WWUTT 772 An Appeal to Love?

The Appeal to Love in Philemon

Paul, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, could have commanded Philemon what to do concerning his slave Onesimus. But instead of giving Philemon a command, Paul gave him an opportunity to love, which is the fulfilling of the law when we understand the text.

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Paul’s Appeal to Philemon and Onesimus

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the book of Philemon, chapter, well, it's all one chapter. To begin today, I'm going to read verses 8 through 16. Paul wrote to his friend Philemon, accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you.

I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child's Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.

I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel. But I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but out of your own accord.

For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant as a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord.

This is beautiful. This is the heart of the letter that Paul is writing to Philemon, appealing on behalf of Onesimus that Philemon would show forgiveness to Onesimus and be reconciled to him and receive him back, not as his slave, but as a brother in the Lord Christ.

What a beautiful appeal and the way that Paul is appealing to Philemon. This is a demonstration of something that Paul said in Romans 13, 8 through 10. Let me read that section to you. He said to the Romans, Oh, no one, anything except to love each other for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments.

You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not covet and any other commandment are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. So if you are loving, then you're you are already fulfilling the don't parts of the commands. Does that make sense? I hope I made sense with that. So the law says, don't do this.

Don't do this.

You shall love God. You shall not have any other gods. You shall not murder your neighbor. If you're showing love to your neighbor, you're not murdering it, nor are you even thinking evil things about him in your thoughts, which Jesus said in Matthew five is the same as if you had murdered him in your heart.

So even if you don't physically carry out the act, you have such hatred and animosity towards someone else. You have the same heart that a murderer would have. And so if you love your neighbor, you're not thinking those things.

If you think the best of your neighbor, if you think of your neighbor as someone who is a fellow image bearer of God, or in the case of a person that you attend church with who is a brother or a sister in Christ, you see someone not just made in the image of God, but someone who is being remade in the image of Christ.

And as you love God, you show love also to your neighbor. And in so doing, you are fulfilling all of the aspects of the law, everything related to the horizontal commands, especially, which is what Paul is talking about there in Romans 13.

He doesn't mention you'll love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. You will not blaspheme the name of God. He doesn't mention that in Romans 13, eight through 10. The commands that he's listing are the horizontal commands, the commands that have to do with man's interaction with man.

And so if you are showing love to your fellow man, then you are fulfilling all of those things that are quantified in the Ten Commandments, especially don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't covet.

Instead, you show love to your neighbor and you have fulfilled all those aspects of the.

Law.

And so that's what Paul is giving Philemon an opportunity to do here, that he would show love to Onesimus, not just out of obedience to Paul. Paul was an apostle. What he commanded Philemon to do would have been as if Christ had commanded Philemon to do that.

And Paul understood his authority as an apostle. He understood this authority in a very humble way. He didn't lord it over anybody, which is demonstrated here. So he says in verse eight, though, I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required.

This is a requirement of you that you would forgive Onesimus because he is now a fellow brother in the Lord. You would show forgiveness to him and you would receive him back to yourself and you would treat him not as your slave.

Because as I mentioned yesterday, the Roman law allowed Philemon to do whatever he wanted to with Onesimus since Onesimus had stolen from him and run away. He could have he could have beaten him and had him killed.

But Paul is saying, no, you need to show love to this man. You need to forgive him and you need to receive him back, not as your slave, not according to the laws that the Roman Empire affords you as a master of slaves.

But you need to receive him back as your brother. How would you treat your brother? That's the way you need to treat Onesimus, not as a servant, not as someone who is bonded to you as though to pay off a debt, which was probably the reason why Onesimus was a slave of Philemon.

He had a debt to pay off, and that debt was increased by the fact that he had stolen from him. But Paul is saying you're going to forgive him of all wrong. He doesn't command that, but but because these are two brothers in the Lord and Onesimus is returning back to Philemon with a penitent heart, Paul is saying, I could command you what to do here, but I'm not going to do that.

I want to give you the opportunity to demonstrate the fulfilling of the law in the love that has filled up your heart in the Holy Spirit of God. This is gorgeous. I mean, it is deeply theological and at the same time shows such love and affection for both Philemon and for Onesimus.

This is wonderfully pastoral, the way that Paul approaches this and very convicting to me. So even as a pastor, I have a position in which I could tell somebody what to do according to what the Bible says, but maybe instead taking the approach of Paul and saying to a person, I actually had I've had situations like this where I've said to someone else, I think, you know, the thing to do here.

I don't think I need to tell you what to do. I think, you know, and so I'm encouraging you to follow through with that, with what you know you have to do. I'm going to give you the opportunity to do that whenever it comes to obedience to God.

We should not enter into this begrudgingly. Oh, well, the Bible says it. I guess I got to do it. I don't want to go to hell. OK, that's a begrudging acceptance. And God does not want your begrudging submission.

He wants your joy. We delight to worship God and to obey him. David in Psalm 119, Lord, how I love your law. It is my meditation on it is my meditation all the day. We can love, which is the fulfilling of the law.

And yet at the same time, love the law because we see what is being fulfilled by our loving with the love of Christ that has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. Paul said in both Romans and to Timothy in First Timothy, Chapter one, that the law is good if one uses it in the right way.

We see the perfection of God and his orderliness and his commandments when we study the law and when we know it and when we see how love fulfills these things, when we read verses about keeping God's commands, whether you're talking about Old Testament or New Testament, it's even in the New Testament, even in the New Testament, we're commanded to keep God's commands.

First John five, two. By this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and we obey his commandments. But again, love is the fulfilling of those commandments. So if you're loving your neighbor, you are obeying those commandments.

We are called to obedience, but it's not a begrudging submission to that obedience. It is our delight to do what God has called us to do. Jesus said in John 14 to his disciples, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And then in verse 21, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. When it comes to understanding these instructions to obey the commandments of God, as in first John five, two, or keep the commandments of Christ, as in John 14, 15, we are being conformed to the image of Christ.

If we are followers of Jesus, if we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we are being conformed to his image. Therefore, we will conform ourselves to his commandments. And in so doing, we are obeying them.

Walking by the Spirit and Fulfilling the Law

One of the most helpful contrasts in this, I believe, is in Galatians chapter five, for it's there in Galatians five where we see the presentation of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit.

And Paul says in Galatians 5 16, I say, walk by the spirit. And if you walk by the spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. So you're not focusing on the don't do this, don't do this, don't do this.

Instead, you are doing the dues of the spirit. And if you're doing the dues, you don't have time to do the don'ts, right? So you are following in step with the spirit and you're not even concerned about those things, those passions of the flesh.

You're not trying to tiptoe any line. Well, I can get this close to the sin, and as long as I'm not crossing the line, then I'm not sinning. I've got news for you folks. If that's the way that you think about sin, then you're still focused on the sin and not on the goodness of God because you're facing the sin.

As long as I don't get this close, then I'm not sinning. Look at God flee from sin. Don't go anywhere near sin. Walk with the spirit and you will not gratify those desires of your flesh. Or think about how you can gratify them a little bit, but not too much.

No, that's the wrong mentality. It's the wrong way of thinking. Have the mind of Christ. Philippians 2 5. So going on here in Galatians 5. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh.

For these things are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. And I think we all know the conflict that Paul experiences in his flesh, which he writes about in Romans chapter seven, about the things that he wants to do, but can't do them because as he desires to do those things in his flesh, his flesh is corrupt and keeps going toward the sin.

So the things he wants to do, he can't seem to do it. He goes back to the sin thing that he doesn't want to do. So we read that conflict in Romans seven, and he kind of hints at it even here. The spirit keeps you from doing the things that your flesh wants to do, and if you're chasing after your flesh, then you're going after the things opposed to what the spirit of God wants you to do.

So verse 18. But if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law. You're not judged by the law because you're not breaking the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because a person who is doing such things is not conformed to the image of Christ and is not demonstrating his conformity to Christ's image by fulfilling his law, keeping his law and loving, which is the fulfillment of the law.

Love God, loving people, loving, loving the Lord, loving neighbor. These things are the fulfilling of the law. If a person is not doing those things, then they're gratifying the desires of the flesh. And understand, when I say love God and loving neighbor, I'm talking about according to what the Bible says those things are supposed to be.

If you love God, you're keeping his commandments. You cannot be engaging in adultery or fornication or any other kind of sexual immorality and say that you love God, because as we read in 1st John chapter one, that if a person is doing these things and says he loves God, he's a liar for the truth is not in him.

You cannot be engaging in those things and saying that you love God. It would be akin to say to being in an adulterous affair and saying you love your wife. Clearly not. You cannot say that you love your wife if you're chasing after all of these other women.

The same is the case with the sins that we walk in, which are opposed to the things of the spirit. You cannot be entertaining those those appetites of your flesh and with the same mouth saying that you love God.

It's the same as if you cheat on your spouse and say that you love your spouse. These things are opposed to one another. Everything that Paul lays out here as the works of the flesh, he says, are evident.

Galatians 5, 8, 5, 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident. You know what they are. You know what sin is. You know what God's word says. Don't go in the direction of the sin. Go in the direction of God and his righteousness and the way that he defines the things that are quantified in the fruit of the spirit, which is what we have in Galatians 5, 22.

But the fruit of the spirit is love. What God says love is. If you're confused about that, go to first Corinthians 13. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things.

There is no law. If you're doing those things, you're fulfilling the law. You don't have time to do the don'ts when you're doing the dues that the spirit of God has impressed upon your heart. Those who belong to Christ Jesus, this is Galatians 5, 24.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.

And this is at the heart of what Paul is saying to Philemon. If you live by the spirit, keep in step with the spirit. And I'm going to give you the opportunity here to do something that is not by my command as an apostle of Jesus Christ, but because you know that the that the love of God, which has been poured into your heart by the Holy Spirit, is the fulfilling of the law.

And you will demonstrate this love toward your brother, Onesimus, not giving him what he deserves because you, Philemon, don't deserve the love of God either. You have been shown his grace and his mercy, as it says in Romans 9 and quoting also from the book of Exodus, God saying, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

And Philemon, knowing that he is a recipient of this mercy of God, though he is undeserving of the grace of God that has been shown to him here, he has an opportunity to show grace to a person who actually deserves the fullness of what the law of the Roman Empire allowed Philemon to do to his slave.

That's what Onesimus deserved. But Philemon was not going to do that. He was going to demonstrate the love of God that he had been shown and now showing it toward his brother in the faith. So Paul saying, though I'm bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you.

I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus. Again, he's under house arrest in Rome. This was during his first imprisonment, which we read about in Acts 27 and 28. In verse 10, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.

He led Onesimus to the Lord when Onesimus came into his company there in Rome. And again, as I mentioned yesterday, that's why the providential hand of God that brought Onesimus into Paul's company. Oh, hey, we know the same guy, Philemon.

And and having realized that Paul knew Philemon probably afflicted Onesimus his heart with guilt. And he's telling Paul, well, here's what it is that I here's what I did. And here's why I'm here in Rome, trying to escape the wrath of my master, because I know what I deserve for what it is that I did.

Paul instead leads him in the gospel of Jesus Christ, a good gospel opportunity right there. Well, we all we all deserve death, Onesimus. But but God, our heavenly father, has shown us love and affection through his son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again from the grave.

Our sins are paid for by the blood of Christ. And so, God, our father, if we have faith in Christ, does not look upon us as children of wrath, but instead as adopted sons and daughters and recipients of his mercy.

And Onesimus heard the gospel in the presence of Paul, repented of his sin, put his faith in Christ and became a child of the apostle Paul in the sense that Paul led him to the Lord. He was the one that preached the gospel to him.

And Onesimus repented and believed. Paul goes on in verse 11 to say, formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I'm going to come back to that verse again tomorrow and talk about that particular passage in verse 11, the parenthetical reference.

I'm going to mention something about that tomorrow. Verse 12, I'm sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel.

And indeed, even in the delivery of this letter, Onesimus is serving Paul for he and Tychicus were carrying the letters to Colossae and to Ephesus, as well as this letter to Philemon. So he was indeed serving or proving himself useful to Paul by serving him in this way.

So he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel. And after this letter, perhaps Philemon sent Onesimus back to Paul in Rome that he might be useful to him. But I prefer to do nothing, Paul says in verse 14, without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord.

For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord, even though Paul had a usefulness or Onesimus showed himself useful to Paul and Paul had something he could have used him for.

He wanted this reconciliation to take place first between Onesimus and Philemon. And we're led to believe that reconciliation indeed happened. And we're going to continue to talk about that one more day tomorrow as we continue our study of Philemon.

But I hope that this was beneficial and edifying for you today. Let us pray. Our great God and savior, how how much we deserve for our sin. We deserve everything that is mentioned to us in scripture that will happen to the ungodly.

We deserve to be cast out from God and and from his presence. We deserve to be cast into an eternal hell of fire. We deserve to be tortured along with the devil and his angels, because that's exactly who we followed in our flesh as we followed after the schemes of Satan.

We were duped by Satan and his wiles, but we gave into it willingly as the sinfulness of our flesh had led us into those demonic things. But, Lord, you have demonstrated your love for us in this way, that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

And so by faith in Jesus Christ, we have been forgiven our sins and given adoption and have become fellow heirs in your kingdom. What a wonderful gift this is, which we could never repay. But we are to give our bodies as a living sacrifice unto the Lord.

And this is our spiritual act of worship. Romans 12, 1. So this love that you have demonstrated toward us, may we learn more and more how we demonstrate this love to one another. For this love is the fulfilling of your law.

We rejoice in your law and we delight to keep it. For by keeping in step with the spirit, we are being made more and more into the image of our Savior Christ. We ask all these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

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