The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(Over the next few days, we will consider the the Apostle Paul's epistle to Philemon, one of my favorite portions of Scripture, and one of its most Christ-exalting and revealing revelations of truth.)
"Philemon"
Part 5 - "As Myself"
"If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself" (Philemon 1:17).
In essence, the Apostle Paul says to Philemon, "My brother, consider how you view me, and accept Onesimus as if he were me. See myself and Onesimus as if we are united. Because we are."
In a far greater and more consequential essence, born again believers might think - rightly - of the Lord Jesus Christ saying the same to His Father and our Father.
"He hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).
"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18).
Find the most wayward believer on the planet in any moment. He is no less accepted with God as a son in Christ than the most faithful and obedient. His thoughts, attitudes, words, and deeds are not be acceptable to our Heavenly Father, to the degree that chastening and scourging are inevitable in the love of God (II Corinthians 5:9; Hebrews 12:6). His person, however, is accepted in Christ, based on who Christ is and His redeeming work accomplished for all believers. In this most elemental aspect of relationship, God receives us in Christ, through Christ, and by Christ. "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (I Corinthians 1:30).
We began our Christian life by placing all faith and hope in the Lord Jesus. We continue by the same confidence in His eternally ongoing role as our mediator (Hebrews 7:25). We affirm that even in our best moments, the acceptance of our person by a perfect God requires the merits of Another as the basis of our relationship and standing with Him. The marvel of our Savior's person and work in the sight of God and on our behalf serves as the basis for such wondrous grace. Who is the Lord Jesus to His Father? Who are we, based on Christ's merits serving as the basis for our acceptance? This is the root question regarding our relationship and standing with God. Rightly answered in our hearts and minds, the truth of "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" will make possible and actual our "being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (I Timothy 2:5; Philippians 1:11).
If ever we wonder about our access to God, let us remember that if we are united to Christ by grace through faith, the Father sees us through the lens of His beloved Son. Paul typified such grace long ago in his request to Philemon that Onesimus be viewed not only as himself, but as inextricably bound with the Apostle. The epistle to Philemon thus stands not only as an intercession for a brother, but as a clear representation of the Lord Jesus' intercession for all united to Him by faith. "Receive Him as Myself."
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
(Romans 5:1-2)
Weekly Memory Verse
For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory.
(Hebrews 2:10).
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