Philemon 1
1:1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our beloved fellow worker
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you where we will be going for the next few weeks. Next week, I'll be preaching on the fruit of patience. The week after that, we're gonna be looking at Psalm 67. Then the week after that, we're gonna start a 14 week series on the Sermon on the Mount. Come fall, I think we're gonna be doing Genesis, and then after Genesis, likely Romans.
Joel Brooks:So that's the next 6 or 7 years schedule for you. I honestly have no idea how long that will take. But tonight, we're gonna look at Philemon. So if you would, turn in your bibles to Philemon. Some of you might know it as Philemon.
Joel Brooks:Tomato, tomato, but we're going with Philemon. If you don't know where that is, you're not alone. It's it's a hard book to find. Any of you grow up doing sword drills at church? Okay.
Joel Brooks:Philemon got me. Alright. Philemon was the hardest book to find because it's this short, obscure, personal letter that's just kinda tucked away in your new testament. It's rarely talked about. I've never heard it preached on before, which is really a shame because it's a remarkable letter.
Joel Brooks:There's nothing else like it in in the new testament. The letter was written by Paul to his friend, Philemon, who had a slave named Onesimus who ran away. And Paul encountered this slave, led him to the Lord. And now Paul is going to write Philemon about what he should do. What does the gospel demand in this situation?
Joel Brooks:Now, you might be thinking, what in the world does that have to do with my life and, and the things that I'm struggling with? Actually a lot. What this letter is really about is what does the gospel, what does the gospel say? How does it speak into our lives concerning broken relationships? Because what you have here is you have Philemon who's a Christian, Onesimus who is a Christian, Paul who's a Christian, and yet there is brokenness in their relationships.
Joel Brooks:So what does the gospel say about broken relationships among believers? How can the gospel help us move forward? So let's read the entire letter beginning in verse 1. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia our sister, and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have towards the Lord Jesus, and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus.
Joel Brooks:I appeal to you for my child Onesimus. Whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I prefer to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord.
Joel Brooks:For this is perhaps why he was parted for you for a while, that you might have Him back forever. No longer as a slave, but more than a slave. As a beloved brother. Especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So, if you consider me your partner, receive him as he would receive me.
Joel Brooks:If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. To say nothing of your owing me your own self. Yes brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me. For I am hoping that through your prayers, I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you.
Joel Brooks:And so do Mark and Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Father, I pray that through your spirit, you would open up your word to us And that you might give us a spirit of reconciliation deep in our hearts. Lord, that we might not just believe the gospel, but we would live out the gospel. That we would work out with fear and trembling the very things that you have worked into us. And I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So we're not sure when it happens or why it happened, but at some point, Onesimus, he was a slave of Philemon, he decided to run away. Now when you think of slavery here, and we need to address this at the start. The image that you have of slavery likely will not be helpful to you as we look at this.
Joel Brooks:Because the normal picture that we have is something that developed from the African slave trade and trade, and that has little in common with slavery in the Greco Roman world. For starters, slavery in the Greco Roman world had nothing to do with race. And it was usually, or very rarely, was it ever for lifetime. Often, people sold themselves to slave, to be a slave for a 5 to a 10 year period. And they did that for a variety of reasons.
Joel Brooks:Some did that to pay off a debt. Some would sell themselves off to be a slave for maybe 8 years or or 9 years. Just in order to save money or to have a better life, it's actually not that uncommon than you signing an exclusive contract with a company for 10 years. And you're saying that you have all my intellectual property. I work only for you for 10 years.
Joel Brooks:I will not go to any competitor. In many ways, slavery in this time was similar to that. Slaves could actually own other slaves. They could high or they could have high level jobs. Aristotle was a slave.
Joel Brooks:So when you read this, don't think of the African slave trade where people were a don't be so naive to think that, everybody was just chomping at the bit to become a slave. Many slaves became slaves unwillingly. They were prisoners of war and they were treated harshly by their masters. The bottom line though is in this situation, we have no idea what type of slavery was happening. We have no idea what type of slave Onesimus was, and we have no idea why he left.
Joel Brooks:Perhaps, he just decided that he would not be anyone's property. No man should own another man, and so he left. Or perhaps, he just wanted to get out of a contract, and he didn't wanna keep up his end of the bargain, and so he left. We just don't know. And what we're gonna see is Paul doesn't tell us.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't attempt to weigh in on what happened. We do know that running away was not something that somebody did flippantly. Running away was dangerous work. It would have been impossible to do without some kind of help. You would have to become part of this underworld of runaways and criminals and fugitives, which was a dangerous place because you had many bounty hunters who made their living catching slaves.
Joel Brooks:And if you were caught, it was a capital offense. So likely it was your life. Because of that, I'm sure Onesimus, he probably changed his name. He changed his appearance. He avoided public roads.
Joel Brooks:He was paying smugglers to get on ships, to hide in wagons. This would've been absolutely exhausting and it would've cost a lot of money, which is probably why he stole from Philemon. To finance him being able to run away. And he ran a long way away. Eventually, he made it all the way to Rome.
Joel Brooks:That's 1200 miles away from Colossi. That would have taken months of traveling. He had to have been exhausted to run 1200 miles away. But, Rome was by far his best chance. It was the perfect place to hide, because it was the largest city in the world.
Joel Brooks:And he could blend in there, and he could make a new life for himself. But at some point, as he's in Rome, we don't know exactly what happened, but something happened to Onesimus. We don't know if he just ran out of money. We don't know if he began to feel remorse over running away or stealing money. We don't know if just spiritually he was becoming undone and desperate, but something happened to him, and he needed help.
Joel Brooks:And he heard, he caught wind that the Apostle Paul was actually in Rome. And he had heard about the apostle Paul. Possibly he had even met the apostle Paul at Philemon's house. And so Onesimus says, here's he's under house arrest, and he finds that house, and he goes and he visits Paul. And Paul, being Paul, does what Paul does.
Joel Brooks:He leads Onesimus to the Lord. Onesimus becomes a believer. So he goes from a runaway slave to a child of God. And he's given a new life. He's given a new heart.
Joel Brooks:Everything changed for Onesimus. He immediately began taking care of Paul, which I'm sure Paul was so grateful for. Paul was grateful probably just to have the company, but then to also have somebody taking care of him would have meant the world. But at some point, you gotta ask the question. Does the gospel make any demands?
Joel Brooks:Demands about Onesimus' relationship with Philemon. Although everything's working out well, the fact remains that Onesimus is now a Christian, Philemon is a Christian, and yet they have a broken relationship. What does Jesus demand in this situation? Let me ask you this. If Onesimus came to you and asked for your advice, what advice would you give?
Joel Brooks:I I have found that we love giving people unsolicited advice. But when people actually ask us for advice, it's usually because it's a sticky situation and one we wanna, you know, just just stay far away from. So if your spouse asks you, do you think I should talk to your mother about the way she tries to parent our children? Just back away. Like, that's that's literally that's the only thing you could do is just back away because you love your mom and you love your spouse, but you're not getting involved in that.
Joel Brooks:And I'm sure there was a part of Paul just saying, I'm not getting involved in this. Listen, I'm old. I'm in prison. I've got plenty of problems to deal with myself. And Philemon, he's my friend.
Joel Brooks:And Onesimus, you're helping me out. Why would I risk all of that? And so I'm sure that Paul really doesn't want to get involved, but he does. And the situation is just complicated. Onesimus, he's run once again, 1200 miles away, which means that Philemon is never gonna find him.
Joel Brooks:And Philemon, of course, would have no idea that Onesimus is with Paul and he likely never will. Philemon's probably given up hope of of ever ever seeing Onesimus again. And Onesimus, well his life has turned out for the better. You know, once again, he's he's doing real work. He's doing kingdom work now.
Joel Brooks:And he's got purpose. He's got life. And on top of that, he's no longer anybody's property. But at the same time, he did steal from Philemon. But he only stole from Philemon in order to escape from being a slave.
Joel Brooks:The situation's complicated. So what advice would he give? I gotta be honest. My instinct in this is things seem to have kinda settled down. Kinda working fairly well for everyone.
Joel Brooks:Let's just not rock the boat on this. Let's not risk these relationships. Let's just let this lie. And Paul says, no. The gospel demands reconciliation.
Joel Brooks:And so he decides to write Philemon a letter. He's already written a letter to the church that was meeting at Philemon's house. That's what we know is the the letter to the Colossians. And so he's already written that letter, but he has yet to deliver it. So he needs to deliver that letter, and he's thinking, well, since I already need to deliver a letter there, let me just write another letter about you, Onesimus.
Joel Brooks:And here's the kicker. I want you to deliver it. That just shows the importance of reconciliation here, that both Onesimus and Paul believe it is worth it for him to travel another 1200 mile dangerous journey back to his former master's house and risk everything. But the gospel demands reconciliation. Can you imagine the awkward tension that was there as, Onesimus knocks on the door, Philemon opens.
Joel Brooks:After months or maybe even a year of being away, there's his former slave. And the slave goes, I have a letter for you from the Apostle Paul. Well, that's a shocker. I can imagine just the awkward tension there as that letter is being read. Let's look at what this letter says.
Joel Brooks:And I also want us to look at what this letter does not say, because both are equally important. The first thing that I want to notice, from this letter, is to whom Paul addresses the letter. This letter is obviously personal. It's obviously to Philemon, but he adds some other names to the address. He adds Apphia and Archippus, whom we have no idea whom these people are.
Joel Brooks:But then he adds to the church at your house. So this was a personal letter to be read to the entire church. How many of you would like that to happen? How many of you would like me to read your personal emails to the entire church? But that's what Paul is asking for here.
Joel Brooks:And the reason he's doing this is because if if you have something against another believer, it actually affects the entire church. This isn't just your problem. This is our problem. And it doesn't matter if that person no longer lives here, if that person is 1200 miles away, it doesn't matter if you never plan to see each other anymore. Your broken relationship affects not just you, but since you are part of the church, it affects the entire church.
Joel Brooks:This would have been especially true in this situation because everyone there would have known Onesimus. Second thing I want us to see in this letter is that Paul understands that real peace and real reconciliation comes from a heart change and not from outward moral conformity. Paul is about to make a big ask in this letter. He's gonna ask Philemon to welcome back Onesimus as a brother and not as a slave. He is gonna ask for Onesimus' freedom.
Joel Brooks:However, he will not command it. Look at verse 8 again. Although accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required. Which by the way, he does many times in many of his other letters. But not here.
Joel Brooks:He says, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. Since this is Mother's Day, let me just ask. How many of you mothers out there, have broken up a fight amongst your children, and you've demanded that one child apologize to the other. You tell your sister you're sorry. Did that change their heart?
Joel Brooks:Things turned out well after that? I can't tell you how many times, you know, Caroline's my oldest and she would spend an hour making a house or a castle out of blocks. And in would come Natalie and just come right in and just wham. And then just, you know, just that's it. Just knocks it all down.
Joel Brooks:And of course, there's the tears. There's the yelling. And I'm like, Natalie, come here. You apologize to your sister. Sorry.
Joel Brooks:Leave. That was it. You could tell it was of the heart. Actually, it didn't touch the heart at all, and the reason I know that is because an hour later, she'd come back in and she'd knock it down again. But, you gotta start somewhere.
Joel Brooks:As children, you have to start with that outward conformity. But as adults, well, that's not gonna work. You got to go after the heart. You can't tell an adult to forgive somebody. You could tell them that they need to forgive somebody.
Joel Brooks:You can't tell somebody be reconciled. You could say you need to be reconciled, but ultimately this is something that they have to want to do. They have to have the heart to do. Not just this outward conformity. Paul's not gonna command this.
Joel Brooks:He knows that this has to come from Philemon's heart. It only comes out of a heart of love. But I want you to to see this here. It doesn't have to be out of love for the other person. You actually don't find that anywhere in this letter.
Joel Brooks:Nowhere does Paul appeal to Philemon's love for Onesimus as a basis for reconciliation. What he does is he says, hey, Philemon out of love for me. Would you do this? And he reminds Philemon of the gospel. The faith he has in the gospel.
Joel Brooks:Of the love he has for Christ. So so Paul appeals to Philemon's love for him, and then over and over he reminds him of his love for Jesus. And how Jesus has saved him and given him new life. Now I'm sure that there are probably some of you here that have resisted seeking out reconciliation with another believer because, honestly, you just don't feel any love for that person. I wanna tell you that's okay.
Joel Brooks:When somebody has hurt you, it's natural for you not to feel love for that person. However, it's not out of love for that person that you are to seek reconciliation. It's out of love for Christ, and out of his love for you. Remember Jesus loved you when you were unlovable. He sought you when you were running away from him.
Joel Brooks:When you were his enemy, he made you family. And it's through that love that you can indeed reach out and love that other person. You can love your enemies. You can bless those who persecute you. And what you will find is that when you yield to Jesus in this, you actually begin to love your enemies.
Joel Brooks:You actually begin to get that heart of love towards the person who has wronged you. Alright. I want us to look at one of the things that's missing in this letter that goes with this. I mentioned that we can learn a lot from what's in this letter, but we also can learn a lot from what Paul does not say in this letter. And one of the things that Paul does not say in this letter is blame.
Joel Brooks:Paul doesn't take sides or dish out blame. Here's the deal. I'm sure that Philemon and Onesimus both felt that they were right, and that the other person was wrong. Both could play the victim card if they wanted. Alright?
Joel Brooks:I'm sure that Philemon's thinking, okay, I'm the one who's right. He stole from me. He broke the contract. He ran away, and Onesimus is like, no, I'm the one in the right. I only stole your money because nobody be another person's property.
Joel Brooks:That's why I got away. They could both give their arguments. They both could play the victim card. I was the one who was wronged here. And we love playing the victim card.
Joel Brooks:Don't we? We actually live in a culture I think that glorifies the victim card. You know, you go into a Starbucks. You get the holiday blend. You're offended.
Joel Brooks:Oh my gosh. They don't even serve the Christmas blend. This is what Paul was talking about persecution coming to the church. This is what Revelation is about. How dare?
Joel Brooks:We we take what I call these micro offenses at everything. It's an assault to who we are. We're offended at it all. We like to be the victim. But this is the real reason we like to be the victim.
Joel Brooks:Is because it puts reconciliation in the other person's court. We're throwing the ball in their court And we're saying the reason we're not reconciled is not because of me, it's because of you. I'm here waiting. Apologize anytime you want. And I'm here.
Joel Brooks:It's not what the gospel demands. Paul's not gonna get into this. Who's the victim here? Who's right or wrong? He doesn't care who's right or wrong.
Joel Brooks:He's out for reconciliation, which isn't about who's right or who's wrong here. And victimhood can get in the way of reconciliation. And so Paul doesn't even bring up these things. The next thing that we actually see here in this letter is how Paul reminds Philemon, take a step back from this entire situation, and can you just recognize God's sovereign hand in it all? Look at verse 15 and 16.
Joel Brooks:For this, perhaps, is why he was parted for you from you for a while. I love he doesn't say how he ran away. He just says, how he was parted from you for a while. That you might have him back forever. No longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother.
Joel Brooks:So regardless of the reason why Onesimus ran away, God was sovereign in it and it resulted in his salvation. And I want you just to think of the odds here. Onesimus runs 1200 miles away. And he runs into Paul under house arrest. I mean out of out of an enormous city, the largest city on earth, he finds Paul, who then leads him to the Lord.
Joel Brooks:It's unbelievable. I want you to just like what Paul is saying, can we just take a step back and rejoice at this for a moment? At how God sovereignly saves us? I mean look at how God orchestrated these events. He used both good and evil to bring Onesimus to him.
Joel Brooks:What I find so incredible here is this, Onesimus was formally living in a house where a church met, yet he did not hear the gospel. His heart wasn't open to it. Yet literally the gospel was all around him. And so he left living in a home where a church was, and he went off 1200 miles to Rome, and he heard the gospel from a place where a man was under house arrest. God had to bring him to a destitute point before he would hear the gospel.
Joel Brooks:It's incredible to see how God orchestrated these events. And hear me, I I think there is a huge comfort here for us. For those of us who have unbelieving family, unbelieving friends, who simply are always surrounded by the gospel, yet they don't believe, and they have left. There's a comfort for us here that God might very well indeed, in His sovereignty, be allowing that to happen in order to draw that person to Him. Years ago, my wife and I, we had the privilege of having John Piper over to our house for dinner.
Joel Brooks:And over the course of dinner, the topic of family came up. And from Lauren's side of the family, there's just, there's some difficulties there. And although they were raised in church, there's a family member who's just kind of gone off and doesn't really believe. And doctor Piper, he was talking about he's really had a hard time and that's happened in his family as well. And in just the vulnerable moments, he just really opened up about that.
Joel Brooks:And he had one child in particular, he said, that came to him, and and was leaving home and said, dad, I want you to know this. I've heard what you have said all these years, and I I believe the same things that you believe. I I would even say I believe in election. I'm just not one of the elect. And he left.
Joel Brooks:And it broke doctor Piper's heart. I mean, it'd break any dad's heart or that and he said he realized at that moment, he goes, I realized it wasn't going to be me. If my son would ever come to know the Lord, it wasn't going to be through me. Even if he was raised in a house where he heard the gospel, he was saturated with the gospel, literally, it was the air that we breathe. Like, it wasn't going to be me, and I had to trust the sovereignty of God to save him.
Joel Brooks:In which the sovereignty God and His sovereignty did. And there is a enormous hope for us who have lost family members, or those close to us who seem deaf to the gospel, and they go away. God very well might be orchestrating events for their salvation. One of the final things I want us to see in here is how Paul, throughout this entire letter, he clearly points us to Jesus. Jesus who is our reconciler.
Joel Brooks:Jesus who is our mediator. Isn't that what Paul is doing here? Two sides at odds. But out of deep love for both, he steps in the gap and He acts as a mediator in order to build a relationship. What we also see here is, a beautiful picture of imputed righteousness.
Joel Brooks:Paul tells, Philemon. Says, I want you to welcome back Onesimus. I want you to bring him into your household and treat him just like you would treat me. When he comes to your door, don't think of a former runaway slave. Think of me.
Joel Brooks:And welcome him in just as you would welcome me. That's a picture of imputed righteousness. Bring him into your household because of what you think about me, not about him. This is what Jesus has done for us. The only way we have any access to the father.
Joel Brooks:The only way we have any access to heaven is not because of the things we have done. It's because Jesus has said my righteousness is now theirs. Father, treat them just like you would treat me. And we were enemies, but now we are treated as sons. We also see atonement here.
Joel Brooks:Paul was paying Onesimus's debts. Says yes, I know Onesimus owes you something, but I'm gonna take care of it. Whatever he owes you, I will pay it. It's this letter is actually an IOU. Did you notice Pauline says, I write it with my own hand.
Joel Brooks:He's signing an IOU. Here it is. His debts will be paid by me. Welcome him in. Paul clearly, clearly points us to Christ.
Joel Brooks:And what we see here is the gospel's not just something we believe. The gospel affects how we actually live. Certainly affected how Paul lived as he stepped in this role as reconciler. So the question is what happened? We've read the letter, but what actually happened?
Joel Brooks:Did Philemon welcome Onesimus in or not? Did he free him? Did he treat him as a brother in Christ and no longer as a slave? Well, the answer is we're not completely sure. Because this isn't the book of Acts in which he's writing a narrative.
Joel Brooks:All we have is the letter. But I do think we can say with pretty good confidence that, yes. Philemon welcomed him in. I think we say that for a couple of reasons. One, it's just really hard to for me to imagine.
Joel Brooks:I mean, as Paul is just writing this letter and at times, as you know, he's laying this on thick, I'll pay for his debts, but I'm not gonna mention the debt you owe me, which is your very soul. I mean, like, you could see, like, he's laying it on thick there. And it's hard for me to imagine that as Onesimus hands Philemon this letter and he reads it, and and and Philemon is reading, welcome him in as you would welcome me, that he would, as he's reading that, say no. It's hard for me to imagine that. It it could have happened.
Joel Brooks:But I guess the best evidence we have that actually Philemon listened to Paul was that we actually have this letter. We have it. So we know that Philemon didn't get the letter and throw it away. He didn't get the letter and just tear it up. He preserved it.
Joel Brooks:I mean, likely, what happened is as the letter to the Colossians was read to the church there, and that letter was to be passed along to all the different house churches in Colossae. You likely have, as that letter is being handed out to be read, Philemon inserting this one. And it becomes part of our New Testament canon. Recognized as holy scripture, God speaking to us through this very personal letter, and I'm so thankful that it is. So what does the gospel demand of us?
Joel Brooks:Let me ask you some questions. Is there anybody in your life that you need to seek reconciliation with? Is there anybody who has hurt you? A person that you now avoid? A person you've tried to put some distance between, whether it's going to another church or going to another service.
Joel Brooks:Is there a person that you have made every excuse not to be reconciled with? You've played the victim. You've acted willing to reconcile in saying the ball's in your court, but you haven't been proactive in seeking reconciliation. What does the gospel demand of you? And not just that, but how does the gospel equip you, like we just saw in Paul's life, to actually be reconciled?
Joel Brooks:I'd love for us to take time to go to the Lord for this. Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, we thank you that at great cost to yourself, you you have brought us who were once enemies, and you have brought us into your home and called us family. Not because what we have done, but because what you have done. And you have given us this ministry of reconciliation now, and I pray that we would live that out in our lives.
Joel Brooks:Spirit of God, give us the strength to do that. Jesus, may we see the love that you have lavished upon us, the grace that you have lavished on us is so beautiful. It's transformative in the way that we seek out to forgive and be reconciled with others. And we pray this in your strong name, Jesus. Amen.