The Transforming Work of Salvation

Transcript

GR 1131
8/09/98
The Transforming Work of Salvation
Philemon 8-l4
Gil Rugh


We're in the book of Philemon. It’s a great, short letter, just one chapter as we have it in our bibles, 25 verses. I would encourage you to take time to read through the letter at one sitting a few times, just to fix in your mind something of the continuity and the flavor, if you will, of Paul’s appeal to the man Philemon. Philemon is the recipient. He is evidently a fairly well to do man who lives in the city of Colossae, where the letter to the Colossians was written, and the letter to the Colossian church was written at the same time as this letter, a personal letter to Philemon. It’s written on behalf of a runaway slave named Onesimus. Onesimus had been the slave of Philemon and the details, we’re not told, but he had run away and made his way to Rome, which was common when slaves would run away, seek out a big city, where they might get lost in the crowds of people.
There he had come into contact with Paul and been saved. Paul is now sending Onesimus back to Philemon and he sends this letter with him, to intercede with Philemon on behalf of Onesimus. The flavor of the letter would indicate that the offense of Onesimus had been very serious. Now in these times, being a runaway slave, in and of itself was serious. A slave could be severely beaten and given tasks which would greatly shorten his life. This would be often done to help keep order in an object lesson, if you will, to other slaves, not to follow the same pattern. What else might have been involved, we’re not told. We’ll see shortly in our study today, that Onesimus was a worthless slave, even before he ran away. So evidently was trouble for Philemon and that culminated with his running away and in his running away, there may have been other matters involved, such as thievery and so on.

You do get the sense from the letter that Paul is concerned that Philemon handle this in a godly way and the level of Paul’s concern would seem to indicate that the offense of Onesimus was quite serious and perhaps very damaging to Philemon. And Philemon is the master, even as a believer was in his legal rights to severely deal with Onesimus. So, we have a situation here where Philemon will have certain legal rights in dealing with his slave. But Paul is concerned that Philemon be more concerned with a display of godly character and Christian love, and that that would overrule any other considerations. Paul’s approach will not be to command Philemon to do anything, but to encourage him and, if you will, pressure him in a godly way to do what would be proper and fitting for one who is a servant of Jesus Christ.


When you read the letters of Philemon, and if you’ve already done so, you’ve probably gotten a sense, in some ways you could say looks like Paul is manipulating Philemon. He is not giving him any choice. What’s helped me as I work through the letter, if I think of how we sometimes deal with our children as they’re growing up. There are certain things that are right, certain things are wrong and we just give the direct command. But there are other situations that come up and in the dealing with our children, we know this is the right thing for them to do, but we want them to do it of their own choice. And so we do apply a certain kind of pressure, but it’s not a pressure of telling them this is what you must do. But it’s a pressure in guiding them to make the decision that is the right one to make. And I think that’s what we see Paul doing here, but he has a personal interest in this, and his heart is really poured into it. There are two things that we want to be learning from this. We want to be learning what our response needs to be when we have been wronged, severely wronged. So, we put ourselves in Philemon’s place for one approach to the letter. Then we also want to know how we help people deal with situations in a godly way, and in that sense we put ourselves in Paul’s place, to how do we appeal to believers when it’s not a matter of telling them the bible says you must do this. And yet this is a situation for your testimony, for conduct which is proper and fitting for a believer. This is the decision you should make, and yet it’s a decision you must make, I don’t make it for you. And yet we do get involved in applying the right kind of pressure to one another.
So that’s the kind of situation we have as Paul writes to Philemon.

In verses 4-7 Paul has spoken highly of Philemon’s godly character and his Christian testimony and word has been brought to Paul in Rome, that Philemon has manifested, in verse 5, a love for all the saints and a faith toward Christ Jesus. In verse 7, Paul said, I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love. So Paul has experienced the impact of Philemon’s love, not because of what Philemon did for Paul, but the impact of what Philemon did for other believers in Colossae, and when Paul heard of that, he had joy in his heart and he was comforted, because you see, Paul had led Philemon to the Lord. And to see Philemon walking in the truth and displaying godliness and having a strong testimony in the display of love toward other believers, greatly encouraged Paul.

So he is ready in verse 8 to come to the issue at hand, to make his appeal to Philemon, and verse 8 begins with the word therefore. And the immediate connection is what he has said in verse 7, that Paul has had joy and comfort in Philemon’s love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. Now he deals with Philemon, if you will, as an equal in one sense, as a fellow member of the body of Christ. You’ve refreshed the hearts of the saints; therefore, I’m going to ask you to refresh their hearts again. And that’s what he will say down in verse 20. Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord, refresh my heart in Christ, and that’s at the conclusion of his appeal, by demonstrating love in this particular situation.

Therefore, verse 8, although I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper. I have confidence in Christ, boldness in Christ. Two aspects involved I think in this. Paul is fully confident in Christ in his position as an apostle, and as God’s servant, with the role of apostle, he could have commanded Philemon to do what was right and proper in this situation. Paul says, I have full confidence in my position as an apostle. And I take it included in this is I also have full confidence in you, Philemon, in your godly character, that if I did command you to do something, you would do it. So I have full confidence and boldness, what I’m doing is not because I’m afraid or doubt whether I have the authority, but I have other motives. I have full confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper. And that word, to order, is a strong word. It denotes an authoritative command from someone in a superior position. So, Paul is not minimizing the role he has in the church as an apostle. I could give you an authoritative order as one who is superior to you, by virtue of my roles as an apostle. That’s what he’s saying. This word to order you, that’s used of the commands that God gives on various occasions, where God commands or orders something to happen. It’s used of Christ in commanding or ordering the demons, Christ ordering the demons in the gospel of Mark. He commanded them. He used this word. It’s used of Paul on occasion when he exercises his apostolic authority in giving instructions and orders. So Paul wants to make clear here. I have full confidence in Christ that I could give the order, because I am an apostle, and you are a man who responds, as a godly man should. So, I could order you to do what is proper, what is fitting, to do that which is consistent with being a godly person and manifesting a godly testimony, is the idea. That which is proper. He wants him to do it freely, not under compulsion, verse l4 will say. I don’t want this to be by compulsion. I want you to do it freely. So I’m not commanding you to do it.

Back in Colossians, turn back to Colossians. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, in Colossians, Chapter 3 Paul uses this word which we have translated that which is proper, that which is fitting. In Colossians 3:18, Wives be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. That word translated as is fitting is the same word, we have translated to do what is proper in Philemon, same word. The conduct of a wife in being submissive to her husband, functioning according to that which is befitting a woman of godliness, is proper for a woman of godliness. So that’s what Paul is talking about back in Philemon, Chapter 1, verse 8. I could command you to do that which is proper, which is fitting for a person who would have a godly testimony, but that’s not the way I want to approach this. Rather than commanding you, we have verse 9 of Philemon, yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you. So, a contrast here. I could command you, but I appeal to you. I am requesting something of you and I’m doing it for love’s sake. You see he has prepared the way here. Philemon, you have been a man who has a testimony among the saints for displaying godly love, which is a fruit of the Spirit, a demonstration that the Spirit was indeed at work, in clear and evident ways, in Philemon’s life.

In verse 5, I’ve heard of your love toward all the saints. Verse 7, I’ve been comforted in your love, because you’ve refreshed the hearts of the saints. That was an act of love. Now I appeal to you on account of love. I want you to display again love. I want you to act, not because the apostle Paul commanded me to do it, I want you to act because the love of God motivates me to do it. I want you to set aside that which might come naturally, that which might be your right, legally speaking, your prerogative. I want you to set that aside and act out of love and a display of love for someone who is undeserving. For love’s sake I rather appeal to you. I want to request of you. I want to implore you. I have a request. I’m asking you to do something.

Now Paul could ask in a way that the pressure is on. You know, like we might say to our children when we are asking them to do something and they, as they get older, might say are you saying I have to do that. You hate to be boxed into that, because in a sense you feel they have to because it’s the right thing for them to do, but you don’t want them to do it because you told them they had to, and you say, well, I hope you will respect me enough as your parent to do it. Well, what are you doing? You’re putting the pressure on them without saying you have to do it because I’ve commanded you. You’re hoping they will have enough respect for you to do it of their own choice.

And that’s what Paul is going to do. I appeal to you. Then he breaks off of the appeal. Let me tell you who I am. I, such a person as Paul, the aged. This comes from me, Paul, the aged. I’m appealing to you, as an older man. Now Philemon would respect Paul. Paul led him to the Lord. He’ll bring this up later in the letter, that you owe me your very life. But now I’m making an appeal to you as Paul, the aged. Back in Acts, chapter 7, verse 58 when Stephen was stoned, it was said they laid their cloaks, their outer garment, at the feet of a young man, named Saul. Some years had gone by and now Paul refers to himself as an old man. Now he’s not appealing for pity here, as one who has one foot in the grave and there’s another word that denoted those who were very advanced in age, at the last stage of life, as they would define that word. This word would refer to someone in the prime of life, between 55 and 60, in there, my age. You know, somebody asks me how old, you know, what are you? I say, well, I’m middle aged. That’s a lie. I’m 55. The chances of my getting to 110 are nil. I’m really not middle aged. I passed the middle line some time ago. So, most commentators, figuring out the time from Acts 7:58 when Paul was referred to as a young man and what’s gone on, projected Paul was somewhere in his late 50’s, around 60, a little older, but around 60 here. And he’s not saying he’s aged in the sense of decrepit and at the end of his life necessarily, although with the hardship of Paul’s life, I’m sure that it had taken a toll.

But he’s appealing to him as the elder man, appealing for a consideration of the respect due one who is not only Paul the apostle, but Paul the aged. There should be some respect and consideration given for what he would believe would be right in this situation by virtue of the age that he has. Back up a page in your bible or so to Titus, just before Philemon. Titus, chapter 2, verse 2 where it says, Older men are to be temperate. The older men are contrasted with the younger men. The word older men is the same word we have translated aged in Philemon, Paul the aged, Paul the older man. The only other use of this particular word is in Luke, chapter l, verse 18, where the father of Zacharias, when he was told that his wife, Elizabeth, will have a child. John the Baptist says, I am an old man, I’m beyond that period of life, I’m an aged man. So, you get some idea of the flavor here. Paul is appealing to him, appealing to him as Paul, but as Paul the aged one, the older man. And so, Philemon ought to give extra consideration and serious thought to the request of Paul.

But not only is Paul the aged, but as the one who is the prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you as one who cannot come and talk to you face to face. I am appealing to you as one who is a prisoner, because of his faithfulness to Christ. So, Paul, the older man, the aged one, Paul the one who is suffering imprisonment for his testimony and faithfulness to Christ. I’m appealing to you. I mean, how can you say no. I mean, so you can see there is pressure being applied to Philemon. But it’s important to Paul when the decision is made, it’s Philemon’s decision. But that he has done everything as Paul to help him make the decision, which is right, right for him personally, for his testimony for Christ, right for Onesimus, right for the church at Colossae.

Now he has broken off his appeal. Verse 9 started out, for love’s sake I rather appeal to you, and then you break it off. I appeal to you, I, Paul, the aged one, the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Then he picks up and repeats verse l0, I appeal to you, repeating the word appeal. I appeal to you, and the stress here is on the fact that he is making the appeal, and it’s for my child. Now you see the pressure is building here. It’s almost like Paul is graciously and lovingly closing Philemon in to only one possible decision. Because I’m imploring you for love’s sake. Would you refuse to demonstrate the love of Christ in this situation? I’m asking you as Paul, the aged one, the prisoner of Christ, would you refuse not only to manifest the love of Christ for another believer in this situation. Would you reject with coldness of heart the appeal of one who is the aged, Paul, who’s the prisoner of Christ, and not only that this appeal comes not for himself, not for a friend or an acquaintance, but for his child. I appeal to you for my child. I mean, Philemon would have to have a heart of stone to turn down this appeal. And yet Paul says when it’s done it has to be your decision, Philemon. There are things that are healthy pressures that, praise God, He brings to bear in our life, that the word of God may not address this as right and wrong, and there may be logic and argument that can be marshaled, that this is a right of mine, and I can do this without being in any direct violation of scripture.

I mean, I can forgive Onesimus, Philemon might think, and I don’t want to wring out from him every ounce of payback, but also, you understand, I have other slaves. If I just forget this, the order in my household will dissolve and that would not be good for the church at Colossae. That kind of attitude would not be good for the city of Colossae itself. That might be bad for my testimony. And I can find all kind of reasons why I would be right to make the decision here, but it would be the wrong decision. This is my child I’m appealing for Paul says, not his physical child, but this is one whom I have begotten in my imprisonment. Very simply, while Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he had come into contact with Onesimus, shared the gospel with him, and Onesimus had been born again through faith in Christ. So Paul had become his spiritual father.

Turn back to I Corinthians, chapter 4. You know we are reminded, and we’ve drawn attention to this before, that we sometimes lose great opportunities in testimony for Christ because we were absorbed by other things. We get under pressure, we get into difficult situations, trials, we’re dealt with unfairly, we’re asked to give up our rights or cause to give up our rights. In all of that we begin to think I could be so effective for the Lord if. But you know the Lord has that all in control. And some of Paul’s most effective ministry took place in the most unpleasant of situations and circumstances. Onesimus comes to salvation in Christ because Paul is a prisoner at Rome, focused not on his trials and bewailing his fate, but because Paul is faithfully there about the business of the Lord.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in I Corinthians, Chapter 4, verse l5 and said to the Corinthians, For if you were to have countless tutors, or teachers in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, now note this, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. What a tremendous legacy. Giving birth to the children of God through the ministry of the word of God. Peter wrote in I Peter, Chapter 1, verse 23 that you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and abiding word of God, as we give forth the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God takes that and through His mercy and grace that person believes and is saved. We have become an instrument, the hands of God, that has brought about the salvation, the birth into the family of God of that person. That’s what Paul says. I became your father through the gospel. And down in verse 17, still in I Corinthians 4, For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. I have sent to you another of my spiritual children, births through my ministry of the gospel. So Paul had birthed, if you will, spiritually Onesimus. He had Philemon as well.

Turn back to Philippians if you will. Philippians is another of those prison epistles, written during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, along with Colossians and Ephesians and Philemon. And note what he says in Philippians, chapter 1, verse 12. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances, what circumstances, his imprisonment, have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else. Remarkable. Paul says my imprisonment has advanced the cause of the gospel. The book of Acts closes by telling us that in this imprisonment the apostle Paul was really under house arrest. It says he lived in his own rented house for two years and the way that works he was a prisoner of Rome, but he wasn’t in jail or in a formal prison. He was under house arrest and part of that was he was chained to a Roman soldier who was responsible to see that Paul did not escape. He was able to live in his own quarters and he could receive visitors. And at the end of Acts we’re told that in this situation Paul received many visitors. Evidently, it was in that kind of setting that someone brought Onesimus to Paul and Paul presented the gospel.

You know what happens? If I had to be chained to a soldier, and you can be sure a Roman soldier was not of the highest character. They could be vulgar, profane, and Paul couldn’t just walk away. Twenty-four hours a day I’m going to be chained to this guy. Pretty soon I would be telling the Lord, Lord I can’t take it. Lord, you know, I need some space. Lord, this guy, every other word is profanity. Lord, I got to sit and listen to this guy tell his filthy stories and so on. Lord, I can’t take this any longer. You know what Paul is doing? He’s sharing the gospel with anybody that comes in. Where’s this soldier going? You know, Paul can’t go anywhere. But you know the other side of that, neither can the soldier.

So, they bring Onesimus and Paul shares the gospel with Onesimus. You know who else hears it? He can only get so far away. Everybody comes through. You know what, the whole praetorian guard is hearing the gospel again and again and again and again. Aren’t you glad they didn’t hear Paul, the praetorian guard saying, boy, you know that Paul, he’s a murmur and a complainer? A murmur and a complainer, no, you know what they heard from Paul? The gospel. Beautiful. Here the royal guard are hearing the gospel. How else would these profane soldiers who had access to high places, hear the truth of Christ. What an opportunity.

You know sometimes you think boy, I go to work day in and day out and I have the most profane people around me. You have to think, isn’t it amazing that God placed you, His mouthpiece there, to live a testimony before these vile people, if you will, godless people, to share the truth that can bring about the marvelous transformation of their life. We don’t want to miss the opportunities. Little did Paul know, he said that the whole praetorian guard has heard and everyone else and in verse 14 the brethren are encouraged. When they see Paul’s faithfulness and boldness, they’re encouraged to share Christ. And you know Paul didn’t have the faintest idea of the impact, because 2,000 years later, you know, he’s a prisoner there, chained to this soldier and writing a letter, and what, 2,000 years later multiplied millions. How many millions have been impacted by his life and testimony being a prisoner there. Here we are today, impacted by it.

You know, we better be careful we don’t let the opportunities of life go by. Oh, if I had only been in Paul’s position. Oh, if only. . . . But the sovereign God has placed you where he has placed you, and you are there, what, you’re a light set on a hill Jesus said.
You don’t put the light under the bushel. Well, I don’t think they would want to hear.
No, but they need to hear. I don’t think they would ever, ever in a million years be open to hear and respond to the gospel. Oh yes, you weren’t too great a sinner, you were just a little sinner, so it was easy for you to get saved. Well, that’s not what I mean. Well, that’s what you said. I mean I work with sinners who are so vile they’re hopeless. The gospel couldn’t save them. And we end up thinking that even if we don’t say it. What a marvelous testimony born here and the fruit of that testimony, Philemon and Onesimus.

One other, well you don’t need to turn there, I’ll read it to you. II Timothy 2:9. Paul is in his last imprisonment and he’s encouraging Timothy, not to be discouraged, not to be timid, and he says regarding the gospel, The gospel is that for which I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment as a criminal. But note this last statement, But the word of God is not imprisoned. Paul had chains, the word of God did not have chains. When he wrote that he was in his final imprisonment, he was imprisoned in prison. He was on his way to execution. He says I’m confined, the word of God is not confined. That was 2 Timothy 2:9. We need to remember that. What we are called to do is turn loose the word of God.
And amazing the impact that that has on lives. Sometimes I wonder, I don’t know who shared the gospel with me, who was preaching the night I was saved. He may have gone away saying nothing happened, no I don’t think really anything happened, those people were like stone. But you know, here I am preaching to you, and the impact of his sharing the truth continues on. How many people you may have shared the gospel with, they’ve forgotten, I don’t remember who that was who gave me that track. I don’t remember who it was who took time, I didn’t even know who they were. We just bumped into each other and they shared with me, and the impact is going on and on. You think, well, I don’t know that anything significant has happened in my life and in my sharing the gospel.

You may not know. Paul couldn’t measure what God was going to do with the impact of a prisoner in Rome.

So come back to Philemon. But what Paul is doing here, I appeal to you for my child, my spiritual child. I’ve given birth to him in my imprisonment. You understand he’s extra special to me, because he’s come to be a fruit of my imprisonment and what a blessing that would be. Here is a visible blessing. I trust God to use His word, but oh what a blessing it is to see a response and here Onesimus is precious to me. But you know something, you come all the way up to the last word of verse 10 and that’s the first time that Onesimus? name is mentioned. You see how Paul has built to a climax here. After commending Philemon for his godly character and testimony and demonstration of love and Paul is saying I could give you a command on this important issue, to do what is proper and fitting for you as a servant of Jesus Christ. But I am appealing to you, I’m appealing to you as Paul the aged one, the Paul the prisoner of Christ. I’m appealing to you on behalf of my child, whom I’ve given birth to in my imprisonment. It’s Onesimus.

Now I would like to know how that impacted Philemon. Again from the way that Paul handles the situation here I get the sense that this was evidently something very serious and perhaps Philemon had been greatly injured by this, not necessarily physically injured, but suffered significant loss or maybe his reputation had been marred, we don’t know.
But you know, as you think of Philemon and read in this letter and get to almost the end of verse 10 and say, you know, whatever you want Paul. And he says it’s Onesimus. Oh, not Onesimus, anything but Onesimus. Oh Paul, Lord, don’t ask me to. . . , don’t ask me to do this, not Onesimus. You know, that’s beyond the call of duty. You realize what I’ve been through with Onesimus? Do you realize the damage that I’ve sustained, the losses we’ve incurred? We still haven’t recovered from Onesimus. Paul don’t ask me for Onesimus. I don’t know that’s what Philemon says, but I get the sense Paul was not one to mince words, and you get the sense, for Paul, this is really a hard issue. In fact, that’s what he’s going on to say, it’s a hard issue for him. And this was something of not very serious consequence, it wouldn’t be a major request. But you get the idea he’s really asking Philemon to do something that’s not going to be very easily done.

Onesimus. The name Onesimus means useful or profitable. It was a common name for slaves in this period of time. It appears often in records of the time as a name for a slave, because it would be natural. You get a slave, you’re going to give him a name, give him a name useful or profitable because that’s what you really want him to be. In his service as a slave, you want to be useful or profitable. Well Paul plays off of that name. He uses a different word but a word that means the same thing. And he says in verse 11, Onesimus, his very name means useful, he’s the one who formally was useless to you, but now he is useful, both to you and to me. Now what is said here, he was formally useless to you, would indicate that Onesimus was useless or worthless to Philemon, even before he ran away. That’s why I say, evidently Onesimus was a difficult slave, trouble for Philemon, even before he ran away. He was useless, he was worthless and he was from Colossae, Onesimus was and quite frankly in this period of time these men from this region, slaves, had a reputation for being useless. And he was of that character. He was formally useless to you, worthless. So it wasn’t just the running away that was the problem, his whole tenor as a slave, to be summarized, he was formally useless, worthless to you. But now he is useful to you. That’s easy for you to say, Paul. But Paul adds something here. He’s useful to you and to me. You get the idea here that Paul again has added another block in the pressure that he’s building. You know, I can tell you, he was formally useless, I agree.
But I can tell you now he’s useful to you and to me. Well, I’m Philemon and I’m going to say you’re not going to tell me he’s useful. When the apostle Paul says he’s useful to me, maybe there’s something to be said that he’s useful to me too. I mean Paul would say he’s useful to me. Paul would say that as an apostle. He would find Onesimus useful?

So Paul again, very skillfully, he’s useful to you and to me. I think we ought to note here, Paul is absolutely convinced that the salvation of Onesimus has totally revolutionized his life and made him a different person. He was useless, now he is useful, not only to you but to me also. This is a different person.

Turn back to the book of Corinthians again, 2 Corinthians this time, chapter 5, look at verse 14. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and He died for all in order that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. You see the change, they no longer live for themselves, they live for Christ. Verse 17, Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. You note the radical change. A life characterized as useless, worthless, and now he is one who is useful, not only in the physical realm in service to Philemon as a slave, but in ministry to the apostle Paul. That’s a dramatic transformation. You add up years of worthless, useless life, transformed by the power of the gospel into one who is useful.

We need to be very careful that we, as God’s people, don’t minimize the power of the gospel for salvation to everyone who believes, and there is no one who is hopeless. Because that’s why Christ came, for the hopelessly lost. And by the same token, I expect and believe that the power of the gospel, when it impacts a life for salvation, will transform that life. It would be totally inconceivable that Paul would write here, he was formally useless to you, and he may still be useless, but at least he’s saved. That would be directly contrary to what Paul says. No, he is now useful. I’m sending him back to you, not the same man, but a new creature in Christ Jesus.

Come back to Philemon. You can see the case building here, how and why Philemon ought to evidence and manifest love to him, Onesimus, and forgiveness. He is useful to you now, he’s a transformed person. And when I say he’s useful both to you and to me, I’ve experienced his usefulness already. I have sent him back to you, verse 12, in person, that is, sending my very heart. During the time that Onesimus was with Paul in Rome, he was converted, and we don?t know how long he stayed with him, but during those days following his conversion, he ministered effectively to Paul and Paul came greatly to appreciate him and benefit from him. Again the transformation of salvation is remarkable, that immediately Onesimus has an impact on the apostle Paul, and Paul comes to greatly love him and appreciate his service.

Philemon, I want you to know, I sent him back to you in person. Here he is with the letter, the one standing before you. He’s there, I’ve sent him. That’s like sending my own heart. I’ve sent you part of me. It’s that difficult. The word for heart here refers to the inner person, literally the intestines, right down where you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach, as we talk about. It was wrenching for me to have him go, it was like part of me left. There was more pressure on Philemon, wouldn’t you say. I mean Paul says this is like part of him before me. You know, that’s how dear he is to him, my very heart.

He ministered in my imprisonment for the gospel, a reminder. And you note here, verse l3, whom I wished to keep with me. I really wanted to keep Onesimus with me. That, in your behalf, he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. You know what was going on with Onesimus there with Paul? It was like Philemon was there, ministering to Paul. Why? Onesimus is Philemon’s servant. So what Onesimus did was really the service of Philemon, and that’s got to encourage Philemon to begin to see God’s hand in this. Oh, Paul led me to the Lord. I love him dearly. Oh, he’s imprisoned. Oh, wouldn’t it be a delight to be able to do something for Paul. And now Onesimus stands before you. And he said, he was serving on your behalf, to me and I would have loved to have kept him so he could have continued that service. All of a sudden you begin to say I appreciate the hand of God, oh I’m so glad that God took Onesimus to Rome, not only to get saved but to minister to Paul on my behalf. Oh, I wish Onesimus could have stayed with Paul and continued that ministry. That’s what Paul says, I wish you could have stayed. He would have been your servant, the one that has served me on your behalf, in my imprisonment for the gospel.

Philemon say he wouldn’t want to serve Paul while he’s in prison for the gospel? No. No one who really loves the Lord would want to hold back. Well, keep in mind that’s where Onesimus was. And it was so special to me I wish he could have stayed. That was the desire of my heart. Why didn’t you keep him? Verse l4, but without your consent I did not want to do anything. And if Paul had kept Onesimus with him and just sent the letter, it would have been too much like what choice does Philemon have. He’ll have to write and tell me send Onesimus home. No, that would be compulsion. So, Paul will put the pressure on, but there’s a limit. Paul wouldn’t keep Onesimus. That, I don’t want to happen, not without your consent, that your goodness should not be as it were by compulsion, but of your own free will. You notice this word goodness, back in verse 6. He wanted Philemon to grow in his faith through the knowledge of every good thing, same word we have translated over here, your goodness, your good act. And if you had said, oh fine, keep him. No, that good act and that display of goodness and the work of God in your heart, that would have been by compulsion. No, I want it to be of your own free will. That’s what I would have wanted.

You know Paul uses a similar line of argument in writing to the Corinthians about giving in II Corinthians, Chapter 9, verse 7, he says, Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, there’s our word, for God loves a cheerful giver. In fact Paul’s line of argument there is similar to what he uses with Philemon. He builds the pressure on the Corinthians, but he does not tell them this is what they have to do. He tells them I will be embarrassed if you don’t. The Macedonians have already done it. I’ve told others you’re going to do it, but don’t feel you’re under compulsion and don’t do it because you’re under compulsion. So see, there’s a line here. If I’m doing it because I have to it’s like, you know, I love my wife. So, she says to me, Gil do you love me. I say of course I love you, the bible says I have to love you, so I love you. Didn’t you hear the sermon? Husbands love your wives. God says it, I do it. I love you. Well, that helps a lot. Then she’ll probably say I’m glad you do what God tells you, but I would like you to love me because you want to love me. Isn’t it good enough for you that I love you because God told me to do it? No, it’s not. So, you know, these kind of situations are true in the context of love. And it’s true, we have to serve God, but God wants our service out of love. Paul doesn’t want Philemon to do what is fitting and proper for him in his testimony as a child of God here because Paul commanded him to do it. He wants him to do it because he wants to do it. But he also wants him to know he should do it. When all said and done, he doesn’t want Philemon to say, well, I did it because Paul made me do it. No, I did it because I really wanted to do it, but Paul helped me see I really wanted to do it.

Great, there is growth there. There is development. There’s progress. Not as it were by compulsion, but of your own free will, according to your will. You did it because you wanted to do it. You wanted to display the love of God. You wanted the Spirit to manifest Christ’s character in this difficult context, where the only explanation at the church of Colossae, in the city of Colossae is going to be. It must have been God’s work in his life. There is no human reason why he would have responded to Onesimus and demonstrated that kind of love for him except God worked in his life in a marvelous way. I take it people looked and said, I couldn’t have done it if that would have been my servant, I’m sorry I couldn’t have done it. Might have been right, might have been good, but I couldn’t have taken the loss like that. I couldn’t have accepted it and so on.

Now I don’t think here Paul is asking, and I don’t think he will through the letter, that Onesimus not be a slave any longer. I don’t see anything in the letter that implies that you ought to take him back as less than a slave. Nor do I see Paul asking send Onesimus back. It’s all in the context I would have liked to have kept him, and you keep in mind the time involved in travel here and so on, all be factors. There is no indication in any other later letters that Onesimus joined Paul. Paul is simply expressing what he would have liked which is showing how precious and how useful Onesimus had been to Paul. Not, therefore, saying you ought to send him back to me. That would go beyond what Paul is saying and beyond, I would take it, what Paul desires. But I do want you to know how much I appreciated him, and thus, I hope you will have appreciation for him, and appreciate that God has made him new and transformed him.

You know, this kind of letter I find very interesting to read because it’s so personal, an opportunity to look and say, what would I have done if I was Philemon. Well, what do I do in circumstances and situations of my life where I’m given that opportunity. If somebody wrongs me, if I have rights to do something else, if all I have to go on is mature believers have told me they don’t think it’s proper or fitting. Fine, they can have their opinion, the word of God doesn’t say it’s wrong, it’s legal. I really say, well, you know, to demonstrate the willingness to sacrifice my own desires and to display love in this situation, I want to do that, even though I have one side of me that doesn’t, but I want to exercise my own will to do what is fitting and proper.

And a good reminder. You know, we can’t always run up and hit somebody in the face with a bible, even a believer, and say that’s what you got to do. But that doesn’t mean that we ought to just pull back and say, look, the bible doesn’t say it’s right or wrong, so I’m out. Well, sometimes God wants to use us in another believer’s life and there are things that are proper and fitting for them in their testimony as a believer, and we have to appeal to them on a different level. We can’t tell them they have to do it, and it’s better we don’t tell them that. But that doesn’t mean that it is neutral. It simply means that we must encourage them and help them see that it is important for their testimony and the testimony of the body and so on, that they conduct themselves here in a way that is fitting and proper, in line with what ought to be expected and seen in the life of one who is a follower of Christ.

Wonder what Philemon did. We’re not told in the letter. I think he did the right thing, because I think he would have burned the letter if he didn’t. So the very fact that we’re studying the letter today would indicate that he didn’t pitch, pitch, pitch, pitch, that’s the end of that, no one is going to know that. Evidently it would have been shared, probably with the church as a result of his willingness and I want you to understand why I’m doing this and it did become circulated and I praise God for that and I trust we’ll learn from it as well. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for the life changing power of your gospel. Lord, we’re in awe that Onesimus, a slave who was useless and worthless was transformed by bowing before you and receiving the free gift of life in Christ, to one who was useful. Lord, may we never minimize the power of the gospel, and I pray for those who are here whose life could be described as worthless, a shambles. Lord, they know in their heart that their life is empty and aimless and confused. Lord, may they bow before the Savior who loved them and died for them and receive the free gift of life in Christ. Lord, we praise you for that transformation that occurs in an instant of time. Lord, we thank you for the privilege of helping one another grow. Lord, I pray that we would be willing to be instruments in one another’s growth, even as Paul was, to encourage and exhort and beg to set our pride aside to help others grow. Lord, may we be open in our own lives when we feel the pressure, even as Philemon would have been pressured here to perhaps not do what is fitting and proper for a believer. Lord, thank you for those believers who are around us who love us and bring godly pressure in our lives. Lord, may we be open to that, to desire above all to manifest the beauty of your character, that you might be honored. We ask it all in Christ’s name, Amen.