PHILEMON 12008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Philemon 1

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008.

This morning we're covering the entire book of Philemon. It's just one chapter long and it's a very unique book and as we do we'll be looking at it probably a little bit quicker than we usually cover passages on Sunday mornings and so I want to encourage you to take away from today these three things and consider and as you go contemplate and continue to think about the book of Philemon and these three areas and that's you, me and Jesus.

You, me, and Jesus. As we look at this book, we see a great picture of Jesus Christ. Paul paints for us with his own example a picture of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Also, as we look at this book, we see the things that apply to me personally and my responsibilities and my obligations that need to be fulfilled. But I also learn how I need to relate to you or to others in my life who perhaps have wronged me, perhaps have hurt me, and the way that I'm to relate to them as a believer in Jesus Christ. So you, me, and Jesus are the things that God wants to reveal to us this morning in the book of Philemon.

This is a unique book in the scriptures because of the letters of the Apostle Paul, this one is a personal letter to this man Philemon.

Now we just finished the books of Timothy and Titus, which were letters that Paul wrote to Timothy and to Titus. But those, we call them the pastoral epistles because they were written to people in the ministry who were pastors. Paul is giving them instruction for how they are to lead the church, the way the church is to be run. It's...

Although it's written to a person, its impact is for the church and it was written within the scope that it would be read within the churches and it was all about ministry. Well, here as we look at the book of Philemon, Philemon's not a pastor. He

He is the host of a Bible study. There's a church that meets in his house, but it's really a personal letter between Paul and Philemon. It's not instruction on how church service is to go or how the body's, you know, to behave or anything like that, but it's really a personal letter between Paul and Philemon, which makes it unique and

Because although Paul probably wrote many, many letters, this one is preserved for us. And many wonder why, but I believe it's apparent, again, in the things we learn about you, me, and Jesus. And the things that we learn from this book are pretty phenomenal. Here's the basic plot, the basic summary of the book of Philemon.

Paul, he's in prison. In Acts chapter 28, Paul is there in the Roman prison. He is under house arrest and he's waiting to appear before Caesar. It's during that time that he writes this book to this man Philemon who is in a city by the name of Colossae.

And there had been some ministry that was going on there, some work that had been happening. Paul wrote the letter of Colossians at the same time and sent that by a man named Tychicus as well as this letter. And so he's writing to this man named Philemon and the reason why he's writing is Philemon had a slave named Onesimus. And Onesimus, being Philemon's slave, decided he did not want to be under that type of subjection any longer.

And so he takes off. He runs away. He's a runaway slave, a fugitive really. And somehow, through whatever set of circumstances, you might think of it as coincidence, but we know there's no such thing when it comes to the things of God and his plans. As unlikely as it sounds, Onesimus runs away from Philemon. Paul and Philemon knew each other. But Onesimus ends up in Rome.

Maybe he was thinking, maybe Onesimus was thinking, Rome is a good place to hide, there's a lot of people, no one will find me there, it would be difficult to catch up with me there. Whatever he thinks is leading him there to Rome, God has his plans in place and Onesimus, as he ends up in Rome, he comes in contact with the Apostle Paul who is there in house arrest in the city of Rome.

And coming in contact with the Apostle Paul, Onesimus has the opportunity and he does respond to the gospel message. He becomes a Christian. He becomes born again. And so God begins a work in this man Onesimus' life and now...

Onesimus is being sent back to Philemon. Paul the Apostle is sending back Philemon, I'm sorry, sending back Onesimus to Philemon along with this letter that we read today to encourage Philemon to act appropriately and receive him back as a brother in the Lord. That's the basic plot. Now, in the Roman Empire...

It's estimated that at this time there was about 60 million slaves throughout the empire, throughout the nation or the empire of Rome. So there was a great slave population. There was always the threats, there was always the fear that the slaves would start an uprise and that they would all could join up together and rebel against because there was such a great population of slaves.

But slaves were not cheap labor as it were. Slaves were not just for everybody. But slavery was really something that was costly. And it was something that was very expensive. One slave, an average slave for an average type of worker in those days, would go for about 500 denarii.

Now a denarii would be the day's wages of that time. So if you consider what the average person makes in a day times 500, so you're talking about a year and a half close to two years of wages is the cost of one slave.

Pretty substantial chunk of money, perhaps, you know, equivalent to an expensive car. Maybe not too expensive, depending on what kind of job you have, but you know what I mean. The car that's just out of your reach, that you just quite can't afford. That would be really the equivalent of...

of the cost of a slave in those days. And that was for the average run-of-the-mill, just the normal everyday type of slave. There was also those who were educated, those who were trained in special functions and had special trade skills. They were accountants or lawyers or those types of things. And those slaves could go for as much as 50,000 denarii or 50,000 days wages.

And so, for an owner, for a master of slaves, their slaves were very valuable to them. And if one would run away, well, it would be like having your car stolen. It would be a great expense for them and something that would be very tragic in their lives, something that would hurt them very greatly. It would be a big financial loss for them. And so,

If a runaway slave was caught, under the culture, under Roman law, the master of the slave had the right to execute that slave. As an example, to make sure the rest didn't do it, because again, there's so much invested in them, and it's very costly. So they would want to make sure that nobody else got that idea, so they would have the right, they didn't have to, but they had the right to execute a slave if they were caught when they ran away.

If they didn't execute them, often they would brand them. They would put a big F upon their body somewhere to mark them as a fugitive or a runaway slave. And so Onesimus, he runs away and now Paul is sending him back. And you can understand that there's probably a little bit of anxiety over this. What is Philemon going to do? How is he going to respond to this man who has wronged him now coming back and standing before him face to face?

Slaves would be registered on a wanted list whenever they ran away. But the interesting thing about slavery in the Roman Empire, and it paints a good picture for us again of what Christ has done for us, is there in the Roman Empire, in order to protect a slave from abuse from a master,

If the slave ran away, now it was a dangerous and costly thing perhaps for a slave to run away because if they get caught, they could be executed. But if they were successful, if they successfully got away, they could appeal to any citizen of Rome for protection.

And that citizen of Rome could offer them protection and could provide for them and meet their needs and sort of, not that they would become their slave now, but they would be like under their roof and in a sense under their protection or part of their family. Now that would not be indefinitely, but what would happen is this citizen of Rome would now, as he's offering protection, he would be trying to negotiate for the slave to return to his master. Right?

And so he would be trying to convince, in this case, Paul the Apostle would be trying to convince Onesimus, under the customs of the day, to return back to his master. And if it was successful, then he would go back. Now, if he was not successful in negotiating this, if the citizen could not convince the slave to return, then what would happen is the citizen would turn around and sell the slave.

And this slave would be sold to another master and begin a new life there serving that other master. And the money that was gained from that transaction would be given back to the former master. So the old master wasn't out, you know, the slave or the cost of a slave.

But the slave didn't have to continue in service to that old master. And so it's sort of a protection for the slave that if you wanted to chance it, if you wanted to see if you could get away with it and you could get protection by someone else, then you could try to release yourself from that type of master.

Now it's interesting to me as I was reading that and studying through that, the picture we have here of Jesus and Philemon we'll see in just a moment, but even just in this same culture, the same picture is there.

Who is our master? Well, our master is God. God is our master. Whether you believe in God or not, whether you choose to believe it, whether you receive it, whether you accept it, God is our creator. He is our master. But the scripture teaches us that we on our own naturally are enemies of God. The scripture teaches us that no one seeks after God. What do we do?

Naturally, we run from God. We're those runaway slaves. God is our master. He's our creator. But we're constantly running away until we come in contact with Jesus Christ. Now, if Philemon had come in contact and asked for protection from any other citizen, well, the story probably would have been different. But he comes in contact with the Apostle Paul who leads him to Jesus Christ. And you and I as runaway slaves, when we come to Jesus Christ,

What is Jesus...

work in our lives. What does He do in our hearts? Well, He starts a negotiation to bring us back reconciliation, right relationship with God. He sends us back to God. As we receive what Christ has done for us, He restores now the relationship that God had with us. And although we were once fugitives and runaway and we were once enemies of the cross, now we're found in right relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. However,

If we encounter Jesus Christ and we refuse to enter into a relationship with God, if we refuse to be returned to our Master, then we are sold into slavery. Then we, whatever we choose, whoever our Master is going to be, we sell ourselves into slavery by refusing what Jesus Christ has to offer, by refusing what God has done for us. We will be enslaved to sin.

Instead of being set free and returned and brought into right relationship with God, we'll continue being enslaved by our flesh, by sin, by the world. We'll continue to be slaves to the things around us. So we have the opportunity for freedom through Jesus Christ or the opportunity to continue to be enslaved by our own flesh and the things around us. And this is the picture of the book of Philemon.

Well, let's start going through it here. Starting in verse 1 again, Paul gives his greeting. He says, Here as Paul introduces himself, he says, I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Although technically he was a prisoner of Rome,

But he understands, I'm serving the Lord, it's because of my walk with God that I'm here, because of my obedience to God that I'm here, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has me here. And I think that's so important for us as well, as we consider these things and the situations that we face and we wonder, you know, why am I in this employment and why am I in this job?

It's so important for us to be walking with God so that we can, like Paul, just say, hey, wherever I'm at, I'm there. It's part of God's plan because I've been walking with Him. Because I've been obedient to Him. And I'm not here because God's out to get me. And I'm not here because of whatever circumstances the world thinks. I'm here because this is where Jesus Christ has me. And so he's content as a prisoner. In fact, even showing great joy as a prisoner as we saw through the book of Philippians.

He addresses it to Philemon who is our beloved friend. Our beloved friend. Now this word beloved, Paul uses it a couple times throughout the book. And it's a good word for us to remind us of the relationship that we have with one another through Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus said in John chapter 13 that the world would know that we're his disciples by what?

try to keep you awake a little bit. By our love for one another, John 13, 35 says. Our love for one another is to be the distinguishing characteristic of Christians. And Paul writes to Philemon, he says, you're my beloved brother.

He goes on to say to the beloved Appiah. Now, this is a feminine name, and so what we believe is happening here is Paul is writing to the household of Philemon. Philemon being the husband, Appiah being the wife, since it's a feminine name. And then he goes on to say also to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. So here's Philemon writing.

He's there in Colossae, a member of the community, a member of the church there. In fact, the church meets at his house.

In those days, they didn't have dedicated buildings to the things of God. They didn't have, well, the Jews did, but the Christians, you know, they didn't have churches and sanctuaries like we think of today. And so the church would be split into many different homes within a community very often. So there'd be probably multiple homes in Colossae and different people from different communities would gather together and worship the Lord in that way.

And so part of the church or all of the church, depending on what the situation was, met there in Philemon's house. And so he's addressing this man Philemon, his wife Archippus, possibly being Philemon's son. And he's addressing this family who's part of the church and hosts the church there in Colossae.

And he says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We've seen this greeting from Paul so many times. In all of his letters, he opens in this way, grace to you and peace.

Always in this order because, well, you can never experience the peace of God until you've learned and experienced the grace of God. When we learn that it's not based on my works that I have relationship with God, that it's not based on what I do or how good I am, that God desires to bless me and minister to me and relate to me. When I learn that it's all by His grace, well, there's great peace in that.

If it's not by His grace and if it's based upon what I do and how I live and how good I am, well, there's no peace. There's turmoil because, well, I blow it and I mess up and I fall short and I don't do this the way I ought to and I don't walk this way in the way that I should and I'm not obedient to the Lord in this way sometimes and I blow it. And so if my relationship with God was based on that, there would be no peace. There would be constant turmoil.

But because it's by God's grace, because it's based upon what He has done, not what I can do or have done, there's peace. There's wonderful peace that comes in relationship with God because of His grace and because He has done the work for us. Continuing on in verse 4,

Paul tells Philemon, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. Paul starts out writing to Philemon saying, I thank God for you.

And I'm always mentioning you in my prayers. It's interesting that Paul uses that phrase, always mentioning you. Sometimes that's all that's needed to

in order for us to lift up someone before the Lord. Sometimes there's those times that we're called and God places someone upon our heart and so we spend much time in prayer for a particular person. But then there's also, and Paul mentions this a lot and shares this a lot, he makes mention, he just presents them before the Lord and...

And he does it often in his prayers. I think it's a good example for us, you know. You might not have to pray an hour for every person that you know. But why don't you mention them in your prayers and consider them. And if God lays them upon your heart, then you can pray more in-depthly for them. But it's good to mention them in your prayers. And he says, I've been praying for you because I hear of your love and faith.

Your faith and love, things we studied as we went through Thessalonians, back and forth, they were all intertwined throughout 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, really powerful, I encourage you to check that out later on your own time. But faith and love, these are important elements of the Christian faith, and important elements of the Christian life, and Paul says, I've heard about your faith, what you're doing, and how God is working, and how you're trusting in Him, and believing Him, and

Faith is believing God at His word. It's not simply a passive thing that we just believe God, but it pours forth, it brings forth works in our lives. And Paul says, I hear about your works and the things that God is doing through you and how He's working. It's your faith and I thank God for that as I hear about that, but also for your love. Your faith and your love, he says, that you have towards God, but also towards all the saints.

Your relationship with God is growing and that's apparent, but it's not just that. But I hear about how that relationship with God is affecting all of the believers around you and how God's using you to impact the church there at Colossae. And so he says, I thank my God for you, making mention of you always. But then notice verse 6, that the sharing of your faith may become effective.

by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. So here's what Paul is actually praying. He's thanking God for what he's doing in Philemon's life. But here he's praying that the sharing of your faith, he prays that when Philemon shares his faith, that it would be effective. And how would it be effective? By the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

Here's what Paul says. Listen, Philemon, I hear about all the things that God is doing in you. Your faith and love, how you're growing in relationship with God and how it's affecting the world around you. And so I'm praying that the sharing of your faith would be effective. As you recognize what God is doing in you, that you would become more effective when you share your faith. That you would have something to share. That you'd be able to say, look at what God is doing in my life.

As people around you and the world around you sees you, Philemon, your neighbors and your friends and the people in the marketplace and your co-workers, as they see you and see the work that God has done, as they acknowledge every good thing in you, which is in Christ Jesus, that's when the sharing of your faith becomes effective. You know, if you and I are just like the rest of the world, your neighbor can look at you and you can share with them the gospel message and they can look and say, well, you're just like me.

So, what's the purpose? What's the benefit of receiving Jesus Christ? I hear you and your wife fight just like me and my wife fight. And your kids are behaving the same way as my kids. And you live this way and it's just like the rest of the world. Your attitude and your heart and your lifestyle, it's just like everybody else. Thus, the sharing of our faith is not effective. This is what Lot experienced there in Sodom and Gomorrah.

He was there in Sodom and Gomorrah. He tried to be an effective witness at the end. He's saying, come on, they're going to destroy it. Get out, everybody get out. And it was ineffective because he was just like the rest of them. But it's when the world around us can see Jesus Christ in us. When the world around us can see our joy in the midst of affliction. When they can see our peace in the midst of turmoil. When they can see our love even when someone has wronged us.

When they can see those works that only God can do. There's a desire there. Something's different. How can you be so at peace when this is going on? How can you have such great joy even though this situation is happening? And then the sharing of your faith becomes effective because not only is it the gospel message but it's backed up by proof that God can transform a life and change a life.

And so it's important for us to acknowledge and allow God to do the work in us that He desires to do, that the world around us could see it, that they could acknowledge it and recognize there's something different about this person. There's something different about them. What is it I want to know? Paul goes on in verse 7 to say, Hey, we have great joy in your love because the saints, the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you.

Philemon, you give us great joy. You just bring wonderful joy to our hearts as we hear about the things that God is doing in you. It's so amazing and wonderful. Now, we see in this letter, as I shared, it's unique among Paul's letters because it's a personal letter to Philemon. And we see in this letter a little bit of finesse on the part of the Apostle Paul. We've seen Paul through thick and thin as we've been going through the New Testament.

When I started teaching the word here on Sunday mornings back in 2004, we started in 1 Corinthians. And so we've gone through 1 Corinthians. Pastor Tom taught Romans before that. But 1 Corinthians all the way through here, this is the last...

the Apostle Paul that we know of, or that we have in our scriptures, and possibly Hebrews was written by him, but that one's up for debate. But this is the last one of his, and so we've seen him dealing harshly with sin, we've seen him be bold and strict, we've seen him be soft and loving. I mean, we've seen all the sides of Philemon, of Paul, but here as he writes to Philemon, there's a little bit of extra finesse.

He's writing to him, he's saying, look, man, God's doing such a great work, you bring us such great joy. But then in verse 8 he says...

Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I appeal to you. He goes on again, and we'll stop there for a second. So Paul's saying, look, you're really doing great, Philemon, and man, it's such a blessing to hear about what God's doing in your life, and man, it's so incredible.

And I could be bold in this situation. I could just tell you this is what God wants you to do. This is what you must do. I mean, we've seen Paul behave that way. But he says, rather in this case, Philemon, I appeal to you. I'm begging you. I'm requesting of you. Instead of coming and using my authority in a way that's not appropriate, I'm coming before you with a request.

And what is that request? He goes on in verse 10, Now, I don't read Greek, but based upon those who do and those who have studied these things, the name Onesimus in the Greek text is at the very end of this sentence.

So you can kind of see Paul building up to this. I could be very bold to command you, and yet I appeal to you, I appeal to you for my son whom I've begotten while in my chains there's a sky, and he's become a Christian while I've been here in prison. And by the way, Philemon, his name is Onesimus. Now put yourself in Philemon's shoes for just a moment. How would you react, this guy...

Perhaps you've been very loving to someone. You've poured out your heart on someone. You've ministered to them or blessed them or helped them as much as you can. And now this guy, he takes off, steals from you. We learn from a little bit later in Philemon. And now Paul is saying, I'm pleading for you. I'm appealing to you for this man, Onesimus.

Pastor Chuck tells a story related to the situation of Philemon here. He tells about one time when him and his wife, they reached out to this guy who is in need and got him set up with a place to stay. And things were going pretty well. They were helping him out and supporting him, trying to help him get back on his feet. And as they do, one day they come home and the guy is gone. And along with him,

Pastor Chuck shares all of his power tools were gone as well. The guy had split and had stolen all of Pastor Chuck's tools. Now he goes on to share that not only was it bad because, well, they were expensive tools and he had to replace them, but also because those tools, well, they were inherited. They belonged to his older brother who had died in a crash, in a plane crash, and he

And so these were the things that were kind of passed on to him. And not only were they valuable as tools, but they had sentimental value. And now this guy who they'd been trying to help, that they'd been so good to, now he is split and he's stolen from them. And Pastor Chuck shares, man, if anybody would mention that name for, you know, the next six months or so afterwards, he said his blood would start to boil. He'd start to relive all the emotions. It was just like, man, I can't believe that guy and what he did to me.

And you can imagine that, I'm sure, you know, pouring your life into someone in that way. And that's where Philemon is at right now. This guy, you know, Onesimus has robbed from him, took off, he's out of this. And now Paul mentions his name. But he mentions it very carefully. Again, there's some finesse here. He says, man, God's been so good. You've been doing really well, Philemon. God's been blessing you. And people around you are seeing God work and they're being refreshed.

And so I request, here's my appeal to you, and it's for this man Onesimus. Paul says, whom I have begotten while in my chains. Here as I've been imprisoned, Philemon, Onesimus has come to me. He's been born again. He's been given a rebirth. He's accepted Jesus Christ. He's part of the family of God. In verse 11 he says, who was once unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. Amen.

Paul's using a play on words here that we don't catch in the English because the name Onesimus means very profitable or useful. So he says Onesimus, this guy who is named very profitable, was once unprofitable to you. When he took off, when he split, he was no value to you. It was unprofitable. But now he says he's profitable to you and to me, Paul says. He's been transformed.

And again, this is where I see such a great picture of what Christ does for us. Because as we run from God, and as we come in contact with Jesus Christ, He gives us a new birth. He makes us born again. He gives us new life in Him. And He transforms us from something that was unprofitable to something that is very profitable. At one time, being enemies of God, we had no value anymore.

We were not profitable to the world around us. We were not profitable to the Lord. But now, because of the work of Jesus Christ in us, we are very profitable.

Because God has transformed us, we can do the work of God and be about the work of the kingdom of God. We can be involved in the things that will last for eternity. There's great profit in the things that you and I do as believers in Jesus Christ. He transforms us from runaway slaves to profitable servants. And that's what Paul says of Onesimus here. He says, I'm appealing to you for Onesimus.

I'm sending him back to you. He used to be this way, but now he's profitable. In the same way Jesus sends us back to the Father. He sends us back into right relationship with God and he says, look Lord, I appeal to you. He intercedes on our behalf. Hebrews tells us he ever lives to make intercession for us. He sends us back to God and says, they've been changed. They've been born again. Although once they were unprofitable, now they have become very profitable.

We're very valuable and precious to the Lord. And he gives us the opportunity to do a tremendous work, the work of the kingdom of God. Verse 12, he says, I am sending him back. You therefore receive him that is my own heart. Paul says, here he is, I'm sending him back. And he's calling Philemon to receive him.

To receive Him. To accept Him. Now, Paul will go on several times to repeat this word that Philemon would receive Him from here through verse 17. Would you receive Him? In the same way that Christ goes before the Lord and He presents us to Him. He says, look, I'm sending Him back to you, God. Here's Robert. I'm bringing Him back to you. Here's George. I'm bringing Him back in right relationship with you. Here's Mika. Receive her.

receive her accept her back into right relationship with you jesus christ on our behalf goes before us and pleads to the father because of what he has done for us and the new birth that he has he has begun the transformation that he has made changing us from runaway and profitable slaves to now profitable servants he brings us back to god he presents us to god and says receive this one

This one who is so profitable to me and so important and precious to me. Verse 13, he says, whom I wish to keep with me that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent, I wanted to do nothing that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. So Paul tells Philemon, I wanted to keep Onesimus with me. That way on your behalf he could be ministering

alongside with me and to me as I'm in chains for the gospel. But Paul says, I didn't want to do it without your consent. I wanted this good deed to be done. And here even Paul is requesting that as Philemon receives this and does this, that he would send back Onesimus to Paul. But he says, I didn't want it to be by compulsion. I didn't want to just compel you and tell you this is what you must do.

He says, because I love you, I wanted it to be of your free will. I wanted it to be a voluntary offering. And God always desires that. He doesn't want the gifts that we give because we feel guilty or compelled and those types of things. He doesn't want our service that we give by compulsion, but the ones that we're able to give willingly.

And joyfully and gladly. Those are the gifts and the service that God desires. And so Paul again, he's using his authority appropriately. He's not demanding or commanding. He's not going beyond the boundaries of authority that God has given to him. But he's being very considerate and saying, I want to give you the opportunity. I want to give you the reward for making the right choice, for doing the right thing. And that can be a difficult thing to do sometimes when...

We have authority. And if you have a place of authority, maybe in your home or in the workplace or here in the church, we have a good example here. We need to give people the opportunity to make the right decision, that they would be blessed and rewarded for their decision. We could demand and we could use our authority in that way, but...

But we also need to give an opportunity for them to voluntarily do what is right. And Paul gives Philemon that opportunity. Verse 15, For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever. Now, consider this for a moment. Listen to what Paul is saying. Perhaps he departed for a while for this reason, that you might receive him back forever as a brother in Jesus Christ.

Hey Philemon, perhaps you've been wronged in this way. Perhaps this expense that you incurred was for the reason that you could receive Him back eternally as a brother in the Lord. You, me and Jesus, right? We see over and over the picture of Jesus here, but what about you and me? You and the people in your life. Perhaps God wants to use some of those wrongs that have been done to you to accomplish His salvation eternally.

in the lives of those who've wronged you. Sometimes, perhaps, God allows that husband to leave his wife. It's a departure for a time that his soul might be saved for eternity. It's hurtful, it's expensive, it's costly, but isn't it worth it as part of God's plan of redemption? Perhaps your husband has left you, and maybe it's for a time that God would be able to get a hold of his life.

Or perhaps your co-worker has treated you in this way and it's so rotten and horrible. But perhaps this expense that you're incurring and this wrong that is done to you is part of the events that will bring them to a right relationship with God. See, it's worth the expense.

This is the idea when Jesus talks about turning the other cheek and going the extra mile because it's worth the extra expense to see a life that was damned to hell, that was condemned to be judged, be redeemed and transformed and brought into right relationship with God, restored. But although maybe we have lost for a time, for a season, maybe there's been expense incurred, but the reward will be eternal. There's a great work

that God is doing. And so we need to be trusting in the Lord. He says, perhaps this is the case, Philemon. Perhaps God allowed this to happen so that Onesimus could come to a right relationship with Him. And now He could be restored to you, verse 16, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

Paul says, all this happened perhaps so that now you could receive him back, not as a slave, not just, okay, good thing you're back slave now, you know, get back to work. You got to make up for that lost time. He says, but even more than a slave is a beloved brother. Again, that word beloved, this unity and fellowship that we have together as believers in Jesus Christ.

He says, especially to me, but even more to you. He's been a great brother to me, Philemon, a great benefit to me, but now even more to you as a believer. He's more valuable to you than he was as simply your slave. And so he says in verse 17, if then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. Again, we see the picture of Jesus Christ, don't we?

Paul says, if you count me as a partner, receive him as you would receive me. Philemon, if I came into town, however you would receive me and minister to me, do that to this man Onesimus. Put yourself in his shoes. Onesimus has robbed from him, ran from him, wronged him greatly. Paul says, receive him as you would receive me. Jesus goes before us to the Father and he says, I know he's wronged you.

I know she's lived in rebellion against you, but she's come in contact with me. He's been changed. They've been transformed and born again. Father, receive them as you would receive me. This is the relationship that we have through Jesus Christ with our Heavenly Father. That Jesus Christ goes before us and now our Father in Heaven relates to us as He would relate to His only begotten Son.

This is the incredible relationship that God offers to each one of us and to the world around us. Although we were once enemies with God, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, bore our sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He took our place so that we could take His place.

in our relationship with God. God treats us, God ministers to us, He loves us and relates to us as His only begotten Son. Consider that for just a moment. Let that just blow you away and crush any doubts or rebellion that you have in your heart against God. God loves you so much and He desires such closeness and intimacy with you. He's not out to get you. He relates to you as He does with His own Son.

Verse 18, Paul says, Here Paul says, Listen Philemon, whatever wrong he's done to you, whatever debt he owes to you, put that on my tab.

Then in verse 19 he says, I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. So if Timothy is writing the letter, which is possible because Timothy is mentioned at the beginning of the book and Paul would often dictate his letters to those who are around him. And so it's possible Paul takes the pen back from Timothy. Let me write this part, Timothy. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay. Paul says, look, you have my signature, you have my word. I will take care of this debt.

This is very important. Sometimes as Christians, we think that we should be allowed to escape from obligations and debts that we have incurred. Sometimes we think, hey, you know, you're a Christian, I'm a Christian, you know, let's just kind of wash this one under the rug and let it go. Paul doesn't tell Philemon that. Paul doesn't tell Philemon, just pretend he never ran away, just pretend like there was no debt, nothing was stolen, just pretend like it never happened.

No, the debt must be paid for. And those obligations must be fulfilled. For you, as a believer, those debts that you have incurred need to be paid. Now, if someone like the Apostle Paul is willing to stand up and say, I'll pay the debt on your behalf, praise God. That's awesome. But we should not expect that our debts, that our obligations should just be taken care of because we're Christians.

Even our relationship with God. We had incurred a great debt with God because of our sin against Him. There was a great debt that we owed to God. And God didn't just say, eh, just forget it. We'll pretend like it never happened. Come on into heaven. No, the debt had to be paid. And the one who paid the debt for you and for me is Jesus Christ. That's why He died. Because it was the only way that our debt could be taken care of. That our obligation could be fulfilled. That our obligation could be fulfilled.

that we could have right standing with God. Pastor Greg often shares, and Richard loves to quote it as well, Jesus Christ paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. This is the way that God has related to us. It's the way that Jesus has taken care of our debt, demonstrating that debts...

And obligations need to be fulfilled. Paul, in sending back Onesimus to Philemon, is demonstrating that obligations need to be fulfilled. He says, I will pay the debt. I'll take care of it. He's not just saying that. Paul writes with his own hand to make sure he knows. Philemon, I will reimburse you. I will take care of it. Paul meant it. He literally meant he would take care of the debt. If you have obligations...

financially, as a believer, you need to take care of them. If you have obligations legally, you need to take care of them. As a Christian, you need to fulfill those things. Now, this is outside of what we have here in the book of Philemon, but church history tells us that later on in the church of Ephesus, there's a leader in the church of Ephesus who's instrumental in compiling the works of the Apostle Paul and preserving them.

And he was there in the church of Ephesus and he was a great leader and his name was Onesimus. And it's believed to be the same Onesimus that Paul is writing about here in the book of Philemon. And so here is Onesimus being sent back to Philemon in order to fulfill these obligations through the course of which, as these obligations are being fulfilled, that now later on in his life God is able to use him in an incredible way.

If Paul had, meeting up with Onesimus, not sent him back to Philemon, but just said, hey, God wants to use you, go to Ephesus, well, there would have been many things wrong with that and things would have been left open and, well, it would have been a bad witness and there wouldn't have been the opportunity to serve the Lord in the same way. But because he went back and fulfilled his obligations, later on in his life, he was free to do a tremendous work of God in the same way for you and me.

We need to fulfill our obligations to be faithful to the things that we owe, to the things that need to be done, that are right, so that later on, God can use us accordingly and He can do the work in us that He desires to do. Paul says, look, if He's wronged you, put it on my account. The same thing that Christ has done for us and perhaps the same thing that Christ wants you to do for someone else. Again, it's about you, me, and Jesus, right?

For me, I need to fulfill my obligations. For you, perhaps it's maybe you need to forgive someone and receive them back like Philemon had to receive back Onesimus. Perhaps for you, it's that God desires for you to fulfill someone's obligations and take care of those debts that they have incurred. Or for you, maybe you need to go back and make things right. Even if it means making a difficult decision and fulfilling something that's, well...

Maybe it seems impossible to you, but God can do it. I'm sure it seemed impossible to Onesimus. How could I go back and how could things be right after this? Again, Philemon, under Roman law, he had the right to execute Onesimus if he desired. And I'm sure Onesimus is kind of going back and what's going to happen? There's some anxiety. What's Philemon going to do? How's he going to respond? Verse 20. He says, Yes, brother.

Let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord, having confidence in your obedience. I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. Paul says, I have confidence in your obedience, Philemon. I have confidence that you're going to do what's right. We don't know. Again, church history tells us that this man Onesimus later on went to Ephesus and became a prominent figure there in the church. And it's very possible that

So it seems that Philemon was obedient. And as Paul said, maybe he did even much more than Paul requested. Verse 22, But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. Epiphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greet you as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Paul closes the letter much as he always does.

The people around him greeting, finishing off again with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the bottom line that we can come to again this morning. It's the grace of God. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done. The way that we are to relate to one another is based upon the way that God has related to us. We at one time were enemies of God, naturally opposed and running away from God, but we have an encounter with Jesus Christ again.

Maybe you've not had this encounter yet. Maybe you've not been born again by Jesus Christ. Maybe you've not been set free by Jesus Christ. Maybe you've not received Him as your Lord and Savior. God offers to you salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.

It's by grace. It's not by good works. It's not by good deeds. It's not by living a good life. Those are the product of a relationship with God. Those come forth from a relationship with God, but that's not the requirement for salvation. And we can't say, well, I need to go and clean up my life and get things right and then I can come to the Lord. No, look at what happens with Onesimus. He gets right with God. He's born again. Then he's sent back to go make things right.

In the same way, God says, let me change you. Let me do the work. I will help you to go back and get things right and get those debts taken care of and get those obligations fulfilled. I will help transform you. I will help change those areas in your life. I will transform you. Where you were once unprofitable, you will become very profitable. God offers to us a salvation that is based upon His grace, based upon what He has done. Not that He pretends we never had a debt.

The debt has been paid. It's already, it's done, it's completed. It's not paid by you though. Jesus on the cross said, it is finished. Also could be translated, paid in full. He offers to us a salvation that's based upon His full payment for our debts to God. And you can receive that simply by turning to Jesus Christ.

Giving your life to Him and asking Him to be your Savior and Lord. Receiving what He has done for you upon the cross in His gift of salvation. This morning we have before us again the picture of the grace of God. We were once enemies of God. Coming in contact with Jesus Christ, we've been transformed. And now He goes before the Father on our behalf. Lord, receive them. He goes before the Heavenly Father. Relate to them as you would me.

Listen, if you don't have a relationship with God, in that you relate to Him and He relates to you, as He would with His own Son, Jesus Christ, you're missing out. And it might be that you just haven't been spending time with Him, that you haven't been developing and pursuing this relationship with God. It might be that you're running from God. It might just be that you're lazy, and you've been caught up and consumed with other things in your life. But God has for you this incredible relationship with Him.

Restoration and usefulness is great profit. And just as Philemon was impacting the world around him, God gives us the opportunity not just to be restored in right relationship with him, but to be used by him to impact the world around us. I want to encourage you this morning. Jesus Christ has gone before you. Go into the presence of God. He's interceded and pleaded on your behalf. Get in right relationship with God. Stop running.

Stop being lazy. Spend time with Him. God desires so greatly a relationship with you that He sent His Son to pay the debt that you owed because He loves you so dearly. He's done an incredible, amazing work for us. The book of Philemon reminds us of this work and is a great example to us of how much God loves us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this great love with which You have loved us. And so God, I pray that You would help us

Not to keep running from you, but Lord, that we would come back to you. And Lord, that you would bring restoration. Thank you, Lord, for fulfilling our debts, the debt that we owed to you, God. For taking care of it and paying the price on our behalf. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness and your great grace that you pour out upon us. Thank you, God, that it's not something that we have to work for. Thank you, Lord, that it's a free gift that you offer to us. And so, Lord, this morning we receive that gift.

Lord, we ask that you would take us into your presence. Lord, we ask that you would pour out your blessings upon our hearts and our lives, that you would draw us close to you. Help us, Lord, to walk with you, to live in a relationship with you, not just in ritual, not just coming to church, but Lord, to walk in communion with you. God, it's all about you and what you have done. And so, Lord, we thank you.

And God, we ask that you would help us as we grow in this relationship with you that you offer to us, that you would help us to extend this relationship to the world around us. Lord, that we would learn from you how to forgive those who have wronged us. Lord, that we would learn from you how to intercede on behalf of others. Lord, that we would learn from you how to love the people in our lives, even those that have hurt us, even those that have cheated us and stolen from us. Lord, help us.

Teach us, Lord, to follow your example. Help us, Lord, to forgive as you have forgiven us. And God, I pray for any who need to receive forgiveness from you, maybe for the first time or for many, many times. Lord, I pray that they would come into a right relationship with you, that they would receive your gift of eternal life because of what you've done for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.