The second thing the apostle Paul does is that he commends Philemon. In Philemon 1:1, he refers to Philemon as a beloved brother and a fellow worker…
There is more praise extended to Philemon and his family. In Philemon 1:5 Paul says that he is thankful for Philemon’s faith which he has for the Lord Jesus, and for his love for all the saints, as we have seen.
In Sunday school we briefly discussed the problem of having cliques in the church. They are inevitable—birds of a feather flock together—so how do you overcome that? You have love for all the saints, not just the saints who are in my socio-economic class, giving preference to them, but you have love for all the saints.
In Philemon 1:7 Paul says, for I have derived much joy and comfort from your love. Paul is comforted because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. He sees that as well and he commends him again: your love is of such a quality that it refreshes others. Rather than your life being a life that drags people down and discourages them and is a burden to others…
We want to be like that, and it is important in light of what we are saying here - these are the things that we want to commend in each other. I say in true confession about myself, I think that I am weak in this. Think about the differences in the generations; my father’s generation tended to be of the sort that never commended anyone for anything. There was that tendency that you do your duty and you just do what you are supposed to do! I can remember this time when he said something nice about the grade I got, and you know, I remember it! I had a wonderful father, a great father, but he just was not going to give out a whole lot of praise. The present generation of parents act like every silly little thing that their kids do is just the greatest! If Johnny scribbles on some lined paper, it is the greatest piece of art in the whole world and needs to be framed! The pendulum tends to swing from one extreme to the other. Our experiences in our families are various; our experiences within the church are various.
This is not an infallible observation, but what I suspect is that we would tend to not commend enough, especially for virtues that the apostle Paul sees here. In other words, he is trying to do the very thing for Philemon that he sees Philemon’s life doing for others. He is commending him for all of these things that he sees in him - Philemon, my beloved brother, my fellow worker; Philemon, for whom I give thanks and for whom I am constantly praying. I just do not hear a lot of that kind of language. I know it is taking place, and I know that many of you are very faithful about providing that kind of commendation and encouragement for others. But I suspect that we are a little weak in this and that we could do more. We can do more in the way of commending our young people, more in the way of commending and encouraging the leadership of the church. We can do more in commending others for the virtues that we see in them, pointing them out, telling each other of the things for which we are grateful in the lives of each other.
Do not misunderstand me, I am not talking about public people. We public people get plenty of commendation and all kinds of attention, so I am not talking about us. What I am talking about is ordinary, regular Christians folk who are out there, struggling away living life, trying to do their best, seeking to be faithful, wanting to serve Christ. Hoping to make a difference, hoping to make an impact and wanting their lives to count for eternal consequences. They are the ones that need some commendation. What does the apostle Paul do here for Philemon? He prays for him with a prayer of thanksgiving and intercession, and he commends him, and by this commendation, encourages him along further in faithful Christian discipleship. Can we do more of that for each other? Do you think I am right? Do you think what I suspect is accurate, and that there needs to be more? Do you think that that could start right at the top and flow down, providing examples of commendation and encouragement for all the saints? I suspect that is the case. And I suspect that if we do that, we will have an even more harmonious and loving and fruitful church as a result.1
Terry L. Johnson
4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers,