Overview of Philemon

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Well, good morning. Thank you, Benjamin, for your friendship, and Mr.
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Harris, it's been a pleasure getting to know you as well. Thank y 'all for this opportunity. Greetings from Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, Georgia.
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Thankful for Faithful Churches and Fellowship Together through the FIRE Fellowship, being able to get to know y 'all has been a delight and a joy.
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As your bulletins say, go ahead and turn to Philemon, the little book of Philemon, with me this morning.
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We're going to be studying a little book with a mighty message. It's a small letter that was written to an individual.
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It was written to the man whose name is at the heading of the book, a man named
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Philemon. As you're turning there, I want you to imagine with me that you're a first century Christian.
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You're a first century Christian, you're living in Colossae, and you were saved maybe through the preaching of a man named
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Epaphras. He's most likely the pastor of this little church here in Colossae.
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You've been attending the Fellowship of Christians for a while, and you've gotten to know the man who owns the house that your church is meeting in.
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His name is Philemon. He is a generous man, he's a loyal man, he's a hospitable man.
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He's uncommonly loving, and you see the love of Christ in him. As you go through the membership process, whatever that looked like in first century church, you get to know those in his household.
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You meet one of his slaves, his name's Onesimus. Now remember, this is first century
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Roman culture. Slavery was legal, and it was common to have a household slave in any home with money.
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It was an indication of status in many ways, even for those who were in this young church, the beginnings of the early church.
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So you meet this slave Onesimus, and you realize slaves could be, in the
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Roman times, they could be anything from the worst of the worst conditions, which is minors. That would have been awful.
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But they could have been minors, janitors, they could have been gardeners, doorkeepers, cooks.
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They could also have been secretaries, tutors, architects, musicians, treasurers, or even doctors.
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We don't know about Onesimus. We don't know what he did in Philemon's house. There's a whole lot about this whole situation that we're not privy to.
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But you meet Onesimus, and whatever he may have been, all that you can tell is that he's pretty useless to Philemon.
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He is grumbly, and complaining, and not a faithful servant.
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So one Sunday, much like this morning, the church comes together, maybe they're doing a prayer service, and Philemon asks for a prayer about a delicate situation.
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One of his slaves has rebelled, stolen from him, and run away. What should
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Philemon do? What should he do? Because you remember, this is a man who has the spirit of God as a
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Christian. A man who, Lord willing, we hoped, was taking care of his slaves.
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Because everything we know about Philemon is, he is an upstanding Christian man. What is he supposed to do?
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If the slave catchers catch him, then Onesimus could have been branded with a big
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F that stands for fugitavis, or fugitavis, depending on your pronunciation, fugitive.
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If someone found him with a branded F, he could be executed, he could have been returned to Philemon, who had the legal right, according to Roman law, to beat him, break a limb, or even put him to death as well.
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And if Philemon doesn't punish him, he could have a slave rebellion of the other slaves in his household, he loses status in a
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Roman culture, among others who are saying he can't manage his household, he can't keep it together.
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He's in a predicament. What should he do in that situation? Should he just pretend like it didn't happen and hope never to see
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Onesimus again? He could let bitterness fester in his heart towards Onesimus for his disrespect, his thievery, his offenses.
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He could just say, no, it's not a big deal, it's OK, whatever, water under the bridge, don't talk about it, don't bring it up.
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What he should do in that situation is all hypothetical until one day.
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The back door of the church opens, the back door of his house, and in walks an emissary from the
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Apostle Paul, a man known and loved by the church in Colossians, because through that man's preaching, the host,
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Philemon, the pastor, Epaphras, have all been saved by the gospel of grace.
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And this man, Tychicus, an emissary from Paul, walks in with two letters, and with him is a man known and well -known to that church.
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Tychicus delivers the two letters. The first is the letter of Colossians, and he reads
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Colossians out loud to the church. He exalts Christ's supremacy and he encourages the church to live in submission to Christ.
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And then he gets to chapter 4, verse 7, where Paul writes,
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Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the
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Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.
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And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.
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They will tell you everything that has taken place here. And you and everyone else in the gathering at Philemon's house just turn and they look at the man with Tychicus, Onesimus.
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And they look back at Philemon and they look back at Onesimus. They look back at Philemon.
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What's going to happen? What in the world? How in the world did this come about? Paul is saying he is a beloved brother.
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He's faithful. On top of that, now it's not hypothetical. What should
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Philemon do? What should he do? And then
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Tychicus pulls out the second letter. Let's read it together. Let's read Philemon. Begins, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister and archipus, our fellow soldier and the church in your house.
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Grace to y 'all. That's you plural. And peace from God, our father in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you singular in my prayers.
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It's talking to Philemon now because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have for the
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Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
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For I've derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
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Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake,
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I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child,
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Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
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I'm sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he may serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel.
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But I prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord.
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For this purpose, sorry for this, perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while.
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That you might have him back forever. No longer as a bond servant, as a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the
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Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
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If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
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I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. To say nothing of your owing me, even your own self.
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Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.
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Confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say.
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At the same time, prepare a guest room for me. For I am hoping that through your prayers,
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I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you.
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And so do Mark and Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the
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Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for this precious book.
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We thank you for the message in Philemon. We thank you for your abundant grace. That Christ Jesus came and said, whatever debt we owe, charge that to my account.
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And that in him we can imitate Christ and reconciliation among brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
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I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be acceptable in your sight.
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Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer, may you be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen. So Tychicus finishes reading.
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And we're all thinking, no pressure Philemon. This is right in front of the whole church.
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It's sent with an emissary and it's sent with the message, prepare a guest room for me.
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Prepare a guest room. I may be coming soon. The author is going to show up. No pressure.
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Here in Philemon, we're going to see Paul actually providing guidance to Christian reconciliation.
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In this three -part letter. Like any letter, you've got an opening, a body, and a closing.
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So we're going to see that here. Let's look at the opening together. We've got the praise to God for Philemon.
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Praise for Philemon. It begins with the preface here in verses 1 -3.
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Paul, as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, is writing. And he says, with Timothy, and Timothy our brother.
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Timothy is not a co -author. Paul's just mentioning him, I believe, because Philemon knew Timothy. He's saying, he is our beloved brother.
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He is with me here as I write this letter. And he begins this letter in a very typical way for Paul.
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But I want you to observe a few things. Paul is not describing himself as an apostle here.
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An apostle of Christ Jesus. He normally does. Philemon, along with Philippians, and 1 and 2
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Thessalonians, are the only letters where Paul does not bring up his apostleship in the opener, in the preface.
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He brings up instead, I am a prisoner for Christ Jesus. And this is intentional.
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We'll see later why. He is a prisoner. He's writing during his first Roman imprisonment.
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This would have been A .D. 60 to A .D. 61. The same time that he wrote the books of Philippians, Ephesians, and Colossians.
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And then he sent it with the book of Colossians, through Tychicus, most likely.
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He's imprisoned for Christ. A prisoner for Christ Jesus. Because he is
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Christ's. He is willing to lose his status and his legal rights, his freedom, in order to proclaim the good news of Christ.
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This is going to come into play in verse 9 when he begins to appeal to Philemon to do something hard for Christ's glory.
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He's saying, I am writing knowing the difficulty of following Christ Jesus. The lengths and ends and rights that you have to put away in order to be faithful to Christ.
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We see that he's writing principally to Philemon. He mentions Philemon first. He calls him a beloved fellow worker.
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Someone who is in the ministry with Paul. Whom Paul loves dearly. It's believed that Ephia and Archippus are
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Philemon's wife and son, respectively. But he's also addressing it to the whole church.
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As we'll see, reconciliation is a vital part of life in Christ. A vital part of life in the body of Christ.
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If a brother and a brother are at odds, it affects the whole body.
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If a sister and a sister are at odds, it affects the whole body. If a husband and a wife are at odds, it affects the whole body of Christ.
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It's a church matter, but it's also potentially because it was a well -known thing to the church.
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Philemon and Onesimus' differences. Not just differences, but the offenses against Philemon.
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We believe that Philemon, due to verse 19, where Paul says, you owe me your own self, was saved through the ministry of Paul.
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And here Paul writes an open letter. At the summer camp I grew up at, we would sometimes have mail time at lunch.
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And parents would write their kids notes and leave them there and leave them for particular days or whatever.
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My parents loved me and I knew that, so I didn't ever need a letter. However, I also never received one.
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But that's beside the point. Sometimes if a parent would write a postcard or something that didn't have an envelope, the camp director would hold it up and say, open mail!
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And then he would pull it out and he would read it in front of everyone or so we thought. He would always make something up.
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Oh, dear Susie, we miss you so much. Because we miss you, we got a dog. The dog's not yet potty trained, so we just left it in your room.
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Something along those lines, right? It's an open mail, open letter.
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He was always joking. Here, Paul is writing to the whole church an open letter directed to Philemon.
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No pressure. The church meets in your house. Everyone knows you. No pressure.
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But then Paul says in verse 3, grace to you and peace. Talking to the whole church.
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Desiring grace and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to the whole church.
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Grace is how anyone is saved. Peace is the result of salvation.
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By God's grace, we have peace with God. So he begins with this gospel blessing and he knows that his letter will do absolutely nothing if it is not bookended by the grace of God.
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And if God does not give his grace and peace. That's the preface. Then we see this prayer in verses 4 through 7.
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Here we're seeing Paul's upcoming appeal to Philemon is actually based grounded in Philemon's godly character and God giving him more godliness.
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His appeal is going to be grounded in the fact that Philemon is a godly man.
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Which is interesting. And we'll see this as we go on. We'll see it as a two part prayer.
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It not only exemplifies godly character, but it also exposes the source of godly character.
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And as this is the basis for Paul's appeal it acts as like the stellar core.
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I was preaching this to our youth group down at Faith Bible Church and I told them stellar core doesn't mean that Paul's talking about a workout program.
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He's talking about here the stellar core I'm speaking of is the part of a star that provides the strength to the star.
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It is the strength of this core of the star that prevents the star from collapsing on itself under the weight of its mass.
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It provides the perfect hot temperatures and the dense pressure conditions that are necessary to radiate energy.
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What we have in verses 4 -7 is the stellar core of Paul's appeal. It sets the right temperature.
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It sets the right pressure so that the request to Philemon is actually going to power itself.
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It's going to actually radiate exactly what Paul is hoping, which is
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Christ -like love and unity. Everything else, he says, is radiating from these few verses.
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The reason I say that is because you look through, scan through, you'll see words like love, partnership, or sharing in verse 6 that comes from the base
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Greek word koinonia, fellowship, heart, refresh.
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These are key words that are all found in these short verses. Then verse 8 begins accordingly.
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It's looking back to what he just said to then ground what he's about to say. We see that godly character is the cause of Paul's thanksgiving in verses 4 and 5.
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He's thanking his god always. He's a man of prayer. Thanks living, as you mentioned. Paul is a man of prayer in that he prays with gratitude, gratefully.
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He prays always, so he's frequently or persistently praying. He prays specifically or personally.
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He's praying for Philemon specifically. Then in verse 5, we see the reason he is praying to God for Philemon because the reason is he's heard of his love and faith that he has toward the
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Lord Jesus Christ and for all the saints. Philemon's evident and far -flung reputation of Christian character is why he gives
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God thanks. This is a goppy love. This is not your time of the year hallmark
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Christmas prince emotional love. This is love that is an act of the will, a purposeful, selfless, humble commitment to the other.
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Philemon exhibits that in his love to Christ and in his fidelity or faithfulness towards the church,
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God's people. Philemon is an outstanding Christian man whose covenant love and loyalty toward Christ is evident in his love and loyalty for all of God's people.
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Do you see what Paul's doing here? Setting this up for all of God's people, all of the saints. And so Paul praises
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God as the source of Philemon's character. Then he goes on and says that godly character is the content of his prayer.
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He praises God because of his godly character and he prays to God for more of it for Philemon.
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Verses 6 -7 And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective.
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Now unfortunately the ESV at least gets this in a very tricky way.
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It makes you think initially of evangelism. He's praying that Philemon will evangelize.
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I've heard it used in those contexts but the sharing word here is koinonia. It's fellowship, partnership.
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It's not just I want to go and proclaim the gospel, proclaim my faith. He's talking about partnership based on your faith.
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He's talking about fellowship in the local church based on a common faith in Christ Jesus.
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So Paul is praying that Philemon's gospel fellowship that is based on his faith to Christ and for all the saints will become powerful.
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That's what effective there means. Powerful for Philemon to experientially know. He wants him to put his faith in fellowship in practice so that he will experientially know all the good things that are in us as Christians for the glory of Christ.
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You think about someone who studies working out. Studies bodybuilding but never goes to the gym.
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Has a lot of the knowledge of the good things that he could be capable of but he never puts it into practice.
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You think about your oven this week. Your oven is going to hold most likely a turkey or a ham or something of that nature but your oven is not going to cook or bake forgive me if my terms are wrong in that way your turkey or your ham just by existing.
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Even though the oven has every good component necessary to power up until by practice and action the oven is turned on you will not know by experience the goodness it can produce.
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Similarly here Christians have every blessing in Christ Jesus in the heavenly places. We have the fruits of the
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Spirit but if these are not being put into practice beloved we have not yet fully known by experience how good and new and life changing life in Christ is.
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So he's praying for experiential knowledge of these good things through fellowship it is in fellowship with other believers in your church where this really heats up where it really becomes effective when sinners are dwelling together but dwelling in unity because of the grace of Christ saints together yes as sinners we're going to butt heads we're going to bother each other we're going to offend one another but it's in those moments that every good thing that is in us for Christ's sake becomes effective so dwelling in unity and forgiveness and reconciliation with other sinners will greatly increase your knowledge of the gospel the message of peace, reconciliation
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Paul desires this for Philemon he desires him to put his Christian character to practice that's what he's praying for for the glory of Christ verse 7 gives us then the reason he is praying this he's praying it because he knows
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Philemon's character he says look I have derived joy and comfort from your love my brother he's not asking
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Philemon to do something that is contrary to who Philemon already is in Christ Jesus he's saying
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I know this is who you are Philemon is to the hearts of the saints what a safe harbor is to a battered ship what a cool drink of lemonade or sweet tea is to a hardworking man and what a campfire and a bedroll is to a soldier who's been trekking or marching all night what a description when you look and it says because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you isn't that a great description and the cool thing there's two implications we can draw from this the first is
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Paul derives his joy and comfort because he sees
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Philemon's godly character lived out in the church where's your joy and comfort found as you think about redeeming grace church do you take joy and comfort when you see your brothers and sisters living in faithfulness and in love towards one another the second would be don't you desire to be like Philemon to refresh the hearts of the saints the hearts of God's people who brings joy to your pastor your elders, your disciples and the other saints around you through your love he's an exemplary
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Christian man Philemon is but Paul's not trying to flatter him he's not saying this because he's just trying to butter him up so that he'll do what he wants he's acknowledging the source of Philemon's character is only from God through faith in Christ Jesus so this is how
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Paul's beginning his letter to talk about this delicate situation he's praising God for Philemon's Christ like character and praying for it to only grow and to be put into practice
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Paul's about to appeal to Philemon to restore fellowship through forgiveness based on this character this is who you are in Christ Jesus this is an important principle of forgiveness forgiveness is not based on or dependent on the sincerity of the repenter or the offender it's not based on the perception of others
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I'm going to do this because I know I need to matter of fact interestingly
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Onesimus's repentance is not even mentioned now we can see it implied in the fact that he shows up he willingly went the way that he has served
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Paul all of those things we believe genuine repentance is there but Paul's focus isn't on Onesimus Onesimus it's on Philemon it's a mirror of God's forgiveness of us
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God forgives sinners based on his love and his faithfulness and on Christ's righteousness not based on our works our repentance our magic words in a prayer or our self punishment you think of David's prayer in Psalm 51 where he says have mercy on me
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O God according to your abundant love his prayer for forgiveness and mercy is dependent on the character of God godly forgiveness begins with the foundation of godly character and then it flows from the fountain of Christ's love and faithfulness are you withholding forgiveness from anyone this morning is your heart willing and ready to forgive someone should they come and repent are you known for your
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Christ like love and willingness to forgive and give rest to God's people so that's how he begins and now we move into the body which is the petition to Philemon verses 8 -20 and Paul begins with three reasons that he is persuading
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Philemon rather than commanding Philemon three reasons for why
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Philemon should do what he asks Paul's not manipulating there's a difference between manipulation and persuasion.
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Manipulation is coercion. Persuasion is saying not coercively but saying this is what's right and I'm trying to help you see that this is what is right so that you will willingly do what is right and manipulation is based on lies to get someone to do something that you selfishly desire them to do persuasion is based on truth to get someone to do something that is good for them.
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Right for them. Not in a weird postmodern sense but in a right true sense right so the first reason he gives is that this is a chance to show love a chance to show
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Christ like and difficult love verses 8 and 9 based on your character accordingly though I am bold enough in Christ he's an apostle for goodness sakes right
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I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required what is right now
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I want you to see that Paul's not saying whatever is right for you he's not saying because I love you
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I will let you come to your own conclusion about what you should do he's saying there is right and there is wrong in this matter something is required something is right but because of your proven
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Christ like love I'm preferring to give you a chance to exercise it
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I'm not going to command you to do what's right but I am going to persuade you that this is what should be done what should be done the love he mentions there in verse 9 yet for love's sake
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I believe it's Philemon's love his love that has been proven and shown in Christ like character he prefers to appeal to persuade and then
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Paul here demonstrates again his own difficult Christ like love he's a wise man an old man he's also a prisoner for Christ Jesus and he's saying look every
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Christian is going to have to do difficult things to show the love of Christ it's difficult it is Christ like love this is a chance to show love the second reason is there's a change of status
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Onesimus is different he's a brother in Christ verse 10 we learn of the parties here involved this is the first time
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Onesimus is mentioned and interestingly in the Greek Onesimus is mentioned at the end of the sentence in verse 10 he says rather I appeal to you for my child whose father
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I became in my imprisonment Onesimus he says here's his new identity in Christ Jesus he's different he's not the same man he has a new family status before even stating his name he's been changed he's raising the suspense and he says he's been reborn as different reborn as different new family new status he is redeemed he's been born again he's my child in the faith that's something that Paul says about faithful servants like Timothy and Titus verse 11
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Paul uses a play on words a pun the name Onesimus means useful it was a common name for slaves in Roman times and Paul says he formerly he was useless to you but now he is indeed useful to you and to me he's essentially saying formerly useful was useless but now useful is useful genuinely so to all of us so he's been reborn as different verse 12 shows us that he is being returned deeply loved returned deeply loved
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I am sending him back to you I'm returning him sending my very heart
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Paul is identifying deeply with Onesimus biblically when you speak of when the
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Bible authors speak of the heart they're talking about the central governing core of someone's inner man someone's person so your beliefs your emotions your volition desires all come out of and from the heart it governs the person is where your deepest affections reside
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Paul's saying here's my heart and Onesimus my deep affection for him but I'm going to do the hard thing and send him back this shows you how much he values reconciliation in the body of Christ Paul's willing to send him back the most significant part of his being he's saying verses 13 through 14 we see that Onesimus is now wanted as desirable so he's useful now he's wanted as desirable even as a deacon
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Paul says I would have been glad to keep him with me I want to keep him with me he says in order that he may serve you really as like an emissary on your behalf
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I know if you could you would have sent him to me to help me because that would be a good thing other churches have done that you think of Philippians sending
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Epaphroditus during my imprisonment for the gospel but I prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord
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Paul is trying to persuade him because he wants Philemon to do what's right because he knows it's what's right not under compulsion but willingly joyfully so that's a change of status the third reason is this is a case of sovereign purpose this is a case of sovereign purpose
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God's design for eternal good verse 15 he says this perhaps
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I prefer the LHB's translation actually here he says perhaps he was for this reason parted from you for a while Paul wants to persuade
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Philemon to do what is right what he's about to ask because perhaps this temporary break in your relationship was a work of God to instrumentally bring about an eternal wholeness in Christ we don't know what
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God is sovereignly working even in the midst of conflict we do not know what God is sovereignly doing in the background and Paul is not presuming to know the inner workings of God's plan but he understands that this great thing has happened
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Onesimus has become a believer that would not have happened to our knowledge if he had not been parted from you
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God did this and if God did this should you not receive him back forever you can have him as a brother in Christ no longer as a slave but more than a slave there's a lot of debate in Philemon about slavery is
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Paul asking him to to free Onesimus and I don't think that's the case partially because of how
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Paul words it here he's working within the legal system saying look he is more than a slave to you now though you receive him back yes you can receive him back as a slave here's my instructions in Colossians on how masters and slaves should interact with one another in the body of Christ but he is more than that to you he is your brother in Christ a beloved brother
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Paul just called Philemon beloved now he's saying look he is the same equal status as you in Christ Jesus receive him back those are the reasons that he's being persuasive now we see actually the request here those powerful reasons bring us to this request verse 17 through 20 say so if you consider me your partner receive him as you would receive me if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything charge that to my account
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I Paul write this with my own hand I will repay it to say nothing of your owing me your own self yes brother
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I want some benefit from you in the Lord refresh my heart in Christ you know legend has it that King Edward the third
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I believe that's third gotta read my own writing here yes the third of England having begun the hundred years war you probably learned about in school pledged his own royal jewels to a family that was super wealthy the
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Lombard family he pledged his own royal jewels in order to have some quick cash to fund his war his royal jewels are a physical
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I O U I O U this is my pledge I will pay back the debt physical acknowledgement of debt
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Paul's letter to Philemon is basically an I O U Paul's pledge
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I will repay this debt the beautiful thing is it's not Paul's debt to pay
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Paul's I O U is not for his debts but he's identified with the lawbreaker with a rebellious slave and he is offering to pay all the damages you see he as an apostle of Jesus Christ is imitating his savior he is imitating
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Jesus Paul is telling Philemon hey view the lawbreaker as you view me the innocent and welcome him warmly not just as a slave who's welcome back into your household welcome back as family in Christ Jesus he's imitating
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Jesus I think in two ways we're going to take a theology break real quick there's two ways that are illustrated in this request the first is the beautiful doctrine of imputation, imputed status, righteousness this is one of the most marvelous realities in the gospel you think of justification how sweet justification is but it is a mystery without imputation
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I'll define these here for you justification is the mighty act of God to declare sinners not guilty but righteous instead it's beautiful oh it's our hope that's from the baker compact dictionary of theological terms really great short little dictionary if you enjoy reading dictionaries for fun as I do but it leaves you thinking how can
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God declare a guilty sinner not guilty and still be just how can
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God declare a guilty sinner righteous and still be just it's a mystery if not for imputation imputation is the divine work of crediting the righteousness the right standing before God of Christ to people who believe in Him that's what
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Paul is speaking of in 2nd Corinthians 5 one of the most beautiful chapters in the
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Bible where he talks about God as the judge who is reconciled, made peace with repentant sinners through Jesus and then he says in verse 21 for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God the divine transaction
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Jesus had no sin we had all the sin he takes our sin and gives us his righteousness and now
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God can justify sinners that's the gospel that's why we can be ambassadors of Christ he's given us his righteous status as if we have always been as innocent as Jesus Christians being united to Jesus are identified by him and his status to illustrate this you have a credit card your credit card is from Sinover again
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Express every time you use it it seems free because your account at Righteous Bank isn't depleted it doesn't seem so I still have ten dollars in there from helping my grandmother buy groceries maybe but then you get the bill and your eyes are open to the one million oh one billion dollars of debt you've racked up in a month with Sinover again card your ten dollar righteousness is not gonna make a dent it's not gonna cut it and even if you quit enjoying your
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Sin card you're never gonna be able to pay off the debt you've already racked up Jesus on the other hand never even applied for a
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Sinover again card never even tried he refused it whenever it was offered he got the things in the mail
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I get something from Chase almost every week Chase Bank get a credit card no thanks and his
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Righteous Bank account is the largest account that's ever existed matter of fact it's really the only one the good news for you and for me is that if we repent of our sin and trust in him alone that he alone can pay our debt he delights to do it that's beautiful and Jesus goes further he didn't just pay your debt he didn't just pay our debt he didn't just pay
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Philemon's debt he said also Philemon I'm putting your name on my bank account your sin debt was paid for in his death it was imputed to him and his righteous account is imputed to you and when he rose from the grave
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God the Father affirmed the transaction it's done your name is on his account his name is on your bill right next to where it says paid in full done we see
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Paul imitating that reality here when he says receive him, this is his main request if you consider me your partner, fellowshipper someone who is shared in the grace of the gospel receive him as you would receive me receive him, the sinner as if you would receive me, the righteous treat
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Onesimus as you would Paul treat the guilty as you would the innocent the second way that Paul is imitating
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Christ is through the substitutionary work of redemption substitutionary redemption you know what a substitute is right, a substitute teacher as Ben said
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I was homeschooled so I didn't get to experience a substitute quite often, even if mom was sick or not feeling well we still had school to do just with no instruction but sometimes my grandmother would be in town, mom and dad would be on a trip, we'd have a substitute teacher that's the idea, a substitute someone who steps in, in the place of another, theologically the idea here is life being shed in the place of another, you see this in Genesis 22 where Isaac and Abraham are going up the mountain,
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Isaac says where's the lamb and Abraham says God will provide the lamb God will provide the substitute,
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Isaac's on the altar God stays Abraham's hand and they look and God has provided the ram and the thicket, a substitute
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Exodus the Passover lamb is provided by God he's offered as a substitute for the firstborn of the sons of Israel and in Leviticus 16 the day of atonement we see substitutionary sacrifices and the scapegoat are provided to God's people but what was happening there their debt would be paid and then they would begin their next
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IOU, their next debt for the next year it wasn't completed in the old covenant, you and I do the same, we add to our sin debt every day our
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IOU's are long, the record of our sin debt is so long and it comes with legal demands the legal demand of death, but for all who trust totally in Jesus our substitute the one who died in our place our record of debt and its demands are cancelled when he died in our place in this letter that came along with Philemon the letter of Colossians, he says this in Colossians 2 .13,
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speaking of the same idea of a pledge that Paul is speaking of in verse 19 of Philemon, he says having, sorry in verse 13 and you who are dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision, the uncleanness of your flesh
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God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling how did he forgive us all our trespasses?
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by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside, this pledge, this record of debt, he set aside this
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IOU, he set aside and he nailed it to the cross he has disarmed the rulers and authorities, putting them to open shame by triumphing over them in Christ Jesus, in him our
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IOU has been set aside, nailed to the cross so the work of reconciliation was accomplished by Jesus' blood being spilled to pay our sin debt, that's substitution his blood in our place that's why in Colossians 1 .19
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-20 he says, for in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him, in our place to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace how?
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by his blood, by the blood of the cross Jesus knew your sin before he came the fullness of God in man said, charge that to my account that's the gospel that's grace that's how any of us can be forgiven if you are recognizing your sin debt and the slavery of it and if you're seeing
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God's grace and goodness and his gift of forgiveness today you can have
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Christ's righteousness by faith, don't delay don't delay, children listen you can be forgiven by God for all of your sins, you're young oh but we sin a lot when we're young, we bicker with our siblings we steal by taking the things that belong to others, when we're playing with them you still need the forgiveness of God and he offers it freely by faith in Christ Jesus so repent of your sin today, turn away from it and trust in Jesus fully we never come if we think we can work the debt off even if we could pay it all right, don't wait so Paul in Philemon is imitating
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Christ by promising in verse 19 to pay whatever financial or legal demands Onesimus his record of debt had earned and then he puts
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Onesimus' debt into an eternal perspective look at verse 19 to say nothing of your owing me even your own self one commentator writes if debts are under review you owe infinitely more to me than Onesimus does to you
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I have not charged you he's paraphrasing obviously I have not charged you who are my son in the faith you should not charge
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Onesimus who is now your Christian brother but if you choose to I will pay it on his behalf this is putting eternal perspective on the issue he's putting it like a magnifying glass focusing in on the reconciled soul of Philemon and thus on the immeasurable value of the blood -bought soul of Onesimus both men are enslaved to sin were enslaved to sin, right?
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both men have been reconciled to God by the blood of Christ both men are in the household of God Colossians says there's no
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Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised barbarian, Scythian slave or free but Christ is all and in all so in light of the debt of Philemon being forgiven how can he not forgive
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Onesimus? in light of the welcome that Philemon's received from God through the gospel how can he not welcome
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Onesimus? in light of this, let's look back over 17 through 20 we'll see quickly three principles for reconciling relational conflict this is what
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Paul is saying is right or required of Philemon, reconcile this relational conflict again,
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Philemon is not the offending party, to our knowledge there's no sin in this matter on his part but this is what
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Paul is telling him to do look at verse 17 again receive him as you would receive me, a partner fellowshipper, he's saying first, receive him with new status, receiving with new status is vital for relational reconciliation the reality is that they both are partakers of grace he's saying welcome him as a
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Christian brother, Romans 15 7, in the context of disagreements between Jews and Gentiles, Paul prays for their unity so that they can glorify
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God together and then he says therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God our biblical counseling pastor says that forgiveness prepares the way for reconciliation so welcoming one another as Jesus has you begins with obeying
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Colossians 3, 13 hopefully you're seeing too Colossians and Philemon should be read together we understand each of them much better when they're together
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Colossians 3, 13 says bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against another forgiving each other as the
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Lord has forgiven you so you also must forgive as the
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Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive so how has God forgiven us?
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he promises to never dwell on the incident the Bible speaks of God forgetting your sins in the sense of remembering your sins no more,
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Hebrews 8, 12 there's many times in Isaiah he doesn't bring up the charge again, he doesn't use us against use our sin against us in his righteous court any longer
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Romans 8, 1, there's therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus Ken Sandy gives us four promises that we are making when we say
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I forgive you four promises we must be committed to for our forgiveness to be like the fathers, and the first is
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I'm not going to dwell on this incident I will not bring up this incident again or use it against you, that's the second the third is
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I will not talk to others I'm not going to gossip about this incident and then fourthly, I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship so kids, when you need to forgive your brother or your sister you're making those promises to them you're saying, hey look,
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I'm not going to dwell on this anymore, when I say I forgive you this is what I mean, I'm not going to dwell on it anymore,
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I'm not going to bring it up again or use it against you later, well don't you remember when you did that?
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I'm not going to do that I'm not even going to go and talk to my other siblings or friends about what you did to me,
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I'm promising to not do that, it's gone, and then lastly, I promise that I'm not going to let this hinder our relationship and our friendship, those are the promises in Ken Sandy's Peacemaker book, that you're making when you forgive, and forgiveness is a must you think of the servant in Jesus' parable in Matthew 18 where he goes and he begs the master for mercy he's given mercy of a massive debt and then he turns around and he refuses to forgive a smaller debt of one who sinned against him if that's what we do, we have not understood the gospel, and Jesus says that we will then be accountable for our sin if we are not willing to forgive our brothers and sisters from the heart
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Jesus saw it as so important that he included it in the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors if God the
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Father has welcomed you and me lawbreakers rebels he's welcomed us with a new status as his own children how can you refuse to welcome and forgive those who wrong you, those for whom
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Christ has died, so recognize receive them with a new status, and then release from old sins
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Paul does this throughout verses 18 through 19 he acknowledges the receipt of debt, he says if he has wronged you at all or owes anything, he's only heard
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Onesimus' point of view, so he puts it in a conditional statement, if I don't know for sure what all he's wronged you with, but I recognize there's a receipt of debt you know your debt of sin better than anyone else's then he talks about the redemption from indebtedness if Philemon charges
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Paul for damages Onesimus would be legally released from all previous offenses so we need to remember all that God has forgiven us, as we're releasing others from old sins then you've got the
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IOU, the record of debt in verse 19 I write this with my own hand
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Paul partly wrote it really large I will repay it I'm going to pay the charge that's the record of debt, remember the cost that Christ paid and then the reminder of our eternal debt remember that your life is not your own, you've been bought for a price, so glorify
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God with your body, to say nothing of your owing me, even your own self the third principle of reconciliation is the refreshment of the saints this is where he brings the community back in verse 20, when we are forgiving others, it's not for our benefit, it's for the benefit of others, it's to bless others, our relationships are not for us, they're a blessing but they're ultimately for the glory of God and for the benefit of others
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Paul says, yes brother I want some benefit from you in the Lord Paul's reminding
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Philemon that the Lord is his Lord and he requires him a master and a freedman though he may be, to treat fellow
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Christians in a way that glorifies the Lord when we refuse to forgive others, we're thinking about ourselves we're thinking about our rights our desires and our benefit, we're not considering others nor are we actually considering Christ's lordship over us his sacrifice his forgiveness he deserves the glory even if that means that we get defrauded if we give forgiveness and are hurt again,
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Christ deserves the glory Paul is after the benefit or profit of enjoying seeing the example of Philemon's Christ like love, again the selflessness that Paul is exemplifying and then for the benefit of others refresh my heart
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I love this, Paul is so brilliant this is what Philemon has proven that he does for all the saints already
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Paul noted it you're one who refreshes the hearts of all the saints so I'm a saint and finally, our
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Onesimus is my heart refresh my heart by receiving him Onesimus is my very heart so his final appeal to Philemon is give me rest revival, rejuvenation by receiving
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Onesimus as reconciled. This is the main point of Philemon love for Christ should result in hearts that are willing to reconcile with fellow
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Christians in love no matter their sins and this love refreshes the saints love for Christ should result in hearts that are willing to forgive fellow
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Christians in love no matter what they did, no matter how difficult it is no matter how costly it may have been to Philemon, to us and that kind of love refreshes the saints.
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It's not easy to be reconciled, especially if you're the offended party peacemaking is hard it's costly, often but in comparison to all that God has done in reconciling us to himself it's a small and temporary difficulty as you think about Thanksgiving coming up, family relationships, families getting together sometimes those are great and joyful experiences and other times there's unreconciled relationships and it makes it very difficult as you think about Thanksgiving, who do you need to forgive?
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Are you prepared and willing to imitate your Savior? It will only increase your appreciation and love for Christ to forgive those who have offended you to be willing in your heart to forgive them should they ask because repentance is so important, we desire them to repent for their good and then also, who do you need to seek forgiveness from?
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Do you need to seek peace before you sit down at table together? That's the body, that's the main point of this letter
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Paul closes out with what I'm calling the pressure we read it and it's like no pressure
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Philemon, there's a lot of pressure it seems like coming, this is the third and final point that I'll try to go through much more quickly
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Paul closes his letter again in a typical fashion except there's elements of him exerting pressure on Philemon to do what he has said, this is right, this is what's required,
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I hope I've persuaded you but here's encouragements again, this isn't coercive or manipulative these are encouragements to do what's right we're gonna look at briefly three, the first is the encouragement of a
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Christ -like church the praise of previous obedience sorry encouragement of Christ -like character is the first one, so the praise of previous obedience encourages more voluntary obedience, when he says confident of your obedience, he's saying
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I know your proven character in the past, I have seen your past obedience, so I'm confident that you will do what's right, this is an obedience of Paul, again
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Paul is grounded in what he believes Christ would have Philemon do, so he's saying
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I'm confident you will do what Christ desires of you he's confident of Philemon's obedience, but he's also confident of Philemon's super obedience
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Philemon suffered from a rare phenomenon called ADHD, above duty, hyper obedience disorder but it's not really a disorder at all, his affections were rightly ordered so Paul says at the bare minimum you're gonna,
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I believe you're gonna do what's required to receive Onesimus as a brother in Christ, bare minimum fully reconciled considered not guilty but I also believe that you're gonna do far more than that we don't know what that is, maybe it was manumission which is freed from slavery maybe this book was used throughout
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Christian history to end the establishment of slavery I praise God for that but we don't know, and this should give us an application point of how we should go about cultural issues if people's hearts aren't changed and persuaded by Christ by the
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Gospel of what's right we will not change or persuade the culture we must go with the
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Gospel and we must go with the truth that changes hearts and then we'll see establishments fall and new, beautiful Christ -centered,
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Gospel -centered Ones be raised up the second encouragement is the
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Christ -like community the Church the people beside the obedient encourage more
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Christ -likeness, we see this with him mentioning, prepare a guest room for me, for I'm hoping that through y 'all's prayers, that's another plural, he brings the
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Church back in, y 'all are praying for me I believe, so prepare a guest room I'm coming through your prayers
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I'll be graciously given to you, he's bringing the congregation back in, we gotta remember this whole thing was read in front of the
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Church again, what pressure they know the situation and now they know
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Paul may be coming and then we see the accountability of the coming authority the author is coming isn't that a strong encouragement for us as we think about the author of the
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Bible is gonna come he's gonna come at any moment we don't know the day or the hour so don't be caught asleep or unaware if he came today what would he find would he find you refreshing the saints would he find you being reconciled we think of how sad it would be to have regrets at the coming of Christ, regrets of how that relationship identity restoration
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Christ is here and I think we'll have abundant joy but before he comes, don't you want to be leaving at peace with all men so far as it depends on you it's great accountability as we think about the coming authority and we see also the encouragement of Christlike community through the allies these are men, this list of men, you can look at Colossians 4 and see many of the same mentioned there,
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Epaphras his fellow soldier, most likely the pastor of the church there, but he is a prisoner with Paul in Rome, it sounds like here these other men are described as my fellow workers,
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I think Paul is reminding Philemon they're doing the work of the gospel just like you, he had mentioned
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Philemon a fellow worker so he's encouraging him by reminding him of his allies in the gospel men who love him men who want to see him do what's right seeing souls saved is their work and Onesimus is a soul that's been saved rejoice, bring him back, this is positive peer pressure walk with the wise,
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Philemon and the last encouragement is we see the encouragement of Christ's grace, the grace of the
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Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit the power behind obedience encourages more Christ -likeness again this is addressed to the whole church this is his typical sign -off but he's bookended this whole letter with grace verse 3 and verse 25 because the difficulty of costly love and forgiveness that's required within this book cannot be done apart from God's grace grace is
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God's unmerited favor toward sinners, it's his transforming power to make sinners able to please him as well he's framed the issue in God's grace and so really the pressure isn't pressure at all every pound per square inch that Philemon may feel to do what's right has already been borne by the
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Son of God and it's met with a force of God's power to produce obedience redeeming grace as you think about it what a fitting name, redeeming grace
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I love that you're an assembly of souls whom God has purchased with his own blood and as you are striving for holiness together,
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I hope that you see the rightness of reconciliation your survival as a unified body of Christ depends on reconciliation, on peace and the good news is that that reconciliation is a gift of grace from our
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Lord Jesus Christ your survival depends on the
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God man who rose from the dead and reconciled all things to himself and made peace between you and God no pressure, literally no pressure, just grace and worship and joy he's able to keep the peace he's worthy of your worshipful obedience and he's coming again the author is coming, and I pray that he'll find you all faithful, reconciled holy, and at peace, let's pray dear
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Heavenly Father we praise you for every book in the Bible all of your word has been written for our good it's instructive to us, it will train us in righteousness, it confronts our sin and it corrects us and we pray oh
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God that you would be doing that work even now, and I thank you for the opportunity to fellowship with these believers and worship you through the preached word and singing together, and I do pray oh
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God for a redeeming grace church that as you grow them in holiness, as you grow them together, as you bring others in,
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I pray oh God that you would delight to bless them with unity through Christ like love and faith and reconciliation we do praise you for Thanksgiving we pray for the families represented here that they would delight in a meal shared, that they would seek peace insofar as it depends on them to have peace with all at that table and may you be glorified in your church, in Jesus name