Focal Point

Dave Drouy: Today on Focal10 Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: God doesn't say I suggest you forgive people cuz that would be be better for If you have it in your heart somewhere, please just forgive people. This is a command. How clear is it? I think you know the words of the Lord's prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. Remember that line? And forgive us our debts, right? As we forgive our debtors.

Dave Drouy: Peter once thought he was being generous when he offered to forgive somebody up to seven times, more even than the religious leaders of his day expected. Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez looks at how Jesus responded to that offer and why it still shapes what forgiveness is supposed to look like among believers. We're continuing a study in the book of Philemon. And to go along with this series, we're offering any first time listener a free copy of Pastor Mike's booklet Fighting for Peace. Just reach out online at focalpointradio.org. Well, now here's Pastor Mike.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Maybe you recall each year as we read through the Bible, the little Old Testament book of Amos. Most people don't remember much about the book, but there are some things we remember and maybe you remember the context that he is one of the two Old Testament prophets that went to the northern tribes of Israel and he had prophecies against them. This is in the mid 8th century BC before Christ and during the reign of Jeroboam II and he is prophesying. He's a shepherd turned prophet and he is getting them ready to understand why the Assyrians are going to come in 721 and destroy these 10 tribes of Israel.

But he starts the book with something you probably do remember, a pattern that repeats over and over and over again. Eight times he repeats it and he starts with Damascus and he says this. He says for three transgressions of Damascus and yes for four, I will not revoke your punishment. Of course, he's speaking here for God in this writing prophet and he says listen. He goes on for three transgressions of Gaza. He says and for four, I will not revoke your punishment. For three transgressions of Tyre and for four, I will not revoke your punishment.

And he explains all the punishments that are coming and he goes through it all from Amnon, Moab. Then he gets to Judah and then he says okay and now you, Israel. And the rest of the book is about that. It's it's a paradigm that's hard to forget once you get it in your head. Yes, for three transgression, yes for four. I'm I'm not going to stop with the punishment. Now the rabbis took that paradigm and by the time of Christ, they said well that's a good that's a good rule of thumb, right? For three transgressions and you know for four, for sure you're over the line there.

That's when you should you should just go ahead and write things off. And that's what God did with these nations of course. Well, that was a bad reading of the text by the way because it really misunderstands the fact that this society was filled with hundreds and thousands of transgressions. But the things that were being pointed out there in this poetic expression of judgment, I can see where the rabbis might say okay this is a good rule of thumb. If someone wrongs you once, forgive them. Twice, forgive them. Three times, certainly not for four. You don't you don't forgive them.

That was pretty well known in the 1st century. The rabbis were teaching that in the synagogues. So in Matthew 18 verses 21 and 22 when Peter comes to Jesus, he thinks he's going to get a gold star when he says hey Jesus, cuz he knows Jesus is a very forgiving person. How many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? And do you remember what he recommends? Seven. You can just see his chest like seven? I mean that's better than the rabbis give us. I mean that that that kind of reflects your very forgiving nature, doesn't it Jesus?

Seven times. And you remember Jesus's response, a math equation, right? No, no, no. I tell you not seven, but 70 * 7. I mean this blew people's minds. 70 * 7. And I don't want to lose track but at least 250, 280, 300 I'm losing track at how many times my my my my friend, my neighbor, my brother has wronged me. And yet Jesus is that's how your forgiveness should be. It should be an endless well of forgiveness that flows from your heart towards your brother when he sins against you. Amazing. That was just a crazy thing.

Now, do you ever hear pastors by the way get up before a sermon and they say things like this? They say hey whatever's gone on in your week this week, I just I just want you to forget about everything. Just don't I want you to think just about the Lord right now. Um you can tell by the way I said that. I never want you to think that way in church. I like you to remember everything that happened this week. And that's the whole point of preaching. I should be able to speak God's word to you about all the stuff we go through all the time.

And here's one thing you go through in a world filled with sinful people. They wrong you. They offend you. They sin against you. They hurt your feelings. I'd love for you right now just to remember all of that. The whole point of preaching is for you to put this into practice. I don't want you to compartmentalize the preaching and think about this as some isolated thing we do and then we get back to real life thinking. No, no, no. This is supposed to be the lens through which we see everything that happens to you. I want you to think about people that wrong you.

Think about people that just tweak and torque or whatever words you use. They tick you off. You are not pleased with them. And I want us to think about forgiveness. I want you to think about how hard it is to do it once. Then I want you to think about how how hard it would be if they did it again and to forgive them twice. I can see where the rabbis were onto something. Three times seems like you know it's a good enough for baseball, right? Three strikes and you're you're out. You don't get another crack at this.

My friendship is revoked. Forgiveness is hard. We need help. And the help that we need this morning I think is clearly found here in Philemon verses 8 through 16. And I want you to look at this because we have some very helpful things that the Apostle Paul is saying to this man Philemon, this citizen, wealthy citizen of Colossae. The church is meeting every Sunday morning in his house, big house. He had servants, slaves, which I did promise you I would mention the difference between the Greco-Roman slavery of the 1st century. I can even go back to the ancient Near Eastern slavery of the Old Testament and what you think about when you hear the word slavery.

You think about the American practice I'm assuming unless you're a historian. You think about the American practice of ethnic slavery. And certainly that was birthed in the the the Renaissance of thinking in Europe and one of the shoes to fall in modernistic thinking is the Darwinistic thinking of how we came to be. And racism as we know it comes from right the idea that we are evolved creatures and that you can look at others that may share in some kind of humanity, but not full humanity. And so we think less of them and we're able to whether it was during Nazi Germany with the Jews or whether it was American slavery and and Africans, you could start to say well they're not as evolved as we are and so it was easy.

You could see that even in Margaret Stanger's view of abortion, how that worked and eugenics it's called, making sure we have the right genes reproducing in our country. Well, godless thinking has led to a lot of terrible things including ethnic based slavery. But slavery as an institution Let's go back way way back to the ancient Near East was often used as an act of mercy to those who are conquered in war. Instead of slaughtering you, how would you like to work for us? Now you don't work like a normal worker might work with the same rights and privileges of what you think of when you think of an employee who can quit at any time.

No, you'll become conscripted workers. We see that through the Old Testament. We see that even as we start the the the the venture of the Israelites into their land. The whole Palestinian covenant as we call it in the book of of Deuteronomy was about them being freed from the slavery of the Egyptians who had to do whatever they said. They couldn't turn in their pink slips say I'm done. I'm not going to work here anymore. This was the conscription of people instead of slaughtering them, utilizing them in in in conscripted labor. There were plenty of rules for that when it came to the Israelites.

You've got to treat your slaves properly, right? That may be an act of mercy in war, but you've got to be reasonable. You have to be good to them. You have to recognize their full humanity. And so often they were stuck with the fact that this arrangement is so equally beneficial that you've got slaves that don't want to stop being slaves. You've got people that say well this is good. You take care of me just like you might think of your employer giving you health insurance. Talk about insurance. You not only get health insurance, you get every everything you could possibly want, right?

I mean you get food, you get shelter. Yeah, you have to work and you are owned by this master, but you get an arrangement that sometimes was so profitable that there had to be something mosaic law for what do you do when a person doesn't want to leave? They can earn their own freedom. They could buy themselves out, but they don't want to. Well, there was that ceremony you might remember of putting your ear lobe against the edge of the door frame and having it pierced with an awl. And that picture of that hole in your ear was that you were a willing servant of your master and you don't plan on leaving.

By the time of the Greco-Roman world, right after Alexander the Great and into the Caesars, you've got a kind of of slavery in the 1st century that goes across just people that are carrying water or wood cutters for you. Certainly not as you think about American slavery. I was just out in the fields picking cotton. That's not how this worked. This was something that you decided to do to advance yourself in some way, at least not to care about all the things you might care about because you're not a wealthy person. You come from a wealthy background, but you can go to school as a slave.

You can get a profession as a slave and you can be very important in terms of some rich person's estate. You can become an accountant or a dentist or a doctor or a lawyer. These things were often and frequently people that were slaves. It wasn't looked upon as well you're less than. Uh it's certainly you didn't have the same privileges in the socioeconomic strata of of the 1st century. But some people say over half a million slaves in the Roman Empire by the time we got here to the pages of the New Testament. But the master had the rights.

The master has a power position. And of course, Philemon had a power position. And Onesimus said I'm done and he didn't buy his freedom. He stole from his master by saying I'm out of here. Who knows what he took, but he took himself which is thievery and he was a fugitive from justice under the law of the Romans. And so Paul here is in a quandary as he's about to explain at least as it relates to Christian to Christian dialogue. He's going to say I'm in a bigger quandary than you might think. Cuz not only does he need to make this right, uh but we're all three Christians now cuz I just led Onesimus to faith in Christ and I am going to send him back to you, Philemon.

And we got to work this whole thing out. So you know this is going to be hard for Philemon. The last thing he had thought about Philemon and probably continues to think as he pounds his fist on the table is that this guy ripped him off. Talk about being wrong. He was wronged and there was some monetary value attached to the wrong. And now Paul's going to say you know what? I love you, Philemon. You're a man who's brought great joy and peace and refreshment to people cuz of your love. You're a loving guy. Now verse eight, accordingly.

Take a look at your text here, Philemon verse eight. It's printed on your worksheet or if you want to turn to your Bibles to it, I'll read it from the English standard version. We'll read through verse 16 accordingly. Based on the fact that I get great joy and comfort from your love, Philemon. Though I'm bold enough in Christ, verse eight says to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you my for my child Onesimus whose father I became in my imprisonment just like Paul talks about being the father of Timothy, right?

He's a spiritual dad. He's the one who evangelistically led him to faith in Christ. Verse 11. Formerly, Onesimus, he was useless to you, right? He was a runaway slave. You were never going to see him again. He was going to get lost in the metropolitan crowds of Rome. But now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I'm sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I love this guy. He's a disciple of Christ. He's helpful to me here in Rome under house arrest, verse 13. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf.

Now I know you, Philemon. I just happened to run in by God 's providence this guy. I lead him to Christ. I realize he's he's a runaway slave. I could have just kept him here as a brother in Christ. He could have served me. He could have made runs for me. I am stuck in this house and uh he could have been very useful to me here, verse 14. But I prefer to do nothing without your consent cuz that wouldn't be right. In order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but by your own accord.

I don't just want to say I got your runaway slave here, but I'm keeping him. No, I want you to to agree, but I'm really not thinking about him staying. I'd like you to be reconciled to him, verse 15. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while that you might have him back forever. Talk about reconciliation forever, no longer as a slave, as a doulos, as a bond servant as translated here in the ESV, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me. Think about it. He's going to serve you.

He's been great to me, a beloved brother to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh, right? He he's your servant, but he's also your brother in the Lord. That's great. It's a great text that I think has a lot embedded in it that may help us forgive. If you think about those people that have wronged you and there are plenty of them, probably some just this week that have tweaked you in some way. Well, what do I need to say about that? I need to say what Paul said in verse number eight.

I could command you and we could have a very very short sermon here just by saying you got to do what's required. And before I leave that, I want to make sure you understand that it's required. Some people think forgiveness along with a lot of other things like baptism or whatever it might be, they think those are are like extracurricular activities. We're going to have baptisms coming up I think next week. And uh some people like oh stuff like that, well it's just extra credit, right? Sharing the gospel, extra credit, like saying no to sin, extra credit.

Uh or in this case forgiving Onesimus and taking him back, extra credit. It's not extra credit. Look at those words. It is required. No. Jot that down. Number one, you need to know that you are required to forgive. That is a requirement as clear as any other requirement in scripture. It is non optional, non negotiable, it is not an opinion, and it is not a suggestion. God doesn't say I suggest you forgive people cuz that would be be better for If you have it in your heart somewhere, please just forgive people. This is a command.

How clear is it? I think you know the words of the Lord's prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. Remember that line? And forgive us our debts, right? As we forgive our debtors. As we Okay. So we forgive our debtors, people that have wronged us and we're asking you to forgive us for wronging you, God. Now you probably have that memorized. Have you memorized the bottom of that passage? How about verse 14? It says this in the Lord's prayer. It's a clarification by Christ. If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. It's funny how we don't memorize that part. If you forgive others their trespasses, when they've wronged you, then your heavenly Father will forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive the trespasses of your brothers against you, God's not going to forgive your trespasses. And could you think of a stronger way to say this is required for Christians? Required. Last week I took you to 1 John which is all about many of the things. It's about the the obedience and the fruit of salvation.

But the key thing that's put on a pedestal and a spotlight is love. You can't say you love God and don't love your brother. Right? We've seen that. And and we emphasized it last week. Love is foundational. That's the thing that he praises in Philemon. You're a loving man. You've got great joy to my heart and because you're loving. I I see it. You're a loving person. And we talked about how that is just the hallmark of Christianity. And and he goes so far to say if you don't love your brother, then then here's the thing.

You're a liar. You don't know God. That's for sure. That's huge. Well, you do know that a subset of that virtue of love is forgiveness. Remember I I took you to the passage there in in 1 John chapter four when he talks about new commandment I give to you. Well, it's not new. It's old. You've had it, but it's new. Remember all that? And I said the difference there, you might remember is that the standard has changed. The old standard from Leviticus is love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus now says in the Gospel of John, no, no, love your neighbor as I have loved you which is better than how you love yourself.

But let's just go back to the old standard cuz we can certainly find forgiveness embedded in the old standard. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Here's one thing you do every single week. Every week you forgive yourself. You may yell at yourself in the mirror. I don't know. You may say I can't stand what I've done. You may. But you get along just fine well enough to feed your face every day, well enough to get yourself some sleep every night, well enough to put deodorant on and hope that people don't think you're stinky, right?

You do a lot of things. You brush your teeth so they don't rot out of your head, right? You gals put on makeup so you look good. Why do you care? Right? Because you forgive yourself all the things that make you mad about what you do, all the things you failed to do. When you look at your life, you say I don't measure up. You continue to love yourself. Forgiveness is embedded in the virtue of love. You can't have love without forgiveness. And if you say you love your brother and you're unwilling to forgive their trespasses, you don't love your brother.

So let's just make this clear. You have to forgive because the number one virtue and fruit of Christianity is that you love your brother. I got to forgive my brother. It's got to be coming out of me and it's got to be generously coming out of me so much so that that like Peter, I got to know I got to be more forgiving than what I'm hearing at the synagogues. I got to be more forgiving than what the scholars say I should do. You know Christ long enough like Peter did. You say well I'm sure he wants me to forgive a lot more than the rabbis say.

But his mind was blown when he said no, you have no idea. 70 * 7. It's a clear requirement in scripture. Love includes forgiveness partly because if you think about who your brother is to you, I I I I talked about the interchange of the word part and member. Member in scripture, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 means a part of the body. You're part of the body. And in your church, you have people in the church that are seen organically by God as a part of you because you are a part of Christ. You all relate to the head and the imagery there in in in the book of Ephesians is he is the head and you all are his body.

1 Corinthians, same thing. You could be a thumb. The other person in your in your in your small group could be an ear and someone else can be an eye. All these different parts of the body. But just like you love yourself or as Paul put it in Ephesians chapter five, you nourish and cherish your own body. Right? That shows the love you have. You forgive and you recognize that. You continue to recognize that you forgive. Cut my finger this week. Can you see my band aid here, my finger? Here's the thing. The hands that look at that finger that got in the way of my pocket knife problem.

The body doesn't want to continue to bring damage to the finger because it got in the way, right? Or this hand doesn't think well this hand was carrying the pocket knife when you cut the finger. So this hand doesn't want to punish it. These hands, they've wanted to work together all day long because they're connected to the head. So all week long, I'm still trying to make sure that the body just works together. I don't want any grudges between hands. That would be that would be a nightmare. And God says you are the body of Christ.

Yeah, well I don't like the damage that this did to me. Right? And And the left hand should be really mad at the right hand cuz the right hand was very careless in how it handled the night. And yet the left hand is as for the right hand as it's ever been. Matter of fact, it's praying for the right hand to handle that pocket knife carefully. We don't want to forget that we're organically connected as the body of Christ. We are parts of one another, members.

Dave Drouy: As Pastor Mike Fabarez and part of a message called The Right Kind of Forgiveness from the book of Philemon. Catch up on this lesson anytime or pass it along to someone you know at focalpointradio.org or grab the free Focal Point app and carry Pastor Mike's entire teaching library with you. Before we go, there's something we want to put in front of you, a very special resource that's just been released. Pastor Mike has written a brand new book called The Bible, a book like no other. It's the resource he's wanted to put in your hands for years, a straightforward, well documented case for why this ancient collection of writings still deserves our trust today.

He covers the manuscript evidence, the way the text has been preserved and copied for thousands of years without losing its message, and the predictions that were written down long before they came true. It's the kind of book you can hand to a curious coworker, a questioning teenager, or keep close for your own quiet moments of doubt written so that none of it requires a seminary background to follow. Request your copy of The Bible, a book like no other when you give a gift to Focal Point this month call 888-320-5885 or give online at focalpointradio.org. You can also mail your donation to us by writing to Focal Point Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

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Well, next time Pastor Mike continues our message titled The Right Kind of Forgiveness. I'm Dave Drouy and we'll see you Wednesday here on Focal Point.

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'd 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 Drouy: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.