Philemon 1:15

Treasures in heaven.

I. CHRISTIANS HAVE THE PROMISE , NOT ONLY OF THE LIFE THAT NOW IS , BUT OF THAT WHICH IS TO COME . ( 1 Timothy 4:8 .) Philemon had had before a legal property in Onesimus, which was, however, temporary, because it necessarily ended at latest with the life of either man. But in gaining the tie of Christian fellowship with him, he obtained an interest in him which would endure permanently; and so Philemon had, in a sense, "received him forever."

II. THIS IS THEREFORE A TYPICAL INSTANCE . The world has only temporal and temporary treasures to offer; religion has eternal and abiding ones. "The things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" ( 2 Corinthians 4:18 ); the one has time for its sphere of action, and is bounded by time; the other has eternity .

III. SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND BLESSINGS ARE BEGUN IN THIS WORLD , but will not be fully possessed by the blessed until after the final judgment. They are an inheritance—"treasures in heaven." The Christian, as he "grows in grace," possesses -more and more completely:

1. Love and subjection towards God .

2. Love, sympathy, and forgiveness towards his neighbor .

3. Watchfulness and self-control over himself .

The apostle enumerates these spiritual blessings without classification ( Galatians 5:23 ), as "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." The sum and substance and crown of them all is righteousness— an approximation, by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit of God, to the ideal of perfect manhood; that is, "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (see Ephesians 4:13 ). And this righteousness prepares the soul for the presence of God ( Luke 17:21 ). While other treasures, therefore, are possessions of the body , or at most of the mind , " treasures in heaven" belong to the soul , that is, to the immortal and permanent part of man's nature, and are to be valued accordingly.

IV. HOW ETERNAL BLESSINGS ARE TO BE DESIRED AND SOUGHT FOR .

1. In preference to all other things , because of their greater importance. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God" ( Matthew 6:33 ), and also Philemon 1:19 , Philemon 1:20 , "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven," etc.

2. With all earnestness . " Strive to enter in" ( Luke 13:24 ), as men who are so much in earnest as to be "violent" ( Matthew 11:12 ).

3. By the practice of graces given: of faith ( 2 Peter 1:5 ), of charity and almsgiving ( 1 Timothy 6:18 , 1 Timothy 6:19 ), of the knowledge of the Savior and of heavenly things ( 2 Peter 3:18 ).

V. THE CHRISTIAN HAS THE GUARANTEE OF GOD HIMSELF that his hopes for eternal happiness shall not be disappointed ( 2 Timothy 1:12 ; 1 Peter 4:19 ).