Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
Well good morning. Thank you Benjamin for your friendship and Mr. 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.
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. As your bulletins say, go ahead and turn to Philemon, the little book of Philemon with me this morning.
We're going to be studying a little book with a mighty message. It's a small letter that was written to an individual. It was written to the man whose name is at the heading of the book. A man named Philemon.
As you're turning there, I want you to imagine with me that you're a first century Christian. You're a first century Christian, you're living in Colossae and you were saved maybe through the preaching of a man named Epaphras.
He's most likely the pastor of this little church here in Colossae. 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.
His name is Philemon. He is a generous man, he's a loyal man, he's a hospitable man. 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.
You meet one of his slaves, his name's Onesimus. Now remember this is first century Roman culture. Slavery was legal and it was common to have a household slave in any home with money. It was an indication of status in many ways.
Even for those who were in this young church, the beginnings of the early church. You meet this slave Onesimus and you realize slaves could be, in the Roman times, they could be anything from the worst of the worst conditions, which is minors.
That would have been awful. But they could have been minors, janitors, they could have been gardeners, doorkeepers, cooks. They could also have been secretaries, tutors, architects, musicians, treasurers, or even doctors.
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. But you meet Onesimus and whatever he may have been, all that you can tell is that he's pretty useless to Philemon.
He is grumbly and complaining and not a faithful servant. 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.
One of his slaves has rebelled, stolen from him, and run away. What should Philemon do? What should he do? Because you remember, this is a man who has the spirit of God as a Christian. A man who, Lord willing, we hoped, was taking care of his slaves.
But everything we know about Philemon is he is an upstanding Christian man. What is he supposed to do? If the slave catchers catch him, then Onesimus could have been branded with a big F that stands for fugitavis or fugitawis, depending on your pronunciation.
Fugitive. 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.
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 Roman culture, among others, who are saying he can't manage his household.
He can't keep it together. 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 Onesimus again? He could let bitterness fester in his heart towards Onesimus for his disrespect, his thievery, his offenses.
He could just say, no, it's not a big deal. It's okay. Whatever. Water under the bridge. Don't talk about it. Don't bring it up. What he should do in that situation is all hypothetical until one day. The back door of the church opens, the back door of his house, and in walks an emissary from the apostle Paul, a man known and loved by the church in Colossians.
Because through that man's preaching, the host, Philemon, the pastor, Epaphras, have all been saved by the gospel of grace. 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.
Tychicus delivers the two letters. The first is the letter of Colossians, and he reads Colossians out loud to the church. He exalts Christ's supremacy, and he encourages the church to live in submission to Christ.
And then he gets to chapter 4, verse 7, where Paul writes, Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the 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.
And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. 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.
And they look back at Philemon. And they look back at Onesimus. They look back at Philemon. 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.
He's faithful. On top of that, now it's not hypothetical. What should Philemon do? What should he do? And then Tychicus pulls out the second letter. Let's read it together. Let's read Philemon. It begins, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister, and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house.
Grace to y 'all. That's you, plural. And peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you, singular, in my prayers. He's talking to Philemon now. Because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the 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. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet, for love's sake, 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, 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. 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.
But I prefer to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever.
No longer as a bondservant, 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 Lord. 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. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. To say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord.
Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers, I will be graciously given to you.
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark and Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Let's pray.
Lord God, we thank you for this precious book. 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, and that in him we can imitate Christ, and reconciliation among brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
May you be glorified in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So Tychicus finishes reading, and we're all thinking, no pressure, Philemon. This is right in front of the whole church. It's sent with an emissary, and it's sent with the message, prepare a guest room for me.
Prepare a guest room, I may be coming soon. The author is going to show up.
No pressure.
Here in Philemon, we're going to see Paul actually providing guidance to Christian reconciliation, in this three-part letter. Like any letter, you've got an opening, a body, and a closing. So we're going to see that here.
Let's look at the opening together. We've got the praise to God for Philemon. Praise for Philemon. It begins with the preface, here in verses 1 through 3. Paul, as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, is writing, and he says, with Timothy, and Timothy our brother.
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. He is with me here as I write this letter. And he begins this letter in a very typical way for Paul, but I want you to observe a few things.
Paul is not describing himself as an apostle here, an apostle of Christ Jesus. He normally does. Philemon, along with Philippians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians, are the only letters where Paul does not bring up his apostleship in the opener, in the preface.
He brings up instead, I am a prisoner for Christ Jesus. And this is intentional. We'll see later why. He is a prisoner. He's writing during his first Roman imprisonment. This would have been A .D. 60 to A .D. 61, the same time that he wrote the books of Philippians, Ephesians, and Colossians.
And then he sent it with the book of Colossians through Tychicus, most likely. He's imprisoned for Christ. A prisoner for Christ Jesus. Because he is Christ's. He is willing to lose his status and his legal rights, his freedom, in order to proclaim the good news of Christ.
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. 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.
We see that he's writing principally to Philemon. He mentions Philemon first. He calls him a beloved fellow worker, someone who is in the ministry with Paul, whom Paul loves dearly. It's believed that Athea and Archippus are Philemon's wife and son, respectively.
But he's also addressing it to the whole church. As we'll see, reconciliation is a vital part of life in Christ. A vital part of life in the body of Christ. If a brother and a brother are at odds, it affects the whole body.
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. It's a church matter. But it's also potentially because it was a well-known thing to the church.
Philemon and Onesimus' differences. Not just differences, but the offenses against Philemon. We believe that Philemon, due to verse 19, where Paul says, you owe me your own self, was saved through the ministry of Paul.
And here Paul writes an open letter. At the summer camp I grew up at, we would sometimes have mail time at lunch. And parents would write their kids notes and leave them there and leave them for particular days or whatever.
My parents loved me and I knew that, so I didn't ever need a letter. However, I also never received one. 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!
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. 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.
Something along those lines, right? It's an open mail, open letter. He was always joking. Here Paul is writing to the whole church an open letter directed to Philemon.
The church meets in your house, everyone knows you, no pressure. But then Paul says in verse 3, grace to you and peace. Talking to the whole church, desiring grace and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the whole church.
Grace is how anyone is saved. Peace is the result of salvation. 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.
And if God does not give his grace and peace.
That's the preface.
Then we see this prayer in verses 4 through 7. 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. His appeal is going to be grounded in the fact that Philemon is a godly man.
Which is interesting and we'll see this as we go on. We'll see it as a two part prayer. It not only exemplifies godly character, but it also exposes the source of godly character. And as this is the basis for Paul's appeal, it acts as like the stellar core.
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, you know, a workout program. 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.
It is the strength of this core of the star that prevents the star from collapsing on itself under the weight of its mass. It provides the perfect hot temperatures and the dense pressure conditions that are necessary to radiate energy.
What we have in verses 4 through 7 is the stellar core of Paul's appeal. It sets the right temperature. It sets the right pressure. So that the request to Philemon is actually going to power itself. It's going to actually radiate exactly what Paul is hoping, which is Christ-like love and unity.
Everything else, he says, is radiating from these few verses. 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 Greek word koinonia, fellowship.
Heart, refresh. These are key words that are all found in these short verses. And then verse 8 begins accordingly. It's looking back to what he just said to then ground what he's about to say. So we see that godly character is the cause of Paul's thanksgiving in verses 4 and 5.
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. He prays always. So he's frequently or persistently praying.
He prays specifically or personally. He's praying for Philemon specifically. And 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 Lord Jesus Christ and for all the saints.
Philemon's evident and far-flung reputation of Christian character is why he gives God thanks. This is agape love. This is not your this time of the year hallmark, you know, Christmas prince emotional love.
This is love that is an act of the will of a purposeful, selfless, humble commitment to the other. Philemon exhibits that and his love to Christ and in his fidelity or faithfulness towards the church, God's people.
Philemon is an outstanding Christian man whose covenant love and loyalty toward Christ is evident and his love and loyalty for all of God's people. 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 God as the source of Philemon's character. Then he goes on and says that godly character is the content of his prayer. He praises God because of his godly character and he prays to God for more of it, for Philemon.
Verses six through seven. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective. Now, unfortunately, the ESV at least gets this in a very tricky way. It makes you think initially of evangelism.
He's praying that Philemon will evangelize. I've heard it used in those contexts, but the sharing word here is koinonia. It's fellowship, partnership. It's not just I want to go and proclaim the gospel, proclaim my faith.
He's talking about partnership based on your faith. He's talking about fellowship in the local church based on a common faith in Christ Jesus. 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.
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.
You think about someone who studies working out, studies bodybuilding, but never goes to the gym. Has a lot of the knowledge of the good things that he could be capable of, but he never puts it into practice.
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, 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.
Similarly here, Christians have every blessing in Christ Jesus in the heavenly places. We have the fruits of the 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.
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. 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 Philemon's character. He says, look, I have derived joy and comfort from your love, my brother.
He's not asking Philemon to do something that is contrary to who Philemon already is in Christ Jesus. He's saying, 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, Paul derives his joy and comfort because he sees 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 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 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. 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, right? It's not based on the perception of others.
I'm going to do this because I know I need to. Matter of fact, interestingly, Onesimus' 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 Paul, all of those things.
We believe genuine repentance is there. But Paul's focus isn't on Onesimus. It's on Philemon. It's a mirror of God's forgiveness of us. 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, 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 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 through 20. And Paul begins with three reasons that he is persuading Philemon rather than commanding Philemon.
Three reasons for why Philemon should do what he asks. Paul's not manipulating. There's a difference between manipulation and persuasion. 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. 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 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? I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required.
What is right. Now, I want you to see that Paul's not saying, whatever is right for you. He's not saying, because I love you, I will let you come to your own conclusion about what you should do. No, he's saying there is right and there is wrong in this matter.
Something is required. Something is right. But because of your proven Christ-like love, I'm preferring to give you a chance to exercise it. 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, 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 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 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. Onesimus is different. He's a brother in Christ. Verse 10. We learn of the parties here involved.
This is the first time 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 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.
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. I am sending him back to you. I'm returning him. Sending my very heart.
Paul is identifying deeply with Onesimus. Biblically, when you speak of, when the 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. It's where your deepest affections reside. Paul is saying. Here's my heart in 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. 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. 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 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. 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. This third reason. Is this is a case of sovereign purpose. This is a case of sovereign purpose. God's design for eternal good. Verse 15. He says, this perhaps. I prefer the LSB's translation actually here.
He says, perhaps he was for this reason parted from you for a while. Paul wants to persuade 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 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. Onesimus has become a believer. That would not have happened to our knowledge.
If he had not been parted from you.
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. As Paul asking him to free Onesimus. And I don't think that's the case.
Partially because of how 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.
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.
I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it to say nothing of your owing me your own self. Yes, brother. I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. You know, legend has it that King Edward the third.
I believe that's third. Got to 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 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 I .O .U. I .O .U. This is my pledge. I will pay back the debt. Physical acknowledgement of debt.
Paul's letter to Philemon is basically an I .O .U. Paul's pledge. I will repay this debt. The beautiful thing is it's not Paul's debt to pay. Paul's I .O .U. is not for his debts, but he's identified with a lawbreaker.
With a rebellious slave. And he is offering to pay all the damages. You see, he has an apostle of Jesus Christ is imitating his savior. He is imitating 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 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. 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 God declare a guilty sinner not guilty?
And still be just? How can 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 Paul is speaking of in 2 Corinthians 5. One of the most beautiful chapters in the 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. Jesus had no sin. We had all the sin. He takes our sin. And gives us his righteousness.
And now 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. Sinova again express. Every time you use it. It seems freeing. Because your account at righteous bank.
Isn't depleted. It doesn't seem so. I still have $10 in there from helping my grandmother.
Buy groceries.
Maybe.
But then you get the bill. And your eyes are open to. The 1 million. $1 billion of debt. You've racked up in a month. With sin over again.
Card.
Your $10 righteousness. Is not going to make a dent. It's not going to cut it. And even if you. Quit enjoying your sin card. You're never going to be able to pay off the debt. You've already racked up.
Jesus on the other hand. Never even applied for a sin over again card. Never even tried. He refused it whenever it was offered. He got the things in the mail. I get something from Chase almost every week.
Chase Bank.
Get a credit card.
No thanks.
And his 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 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. 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 Paul imitating. That reality.
Here.
When he says.
Receive him.
This is his main request. If you consider me your partner.
Fellowshipper.
Someone who has shared in the grace of the gospel.
As you would receive me. Receive him. The sinner. As if you would receive me.
The righteous.
Treat Onesimus as you would Paul. Treat the guilty. As you would the innocent. The second way that. Paul is imitating. Christ. Is through the substitutionary. Work of redemption. Substitutionary.
Redemption.
You know.
What a substitute is.
Right.
A substitute teacher. Has been said. 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. But just with no instruction. But sometimes. My grandmother would be in town.
Mom and dad 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.
Isaac says.
Where's the lamb?
And Abraham says.
God will provide the lamb.
God will provide.
The substitute.
Isaac's on the altar.
God stays Abraham's hand. And they look. And God has provided the ram and the thicket.
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 is. Their debt would be paid. And then they would begin their next 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 IOUs 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. 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. And the uncircumcision. The uncleanness.
Of your flesh.
God made alive together with him. Having forgiven us.
All.
Our trespasses.
By cancelling. How did he forgive us all our trespasses? 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 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.
Him.
Our IOU has been set aside. Nailed to the cross.
So.
The work of reconciliation was accomplished by Jesus.
His.
Blood.
Being spilled. To pay our sin debt. That's substitution.
His blood.
In our place.
That's why. Colossians.
1.
19 through 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?
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 God's grace.
And goodness.
Gift of forgiveness. You can have. Christ.
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.
At all.
Don't wait.
Paul and. Philemon.
Is imitating Christ. By promising. In verse 19. To pay. Whatever financial.
Or legal demands.
Onesimus.
Record.
His record.
Of debt.
Had earned.
And then he puts. Onesimus.
His 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.
I have not.
Charged you.
He's paraphrasing.
Things.
Obviously.
Who are my son. In the faith. You should not. Charge 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. But soul. Of Onesimus.
Both men are.
Enslaved to sin.
Were.
Right?
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.
Greek or Jew. Circumcised. Or uncircumcised.
Barbarian.
Scythian.
Slave.
Or free.
But Christ is.
And in all. So in light of. The debt of Philemon. Being forgiven. How can he not.
Forgive.
Onesimus. In light of the welcome. That Philemon's.
Received.
From God. Through the gospel.
How can he not.
Welcome.
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. Paul is saying. Is right. Or required. Of Philemon. Reconcile.
This.
Relational.
Conflict.
Again.
Philemon.
Is not the offending.
Party.
To our knowledge.
There's no sin. In this matter.
On his part.
But this is what Paul is. Telling him to do.
Look at verse.
17.
As you would.
Receive me.
A partner.
He's saying.
First.
Receive him. With new status. Receiving with new status.
Is.
Vital.
For.
Relational. Reconciliation.
Reality.
Is that they both.
Are partakers.
Of grace.
Welcome him. As a Christian.
Brother.
Romans.
15.
Seven.
In the context.
Of.
Disagreements. Between Jews. And Gentiles.
Paul.
Praise.
Their unity. So that they can glorify.
God.
Together.
And then he says. Therefore welcome. One another.
As.
Christ. Has welcomed you.
The glory.
Of. God. Our.
Biblical.
Counseling.
Pastor. Says.
That forgiveness.
Prepares.
The way.
Reconciliation.
Welcoming.
One another.
Jesus. Has.
Begins.
With.
Obeying.
Colossians.
3. 13. Hopefully.
You're seeing.
Two.
And.
Should.
Be. Read.
Understand. Each. Of.
Them.
Much. Better.
When.
They're.
3.
13.
Says. Bearing.
And. If. One.
Has.
A.
Complaint. Another.
Forgiving.
Each.
Other.
The.
Lord.
Forgiven.
So. You.
Also.
Must.
As. The. Lord. Has.
Also. Must.
So. God.
Us.
He.
Promises.
To.
Never.
Dwell.
On.
Incident.
Bible. Speaks.
Forgetting. Your.
Sins.
The. Sense. Of.
Remembering.
Your.
No.
Hebrews 8.
12.
There's many times in Isaiah.
Doesn't.
Bring.
Up. The.
Charge.
Use. Us.
Against.
Use.
Our.
Sin.
Us. In.
Righteous.
Court.
Any.
Longer.
8.
There's.
Therefore.
Now.
Condemnation.
Those.
Christ.
Jesus. Ken.
Sandy.
Gives.
Four.
That.
Are.
Making.
Say.
I.
We. Must. Be.
Committed.
To. For.
Forgiveness.
To. Be.
Like.
Fathers.
And. The.
Is. I'm.
Not.
Going.
I. Will. Not.
Up. This.
Or.
It.
That's. The.
Second.
The. Third. Is. I. Will.
Not. Talk.
Others.
I'm.
Gossip.
About.
And. Then.
Fourthly.
I. Will.
Let.
Stand.
Between.
Hinder.
Personal.
Relationship.
Kids.
When. When.
Need. To.
Sister.
Anymore.
When. Say. I.
This. Is. What.
I. Mean.
Going. To.
On. It.
Anymore. I'm. Not.
Gonna.
Up.
Or. Use. It.
Later.
Well. Don't.
Remember.
When. You. Did.
I'm. Not. Gonna. Do.
I'm. Not.
Even.
Go.
And. To. My. Other.
Siblings.
Friends. About.
What.
Did.
Me.
Promising.
Do.
It's.
Gone. And.
Then.
Lastly.
Promise.
Ready.
And. Our.
Friendship.
Are. The.
In. Ken.
Sandy's.
Peacemaker.
Book. That.
You're. Making.
When. You.
Is. A.
You think of the servant in Jesus's parable in Matthew 18, where he goes and he begs the 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. Jesus saw it as so important that he included in the Lord's Prayer.
Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. If God the 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 Christ has died?
So recognize, receive them with a new status, and then release from old sins. 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 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 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 IOU, the record of debt, in verse 19.
I write this with my own hand. Paul partly wrote it really large. I will repay it. I'm gonna 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 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. Paul says, yes brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Paul's reminding Philemon that the Lord is his Lord.
And he requires him, a master and a freedman though he may be, to treat fellow 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, Christ deserves the glory.
Paul is after the benefit or profit of enjoying seeing the example of Philemon's Christlike love. Again, the selflessness that Paul is exemplifying. And then, for the benefit of others, refresh my heart.
I love this. Paul is so brilliant. This is what Philemon has proven that he does for all the saints already. Paul noted it. You're one who refreshes the hearts of all the saints. So I'm a saint, and Philemon, or 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 Onesimus as reconciled. This is the main point of Philemon. Love for Christ should result in hearts that are willing to reconcile with fellow 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 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. 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? 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? 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. Paul closes out with what I'm calling the pressure. We read it and it's like, no pressure, 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. 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. 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 Christlike Church. The praise of previous obedience, sorry, encouragement of Christlike 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, 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, Paul is grounded in what he believes Christ would have Philemon do. So he's saying, 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.
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, 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 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 gospel of what's right, we will not change or persuade the culture.
We must go with the gospel, and we must go with the truth that changes hearts, and then we'll see establishments fall and new, beautiful, Christ-centered, gospel-centered ones be raised up. The second encouragement is the Christlike community, the church.
The people beside the obedient encourage more Christlikeness. 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 church back in.
Y 'all are praying for me, I believe. So prepare a guest room. I'm coming. Through your prayers I'll be graciously given to you. He's bringing the congregation back in. We've got to remember, this whole thing was read in front of the church.
Again, what pressure. They know the situation, and now they know Paul may be coming. And then we see the accountability of the coming authority, right? The author is coming. Isn't that a strong encouragement for us?
As we think about the author of the 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 I didn't seek restoration. Now 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.
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. I think Paul is reminding Philemon, they're doing the work of the gospel just like you.
He had mentioned 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, Philemon. And the last encouragement is we see the encouragement of Christ's grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
The power behind obedience encourages more Christlikeness. 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 God's unmerited favor towards 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 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. 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, 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 Lord Jesus Christ. So your survival depends on the 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 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.
We pray, O God, that you would be doing that work even now. 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, O God, for a redeeming Grace Church that as you grow them in holiness, as you grow them together, as you bring others in, I pray, O God, that you would delight to bless them with unity through Christlike 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, Amen.