Pray and Thank for Others – Sermon – 28 May, 2017
Pray and Thank for Others
Philemon 1-7
I always thank my God when I remember you in my prayers. (Phile. 4)
Question: When we think of our friends, when we pray for them do we thank God for them?
We see in this passage that Paul is writing to his friend Philemon.
Philemon was an owner of a slave named Onesimus. Philemon and Onesimus became believers of Christ under Paul’s preaching. Then Paul runs into Onesimus in prison and this letter is a letter to reconcile the two together.
We see in these first verses of the letter that Paul was close to Philemon. They have mutual friends as seen in verse 23 and he looks forward to see him Philemon again as seen in verse 22. They are friends. Paul even uses the words brothers throughout the letter.
On one hand, we have the friendship between Philemon and Paul and on the other hand, we have the friendship of Onesimus and Paul. Paul writes to his friend Philemon to begin the process of reconciliation.
In this passage specifically, Paul expresses his gratitude for Philemon.
This morning, I want us to look at our prayer life and ask the question: Are we bringing our friends before God and thanking God for them?
Is this a pattern in our life? Or are we so focused on ourselves, that we don’t have time to thank God for our friends. We will pray for them when they are sick—but we don’t take the time to thank God for them.
Jesus said: For if you love those who love you, what reward do you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? (Matt. 5:46)
Even the unbelievers pray for their friends when they are sick. But, we are to be different. We are not to take the friends we have for granted. We are to thank the Lord for them.
So first of all I want you to ask the question;
- Are we thankful for the people that God has placed in our path?
This is a hard question that only you can answer.
Katherine, age 9 says: “I am thankful for my mom, friends, teacher because they help me. If you ask why well here how it goes my mom helps me do my homework. Next, my friends help me when I am hurt. Last, my teacher helps me learn about things. That’s what I am thankful for.”
Christopher, age 12 says: “I am thankful for my wonderful family!”
Camila age 8 says: “I am thankful for…: I am thankful for my mom and dad and my sister because they are loving and caring and giving. I am also thankful for my mom’s job to buy the house and food for me to eat. I am also thankful for a nice family. I am also thankful for friends and family that are nice to me. I am also thankful for everything in my life that God gave me. I am also thankful for my pet named Mia.”
We can learn so much from children. These children are thankful for those that God has placed in their path.
And as demonstrated in this passage in Philemon so should we. Paul says: “I always thank my God when I remember you in my prayers.”
Are there people in our lives that we are thankful for? We don’t think about this enough. We need to be thankful for those that God has placed in our lives.
But it is not enough, just to be thankful; we need to remember them in prayer.
- Are we remembering our friends in our prayers, thanking God for them?
These people that come to mind as the people that we are thankful for, do we wait until Thanksgiving Day before we will acknowledge to God how special they are to us?
Paul made a habit of thanking God for his friends.
To the Romans Paul says: I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. (Romans 1:8)
To the Corinthians Paul writes: I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. (1 Co 1:4)
To the Philippians he writes: I thank my God every time I remember you. (Phi. 1:3)
To the Colossians he says: We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. (Col. 1:3)
To the Thessalonians he says: We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. (1 Thess. 1:2)
To his Timothy he writes: I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. (2 Tim. 1:3)
Paul makes a habit of giving thanks to God, in prayer for his friends. Many of them co-labourers of the faith, many of them are from churches that he started. All of them, he brings before the Lord in thanksgiving.
And in fact Paul tells his friends that he is bring their name before the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving.
This is important; the people that we are thankful for need to know that we are thankful for them as well as God. We need to tell them.
In our prayer life do we include our thankfulness of the people in our life? It may be a co-worker, a subordinate, or simply a battle buddy.
Do they know that we thank God for them?
Do they know that we appreciate them so much that we thank God always when we remember them in our prayers?
And as we thank God for our friends, do we even know what we are thankful for?
And in our prayers:
- Are we being specific in our thankfulness of them?
Look at this whole passage from Philemon. Verse 4-7:
“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understand-ing of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.”
Paul is specific in his thankfulness.
He says that he hears of Philemon’s love and of the faith that he has toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And he says he has derived much joy and comfort from his love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Paul is specific. He doesn’t just thank God. He thanks God specifically. He has taken the time to think through what it is that is meaningful to him and to thank God for that.
Throughout our lives, we have those occasions to write thank you notes.
We do this at weddings, graduation ceremonies.
Thank you notes are becoming lost, much like the hand written letter. We don’t see them much anymore.
But there is a simple formula to writing a good thank you note.
- The first part is to greet the giver
- Then we should express our gratitude
- Followed after the expression of gratitude is the part where you talk about the gift
- In the conclusion, we should mention the past and refer to the future
- Thank the giver once again gracefully
- And add our Regards
It is during the “talking about the gift” that the writer of the thank you note specifically thanks the giver for the gift. It is here that the writer thinks through the thoughts of how and why you are thankful.
We need to be thankful for the people that God places in our path. If they bring us joy and laughter—be thankful. If they are an encouragement—be thankful. If they are wise—be thankful.
Take the time to be specific to think through your friendship and why they are important to you.
Are we thankful for our friends this morning?
Are we praying to God thanking him for our friend?
Are we specific?
We need to be thankful for those that God has placed in our path. We need to not take them for granted. We should not let another moment pass without thanking God for them.
This morning I challenge you to make thankfulness a part of your life. Don’t take for granted those who are around you. Don’t let a moment pass by without thanking God for the blessings of our friends and our families.