Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
I WANT SOME BENEFIT FROM YOU IN THE LORD
Theme: Loving your neighbor includes allowing your neighbor to love you.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. In today’s Epistle, St. Paul says to his friend and fellow worker
Philemon, “Brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart
in Christ.” Speaking to you today through His apostle Paul’s Words, Jesus wants
you to know that your love for your neighbor goes beyond what you say and do
for your fellow Christians. Christian love for neighbor also requires you to
allow your neighbor the gift and benefit of showing love toward you.
Dear Christian friends,
Many Bible passages speak about your love for your neighbor in terms of the way
you must treat others. For example, John the Baptist’s sermon at the Jordan
River even makes it sound like the bulk of your love for neighbor consists of
what you must do:
Crowds asked [John], “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever
has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do
likewise.” Tax collectors also came… and he said to them, “Collect no more than
you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him… and he said to them, “Do
not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content
with your wages” (Luke 3:10-14).
Parts of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount follow the same lines, emphasizing your
love for neighbor in terms of the way you must treat others:
If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if
anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And
if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles (Matthew 5:39-41).
Pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44). Give to the needy (Matthew
6:3); judge not, that you not be judged (Matthew 7:1); whatever you wish that
others would do to you, do also for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets
(Matthew 7:12).
In these Bible passages, God speaks about your love for your neighbor in terms
of the way you treat others.
God is speaking differently to you in today’s Epistle. Using the warm,
Christian friendship that has grown between the Apostle Paul and a man named
Philemon, God explains to you that love for neighbor goes beyond what you do!
God wants you to know that your love for your neighbor is also about what you
allow your neighbor to say and to do for you. This is why Paul says to his
friend Philemon, “Brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my
heart in Christ.”
There are probably some good-sounding reasons why you might hesitate to allow
others to show love to you by serve you in your time of need. Those
good-sounding reasons might not actually be as good as they sound. Guard
yourself, Christian, that you not sin against God and your neighbor by
resisting the love your neighbor brings to you from God!
1. You might not tell other people about your need or your struggle because you
want to be independent. Independence might be a virtue for the citizens of the
United States, but independence is sin for “the holy Christian church, the
communion of saints.” Independence is simply a nice way of saying, “I do not
need or want help from anyone.” Independence is a fancy word for pride, and
pride is sin. By not wanting help from your neighbor, you place yourself a
hairsbreadth away from not wanting help from your God.
Jesus does not want you to be independent of one another. Jesus wants you to
rely upon one another, just as you must rely upon Him for all things. This is
why Jesus says to you in another place, “You are the body of Christ” (1
Corinthians 12:27):
There may be no division in the body, but the members [of the body]… have the
same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one
member is honored, all rejoice together (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).
2. You also might feel tempted not to turn to others when you are in need
because you might think that your neighbor does not have enough to give to you.
One example of this happens to me fairly frequently, when people come to me and
begin their request to me by saying, “I am sorry to bother you, pastor, because
I know you are busy…” (I sometimes tell a joke, saying that this would be a
great job if it weren’t for all the people. But really, why am I here in
Versailles, if not for you?) Count your fellow Christians and ask yourself, why
are these people in your life, if not for you to love them and for them to love
you?
You might hesitate to tell your neighbor about your need because you do not
want your neighbor to run out of patience with you, or because you do not want
your neighbor to worn out from showing love to you.
Who made you the keeper of your neighbor’s calendar? Who placed you in the
position of deciding how much love your neighbor should show to you before
enough is enough? Jesus wants you to think only the best of your neighbor. You
risk great sin against your neighbor when you think less of him, predetermining
that your neighbor does not have the time or the patience or the resources to
come to your aid. If you think of your neighbor as stingy, what does this say
about the God who placed this neighbor into your life for the purpose of
providing for you? This is what the Lord says: “Is anyone among you sick? Let
him call for the elders of the church” (James 5:14). Again the Lord says,
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).
Love for neighbor is a hard thing. Just as it is NOT love for neighbor when you
take advantage of him or exploit his good graces; just as it is NOT love for
neighbor when you ignore his need or put him off; so it is also NOT love for
neighbor when you prevent your neighbor from loving you, when you doubt how
much he will give, and when you don’t even bother to ask.
This aspect of love for neighbor—allowing others to show love for you—is what
St. Paul is talking about in today’s Epistle. “Brother,” Paul says to Philemon,
“I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.” With
these Words, Paul is not merely speaking confidence in Philemon his fellow
Christian. Paul is also speaking confidence in God!
1. First, Paul knows that God uses people like Philemon to love and care for
Paul. In the same way, God also uses people like your neighbor to love and care
for you. This is why Paul says to Philemon, “I want to receive some benefit
from you in the Lord.” If you wanted to press the point, you might even go so
far as to say that your Christian neighbor provides benefits to you in a manner
not unlike the way Baptism and Holy Communion likewise provide benefits to you.
· After all, what is Baptism? Baptism is something wonderful that God has
attached to something simple. Baptism is simply the loving care of God and the
forgiving power of His miraculous Word, delivered to you in simple water.
· What is Holy Communion? Holy Communion is something divine which has
joined itself to something earthly. Holy Communion is the very presence of
Jesus the Christ in your life—crucified body in common wine and the same blood
that was spilled on the cross now joined to bread—and through bread and wine
Jesus comes to you and forgives you all your sins and raises you up from your
sorrows.
· What is your neighbor? Your neighbor is like the water of Baptism and
the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Your neighbor is God’s delivery system
for you, that is, the way by which God Himself cares for you in your need and
comforts you in your distress.
2. Paul knows that Philemon brings miraculous refreshment from God. Stated
another way, Paul knows that
The Gospel offers counsel and help against sin in more than one way, for God is
surpassingly rich in His grace: First, [He speaks] through the spoken Word, by
which the forgiveness of sin is preached to the whole world; second, through
Baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth through the
power of keys; and finally through the mutual conversation and consolation of
brethren (SA III, IV).
“The Gospel offers counsel and help [to you]… through the mutual conversation
and consolation of the brethren.” This is why Paul look so confidently to his
neighbor Philemon, and this is why you may look with the same confidence toward
your neighbors in Christ. Not all your neighbors will be able to help you in
the same way, it is true. But where one is weak, another is strong; where one
has little, another has much; where one falters, another remains steadfast for
you. Love your neighbor saints! Love your neighbor by allowing your neighbor
likewise to love you.
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