Who Is Your Master | Sermon 09/10/2023

Apologia Utah

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Before we begin, I just want to have a brief introduction, really, just to give ourselves kind of the the heart of the beginning of this letter in our minds before we get into it, okay?

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The reality of the world that we live in is that we are saved individuals. We have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus.

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We have a life that should be full of rejoicing and thanking God before we bring our supplications to him.

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That is the truth, but the reality of our life as well is that the Christian life is not a walk in the park.

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Just because we are individuals who are saved from our sin does not mean that we don't live in a world and have relationships with people that are not affected by sin.

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And this also means that we ourselves are not without sin. 1

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John 1 through 10 states, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

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So I can stand here today and tell you with full confidence that you have wronged somebody, that you have sinned against somebody, maybe you are currently, and that more than likely in the future you will.

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It's true. I can also stand here today in full confidence and tell you that you have been the recipient of sinful actions and that somebody has wronged you, whether in your past or even right now.

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I can also tell you, and I pray that this does not come to a shock as a shock to you, but somebody will sin against you in the future.

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It's a reality, right? It could even be somebody in this very room. A relationship that you have with a believer who is strong and bound by the

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Holy Spirit. Someone that you never thought would sin against you will one day fail you.

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But better yet, also unbelievers will sin against you.

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It's bound to happen and more likely has already happened in your life many times already.

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Or here's the other situation. You could be the third party who knows about a sinful situation where you're the outside person brought in to help bring accountability and reconciliation according to Matthew 18, 15 through 20.

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So it's important then, since we live in a world where we're affected by sin, in order to live in harmony with one another in the body of Christ or in the world in general, that we must understand the concept of forgiveness.

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But the truth of the matter is that the world does not understand forgiveness. It doesn't.

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We have a hard time understanding forgiveness because we are sinners. And in order to understand forgiveness, we must have a paradigm shift.

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We must have salvation that brings apart a heart change and a world change. Here's an example.

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We've heard people say, you know, I may be a sinner but I'm a good person. I've wronged God and I've wronged other people but I work to make the world a better place by my self -service, charity, and good works.

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God will forgive me because what I have done. He understands my heart and that I'm trying to do my best.

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Think to yourself, does that person understand forgiveness? Here's the other example. If you have children, two young siblings, or if you had siblings growing up, here's another example.

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One sibling punches another in the face, right, because they're playing and blood begins to flow from the nose and in fear of judgment from the parents, the older one typically goes, hey, hey, hey, hit me in the face, make me bleed, just don't tell, right?

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This isn't asking for forgiveness and the one with the bloody nose definitely understands this.

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I was the recipient of that as a child. But the truth is, it's in our nature to be self -serving and selfish.

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To think about forgiveness as something that occurs from our works or from our penance or even in terms of atonement where we try to atone ourselves or force atonement and penance from others because we are people with a

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God complex. We really are. We usually require out of others what God has already freely given to us by himself and if we require out of others what

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God has freely given to us, then we are rejecting what God offers and are looking to bring peace in our lives from the sacrifice of our fellow man.

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Remember the quote from B .B. Warfield earlier? Denying yourself is sacrifice to others. We ought not require of man anything more than what is required for forgiveness.

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What does Colossians 3 .13 state with regards to believers? We bear with one another and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the

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Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. You also must forgive.

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Listen, there's one question that we should ask ourselves when we're faced with adversity and sin issues with regards to interpersonal relationships during our

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Christian walk and this is what we should ask ourselves. Who is my master?

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Who is my master? Because I can tell you right now the way you go about your Christian walk is dependent upon the one that you submit to.

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It depends upon the one whom you call master. And we must first understand our

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God in order to understand forgiveness. For knowledge of him is a prerequisite to the plea that Paul, which we'll see in Philemon, will make to Onesimus.

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We all have a master, we all serve someone, and the Bible emphatically declares in Ephesians 2 that without Christ we are all this.

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We follow the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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This means that the resolving of sin without Christ is lived according to what?

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The passions of our flesh. Hit me, just don't tell mom. According to the master that we once followed, right?

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There's no resolve and there is no true reconciliation apart from Christ.

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I'm not saying that people who are not Christians cannot seek forgiveness with one another.

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They can and they oftentimes do. In all honesty, since men are created in the image of God, it is something that people innately long for.

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We we long for peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness. But the fact of the matter is that as fallen human beings, we tend to distort what it means to have peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness because our view of God is distorted.

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We exchange the truth of God for a lie. Peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness first come from God and are extended to men through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

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And if you deny Jesus, then you ultimately will have a flawed view of those things.

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It's true. Any person on this side of the cross who has forgiven his neighbor apart from God has done so because they live in a world that has been transformed by the power of the gospel and the concept of forgiveness that has made itself known through who?

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Through who? Jesus Christ. They live on the other side of the cross. Understand that forgiveness makes no sense according to any other worldview than Christianity.

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Any other religion or cult's concept of forgiveness takes from the Christian concept of forgiveness in order to maintain any form of consistency.

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But apart from God, the reality is that forgiveness is the pardoning of offense apart from works.

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Apart from works of ourselves. And it's something that is not taught in any other belief system other than biblical

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Christianity. So first let us make the case that apart from Jesus Christ, forgiveness is ultimately meaningless.

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But since Jesus Christ is God and did forgive his people for their sins, forgiveness finds purpose in the cross.

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And the fact that we all long to forgive others proves that we are not merely accidental consciousness or part of a universal spirit soup.

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Forgiveness is this, it is personal, meaningful, and self -sacrificial.

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You cannot serve two masters. You will ultimately love one and hate the other.

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And this is where Paul begins his letter to Philemon in prayer, reminding Philemon of the faith in which he serves the true master.

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Now in Christ, we all submit openly to the Word of God, and Jesus Christ is the master of our souls.

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We were once divided by ethnicity and social status, but now we have been made equal through the blood of Christ.

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Philemon was the human master of slaves, but he has a master himself. And the slave also, which was

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Onesimus, has Christ as his ultimate master, making them equal.

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This is what we will be exploring in Paul's letter to Philemon today. Philemon, the slave owner of Onesimus, and the slave

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Onesimus sinned against him. Two parties. Philemon sinned against Onesimus, the sinner. And then we have a third party, who is

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Paul, the one whom Onesimus found refuge. Okay? So how was the situation resolved between Philemon and Onesimus?

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Well, it's a two -part series, so we'll find out next week, the resolution. But Paul first starts by appealing to the faith in which they share, where the knowledge to do good will be revealed to Philemon.

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And Paul comes with wisdom to Philemon, but not only with power, he also comes with humility to Philemon in order to appeal to the

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God -wrought convictions inside Philemon to bring about forgiveness and reconciliation.

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We will see the gracious minister of the gospel, Paul, as the third party lovingly and patiently setting the scene for Philemon to make the right and good decision.

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Just like you or me, we must first consider God in any of our interpersonal relationships and submit to his authority.

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We must remember what he has done in our lives to make the changes necessary to our thinking in order to be in harmony with his body.

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So let's pray and then let's get into the word. Lord, thank you for allowing me to be up here to preach your word,

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Paul's letter to Philemon. Help me to get out of the way, Lord.

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Help your word to shine through. Help it to bring about conviction where conviction is needed, but really,

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Lord, help our sinful minds to have a paradigm shift, one that knows that your will has been revealed to us in your word, that we only need to submit to your word and trust you in your word, that you are the

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God of all comfort and mercy and reconciliation and you want that for one another as the body of believers and with believers to the world, that they could know us by our love, that we could truly love our neighbor through understanding your forgiveness.

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You're such a good God. Please help me get out of the way. Love you and praise you.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Go ahead and open up your Bibles and turn to Philemon.

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Today we are going to be in verses 1 through 7. I'm going to read the whole thing to you in just a second as you're opening the word.

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Here we go. 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 in the church in your house.

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my

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God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the

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Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

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For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

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So let's build some context first for the letter to Philemon. This is a little letter nestled between the pastoral letter to Titus and the behemoth that is

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Hebrews. And one can often overlook Philemon and the little 25 verses that it consists of.

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And to be honest, I often overlooked Philemon. And I wouldn't have chosen this to preach on for the next two weeks, but Wade told me to do this one, right?

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And I thank God that he did, because there is so much beauty and truth found in Philemon.

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And my prayer for you is that you'll understand why the Holy Spirit preserved this letter to Philemon.

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I really want you to see the beauty and truth in the heart of this letter. And the letter to Philemon is unique in that it's the only personal letter from Paul to someone.

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There is 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, but this letter differs from the pastoral epistles, because this is talking about a personal situation that Philemon is in.

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And this is the situation. Philemon had a slave. The slave's name was Onesimus.

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That slave had fleed from Philemon and came to Paul while Paul was in Rome, in prison.

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Now Onesimus has come to faith, and Paul is pleading to Philemon to forgive

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Onesimus and receive him. We'll get more into that later. I just want you to have a basic understanding of the letter.

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And check this out. Paul states that his letter is also addressed to a wider audience. In verse 2 it says, and Aphia our sister, and Archippus our fellow soldier, in the church in your house.

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So you're thinking, well I thought this was a personal letter. Why are there other people that are being addressed here? Well, it's because the letter has wider implications than just to Philemon.

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It is applicable to the whole church that is in Philemon's house, because they are a witness to Onesimus and Philemon's feud.

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And everyone can benefit from the wisdom that Paul is going to give. But you're probably thinking, wait, who's

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Philemon? And why is there a church in his house? And how do you know that? Well, the beautiful thing about the

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Bible is that, number one, it's self -attesting. It has authority because it's God's Word.

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But also, there's internal evidence inside the Bible that often answers the questions that we have.

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Who is Philemon? And what church is in his house? Well, some of that information is from Acts and Colossians.

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So listen, who is Philemon? What do we know about him? It is believed that Philemon was indirectly converted through Paul's witnessing during the three years that Paul was in Ephesus, detailed in Acts 19.

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There's a man named Epaphras. He was in Ephesus at some point in the time of Paul's three years there.

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And Epaphras was a Gentile who was converted and then spread the gospel and started a church in Colossae where Philemon resides.

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Thus, Philemon was converted through Epaphras by the teaching of Paul. How do we know that? Colossians 1, 3 -8 details

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Epaphras as the one who brought the gospel to Colossae. Philemon himself, also, he was a well -off

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Gentile man who likely owned multiple slaves and Onesimus was one of them.

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Philemon then tells us in God's Word that there was a church in his house. So how do we know for sure that it was the

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Colossian church? Besides just Colossians 1, 3 -8, there's another verse that shows us that Philemon's church is the church in Colossae.

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Colossians 4, 9 states this, And with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

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So at the end of greeting in Colossians, we find Onesimus being mentioned and it appears that him and Tychicus were to be sent along to deliver the letter to the church in Colossae and it's widely believed that the letter to Philemon was sent at the exact same time.

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And what does it say? Onesimus was one of them. He was one of them to the church in Colossae.

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This gives us also some very interesting perspective into the book of Colossians and we'll get more into that later in the sermon.

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But there's reasons why in the book of Colossians Paul speaks about slaves and equality in Christ in the book.

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Because at this point Paul truly with a minister's heart through the power of the Holy Spirit was bringing a very profound reality to the human condition in Christ with regards to the slave and his master.

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Remember, who is your master? And I've talked about this before in other sermons, but Ephesians was also written at the same time as Colossians and it was sent out, of course went into a different direction, but Ephesians also details many things that Colossians details.

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Where Colossians doesn't give as much detail, Ephesians goes in greater. But what's awesome about Philemon is you can see that he's speaking to the church in Colossae and Colossians is urging them to do what is right.

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And we must also understand in terms the historical context where slavery was part of the normal life in the ancient

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Roman world. Because we can read this letter and be like, Philemon owned slaves.

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How is this man a Christian? How did he have a church in his house? How is he a pastor with slaves?

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Well let's think about it, okay? In one commentary John Gee states this, I quote here, slavery was an established fact of life in the ancient world and as many as a third of the inhabitants of most large urban centers would have been slaves.

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With regards to Roman slavery, slaves were obtained as spoils from war, from imprisonment, they could be born into slavery, or they could have sold themselves into slavery to pay a debt.

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Slaves during the times of ancient Rome were enslaved people, listen to this, who had no personal rights and were regarded as the property of their master.

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They were without personhood. They were not considered people. They could be bought, sold, and mistreated at will.

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They were unable to own property, enter into a contract, or legally marry upon themselves, right?

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They didn't have the freedom to to go about that themselves. It's important to understand when thinking about the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus, right?

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We need to understand that. Philemon is a believer, but this is the context in which he is living.

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And I'm not stating that Philemon treated Onesimus poorly, but the reality is that we live in 2023 in a society that has been changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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At that time the gospel was making its moves through a pagan society which in fact did own slaves.

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These slaves again were not viewed as people with personhood made in the image of God.

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Instead they were viewed as laborers and workers and sadly enough even sexual slaves to the

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Romans. They were not allowed the ability to try and gain the status of what was called freemen in the ancient

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Roman world through a process called manumission until the age of 30. But that ability to gain the status of freedmen had to be allowed by their owners and there was a big process for that.

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It's believed that Onesimus was most likely born into slavery for the name Onesimus literally means useful.

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It means useful. And many slaves also had the name useful. And I get that we can get hung up on the fact that Paul doesn't outright condemn the practice of slavery in his epistles but the point of this sermon will show the heart of the

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Gospels that in Christ we are to be set free. That in Jesus we are equal made in the image of God worthy of value respect and even forgiveness and reconciliation.

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We'll get back to that later but I can assure you that it is the Gospels and the New Testament that brings about an end of slavery in this world.

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When the Son sets you free you are free indeed. The concepts reiterated to the pagan society by Christ and the disciples are the very source for the freedom of slavery.

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As we get back into the text please keep this in mind that there was a paradigm right we talked about a paradigm switch earlier in which

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Philemon once operated and it was according to the flesh. In that paradigm slavery was a typical practice throughout the ancient

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Roman world and it was believed that one slaves were not considered persons, two slaves had no rights, and three slaves were not equal to their masters.

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Therefore when a slave disobeys his master to the point of even running away like Onesimus did the slave could be branded, whipped, flogged, beaten profusely, even killed by their master without repercussions from the

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Roman government. I'm not saying that Philemon would have done any of these things to Onesimus if he returned but Onesimus did indeed visit

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Paul while in Rome and Paul will be consistently and patiently reminding

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Philemon of the paradigm shift in Christ before pleading with Philemon to now see

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Onesimus is not a slave but a brother. You do not live in ancient

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Rome I do not live in ancient Rome understand that right but we already have a concept of that forgiveness but understanding forgiveness at its core can and often is very hard but imagine coming from a world where you are now to forgive someone who is not considered a person where during your whole life you were taught these beings are merely there for labor and support of your person that they are your property.

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Remember forgiveness and reconciliation can only truly be known and viewed through the light of the gospel this is why

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Paul starts with the firm foundation of Christ in this letter think to yourself like Paul he's urging

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Philemon and as we continue on in the sermon think about this with Philemon.

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Philemon who is your master and then think to yourself who is my master when we're handling situations like this so let's get to the text now and finish the context with the greeting one through three in Philemon.

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Paul a prisoner for Christ Jesus and Timothy our brother to Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Athia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier and the church in your house grace to you in peace from God our

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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have Paul giving his greeting like typical but there's flair in it sometimes.

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Here he states that he is a prisoner for Christ Jesus it's believed that when Paul wrote this he was in prison in Rome so literally he wasn't saying that he was spiritually a prisoner to Jesus Christ he's stating that he is a prisoner for the gospel he's literally referring to his imprisonment and Paul will actually make mention of that remember this for the next sermon he mentions this in verse 9 10 13 and 23 in terms of being a prisoner for the gospel to Philemon as he makes his plea for Onesimus and now we notice that Timothy is with Paul at the time this letter is penned but not in prison he is in service to Paul it'd be duly noted to have

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Timothy mentioned because Timothy would have known about the situation between Philemon and Onesimus and Timothy would support

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Paul in his conclusion and plea to Philemon. Now we see the address to Philemon this is the flair that Paul was using and since you already understand a bit of the feud between Onesimus and Philemon isn't it interesting that Paul calls

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Philemon our beloved fellow worker it's an interesting phrase that Paul uses here we can deduce from the phrase in the text that Philemon is not just some guy who leads a church at his house

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Paul has used that term fellow worker elsewhere in his epistles one such time is in Romans 16 verses 1 through 5 verse 9 and 21 where Prisca and Aquila Urbanos and Timothy are called fellow workers in Christ remember he's making a plea here to Philemon so what is he appealing to that he knows him personally he's reminding him you're my fellow worker and these are people who actually knew

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Paul and were part of his ministry and we can infer that Philemon was not only a fellow worker with Paul in terms of his leadership as being the head of the church in Colossae but that he maintained that relationship with Paul and even some point in time could have gone out on evangelistic work with Paul Paul makes the effort here in the beginning of his plea to Philemon by stating that he's not only a fellow worker but a beloved fellow worker he's a beloved fellow worker it signifies a close relationship with another a dear relationship so he personally knows

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Philemon we find that same term beloved being used by the father when he calls

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Jesus his beloved son in Mark 1 11 and Mark 9 7 now there are times when that term is used as a basic bond between believers like in Romans 1 7 but this is more like Paul in 1st

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Corinthians 15 58 and James in James 2 5 where the term beloved is used as a personal dear relationship that they know they've met each other face to face and been with one another we find that Paul is not using the term generally but specifically to a person he knows and has a close relationship with and in verse 21 in Philemon we find that he was a well -off person because it states that Paul says hey please make a room ready for me in your house to receive me well he owns slaves right

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Philemon he has a church in his house he also has an extra bedroom so he's pretty well off but continuing on in verse 2 we find the letter also being addressed to our sister

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Afia who is believed to be Philemon's wife who was a fellow fellow believer in the

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Lord and it would be pertinent for her to hear what Paul has to say since she would also personally know

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Onesimus then we have Archippus some people believe it to be Philemon and Afia's son no one really knows but he could also be an evangelist and someone who's part of the

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Church of Colossae we also find him mentioned in Colossians 4 17 which gives even more support to the fact that Philemon is indeed the letter did the leader of the church in Colossae I think the internal evidence that the

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Bible gives us is such an amazing thing for us to understand the world at that time or where Philemon was there's so many awesome things remember that the final greetings in Colossians 4 states that Onesimus was sent back by Paul to Colossae to be an encouragement and that he was what what quote -unquote one of them remember we're talking about a slave here and that Archippus is told to fulfill his ministry in the

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Lord Colossians 4 17 what what is also noteworthy about this greeting is that this personal letter is not only addressed to Philemon and you know his wife and possibly his son or fellow worker but also to the church that is in his house think to yourself why should they also know well he wants grace and peace from our

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God and Father the Lord Jesus Christ was it say again in verse 2 through 3 and Afia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier and the church in your house grace to you and peace from God our

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Father in the Lord Jesus Christ grace extended to Philemon Afia Archippus and the church in peace extended to Philemon Afia Archippus in the church in his house so the rest of the letter that we're going to get into is personal and the you switches to a personal pronoun from a general you as in the church in the house to specifically speaking to Philemon and I did a rough count of you and your and the letter it's about 30 times where Paul continues mentioning you your let's continue on in verses 4 through 7 now we have here

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Paul's prayer his prayer to Philemon and this is what

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I think is the the foundation right of Paul's plea to Philemon to remind him of the faith that he has of the paradigm shift that occurred in his life direct through salvation and how he should extend that outwards let's listen here and think about that verses 4 through 7

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I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the

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Lord Jesus and for all the Saints and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ for I have derived much joy and comfort from your love my brother because the hearts of the

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Saints have been refreshed through you here we find that Paul is literally mentioning what he prays for Philemon about and just full stop real quick if you ever have a hard time praying or you think you don't know what to pray go to God's Word go see the prayers that Paul prays for the churches that's

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God's revealed will in prayers even for us even for us if you're having a hard time praying see how

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Paul prays and pray that for yourself pray that for others it's a it's such a beautiful thing but notice first he starts off with thanking

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God for Philemon and the work that he is doing in Colossae and the beautiful thing about this is that Paul is making known to Philemon that Philemon that he's constantly in prayer for him and that he's never forgotten

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Philemon remember that the letter of Colossians was sent back with Tychicus and Onesimus to Philemon at the same time the letter to Philemon went back with Colossians so using

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Colossians we can also understand this about Paul and his care for the church in Colossae I'm going to read this for the prayer to the

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Colossian to the church in Colossae in Colossians 2 1 through 3 or this is actually not the prayer

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I apologize this is Paul and what he wants for the church in Colossae we'll get to the prayer later but listen says in Colossians 2 1 through 3 for I want you to know how great a struggle

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I have for you and even those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face remember

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Paul's not face to face with Philemon right now he's also not face to face with the church in Colossae but he says this that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery which is in Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge what can we glean glean from this well there's a situation happening between two sinful parties sometimes we may not know what to do but the answer is and indeed is in Christ it really is

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Paul physically cannot be in Colossae but he wants the church to be knit together in what in love being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding of God's mystery which is

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Christ in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Paul later in Colossians 2 states that he is rejoicing to see their good order and firmness of their faith in Christ meaning this

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Paul has full certainty that the church in Colossae will be knit together when

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Christ is made as the central point or the source for all wisdom and knowledge pertaining to what life and godliness let's flash back to Philemon and Paul's prayer again verses 5 through 6 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the

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Lord Jesus 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 Paul making it known to Philemon he's telling him

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I know of the love and the faith that you have for the Lord Jesus and all the Saints part of what

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Paul is speaking about here is the love of Christ and then Christ's body through the faith that Philemon has in Christ and we find that in verse 8 we're gonna go over it more next week

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Paul refers back to this love and that he could require Philemon to take on Onesimus back instead he has full confidence just like he has full confidence to the church in Colossae that Philemon out of love will welcome

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Onesimus without Paul telling him and forcing him to do what he has to do why because there is a paradigm shift that has occurred within Philemon remember all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in who

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Christ part of this wisdom in knowledge is that Philemon through exercising his faith will do the right thing with Onesimus do you see how patient Paul really is with him he's so patient why is that because faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ it really does something it radically changes the paradigm in which in which we once walked so the question for Philemon or what he would be asking himself when scanning this letter is what exactly is that faith what is that faith that Paul is reminding me of well

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I'm so glad that we can ask that question today and to get more detail on exactly what

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Paul is speaking of here let's go to Colossians 1 3 through 13 this is the prayer right here it's a little it's a longer section of scripture but I want you to see how similar it is to his prayer for Onesimus it's so cool all right turn there if you can into Colossians 1 3 through 13 we're gonna read the whole thing and put your finger on Philemon as well so you can go back and forth and see the similarities of the prayer starting in verse 3 of Colossians 1 we always thank

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God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the

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Saints remember he's not speaking to just Philemon in Colossians he's speaking to the whole church because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of this you have heard before in the word of truth the gospel which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth just as you learned it from a paphras talked about him earlier our beloved fellow servant he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the

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Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God are you seeing the similarities between the prayer that Paul prays for the church in Colossians in the prayer to Philemon Philemon there's good in us

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I pray that you can do it being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to the

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Father and here's the faith right who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of light he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved

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Son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins this is the faith that Paul is reminding

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Philemon of that he has been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred right paradigm shift into the kingdom of his beloved

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Son in whom he has redemption he's been purchased he has the forgiveness of sins and what did

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Philemon do or the people in Colossi to obtain that they believed in faith and how is that possible through God's word in the preaching and proclamation of the gospel this is a treasure trove of scripture what is the similarities you see between verse 3 in Colossians 1 to Philemon 4 through 5 faith in Christ Jesus in the love for the saints love for God outpouring into the love for neighbor one is always predicated on the other you must first know

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God and have a relationship with him in order to rightly extend that love to your neighbor we then find

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Paul showcasing the fact that their knowledge of Jesus Christ faith in Christ and love for the

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Saints is wrapped up in what what is it wrapped up in it's in the gospel which they heard in the word of truth proclaimed to them by Epaphras what is the gospel right what can you do to earn

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God's favor absolutely nothing you were once a what slave to sin now set free by Jesus Christ that he died on the cross for your sins he who knew no sin became since that you may inherit the righteousness of God you see the reminding of the faith that they walk in we find another parallel though between Philemon and Colossians Colossians 1 9 through 10 in Philemon 6

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Colossians 1 9 through 10 states and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the

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Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God then

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Philemon 6 to Philemon 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 one little aspect of beauty that we find in scripture is that the outpouring of Philemon goes into the body of Christ in Colossians literally his faith is impacting the church in in Colossians general right we find in terms of churches where the pastor does evangelism right a lot of the body also follows in does evangelism it's the way it works in the the truth of this as well as that the issue between Onesimus and Philemon why it's being hit so hard in Philemon and Colossians is that sin and issues don't just affect one another it affects the whole church it affects the whole church or it has the propensity to this letter again was addressed to Philemon but was also to be read in the whole church a bit of application before we press on I want you to think about something your sin my sin it does affect the entire church body it can understand that the enemy seeks to destroy the church mainly from within not from outside mainly from within sin divides devours and destroys and wisdom that is not rooted in Christ that's what it does

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James 3 13 through 18 speaks of the wisdom remember Colossians says all treasures of his hidden wisdom in our knowledge are who in Christ James 3 now will give us wisdom that's not in Christ this is what it states it harbors bitterness jealousy and selfish ambition he then states that it's earthly unspiritual and demonic we then find

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James stating that the wisdom from above or from Christ is first pure then peaceable gentle open to reason full of mercy and good fruits impartial and sincere and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by the ones who make peace meaning that the wisdom that comes from Christ is the wisdom that needs to be sought out for resolution to the conflict

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Paul echoes that same sentiment to Philemon and the church in Colossi there's wisdom in Christ I pray that the exercising of your faith brings about the good work so listen to me very clearly if you have an issue with someone or you are working with someone to help them as a third party with regards to a simple issue first do what see

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Christ and the wisdom he offers in his word ask yourself when you are thinking something towards a brother or sister in Christ so you need to first ask yourself who is my master who do

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I answer to you gotta take a step outside ourselves and seek the wisdom from above that is first pure then peaceable gentle open to reason full of mercy and good fruits impartial and sincere because that my brothers and sisters is wisdom from your master who saved you from slavery to sin you see the dynamic in which

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Paul makes his plea Philemon was a master of a slave but guess what he was enslaved to sin this brings us to the final point in this sermon in this section of Paul's hope for Philemon when

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Paul states in verse 6 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 we find that the root of all good things is in Christ it is part of who he is it's all for the sake of Christ because he saved us if you've checked out from the sermon if you're thinking somewhere else if your mind's wandering please just tune in for this crucial understanding of what

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Paul is communicating at such a deep level to Philemon in the church in Colossae one Philemon you have love and faith toward Christ Jesus to that faith has poured over into the

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Saints and three let that faith when being shared in Christ Jesus bring you into the knowledge of every good thing

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Paul is saying to Philemon I see what is happening in your life you have true love for Jesus you have faith in Christ you share that faith but let the gospel permeate your life and bring you into the right thing that needs to be done he's setting him up for success he is being a good minister ask yourself why would

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Philemon share that faith and how would it lead him into the knowledge of all good works how would sharing your faith in Christ leads you into the knowledge of all good works well here this here it is and I'm gonna try not get emotional wall while we're going through this year it's just so amazing

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Colossians 112 through 14 giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the

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Saints of light he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins

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Philemon Paul saying right or brother and sister in Christ do not forget the gospel in your daily life you were once a sinner you were far off you

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Philemon were dead in your trespasses and sins you Philemon were a slave to sin you brother sister myself

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I was a slave to my sin I was an enemy of God you were an enemy of God we were walking in the domain of darkness we all like Onesimus ran away from our master but in reality this master deserved all of our love and affection unlike Philemon who at the most basic level is a creature from the dirt just like Onesimus this is the gospel this is the paradigm shift

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Philemon you are no different than Onesimus this is what the gospel is remember this is a paradigm shift this is a worldview change taking place or better yet this is a heart change this is the power of the gospel think about this with regards to your interpersonal relationships with one another when they're sin are you going to require out of them what

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God is all the already freely given to us are you going to do that to somebody are you gonna make them sacrifice themselves in order to seek your forgiveness ask me then is that truly what

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God did for us absolutely not this is the power of the gospel it says this

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Philemon do you think you're better than Onesimus because you're a slave master by no means the gospel went to the

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Jew first and then to the Greek heed God's warning here Romans 11 18 through 22 do not be arrogant toward the branches if you if you are remember it is not you who support the root but the root that supports you then you will say branches were broken off that I may be grafted in that is true they were excuse me broken off because of their unbelief but you stand fast through faith so do not become proud but fear for if God did not spare the natural blanket branches neither will he spare you note then the kindness and the severity of God severity towards those who have fallen but God's kindness to you provided you continue in his kindness otherwise you too will be cut off right in context here in Romans we're talking about the

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Jew in the rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ for crucifying Christ was cut off from the branches and now the

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Gentiles were grafted back in so thinking about the context which with Philemon we can see that he's saying in a sense for a warning just think about it what is the gospel are you any better than the slave look the gospel went first first the

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Jew and then towards the Greek do not hold yourself is better than the Jew or anyone else remember the gospel it was purely

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God and his good mercy that grafted you into the roots who is Christ and that is the freeing power of the gospel

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Galatians 328 Colossians 311 Ephesians 213 through 17 echo that same sentiment listen here there is not

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Greek and you circumcised and uncircumcised barbarian Scythian slave free but Christ is all and in all that is a revolutionary statement in ancient

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Rome revolutionary Ephesians 213 but now in Christ Jesus you were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ remember the introduction to the sermon the

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Christian life is not always a walk in the park however a walk through the wilderness can become a lifetime of cultivating a garden when the gospel renews every aspect of your being you'll be pulling those weeds in turn that wilderness into a garden throughout every temptation or trial that we face in this life we have the ability in Christ seeking his wisdom to cultivate a garden but that doesn't mean there are never thorns and thistles were promised thorns and thistles it means as Christians we face those things head -on and persevere through it but you will not persevere when your master is not

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Christ you'll be cut right off Paul's gentle reminder to Philemon and to all of us is this the

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God who purchased you with his blood forgave you he pardoned your sins you were the offense and you had a record of debt that stood against God with legal demands

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God didn't tell you to pay the fine in fact he didn't even want you to try instead he sent his son to die for us he pardoned us by the work of Jesus Christ you have been forgiven pardoned of your sins not by your own hands not by your own penance or atonement this isn't

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I know I hurt you God go ahead and bruise me for my iniquities we read Isaiah 53 earlier that's that's not the exchange

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God is looking for that is not good enough no you and I Philemon and Onesimus we have no reason to boast before God this exchange on the cross was the life of Christ exchanged to pardon your sins do you see it

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Philemon remember your faith that has impacted the church what is that faith the hope that we have in the gospel

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Philemon you're facing a grievous trial but you like Onesimus have a master who pardoned you apart from anything you could do you offended

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God but you were pardoned remember this Philemon brother and sister and myself remember that remember that in our daily life you have a master if you are insane or you have been sinned against or you're trying to alleviate a sinful situation like Paul here remember that you have been forgiven apart from any work of the law that before God you hold no position better than your fellow brother before God that gives you freedom it really does give you freedom to forgive let the wisdom in which you walk out in this world to be from above like James echoes ask yourself in the situation who is my master remember the gospel and then take the steps necessary to bring peace overflowing with mercy because your master did that for you there's so much more that needs to be said it's only the first part with regards to forgiveness we'll go over that next week but in the meantime remember remember that your master is

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Christ he purchased you with his blood you have been transferred from a domain of darkness and delivered into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom there is redemption the forgiveness of sins and was the last verse saying verse 7 for I've derived much joy and comfort from your love my brother because the hearts of the

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Saints have been refreshed through you we see Paul has the utmost confidence that Philemon in his faith seeking

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Christ will make the right decision for reconciliation we will get more into types of reconciliation or forgiveness in the next sermon however we must truly think to ourselves in any situation who is my master how do

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I stand before another brother and sister in Christ are we self -serving or are we self -sacrificing it's a beautiful thing to think about now you have the freedom now as someone who is in Christ to not walk in the wisdom of the world but to seek the wisdom that God offers us in his word to bring peace into being to be peaceable literally took the blood of Jesus Christ to do that so we should exercise that faith let us pray dear

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Lord thank you for your words thank you for preserving in time

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Holy Spirit what happened between Philemon and Onesimus Lord there's so much we can learn from this letter and there's so much beauty in forgiveness but what does that look like Lord well

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Jesus you showed us in your incarnation number one your humility you are the one who is offended against you are the eternal

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God holy righteous and just which no bad thing or sinful person can dwell you did not have to leave your dwelling place in heaven but as Philippians 2 said you humbled yourself and took the form of a servant the one who was sinned against humbled himself when you didn't have to the

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God of all mercy and comfort and took on flesh being perfectly obedient to the law you became that curse for us we do not deserve it there's nothing we can do to earn it you have pardoned our offense against you in your humble self -sacrificing love so Lord please let us in our hearts extend that same forgiveness to our brothers and sisters and even unbelievers

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Lord I praise you and thank you for your word you are a holy just and righteous