WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.519 Good morning, is this on? There we go. Good morning. It is good to see you, and thank you 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:13.759 Jefferson and Florence for that reading. Let's pray together as we come before God's Word 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:22.820 this morning. Father, as we consider this book of the Bible, we want to hear from you. 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:28.339 And God, we pray that your Word will come alive to us. God, we don't just want to be 00:00:28.339 --> 00:00:34.359 intellectually stimulated. We don't just want to learn new things about your Bible. We want to 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:41.620 meet with you and encounter you, the living Word. And so Christ, won't you come and open our hearts? 00:00:41.620 --> 00:00:46.379 Won't you prepare our hearts to meet with you? Holy Spirit, won't you come and take these words 00:00:46.379 --> 00:00:52.560 on the page and apply them to our hearts? And Christ, we pray that as a result of having sung 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:58.039 your Word and listened to your Word and prayed your Word, that God, we will love you more deeply 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:06.819 more profoundly today and this week. And so we pray this, Christ, in your amazing and beautiful name. 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:16.099 Amen. Amen. Okay. This morning we are in the final sermon in our series, The Supremacy of Christ and 00:01:16.099 --> 00:01:22.759 our Life in Him, as we've gone through the book of Colossians. And today you might say, why are we in 00:01:22.759 --> 00:01:28.299 this series? We're not preaching from Colossians? Well, the book of Philemon, in many ways, is a kind 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:34.039 of sequel to the book of Colossians. They were both written by the same man, Paul, at the same time, 00:01:34.099 --> 00:01:39.919 while he's under arrest in Rome. They're both written to the church in Colossae, and they are given to the 00:01:39.919 --> 00:01:45.539 church at the same time. Colossians is written to the congregation as a whole, and Philemon is written to 00:01:45.540 --> 00:01:51.719 one of the founders of this church, this man by the name of Philemon. And this whole book, which is one 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:56.480 of the shortest books in the Bible, we read the whole book of the Bible this morning, this whole 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:03.140 book revolves around this relationship between this wealthy businessman called Philemon and a former 00:02:03.140 --> 00:02:09.180 slave of his, a runaway slave called Inesimus. Now, before we get into the story, let me, we've got some 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:15.520 pictures. There we go. There's Philemon and Inesimus back from eight weeks ago. Now, before we get into the 00:02:15.539 --> 00:02:21.199 story, one thing that you might, as soon as you hear the word slave, former slave, you might think, 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:28.599 hang on, why didn't the early church, you know, lobby the government, protest outside of Caesar's 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:36.180 gates, pickets to overthrow slavery? Why do they seem so comfortable with this? It's a good question, 00:02:36.299 --> 00:02:43.019 so let me just explain for very briefly. When we read about slavery in the Bible, especially in the New 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:48.860 Testament, it's a very different thing to what we think of when we think of the British and American 00:02:48.860 --> 00:02:55.540 transatlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th century. That was race-based, it was human trafficking, 00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:02.540 and that was very humane in many ways. The slavery that happened in the Bible, it's more like a kind 00:03:02.540 --> 00:03:07.840 of indentured servanthood. So it's a kind of employment. And so what would happen is that if you, 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:14.140 a young man or a young lady, you could be trained, you could be well-educated, if you don't have capital 00:03:14.140 --> 00:03:20.539 to start your own business or you don't have land, you would go to a master, an employer, and work for 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:26.860 him for a fixed period of time for a fixed salary as a kind of permanent employment role. And so in Rome, 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:32.759 in that day, there were actually many very well-educated professional slaves, or as the ESV says, 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:39.840 bond servants, you get doctors, lawyers, teachers, all of these people that had come to a master or 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:45.099 an employer and said, I want to work for you. Will you take me in your employment? And so when we read 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:52.379 about slavery in the Bible, don't think transatlantic slave trade. That being said, however, the New 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:59.019 Testament never excuses slavery. And the New Testament writers don't exonerate slaveholders. 00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:04.740 But at the same time, the New Testament writers weren't trying to overthrow the political system 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:11.300 and start a counter parallel economic, you know, political economy on the side. What they always 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:16.319 did was they try to find out how do we bring the gospel to bear, the implications of the gospel on 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:21.160 both the slave and the slave master. And that's exactly what we're going to see today in the book of 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:27.540 Philemon. Okay, now let's recap the story. We did this last week very briefly, but for those of you 00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:33.180 that may be on you, let me tell you the story of Philemon. So eight years prior to this book being 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:39.820 written, the great apostle Paul is in Ephesus. He's preaching the gospel. Many people come to faith 00:04:39.820 --> 00:04:46.379 in the Lord Jesus Christ. Two of those people happen to be businessmen from a town about 150 miles away 00:04:46.379 --> 00:04:52.680 called Colossae. One of them is Epaphras and the other one is Philemon. And so these men become followers 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:57.879 of Jesus. Paul disciples them for a couple of months, a couple of years. They travel back and 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:03.319 forth between Colossae and Ephesus. And eventually Paul says, why don't you guys go and start a church 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:08.180 in your hometown? And so they do. They go and they preach the gospel. Many people come to faith 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:14.620 and they start a church in Philemon's home in his living room. And Paul never goes to visit, 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:20.920 but he is encouraging them. He's there right alongside them. Well, Paul, after some time, 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:26.340 leaves Ephesus to go back to Jerusalem. While he's there, he gets arrested for preaching the gospel 00:05:26.340 --> 00:05:31.240 and Paul appeals to Caesar. He says, I want to appeal to Caesar. And so they say, okay, 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:36.580 they put him on a ship and he goes off to Rome. And while he's there in Rome, he's awaiting trial 00:05:36.580 --> 00:05:42.319 and he's under house arrest. Now, while he's under house arrest in Rome, he meets a young man called 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:49.720 Onesimus. And Onesimus is a bit rough around the edges, but Paul shares the gospel with him and 00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:56.120 Onesimus comes to faith in Christ. Paul disciples him. And pretty soon Onesimus, this young man, 00:05:56.280 --> 00:06:01.580 joins Paul's team, starts ministering to his needs, helps Paul along, and in fact, 00:06:01.700 --> 00:06:07.040 kind of joins Paul's ministry team. And things are working out pretty well. A few years later, 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:13.040 Epaphras, the guy that helped plant the church with Philemon, he finds himself arrested in Rome. 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:18.320 Maybe he's in the same house or the same precinct. I don't know, it's Paul. Paul meets Epaphras, 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:23.319 and they get chatting. And Epaphras tells him all about the church in Colossae and how Philemon is 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:30.040 doing and gives him all the news. And then Epaphras sees this guy, Onesimus. And he says, 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:36.600 hang on, Paul, do you know who this guy is? Because Onesimus used to be a slave for Philemon, 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:43.060 the guy in whose house this church is meeting. And Onesimus runs away. One day he says, I've had 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:46.939 enough, he packs up his bags in the middle of the night, and he runs away. He's a fugitive. 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:52.780 But he doesn't only run away, it also seems like he steals some money, or he steals some kind of 00:06:52.780 --> 00:06:58.259 household goods in the process. And so Epaphras comes to Paul and says, do you know this guy, 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:03.740 Onesimus, who's on your team, who's helping you and serving you? This guy's actually a runaway slave 00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:09.259 from your old friend Philemon back in Colossae. Okay? And Paul says, don't worry, I know all about it. 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:16.259 And so Paul decides to do two things. He writes a letter, or first thing he does is he sends Onesimus 00:07:16.259 --> 00:07:21.519 back. He says, Onesimus, it's time to go back to your former master and face up to him. And the 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:26.599 second thing he does is he writes a letter. And he gives it to Tychicus, and he says, take Onesimus, 00:07:26.899 --> 00:07:32.620 take the letter, and go back to Philemon. And that letter that Paul writes is the letter that was read 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:38.360 to us this morning. Okay? And so that's what this book of the Bible is all about. It's this heartfelt 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:44.980 letter that Paul writes to Philemon appealing to him and asking him to take back his runaway slave 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:52.080 and to not treat him as he deserves. Okay? Does that make sense? Okay, great. Now, just before we dive in, 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:58.540 I want us to consider a question. I want to ask you if you've ever experienced any kind of relational 00:07:58.540 --> 00:08:05.480 strain, any relational tension. Maybe there's someone and you just don't see eye to eye, or somebody's done 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:11.100 something to you, and you've experienced anything like that. Maybe it's your neighbor. They're drilling 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:15.759 in the middle of the night, or they're playing loud music at two in the morning, cheering for their 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:24.460 soccer team, and they wake you up, right? Or maybe it's your child, your teenage child. They're becoming 00:08:24.460 --> 00:08:29.100 independent. They're pushing against you. They want to go their own way, and it just feels like you're 00:08:29.100 --> 00:08:34.039 rubbing against each other. Maybe it's your parents. When you're growing up, they just drilled you. 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:38.279 They pushed you, pushed you, pushed you. Always were demanding, but they never told you how much 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:44.879 they loved you. Maybe it's your colleague, or your boss, or somebody at work. Or maybe, if you're 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:49.939 honest, maybe you're part of the problem. Maybe your relationship with your parents isn't great 00:08:49.939 --> 00:08:55.860 because you haven't really honored them like they deserved. Maybe your in-laws haven't really 00:08:55.860 --> 00:09:01.099 treated, you haven't treated them like maybe they deserve. Maybe your boss doesn't like you, 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:06.000 but if you're honest, you're part of the problem. Maybe you borrowed money from somebody, and then 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:09.759 you haven't quite paid them back like you said you would, or when you said you would, and the 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:14.720 relationship is strained. You've experienced anything like this? Well, here in the passage of 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:19.060 Scripture that we read today, we've got this relational conflict of the very highest order. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:25.700 We've got Philemon, this Christian, and Nesimus, this former slave, and Nesimus has stolen from him 00:09:25.700 --> 00:09:31.460 and run away. Now, let's see what's going to happen. First thing I want us to consider is, 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:38.320 let's think a bit about what Nesimus had to offer. What did Nesimus have to offer? Nesimus finds himself 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:43.680 in Rome with the great apostle Paul. He's serving, and he's ministering to his needs. Now, this is a 00:09:43.680 --> 00:09:49.740 great blessing to Paul, because Paul is under house arrest, so he can't go out and work. But Acts tells us 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:54.200 that he had to provide his own needs. He wasn't in jail where he had a meal given to him every day. 00:09:54.200 --> 00:10:00.140 He has to provide for his own needs, but he's under arrest. And so Nesimus is a great help to him. 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:06.580 Nesimus can go and work. He can bring in an income. Nesimus can also take letters around, and Nesimus 00:10:06.580 --> 00:10:12.540 joins his team and serves Paul as he continues his ministry. In fact, in verse 10, Paul says, 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:18.320 he has become like a child to me. I've become like a father to him. And remember in Colossians, 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:24.160 Paul writes and says, Nesimus is a faithful and beloved brother. Well, not only was this 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:29.559 working out well for Paul, this was also working out pretty well for Nesimus. In the ancient world, 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:35.639 if a slave ran away from their master, they were often hunted down and returned to their masters 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:41.360 for a ransom, for a reward. And upon going back to their masters, they were either whipped, 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:47.500 sometimes they were tattooed or branded with a branding iron saying, fugitive, beware. Sometimes 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:53.079 they were even killed. And so it was very dangerous for a slave to now go into the open market and make 00:10:53.080 --> 00:10:57.480 himself available for employment. There were people looking out for runaway slaves everywhere. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:03.900 And so Nesimus, now he's got quite a good arrangement. He's found this man, Paul. He's working with him. 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:08.720 He's under his care. He's under his protection. Paul is taking care of this man. As Paul says, 00:11:08.800 --> 00:11:14.220 I've become like a father to him. And so this relationship is working out pretty well. In English, 00:11:14.300 --> 00:11:20.000 we have a saying, all's well that ends well. Do you know that saying? Everything's working out pretty well. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.799 Except Paul and Nesimus realized that while this is good and convenient for both of them, 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:32.120 this isn't the way that things are meant to be. In fact, they realized that while this arrangement 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:37.440 is pleasing for them, it's not pleasing the Lord. Because there's another brother called Philemon, 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:44.059 and there's unfinished business between Philemon and Nesimus. And so they decide to do something 00:11:44.059 --> 00:11:46.700 about it. Look at verse 13. Paul writes this, and he says, 00:11:46.700 --> 00:11:52.360 I would have been glad to keep Nesimus with me, dear Philemon, in order that he may continue to 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:58.980 serve me on your behalf. But I prefer to do nothing without your consent. So Paul realizes 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:04.379 this is working out well for us, but you, Philemon, haven't had a say in this. You haven't said whether 00:12:04.379 --> 00:12:10.280 this is right for you. And so Paul and Nesimus decide they need to do something about it. 00:12:10.660 --> 00:12:15.000 Well, the first thing I guess he could have done is Paul could have said, listen, it's been a long 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:21.740 time now. There's too much water under the bridge. Philemon's now a very long way away. And anyway, 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:26.879 it's typhoon season. The ships are not going to be sailing across the Mediterranean. Let's just all 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:31.639 pretend it didn't happen. You know, let's just, the past is the past, time to move on. He could 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:37.100 have done that. He could have, I guess, written a nice letter and said, my dear brother Philemon, 00:12:37.940 --> 00:12:42.799 you'll never believe what happened. Remember that old slave, that one you always moaned about, 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:47.519 because his name means useful, but he was actually pretty useless to you. Well, you'll never guess 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:53.039 what happened. I happened to run into him here in Rome. And actually he's proving pretty helpful 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:58.139 to me. Now I know he was useless to you and he actually just got in your way. So let's just call 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:03.659 things quit. I just wanted to let you know. Okay. He could have written a nice letter like that. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:09.659 Well, whatever happened, for some reason, Paul decides that that's not the way to go. 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:14.839 We may be tempted to think that that's how forgiveness works. Didn't Jesus say we should 00:13:14.839 --> 00:13:18.339 forgive one another? If someone slaps you on the cheek, you should just turn them to them, 00:13:18.379 --> 00:13:24.139 the other cheek. Didn't Jesus say that we should all, you know, oversee and overlook each other's 00:13:24.139 --> 00:13:30.719 offenses? Well, friends of nobles, that sounds, that's not quite what Jesus said. Remember, Jesus says, 00:13:30.939 --> 00:13:36.100 if you as a follower of Jesus have an issue with your brother or your sister, you should go and talk to 00:13:36.100 --> 00:13:41.379 about it. You should go deal with it. In fact, Jesus says, if you as a Christian know that somebody 00:13:41.379 --> 00:13:46.279 else has got an issue with you, before you continue worshiping, you go and talk to them 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:53.060 and you deal with the issue between you two. Friends, look what Onesimus and Paul do. They 00:13:53.060 --> 00:13:57.700 realize that a wrong has been committed and that for reconciliation to take place, Onesimus 00:13:57.700 --> 00:14:03.180 needs to own up to his stuff. He needs to address the issue that's before them and he needs to go back 00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:10.519 to Philemon. Friends, can I ask you, have you ever experienced somebody apologizing to you when you 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:16.419 felt like they didn't really mean it? Kind of a half-hearted apology. They kind of want to keep the 00:14:16.419 --> 00:14:21.799 situation just smooth and so they'll half mention a kind of apology but soon followed up with all 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:27.479 sorts of excuses and explanations and blaming actually it was that person over there. Do you know 00:14:27.479 --> 00:14:32.919 what I mean? That ever happened to you? Okay, just me. Well, let me know when it happens to you, okay? 00:14:33.179 --> 00:14:40.839 Well, look what Onesimus does. Whether it was Paul's urging or Onesimus' own idea, one way or 00:14:40.839 --> 00:14:46.319 another, Onesimus agrees to it and so he goes down to the docks, he buys himself a ticket for Ephesus, 00:14:46.719 --> 00:14:53.939 he takes the voyage to Ephesus, he then takes the 150-mile journey to Colossae and he goes to meet his 00:14:53.939 --> 00:15:02.500 former master. And friends, I want us to consider the hopelessness of Onesimus' situation. Here he is, 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:08.220 he arrives at Philemon's door and what does he have to offer? What has he got in his hands? 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:16.620 He's got nothing. He's got no excuses, no explanation. He's got nothing in his hands. The only thing he has 00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:23.379 is a letter from Paul and the mercy and the kindness of Philemon. He comes before me, he doesn't have all 00:15:23.379 --> 00:15:28.000 the explanations. He can't say, well, this person may be doing it and I'm so sorry, you know, my bank didn't pay 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:33.019 me properly and all these kind of reasons. He comes and he stands before him with nothing. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:38.860 And what about Philemon? What is Philemon going to do? We know that Onesimus would have heard the 00:15:38.860 --> 00:15:43.700 stories of how these runaway slaves were treated when they returned. Sometimes beaten, sometimes 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:50.000 branded, sometimes tattooed, sometimes killed. What is Philemon going to do? How is he going to treat 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:57.480 Onesimus? Well, here was Onesimus knowing that he had nothing to offer, no defenses, no excuses, 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:04.500 and he binds himself to the mercy of Philemon asking for his forgiveness. One commentator said 00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:12.779 it like this, he deserves punishment. All he can offer is nothing. But what about Philemon? 00:16:12.779 --> 00:16:21.799 Philemon? What did Philemon have to pay? Notice the cost that Philemon pays here. Philemon receives 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:26.779 this letter with Onesimus standing in front of him. Now remember, there are no emails, there's no 00:16:26.779 --> 00:16:31.939 telegraph forewarning him saying, just to let you know, you know, Onesimus is going to arrive at your 00:16:31.939 --> 00:16:37.899 door any day now. Just be gentle with him, right? So he opens the door and there is his former runaway 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:45.059 slave saying, I'm back. Surprise. And what is Philemon going to do? And so Philemon reads this 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:51.899 letter. And I want us to think about the enormity of the forgiveness that Paul asks of Philemon. 00:16:52.419 --> 00:16:57.019 It's not a small thing that he's asking him to do when he asks to take him back. Look at verse 10 and 00:16:57.019 --> 00:17:04.059 12 with me. He says here, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in 00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:09.679 imprisonment. Verse 12, I'm sending him back to you. In fact, I'm sending my very heart. And then in 00:17:09.679 --> 00:17:15.460 verse 17, he says, so if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:24.099 Now remember, Paul is writing this in a time when for Philemon, the idea of forgiveness, the idea of 00:17:24.099 --> 00:17:29.819 mercy is not an admirable attribute. That's not the kind of thing that society approved on thought, 00:17:29.819 --> 00:17:34.919 what a wonderful man. In that day and age, forgiveness and mercy is considered weakness. 00:17:35.439 --> 00:17:40.839 That's not a good thing. You're weak if you know how to do that. All his peers, the other neighbors, 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:45.519 the other masters would have thought, who is this man that lets his slaves run all over him? 00:17:45.919 --> 00:17:51.879 He just, they can do whatever they want and there's no consequences. And so what Paul and Onesimus 00:17:51.879 --> 00:17:57.399 are asking of Philemon to do is culturally a very shameful thing to do, a humiliating thing to do. 00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:03.759 Even more so given Philemon's status in society and his position in the church. Remember how much 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.640 Philemon has given for the sake of the church, his hospitality, he's opened up his home. He said, 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:14.440 you can meet in my home. Everything that Philemon has given for the sake of the church. And now Paul 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:22.580 comes with this audacious, almost rude request saying, won't you receive your former slave back? 00:18:22.579 --> 00:18:28.279 What kind of precedent would this set for the other slaves? Would Philemon be quietly encouraging 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:34.279 their rebellion in the ranks? Did Paul know just how much he was asking Philemon to do? And as if this 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:40.639 isn't enough, look at what he says in verse 16. He says, I hope you'll receive him back, verse 16, 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:46.099 no longer as a bondservant, but even more than a bondservant, a beloved brother. 00:18:46.099 --> 00:18:54.959 Now friends, think about this. Paul has the audacity, the goal to ask Philemon to take Onesimus back. 00:18:55.179 --> 00:19:00.859 But more than that, he says, I want you to receive him. But in fact, I want you to improve your 00:19:00.859 --> 00:19:06.279 relationship with him. Take him back, but take him back better than you, than he left you. In other 00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:11.519 words, don't just take him back as a slave. Now take him back as a brother. So think about this. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:16.700 You work at your office, right? You've got a team of people that work under you, that report to you, 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:24.279 some employees. One day, one of them resigns. He resigns suddenly and he says, I'm going to work 00:19:24.279 --> 00:19:32.339 for the competitor. But not only does he do that, that's fine, I guess. He secretly copies all of the 00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:38.359 confidential files from your system onto a hard drive and takes it with him, right? How does this happen 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:44.479 to you? So employer leaves you to go to the competitor and he takes all the confidential 00:19:44.479 --> 00:19:49.799 documents, financial statuses, strategies, plans, where you're going to open a new store. He takes 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:58.379 them to come to a competitor. A year later, he knocks at your door. I'm back. And imagine he arrives 00:19:58.379 --> 00:20:03.399 with a letter from the apostle Paul. I want you to receive him back, but I also want you to give him 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:10.040 a raise and a promotion, right? You'd be like, are you joking? Well, look at what Paul says. I want 00:20:10.040 --> 00:20:17.220 you to receive him back, but not as a servant, not as a slave. Receive him back as a brother, as a brother. 00:20:19.280 --> 00:20:23.580 In other words, he's asking Philemon to not just welcome him into his home, but into his heart. 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:29.200 And think of the implications of this. I mean, how is Philemon to treat Inesimus going forward? 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:34.039 He gives him some money to go to the market and to buy some goods. When he comes back, should he 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:39.059 double count the change? Should he ask the accounts team, the finance guys, just to, you know, double 00:20:39.059 --> 00:20:45.120 check all Inesimus' books going forward because you can't quite trust this guy? In a sense, he's asking 00:20:45.120 --> 00:20:50.120 him, Paul's saying, take him back, but treat him as if he's done nothing wrong. Look what he says in 00:20:50.120 --> 00:20:55.900 verse 17. He says, so if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 00:20:55.900 --> 00:21:00.800 In other words, imagine I came to stay with you. I came to your home. That's how I want 00:21:00.800 --> 00:21:06.620 you to treat your runaway slave, Inesimus. Friends, do you think Paul had any idea just 00:21:06.620 --> 00:21:11.000 what he was asking Philemon to do? It feels like he's pushing the limits of a friendship, 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:15.920 right? And well, this all sounds nice, but then of course there's the small matter of 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:21.640 the money. What about the money that Inesimus owes? Well, look at what Paul says in verse 18. 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:27.060 He says, and if he has wronged you at all, or if he owes you anything, charge that to 00:21:27.060 --> 00:21:32.920 my account. Well, notice what Paul's doing here. Paul is saying, he's not saying, listen, 00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:38.000 the past is the past. Let's just pretend it didn't happen. You know, money's not that important. 00:21:38.080 --> 00:21:42.360 Let's just write it off. He doesn't quite say that. He does acknowledge that there's a debt. 00:21:42.860 --> 00:21:47.759 He acknowledged that the just thing to happen is for the debt to be paid. So he says, listen, 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:53.279 let's talk about this matter of the debt being paid. There is a reality to that. Your debt does 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:59.420 need to be paid. That's right. But then he says, charge it to me. I'll take care of it. 00:22:00.099 --> 00:22:05.279 Now just think about this for a second. Here is Paul. He's an old man. He tells us that earlier on. 00:22:05.700 --> 00:22:12.019 He's in prison in Rome for preaching the gospel. Do you think Philemon is really going to charge the 00:22:12.019 --> 00:22:16.980 account to Paul? Do you think Philemon is going to read this and say to his auditors, listen, 00:22:16.980 --> 00:22:21.480 just write a bill for $200,000 and just send it to Paul in Rome. He said he's going to take care of 00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:28.259 it, right? What's he going to do? He's going to say, sorry, Paul, let's just call it quits. 00:22:28.740 --> 00:22:34.559 He's going to absorb the cost himself. Now friends, you might think, why does Philemon have to bear the 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:39.460 cost? He's the one guy in the story that hasn't done anything wrong. Why should he have to bear the 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:46.599 cost of the other man's guilt? Well friends, that's how grace works. That's how grace works. 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:52.619 You see, friends, here before us today is a great picture of just how much it costs to forgive 00:22:52.619 --> 00:22:58.799 someone. What Paul is asking Philemon to do was a very costly thing. And friends, I want to remind 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:05.500 us what Graham said. Graham and I didn't talk about this. Forgiveness is always very, very costly. 00:23:06.219 --> 00:23:11.839 When you forgive someone who has wronged you, it'll cost you your pride. When you forgive somebody who has 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:17.439 mistreated you, it'll cost you your right to retribution. It'll cost you your right to justice. 00:23:17.859 --> 00:23:23.679 When you forgive somebody who owes you a debt, it'll likely cost you financially. Friends, when you 00:23:23.679 --> 00:23:28.159 forgive someone who's taken advantage of your kindness, it'll cost you your comfort and your 00:23:28.159 --> 00:23:33.539 convenience. Because every week as you see that person again, you'll be reminded of how uncomfortable 00:23:33.539 --> 00:23:42.720 they made your life. Forgiveness is always very, very costly. And this is what Paul is asking Philemon to 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:52.000 do. Philemon, I want you to absorb the cost and forgive Anesimus. Well, consider the audacity of 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:58.019 Paul's request. Friends, I want you to imagine that you were Philemon. Most of us know it's good to forgive, 00:23:58.019 --> 00:24:04.039 but imagine you were in Philemon's position. Do you think that possibly you or I would feel 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:10.400 slightly indignant, slightly offended by Paul's request? I mean, Paul does get quite pushy, 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:14.700 doesn't he? I mean, he gets pretty close to manipulation. Look at what he says here in verse 00:24:14.700 --> 00:24:20.079 eight. He says, though I'm bold enough to command you to do what's right, yet for love's sake, I prefer 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:24.920 to appeal to you. I have Paul now an old man and a prisoner for Christ Jesus. In other words, he's saying, 00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:31.279 I could command you, but I won't. Well, we all know what that means, right? And look at what he says 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:37.460 in verse 12. He says, I'm sending him back to you. I'm sending my very heart. I'm sending my child back 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:42.560 to you. And in verse 17, if you consider me your partner, look, I'm not putting it on you, but I'm 00:24:42.560 --> 00:24:47.519 just saying, if you consider me your partner, won't you do this favor? Won't you receive him no longer as 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:54.360 a slave, but as a brother? And then he kind of ups the ante. Look at verse 19. He says, I won't even bring up 00:24:54.359 --> 00:24:59.859 the matter that you owe me your very life. I mean, he is kind of bringing it up, but he says, let's not 00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:06.179 even talk about that. And then finally in verse 21, he says, I'm confident of your obedience, knowing 00:25:06.179 --> 00:25:11.059 that you will do even more than I ask you to do. I mean, Paul's getting a little pushy, isn't he? 00:25:12.339 --> 00:25:18.699 Friends, you think Philemon might've been slightly offended by Paul's pushiness? Friends, I want to put 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:23.940 it to us that I think Philemon would have had every reason to be offended, every reason to feel 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:29.360 dishonored. If he had understood everything there is to understand about the church, if he knew the 00:25:29.360 --> 00:25:35.500 way the church worked, if he knew his Bible, if he understood Greek and Hebrew, if he knew that there 00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:39.580 is justice and there's right and there's wrong, and that we have to be held accountable for our actions, 00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:48.939 if he understood all these things, but not the gospel. Because if he had, if Philemon himself had 00:25:48.939 --> 00:25:55.059 encountered the grace of God, if Philemon himself had encountered or been confronted by his own 00:25:55.059 --> 00:26:00.579 depravity and his own sin, if Philemon himself had ever been brought to his own knees about the wonder 00:26:00.579 --> 00:26:08.199 of grace and Christ's mercy towards him, if Philemon had ever been stopped in his tracks that Christ 00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:14.840 should forgive a sinner like him, surely he would have understood Paul completely. Surely he would 00:26:14.840 --> 00:26:19.180 have known where Paul is coming from. And so look at verse six with me. He says this, Paul says, 00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:25.299 I pray that the sharing of your faith will become effective for the full knowledge of every good 00:26:25.299 --> 00:26:30.140 thing that we have in Christ. And so where Paul says here in verse six, the sharing of your faith, 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:36.819 he's not talking about evangelism. He's not saying, as you share your faith with an unbeliever, 00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:42.059 I pray that as you do that, you will understand more of the gospel. Now it is true that when you 00:26:42.059 --> 00:26:46.659 share your faith, when you evangelize an unbeliever, you do understand the gospel deeper. That is true. 00:26:47.179 --> 00:26:51.879 That's not what Paul is saying here. The word sharing here is the word for fellowship. It's the 00:26:51.879 --> 00:26:58.179 word participation with the other believers. In other words, he's saying this, when you share what 00:26:58.179 --> 00:27:03.399 Christ has done in your life, when you share the gospel, when you live out the gospel with other 00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:08.759 believers in the community, I pray that the result of this is getting the gospel, the grace of God, 00:27:08.840 --> 00:27:15.820 the mercy of God deeper into your own heart. I pray that you'll understand more fully just who 00:27:15.820 --> 00:27:22.120 Christ is and what he's done for you. Friends, in this tiny letter, one of the least known and 00:27:22.120 --> 00:27:28.820 least read of all Paul's epistles, we have before us in a miniature version, this masterpiece picture 00:27:28.819 --> 00:27:33.480 of what the gospel is really like. We have the whole story of the Bible, everything that the 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:38.980 Bible is about. You see, friends, you may be one of the greatest Bible scholars. As we said, you may 00:27:38.980 --> 00:27:44.000 understand Greek and Hebrew. You may have gone to seminary and finished top of your class. You may even be 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:50.799 an elder in your church. But friends, if you, when you read this letter, it offends you. If you think, 00:27:50.879 --> 00:27:54.919 no, that's impossible. Now, Paul's asking too much. I don't understand how he could do that. 00:27:54.920 --> 00:28:02.480 Friends, you don't understand the gospel. And you may not even be a Christian at all. Because in this 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:08.880 letter that we read today is the gospel. Friends, in this letter is our story. This is the reason why 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:14.539 we come to church week in and week out. It's why we sing the gospel and pray the gospel and watch the 00:28:14.539 --> 00:28:19.300 gospel being broken before us and the bread and the elements. It's why we listen to the gospel week in 00:28:19.299 --> 00:28:25.980 and week out. Because Anesimus' story is my story and it's your story. This is our story. 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:33.039 Friends, the one who made us for a relationship with himself, Christ Jesus, we've all gone our own way. 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:38.619 We've all left our master. And not just once upon a time when we stole candy from the store or 00:28:38.619 --> 00:28:44.659 when we cheated on our homework. Day after day, week after week, the disposition of our own hearts is, 00:28:44.660 --> 00:28:50.380 Christ, I want to be my own master. I want to be my own Lord. And so we follow Anesimus by 00:28:50.380 --> 00:28:56.200 going to look for our freedom in all sorts of other places. It's the reason why we sin. It's the 00:28:56.200 --> 00:29:00.800 reason why we hold on to bitterness. It's the reason why we pursue illegitimate relationships. 00:29:01.380 --> 00:29:05.920 It's the reason why we love and serve money. It's the reason why we love and serve all sorts of 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:10.960 idols in our lives. Because we think that freedom is found in those places. We think that that's where the 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:16.299 good life is found. And yet, friends, the message of the Bible is that those things that we think will 00:29:16.299 --> 00:29:21.299 set us free actually enslave us. The things that we hope will deliver us actually dominate us. 00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:27.279 The things that we hope will liberate us end up binding us and controlling us. But friends, 00:29:27.360 --> 00:29:34.059 the extravagant, stunning message of the gospel is that while we, like Anesimus, had run from our 00:29:34.059 --> 00:29:39.319 master and gone our own way to find our own freedom, only to be enslaved by the things we thought 00:29:39.319 --> 00:29:44.839 would set us free, Christ our master didn't sit back and wait for us to come to him. He came after 00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:50.299 us. And he left heaven to come to earth, to die on the cross and to pay the price, to bring us back 00:29:50.299 --> 00:29:56.980 to himself, to reconcile us to himself. Consider how this letter is a picture of the gospel. 00:29:57.679 --> 00:29:58.759 Paul writes and he says, 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:02.559 If Anesimus owes you anything, charge it to my account. 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:06.019 Well, friends, what did Graham remind us Jesus said on the cross? 00:30:06.019 --> 00:30:09.359 It is finished. 00:30:09.700 --> 00:30:15.240 Or another way of saying that is it is paid in full. Your debt has been paid in full. 00:30:15.879 --> 00:30:20.759 Consider how Paul doesn't just want to see Anesimus forgiven and then getting on with his life. For 00:30:20.759 --> 00:30:25.180 him, that's not sufficient. He wants to see the relationship stored. He wants to see reconciliation. 00:30:26.299 --> 00:30:30.180 Wasn't that what we read about a few weeks ago in Colossians 1 where Paul writes and he says, 00:30:30.180 --> 00:30:37.060 You who once alienated from God because of your evil deeds, God is now reconciled through himself, 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:43.160 through his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. 00:30:43.700 --> 00:30:48.720 Consider how Paul urges Philemon to treat Anesimus as he would treat Paul. He says, 00:30:49.080 --> 00:30:54.759 Treat him not as he deserves, but as I deserve. Treat Anesimus as the way you would treat me. 00:30:54.759 --> 00:31:03.920 Well, friends, in the gospel, Jesus comes to God the Father and he allows us to come before the holiness of God and the justice of God and the perfection of God. 00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:11.940 And he restores relationship, not because of our merit, not because of what we deserve, but because of Jesus' righteousness, because of what Jesus deserves. 00:31:12.619 --> 00:31:15.160 Friends, consider how Paul sees the sovereign hand of God. 00:31:15.940 --> 00:31:19.259 How God can turn even Anesimus' sin around for good. 00:31:19.259 --> 00:31:21.619 Look what he says in verse 15. He says, 00:31:22.059 --> 00:31:28.059 Perhaps this is why God had him part from you, for a little while, that you might have him back forever. 00:31:28.759 --> 00:31:34.019 Friends, I'll tell you today that even in humanity's darkest hour, even in our most wicked moment, 00:31:34.099 --> 00:31:39.920 when we, humanity, took the only sinless man, the only one who never deserved to die, 00:31:40.379 --> 00:31:43.980 and out of our jealousy and our envy, we nailed him to the cross, 00:31:43.980 --> 00:31:49.839 even then, God in his sovereignty took what we intended for evil, what we intended for death, 00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:51.799 and he brought life out of it, that we might live. 00:31:52.539 --> 00:31:58.079 Friends, consider how Paul says that Anesimus is no longer a slave, but a son and a brother. 00:31:59.120 --> 00:32:02.299 Well, friends, don't you see how Jesus Christ took us back from being slaves? 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:06.380 Slaves to sin, slaves to destructive patterns of behavior, 00:32:07.180 --> 00:32:11.420 slaves to our desires, slaves to destructive patterns of thought, 00:32:12.059 --> 00:32:13.860 slaves to addictions, and he sets us free. 00:32:14.539 --> 00:32:16.039 And now he calls us sons and daughters. 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:20.940 Jesus, in a very unusual way, says, I'm not ashamed to call you my brothers. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:26.480 And friends, consider finally how Paul, though in prison for no crime of his own, 00:32:28.019 --> 00:32:31.880 mediates on behalf of a guilty man so that the guilty man can be set free. 00:32:32.940 --> 00:32:34.920 Friends, can't you remember Jesus? 00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:38.259 The Lord Jesus Christ, the only guiltless man who ever lived, 00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:43.819 made himself a servant, going to the ends of servanthood, even dying on a cross. 00:32:43.980 --> 00:32:50.000 Jesus gave himself up for slavery to mediate on our behalf so that we, the guilty, could go free. 00:32:50.940 --> 00:32:55.220 Friends, I want to ask you, why is this very small book of the Bible included in the Scriptures? 00:32:55.220 --> 00:32:59.360 Why did God, the Holy Spirit, see it fit to include this personal letter? 00:32:59.799 --> 00:33:03.880 Why have all the other letters that Paul wrote, many of them got lost throughout the way? 00:33:03.960 --> 00:33:07.420 Why did God preserve this one and fit it into the canon of Scripture? 00:33:08.360 --> 00:33:09.740 Friends, it was to show us the gospel. 00:33:10.740 --> 00:33:16.360 It was to show us our own sinfulness, the hopelessness of life spent in pursuit of freedom apart from Christ. 00:33:17.080 --> 00:33:21.860 But more than that, it was included to show us the stunning extravagance of Christ's mercy. 00:33:22.840 --> 00:33:24.080 Friends, will you come to him now? 00:33:24.820 --> 00:33:26.980 Will you come and bind yourself to Christ? 00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:34.819 Will you come as Onesimus came, empty-handed, with no excuses, no explanations, no blaming anyone else? 00:33:35.380 --> 00:33:38.140 Will you come to him empty-handed and say, Christ, I come to you? 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:43.740 And bind yourself, cast yourself in the forgiveness and the mercy of Christ our King. 00:33:44.460 --> 00:33:45.700 Let's do that together now. 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:46.960 Will you pray with me? 00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:49.860 Can I invite you to stand with me? 00:33:49.859 --> 00:33:51.399 And let's pray together. 00:33:54.879 --> 00:33:56.519 Let's close our eyes. 00:34:05.479 --> 00:34:17.460 Oh God, we are so grateful for your sovereignty that this little letter written 2,000 years ago was preserved by you and found in our Bibles 00:34:17.460 --> 00:34:25.099 that we, God, may get a small picture, a minute picture of the extravagance of your grace. 00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:32.220 Jesus, thank you that though we, like Onesimus, have run away, we've gone our own way, 00:34:32.980 --> 00:34:38.199 we thought that if we could find freedom, God, the wonderful truth of the gospel is that when we come to you 00:34:38.199 --> 00:34:42.199 and we submit ourselves to you in that place, we find our hope, we find our freedom. 00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:49.199 God, I pray for us this morning for those of us that are in the throes of relational tension, 00:34:49.839 --> 00:34:52.199 those of us that have been hurt or let down, 00:34:52.939 --> 00:34:55.039 those of us that need to forgive, 00:34:55.779 --> 00:34:58.219 or those of us, God, that need to ask for forgiveness. 00:34:59.899 --> 00:35:02.119 God, won't you get the gospel deep in our hearts? 00:35:03.319 --> 00:35:05.960 Won't you remind us, Jesus, of just how much you forgave us? 00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:12.619 Won't you remind us, God, of the incredible cost that you gladly and willingly paid for us 00:35:12.619 --> 00:35:17.740 so that we, God, can endure a very small cost when we forgive those that have hurt us? 00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:22.320 Forgive us, God, as we forgive those that have sinned against us. 00:35:25.500 --> 00:35:27.940 Christ, I pray for those of us that don't know you, 00:35:28.460 --> 00:35:30.920 those of us that have never been born again, 00:35:31.019 --> 00:35:34.820 those of us that have never encountered your life-transforming grace. 00:35:34.820 --> 00:35:37.600 O God, bring us to our knees, we pray. 00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:43.880 Christ, help us to see just how lost we are apart from you, 00:35:44.780 --> 00:35:47.660 and yet how wide open your arms are to welcome us home. 00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:53.860 Jesus, we may never know how Philemon responded to this letter. 00:35:54.680 --> 00:35:57.260 We may never know how he responded to Onesimus, 00:35:57.340 --> 00:36:01.140 but we do know your extravagant grace, how you respond to us. 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:03.039 And for that, we love you. 00:36:04.820 --> 00:36:08.100 Christ, come have your way. 00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:10.260 In your name we pray. 00:36:11.680 --> 00:36:12.019 Amen.