they came true. It's written in plain language so you don't need a seminary degree to follow the argument. And it's just as useful handed to a skeptical friend as it is kept on your own nightstand for the nights your own questions creep in. Request your copy of The Bible, a book like no other this month when you give a gift to Focal Point by calling 888-320-5885 or give online at focalpointradio.org.

Prefer to mail your gift? Well, write to us at Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654. Focal Point stays on the air because listeners like you decide it's worth supporting. If you've been meaning to give, there's no better time than right now. Even a small gift helps, but joining as a monthly Focal Point partner is what really keeps this teaching going long-term. Sign on today at focalpointradio.org or call us at 888-320-5885. And if you're joining us for the first time, we'd love to send you a free copy of Pastor Mike's booklet Fighting for Peace.

Reach out at focalpointradio.org or call 888-320-5885. Well, I'm Dave Bruey and tomorrow Pastor Mike continues our study in The Book of Philemon. That's Tuesday on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God's word promises it'll never return void. So, I wonder how is God's word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line. Let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org and then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of scripture. We'll see you then.

Dave Bruey: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.