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PHILEMON 12-16
(Reading: 2 Cor.9:6-15; Phil.8-16)
God’s Good Gifts - Of Each Other!
Dearly loved in the Lord Jesus Christ...
Our text begins and ends by exposing Paul’s deep emotional bond.
The life of this missionary apostle was a series of warm and growing friendships drastically cut short by being called to different places.
And now it was happening again.
He has said goodbye to another dear friend.
Now, most of us have family ties here.
Many of our friends we have now will still be with us next year, and the year after, and even years after that.
Congregation, each of them is a rich blessing.
Something the Lord wants us to enjoy, especially since he’s now our best Friend of all.
Isn’t that true, boys and girls?
To have a good friend who sticks by you, through thick and thin, is the best thing!
You know how left out you feel when you don’t have a friend.
So the friends you have here remind you of the greatest relationship we have with God in Christ.
Paul has friends.
Though he spends such little time with his friends, yet he really appreciates them, and the encouragement they are to his ministry.
Even Onesimus, the runaway slave who had been so useless, has become the Lord’s treasure to him.
He’s so precious to him that when he says, “I am sending him - who is my very own heart,” it’s like the apostle is tearing the heart out of his own chest!
Philemon couldn’t miss this feeling when he reads this letter.
He simply couldn’t escape this compelling point ... THE LORD HAS SENT ONESIMUS THERE.
This is our first aspect to this text.
You see, it’s not Paul’s natural choice to send Onesimus.
Verse 13 shows how he would much rather have wanted it.
He says there, “I would have liked to keep him with me.”
So it’s not because he wants to get rid of him that Paul sends Onesimus.
Nor is it either because he thinks that Philemon has been deprived of him.
This isn’t a business arrangement.
Then Paul could have kept him.
After all, Philemon owed Paul so much, especially because he was saved through him.
And what could be more valuable than eternal life?
Well - that’s what your life shows - doesn’t it?
Congregation, his own slave was there before Philemon because THE LORD HAS SENT ONESIMUS THERE.
But some still might disagree.
They could say, as has been said, that Paul was obligated under Roman law to send him back.
They say it’s something which had to happen anyway.
But this is not entirely true.
There were differences in this law.
For instance, an equivalent price could be paid.
Or he could have stayed with Paul until everything was completely fixed up with Philemon.
The law in the Old Testament even instructed a runaway slave to stay with the person he had run to.
It was especially this law from Scripture which Paul could have used, but rather he presents Onesimus to Philemon, so that he can act as a Christian of his own free will.
For there is no sense of compulsion here.
He doesn’t have to do it.
But there is a moving of the Holy Spirit.
Because here is sacrifice!
Paul goes out of his way to think of Philemon.
He’s not going to try and justify keeping Onesimus with him.
He crosses himself off.
Even though Paul could have got away with it, to do so would actually be stopping his Christian brother from being able to truly give.
Then he would be putting Philemon in the position that he feels he has to let Paul have Onesimus.
But this way, through Paul going out of his way to think about him, Philemon will really know that THE LORD HAS SENT ONESIMUS.
It would so clear because it was so unexpected!
The last person he would ever have expected to see was Onesimus!
And then to see him so changed!
What a present for Philemon.
A surprise gift!
How he would have been thrilled with this!
Fancy someone going to all this bother for him.
And it’s none other than the apostle Paul who does it.
Imagine how he would have felt.
Whatever anger and disappointment he would have had with his slave would suddenly become so small.
In fact, it would have completely disappeared!
How could he feel bitter now that he knew THE LORD HAD SENT ONESIMUS THERE?
It’s with this spirit-filled gift that the scene is set for verse 14.
It’s all leading to the fact that ... THE LORD HAS HIS PLACE FOR ONESIMUS.
We come now to our second aspect.
The reason why he was meant to be there was also in our reading from 2nd Corinthians chapter 9.
There Paul shows what state our hearts must be in for a gift to be truly blessed.
In verse 7 of 2nd Corinthians 9, he says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Dear believers, it has to come from the heart of faith.
Whatever we do has to be because it’s the Lord Jesus at work in our lives.
And if we haven’t received faith in him we don’t know what this kind of giving is anyway!
It’s because of the faith in Philemon that Paul says no to himself.
By keeping Onesimus there would be no sacrifice.
But by giving him - as our Heavenly Father gave in Jesus Christ first-of-all - he would enable Philemon to give back to God.
Perhaps this seems a bit complicated.
But think of all those others in this congregation.
They are a gift of the Lord to you.
They are his surprise for us today.
If your faith is genuine, you’ll see that.
You will actually be happy about that.
Because then you see... the Lord has sent them!
Each of us is a runaway spiritual slave who has come to know where we should be.
That’s why we’re here!
The Lord didn’t decide to send us off on some desert island to meditate the rest of our lives in some extra-mystical, trance-like, state.
I mean - where are you now?
Yes - you’re in church.
You are with God’s family.
Here’s something you just cannot be separated from because without the church you die!
Dear friend, to think that we can simply worship God in our own way, without any other Christians, is actually taking the heart out of religion altogether!
Anyone who thinks they can just worship God on the beach, or on a hill-top, has missed what faith is all about.
Because if we’re only saved for ourselves then Paul should’ve kept Onesimus all to himself!
But for Paul not to have sent Onesimus back would have broken Christian fellowship.
And that’s because Philemon wouldn’t have been able to give spontaneously and without being forced.
You see, whatever we do has an impact on someone else.
If physically we can’t survive on this earth without other people, then spiritually it’s eternally true!
We have to be involved with others.
And that’s what true love is all about.
Mind you, that’s not the love they sing about in the latest hit.
And it’s not what the square box tells us is love.
The most that is is self-love.
But it’s definitely not true love!
Congregation, true love is what’s here in the text, because THE LORD HAS HIS PLACE FOR ONESIMUS.
There among the brothers and sisters in the church at Colossae - that’s where he belongs.
And in many ways it’s the place he would have last felt like being!
This is not first of all the love that starts with your feelings.
To truly love, however, is to think about someone else first of all.
And in this case Onesimus showed real love by going back to his master, his household, and his church.
Imagine there were two brothers in the church who were not getting on.
There had been a difference in the dim, dark past.
A difference, though, that led to a severe division.
They got to the point of ignoring each other - quite blatantly, too!
But the Lord was gracious.
There were meetings arranged.
They came together.
They went through all the difficulties.
They said there was now nothing between them.
But then one of them said that since they were now reconciled he didn’t need to have anything to do with the other person anymore.
He said that reconciliation didn’t mean they had to have anything to do with each other.
Being apart all those years showed how they didn’t get on anyway!
Congregation, what do you think about that?
Could Paul have been wrong after all?
Does reconciliation only mean a handshake, and perhaps the one symbolic act together?
Of course not!
If each of us is honestly thinking about the good of each other, we know that we have in our Father God all the resources we need for getting on together!
We can put aside however we may have known them in the past, and be the Lord’s family together.
Isn’t that what the world sees?
This was the witness of the early New Testament church in its community.
Because those around them saw how much they loved each other.
They were known.
It was genuine - as Paul knew it was a living faith in Onesimus.
This means that we know what it is.
And also we show what it means.
Doctrine and life!
You see, every part of us is being changed.
As we know Onesimus was so different.
You see, our third aspects notes ... THE LORD HAS PREPARED THIS FOR ONESIMUS.
Paul knew this.
As he gave freely in sending Onesimus back, he knew that this would be a blessing for all the saints in Colossae.
Well, would another believer ever go astray by being in a true church?
No - and especially if he was so living by his faith as Onesimus.
But even if one of us isn’t as dedicated as he or she could be - can that take away from where he or she is in the Lord?
And does that excuse the rest of us from trying to understand how that could be helped?
Because I don’t believe that Onesimus would have had nothing to sort out when he got back.
Philemon, for one, would have to forgive him, and be reconciled to him.
There would be others in the household whom he had hurt as well - whether by making them work harder because he ran away, the time they spent searching for him, and so on.
Whatever it was, though, congregation, he and they are now right where they’re meant to be!
For hasn’t he, and haven’t they, been prepared exactly for this?
But, then, that’s what verse 15 tells us anyway.
As Paul says there, “Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good - no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother.”
Dear person in the pew - could you still be that runaway slave?
You’ve broken with your family that raised you in the faith, even if perhaps you still live at home.
Because in your heart you’re a million miles away!
The church is so out of touch!
Could I dare to suggest that actually the church is still in touch - with the One who really counts!
You’re out of it!
You’ve decided to go your own way.
You’re going to do your own thing!
Do you know how I can show this to you?
Well, think about this: Can you speak of anyone here like Paul spoke of Onesimus in verse 16?
Are you able to see beyond your own family or friendship connection, and say that what’s most important of all is that someone belongs to the Lord?
You don’t see that person first of all as your friend or family.
Instead, you see you’re joined to them - in the Body of our Lord.
Is he or she dear to you - no matter who they might be?
When God’s people were threatened with complete annihilation in the reign of King Xerxes of Persia, Mordecai told Esther that she had been placed there by God for such a time as this.
As he said in Esther 4:14, “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
And Joseph saw the same of his calling.
In Genesis 45 verse 5, he said that he had been taken to Egypt to become the Vice-regent exactly so that he would save many lives.
Those saints of the past saw that they weren’t there for themselves.
They acted, in faith, for others.
Those others who are the treasure of the Lord.
And the Heavenly Father loves it when young men, and young women, and older folk, and children, show what matters most of all.
That’s exactly what he saves us for!
May the Lord in his sovereign love make many other runaway spiritual slaves come home also.
And let’s pray and work that he keeps us here - here with the family who we’re all related to by faith in him.
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray...
Lord God, please so move in us by your Spirit that we are able to be led by you.
Help us to so follow our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that our whole lives are an acceptable sacrifice to you.
And like him, keep us humble.
In his saving name alone, 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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