Summary and Conclusion

Summary and Conclusion

Philemon 22-25

by Jordan Hines

Good morning. You can turn your bibles to the book of Philemon. That's first Timothy, second Timothy, Titus, then Philemon.

It's right before the Book of Hebrews. We're at the end of our five week series, and I would liken our series much to climbing a mountain. As you know, when you climb a mountain, as you're climbing, it's hard to see perspective as far as how high you are and how the elevation is changing and the rocks and the cliffs are changing.

As you climb the mountain, you cannot see the full perspective of how tall the mountain is and the glory of the vision that you get when you get to the top. Today we're going to get to the peak of the book of Philemon. We're going to be able to review and summarize and see what has God been doing in the life of Philemon and Onesimus and Paul.

Philemon, a wealthy slave owner, has lost a slave. His name is Onesimus, and he is going to be reconciled because Paul is interceding for Onesimus, and Paul is calling for Philemon to receive him not just as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. So this is a book, a message that is for a church.

It's a book, a message that's for a man in Philemon. It's a book, a message that's for you and for me. This morning, as we climb this mountain, as we look at the picture at the top, we need to be amazed by what God has done in the lives of these men, but also in our lives, and what God can do through our lives.

Before we do that, let's ask the Lord for help in prayer as we open God's word. God, we're grateful for the word of God, for what you've done in our hearts these last four weeks. We're thankful that your word does not return.

Void that our lives have been affected and changed because of what we've learned, because of the Holy Spirit's work in our hearts. And we pray that today would be no different. That as we look at this broad overview of the book, that we would understand our responsibility in all of this, that we would yield ourselves to the spirit, that you would quiet any temptation to be distracted, quiet any sins, help us to confess those sins, help us to move forward in faith, help us as a church to read this passage well and to understand it in your son's name we pray.

Amen. The big idea of the Book of Philemon, as we've seen, is that Paul wants Onesimus to be reconciled back to Philemon because of who they are in Christ. We're dealing with a lot of things here.

So today what we're going to do is we're going to review the book that we've seen so far, verses one to 21. It's just one chapter. Next, we're going to track the themes of the book and see how has God been working in these specific ways.

We're going to track the themes of the book, and then there are some final thoughts that Paul has in the last several verses, verses 22 to 25. So open your Bible to Philemon, and we're going to walk through section by section. The first section is the introduction, and these are just the sermons that we've been going through.

The introduction was week one. We talked about verses one through three. The text says, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved afea, Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house, grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

See, in this sermon, we saw just the context for why Paul is writing who he is, and the historical and theological context for the book. And we also saw Paul as the sender. He identifies himself as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

He's writing this book from prison. And so he's identifying a physical thing that's happening, but also a spiritual thing. He is a spiritual prisoner to Christ.

He is attached to the gospel ministry in Christ, and he is writing to Philemon, to Apphia, to Archippus and the church. And we talked about how some people understand this to be a family between Philemon, Apphia and Archippus, and then the church at large. So this is not just to one man, it's to a church.

We're going to focus primarily on Philemon as the one who's primarily addressed. And the message that's given to him is grace and peace from God. And we understood from that passage that grace and peace from God allows Philemon to give grace and peace to Onesimus.

And just like in their lives, grace and peace from God in our lives allows us to give grace and peace to others to demonstrate the grace and peace that we have in Christ that set us up for the book. And then Paul goes into a prayer. In verses four through seven, Paul gives a very clear prayer for Philemon, and it talks about his relationship, and it bears well on their relationship with Philemon.

Verse four picks up. It says, I thank my God making mention of you always in my prayers. Hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you, in Christ Jesus.

For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. We saw that God wants us to fervently pray for effective gospel ministry. See, Paul was praying for a friend, that his ministry would be effective in the lives of his church, in the lives of his community, and specifically in the life of Onesimus, his runaway slave.

We saw the pattern of prayer, of thankfulness. Paul's thankfulness for Philemon was evidence of Paul's genuine and attentive love that he had for Philemon and for the believers at the church. We saw the spark of prayer and how Philemon's reputation of love and faith for the saints was what brought him to mind and what sparked Paul's intention to pray and bring him to the Lord.

And the recipients of Philemon's love and faith were the Lord Jesus first and all the saints. The reputation of a godly man was found here, as Philemon is a servant of God, serving the local church, loving others. And now Paul is calling him to do something.

And Paul's prayer continued. He requested that Philemon's effective gospel ministry would continue and his testimony would go out. He did this for the full knowledge of every good thing that is inside of him in Christ Jesus.

He did this because he wanted Christ to be made known in his life and Christ be made known in Philemon's life, for the fruitfulness of Philemon's love, that it would abound, that it would be great. And then the next sermon we saw sort of the meat of the appeal. This is what Paul is actually tangibly asking him to do.

He is saying that I want you in verse eight to do this. Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ, to command you what is fitting, yet for love's sake, I rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. I am sending him back to you.

Back. You therefore receive him, that is my very own heart, whom I wish to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel, but without your consent, I wanted to do nothing that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave.

More than a slave. A beloved brother. A beloved brother, especially to me.

But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? What a powerful appeal that Paul laid out. He's doing this for the acceptance of Onesimus as a slave, but also as a brother in Christ. And it means very different things.

It's not just an employment relationship, it's a kinship. It's a oneness in Christ. It means that their identity is the same no matter what social or political status they have.

In that sermon, we looked at the apostle. His motivation was for love's sake. Paul wanted to do this and make this appeal for the love of God and his love for Philemon.

He did this out of love. It mentioned his age. He is an old man.

He is de aged. His position was in chains, and we mentioned it before, but he is in prison. But he's also in Christ.

And that was far more important to him as all of the prison epistles he's writing. And rarely does Paul ever even mention his own needs. Paul mentions he is a prisoner here, but he's not asking for help.

In fact, what he's doing is later on he says it would be better for me to keep Onesimus with me, to serve me, but instead I want him to serve you. Verses ten through twelve, we saw the appeal. The power of the gospel transformed Onesimus as the gospel was presented to him.

Paul had the privilege of leading Onesimus to the Lord. And the appeal now that Paul is making is a gospel fueled reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus. A gospel fueled reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus.

But why? The purpose was in verse 13 to 16, Paul laid out a selfish hypothetical. He would rather keep Onesimus with him selfishly, to take care of his own wounds, to take care of his own ministries. And yet Paul is selfless in his preferences.

He says he wants to do nothing without Philemon's consent, but he wants to see Onesimus reconciled back to Philemon. He wants them to be reunited. And then last week, we saw personal responsibility.

Paul is taking this upon himself. Verse 17. If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.

But if he has wronged you or owes you anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will repay, not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self.

Besides. Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord.

Having confidence in your obedience. I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. See, Paul here is saying that we must take personal responsibility in our evangelistic and discipleship relationships.

We are to take responsibility not just for ourselves, but for the relationships that we have. The people in our lives are for us to minister to or for us to serve. He stewarded these relationships well.

He served these people well, and he leveraged his relationship here. He says, if then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. He's vouching for him.

Paul's responsibility here was for Onesimus' reception as a slave and as a brother, and for his record, not just for a word, but also for his wrongdoings, for his debts, taking them upon himself, if there were any. But he also levies responsibility onto Philemon. There's a spiritual debt between Paul and Philemon in verse 19, and he also asks specifically for joy.

He wants to receive joy from Philemon. And this would not be out of character for Philemon because he was known for refreshing the saints. Our responsibility in this verse 21 of that passage is as believers, to have ministry partners, to share the gospel, to have these kind of relationships like Philemon and Paul had, where you could leverage that relationship, you could say, because we've served the Lord together, because we've walked in this pain together, because we have loved one another for so long, I feel like I can call on you in love to receive this brother in Christ, to do something that breaks down political and social and financial barriers, because it was not based on that.

It was based on Christ. As an unbeliever, I challenged you last week to put yourself in the place of Onesimus, to acknowledge your need for God, to run to God. That's been a beautiful picture of Paul interceding.

For Onesimus, as we've gone through the book, we've seen a slave helpless to be reconciled, helpless to make it right. But now he has been saved. He's been converted, he's been changed.

He is being sent back not just as a slave, but as a brother in Christ, as a family member. What a great book that we've seen. What a great message that we've received.

And as we've reviewed who we are in Christ, and as we've seen ourselves in Onesimus, in Paul, in Philemon, wherever you are in that passage, just think through, how am I to live based on what I've seen in this book? Next, I want to track the themes, not just what happened, but I want us to see kind of what God is doing in this book, in the ideas of first debt. We talked about debt at the beginning of the series, but Onesimus, as a slave, would be very familiar with this. He owed a debt.

In fact, one of the ways that slaves became slaves was because they owed a debt. They would be enslaved to someone because of something that they did or something they didn't pay. They paid with their lives.

But I want to see a couple things here. Philemon owed Paul for sharing the gospel with him. Onesimus owed Paul for sharing the gospel with him.

Onesimus owed Philemon his time and energy as a slave. All three of them are indebted to the grace of God. See, we're thinking of this on a human level.

We're thinking of this as a slave owner to a slave and as apostle to a pastor. God is seeing believer to believer, child to child. The grace of God is needed in each and every one of their lives.

There is debt here. There is physical debt. Verse 18 says, if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

See, Paul sees the debt weighing on Onesimus and says, I'll take that. If this little financial debt is what's between you two, I will take it, because I want you two to be reconciled, to be close. There is physical debt, but there is also spiritual debt.

Jesus Christ, when he died for our sins, he took on the penalty we deserved. And now that as believers, we live for him, it is not to earn our salvation. It's not to garner more favor with him.

Instead, it is to live our lives for him because of what he's done for us, to give ourself in sacrifice. Because he sacrificed himself for us. We owe him everything he is worthy of, all the honor, all the glory, all the praise.

He is holy God. The idea of debt leads naturally into intercession in this book, which is the second theme Paul intercedes on behalf of Onesimus's character and identity in Christ. I want to read for you again verses eight through eleven.

Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ, to command you what is fitting yet for love's sake, I rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me, as Paul leverages his relationship here as an apostle, an evangelist, a spiritual father. He's doing this for Onesimus.

He loves him as a son. You can think of Paul's relationship with Timothy and how he thought of him as a son. Paul sees a very close kinship with people who are saved, and we ought to do the same.

We ought to see people in Christ as special. We ought to love them because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. It's also important to note that Paul can intercede for Onesimus because God interceded for him, because there was a time when Paul was not saved, when Paul needed the grace of God.

And Paul understands what it means to be forgiven a great debt. Paul understands what it means to be radically changed. And he is practicing this in a financial way, in a personal way.

And he's telling Philemon, we are now unified in the gospel, so accept him. Which is the next theme, the unity of salvation, brotherhood. There are several mentions of being in the family of God throughout the book.

The first one I will mention is not inside the book, but Paul wrote it in Galatians chapter three, verse 28. Galatians 328 says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there is no male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. And that's not the only passage that talks about our oneness in Christ.

But it is a very clear, concise picture that shows that we are unified despite one being a slave and one being a slave owner, despite one being an apostle and one being a pastor. We are all one in Christ. Paul, Philemon and Onesimus are all brothers in Christ, and yet they live very different lives and held very different social and economic positions.

In the book of Philemon, Paul mentions these relationships as well. Look at verse one, says Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer. Skip down to verse ten.

I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in chains. Down in verse 16, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you? And now both in the flesh and in the Lord. And finally, verse 20.

Yes, Brother Paul speaking to Philemon. Let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord.

This is a family, and there's a unity here that we share as well. We share in with different believers around the world. There's also reconciliation happening, which is another theme.

Paul calls for Onesimus to be reconciled to Philemon or brought back to a right relationship with Philemon and the church because of the love of Christ, not because of obligation to the apostle Paul. He mentions it, but he also says the primary appeal is out of love. Paul wants Philemon to do this because he loves Onesimus.

The illustration that we used in this sermon was telling a child to clean their room and them doing it because they have to, versus a child seeing something that needs to be done, something needs to be cleaned, and them doing it because they feel like it's right or at work being told to do something and having to do it versus seeing a need and meeting it because it needs to be done. Paul wants Philemon to do this because it is the right thing to do out of love for Christ. Paul calls for more than reconciliation.

As a slave, he calls for spiritual reconciliation, and he's confident that it will happen. Verse 21 says, confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. One of the striking things about this book, as we have looked at the themes of this book, is that Paul is very clear in his relationship with Philemon.

The underlying theme that is beyond the text of this book is that this relationship is strong between Paul and Philemon. And I'm just going to ask a simple question. Do we have these kind of relationships? Do you have a brother or sister in Christ that is like this, that you can ask a great thing of, that you can be vulnerable with and call on them to obey the word of God? And do you have the boldness to call on them to obey the word of God? Because Paul did.

Paul had the boldness to tell Philemon, this is what you should do because the love of Christ is in you. Because the love of Christ is in my son Onesimus. I want you to receive him.

This is what ought to happen. Paul has some final thoughts in the closing verses as he closes out this book. He says in verse 22, but meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit. Amen.

There are some practical things happening here. It's the closing of a traditional Greco-Roman letter, and there is an interesting statement here of prayerful preparation. But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me in verse 22, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.

See, Paul's expectation is to be released from prison and to be able to share in fellowship with Philemon and Onesimus and Paul's reasoning through and what Paul's doing here is he is confidently saying this because of the prayers that he is going to receive. He believes in the power of prayer. He believes that if Philemon prays, if Paul prays, that God can answer.

He believes that if he prays to God, that God can give him what he asks for. So he's asking confidently, God can do the impossible. God can heal your body.

God can heal your broken heart. God can work in your life. God can do things through the power of prayer.

We have to ask, could someone confidently know that you will pray for them? Paul here in this text is confident that Philemon will pray for him. I would pray and I would hope that in my life someone can come to me and if they ask for prayer that I would pray for them. I also don't want to lie to someone and say I'll pray for them and then forget about it and not do it.

Because see, prayer has been devalued in our culture. Prayer is something we do as a last resort. Prayer is something we don't really care too much to entertain because it means that we're vulnerable and that we need help.

Do we pray not just for meals, not just for your health needs, but for, or not just for our spiritual well being, but for the deliverance of others, but for the well being of others? Do we pray for others? Do we believe in the power of prayer and do we live like it? Paul's hope here is not a wishy washy, genie in the lamp kind of wish. It's a confident hope. He knows it to be true.

It's not. I wish I had more time or money. I wish it didn't snow this week.

I wish it didn't rain. I wish my team would win on Sunday. I know.

I am confident that through your prayers that God can deliver me to you. One illustration that can be used here is it's been used many times in many different ways, but praying for rain. Let me to read this for you.

There was once a small village which was suffering from a severe drought. The crops were dying and the villagers and their animals had very little water to drink. One day, to try to find a solution to the drought, the village priest called the villagers to gather at the village square to pray together for rain.

He told them to bring along a token of their faith so the prayer would be done in sincere faith. And so the villagers gathered at the square, bringing with them tokens of their faith. Some brought the holy bible while others carried small crosses and other tokens of faith.

They all prayed aloud with great faith and hope. And sure enough, within a few moments, it began to rain. The whole crowd was overjoyed and danced happily.

The priest noticed among the joyous crowd there was a nine year old boy clutching an umbrella as a token of faith. The priest admired this little boy who brought an umbrella in total faith that God would surely hear his prayers and send rain. Are we just praying for rain and not bringing our umbrellas? Or are we bringing our umbrellas in confidence, knowing that God will send the rain? There are many prayers in this book.

Paul's prayer here is a powerful example of his faith. Paul's prayerful preparation was only possible because of his partners, because of the people he had around him. So next we'll see Paul's partners in verse 23 to 24.

He mentions five people here. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborer. Now the men here, all mentioned also in Colossians, are noted as being laborers with him.

They're working alongside with him in the gospel. Epaphras here you may have heard of his name, but you also may have heard a similar name. Epaphras is a member of the church in Philippi.

Epaphras here is mentioned in Colossians one eight and 412. Epaphras is a fellow prisoner, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus. Now there are a couple options here.

It could be that he is physically in prison with Paul, or he is spiritually a prisoner with Paul. I would tend to believe both because of the distinction that's made in verse 23. My fellow prisoner in Christ greet you as do the other four, but that is how he is characterized.

Secondly, Mark, this is probably John, mark the evangelist. He appears as a companion of Paul in the following verses from the Book of acts. Acts, chapter twelve, verse 25.

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and also took with them John, whose surname was Mark. This guy has a character arc that's kind of interesting. Colossians, chapter four, verse ten also says Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions.

If he comes to you, welcome him. And then finally, this is the most famous passage for John. Mark here, two Timothy, 411.

Get Mark. Bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. We've seen that used in the book of Philemon.

He is useful. He is a fellow laborer. Are we useful like Mark is useful for ministry? Could someone look at you and say, I want to partner with that person because they're passionate about the gospel, because they love the Lord.

Aristarchus is a native of Thessalonica. He's mentioned in acts 19 and acts 20 and acts 27. And he's a companion of Paul on his journey to Rome.

He is a fellow laborer. He is mentioned as someone who's faithful. There's not a lot else mentioned about him, but nonetheless, he's mentioned several times throughout several parts of history along Paul's missionary journey.

So he has longevity going for him. And the most infamous of this group is Demas. He is a fellow laborer, of course, but he is also infamous for later forsaking Paul two.

Timothy 410 says, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and has departed for Thessalonica, demons has forsaken me. This is an example of a brother who started well and finished poorly, who loved the world and the pull of the world. And we learn here that the love of the world will render us ineffective in ministry.

If we pursue the world, we'll become ineffective for ministry because we can't hope to change the world as we are. Like the world, we have to be different. And Demas here is a sad story of what it looks like to forsake Paul.

Forsake gospel ministry. Luke is the final one. He's well known.

He's a fellow laborer, a physician, an evangelist. He is the author of the Gospel of Luke and the acts of the Apostles. He's a companion of Paul.

He may have tended to Paul's health needs, as he had many of them, because of the many beatings and imprisonments during Paul's second and third missionary journeys. Paul's partners are mentioned here with very specific labels. These are people who contributed to gospel ministry.

I would note that they're all different people. They all had different skill sets, different motivations coming into ministry, and yet they are united in the gospel, united in their cause for Christ. Paul gives parting words to Philemon into his house, into the church here in verse 25 as he closes the book.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit. Amen.

The grace, the goodwill freely disseminated from God, freely given to us by our creator. Paul is asking God to show his unmerited favor on them out of the goodness of his character. He wants good things for them.

He wants God to be with them, to be with their spirit. This is their immaterial self, to walk with them in the quietness of their heart, their innermost being. And then he closes with a statement, amen.

This is true. Confidently, this is true. What do we do with this kind of book? What do we do with this kind of personal testimony? It's a unique book in that Paul is asking for a very specific thing.

He's not like in one Corinthians working through a laundry list of church issues. He's working through one specific problem. He's calling on a friend, a letter of recommendation here for his friend to walk with the Lord and receive Onesimus back.

I think as a believer, we ought to cultivate godly discipleship, relationships with people like Paul and with Philemon and Onesimus. We ought to be doing those kind of relationships to be close with them and confident with them. And that means being vulnerable and sharing our own struggles.

We are to be confidently sharing the gospel, knowing that it is the power of life. Change. God can change our lives through this.

God has changed our lives. If you are a believer, God changed the life of a runaway slave in Onesimus. Even the people around you that are running away from God need to be changed.

We need to reconcile with any brother or sister in Christ that we have drifted away from, that we have wandered away from. We need to forgive any grievances because we have been forgiven. We need to love one another because we have been loved.

And we need to do ministry with ministry partners, with help, with support. And this ministry happens not just here, happens at work. It happens at home.

It happens at school. This ministry is very specific to what your relationships look like. How can you serve your community? What do your coworkers talk about? How can you help them through what they're going through? We need to pray that God would reveal opportunities to share the gospel, but also be bold enough to do it, to do that ministry.

If you are an unbeliever, if you don't know this Jesus Christ today you need to find yourself in Onesimus' sandals. You need to look at who you are in Christ, and you are a runaway slave. You are an enemy of God.

Book of Romans says that we are enemies of God. Book of Ephesians says that God gives us his free gift of salvation by grace, through faith. You're a sinner, and your sin keeps you from being with God for all of eternity.

You need to hear the good news that changed Onesimus. He was lost on his way to hell without hope. Then he was saved by grace, the unmerited favor from God.

God didn't have to give this to you. God didn't have to send his son to die for your sins, but through faith, through placing all of your trust in his blood that he shed on the cross, to die for your sins, you can be saved. It is in Christ alone.

It can't be gained or lost by anything that I do. It is by the blood of Christ. It is all through him and be reconciled today, be restored.

And when I say that, I'm not telling you to do this yourself. If you accept Christ as your savior, he will reconcile you. He will bring you back into his family.

You will be restored as a child of God. But first, you must admit that you are a sinner. Believe on the name of Lord Jesus and receive Jesus Christ as your savior.

The Book of Philemon is a powerful, effective book for the church, but it's also powerful and effective for unbelievers, because we need to see that as this runaway slave needed reconciliation, so does the world. I pray the book of Philemon has been a blessing to you and a challenge to you, and that you walk away from this book differently. Let's thank the Lord for his word.

God, you have showed us so much faithfulness and kindness. You have walked with us through this book, and you have showed us that we are no better than Onesimus. That if we have indeed received the gospel, it has not been by anything that we could have done.

I pray that as we reflect on who you are in this book and who you are in our lives, that we would just be changed and be reminded that we need to walk daily and care for how we treat others. If there is someone who needs to be reconciled in our lives, I pray that we would willingly reconcile with them. If there's someone we need to forgive, that we would forgive them.

I pray that there's any unbeliever here who doesn't know Jesus Christ as their savior, they would be able to place their trust and confidence in this Jesus who changes everything. I pray these things in your son's name. Amen.