The great American writer Mark Twain once said this about anger. Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than anything on which it is poured. And that can certainly be true of sinful anger. As Christians, we of course know that there is such a thing as righteous anger, which even much like acid needs to be handled with caution. Isn't Twain's point compelling though? Isn't it true that sometimes our anger only ends up harming ourselves? And when not handled properly, anger gives birth to something far worse than itself. When we mishandle anger, bitterness is born. Bitterness also has this acidic, eroding effect on the vessel that contains it. Perhaps you know someone who has been so affected by bitterness that they can't function in certain contexts. Perhaps you know someone who is so affected by bitterness that their countenance and their posture will transform whenever that one topic or that one person is brought up in conversation. Why would anyone want to live with the corrosive effects of bitterness? These effects that eat up a person from the inside out. Why would anyone want to live like that? In the Gospel of John, Jesus says the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed. The answer for why people choose bitterness is very simple. We love sin. We hate God. That's the sad and dark reality for every human being unless God intervenes. And praise the Lord, he has. We gather every Sunday to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is a story of God saving his people from their sins. And part of that salvation includes a transformation of our desires so that we no longer love the dark and hate the light, but rather we begin to love what God loves and hate what God hates. You might think that this is going to be a message about bitterness. It is and it's not. Really, this is going to be a message about the antidote to bitterness, the solution to bitterness. Is there anything that can be done to neutralize the corrosive acid of bitterness when it takes root in someone's soul? Is there anything that can be done to protect the soil of your heart so that the weeds of bitterness never find a welcome environment in which they can grow? I'm here to tell you this morning that in Christ, the answer is yes. If you have bitterness in your life, you can be free from it. If you aren't currently bitter, you can set up protections from its attacks. Hebrews tells us, Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. Let's discover together this morning, in God's word, let's discover the antidote to bitterness. So please open your Bibles, if you haven't already, to the small book of Philemon. If you're using one of the Bibles that we provide for you, they're underneath the chairs in front of you. And if you're using that Bible, you will find the Book of Philemon on page 1195. That's 1195. This will be the third and final message in the Philemon series. Sermon number one was an admiration of Paul's leadership. Sermon number two was a celebration of Philemon's fellowship. And this sermon will be about Christ's forgiveness lived out in Paul and in Philemon. So follow along in your Bibles or on the screen as I read for you Philemon verses 8 through 25. We'll begin in verse 8. Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, Yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you. Since I am such a person as Paul the Aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment. who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, whom I wish to keep with me so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. But without your consent, I did not want to do anything so that your goodness would not be in effect by compulsion, but of your own free will. For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. But if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will repay it, not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well. Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you since I know that you will do even more than what I say. At the same time, also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers, I will be given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. If verses one through seven represent the introduction to the letter, then what we just read, verses eight through 25, represent the heart of the letter. The main thrust of this letter is Paul's appeal to Philemon to take a certain course of action with regard to his former slave, Onesimus. And you already know that the course of action that Paul wants Philemon to take is that of forgiveness. Paul is asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus, his former slave who ran away from him. And in order for this passage of scripture to land on you the way that it is supposed to, you may need to step out of your culture just a little bit, step out of your modern Western sensibilities. We tend to have an aversion to all things slavery because our country participated in some truly evil race-based slavery built upon the kidnapping and oppression of African Americans. I said something similar to this a few weeks ago in a previous sermon, so I'm not going to repeat all of that, though you're welcome to go back and listen on Sermon Audio if it would be helpful. But you have to remember that Southern antebellum slavery in the United States is not the same institution as Greco-Roman slavery. You don't have to understand all those details right now, that's fine, but in order to get much out of this message, in order to not be distracted by the presence of slavery, you at least need to believe that Onesimus, by running away from Philemon, has wronged him. He defrauded him. He stole from him. Onesimus sinned against Philemon. That's why there is a need for forgiveness. The purpose of Paul's letter is to ask Philemon to do just that, to forgive him. Because after Onesimus ran away, he found Paul and Paul led him to the Lord. He's now sending him back to his old master. And as I've said before, it's entirely possible that Onesimus is the one who carried this letter and handed it to Philemon. That's the reason that this letter exists. Paul is making an appeal, and today we're going to examine the appeal in detail. First, we will see the motivation of the appeal. Second, the details. Thirdly, the marrow. And finally, the confident expectation. We'll begin with number one, the motivation for Paul's appeal, which is propriety. Verses eight and nine say this. Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you, since I am such a person as Paul, the aged. He's now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. The motivation for Paul's appeal is propriety. He appeals because he believes it is proper for Philemon to forgive Onesimus. It's proper, it's fitting, it's the right thing to do. He says in verse 9, that his own reason for choosing to appeal rather than to command or to force or to compel, he chose to appeal for the sake of love. Because of the love and affection that he feels for Philemon, he wants to give Philemon a chance to choose the right thing on his own. But what do you think Paul means by the phrase, what is proper in verse eight? Why is it proper? Why is it fitting for Philemon to forgive Onesimus? Because our gut reaction of what is proper may be a little bit different than what Paul says is proper. If you hear of someone stealing, which is what Onesimus did to Philemon, he may have stolen money or goods in order to escape. We don't know that for sure, but he certainly stole the time that he owed to Philemon. And when we hear of someone stealing, our idea of what is proper is, pay it back. Get it back, take back what is owed to you with interest. That's usually what we think of as proper. And even now when I'm describing that scenario, maybe some of you in this room are like, isn't that proper though? Isn't God concerned with justice? Isn't God righteous? Aren't there all kinds of Old Testament laws about how to enact retributive justice when someone steals from another? And the answer to that question is yes, under the Old Testament law, if someone defrauded someone else, they had to pay it back plus at least 20%. In some situations, much higher than 20%. So why is this scenario different? Why is it proper in this case not to exact the payment? The real answer to that question comes up later in our passage, and I will just allude to it now. If you pay attention, you'll get a more satisfying answer later, but for now, the reason that this scenario is different is because something about Onesimus is now different. The reason that it would be proper for Philemon to forgive Onesimus is because Onesimus' debt has already been paid. Philemon can and must forgive because someone to whom Philemon owes a debt has said, I'm going to cover that one. Another way to say it is that Onesimus is running around with someone else's checkbook. And that checking account is not going to run out of funds. That's why it's proper for forgiveness to occur. The next point has three blanks, not just one. We're going to look at the details of Paul's appeal, and I'll just give you the words one at a time. The first word is utility. This detail comes from verses 10 and 11. I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. So verse 11 actually contains a play on words using Onesimus' name. Many of you know this already. You don't need to know Greek to understand this. Essentially, the meaning of Onesimus' name in Greek is useful or profitable, which is exactly what Paul is saying Onesimus is. He's useful. It's a play on words that you miss it in the English, but it's there. It's not unlike our introduction to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. The name Jesus means God saves or Yahweh is salvation. Matthew 121 says, she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. That's exactly what the name Jesus means, God saves. This wordplay is all over the Bible. It's available to you if you just dig a little deeper with a study Bible, with a Bible dictionary. The point of this play on words, though, is that Onesimus is useful to Philemon now. What do you think he means by that? Was he a bad worker before, and now he's learned some new trades and some new skills, and now he's useful? Now, if he wasn't useful before, Philemon probably wouldn't have cared that he ran away. So what is Paul getting at with this Pun. Again, the answer to this question will come in a more satisfying form later, but we must say again that something about Onesimus is now different. And for now it will suffice to say that the transformation that Onesimus has undergone is going to drastically change his relationship to Philemon, his former master. He's no longer merely a laborer. He's useful in a different sense. Now he's able to participate in the real mission, the real work that Philemon is all about. Don't forget that Paul called Philemon, in this letter, his fellow worker. Onesimus is now going to be useful for that work. Whereas before, as an unconverted man, as a man without Jesus, he was useless. That could be said of everyone in this room. Without Jesus, we are useless. Without Jesus and the mission that he gave us, our life has no lasting purpose. Oh, there is a great danger, Christian, in finding your worth and value and esteem and boast in anything other than your Savior. Momentary satisfaction is continually offered to you, to us. Don't sacrifice what you want most for what you want in the moment. Make it one of your life goals to be able to honestly say and honestly sing the words that they were just singing up here. All my boast is in Jesus. The great hymn, The Solid Rock, also says it so well. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. We rightly spend a lot of time singing about Jesus's worth, Jesus's worthiness, and what I'm about to say is not the worldly prosperity gospel, but do you realize that you have worthiness and worth in him? Through your union with Him, you share in His worthiness. You too are worthy. He's the source, but you truly partake. These are some thoughts worth immersing yourself in for a while. We also need to keep on. That was utility. The second detail of Paul's appeal to Philemon is described as consent. Verses 12 through 14. I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, whom I wish to keep with me so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. But without your consent, I did not want to do anything so that your goodness would not be in effect by compulsion, but of your own free will. Another detail that Paul provides as part of his appeal to Philemon is that he wanted Philemon's consent or approval of using Onesimus in the mission of the gospel. Paul could have easily kept Onesimus with him and never asked for Philemon's permission. But he didn't want Philemon's goodness to be compulsory. He wanted it to be willingly given, consensual. This is, of course, the way that forgiveness works. That's what Shakespeare meant by that famous line that many of you will remember once I say it. The line is, the quality of mercy is not strained. That just means it can't be compelled, it can't be forced. You can't make someone forgive. The reason you can't force it is because of the nature of forgiveness. When you forgive someone, you are giving them a clean slate. You're giving them a clear conscience. You're not necessarily giving them trust, and it's not unforgiving to withhold trust in some situations. Actually, in some situations, the loving thing to do is to withhold trust. But what you are giving someone when you forgive them is a clean record. But where does that clean record exist? It's not written down anywhere. It's not on paper. The clean record exists in the heart of the one forgiving. That's why you can't force it. You could compel the behavior of forgiveness, just like you can force boys to hug after they've just finished fighting with their brother, right? But anyone who has seen one of those half-hearted hugs knows that it was not true forgiveness. You can't just force someone to truly forgive another. If Paul would have kept Onesimus with him and not sent him back to his old master in order to be restored, he wouldn't only have been wronging Philemon, he would have been wronging Onesimus. Onesimus could never have that clear conscience, that clean slate that comes with forgiveness. And something about Onesimus is now different. He wants that forgiveness. He wants to make things right in his relationships. So there are three details. We've looked at two, utility, consent, and now we will see kinship. Verses 15 and 16 say, for perhaps he was, for this reason, separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever. No longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. This third and final detail is kinship. This point illustrates, perhaps better than many of the other words that you will write down, the completely transformed status that Onesimus has been given by his newfound faith. I've been dropping in this sentence over and over again. Something about Onesimus is now different. Paul says that Onesimus is now more than a slave to Philemon. He's a beloved brother. Now I'll admit that I was puzzled by verse 16 for a little while while I was studying. I didn't know what Paul meant when he said that they are now brothers both in the flesh and in the Lord. I didn't understand that. And usually when something like that puzzles me in Bible study, I don't look anything up, I just... Read it, and read it, and pray, and read it, and wait. I'll come back to it later. That's usually my strategy, and I usually will not look in a commentary until I at least have a guess as to what it means, because I want to be shaped by the Scripture before I'm shaped by someone else's thoughts about the Scripture. This time, I could not figure it out. Maybe it's immediately apparent to some of you. Actually, after looking it up, it's one of those things, I should have been able to figure that one out. But here's what it means to the best of my understanding. They are brothers in the flesh in that they are both humans. They're both image bearers of God and descended from our original parents, Adam and Eve. But they're also brothers in the Lord because they're both in Christ now. Now I got that part just to clear up the record here. I didn't figure out the first part. But, so there's two brotherhoods. Two brotherhoods that he's talking about. And neither of these exclude women, by the way. When you're using a gendered language and there's a mixed group of people, the masculine form is used. No one understands that to be excluding female individuals. That's not what it means. These two brotherhoods are the brotherhood of humanity in Adam and the brotherhood of Christianity in Christ. Two kinds of families. And I'd like for a moment to just have a brief interlude about the presence of several family words in this letter. Maybe you've noticed this. In verse one, Paul says, our beloved brother, referring to Philemon. In verse 10, he says, my child, referring to Onesimus' relationship to Paul. In verse 16, we just read that Onesimus is now a beloved brother. And then again in verse 20, we read the word brother, again referring to Philemon's relationship to Paul. That's four times that a family word is used in this short book. And the point that I'm about to make can be taken too far because your church family does not replace, it does not serve the same function as your blood family. Furthermore, participation in a church family does not give you the right to interfere in someone's family life or family activities uninvited. That being said, though, family words are used to describe the church for a reason. We are all under the charge of one father. We are all adopted in his family and have the benefits of sonship. The same benefits that Jesus himself enjoys. And that very fact ought to create a closeness to one another that is analogous to the closeness between healthy family members. Furthermore, the church ought to be a place where those who are destitute or abandoned by their families can find something like the family closeness that they've been wrongly deprived of. The church ought to be a place where earthly orphans can find spiritual fathers. The church should be a place where an earthly widow finds security, even love, from strong male leaders in all purity. I think even those who are involuntarily barren can find some comfort in this as well. If you long to have children, but God in his careful providence has not yet opened that door, either because of singleness or infertility, there is an appropriate way for you to give yourself to the children of the church. not in an entitled way, but in a sacrificial way. And I'm not saying that it's the same as parenthood, but it is a way that you can use your masculinity or your femininity for the purpose of building into the next generation. The psalmist says, one generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. Though parents bear the primary responsibility for their own children, I believe it is appropriate for everyone in the church to be involved in intergenerational ministry. As Paul was saying to Philemon, there ought to be a close family-like kinship between people who profess to know the same Lord, indeed, the same Father. When you are united by faith to God the Father, you are also united to all his other children. Isn't forgiveness appropriate in a situation like that, by the way? When you have entered a family through forgiveness, you're here because God the Father forgave you. If someone else in that family wrongs you, how wrong would it be to withhold forgiveness? when you're only here because you were forgiven in the first place. Paul says this to Philemon in verse 15 about Philemon's former slave. Perhaps he was, for this reason, separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever. Every marriage in this room will end. Marriage vows don't last throughout eternity. They last until death. But the church's marriage to Christ will last for eternity, as will our sonship with God the Father, and thus also our brotherhood with one another. That wraps up point two, the details of Paul's appeal, including utility, consent, and kinship. Next, we will look at number three, the marrow of Paul's appeal, which I've described as substitution. Now, marrow is not a word that we use that often. A simple definition of marrow is innermost being. For example, if you've ever heard of someone use the phrase, that sight shook me to the marrow, right? It shook me, it frightened me to my innermost being, is what they're saying. Similarly, bone marrow is a substance in your body that is essential to your innermost being on the physical level. I have a good friend who actually donated his bone marrow to a family member of his, who likely would have died without that donation. And that actually changed the DNA of the one receiving the bone marrow to the point where all their new skin cells and new hair cell, all the skin and hair that they grew after that donation, was an exact DNA match to my friend who made the donation. Right, it's your innermost being. That's because bone marrow contains the stuff that produces red and white blood cells and platelets. Marrow is that essential stuff. That's what the word means. It's the core of your physical body. So when we look at the marrow of Paul's appeal, we're looking at the central thrust, the core of his message to Philemon. And we find in verses 17 through 20 that the word substitution is an accurate way to describe this marrow. So let's read, starting in verse 17. If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will repay it. Not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well. Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. These verses are probably the most important verses in the whole letter. These verses show us that Paul has been so affected by the gospel of Jesus Christ that he can't help but live out the gospel. I don't think it's an overstep to say that this is an incarnation of the message of the gospel. I wouldn't describe it as an allegory where Paul is saying one thing and meaning another, but I would say that we can't help but think of the substitutionary work of Christ when we read about Paul's substitutionary work for Onesimus. And that must be intentional on the part of Paul. Paul said earlier that it would be proper for Philemon to offer forgiveness. If we didn't have these verses, I think Philemon might be left scratching his head. Why? Why is it proper? Where's the justice in that? Here's the justice. Onesimus' debt has been repaid in full by Paul. Paul willingly accepted responsibility for anything and everything that Onesimus owed to Philemon. He said in verse 18, charge that to my account. In verse 19, I will repay it. Onesimus is a free man because Paul bought him. There's no injustice here. The imagery and analogy between this exchange and the exchange of the cross is unmistakable. The biggest difference between the two is the amount of debt that Christ was able to pay. Paul was just a man. Jesus Christ was a man too, but he was also the infinite God. And because Jesus was truly human, he was able to stand before God as our representative, as a fitting substitute, and take our sin on himself. And because he was also truly God, he was of infinite worth, and he was able to pay all of it. For you to pay your own infinite debt, you would have to suffer for an infinite amount of time because you are finite yourself, finite in your worth. For Christ is just the opposite. He is infinite in his worth, infinite in his being, and that infinite worth enabled him to pay all the debt in a finite amount of time. by hanging on a cross at Calvary and experiencing the rejection of the Father for a few hours. This is one of the reasons that an eternal hell must exist, because we as finite humans have defrauded an infinite God. We've taken from him something that is rightly his, ourselves. And just like Onesimus, the only way that we can be free again is to have someone else pay our debt on our behalf. The message for sinners is very simple this morning. You need Jesus. You need Jesus to stand in your place as your substitute. He will take God's wrath, and in return, he will give you his righteousness. If you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you have faith, you are legally forgiven in a way that can never be taken away from you. If this confuses you or gives you questions or if it encourages you and you'd like to talk to somebody, I hope that you won't leave today without getting those questions answered. I'd encourage you to talk to somebody that brought you, talk to someone that you've seen on the platform. Come talk to me after the service. Don't leave without responding to the gospel message with faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That's the message for sinners. There's also a message in here for forgiven sinners. That's the big idea of our sermon this morning, which is in Christ you can and must forgive like Christ. That is what Paul is requiring Philemon to do. That's the purpose of the letter. Because Philemon owes Paul, when Paul says Onesimus' debt is paid, Philemon must agree. So you who claim to follow Christ, you who claim to be forgiven of an unpayable debt, from whom are you exacting payment for offenses? Is there anyone in your life whom Christ has forgiven, but you are unwilling to? Let me tell you how bitterness works. Bitterness loves to find and create exceptions and excuses. For instance, Perhaps some of you who do have bitterness just thought in your mind, well, I would be willing to, if they... Now, I understand that true forgiveness can't happen unless someone requests to be forgiven. I get that. But if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now through the preaching of the word, I'd ask you not to fight him. And one of the questions that you really need to work through is this, what is my posture toward the person who has offended me? Are you eagerly waiting like the father of the prodigal son, ready to Look into the distance and see him coming and gird your loins and run in his direction because at least he's headed this way, even though he's still far away. Are you ready to slaughter the fattened calf if he should ever return? Because if not, you may need to think through bitterness and the corrosive effect that it's having on your own soul. And you need to meditate on the gospel of Jesus Christ because he is the original forgiver. And if you are in him, you are called to mimic him, called and able to mimic him. And we're going to talk a little bit more about the idea of being in Christ in just a minute. But I still have one more quick point to work through before that application. The fourth aspect is the confident expectation of Paul's appeal, which is obedience. It may seem a little funny, when we're talking about an appeal, it doesn't seem like we should be talking about obedience. If you're appealing, aren't you kind of giving them the choice whether or not they want to obey? That's not the way Paul talks about it. In fact, he uses the word obedience, as you can see in verse 21, having confidence in your obedience. I write to you since I know that you will do even more than what I say. Just because Paul is making an appeal and not a command does not mean that it's Philemon's choice to listen or not. Just because he's making an appeal does not mean it's a matter of Christian liberty. Philemon must do this, not because Paul said so, but because of what he already said. It's fitting, it's proper. Too many of us, when we are challenged about our conduct, ask the question, but is it a sin? Is it a sin? Show me the verse. Is it a sin? Sometimes it's not sin, it's just stupid. It's inconsistent with what you claim to believe. That's not the issue here. Fortunately, Paul is confident that Philemon will obey. He expresses confidence again in the next verse. Verse 22, at the same time, also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you. How is that an expression of confidence? Well, if Paul thought that he had just ticked off Philemon, he probably wouldn't have asked to stay in his spare bedroom, right? He's expecting that everything is good, Philemon's going to respond well, he's going to do this right. Finally, as is often the case, Paul then closes the letter with some personal greetings to Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, he greets you. Verse 24, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Deimos, Luke, my fellow workers, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. That marks the end of our walk through the text. The only thing left to do today is apply what we have heard, and in order to do that, we need to give special attention to a phrase in the Big Idea that may have gone unnoticed to you as white noise, especially if you've been in church for a while. The big idea of our message once again is that in Christ you can and must forgive like Christ. And though I've talked about it some in this short series, the phrase in Christ deserves more attention in the book of Philemon. In fact, I would argue that it always deserves more attention in the New Testament epistles at least. The phrases, here's some data for you. Hopefully you can stay tuned into this. The phrases in Christ, in Christ Jesus, in the Lord, in him, those phrases occur about 135 times in the New Testament letters, okay? Philemon has five of those occurrences, which is about 3.5%. Stay with me here. What's the big deal? That sounds like a really small number of them. It is, but Philemon is a very small portion of the New Testament letters. The number of words in Philemon is only .7% of the number of words in the New Testament letters. Yet Philemon has 3.5% of the in Christ phrases. Those of you that know a little bit about statistics and data know that this is significant. If you haven't kept up with the numbers, that's okay. Jump back in. This is what you need to know. In the Book of Philemon, the phrase, in Christ, or phrases like it, occurs five times more often. Philemon is five times more densely populated with in Christ than the average New Testament letter. Here's some more data, another way to emphasize the centrality of Christ. There are 11 references to Jesus in this letter, 11 references in 25 verses. So to preach or study the book of Philemon without noticing that the necessity of union with Christ is to miss the point of the letter. And I'm not alone in recognizing the importance of this phrase. Some of you know the name Mark Minnick. He's a pastor in Greenville, South Carolina, and he's a faithful and powerful preacher of the word. He has been for decades. This is something that he wrote in Frontline Magazine in 1998 regarding the phrase, in Christ. He says, it is not a superfluous prepositional phrase that could just as easily have been omitted from the text without loss. It is the biggest, most all-encompassing truth in the text, the truth without which the text itself is superfluous. We're so dependent on Christ. We need to be connected to him. If your idea of how to live a good life hasn't been shaped by this reality of union with Christ, then you're doing the Christian life wrong. The call of this sermon to be free from the corrosive effects of bitterness and to embrace forgiveness after the pattern of Jesus, that call is made possible in those who believe through union with him. He is the vine and we are the branches. If we abide in Him, we bear much fruit. One way that you can express your faith is by choosing to forgive those who wrong you. by having a posture of forgiveness towards those who sin against you. You evidence that you truly believe the gospel by longing for reconciliation with others and never being the reason that your relationship is not on good terms. So if you're struggling to forgive, I would use the six words that I gave you throughout this sermon as a tool, as an aid for meditation. And that will encourage you to think about the gospel in a way that hopefully causes you to want to forgive other believers. Propriety, it is fitting, it is proper for me to forgive because I've been forgiven. Utility, are we useful to God? Not in the sense of him needing us. The psalmist rightly asks, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? God doesn't need us in that way, but wonder of wonders, he legitimately uses us in Christ. First Corinthians 15 says that your labor is not in vain, remember the next words, in the Lord, union with Christ. Christian, your life is not meaningless. Because of the forgiveness of Christ, you're useful. But when there are rifts between you and other believers, you are hindering yourself from being used. Consent. The forgiveness of Jesus was absolutely free, not coerced in any way. He chose to sacrifice himself. We too should willingly give of ourselves for others. Kinship. The forgiveness of Christ brought us into a familial relationship with God the Father, and I should not withhold that same forgiveness from any who are part of that family. Forgiveness creates closeness. Time doesn't heal all wounds. Infections get worse with time. Relationships need to be regularly anointed with the salve of forgiveness. Substitution, again, this is the marrow, the heart of the gospel. Christ took our place, he took our punishment. Rather than retaliating for wrongs, he absorbed them and said, it ends with me, it is finished. Remember when they were mocking him, the soldiers on the ground mocking him? If you're really the Christ, jump down and show, what would you do in Jesus's shoes? I already jumped down. Boom! I really am. He absorbed it. We too can absorb the blow. We can say it is finished when someone wrongs us. It's done with me. I'm not going to pass it on because we know how much we've been forgiven. Last of all, obedience. Now if this was the only item on the list, it ought to be enough. The creator of the universe has asked us to forgive one another. Colossians 3, 12 and 13, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another, And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive. Let's pray. Father, help us and cause us to faithfully imitate your forgiveness. Where would we be without the forgiveness of Christ? Where would we be without your steadfast love and abundant mercy? I pray that you would help us to examine ourselves without being unhelpfully introspective. And that because of our righteous standing in Christ, we would always be ready and eager to forgive when we have the opportunity. We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen.