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PHILEMON 8-11
(Reading: Colossians 3:12-4:1; Philemon 4-11)
The Plea For Love From Love
Fellow members of the Body of our Lord...
You know, such an opening phrase as I’ve used to address us now - this expression about being together equally the Church of our Lord - is the same way Paul gets next to Philemon.
Despite the fact that he could have used his high position, yet he asks Philemon in a most brotherly way.
The text is clear about this.
It shows the approach Paul could have used.
It says, “although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do.”
That’s military language.
That’s the command from those above.
And it could well be needed in certain situations within the Christian church.
In 1st Corinthians 5, for example, Paul gave that church no choice about what they had to do.
And they had no other option!
There was no way a man could sleep with his father’s wife!
So because the Lord really loves his people he is firm with us.
As this apostle could have been with Philemon.
But there is no struggle here with a sinful situation.
It is not a matter of someone failing to live up to what they are in the Lord.
Philemon has the right spirit.
Paul and he were exactly then twin hearts joined in the same precious fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
And especially now they were united in a special cause.
So Paul isn’t addressing Philemon face-to-face.
This is not a confrontational scene.
He is not a father disciplining his wayward son.
Rather, Paul is next to his side as a brother!
Verse 9 let’s us see this unique bond with these words of Paul, “I appeal to you on the basis of love.”
It’s an appeal - not a command.
This is no expectation - it’s an appreciation!
In the Greek this comes from the word for “call”.
The same word used when people in the Bible are challenged to do something in particular.
So apart from all the normal everyday things of life, Paul says, “Philemon, the Lord would love you to do this special thing.
“Can I ask you to do it?”
Congregation, the apostle has been very careful right from the beginning of this letter to put Philemon in the right situation.
There could be no doubt as to how much Paul looked up to Philemon.
He had the utmost confidence in his faith that he would respond.
And now he asks.
Dear believer, it is interesting what happens when you ask someone for something.
A friend once said to me, “If you ask someone to help it’s very rarely they’ll refuse.”
“Mind you,” he said, “if you virtually demand it of them, expecting that person to help anyway, you are a lot less likely to get help.”
So if you ask there’s a certain atmosphere.
Instead of coming down upon them, imposing, forcing, you’re actually coming from below him.
Because he or she is the one who can help.
They have the privilege to be able to say “yes” or “no”.
Now, this is fruitful ministry.
The brethren are shown in the verses above what they have in the Lord.
The blessing of the fruit of saved lives is detailed in a rising wave of thankfulness.
The Lord is so good!
We are so incredibly blessed!
Don’t you think we should enjoy it all the more?
That’s the question from HE WHO MINISTERS.
And this is our first aspect.
Well, don’t you think we should do it even more?
And we move away here from the distinct ministry of the Word.
This is not just for preachers.
Though of all people in the church the minister is the one especially chosen to ask this question through the preaching of the Word.
Believer, we’re waiting for your answer.
What are you going to do?
How is God’s Word going to still be making a difference in your life?
That shows us the real difference between the Old and New Testament.
We read in Exodus 28 about those who ministered for the Lord before God’s answer came in Christ.
These priests had a special position.
Because, you see, the Lord hadn’t yet shown himself in his Son.
The Light was still to clearly shine.
But he did say he would come to shine.
And he shows he will do that by certain ministers, who were the priests.
Ministers only for a while until the Great Minister would come.
Because all those sacrifices they continually offered up - all those bulls and rams and goats and ewes and cows, all the offerings of harvest, and the incense - were showing us how great God’s Answer had to be because of our sin.
But they were also told of a time when every believer would minister.
Each single Christian would have the spirit of the Great Minister so that they could - each one of them! - minister.
That’s the time Jeremiah prophesied of.
Jeremiah 31, the verses 31 till 34, tells us about it.
Then, instead of looking forward in a limited way, they would look back on the most unlimited love!
Then all those outward reminders were now living in their hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Congregation, HE WHO MINISTERS is driven from the inside.
There’s a force at work within which carries on the sacrifice of Christ into all their lives.
And through them into the lives of others as well.
Particularly to other Christians.
That is where the Lord is in a special way.
It’s only there that he can make himself to be by faith.
And it’s a family!
The family of Faith.
Paul has pointed to how we know this on the inside.
HE WHO MINISTERS is driven from within.
But, also, HE WHO MINISTERS is showing that without!
Paul only too readily shows what a difference it has made to him.
Look at verse 9.
“I then, as Paul - an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”
If we’re thinking about families we have to say that Paul is certainly an older brother here.
With all he’s been through he is “an old man” in the faith.
You can see it!
Here’s someone mature in the faith.
One commentator described Paul as the Lord’s veteran.
He had grown old in the service of the common Lord he served with Philemon.
Well, you would have to say that with the many battles and fierce struggles he had fought.
That would’ve taken it out of him.
There was no doubt here about HE WHO MINISTERS.
Yes, Paul was that dedicated he was writing this letter as a prisoner for the faith.
The very man through whom Philemon had come to know the Lord was now in bonds for his Lord.
The Gospel which had freed Philemon had now bound up Paul.
The weakness of age was made worse by the helplessness of bonds.
How could Philemon refuse a request from someone who has suffered so much for the Master to whom they both belonged?
I’m sure that Philemon would have been in tears reading this part of the letter.
Paul needs him - desperately!
And I need you.
We cannot live without each other.
Oh, we’ll try.
We see how far we can get on our own.
And what a terrible burden we have when we know we’re wrong?
But to live in unity!
To experience a harmony that can only be from above.
I mean, it must be from the Lord because we would never have been able to do it!
We wouldn’t even have thought about it!
Friend - are we ministers together?
Could we dare to enter this week joined in our hearts to do the best in that precious faith we’ve been given together?
It’s that sense Paul has built up as he now hits the heart of what his letter is about.
For in verse 10 he says, “I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.”
‘Appeal’ - again the word “to call.”
This is a special request.
“Please - hear this plea!”
Don’t let these words pass between your ears - do it!
“You see, Onesimus is one of us!”
“Though I know you’re very hurt since he stole those things and ran away, please take him back!”
Congregation, from seeing HE WHO MINISTERS, this is now HE WHO IS MINISTERED FOR.
Paul brings out his own ministry for Onesimus.
A bond which couldn’t be any closer!
“I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.”
In the original the name of Onesimus is the very last word of this verse.
So before Paul even mentions the name of the person which Philemon may be very angry with, he has covered it with two important considerations.
The first of these is that Onesimus is his own son.
The possessiveness is very strong.
Paul is the spiritual father of this child.
It reminds me of an incident in the life of John Calvin.
He was married to Idelette de Bure and they had had only one child, who had died at birth.
Because they had no surviving children his opponents in Geneva would publicly taunt him.
Many people saw childless then as a part of being cursed by God for wrong you had done.
And these ungodly men would use this, too, as a way to denigrate their enemy.
Which they publicly taunted Calvin with!
But John Calvin looked them straight in the eye.
He replied with the most complete and utter conviction, “I have many spiritual children.”
And that’s what Onesimus was to Paul, who also had no children.
His spiritual child.
Together with Timothy, Titus, and even Philemon, Onesimus was part of the family.
The phrase in verse 10 is full of tender love.
He’s so young in the faith.
But what an example of what Paul had already written to the Colossian church where Philemon was.
In the words of Colossians 3 verse 11, “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
Now the way Paul writes about Onesimus is typical of the warm bond of love between Paul and his converts.
So what a wonderful reflection the apostle shows of how God’s grace had changed him.
Here is the one-time self-righteous Pharisee - the heir of Jewish exclusiveness.
And - look! – he is speaking about a Gentile, and a gentile slave at that, from the very dregs of Roman society, and he calls him a son!
When Paul says that there is no difference now he tells us he’s a changed man.
He believes.
So he knows Onesimus believes, too.
This slave is now God’s slave in saving faith.
The second important consideration is in the words, “who became my son while I was in chains.”
For how much more special could it be for the Lord’s apostle than to be comforted with this conversion in a difficult time?
In that prison setting - whether that was actually a grim physical prison with its gates and locks, or a house arrest which still kept him away from preaching amongst the Gentiles - Paul is given a father’s joy.
God brings to him a convert!
A new life!
He’s still ministering!
And again Philemon is reminded of where Paul is.
It’s the third time in this letter he hears the clanking of the prisoner’s chains.
So clearly and convincingly the case is made to Philemon.
We may think it’s very tactfully that Paul puts his case.
He pulls the emotional strings with referring to being a prisoner - he praises Philemon highly; he speaks to him as a friend, not as an inferior – and he only mentions Onesimus’ name after he’s paved the way.
But, then, in a clever play on words, Paul’s straightaway honest about what this slave was.
Verse 11 begins, “Formerly he was useless to you.”
That’s blunt!
You see, that particular word he uses - “useless” - also reflects on the name “Onesimus”.
Because Onesimus means “helpful” or “profitable”.
It’s this sort of name that haunts someone when they’re not living up to it.
But now it speaks heaps about whose he really is!
And Paul, as someone who would have heard from Onesimus how bad he’d been in the past, draws also the meaning of his name to show how different he now is.
This slave will now really benefit his Master.
It makes such a difference when you’re working united with someone, than when you’re wondering what wrong they going to do next.
The heart is changed.
With that change faith will flow.
Congregation, this faith has flowed out in the place which builds it up.
Because Onesimus had been with Paul.
He had learned not to be anymore the slave who only obeys his master when his eye is on him, and then only to win his favour.
No more licking up to the boss!
Instead, as we also read in Colossians 3 verse 22, he now works “with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.”
Onesimus would be working with all his heart.
He was working for the Lord, not for men.
And even though a slave’s position may have been hard, he knew there was another Master in heaven - a master who had his own reward for faith-filled service.
Yes, now Onesimus is truly useful.
That’s what ministry is about.
As Ephesians chapter 4, the verses 12 and 13, says, it is “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Now together the master and his slave would serve and grow in their Lord.
Paul knew it would be so.
And he could be so sure of it because of what he would be missing with Onesimus.
Brothers and sisters, haven’t we felt that way when fellow church members have left to another city or country?
You had become joined in the Gospel.
It is so deeply sad to see them go.
But let’s also think of it this way:
They’ll be blessing to where they’re going!
The same God who made them such a growing and active part of us, will make that continue where they are now.
With that knowledge we can have an inner joy.
He’s our Heavenly Father!
It’s all in his hands!
Tell me, can you think of a better place for us to be?
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray...
Dearest loving Father,
Thank you for making all this so.
We can have this Scripture proclaimed to us, and be reminded of your working through the ages.
And we’re reassured that you’re with us today, too!
Do move us by your Spirit to minister where we are.
Bless those who are building us up - no matter who they are or what they do.
Because then your Name is being honoured - you are receiving the glory rightly yours.
For then the Gospel of Christ Jesus is declared.
In his precious Name, we pray, Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
The source for this sermon was: www.rcnz.org.nz
(c) Copyright, Rev. Sjirk Bajema
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