PHILEMON 1 TITUS AND PHILEMON2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Philemon 1 Titus And Philemon

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 2014. We're in Titus and Philemon this evening looking at the chapters that we read this week going through the Bible in three years. We'll start with the book of Titus and then work our way into Philemon.

The book of Titus was written by the Apostle Paul, probably around 63 AD. It was soon after he was released from prison in Rome. And he's writing this letter to a man named Titus, who is on an island called Crete. And we'll look at that in just a moment. But he's writing to instruct Titus to

And encourage him in what he needs to do to get the things of the churches on the island in order. But then also to warn him about the false teachers that are there on the island. And throughout the book, he continues to encourage Titus in the area of good works and to maintain those good works and to help the people there maintain those good works.

Titus is a man, he's interesting because although he seems to be prominent in Paul's letters, he's not mentioned in the book of Acts at all. But from the letters that Paul writes, we learn that Titus was with Paul in 50 A.D.,

You might remember in Acts chapter 15 when Paul and Barnabas went to the council at Jerusalem and they had to figure out, do Gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be saved? And so Paul tells us in the book of Galatians that Titus was with him as he went down to Jerusalem for that council. Then in

In 54 AD, we see that Titus was with Paul as he was on his third missionary journey. And in 2 Corinthians, you can see it in chapters 7 and 8. And he was the one who took a letter to the Corinthians and ministered to them on behalf of Paul.

Then later on in 63 AD, which is where we're at now, Titus was with Paul when he was released from prison. And then he stayed on the island of Crete as Paul passed through the region. And then finally in 66 AD, we see that Titus was with Paul when he was imprisoned in Rome again.

And then he was sent to Dalmatia or Dalmatia, however you want to pronounce that. Jake and I had fun trying to figure out the right way to pronounce that. But anyways, he was sent out by the Apostle Paul. And so he's been with Paul for a good while, much like we saw with Timothy. He knows Paul really well. He's been with Paul. He's ministered with Paul. And now Paul entrusts to him this task of getting things in order on the island of Crete.

Here's a possible geography for Paul when he was released from prison. He stopped off at the island of Crete, left Titus there, and then went on into Asia Minor, did some ministry there, and then landed in Corinth.

and, you know, sent this letter to Titus from Corinth and then went on to Nicopolis where he spent the winter and Titus would later on meet up with him. This is the island of Crete. It's there in the Mediterranean Sea. It's about 160 miles long and about 35 miles wide for a total of

3,200 square miles. If you need some perspective, that's about half the size of Riverside County. And so you think about the whole county and, you know, about half of that as far as the width is concerned. And that's about the size of the island of Crete. And so it was a pretty big area to cover. And so it's a big task that Titus has to

to set in order the churches throughout this island of Crete. And so he's there ministering to the people there. And Paul writes this letter to kind of build him up and instruct him on how to do the job that he has been called to do.

And so we see this instruction starting now in Titus chapter 1 and verse 5 is the key verse. It says, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.

Paul starts out the letter as usual, introducing himself. And he says this is to Titus, a true son. At this point, Titus had been with Paul for about 13 years. And so he had this special relationship with him again, much like he did with Timothy. And so he is his true son in the faith. And then he gets right into the task at hand in verses 5 through 9. He tells him, appoint elders in every city.

This is the reason why I left you there, Titus. We were passing through, you know, we did some ministry there, but I left you behind. And you need to make sure that you do the task that has been given to you. Set these things in order because things are out of order. And we don't know the details about, you know, all that was going on there in the churches on the island of Crete. But there was disorder.

And there needed to be some things that were set straight. We know that there was some false teaching going on, and Paul will address that, as well as a lack of leadership. There was gaps. There was need for leaders to step up and to be appointed. And so he is there to set those things in order.

to deal with the false teaching, to address the disorder, to appoint leaders to take on the role of leadership in the churches there on the island of Crete. And so this need is there. And so he gives him the criteria or the qualities of these leaders, which he refers to as elders, as well as bishops. And elder and bishop, it's kind of interchangeable.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we saw the qualities of a bishop that Paul gave him, and we talked about that as an overseer. And it's similar with the elder, you know, the bishop here, the overseer. It's the same role, the same kind of position that Paul is talking about. It's this overseeing position or the role of a pastor within the church.

Now, every city, Paul says, needs their own leaders. Crete was a big enough island that it had multiple cities. And so he says you need to go out through the different cities. And every city, every community, it needs to have their own leaders. It needs to be established. And so it's not just, you know, there's leaders in Jerusalem and they're in charge. And, you know, the word will get back to you eventually on the instruction. No, Paul says leaders.

whenever there's a gathering of people within a location, within a community, there needs to be leadership there. Every city needs leaders. Now, if you think about the population then and you kind of scale it to where we are now, it's not that we have one church for every city anymore because the scale has magnified quite a bit. But we have

you know, communities and we have gatherings of believers and whenever there is a gathering of believers there needs to be this these appointment of leaders, these leaders who are established and given this task of leading this group that God has gathered together.

And so he gives them the qualities. We'll talk about that a little bit more in just a moment for these elders. But then in verses 10 through 16, he explains why. He says, there are many whose mouths must be stopped.

There's many insubordinate, Paul says. They're idle talkers. They're deceivers. And in verse 11, he says, their mouths must be stopped. Kind of harsh or direct language that Paul uses. You need to tell them to shut up. You know, you need to stop them from speaking and spreading these things. He explains in verse 11 that they subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. And

And so there was this ambition, there was this deception, there was this gain that people were receiving. And so he says, you need to put a stop to that. They're not speaking the truth and the things that they are speaking, they're doing for their

own benefit so that they get what they want out of it, whether it's a financial gain or some kind of power that they feel in having people follow them, that it's a dishonest gain that they're receiving as a result of it.

And Paul goes on to quote one of their own poets or prophets, he calls them, to kind of illustrate the character of the people of Crete. He says in verse 12, one of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This was the characteristics that were expected of

of a person from the island of Crete. This was, you know, so prevalent that it was just kind of the general rule, like this is how Cretans are. This is, you know, the way that they behave. And so he quotes this poet who wrote these things around 600 BC and says, this is, it's known around the world.

In fact, the Cretans were regarded so much as liars that all around the Mediterranean, whenever someone would say that someone was Cretanizing, it was understood that it means that they're lying. They're being like Cretans. They're doing what Cretans do, and that is that they lie.

And so Titus recognized this is kind of the general condition. This is the natural condition that is there within the community. And so this also is in the church, and there are people who are lying and deceiving and just out for their own gain. And you need to stop that within the church. He's not saying stop the whole island or stop the whole community, but within the church...

This cannot go on. And so he says these insubordinates, these idle talkers and deceivers must be stopped. You must shut their mouths. And so in verse 14, he tells them, or he tells them, rebuke them sharply. Bring a sharp rebuke. Bring a direct confrontation against them and instruction and command to them.

As he told Titus to rebuke them sharply, it reminded me of how Jesus dealt with the Pharisees. You know, Jesus was very gentle with people who were involved in sin. You know, you think about the woman who was caught in adultery and those kinds of things. But when it came to the religious leaders, Jesus rebuked them sharply. And that's what Paul is calling Titus to do.

David Guzik puts it this way. He says, because of the hardened character of the people of the island of Crete, they must be dealt with directly. Whew.

You know, there's a lot of times that we have to address situations in our lives, and we'd much rather kind of an indirect, let's beat around the bush, you know, kind of hope the other person gets what we're trying to say without us having to actually say, you know, anything that is confrontational or direct. And Paul is telling Titus, you can't do that here. You can't just kind of like...

give a little bit of a hint, and then hope everything works out. No, you need to rebuke them sharply. You need to deal with it head on and address the situation because this is the way that they are. And so it needs to be dealt with this way.

In verse 16, Paul says, they profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. The reason why you have to rebuke them sharply and deal so directly with this is because they claim to know God, but their lifestyle demonstrates that they don't. And so they're not

you know, honest people who are just seeking the Lord and walking with the Lord, and you can kind of give them a little bit of a nudge, and they'll realize, oh, you're right, I'm way off on this. And so then, you know, they kind of self-correct as they're walking with the Lord, and it's easy, you know, to bring that instruction. Paul says, they're not like that. Don't expect them to just, you know, get a little bit of a hint or hear from the Lord on their own. They profess to know God,

but they demonstrate that they don't by their works, by how they live. And they're abominable and disobedient and they're disqualified. And so you can't just nudge them a little bit, but you need to deal with them directly. And so there are those times in our lives where God will call us to deal directly with

you know, those kinds of situations and those kinds of people where there's that profession of faith. They claim to be Christian, but they're living in disobedience and demonstrating that they are not walking with the Lord. And you can't kind of sugarcoat and just kind of, you know, beat around the bush, but you need to deal more directly and address those issues so that they are no longer continued.

Well, these qualities that Paul gives Titus here, he gives these qualities of an elder, which is an older person, or it was also a term that was used for a member of a council, you know, as a role or a position on a council, a position of leadership, either on the Sanhedrin or within a city. And he gives these qualities of an elder, which is an older person, or it was also a term that was used for a member of a council, you know, as a role or a position on a council, a position of leadership, either on the Sanhedrin or within a city.

And so he uses this word elder, but then he also uses the word bishop here in the same passage. And so he's talking about, you know, this same type of role. And these are the qualities that he lists. These are what you look for, Titus, as you need to appoint these elders. You need to look for people who are blameless,

He is the husband of one wife. He has faithful children. He's not self-willed. He's not quick-tempered. He's not given to wine. He's not violent. He's not greedy. He's hospitable. He's a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, and he holds fast the word.

Now, this was not a list, you know, that perfection is expected in all of these things, but that these are general qualities, that Titus is to take these things and to see who fits these descriptions, who's working towards these things, you know, their lifestyle generally demonstrates these aspects. And you'll notice as you look at these, there's nothing really super special about them.

There's nothing like, you know, they have to have, you know, 12 years of religious education and then they can be an elder. Then they could be a bishop. There's nothing like they have to be the super spiritual. They have to have this spiritual gift. They have to have this kind of personality. Paul's looking at their character. He's looking at, you know, who they are. And it really boils down to their maturity. The reality is every believer should qualify.

That's God's will. You should qualify because as you're walking with the Lord and he's maturing you, well, these are the characteristics or the qualities of a mature believer. And so that's what Paul is telling Titus is look for mature believers who are then able to be called by God to lead and to fulfill this leadership role.

And so these are the qualities that we look for in leaders, but also these are the qualities, you know, as you read this, as I read this, that we look for and we say, Lord, you know, where do I need to work and where do I need to mature? Because these are just the qualities that God expects of all believers. And so I encourage you to consider and meditate on those things and allow the Lord to develop you in them.

Here's a quick look, and we're not going to go through all the details here, but when you look at 1 Timothy chapter 3 and the qualifications that Paul gives there for the bishop, and then you compare it to what he gives here in Titus, you can see...

pretty much across the board, they're the same. There's a couple of little ones that, you know, maybe are slightly different, but they're pretty much, you know, interchangeable. They're pretty much identical. And so you can see Paul is talking about the same role, that same position of leadership, of the overseer or the pastor of the churches there as he's calling Titus to appoint them. And the same thing he told Timothy to do as well.

Well now Titus chapter 2 verse 1 he says, And so now he gives Titus instruction as far as what he should say.

He was just talking about those who talk about all kinds of nonsense and deceive people. So don't do that. Tell them to be quiet. But here's what you should say. Here's the things that you should teach. And he breaks it out into the different types of people that Titus will be encountering. And so for the older men, Titus, here's what you should tell them. Be sober.

Be reverent, be temperate, be sound in the faith and in love and in patience. And you'll know, you'll notice that these qualities really match up with, as I was just sharing, the qualities of the overseer, that he's calling people to maturity. And Titus, older men have these, you know, specific areas where you need to call them to maturity in these things.

The older ladies that you encounter as you are ministering in the churches, Titus, here's what you need to share with them, that they should be reverent in their behavior, that they should not be slanders or talking about people behind their backs, that they should not be given too much wine, but instead that they should be teachers of good things.

And here he encourages Titus to have the older ladies teach and admonish and train the younger ladies. That's what he goes on in verse 4 and 5 to talk about. The young ladies should be taught by the older ladies. Titus says,

It's not your job to teach the younger ladies, but your job is to help the older ladies teach the younger ladies. And the younger ladies are to be admonished to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet and chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. And so this is the instruction for the young ladies that is to be given to them from the older ladies.

And then he also tells them what to share with the younger men. In verse 6, he says, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, to be clear-minded, to have clear perspective. And he only gives the young men one thing, you know, that needs to be instructed. Because, you know, all of us young men know we can only focus on one thing. Don't give us a list.

That's too much. So work on being sober-minded and then grow into, you know, the instruction for the older men, maturity in these different areas and to go forward in your relationship with the Lord. Well, then in verse 7 and 8, he tells Titus to show himself as a pattern. He says, in all these things, show yourself to be the pattern.

throughout Paul's letters, he would often say, imitate me as I imitate Christ or follow my example or I was there with you as an example. And now he tells Titus, you do that. You be there and say, I'm an example. Follow my example. Let me set the pattern for you. I'll show you what this is supposed to look like. And so this is what Titus is called to do. This is what leaders are called to do in the body of Christ.

Just like he told Timothy, remember in 1 Timothy 4, Timothy, you be an example and let no one despise your youth, but be an example in all of these areas. In verse 9 and 10, he tells them to exhort the bond servants to be obedient. And so the slaves, you know, who were bond servants or they were servants of their master, that they are to be obedient and they're to be well-pleasing to their masters.

He says, not answering back, not talking back. And then in verse 10, he says, showing all good fidelity or faithfulness. And I like verse 10. He says that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior in all things.

The bond servants, he says, have the responsibility to be obedient and to behave this way. And in doing so, they adorn. This is the idea of like putting jewels on something to make it beautiful. And what Paul is saying here is that the bond servants, these slaves,

make the gospel, make the doctrine of God beautiful to their masters when they are faithful slaves, when they are faithful servants. Now often as we talk about the slaves of the New Testament time frame, we'll talk about them a little bit more when we get into the book of Philemon. But we can relate that to today, to the employee and employer type of relationship. That's really what it was. Of course, much later,

Much more strict as far as, you know, the slaves were really the property of their owners. And the Bible is not saying that that's the right way for things to be. But just addressing the culture and the things that were happening amongst it, Paul says, here's what you should do. If that's your context, if you're a slave, then be the best slave that you can be.

And you'll, in doing so, adorn the doctrine of God. You'll make it appealing and attractive, and that's your responsibility to be an example and shine the light of Christ to your masters. And as we consider that today, you know, you can again consider the employee and employer relationship, that the employees are to be...

adorning the doctrine of God by their behavior, by their faithfulness in the workplace, by their work ethic. And that's what we're called to do. Well, then in verses 11 through 15, he says that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

This is right on the heels of this exhortation to the bond servants. I think it's interesting, you know, like you could think about, let's say, Pastor Greg Laurie. And yeah, what an awesome opportunity that he has. What an awesome avenue that he has for adorning the doctrine of God. But you don't have to have that kind of role in order to be able to adorn the doctrine of God.

But as a bondservant, even as a slave, you get to participate in the work of God, adorning the doctrine of God by how faithful you are as a servant, as a slave. And this is possible because verse 11, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

And so you, as a slave, you, you know, in whatever position you think is as lowly, you get to be partaking of the grace of God and then also partaking of the work of God in demonstrating that grace and shining that light to people around you. Grace is available to all men.

He goes on in verse 12 saying that this grace teaches us to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly lusts, and to live righteously, to live godly. Grace teaches us to do these things. There's many times for us as believers that we are convinced the law teaches us.

to deny worldly lusts, to deny ungodliness. And it's the law that teaches us to do what's right. A lot of times we're convinced that's the case. There's a struggle with an issue. There's a situation that needs to be addressed. Let's make a rule. Let's make a policy. You know, let's establish some kind of law or let's go back to the Ten Commandments and we're convinced the law can fix these things.

But Paul reminds us here, the law is powerless in those things. It's the grace of God. Grace is God's goodness towards us that we don't deserve. And it's God's goodness towards us that teaches us

to turn away from sin and to do what is right. And so it's not laws that we need, but it's the goodness of God. It's that relationship with God that we need. He goes on in verse 13 to say that this grace also causes us to be looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And so because of God's grace and his goodness towards us, that it helps us to set our eyes on the things that are to come, that glorious appearing of Jesus. And he concludes the chapter in verse 15 saying, Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

And so here's what you're to teach, Titus. You are to teach the old men, the younger or the older women. They're to teach the younger women. And then you teach the younger men how to live. And these are the things that you should do. These are the attitudes that you should have. This is the way that you should behave. And not by establishing all kinds of laws and rules and regulations, but

but by teaching them the grace of God that has appeared to all men, by reminding them of God's grace and directing their eyes on the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. And that's what you need to do, Titus, as you go around. It's a tough job. You know, the Cretans are liars and lazy gluttons and they're hardened and all that, but they're not beyond the transforming power of the grace of God.

And so teach them the grace of God. Remind them of the grace of God and give them the instruction of what God expects from them as they receive his grace. And so exhort these things. And he says, rebuke with all authority. And so there is that place for instruction, but then also that place for correction.

that Titus, you have to address those situations. There has to be rebuke as well as the instruction. Well, now we finish up the book of Titus in chapter 3. Verse 14 is the key verse. He says, And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.

In verses 1 through 8, he says, They need to be obedient to the governing authorities. And this is something that, well, believers need to be reminded of many times. And so let's just be reminded right now.

Governing authorities are established by God, whether you're talking about politically, whether you're talking about the workplace, or whether you're talking about within the church or within the home. There's authority that God has established in every arena, and that's his job.

He's in charge of the authorities. Our responsibility is to be obedient. Now, you know, before we get too carried away in our minds with that, of course, yes, there is the exception when those authorities ask us to disobey God, we have to obey God first. But so many times, that's not even the case, but we just would rather not submit to whatever authorities are there.

But we need to be reminded our role as good citizens, as good employees, as those who have been called by God is to be obedient to the rulers that have been established. But then he goes on to say, "...and to show humility to all men."

There needs to be humility on our part as we relate to people around us. Why? Why is that important? And why is he giving that instruction? Well, he tells us in verse 3. He says,

This is really interesting, and I would encourage you to kind of meditate on this throughout the rest of the week. He says, behave this way, obey authorities and be humble to all men. Why? Well, because you used to be humble.

like those unbelievers, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy and hateful and hating one another. In other words, he's saying you need to have compassion for the lost and that compassion needs to be demonstrated by your obedience, by your submission, and by your humility to the people around you.

He says, don't forget they're in a terrible condition. Go easy on them. Go easy on them because they're stuck in this trap. They're stuck in this situation of, well, it's miserable. He says, for we ourselves were also once like that. He calls us to kind of think back and remember. Remember how it was for you.

and how miserable you were. And so put up with their crazy behavior. Put up with their attacks against you. Put up with their crazy rules and laws. Put up with all that. Just be humble. Just be submissive. Just be obedient. Be gentle because they're stuck in this. And you used to be that way. You can relate. You can understand what it's like because you were once there.

David Guzik says, remembering the work that God has done in us produces four things in us. First, it produces gratitude. As you remember how you once were and how God has worked in your life, it produces gratitude. And you say, thank you, Lord, for what you've done. Secondly, he says it produces humility.

Because you'll see that it was his work that changed you and not yours. And so humility is the result of remembering what God has done. Thirdly, he says it produces kindness. Because you care for and you can relate to other people who are in that place. And so, yeah, you put up with, you know, all the abuse. You put up with all the attacks. You put up with all the nonsense.

Because, yeah, I remember what that's like. I was there. And so there's a kindness that is produced. And then finally, he says it produces faith. It's faith that God can change those who are still in that condition. Because you were once there too. Well, it produces faith as you look and you think, man, it just seems impossible that God could ever get a hold of their lives, that they would ever allow him in. But, well, I was there.

I'm not different than they are. And so God can reach them. God can break through and he can connect with them. And so Paul reminds Titus, it's about his mercy. It's not about our goodness. That's what he's saying in verse five. He says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Remember, think back. You were once there and it wasn't because you were so great that God saved you.

but it was because he's merciful. And so God can reach. Your job in the meantime is to be obedient, to be humble to all men, to deal kindly with them and have compassion for them because you were once there.

In verse 8, he says, this is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. So Titus, continue to teach these things. Teach people to be gentle. Teach people to be humble. Teach them to maintain good works, to do good things, to behave well.

especially to the people outside of the faith because, well, you were once like them. And yes, the way they treat you is not right. The way that they behave is incorrect. But maintain those good works that it's good and it's profitable to men. So keep on teaching these things. Well, then in verses 9 through 11, he tells Titus to avoid foolish disputes and reject a divisive man.

In verse 9, he talks about these foolish disputes. He says they're unprofitable and they're useless. We've talked about this a few times in the past few weeks, that there's a lot of nonsense, that really it's not worth debating. It's not worth, you know, going round and round and round and round again. There are essentials of the Christian faith that are worth fighting for,

Things like Jesus is God. Things like salvation is by faith through grace. You know, there are those essentials that we fight for, that we stand on. But there's a lot of things that are just not worth fighting about. There's a lot of things that are not worth dividing over. And so we need to be careful to avoid foolish disputes. If it's unprofitable, if it's useless, then don't get engaged in the disputes.

I like what the commentator William Barclay says about this. He says,

He's pointing out a lot of times these foolish disputes are just distractions so that people don't have to do what God is calling them to do. It's easier to get caught up in, well, let's debate this. Let's talk about that. Let's deal with that or discuss that or go round and round on this issue.

And I'd rather do that than, you know, do what I'm supposed to be doing and be faithful in the ways that God has called me to be faithful. And so, Titus, don't get involved in that. Avoid foolish disputes.

But then he also says to reject a divisive man. And we talked about this as well over the past couple of weeks, that there are a lot of times where we're called to be united. And there are a lot of, you know, things that God says about unity and how blessed it is when brethren dwell together in unity. But we, although we hold on to that, we also need to hold the other aspect of that. The other side of the coin is that there are also times to break fellowship.

More times to hold on to fellowship and to stay united, but there are times to break fellowship.

And so when there are those who are believers who will not repent, he tells us to break fellowship. When there's people causing division or living in sin, not obeying the word, not consenting to what Jesus has instructed. And you can see the examples there. But here in Titus chapter 3, he says in verse 10, reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition.

The word divisive, it comes from the word choice. And the idea here is it's someone who tries to get people to choose sides. If you're with me, be on that side. If you're with him, be on that side. And they try to bring this division, like let's choose sides. I'm right, they're wrong. And he says, you're to admonish someone who is doing that within the church. If someone's trying to get people to choose sides,

Rebuke them. Warn them. Tell them to not do that. That is not what God desires. And so don't allow that to continue. So he says, warn them and then warn them again if they continue to do it. So you warn them, but they continue to cause these divisions, to cause these opposition within the body of Christ. And so then you need to warn them again. And if they continue after that second warning,

Then he says, well, then you need to break fellowship. He says, reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition. So you warned them twice. They still don't listen. Then there needs to be a break in the fellowship. You need to reject that man. And he goes on to say, because that person is warped and sinning. And so don't even just deal with them because they're in God's hands now.

You reject them, break fellowship with them, God's going to have to deal with them. So there are times, more times to hang on and to be united, but there are also times that we need to depart, that we need to break fellowship with those who are causing division.

Well, then in verses 12 through 14, he tells Titus to be diligent, to come to him. He's encouraging him, finish up your work there quickly, appoint those elders, get those things in order so that you can come meet me in Nicopolis. And then in verse 14, he says, and let our people also learn to maintain good works to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful.

Good works and maintaining these good works are a theme that you see throughout the book of Titus. In chapter 2, he tells Titus to be the pattern of good works. In verse 7, in chapter 2, verse 14, he tells us that the grace of God sets us apart where God has redeemed us to purify for himself his own special people who are zealous for good works. And so good works are the result of the grace of God

at work in us. And so Titus be an example of that. This is what grace does. It produces this zeal for doing good things, doing good works. And then here in chapter 3 verse 8, he says those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. And then here in verse 14, let our people also learn to maintain good works and to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful.

And so this is a theme that Paul, you know, gives throughout the book of Titus. And I want to encourage us to evaluate that and consider, you know, we need to learn to do good works. He's not just talking about helping each other out, but just doing good to the people around us, doing good in our community. It's something that, well, we should be careful to maintain. Make sure, make it a priority in your life to do good, to help people out, right?

And then in verse 15, he closes the book saying, grace be with you all. Well, that brings us now to the book of Philemon. In the book of Philemon, we have another letter from the apostle Paul, this time to a man named Philemon. It's written a little bit earlier, about 62 AD, while Paul is still in prison in Rome. And so Titus was written soon after he was released from prison in the book of Philemon. He's still in prison.

And he's writing to a man named Philemon who's in the city of Colossae. And the purpose is to plead with him to accept another man named Onesimus as a brother.

Now, the book of Philemon and the book of Colossians are tied together. They were written and sent by Paul at the same time. And then also Philemon was in the city of Colossae. And so they were sent, you know, by the same hands and written at the same time. Paul sent Tychicus along with Onesimus with these two letters. And you can see that in Colossians chapter 4.

Well, Philemon, it seems, was a prominent person within the church of Colossae. It tells us that a church met in his home. And so he was a leader in the church. You know, he opened his home. He was hospitable in that way. And the church met there. But what this letter is all about is a man named Onesimus, who was a slave of Philemon, who had run away.

And so he had run away from Philemon. He had escaped. He was, you know, AWOL, if you would. And then somehow he encountered the apostle Paul and was converted. So much so that in Colossians 4 and 9, Paul refers to Onesimus as a faithful and beloved brother. And so there's a change that has happened. As he ran away, he encountered Paul. He gets saved and

And he becomes a faithful and beloved brother. And so now Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon. Now again, slavery in the Roman Empire was really, really common. It says, it said that there were 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. That there was more slaves than citizens of the Roman Empire.

It was just the common, you know, way of the day. And again, this is one of the reasons why we relate it to the employee-employer relationship because, you know, there's more people who are employees than those who own their own businesses. It's that kind of relationship.

A slave in those days would go for about 500 denarii or 500 days wages. So about a year and a half of wages would be, you know, the worth or the value of purchasing a slave. Unless the slave was educated, then they could be as much as 50,000 denarii. And so depending on, you know, their level and their skills would vary as far as, you know, the value in the purchasing of a slave.

But runaway slaves, they would be registered. There would be like a wanted list. And so they would be on the lookout for, you know, those who had ran away. We don't know if Philemon actually put, you know, Anisimus' name on there. But they would be, you know, it was a common thing for slaves to run away. And the citizens would help kind of, you know, reunite them or they would, you

either take the slave themselves or sell the slave and give the money to the original master if a citizen ended up connecting with the slave and finding out that he was a runaway. And so there was these customs and these things that were in place within the Roman Empire, but Paul is dealing with Philemon in a different way as opposed to this is what the custom is,

But here he's going to be appealing with Philemon to receive Onesimus back as a brother instead of as a slave or even as a runaway slave who would be worthy of judgment. So again, this would be happening around 62 AD while Paul is imprisoned in Rome. This is also, you know, the context of Acts chapter 28. And it was in that prison that Paul wrote Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians.

So he's there in prison in Rome. He writes to Philemon, who's in Colossae. It's about 1,200 miles away. So Onesimus made it quite a distance from Colossae to Rome to encounter Paul. And it's amazing that God established that and brought them together so that Onesimus could be saved and now sent back to Philemon.

Well, here in Philemon, we have verse 10 as the key verse. He says, Paul introduces himself as usual and says to Philemon, our brother, in verses 1 through 3,

In verses 4 through 7, he says, I thank God making mention of you in my prayers. As he often does in his letters, he's praying for Philemon, the church that meets at his house, and he thanks God. He has joy over them. In verse 7, he says, for we have great joy

and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. And so he's acknowledging, you know, the work that Philemon is doing and the great things that have happened in his ministry to the saints being refreshed. Well, then in verses 8 through 11, he says, I appeal to you for my son Onesimus. Now he gets to the point of the letter.

He says in verse 8, I might be bold and I could command you. Here's what you must do in this case. And that would be fitting because, you know, I have that authority. But he says instead, I'd rather appeal to you. He says in verse 9, for love's sake, I'd rather appeal to you being such a one as Paul the aged or Paul the elder and now a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I could tell you what to do.

But I don't want to rob you of your joy. I don't want to rob you of, you know, your ability to make the choice or the decision to do the right thing. And so Philemon, I'm not commanding you. I'm not saying this is what you have to do, but I'm appealing to you. And I'm saying, this is what I think you should do. This is what I think is best. And this is what I'm asking, but I'm leaving it up to you. And so Philemon, it's in your hands. You get to decide what you do.

In verse 10, he says, I appeal to you for Onesimus, my son, he says, whom I've begotten while in my chains. And so remember in Acts chapter 28, Paul was in prison, but he had lots of freedom and anybody could come to him and he would share the gospel with them. And that was his ministry for several years. And so somehow, some way, God brought Onesimus before Paul in his rented house where he was under house arrest.

And while he was in his chains, while he was there in prison, he was able to share the gospel with Onesimus and Onesimus got saved and his life was changed. And so he says, I appeal to you for him. In verse 11, he says, he was once unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. And we don't quite catch it in English, but in the Greek here, Paul's using some wordplay.

Because the name Onesimus means profitable. And so Paul says he was unprofitable because he ran away from you. But now he's profitable both to you and to me. And so now he's able to live up to his name because he's a believer. I recognize he was unprofitable. He ran away and he robbed you in that way.

But now he's profitable. Now there's value because, well, he's a believer and he's turned his life around. And so in verse 12 through 16, he says, I'm sending him back to you. Paul even goes on to say in verse 13, I would prefer to keep him with me. He's so profitable. I'd rather have him with me, but I don't want to do that without your consent. I don't want to just keep him for myself because, you know, that's what I prefer. That's not right. He

He belongs to you. The rightful thing for him to do is to go back to you. And so if you want to send him back to me, then great. I would love it because he's profitable. He's a great benefit to the ministry. So if you want to send him back, that's great. But I didn't want to rob you of that decision. And so I'm sending him back to you. And so he says in verse 15, for perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose that you might receive him forever. So he ran away when he wasn't supposed to, but

But the way that God orchestrated it, the way that God allowed it to take place was, well, now you get to receive him forever. You get to spend eternity with him because he's a believer in Jesus now. And so receive him, he says in verse 16, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me and now much more to you.

Receive him back as a brother in the Lord. In verse 17 through 22, Paul says to Philemon, receive Onesimus as you would receive me. He tells Philemon, he's my representative now.

treat him as you would treat me. That's what I'm asking you to do. He says, if you count me as a partner, then receive Onesimus. He's partnered with me in the mission, in the gospel message. He's partnered with me in the Christian faith. And so treat him the way that you would treat me. In verse 18, he says, if he has wronged you or owes you anything, put that on my account. Paul says, if you can't, you know,

give up whatever loss was there as a result of his running away or whatever he's taken from you. Charge it to my account. I'll pay you back. In verse 19, he says, I will repay. He's not just, you know, saying, forget about it. Don't worry about it. You know, just pretend like it never happened. He says, hey, if that's an issue for you, you need that money back. I'll repay you.

Paul was willing to cover that cost and to cover that expense of whatever it might be. In verse 21, he says,

And so I know you're going to respond well to this. I know it's a tough situation, but you're going to do well in this and you're going to do what's right. And so I have great confidence in you. So much so that in verse 22, Paul says, prepare a guest room for me. So I know you're not going to hate me after this. We're going to be able to hang out. So prepare a room for me because I'm planning to go back through there and I want to hang out with you.

Well, then in verses 23 through 25, he says, grace be with you. And so here Philemon is a beautiful letter of Paul. You can see the relationship that has been established and there's lots of dimensions that you can consider in this, you know, the different aspects of discipleship and the life that has changed and such. But the picture that we often refer to is that of Jesus that you get to see here as an example here. That, that,

Paul says, receive Onesimus as you would receive me. And it's a great picture of, well, what we get the benefit of by the grace of God. And that is that God, the Father, relates to us as if we are Jesus. The way that God treats Jesus is the way that God treats us. That's the reality because of the work of Christ on the cross and because of your faith in him. That the Father relates to you and treats you

as he does his own son, as he does with Jesus. And so it's a great picture there of that. And then also as he says, hey, if there's some kind of wrong, if there's some kind of debt, then put it to my account. And that's what Jesus has said for us as well. Whatever debt you owe because of sin, put it to my account. And he received, he paid. And so it wasn't just that, you know, it wasn't held against us, but that debt was paid. It was valid. It was valid.

It was a legitimate debt and it was paid by Jesus on the cross. He said, put it to my account and I'll pay it. And that's why he hung upon the cross. And so we have a great reminder here, a great little picture of the grace of God in us and the way that God relates to us as a result of what Christ has done for us. And so we get to experience the grace of God that teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for these great pictures and these wonderful truths that really do help us because God, we need direction and we need help in living the lives that you've called us to live. And so I pray that you would allow these truths to continue to resonate in us.

the example of Titus and his situation, the example of Philemon and Onesimus and Paul. Lord, I pray that you would allow these things to be great illustrations for us, that you would use these things to direct us tomorrow and this weekend and this coming week, Lord, that you would help us to be humble, to be obedient, and to adorn your doctrine and your message, Lord, that we would represent you well to the world around us. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.