Bible In A Year - Philemon

Our Father in Heaven, we come before your throne this morning as a people who would be very careful to recognize that we are what we are by the grace of God.

We're thankful that you're thinking upon us even as we meet in this place this morning.

We're grateful that you demonstrated your great love toward us and that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us. And we have been made children of God through faith in Christ.

You have done a very, very good work in our lives for us to be

Christians, for us to be the children of the living God, for us to have a desire to worship, to read and to hear and to meditate and memorize your word, to gather together with the saints and share the things of Christ together and the privilege of fellowship.

All of this is because of your good and effectual grace, your work upon us, the great visitation of our

God upon our souls. Lord, to rescue us from the penalty of sin and that we are indwelt with the

Spirit of God and that we are a changed people. We look back upon our past life and Lord, with the sin and the rebellion and the running from you, we just cannot imagine.

We cannot even think of how you could forgive us and yet you have.

And Lord, so we just want to worship. We want to lift our voices this morning and lift our hearts with grateful praise and adoration to our

Lord and to our God, to our Savior. And we want to, Lord, ask you to please bless this time and teach us, mold us and shape us.

We so desire to walk in a way that pleases you and thank you for this time that we'll have and thank you for your precious word in Jesus' name.

Amen. In your sheets that you have, you can see that the book is

Philemon. This book is a bit different, it is a bit unique from any of the other epistles that the

Apostle Paul wrote in that it is the only epistle, the only inspired letter written to an individual who is not a pastor.

And it is a letter that is, and it's the only one that specifically and purely deals with a personal issue.

And we'll get into the details of that. It is also a different letter that the

Apostle Paul writes to a person. And, of course, it's going to be read at the church and, of course, spread abroad as much as Philemon would, as they would share those letters.

But it is the only epistle where the Apostle Paul downplays rather than asserts his apostolic authority.

You remember in many of the other ones, they were hearing from the false teachers about Paul's teaching.

And it was contradicting Paul's teaching. Or they would look at the Apostle Paul and they were contending.

And they were saying, who is he? Who are you? He would have to assert the fact that he was an apostle called of God.

In this one, though, he's not doing that. And he has a particular reason for that, and we'll see that as we go on.

I'll just tip the hat a little bit. The reason that he doesn't come across strong and assert that authority is because he wants to have

Philemon do something, not because Paul strong -arms him, not because he pressures him, not because he forces him, but so that he would do it willingly, that he would do it as when

Paul wrote about the Corinthian church in giving. He said to them that God loves a cheerful giver.

He didn't want to have to press them to do it as a duty, but he wanted them as willingly from their heart to give unto the

Lord. And as Paul deals with Philemon, he's dealing with the same spirit. He wants to have

Philemon obey, not out of duty, but out of willingness, a heart willingness.

And that's unique. It's different than some of the other epistles that the apostle

Paul wrote. You'll see on the sheet that I gave, there are actually two themes. The overarching theme in this book, of course, is the importance of true forgiveness in the

Christian life or true forgiveness in the church of God. It's very important.

And also there's another theme that we see here in spiritual equality. We'll get to that also as we go on.

But this letter is different. It's kind of like I have had opportunities in my career where people have come to me and they are looking for a job, and they want a letter of recommendation, or I'm going to be called to recommend by an employer.

I'm going to be called and asked about the qualities and the aspects and the abilities of a person.

But there have been times where I've written a letter or an e -mail as a letter of recommendation to somebody based upon the relationship that I have with that person.

I've worked with this person that I'm sending this to, and there's already a relationship that's built there.

And what I am writing is important, and it's interceding for or representing somebody else and recommending them.

And this letter is that type of letter. It's a letter of reference. Paul writing to Philemon about a man named

Onesimus. And there's a particular, and as I said, an overarching theme here.

What Paul would desire of Philemon is for him to forgive and to receive and to take unto himself

Onesimus, who was at one time a slave, a servant that had worked for Philemon but had run away.

More details as we go down. So this reference letter is written.

And Philemon, as I said, owned a slave who ran away. Onesimus is his name.

And Onesimus eventually met with the Apostle Paul as he's running away, and he goes to Rome, and he meets with the

Apostle Paul through the ministry of the Apostle Paul who is in prison. This is a prison epistle.

He hears the gospel. He is saved. And as he's serving with the

Apostle Paul and serving the Apostle Paul in prison, they come to the conclusion that Onesimus needs to go back to Philemon.

He needs to go back because it's the right thing to do. And Paul is going to accompany him.

This letter is going to accompany Onesimus as he goes back to Philemon.

So, again, it's a letter of intercession. And this letter provides an insightful look not only into church living at that time, but also slavery, servanthood.

And we'll see that as it comes out at this time. And it shows particularly that when it comes to that theme of spiritual equality, that our

Lord would desire that the relationship between the master and the slave would be elevated to a different level, to a different type of relationship.

It would not be one that was typical during that day where slaves could be abused.

They were misused. They were thought of. It was not always meant to be that way because there were many instances, and how it started off was indentured slavery.

It was like someone who would say they will put themselves under a contract with someone else and work for them and maybe learn a trade and maybe make money.

It wasn't always as we think of the atrocities of the man stealing that we were heard of in our

American history where the slaves, the folks in Africa, stolen, brought on ship and totally mistreated, treated as chattel, as property.

But what Paul is teaching here and what we see in the New Testament scriptures when it comes to, and even in the old, when it comes to this relationship, it is one that is to be and ought to be a relationship where there is kindness showed, where the relationship is to be just and to be kind.

And isn't that just like the Lord how when it comes to his grace, he changes even this institution, in this case here, with the life of these two individuals from the inside out.

You'll notice that there isn't a, as we go through this book, you will see that Paul is not calling for Onesimus' freedom.

He's not standing up with pickets and saying we must abolish slavery. We must abolish this indentured servant relationship.

What was important was to him, and it ought to be important to the church today too, not that that is an issue that we shouldn't deal with when it comes our way, but it is not our focus.

The focus of the church is the gospel, to preach that Christ died, was buried and rose again.

Sinners can be saved through faith in his name. And the Apostle Paul, when he writes Philemon, is not going to call for his freedom, but he's going to call for something else.

He's going to call that their relationship change, that there be something different that goes on, and that when

Onesimus is received by Philemon, that he would receive him as more than a slave.

He would receive him as a brother in Jesus Christ, as who he was. Written by Paul around 60 to 62

A .D., this letter to Philemon, as I mentioned a little earlier, is one of the epistles, along with Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, that completes the group called the prison epistles.

Philemon was a prominent member of the Colossian church. He is in the church.

We see from the beginning of the book, if you look in verse 1, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, our brother, unto

Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer, our fellow worker. And our beloved

Ephiah and Archippus, our fellow soldiers, and to the church that is in thy house.

Speaking of Philemon's house, he was well -to -do. He had a house that was large enough to hold the church at that time, and church was held in Philemon's home.

And what took place, and as we see, well, I always get ahead of myself. I don't want to do that.

The assemblies were there in his home, and Philemon owned at least one slave, and his name was

Onesimus. And Onesimus at that time was not a believer. In some way, he caused a financial or material loss to Philemon because we see the apostle

Paul in verse 18 say, If he has wronged you or if he owes you anything, as he's sending him back with this letter, put that on my account.

So in some way, Onesimus either stole money from or he shirked his responsibilities, or when he left, when he ran away, it caused

Philemon a hardship because he maybe had to hire or get somebody else to take his place, or maybe he entered into some contracts, and it cost

Philemon. In eventuality, though, Philemon did this, and he runs away.

And like many other slaves, as I mentioned earlier during this time period, they ran to Rome because the population was teeming and it was easy to lose yourself in the masses.

So he does that. And as he flees to Rome, of course, he thinks he's fleeing away from the situation.

He thinks he's doing the right thing, of course, and doesn't the proverb tell us that there is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.

And yet in God's decree and for God's purpose, he had a different purpose for Onesimus, as we're going to see.

He's running away, and what does he run to? Somehow his path and the path of the

Apostle Paul cross. He comes under the ministry of the

Apostle Paul, and he is saved by the grace of God.

He ministers to the Apostle Paul. As they're talking, and I'm sure as Paul is discipling and working with and teaching

Onesimus, the subject matter comes up about his testimony and where he came from and what is the right thing to do.

And, of course, they come to the conclusion that the right thing to do is for Onesimus to go back.

And the Apostle Paul is going to send him back, and he sends him back with Tychicus with this letter and also with the letters to the church at Ephesus and the church at Colossae.

And, of course, with that, the Apostle Paul has forgiveness on his mind because if you would turn with me, just turn with me quickly back, hold your place here, and look at the book of Ephesians.

We know about this great book because Pastor Mike has preached through this.

But look with me in chapter 4 about the conduct that the believers ought to have one toward another.

In chapter 4, at the end of the chapter, Paul writes, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you.

He's speaking to the church. With all malice, he says in verse 32, And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

So to Ephesus, this letter that's accompanying, this letter to the church at Ephesus is accompanying

Onesimus and Tychicus carrying it in their hand to go to the church. And one of the topics that Paul is addressing for them is the topic of forgiveness.

Look in the book, a few books, two books to the right, Colossians. In Colossians chapter 3,

Paul writes in Colossians 3 and verse 12, Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, and notice verse 13, forbearing one another and forgiving one another.

If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, you basically saying do the same as Christ forgave you do the same.

Same as Ephesians 4, 32. And how we know that Tychicus and Onesimus are coming to this church.

As Paul writes this letter to Colossians, notice in chapter 4 in verse 7,

All my state or my circumstances shall

Tychicus declare unto you who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the

Lord, because he sent Tychicus with this letter. Verse 8, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that he might know your estate and comfort your hearts.

With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you, they shall make known unto you all things which are done here.

Here back in Rome, when he wrote that epistle for them. So we see that the apostle is going to send the two of them.

And they're going to carry the letters to Philemon and to the church of Colossae.

And this is a beautiful reference letter. It's personal. It's intimate.

It's so different than all the others. And I would encourage you, just as after, of course, I can't do justice to the whole book, this whole chapter, but just as you take and read it again, just think about the greatness that is in here, the beauty of this letter.

As Paul urges Philemon to forgive, as he reminds him of his duty to forgive, and it's an appeal for Philemon to show extreme mercy.

Now, when it comes to things that any member of a New Testament church or any

Christian in the day in which we live, there are a lot of things that we learn. We learn and are taught that we are to be humble when we gather together, not to play king of the hill and not put one over another.

We are taught that we ought to serve one another out of love, that we ought to be willing to sacrifice because we love one another, and we give to each other, looking for the needs.

I recently brought the message on kindness, 1 Corinthians 13, that love is kind.

And when we're to be kind, we're looking for every opportunity to be useful to other people, to watch out for and take care of and to guard the truth, to exhort one another, to encourage one another.

But I think probably one of the things there's a lot of confusion on and one of the things that people can struggle over today in their

Christian life is this subject of forgiveness, how and should we and how is it done and are there any conditions behind it.

And I'm not going to get into all of that. It's just not possible that I can this morning because I want to just look at this particular instance.

But Paul does give some motivations behind, some arguments for why it is that Philemon should forgive

Onesimus. And you remember this whole time I just talked about how Tychicus and Onesimus would go back to Philemon carrying these letters, carrying the letter to Philemon.

And as they entered into the gathering or maybe entered into Philemon's house,

Philemon would see Onesimus for the very first time. He hadn't seen him before. And the letter would be handed to Philemon and it would be read.

And I'm sure that when he first sees him, there has to be and there must have been some type of mental thinking going on.

And his mind is churning. And, of course, when somebody wrongs us, the emotions can get stirred up.

And what the apostle Paul wants to make sure is that he does it with the right motive. And I can see that for Onesimus it had to be difficult too for him to go back.

I mean, how difficult is it to go back and to admit to somebody that you've done something wrong?

I mean, as believers, we ought to do that. We ought to confess our faults one to another,

James says, and pray for one another. And we ought to be looking for opportunities, if we've wronged somebody, to ask for forgiveness and to be forgiven.

And even if someone doesn't ask us for forgiveness, be willing to forgive, to forgive as the

Lord forgave us. I mean, it was unconditional. We had no reason, no claim upon God where he had to forgive us.

That's the false gospel. That's false teaching where they think that if I believe, if I do steps one, two, three, then

God has to forgive me. He has to make me his child. Well, newsflash,

God doesn't have to do anything. He's pleased to do what he does by his grace and by his mercy and by his great love that he demonstrated on the cross of Christ.

And he is a God who is a Savior by nature, and he does forgive us.

But it's not because we hold something over on him. And we don't hold things over on each other, and we ought not to, because think of the magnitude of our sin before God.

And compare that to the minute, I was thinking yesterday, the megaton, the weight of that sin, megatons.

And think of the ounces of the weight of the little disagreances that we might have within the church.

You take a look at that comparison, and you can see that if God can forgive us megatons, and you could just hear the teaching of the

Lord Jesus, right, with the interaction of the man who was forgiven much, and he goes back and he's going after the throat of somebody who owes him a little money.

He just didn't understand what it meant to be forgiven, what mercy was all about. But God is merciful to us, and he's forgiven us all of our sins.

And when we have these little disagreances, we ought to be ready and willing and running, looking for every opportunity to forgive each other.

And we're going to see this come out in this book this morning. Okay, as far as any other things, there's just a lot of notes on the second page, different things that I found in different areas.

But I've got to get into the book so that we can get through at least the high points here.

So we have this letter coming from Paul to Philemon on the behalf of Onesimus.

And what I'd like to look at first of all is, I think I'm going to look down around verse 8, because Paul has a desire for, as I said, for Philemon to receive

Onesimus back in. And he uses some arguments to persuade him to do this.

And the first thing that he does is that he, as I mentioned earlier, he entreats

Philemon. He appeals to Philemon, and not out of command, not because he's an apostle, but he appeals to him, and he makes it a matter of personal friendship between the two.

And notice this in verse 8. He says, Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient.

That's the King James in your translation. It might say something like, Wherefore, though I might be confident to order you to do that which is proper.

And could the apostle Paul do that? Does he have the authority to do that? Yes, he does. But he is going to take that and push that aside, because he believes that if he can have

Philemon do this out of a different motive, not only will Onesimus be blessed,

Philemon will be blessed, because he will do this not out of duty. He doesn't want him to do this because he has to do it.

And isn't that the case when it comes to when we're discipling someone, or even with our children? I mean, with so much desire that they would do it from a willing heart, and not because the whip is being cracked behind them.

When they're young, yes. As children, when they're young, the command comes out from the parental throne.

You've got to do this. And they do, and they willingly do that. But as they grow, you cannot always deal with them that way.

They need to learn to be able to obey on their own, out of their own heart, to learn what it means to obey from the heart and not just out of duty.

And that's what the Apostle Paul says. He says he has a tender relationship with Philemon.

He has a friendship. He has a fellowship with him. Notice, as you see this brought out in Paul's testimony of Philemon, beginning in verse 4.

I thank my God making mention of you always in my prayers. Speaking of Philemon, this letter is to Philemon.

Hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus Christ and toward all saints.

He knows that he's one who loves, he believes upon the Lord, and in believing upon the

Lord he has become one who, as the Apostle John wrote, that we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

1 John 3. He's a Christian who now loves other believers because God has changed his heart.

He is a child of God and he loves the saints. And then he says in verse 6 that the communication or the fellowship of your faith may become effectual or effective by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

And basically what the Apostle Paul is saying is he's reminding, well he's letting Philemon know what he thinks about him.

Great testimony. And they have a fellowship in the things of God. And he loves him and knows that Philemon loves him and other saints.

We will see later on that it is the Apostle Paul again, this Philemon was a fruit of his ministry.

He was instrumental in bringing Philemon to the faith. He was God's means,

God's spokesperson for him. He shared the gospel with him also. So they had a relationship. The Apostle Paul in that verse 6, what he's saying is when he talks about that the fellowship of your faith may be effective or effectual, that word there means effectual or effective means operative.

He wanted Philemon's testimony,

Philemon's Christian life to be powerful. That's what he desired from him because Philemon is influential in the church.

The church is meeting in his home. And when he's writing this letter,

Paul wants Philemon, his actions, to send a powerful message through the church at Colossae that believers,

Christians, forgive other Christians. And we don't hold grudges.

And we're not holding bitterness and not holding back and not making forgiveness conditional because this church is in his home.

And you'll notice it is believed in verse 2, as Paul writes this letter, to our beloved

Aphia, this is a woman's name, that this is Philemon's wife. And when it comes to Archippus, this could be

Philemon's son. This is their family. So he's saying not only to you, Philemon, your family meets there.

This letter is coming to you. I would desire for your whole family to be one who exhibits grace in the church and love and extreme mercy for Philemon because it will be a great help to the church there.

And basically it will, as he says later on, it will bring me great joy if you do this, if you live and walk and you act

Christlike. And no doubt when the Apostle Paul shared the gospel with him, he shared the teachings of Christ and the way that our master, our

Lord, was willing to forgive and willing to receive sinners unto himself in such great magnitude of their sin, being forgiven.

And Philemon knows that that took place in his life. It is so contrary to the gospel, so contrary to salvation if we're not willing to forgive one another.

And so he says, I would love for you to have a powerful testimony and send a message to the church of the importance of forgiveness.

So he first says in verse eight, I don't want to I don't want to force your arm. I don't want to arm wrestle with you or make you do this, but so that you will do the right thing.

And it's always right to do the right thing. And he says, do it. And as he says, notice in verse nine, for love's sake.

And that is one of the reasons why this is one of the the the reasons why is for love's sake.

Love to the apostle Paul. Now, as an old man and in prison and love because of the on account of their like, precious faith, they were

Christians, believers, Paul and Philemon. And they also they knew each other.

They were friends. And Paul kind of brings up the fact here that he is in prison.

And and Philemon knows this. And he is an old man, he says here, not just because he's around 60 years old, but the apostle

Paul, no doubt, aged because of ministry and the toll of ministry upon him. I mean, the cares of all the churches, the imprisonment, the the beatings, the scourgings, the stonings, the different the difficult traveling, if you read the end of the

Book of Acts and all that he went through, brought an age upon him. And Paul is is said, if you love me.

He says, look where I am and I'm in prison and aged man and we have this fellowship together for love's sake.

Would you please do this? I'm personally appealing to you. This is a request, not a demand.

That's basically it's a request from the apostles, Paul's heart to Philemon. And when it comes to when it comes to us interceding or being involved in forgiveness, can you just see,

I mean, as we're going through this, look at the magnitude of the heart of the apostle

Paul. I mean, you talk about somebody who loved believers and wanted to see things done right and wanted to see reconciliation.

He is just pouring out himself so that this takes so that this takes place. And for love's sake, he says, it's different like Ephesians and Ephesians.

What do we have in chapters one, two and three? We studied that. You probably heard this before. What do we have in one, two and three versus four, five and six doctrine?

Paul lays out all this doctrinal truth about the sovereignty of God and election and salvation through Christ and grace and the mercy of the

Lord. And then in four, five and six, he says, this is how you practically apply it in the church.

Does the same thing in collages, the two letters that that went. But in this letter here, you'll notice that there isn't any doctrinal pressing.

There aren't any doctrinal principles that Paul is saying is the reason why he should forgive. And there isn't any divine law coming down.

You know, boom, you got to do it. There's no there's no apostolic authority coming down. What it is, is it is a request from the heart of Paul to call upon Philemon to have a mercy and a love towards on this.

And what he what he does, and that's it. And we see this in verse nine.

Yet, for love's sake, I rather beseech thee or I appeal to you. Be such a one as as the aged

Paul and now also a prisoner of Christ. But he also goes on. And here's here's another appeal. We see

Paul regards an isomis as his very own son and asks that he be received as such.

This is in in verse 10. I beseech you for my son. Verse 10,

I beseech you for my son, an isomis, whom I have begotten in my bonds or in my imprisonment.

He says, an isomis came to me by the hand of God. I preach the gospel. He is saved and he's my son in the faith.

And I have poured my soul into him and helped him. And he's been a great help to me, as we're going to see.

And he says to him, basically, he's my son. And if he's mine, then please treat him as such the care that he ought to have.

And notice in verse 11, Paul assures Philemon that whatever an isomis was in the past, he would now find him a changed man and he would find him to be useful.

And he says that in verse 11. He says he's speaking of an isomis, which in times past was to you unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me.

And Paul uses kind of a play on words in this verse because an isomis' name, the root, the

Greek root word means useful or profitable. That's an isomis' name.

And just by just way off onto the side, Philemon's name means friendly. And I think it's just neat if we think about our names or our kids' names.

At times, do we live up to our names? Here, there's a play on words about the name.

An isomis' name means useful and profitable. And Paul here is saying basically useful or an isomis.

He calls basically in this verse an isomis useful. Useful formerly was useless, but now he is useful.

He says, see the word at the end of verse 11? He says, but now he's profitable unto thee.

This word profitable at the end or useful is the same Greek word that the

Apostle Paul used in 2 Timothy 4 .11. Do you remember one person that the Apostle Paul had a problem with on his first missionary journey?

Who was that? John Mark. He forsook them, right? And he goes back from Pamphylia.

That's in Acts chapter 13. You'll read that in Acts chapter 15. Acts 13 is the first missionary journey.

They go out. John Mark, for whatever reason, he abandons the group and leaves them.

And the Apostle Paul, when they want to go back out on the second missionary journey in Acts chapter 15, Paul wants to take

Silas. Barnabas wants to take John Mark with him. And there's a contention between Paul and Barnabas, so much so that they have to take this separate groups and go elsewhere.

But somehow, as we learned when we were studying earlier about John Mark, he comes under the ministry of the

Apostle Peter and is helped and his life is changed and he becomes profitable. And in 1

Timothy 4 .11, Paul says, bring when he's when he's at the last of his days and things are important.

You know, his parting shot basically there. He says, bring John Mark with you because he is profitable for me, for the ministry or he's useful to me.

And that's what the Apostle Paul is teaching here. He says, look, Onesimus was useless. He was the word.

The word means he was detrimental to you. I know that because of what he did. But bring him to you.

And isn't it true with us, brethren? In our foolish, sinful past, we may have done things that were unregrettable.

We may have hurt other people. We were we were useless when it came to our relationships with others.

When maybe when it came to our working on the job, things that we did, pilfering or whatever, stealing time from the boss or materials or things like not giving a full day's work for a full day's wage in our marriages.

Useless, not profitable, not helping others, not serving others. And we were detrimental to other people.

But through salvation, God changes all of that, doesn't he? And he makes us profitable servants of the of the most high

God. And we are remade to become his servants and profitable to others. So salvation changes us.

It changed Onesimus from being useless to useful and it changes us from being useless to useful.

And also Paul says, look, that's who's coming to you. He's proven with me that he is profitable for the ministry and I send him.

But also another reason why Paul is his argument here for Philemon to receive

Onesimus is, is that he was saying that he's not sending back a worthless, homeless vagabond.

He assures Philemon that Onesimus is especially dear to him, has been profitable to him while he's been in prison at Rome in his circumstances.

But, of course, the apostle Paul doesn't want to do anything before he he wants to do the right thing.

And he wants to make sure that he he speaks to Philemon about it. We see this in the next few verses.

Notice verse 12. He says, whom I have sent again, not therefore receive him.

This is speaking of Onesimus. Receive him. Bring him unto yourself. That is mine own bowels.

Paul is saying here, I am sending you my very heart. That's really basically what it says. I've poured my heart into this man and I and I love

Onesimus. But basically, Paul is sending basically saying, I am sending you myself because, because he just put himself into the into this man.

And he says in verse 13, whom I would have retained with me, I would have kept him. That in your stead, he could have ministered unto me in my imprisonment or my bonds in the gospel.

But without your mind or without your consent, I'm not going to do anything for your goodness or your benefit.

Should be should not be, as it were, of compulsion or necessity, but willingly. So Paul says,

I'm not going to act upon this. I'm not going to assume that I can keep him, even though it would be helpful for me.

But I don't want to do anything. The right thing to do is to see what you want to do finally. Not what

I want to do, but what you would purpose to do. And then he goes on and he suggests that God was behind all of this.

That God's providential hand was in it. God arranged, God orchestrated Onesimus to depart so that he could come back, not as a slave, not as a servant, but any more tender relationship, a more endearing, longer, lasting relationship, deeper relationship as a

Christian brother. And we see this in verses 15 and 16, for perhaps he therefore Onesimus, he therefore departed for a season or separate was separated from you for a short while that you should receive him forever.

Not now as a slave or not now as a servant. And that word not now is no more, no longer to be a servant because he's different.

He's a changed man. But above a servant, more than a servant, more than a slave, a brother, beloved, especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the

Lord? He would have them there physically, but he would also have them there spiritually in the Lord, in a tender and deep relationship.

And he was showing by that. Remember when I talked about slavery at the beginning, you know, there is there is neither when it comes to being in Christ, there is neither, as it says in Galatians 3, 26, 28 and 29.

There's neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither born nor free. For we're all one in Christ, there is an equality here and he said he's coming back that way.

And then he appeals this way. He appeals to the personal friendship of Philemon.

And he says, if you regard me as a partner, if you regard me as a co -laborer in the hope of the gospel, then please receive him as you would receive me.

And that we see in verse 17. If you count me, therefore, a partner, receive him as my self, accept him, take him back and receive him as you would me.

And I think that is a real key aspect when it comes to forgiveness is, you know, we will say that we'll forgive somebody.

But you know what? We're not letting them off the hook. Somebody once said this once to me. You know, when it comes to forgiveness, you're supposed to bury the hatchet.

But some people bury the hatchet with a little bit of the handle exposed so they can grab it again. And that's wrong because we're to forgive as God forgave us in Christ Jesus.

How many of our sins did God forgive? All. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And the Lord, as it were, puts as we're confessing and as we're all muddy. I have this picture of a little child that's fallen into the puddle, all muddy and hurt and banged up.

And because they disobeyed their parents, they weren't supposed to go outside. And they come into the house crying and they ask for to be forgiven.

They know they did the right thing. And the parent, without even caring at all, just just wraps themself around the child and and and receives them under the self because they are so overjoyed with the repentance that's there.

And Philemon is one who has repented. And Onesimus is going to Paul is sending. Onesimus is the one who has repented.

The names are tough when you start going through all these to keep to keep him straight. Onesimus has been saved.

He's repented and he's going to go back to Philemon who he's hurt. And Paul says, welcome him with open arms, receive him, take him.

If the word has to do with opening up your home for as as in a hospitality, just give give yourself to him.

And he says in verse 18, if he's wronged you or owes you anything, put it on my account. I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand.

I will repay it. What Paul is doing there is he vouches for Onesimus. He puts himself on the line.

He says he puts himself on record as being his security and he signs it with his very own hand.

What is so unique about that? Does the Apostle Paul, is that something he does more often or less often when he writes epistles?

It's less often, right? Because we we think he may have some type of eye infirmity, couldn't see. And he usually had somebody who would write for him his letters.

But he wrote it with his very hand. And it's almost like this letter is between him and Philemon.

And he says, I will do it. I will keep my word if he owes you anything. And, of course, doesn't that have to do with when you think of when you think of forgiveness?

One of the aspects of it, as we just noticed, was is that there ought to be a reception, not a pushing people away.

They come and they ask for forgiveness. Oh, yeah. You know what we say? They're going to do it again. Right.

Watch it next week. They're going to do the same thing over and over again. And you can hear the words of our Lord. If my if your brother comes to you seven times a day, how many times, you know, if he asks and he repents, then you're to forgive him seven times a day.

And another account, 70 times seven. I mean, it's it's continual. It's over, over, not conditional. It's limitless.

And. And here we see, as Paul is writing to Philemon, that's what he's calling him for.

To do this out of his heart, to willingly forgive Onesimus and to bring him in.

And that is the reception. And then there's this idea of restoration. This is the right thing to do.

The part of when it comes to two parties forgiven. There ought to be there ought to be a forgiving and a forgetting.

It ought to be a clean slate, as the Lord does with us. And there is a restoration, a reconciliation of the two parts together.

And then the third aspect is restitution. If you've done something wrong like Zacchaeus, you remember he robbed other people.

What did he say when the Lord called him down from the tree? He said, if I've stolen from anyone, I'm going to give I'm going to give it back.

I'm going to make it right. And if we've hurt anybody or stolen or done anything, we look for opportunities to make it right, to give back the money or to to give back the article or whatever it is, or to give back the time.

And then you'll notice here. But the apostle Paul concludes by stating how happy it would make him if I would do this.

And he says this. In verse 20, a brother, let me have joy of you in the

Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord. And that word that word refresh has the idea of its military term.

It has the idea of an army who's marched and they're able to sit down and take a break and be restored and rejuvenated.

And Paul says, because there might have been some not not that. I hate to use the word anxiety because you always think of worry and sin.

But Paul sending Onesimus back with this letter, there was no guarantee that he would do it.

But Paul was confident based upon the testimony that he said that he had earlier. And he says it in verse 21, having confidence in your obedience.

I write this to you knowing that you will also do more than I say. I think the apostle

Paul knew that this was a true brother. He would receive him in. And Onesimus has the heart to go and to do this and to make it right and to do whatever it takes.

He's not going to exact any conditions upon Philemon, whatever Philemon would do. Paul knows that Philemon is a good brother, a godly man, and he will forgive him.

He will receive him in and do more than that. And it's not some people believe that it might be that he's going to give him freedom.

It's not basically what he's talking about. But we don't see that as the thrust of the New Testament or Old Testament, as I said earlier.

But he's going to receive him in, and not receive him in as just a slave, but he's going to receive him in as a Christian brother.

And they're going to have a new relationship, a different relationship. They're going to be able to worship together and serve together. And here he comes with this letter into the church.

And what is Philemon going to do with this testimony of this letter?

Well, it's, of course, held in the canon of Scripture. And for all intents and purposes, we must believe that he did receive him.

He did the right thing. And Onesimus plugged in, and he became part of the church there.

And you know what's so interesting about all this in the final notes? You read the end of any epistle, and you see all these names.

Do you ever skip over the names? Do you? Come on. You do sometimes, don't you?

All right. Let me show you what Paul slips in here, just real briefly as we close. He says,

Paul puts this name in here, John Mark, like I said earlier. He had a problem with John Mark, didn't he?

And eventually, they were reconciled. The Apostle Paul is not asking Philemon to do anything that he would not do himself.

And for anybody who is discipling or working, ministering with other people, that's hypocritical if we're going to say, do this, but you're not going to do it yourself.

And Paul lists the name of Mark here, and it serves as a reminder to Philemon, because Philemon knew of him, that Paul himself worked through an issue of forgiveness, and he was asking

Philemon to do what he had already done. I think that's just so neat. So don't skip over the names real quick.

So we see in this book, I mean, I feel like I had ten things to cover, and I got through two and a half.

But I hope that you at least see that this book is one, this letter, this reference letter that's going in to him.

Just a side note, if you have John MacArthur's book on forgiveness, there's a chapter in there on Philemon.

Read that. It's wonderful. It's a great description of this book where Paul is calling upon this man, not out of duty, but out of a heart love for him, out of a love for another brother, out of knowing the magnitude of forgiveness from the

Lord toward us. And it is too unlike us not to forgive others.

And I hope that we can learn something about this and how important it is in the church when Paul is calling upon him.

Look, shine. Be a powerful testimony in the church. Prove yourself out. And may it be a powerful message to the church that forgiveness is truly important.

And then he finishes, of course, with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit. Amen. Written from Rome to Philemon by Onesimus, a servant.

Father, we breezed through this book. It was such a quick pace.

And yet, Lord, we would desire that you would teach us to overcome the conditions that we put upon others when it comes to forgiveness, the restrictions, the attitudes that we'll hold, the bitterness.

And we'll say that we're not, Lord, but we know that at times we haven't fully opened up our arms and been willing to forgive others.

And by your grace, may we, like the Apostle Paul did with John Mark, and as we're confident that Philemon did with Onesimus, may we be willing to forgive other brothers and sisters in Christ so that we would be a good testimony, that we would be a people who are keeping and living your word, that we would not show that we don't understand that we've been forgiven because he who has been forgiven much, as your son, our

Lord, said, is one who loves much and help us to love one another and to show the world that we do by being a people who will be ready and willing to forgive and to receive and open up and restore and reconcile and show restitution so that there may be unity in the body.