Put That On My Account

We unwrapped the second gift God left for us this advent season in the present of Reconciliation. It was exciting to see everyone at church with their Bibles already opened to Philemon and I could tell the members had read the 25 verses and were ready to receive the Word.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and all of the kings horses and all of the kings men could not put Humpty back together again. Why? Because he was broke. Sometimes when things break in our lives, we are lucky because it breaks "cleanly" and is easily repairable. Other times breaks are messy and pieces shatter everywhere and fixing it is an impossibility because of the shape it has been left in.

The situation with Philemon and Onesimus seems like an unfixable problem. This was not a small offense or a petty little annoyance because God has given us the way to handle those situations. Solomon says "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers a multitude of sins". Not every thing that rubs you wrong or disturbs your spirit needs to be brought up. Some things need to be allowed to die as we learn in love to forgive and move along.

However in this text today, this is a situation that is an unresolved problem that cannot be covered or forgotten. It is a loose end that if left unattended will sap the strength out of a relationship. Problems that go unresolved in church hinder the church's effectiveness. They tear families apart and cause even bigger problems . Whatever problems exist between Christians, God has provided a method by which the situation can be solved or fixed.

Some things we can't fix but HE can; marriages can't be saved in our own power; church fights can't be solved in our power, when we try to let the king's horses and men fix it, they can't; however when we take it to the King, God can fix it. This advent season God uses 25 verses in Philemon to remind us that nothing is to hard for him to fix. God can put it back together again.

To restore to friendship; To restore to harmony, To destroy enmity between, to make friends again, to bring together, God has given us the gift of reconciliation. This gift will never be in the wrong size or the wrong color. You will always need this gift because we are notorious for breaking things. We need someone who can fix it.

I Timothy 2:5 says, " For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,". Isaiah 59: 15-16, "The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him".

God blessed us on Sunday, the simple outline we used for the sermon "Put that on My Account" was:

I. Advocate For Your Case (10-16)
1. Fair to Both Sides
2. Fight for a Better Solution
II. Advance You Credit (17)
1. Receive Him
2. Restore Him
3. Reward Him
III. Accept Your Costs (18-19)
1. Satisfy Your Responsibilities
2. Settle up Your Receipts
This story is a great Word Picture especially during this Advent Season of:

IV. Atonement through Christ.

God sent us an advocate to fight for our case. The advocate advanced us credit we didn't earn. While living on the credit, the advocate paid our costs. In case, someone does not know who the advocate is, his name is Jesus Christ.

Owens