WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.460 Now, if you can find the letter of Philemon, if you're using a church Bible, it's on page 00:00:08.460 --> 00:00:17.199 1200, a very little letter with some really significant lessons. It's there before the 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:24.400 book of Hebrews. It's after Timothy and Titus. While you're looking it up, it's a letter 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:31.359 most likely written by Paul while he was under house arrest in the city of Rome. He writes it to 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:38.100 his friend Philemon in the city of Colossae. He's a follower of Jesus. He's a house church leader. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:46.539 And the other key figure that we meet in this letter is Onesimus, his runaway slave. We're going 00:00:46.539 --> 00:00:52.579 to spend a few weeks together on this wonderful little letter. Let me read it all for us now. 00:00:52.579 --> 00:01:01.479 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother. To Philemon, our dear friend and fellow 00:01:01.479 --> 00:01:08.179 worker. Also to Aphia, our sister, and Archippus, our fellow soldier. And to the church that meets 00:01:08.179 --> 00:01:15.480 in your home. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:21.039 my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:28.000 and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.600 in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 00:01:33.460 --> 00:01:39.120 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:45.400 the Lord's people. Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:52.880 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul, an old man and now 00:01:52.880 --> 00:01:59.520 also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I 00:01:59.520 --> 00:02:06.719 was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. 00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:14.420 I am sending him, who is my very heart, back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that 00:02:14.419 --> 00:02:21.019 he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do 00:02:21.019 --> 00:02:27.039 anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced, but would be voluntary. 00:02:28.339 --> 00:02:33.759 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:41.739 forever, no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me, 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:47.719 but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord. So if you consider me a 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:53.640 partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, 00:02:53.800 --> 00:03:00.920 charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back, not to mention that 00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:07.219 you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord. 00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:15.060 Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:21.840 do even more than I ask. And one more thing, prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:28.479 be restored to you in answer to your prayers. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, 00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:36.439 sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:44.460 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. So we're thinking this morning 00:03:44.460 --> 00:03:51.400 about the power of love as we see it in this letter. But before we get to the letter, let me 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:57.879 take you to another document. It's a document called Where Do We Go From Here? It was a speech 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:05.599 turned into a book delivered by Martin Luther King in Atlanta, Georgia in 1967. This document, 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:13.319 the speech, begins with a record of progress of black rights, largely accomplished through the 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:20.920 influence of black churches in America after desegregation. But then he asks towards the middle 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:29.659 of this speech, where do we go from here? And Martin Luther King said this, I have decided to stick with 00:04:29.660 --> 00:04:37.840 love. For I know that love is ultimately the only answer to humankind's problems. I'm not talking 00:04:37.840 --> 00:04:47.780 about emotional bosh when I talk about love. I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. God is love. 00:04:47.940 --> 00:04:56.040 He who hates does not know God, but he who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of 00:04:56.040 --> 00:05:05.220 ultimate reality. Martin Luther King, as one who knew the gospel, could speak with profound truth of the 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:16.180 reality that love is the only force capable of turning an enemy into a friend. And we're thinking 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:24.320 about a particular kind of love, God's gospel love here that dominates the letter of Philemon. But we're 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:31.040 going to see it's a strong and demanding love, because Philemon is going to be told to pursue costly 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:39.060 reconciliation. We're going to be told of a love that literally unlocks the door, because Philemon is 00:05:39.060 --> 00:05:46.939 told to welcome a runaway thief as a brother in Christ. We encounter in the gospel love with transforming 00:05:46.939 --> 00:05:55.219 power, a power great enough to turn Onesimus from being God's enemy to being his friend and his child. 00:05:55.740 --> 00:06:00.660 So we're going to think about the impact of this love in the gospel on the vertical level, 00:06:00.899 --> 00:06:07.740 but we're also going to recognize the power that there is to bring Philemon to show mercy and kindness 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:13.759 to Onesimus, despite the fact he's been dishonored and he's been robbed. And we're going to see the power of the 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:20.860 gospel on a horizontal level as it applies to the work of reconciliation. So it's a short letter, 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:27.000 but it packs a punch. And especially this week, we're going to recognize it as a lot to teach us 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:32.899 about love. Just a little bit more by way of introduction, it's written by the Apostle Paul. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:41.459 Interestingly, it becomes clear that he has brought them both to faith by his teaching. So he made that 00:06:41.459 --> 00:06:47.399 point to Philemon in verse 19 when he says, not to mention that you owe me your very self. What's he 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:52.319 saying there? He's saying, it's because of me, Philemon, that you have life in the Lord Jesus. 00:06:53.639 --> 00:07:02.500 But he also brought Onesimus to faith. He calls him my child, my son. That's the language Paul uses 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:11.879 of those he has converted personally. Why is this letter written? We can think about it as a family 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:19.259 letter about a serious family matter. They are now brothers in Christ, and there needs to be 00:07:19.259 --> 00:07:25.720 reconciliation. They've been united in the Lord Jesus by faith, and now they need to put that unity 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:36.400 into action. For Onesimus, this runaway, this prodigal, he needs to return home. He needs to face up to 00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:42.600 what he's done. He needs to face Philemon and put things right. And for Philemon, this house church 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:52.020 leader, he must lead with grace. He must welcome and honor Onesimus in Christ. 00:07:52.019 --> 00:08:00.799 These are not natural responses, are they? The natural responses we might expect are, on the one 00:08:00.799 --> 00:08:08.379 hand, justice, he has wronged me, or distance. I'm not going back to put things right. 00:08:09.859 --> 00:08:15.819 But Paul invites them to choose a third way, to choose the way of love, a way that demonstrates 00:08:15.819 --> 00:08:20.979 mercy and peace and forgiveness and honor, something that is radically different, 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:28.259 more demanding and more beautiful. We're going to think about two aspects of the power of love. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:32.019 First, the power of love in salvation, and then the power of love in reconciliation. 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:40.100 Let's begin with the power of love in salvation. We're going to think about what happens to Onesimus. 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:45.000 I think to understand what happens to Onesimus, a little bit of social background is helpful, 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:53.080 because he is a slave. There's a professor of church history and New Testament called N.T. Wright. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:00.360 He compares slavery within the Roman Empire to electricity and technology today in the sense 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:06.980 that it powered the growth of the empire. Somewhere between 25 to 30 percent of everybody who lived within 00:09:06.980 --> 00:09:14.100 the Roman Empire was a slave of some kind or another. And so perhaps it's not a surprise that 00:09:14.100 --> 00:09:20.700 there's a professor by the name of Keith Bradley, who's done a lot of work to identify relations and 00:09:20.700 --> 00:09:25.500 attitudes between slaves and their owners, and he spoke a lot about dislike and distrust. 00:09:27.019 --> 00:09:31.960 And so he's discovered evidence of daily resistance from slaves to their masters, 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:39.019 maybe stealing goods and property, and maybe causing minor damage or inconvenience, maybe just 00:09:39.019 --> 00:09:47.639 working really slowly as a way to fight the system and to show resistance. It was very uncommon for a 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:54.500 slave to do what Onesimus did. It was considered a very high-risk move. If a slave was caught as a 00:09:54.500 --> 00:10:01.259 runaway, crucifixion was not uncommon. Putting on display, this is what happens. 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:10.620 Think then about what's happening in Onesimus' story. In verse 11, we're told that formerly he 00:10:10.620 --> 00:10:16.860 was useless, but now he's useful. The name Onesimus was a name given to slaves. It means 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:24.800 useful. It was a hopeful title. If I take this person as a slave, I hope they'll be useful to me. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:30.879 But he's proven not to be useful. He's proven to be useless. And in fact, in verse 18, we discover 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:36.820 most likely he's gone on the run having stolen property. If he's done you any wrong or owes you 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:44.980 anything, charge it to me. Okay, so he's left Philemon. He's taken some property, probably to 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:53.480 fund his journey of some thousand miles to the city of Rome. Let's get safe distance between me and 00:10:53.480 --> 00:11:02.220 Philemon. The story reads in some ways like the prodigal son's story we encounter from Jesus in 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:09.759 Luke 15. Here is another who has dishonored the head of the house. Here is another who has valued stuff 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:15.500 more than showing honor to the head of the house. He's left home, and now he's found himself in a 00:11:15.500 --> 00:11:25.120 really desperate situation. Well, his next stop, Onesimus' next stop, takes him to Rome. We're not 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:34.399 told why he goes to Rome, and we're not told either how does he come to encounter Paul, who's under house 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:41.720 arrest. It's the kind of detail we love to know. Did he come there because of desperation? Has he heard 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:46.480 from Philemon some good things about Paul? And he thinks, here is someone who might show me mercy. 00:11:46.920 --> 00:11:54.279 Here's the kind of person who might help me. Or is it another wonderful example within the Bible of 00:11:54.279 --> 00:12:00.800 the long arm of God's providence, that God is directing Onesimus' steps, so he just happens upon 00:12:00.800 --> 00:12:07.860 Paul. If you know the film Casablanca, of all the prison cells in all the towns in all the world, 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:14.440 he just walks into mine. We don't know how it comes to be, but we do know God is working. 00:12:15.680 --> 00:12:24.080 He's showing love to a desperate, runaway rebel. Before we think about what happens when Paul meets 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:31.060 him in his house arrest, Onesimus shows us something interesting, I think, about his life 00:12:31.060 --> 00:12:35.980 that maybe connects with our own. Because on the one hand, we look at Onesimus' story, and we think, 00:12:35.980 --> 00:12:40.460 here's a guy who's run away, and he's a thief. You know, he's a rebel. He's made a wreck of his life. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:47.920 He's that kind of person. But we also need to understand that living in Philemon's house, 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:54.960 where Philemon was a house church leader, according to verse 2, he is going to be hearing God's Word, 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:01.100 read and preached. He's going to be hearing the gospel. So he's someone who's been under the influence 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:09.300 of the Christian faith, and he's turned his back on it. So when we think about Onesimus, he is both 00:13:09.300 --> 00:13:18.019 a rebellious person, and he's both, at the same time, a religious person. And the wonderful thing 00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:24.139 is that grace comes to him. God's love comes to him and saves him, and that says something to us. 00:13:24.300 --> 00:13:29.220 Whether we're here today and we're a rebellious person, wandered away from God, we feel like we've 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:35.300 made a mess of our lives even today. Or whether we come as a very religious person. We've always 00:13:35.300 --> 00:13:40.700 come. It's our habit, but as yet we're resistant. The story of Onesimus says there is grace, there is 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:50.940 love from God for us today. Well, in Paul's cell, what happens with Onesimus? Onesimus comes to hear 00:13:50.940 --> 00:13:56.820 the gospel. Because, of course, for Paul, this is always going to be priority number one. And so he takes 00:13:56.820 --> 00:14:03.120 time to share the gospel with Onesimus of Jesus, the Son of God, willingly humbling himself 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:14.680 to become the suffering servant. Willingly dying on the cross to save sinners, that they might be 00:14:14.680 --> 00:14:21.260 forgiven and be brought to know God's love. Sharing with Onesimus that Jesus is like the father 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:28.639 in the story of the prodigal son. He is the one who is willing to forgive the debt. He is the one who 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:36.000 is glad to welcome and to honor and to restore. Jesus has joy when sinners come to him. Paul shared 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:45.139 the gospel, and Onesimus believed. And so Onesimus comes to discover the transforming power of God's love 00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:54.580 in his own life. Paul plays on his name in verse 11. He was useless, but now he's become useful. 00:14:55.179 --> 00:15:01.360 For Paul, he's become really useful. As he's become a follower of Jesus, he's been able to help him in 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:09.379 gospel work. Paul's ability to move around is limited. Onesimus is not. But he's also useful 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:15.100 to Philemon. He's a brother in Christ. 00:15:15.139 --> 00:15:27.159 He's got a new heart ready to serve. Look at verse 16. He was a slave, but he's been transformed. 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:37.000 Now he is a dear brother, a brother in the Lord. There's vital unity connected because they're united 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:44.720 in the Lord Jesus. Because of the work of salvation, Paul can write to Philemon, 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:53.940 and say, look at the dignity that you should see in Philemon. He is a fellow man. He has value as an image 00:15:53.940 --> 00:16:02.820 bearer. But more than that, he has a new status in God's family, a brother in the Lord. 00:16:02.820 --> 00:16:13.540 And so the love of God in the gospel is a force capable to turn an enemy into a friend, 00:16:14.040 --> 00:16:21.820 to turn an enemy of God into a friend of God. So that when Paul writes of him in verse 12, 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:29.680 writes of Onesimus, I am sending him who is my very heart back to you. We get a sense of that deep 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:36.000 love that Paul has for Onesimus, this runaway who's come to faith. 00:16:39.779 --> 00:16:49.299 Paul represents Jesus, reveals the love of God to Onesimus. And as we think of Paul's example, we say, 00:16:49.299 --> 00:16:57.759 how much more Jesus would say of Onesimus, and Jesus says of every one of his children here today, 00:16:58.199 --> 00:17:11.720 he, she is my very heart. My joy is bound to them. For Philemon, my joy is bound to Onesimus, 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:20.220 so he must be in my household, so you must welcome him. I wonder, do we know, are we experiencing this 00:17:20.220 --> 00:17:30.220 transforming power in our own lives? I came across the research of a neuroscientist this week. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:41.059 After 20 years of research, wrote a book, wrote a paper entitled Wired for Love. After 20 years of 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:49.240 research, concluding, love is a biological necessity. We need it for our well-being. We need, we need food, 00:17:49.339 --> 00:17:56.079 we need water, we need exercise, and we need love. How did she discover this? Well, over these 20 years, 00:17:56.440 --> 00:18:03.659 various subjects were brought in, and they were shown photos of their loved ones versus, or photos of, 00:18:03.659 --> 00:18:10.700 sort of, friends or acquaintances or strangers. And as the photos were shown, she was capturing MRI, 00:18:10.700 --> 00:18:17.340 images of the brain. And what the scientists came to discover was that the part of the brain that would 00:18:17.340 --> 00:18:26.960 fire up was the part that controls our basic needs. And the more closely a person was related, the more 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:36.420 love that was shared, the more brain activity there was. And so she concluded that we are wired for love. 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:44.820 It is basic to us. The Bible tells us that, that we are made for community, we are made for society, 00:18:44.820 --> 00:18:52.600 but more than that, we are wired to know and to enjoy the love of God as it's found in Christ Jesus. 00:18:54.080 --> 00:18:59.620 And when we find that love, and when that love captures our hearts, it transforms everything, 00:18:59.619 --> 00:19:07.079 like it did for Onesimus. When we come to believe that the Lord Jesus, the King of Glory, 00:19:07.219 --> 00:19:17.079 gladly left His throne to walk a road of unbelievable suffering, to pick up His cross, 00:19:17.619 --> 00:19:28.199 to suffer and die for you and me, to save us, to change us. Well, instead of running from Him, 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:37.840 we run to Him, to let His love change us. And that's the power of love in salvation. 00:19:38.940 --> 00:19:44.539 But that's not the only demonstration of love we have in this letter, in this story. We also need 00:19:44.539 --> 00:19:51.440 to think about the power of love in reconciliation. To read this letter, we understand this is a really 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:55.960 personal letter. Some of Paul's letters are written to whole churches. This is written to one man. 00:19:55.960 --> 00:20:03.559 This is written to Philemon. And it overflows with love. See how he describes Philemon. Verse 1, 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:14.319 he is our dear friend. Verse 4 to 7, we have this great sense of thankfulness that Paul has for 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:20.600 Philemon as he remembers him in his prayers. Why? Because what's evident in Philemon's life is that he 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:29.799 loves Jesus and he loves the people of Jesus. He has deep joy because Philemon, he's like a fountain. 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:39.439 The source of the water source is God's love poured out to Philemon and Jesus. And then Philemon is 00:20:39.439 --> 00:20:43.599 refreshing others as he's sharing that love with the church and those beyond. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:54.579 And so he's profoundly thankful as he sees that in Philemon. And because he knows he's a follower of 00:20:54.579 --> 00:21:07.659 Jesus, he calls him to this strong, demanding gospel love. To follow Jesus, his master. To count the cost. 00:21:07.660 --> 00:21:16.440 To make sacrifices to restore a rebel and a runaway. Picture of the gospel. Because, of course, 00:21:16.540 --> 00:21:24.560 reconciliation is one aspect of the gospel. We heard 2 Corinthians 5. Paul will write to a different 00:21:24.560 --> 00:21:31.140 church, a church in Corinth, making the point that God has reconciled himself to the world 00:21:31.140 --> 00:21:40.440 by forgiving sin through the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. And then he calls his people 00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:47.259 to become agents of reconciliation. That we have this good news of this great exchange that has taken 00:21:47.259 --> 00:21:55.660 place. That Jesus has taken my sin and he's died as if he were a sinner. And he's credited to me his 00:21:55.660 --> 00:22:04.120 righteousness. So I am considered righteous by my Father. This is the good news. There's reconciliation. 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:13.180 It happens in the gospel. And now it needs to be worked out on the ground in the lives of these two 00:22:13.180 --> 00:22:24.920 brothers in Christ. That reconciling love has the power within it to reconcile a master and a slave. 00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:30.140 As they are united to Christ who paid the ultimate cost. 00:22:32.440 --> 00:22:39.279 And in him there is the power to pursue this reconciliation when it is hard. And it is hard. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:48.040 The request for reconciliation that we see here has three aspects to it. Let's think first of all about 00:22:48.039 --> 00:23:01.680 love. How is he to think about Onesimus now? Think of him no longer as a slave, but better than a slave as a 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:08.139 dear brother. He is very dear to me, but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the 00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:19.040 Lord. He is not ever to be thought of as property because he's precious to Christ. He is a fellow man. 00:23:19.340 --> 00:23:28.700 He is loved in the Lord. And so Philemon is to extend the love of Christ to him regardless of his betrayal. 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:35.620 Will. Verse 17, this reconciliation requires a welcome. 00:23:37.779 --> 00:23:47.759 If you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. Now we know that Philemon loves 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:56.380 Paul. In fact, in verse 22, Paul will say, prepare a guest room for me. He's already known what it is to 00:23:56.380 --> 00:24:02.460 be welcomed by Philemon. And so he says to Philemon, however you would prepare to welcome me and honor 00:24:02.460 --> 00:24:13.100 me, welcome Onesimus like that. That slave that robbed you and ran away, welcome him, honor him, 00:24:13.100 --> 00:24:17.960 treat him like the prodigal son, and show him grace. 00:24:17.960 --> 00:24:28.480 And ultimately, he wants Philemon to release Onesimus. Verse 20, 00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:35.620 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. 00:24:36.360 --> 00:24:41.660 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. 00:24:41.660 --> 00:24:48.000 So here's what's happening. Paul has found Onesimus really helpful in his gospel ministry 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:53.720 while he's in prison. In verse 14, he makes it clear that he would love to keep him, but he's 00:24:53.720 --> 00:25:01.080 not going to force Philemon to do that. So he's sending Onesimus back, but at the same time, he is 00:25:01.080 --> 00:25:10.320 confident in Philemon that his love for Jesus, his love for Paul, his love for God's mission 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:19.559 will enable him to not just welcome Onesimus back, but to release him for gospel ministry. 00:25:20.519 --> 00:25:27.039 Now you think about the impact of the gospel in this one little household for a moment. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:38.019 It has turned a useless person to a useful person. He'd been a crook, 00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:46.599 but now Onesimus is functioning as a Christian missionary. He'd been a prodigal, a rebel, 00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:56.579 but now he's a partner in the gospel. And now he's supposed to be welcomed back with open arms 00:25:56.579 --> 00:26:06.160 and sent away gladly. Sounds amazing. And I think we can presume it was successful, 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:12.200 that this is exactly what happened, or we wouldn't still have the letter. So it sounds wonderful, 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:20.620 but we need to stop, don't we, and realize just how difficult this is, how unnatural this is. 00:26:20.800 --> 00:26:24.400 Without the work of God and the power of his love, this is not happening. 00:26:26.140 --> 00:26:30.019 It's a really hard thing in the first place for Onesimus to do, because Paul is saying, 00:26:30.019 --> 00:26:34.019 listen, you've been really faithful in gospel ministry here, but you need to return 00:26:34.019 --> 00:26:40.980 to the household, to the master that you treated so badly. You need to be humble to do that. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:47.079 And he needed to trust. He needed to trust that Paul's letter, this little letter here, 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:53.259 the power of the gospel, would mean he'd be shown mercy and not justice and perhaps lose his life. 00:26:53.259 --> 00:27:06.859 It's really hard for Philemon to, you know, picture the moment when Onesimus comes back, 00:27:07.539 --> 00:27:13.960 and he's got the letter in his hand, and he's got his cap in hand. He is this man who has refused to 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:21.619 serve well. He is this one who has robbed him and ran. He has dishonored Philemon within the household 00:27:21.619 --> 00:27:32.239 and within the wider community. The law shouts for justice. The gospel speaks of mercy and a welcome. 00:27:34.859 --> 00:27:38.039 In the prodigal son's story, there was, of course, an older brother. 00:27:39.939 --> 00:27:48.119 And often we can relate to the older brother. Imagine Philemon. How can I welcome the like of him? 00:27:48.119 --> 00:27:55.059 How can I throw wide the door and throw open my arms and throw a feast for this guy? He's worthless. 00:27:57.099 --> 00:28:01.439 Reminds us that gospel love is demanding. 00:28:02.399 --> 00:28:07.099 When a relationship goes wrong in our household, within our family, 00:28:07.659 --> 00:28:11.239 when someone in the church wrongs us, 00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:21.880 it's demanding to show gospel of natural instinct. Maybe it's anger. Maybe it's to show someone the 00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:27.519 cold shoulder. Maybe it's to seek to apply strict justice in the matter. 00:28:30.620 --> 00:28:32.480 Paul shows that gospel instinct. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:39.620 Do we want the best for the other? We want restoration. We're willing to pursue 00:28:39.620 --> 00:28:46.039 reconciliation, even as we know it's a hard road. Think about it in our own stories. Maybe this is 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:52.180 part of your story. You've had this experience. How can we do it? Why should we do it? 00:28:52.180 --> 00:29:00.640 Because of the gospel. Because of the gospel of reconciliation. Because God made Jesus, who had 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:07.960 no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Because Jesus, 00:29:08.259 --> 00:29:15.960 in love, gave up everything to reconcile us to God. We ought to follow his example. Because while we 00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:25.079 we're still enemies, Christ died for us, because God's love shown to us at the cross has made peace 00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:39.600 between us and God. It's because of God's grace we are called and we are empowered to put gospel love 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:53.659 into action. To be ready to practice forgiveness. To be ready to practice mercy. To be ready to welcome 00:29:53.659 --> 00:30:07.599 home and seek restoration. God's love truly is the only power capable of turning enemies into friends. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:16.559 The first thing we need to do is to trust in him. To trust in Jesus. To receive this love. 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:26.039 This gospel love that makes us friends with Almighty God enables us to seek friendship.