REFRESHMENT!

REFRESHMENT!

(The refreshment of Onesiphorus)

II Timothy 1:15-18

Wanted: refreshing person

Education required: None

Experience Reqd: None

Qualification: Must sense hidden needs, must love

without expectation, must encourage.

Flatters need not apply-.

Do you have anyone who could qualify for this position? A person who genuinely cares whose words are uplifting and not judgmental, whose presence is like a refreshing shower.

Actress Celeste Holm said, “We live by encouragement and die without it- slowly, sadly and angrily”. How tragic life is without refreshment.

Our world needs Christians who are involved in the spiritual ministry of refreshments. A spiritual ministry is different from a spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit distributes at least one spiritual gift to all believers, but not all believers have all the gifts. However, spiritual ministries- such as love, forgiveness, compassion and hospitality- apply to all of God‘s children.

Onesiphorus may be unknown to us, but to Paul, in the middle of his arid wasteland of loneliness, Onesiphorus was a lush oasis of hope.

The apostle Paul was in prison, but not just any prison. According to biographer John Pollock,

He was among the felons in the Mamertine or an equally obnoxious dungeon, reached only by rope or ladder let through a hole in the floor above. His weary body must lie on rough stones. The air was foul, sanitation almost non-existent^?

It is here that Paul will spend his final days on earth.

How Paul feels:

With his life’s work concluding and death creeping closer every day, Paul probably feels a bit nostalgic. Faces and names from his past occupy his time now- how he wishes some of those friends could be with him! For blowing through this cold dungeon is a draft of loneliness that chills him to the bone. “Bring the cloak which I left at Troas,” he writes to Timothy with a shivering hand, adding poignantly, “Mark every effort to come before winter” (2 Tim 4:13a, 21a)

Paul has been alone before; by intensifying his aloneness is the icy sting of abandonment:

You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. (1:15)

All the Christians from Asia who had stood with him in Rome had fled, leaving him to face by himself the court of senators and counsels and the mad Caesar, Nero. “At my first defense” Paul lamented, “No one supported me, but all deserted me” (4:16 a) certainly some believers, he had hoped, would testify on his behalf; but Nero’s bloody purge had begun, and all Paul’s friends kept silent for fear of also incurring the emperor’s wrath.

Among the deserters were Phygelus and Hermogenes, two names we skim past but which remained fixed in Paul’s mind as piercing reminders of their betrayal. Perhaps the names of certain people who have wronged you haunt your memory. Like Paul, you gave them your life, yet when you were in need, they returned you investment with heartache. If this has happened to you, you can understand Paul’s sense of emptiness. He doesn’t just feel alone. He feels forsaken, left behind….. abandoned.

The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me (1:16a)

In Paul’s mind, Onesiphorus was a man who lived up to his name: “ One who brings help” The only other time Paul mentions his friend’s name is when he instructs Timothy to greet “the house- hold of Onesiphorus” (4:19). Because he send his greetings to Onesiphorus family and not to him personally, many scholars conclude that Onesiphorus had died by the time Paul wrote this letter. If so, these verses from Paul’s eulogy for a man whose memory is hold dear

The Greek word for refreshed in verse 16 of chapter 1 is anapsucho which means, “to cool again” Onesiphorus’ presence was like a cool cloth on a burning, wounded spirit. Again and again he came to perform his healing art- “He often refreshed me” says Paul.

Ministry of refreshment keep coming back; they don’t wait for notes or calls for help.

Visiting the famous Apostle, however, was not simple matter for Onesiphorus. In the eyes of the state, Paul was a notorious, rabble-rousing criminal. One had to consider carefully the consequence of associating with him. But, as Paul proudly writes, Onesiphorus

was not ashamed of my chains; but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me, and found me- the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day- and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus (vv 16b-18)

To find Paul, Onesiphorus had journeyed by land and sea from Ephesus to Rome. When he arrived at the empire’s sprawling capital, though, he was greeted by a tangle of city streets. Somewhere, behind locked doors was Paul, lost in the Roman judicial system.

Commentator P.N.Harrison imagines Onesiphorus’passionate search for his mentor and friend.

“We seem to glimpse of one purposeful face in a drifting crowd, and follow with quickening interest this stranger from the far coasts of the Aegean, as he threads the maze of unfamiliar streets, knocking at many doors, following up every clue, warned of the risks he is taking but not to be turned from his quest; till in some obscure prison –house a known voice greets him, and he discovers Paul chained to a Roman solider. Having once found his way Onesiphorus is not content with a single visit, but, true to his name, proves unwearied in his ministrations. Others have flinched from the menace and ignominy of that chain, but this visitor counts it the supreme privilege of his life to share with such a criminal the reproach of a Cross^?

While many of Paul’s friends were hiding behind their doors, brave Onesiphorus sought Paul out. And that search cost him much- perhaps even his life.

How deep is our level of commitment toward others? Would we have done what Onesiphorus did? Do we have the necessary character qualities?

A ministry of refreshment builds upon the blocks of initiative, foresight, unselfishness, and courage. If we stand with someone, who are unpopular, winds of disfavor may blow against us as well. Will we be prepared?

If we desire to be like Onesiphorus, we must also ask ourselves: Are we afraid of another person’s ‘chains’? Someone who has failed at work may be manacled with the chain of humiliation; a divorced person, the chain of rejection, a prisoner, the chain of disobedience, the chains of misunderstanding, a terminally ill person. Will we be able to look past others’ chains?

They need an Onesiphorus to refresh them with hope. If you decide to pick up the ministry towel that Oneisphorus left at Paul’s feet here is God’s promise for you:

Heb 6:10

Though no one may notice our labors- labors, which may seem insignificant in our world- the Lord doesn’t forget them. He will reward us someday for the times we sought out the sick at heart to apply a refreshing balm in His name.

ESSENTIAL QUALITIES IN THE MINISTRY OF REFRESHMENT

Becoming a refreshing person may not require a diploma from a prestigious university or years of on the job experience. It does, however, necessitate certain character qualifications that anyone can develop. These would include

· Unselfishness: placing the other person’s need before your own

· Availability: being willing to give your time

· Sensitivity: hearing what a person feels and intuitively knowing when you are needed.

· Determination; resolving to help in spite of the obstacles.

· Positive attitude: seeing beyond the present circumstances being hopeful

· Compassion: showing tolerance, mercy, and understanding

To those dying of thirst on life’s desert, you can be a refreshing cup of encouragement, like Onesiphorus.