Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has
for us here today.
All right, well, we're going to start a new study here this evening,
a new book study.
If you're here with us for the first time, you're at a good time.
And if you're meeting back with us, we just finished a study
in the book of Jude and now we're gonna start in the book of
Philemon.
And so another book that you don't often hear preached on if you
don't know where Philemon is, it's tucked in between Titus and
Hebrews.
So if you know where Hebrews is, go to Hebrews and go back a chapter.
And that is just one chapter.
Philemon is one chapter, 25 verses.
And the reason why Philemon is not talked about as frequently is
because one, it's so short.
And most of the time the short books of the Bible get overlooked
because a lot of times people think that smaller books have a smaller
message.
And that's why you hear minor and major prophets.
But the minor prophets aren't the minor prophets because they're
not important, they're just minor because they're smaller.
And so that would be the thing with Philemon.
Another reason why Philemon isn't always talked about is because
it deals with a sensitive topic.
Specifically, it deals with an individual who is a runaway slave.
I'm a bond servant and we're going to talk a little bit about
that.
And a lot of people have a hard time connecting the dots between
the idea of what's Paul talking about in regards to the Gospel.
But I think this is an amazing book of the Bible that, that talks
about the law and grace, forgiveness, mercy and the opportunity
to see people on the same level.
The Bible teaches that when we become born again believers, there's
no one that's more important than somebody else.
No one holds a higher status in the eyes of God.
We know that the Bible says there's, you know, no more Jew or
gentile bond or free.
And the beauty of the Gospel is that the gospel is for all.
And when someone comes to Christ in redemption, it doesn't
matter if they are multi billionaires or they have no money
to their name.
The Bible says that they stand before God the same way.
And that's the beauty of the gospel.
And so that's mentioned here in Philemon.
Another picture in the book of Philemon is the picture of restoration,
the idea of a runaway slave and then his master receiving him
back and restoring that relationship.
And I believe it's a beautiful picture of the relationship that
God has with us in the restoration process of once we were
enemies of God, now we are a part of his family.
And so there's a lot of beautiful pictures here.
Who writes the book of Philemon?
Well, we know ultimately God writes the book of Philemon, but
the, the human author is Paul, and Paul is in prison.
Okay, So I want to paint the picture for you.
A lot of tonight we'll be painting the picture and getting
the, the plane off of the Runway.
And then for the rest of the study, we'll, we'll dive in deeper.
But Paul is in prison at this point.
He's a prisoner in Rome.
And he has a guy come to him named Onesimus.
Onesimus is a runaway slave.
And we find out that at some point in time, Onesimus gets saved.
And so Paul leads him to Christ.
Paul is discipling him.
And Paul realizes that Onesimus is a runaway slave from
a guy named Philemon, which Paul knows Philemon, there was a
connection there.
And they have a past.
And we actually see that Paul was personal friends with Philemon.
And we know that because of the way that Paul addresses Philemon
in this passage.
One of the unique elements of this book is that Paul writes to
an individual.
Think about, most of Paul's epistles are written to churches,
groups of people, right?
So Ephesians would be written to the church at Ephesus, and, and
so, and so on and so forth.
Now, there are a few exceptions to that.
We know first and second Timothy was written to Timothy as
a pastor, but pastoring a church.
So there was specific details for Timothy to learn and to grow
in, but also for him to bring to the church.
So there was that.
There's also Titus, which was a passage of Scripture to another
pastor there, but again, it was for the church as well.
This is unique in the fact that it's written to an individual
for an individual situation, for restoration of individuals, and
not for the sake of the whole church, even though the church can
benefit from what we can learn here.
And so this was written approximately around 60 AD and the
letter to Philemon is, is Paul's shortest letter.
It deals with a sensitive topic.
And if you don't understand the context of this topic, it'll
be Very hard to kind of get past it.
And that is the idea of slavery.
Obviously we know that term slavery in the context of what we
live in today and what we have come from in our country.
But the type of slavery that would have been happening at this
time and at this place in the book of Philemon is different than
the slavery that we experience in our country, and that even is
still happening today.
Most of the time we link slavery to picking an individual
from a certain group of people and their race or where they're from,
and then stealing them, capturing them and putting them into
servitude to them.
And so that is not the type of slavery that is talked about here
in this passage.
And so there's a lot of people that will.
And this is a sensitive topic.
And as a pastor, sometimes it's easy to skirt around, but we've
got to address it.
Some people will think that the Bible doesn't condemn slavery,
therefore the Bible is for slavery.
And we need to be very cautious on that realm because we
can get ourselves into some slippery situations if we agree to
that premise.
And so though the Bible does not out and out say that this type
of slavery is wrong, we know that because Paul addresses Philemon
not to say, hey, stop being a slave owner, but what does he say?
He says to restore him back as a brother.
Now, now there is some latitude in how that looks.
But what I will say is that just because the Bible doesn't address
that specifically, it never condones it either.
And it specifically does not condone the type of slavery that
we have mentioned already.
And I want to show you a few passages of scripture that actually
talk about that, just so that we don't have a misunderstanding
of, of what this is all talking about here.
So what I would have you go to is Exodus chapter 21, verse 16.
I want to build a framework of understanding before we go any further,
because a lot of times people will read the book of Philemon and
because of their understanding of, of slavery and servitude and
the whole dynamic of, of, of race and, and pressures against other
countries, they would say, well, you know what, I can't even
get anything out of Philemon because how could he accept him back
in that same regard?
Well, let's look at What Exodus chapter 21, verse 16 says,
because we need to be very clear about what God says about taking
someone against their will and putting them into servitude.
The Bible says in Exodus 21, verse 16, and he that stealeth a
man.
And so that's what we're talking about taking someone that
does not belong to them and putting them into service.
He that steals a man and selleth him, or if he be found in
his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
And so we see that God's heart in that matter is that they should
not do that.
That is wrong.
That is, that is a sin.
Um, so we move on.
You say, well, that's the Old Testament, Pastor.
We live by the new.
Well, if you go to first Timothy, chapter one, verse eight
through ten, we see God speaking against certain actions
here, even in the New Testament.
And so first Timothy, chapter one, verses eight through ten, tell
us more about this idea of stealing someone and putting them
into servitude.
And so if you look at verse 18, it says, this charge, I commit
unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which
went before on thee, that thou be, that thou by them.
Midas war, a good warfare holding faith, and a good conscience
which having some, which some having put away concerning faith
have made shipwrecked.
And so what we're conce.
What we see here in this case is that I'm in the wrong verses.
Well, I'm jumped ahead.
So verse eight.
Sorry about that.
I had 18 written down, but I, I know now it's verse eight.
Sorry.
But we know that the law is good if any man use it lawfully,
knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but
for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and
for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, for manslayers.
So he's listing all these things that the law fights against.
For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind,
for men stealers.
That phrase men stealers would be taking people and putting them
into servitude, putting them into slavery for liars, for perjured
persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound
doctrine.
So we very clearly see that that type of slavery, taking someone
against their will, selling them into servitude, would be, as
the Bible says, against sound doctrine.
So, so if anyone ever says the Bible condone slavery in the, in
the context that we understand, it's.
It's wrong, it's not the case.
So what type of slavery are we talking about?
We're talking about a type of slavery where someone basically is
a bond servant, if you ever heard that term bond servant, which
basically means this individual owed a debt, this individual
did not have the funds to pay this debt.
And so the agreement would be that they would come under the servitude
of the master and they would work for them for a certain amount
of time or maybe for their whole life.
And they would do that so that they could repay a debt that they
could not pay.
And so it was someone signing up for something.
And, and then on the other side of things, a lot of times what
would happen is that some individuals, history tells us they
would actually choose that path because it was a path of security.
It was, it was essentially having an income without having an
income.
It was a way that they could have security.
And if they trusted the person that was running the, the, the works
there, they would, they would feel as if they had some security.
Now probably there were individuals who abused that.
And that's, that's human nature.
But what we have to understand is that that's, that's what we're
talking about when we're talking about Philemon and Onesimus.
So, so the, the Bible gives instructions on how masters should
treat their servants.
We know that in the Old Testament and the New.
And so what God does in, in the Old Testament and the New is
he speaks to the heart of the matter.
We know that if an individual has a heart for God and a heart for
his Word, they're not going to abuse others.
And Colossians chapter four talks about that relationship.
And so, so at this case in time, I wanted to just kind of explain
that because we know that all people are created in the image of
God.
Um, we, we know that the Bible speaks very clearly on loving each
other and everyone stands before the same in the eyes of God.
And so just for historical context, that's what we're talking
about here.
So Philemon didn't steal Onesimus from his homeland, put him
into slavery.
Onesimus had signed up for this as a bond servant.
So context is, is key when we're talking about these types of
sensitive things.
So going back, let's start in verse number one, Paul a prisoner
of Jesus Christ.
Which is so interesting that Paul mentions that, because we know
that Paul is literally a prisoner at this point, but we know
that also he likens that to the spiritual side of things that
he is, he is a bond servant to God.
And so Paul paints a very interesting picture here.
He's talking to Philemon about his servant and Paul identifies himself
as a servant of Jesus Christ.
And so he's setting the stage to explain what he's about to ask
Philemon to do.
And so I think that's important to note as well.
And Paul, Paul paints an awesome picture here of his being
a slave to Jesus Christ.
So prisoner of Jesus Christ.
And he doesn't say a prisoner of Rome.
He could have said that.
But he realizes that he is not under the power of Rome.
He's under the power of God, no matter where he is.
And I found that to be interesting as I was reading this,
getting started here.
And Timothy, our brother.
So, so Paul is speaking on behalf of himself and Timothy unto
Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer.
And so just by way of verse one, we can tell that Paul and Philemon
were not only acquaintances, but they were beloved.
They were dearly beloved, they were close friends, and they were
fellow laborers, meaning they worked together at some capacity
within the church.
And so Paul recognizes him as a close friend living in Colossi,
by the way, Colossians.
So he would have been at the church of Colossi.
A lot of, a lot of people would argue that he came from a different
place.
Some would actually argue, I think it was Thessalonica, but most
likely we can tell through connecting this all together that
he is from Colossae.
So anyway, Paul's friendship with Philemon showed to be significant
here.
It was, it was an important thing.
So he goes on to say verse two, and to our beloved Afia, which
most people believe that was Philemon's wife, which she plays
a role in this as well, which we'll talk about a little bit if
we have time to get there.
And then Archippus, which would be, they believe, his son.
So this address to the family members shows that they had a personal
relationship.
He knew them on a personal level.
And to the church in thy house, which is interesting because
we see that Philemon was running a house church here.
He was, he was overseeing to some degree the.
The church within his.
Within his own house.
And that's really how churches were back then.
If you look back at history, you look back at records, it wasn't
until a couple centuries later that you started to see people having
common properties for specifically a church.
Leading up to this time, for many, many years, churches were based
in the homes.
And then they went out and then they would have these cell groups
that they would have.
And so it's interesting to see how that all works.
And so this means that the church in Colossi was meeting in
the house of Philemon for at least some point in time.
And so the earliest Christians, they didn't buy property
like we have here.
They didn't have nice cathedrals that, that came Much later.
And, and so that.
I think that's a beautiful thing.
And I think one of the things that we can learn from that is I
don't think there.
There are some pastors out there today that actually teach that
we should move to that model.
Actually, Alicia and I met someone not too long ago, and that's
the model that they took.
They're like, you know, no longer are we going to have church
in a building.
We're just going to do it from our house.
And.
And it wasn't like an excuse.
They were really meeting with other people.
He was a pastor and they were meeting the homes.
Uh, there was.
There was a story.
I won't say who it is, because some people might like him or not
like him, but there was a pastor who had a mega church, and
he realized that that was not biblical in his mind.
And so he splintered that and said, okay, we're going to start
a bunch of house churches.
And it's an interesting thing to think about.
I don't think that we have to do that.
I don't think that that's necessary.
But what I do think is that the spirit of that should be in regards
to how we should meet and worship.
So what we can see is that they were saved.
People meeting in homes, they were worshiping together, they were
having the bond of unity.
They were supplied with some type of oversight, some type of accountability.
Um, there was teaching present within the home, and there was the
heart of fellowship and family within the home.
And so therefore, I think those are elements that we should
see within our church.
And so it doesn't matter where you meet.
It doesn't matter if you're meeting in the cathedral or you're
meeting in a home, or you're meeting in.
In anywhere.
It.
It doesn't matter as.
As long as those elements are there, I think it's important to.
To say that that's church.
Okay, Verse three.
This is Paul's common greeting, that he would give grace
to you in peace.
Grace and peace.
Obviously, Paul preached grace and peace in all that he did from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so he gives this introduction, and we know that that's
how Paul starts most of his introductions, is through grace and
peace.
Now let's get to verse number four.
Paul is about to ask Philemon to do a very difficult thing.
He's basically asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus.
Why?
Because Onesimus runs away.
Now, that might sound bad, but for Onesimus, essentially was a death
penalty on his head.
If Onesimus did get caught and go back.
Philemon had the opportunity and really, you know, he had the
freedom to do with whatever he wanted to do with Philemon, at least
in Roman law and in tradition, um, he could have kept them and made
life a lot harder for him.
He could have had him back and executed his judgment upon him by
taking his life.
And so Paul, he doesn't know how Philemon's gonna respond to what
he's about to ask him to do.
And so I think this is a really interesting thing that Paul
does right before he asks him to do something very difficult and
challenges him on this.
He basically gives thanks for Philemon.
And, and I think that, I'm not saying that Paul is, we used to say
in the south, buttering them up.
I don't think Paul is lying to Philemon, but I think he's coming
with something positive.
He's not, he's not just running in and attacking Philemon,
Assuming that Philemon is going to have issue with this.
He's going to come in and he's going to give Philemon thanks and
give God thanks for their relationship.
So let's look at verse four.
He says, I thank my God, making mention of the always in my
prayers.
And so what is Paul saying?
He says, I thank God for you and our relationship and I want to
let you know I pray for you often.
And so, you know, I, I, I've heard some people say, well, I don't
need to tell that person I'm praying for them because I'm praying
for them.
Well, and God knows I'm praying for them.
But the Bible here very clearly teaches us Paul's example
of telling people that we're praying for them.
And so I think we should tell people that we're praying for them.
Now don't tell people that you're praying for them if you're
not praying for them.
Okay?
Some of us maybe have been guilty of that.
I probably at some point in my life have been guilty of that, of
saying, oh, I'll pray for you brother.
And I walk away and I don't pray for them.
And so one of the, one of the tools that I have used recently is
hey, just pray for them right there.
Either pray with them or pray a silent prayer when, when you're,
when you're thinking of them immediately.
And actually that's a, that's a really interesting thing too.
I think about a lot if someone comes to your mind throughout the
day, pray for them.
I, or, or take another step, pray for them and then reach out
to them.
I think that's been one of the things that, that I have seen recently
is, is God has moved someone on my mind and my heart.
It's been a blessing for me to say, you know what, I'm going to
go ahead and call them.
And they, and they were telling me, well, you know what?
I just was, I was having a bad day.
And when you called me, that really encouraged me and I had no
idea they're having a bad day.
But, but that, that's the Holy Spirit.
That's the beauty of that.
So Paul says, hey, I think about you and I pray for you.
Verse 5, Hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward
the Lord Jesus.
So, so Paul recognizes Philemon's public testimony of his
love for Christ.
And so Paul makes mention of him to God.
And, and Paul mentions that a lot.
He, he talks about that in the book of Romans, Ephesians, 1st Thessalonians.
And, and he says, the reason why I know that you love God is because
of your evident, your testimony.
You're pointing people to Christ.
And that's what he says there.
He says, hearing of your love and faith which thou hast toward
the Lord Jesus and toward all saints.
So, so the testimony is this.
He loves God and he loves God's people.
Okay, the saints, right.
Sometimes it depends on your, your church background.
When you hear that word saints, what you think of if you
came from a Catholic background, saints are elevated individuals
that are above us in our spirituality.
But biblically speaking, when you hear the word saint, it's just
talking about another believer.
Okay, So I know that we, we could maybe be overthinking this,
but I think that in verse five, we see the law of God.
Okay, not the law as the Mosaic law, but the new commandment
that he gives unto us.
The first and greatest commandment is what to love God with
everything and to what?
Love our neighbor as ourselves.
On those two things hang all the law and the prophets.
And so our testimony shouldn't be, well, you know, I mean, it could
be.
We could strive to do this.
Well, look at them like, they follow everything according to the
law.
They follow everything according to the Word.
Or you could love God with everything and love others and everything
else will fall into place.
You will do the things that you should do if you love God and
love others.
And so we're going to see that kind of coming to pass here with
Philemon.
But, but, but no doubt, I think that that is the testimony
that we all should be striving for in our life so that what someone
would think about us, they would think that I'm an individual
who loves Christ, I'm an individual who loves others, who
shares the love of God towards all saints.
So this is, I believe this is the foundation for effective, effective
evangelism.
Right?
We're talking about going, we're talking about being salt and
light.
We're talking about loving, growing, connecting, serving.
You know, you could say any slogan, but, but God has, has done
wonderful things in our life.
He.
He's.
He's blessed us.
And that's what verse six talks about.
It says that the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you, in Christ
Jesus.
Meaning, Meaning this, that, that as you, as you share your faith
with others, as you share the truth of others, you're acknowledging
what God has done in your life.
And I think that's, that's the best route of evangelism, just telling
people what God has done for you.
And so now it was a matter now for Philemon to understand that,
hey, as God has shared love and forgiveness to me and mercy to
me, so, so you see Paul setting him up to say, hey, you know
what?
Look what God's done for you.
Look how you shared the love of God with other people.
And so the reason why you can do what I'm about to ask you to do
is because of what Christ has done for you.
So we have to communicate what God has done for us as we share our
faith.
And so some people would argue that Paul is talking about sharing
material things, but I think in this case he's specifically talking
about sharing his faith.
And the reason why I think that is, if you go to verse number
six, it says that the community of thy faith may become
effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you,
in Christ Jesus.
There's the idea there of, of acknowledging or sharing.
That word is the word that we also use for fellowship or koinonia.
And you ever heard of us having our fifth Sunday coin a Sunday?
It's fellowshipping.
And it's not just fellowshipping as, hey, how you doing?
How's the weather?
Did your team win?
Did this happen?
But fellowshipping for the purpose of edification, fellowshipping
for the purpose of, of sharing our, our hearts with other people,
of building them up, of encouraging each other.
So there is that idea of, of the spiritual there in verse six.
So it's not just about him sharing his goods or his services,
but ultimately for the simple fact of him sharing the love of Christ
to those around him.
And then we'll look at verse number seven.
It says, for we have great joy and consolation, that's comfort in
thy love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee,
brother.
It's one of the rare times in which he recognizes someone as brother,
which, that's why we do that within the church.
That's why we acknowledge each other as brothers, not just friends.
You know, we, we have that tight knit community in faith.
But he says we have, talking about Paul and Timothy and the others
that are around them, they have great joy and comfort in the
love of Philemon because the bowels or the affections of the saints,
the Christians are refreshed by thee.
So he says Philemon is someone who's an encourager.
We see that he's an encourager.
We see that he's someone who loves.
Paul remembers how Philemon had met the needs of other Christians
both materially and physically and then spiritually and refreshed
their hearts.
And so when, when we love God and when we serve others, we, we
refresh the ones that were initially and immediately impacting.
But the Bible says that that's like a ripple effect.
The more that we share Christ, the more that we love others, the
more that that encourages other Christians that might be watching
our lives and maybe encouraging them to do that to other
people.
And so it's kind of like the, the chain effect, the, the ripple
effect when it comes to our love.
And so I thought about that and I, and I thought about Philemon's
testimony and I'm like, wow, this guy, this guy's an honorable
individual.
And so going back to our original conversation, a lot of people
will say, well how could Philemon be honorable?
Because of where he stands with Onesimus and, and no doubt maybe
some other servants and slaves within his abode.
There again, that's why I wanted to give you the context at
the beginning that this is not just this evil guy, that Paul is
overlooking his public sin.
But no, Paul is explaining that God is, is, is evident in the
life of Paul, of Philemon.
So all of that to say what he's about to do now because verse
number eight is where Paul kind of puts the rubber to the road.
He, it's where he's going to take his leap of speaking the truth
in love.
Now he just flipped it and did love first and then he's going to
do the truth.
And I think that's actually something good because sometimes
if we do the truth and we don't bring the love in yet.
And we go, we were going to love them at the end.
Well, that's sometimes it's like too little too late, right?
And so sometimes what we can do, and I've done this before, before
I can even come in and explain my heart on the matter.
I come in saying the truth about an issue, and it is true.
Right.
But again, I think that what we have to do is demonstrate our
love maybe even prior to the confrontation, prior to the appeal
to, to change or the appeal to restore.
And, and I think that one of the things that we can see in the
New Testament that Paul speaks on quite frequently is the idea of
restoration of a fallen brother or sister.
You can see here in Philemon other passages of scripture that
you could see that at would be Galatians chapter 6.
I do want you to see that here because I think that this is, this
is important.
It's not exactly linked to Onesimus and Philemon because the
situation with Onesimus and Philemon would be that Onesimus was
not saved when he ran.
So, so it was a, it was a broken relationship prior to Onesimus
salvation.
And so a lot of times what we do is we, we recognize the condition
of the person and the moment of their, their sin.
So what that means is this.
You deal with an individual differently.
I believe biblically speaking, you deal with an individual differently
who had a life of sin prior to salvation, then have, have gotten
right with the Lord and they're striving to do different
things.
There's a different way that we deal with that.
And in, in the, in the contrast of someone who is a professing
Christian, who is in a body of believers and then is in rebellion.
Right?
Because that's a different dynamic.
The dynamic is, is that person was, was an enemy of God.
So they, they act like an enemy of God.
And we shouldn't be surprised by that.
But now there's that transition in their life, there's
that new creation in their life.
There's that transformation that we talk about in Romans chapter
12.
Now we expect them to live like a Christian.
Now we mentor them that way.
So we treat unsaved people like unsafe people, right?
Expecting them to be in rebellion to God.
Then we treat Christians as we should treat Christians.
It's not expecting them to be perfect, but expecting them to love
God and to seek after him and seek after restoration.
So we go to Galatians chapter 6.
Galatians chapter 6 speaks of how to deal with a brother who has
fallen.
Brother, meaning someone who is saved.
So it says, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
So we restore them in meekness, considering thyself, lest
thou also be tempted.
Meaning as we can reject another brother who has fallen or
sister who has fallen, we then could get to a place in our life
where we're the ones that are sinning.
And so there's that idea of, of love and restoration, bearing
one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
And so there's that idea of a brother.
So what do we do with someone who rebelled in their sin prior to
salvation?
They get saved?
Well, we do what Philemon talks about here, what, what Paul's
talking about here.
Re receive them back, especially cause Onesimus is repentant
here.
We know that because of Paul's appeal.
So verse eight and, and we'll just kind of touch on verse eight
here as, as we move forward.
So Paul speaks to Philemon regarding Onesimus.
This is actually the first time we see him mentioned verse 8.
Wherefore though I might be much bold in Christ.
So, so now he's like, okay, wherefore.
Anytime you see the word wherefore or therefore he's referring
back to the prior statements.
So Paul says, hey, love you, I'm thankful for you.
You're a great guy.
You have a great testimony.
Wherefore now though I might be much bold in Christ.
So, so he says, I, I, I, I need to be bold to you right now
to enjoin you.
Now enjoin is a word that we, we don't really use quite frequently,
but it basically means I'm commanding you, I'm challenging you.
And so he says, wherefore, whatever our relate, remember our
relationship, remember you know, what we've gone through.
Now I want to be bold to command you or challenge you that
which is convenient in, in the case of, of convenience or, or fitting
meaning, right, proper.
That's, that's what he's saying here.
Yet for love's sake, because I love you, I rather beseech you.
So he says, I could command you.
Because remember, Paul is not us.
And the concept of Paul is unique in his standing before God
because he was an apostle.
An apostle is someone different than a pastor.
Okay?
And I'll be very clear about that.
We believe that there was 12 apostles.
Some argue 13 because of Paul coming in later and the replacement
of Judas.
But that's an argument for another day.
But we believe that Paul was an apostle and the Fact that Paul
held a different authoritative model in the early church.
And so an apostle had to see Jesus and his ministry visibly and
be called by God directly.
And so therefore Paul had the authority within the early church
to command people to do things because he was the mouthpiece of
God.
And so what Paul is saying here is this, as an apostle, I have
every right to command you to do what I'm about to ask you to do.
But he says, and I think this is important too, because within
the church no one is more important than others.
But different people hold different responsibilities and different
authorities.
That's the same within the household.
I believe God ordains certain positions within the house with different
authoritative levels.
Not one more important than the other, just different.
And so I think that this is a model for all of us who hold some
sort of authority over someone else because all of us at some degree
hold an authority over someone else depending on what your, your,
your situation is.
Okay, so we could command.
Like I could com, I could constantly be commanding my children
and my wife and the different people that are within the church
and all that.
I could constantly be commanding because of my position.
But that's not a position of meekness.
It's not a position of humility.
So what does Paul say?
He says, I could Command you, verse 9.
Yet for love's sake, I'd rather beseech thee.
Beseech means like to beg to, to appeal to, to, to be, to, to do
it in a way that basically says, hey, can you consider this?
So for love's sake, I'd rather beseech thee, being such a one as
Paul the aged.
So Paul refers to himself as.
He's like, hey, I'm, for lack of a better phrase.
He's like, I'm, I'm old, I'm beaten up.
I'm, I'm, I'm aged.
Okay, I don't, I, I don't really, I don't really want to come
to you forcing you to do things anymore.
I'm just coming to you in humility.
Um, so Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
So Paul says, I, I'm in jail, I'm old, so I'm just gonna appeal
to you.
Um, he talks about his circumstances.
Um, but he's essentially asking a favor of Philemon.
Um, he appealed to Philemon, sympathies as he describes him.
But, but Paul is making an appeal based in the love, right?
And I think that's important to see.
And that's probably where we will kind of work our way to the
landing here tonight.
But when we are making an appeal to truth, when we're making
an appeal to restoration, when we're making an appeal to maybe even
a biblical confrontation, when it comes to an issue, I think we
should take Paul's example of verses 8 and 9 and say, look, you
know what?
With all of this happening, I think what I would say is that I
just want to appeal to you in love.
I've proven myself to you.
I'm just going to ask you to consider this thing to do, to do
this opportunity here would be.
Would be unfair for me just to force you into doing this.
And so we end with verse 10.
I beseech the.
For my son Onesimus.
And that sounds like the beginning of Philemon.
That's where a lot of people pick up Philemon.
But we'll end with the initial start of his appeal to Philemon.
And.
And he says something interesting there.
I beseech thee for my son Onesimus.
Now you're like, wait, what?
Paul has a son?
Not his biological son.
We know that, that Paul did not have children.
At least it doesn't mention that.
He says he wasn't married.
There's a lot of argument about was Paul ever married?
Was he had a deceased wife, never mentions that.
So the Bible doesn't speak to it.
I would just say that Paul was never married.
At least he wasn't married at this point.
We know that.
So Paul didn't have any children, but we know that he referenced.
Well, let me give you an example.
He references Timothy the same exact way.
And we know Timothy wasn't his son because Timothy had parents.
Right?
You know, he had Eunice and Lois grandparents there.
And so in that case, Paul is referencing Onesimus in a different
way as his son.
And it's essentially a son in the faith he.
He led.
So, so we know that through context, he leads Onesimus to Christ.
He's ministering to him.
He's.
He has that mentor, mentee, relationship, discipler, discipleship
relationship.
And I think that's important to see because we don't know how
much Onesimus had grown at this point.
We don't know where he was at.
We do know later on that he was helping Paul to some degree.
Um, so.
So at this point in time, Paul is teaching Onesimus what it means
to be a Christian, what it means to serve.
And so he refers to him that way.
And I think that that relationship is a relationship that
all of us just tried to have, not just Paul, not just pastors,
but I think Every Christian should find an individual who we
could look to and say, that's my son or that's my daughter in the
faith.
I'm not in a prideful manner, like, look at all my converts, but
to a place where there can be some type of relationship where I
can guide you and share my experiences with you.
And just as much as there's that, I think that we, some of us,
should be Timothy's to.
To a Paul, right?
So I learned from that person.
And so that's, that's an awesome reference there.
As he says, he could have said my friend Onesimus.
He could have said my acquaintance, my partner, but he
says my son.
And, and I think that's.
That's really neat that he does that there and appeals to that
element of Onesimus's relationship with him.
So we'll come back.
We'll come back, Lord willing, next week and we'll talk more about
this appeal that he makes.
Because this appeal is important, because it's important
for Onesimus, right?
It's important for the restoration between Philemon and
Onesimus.
It's important for Paul to have a good viewpoint of who Philemon
is.
Right, Because Paul's in the middle.
Right?
Because Paul's close to.
Have you ever.
Have you ever been the middleman?
Have you ever been the person in the middle?
It's tough, right, because everyone wants you to take sides.
Usually that's what happens.
Like, well, whose side are you on?
It's like, well, I love this person and I love this person.
I want them to be able to come back into conjunction together.
And, you know, a lot of times we can get ourselves in trouble for
being the middleman.
Now Paul's a better man than me, and Paul had the apostolic authority.
But, you know, for, for the most part, we know that when that
letter is sent back to Philemon, Onesimus is there.
So there's that personal confrontation, what, what sometimes
ends up happening.
And I don't want to get too far in a rabbit trail here, but you
have like two individuals here, and this person needs restoration
with this person, but they want to find restoration through
somebody else.
And no doubt there can be a mediator.
But the best route, as Matthew 18 says, is, is to restore each other
together in that personal way, if need be, bring in others into
the situation.
But.
But it's not necessary initially.
And so that, that's, that's a whole other story for another day.
But Paul is going to encourage Philemon to obey, not him, but the
Lord in how to treat someone on an equal plane and how to restore
someone.
And then I think that in here, this is the beautiful picture of
how God treats us in that restorative process, because God
does restore us.
That's, that's what that word redemption means, to be bought back.
So, so God created us in his image.
We were, we were initially His.
His children, so to speak.
But sin separated us from Him.
So redeem means to be bought back.
So essentially what Jesus did is he came and paid the price for
the wages of sin is death.
The gift of God is eternal life.
So, so Jesus pays the price.
We are then, in faith, bought back and redeemed to Jesus Christ.
And so there is that restoration process.
The way Second Corinthians talks about it, it's the ministry
of reconciliation.
There's the message of reconciliation and then the ministry
of reconciliation.
So we're all reconciled.
So we're all onesimus.
We're all the runaway slave that has fallen and, and, and, and
rejected the authority of our master.
But yet God receives us back.
And that's a beautiful, beautiful picture.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
You would like to find out more information about our church
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Thank you so much.
God bless.
Have a wonderful day.