Onesimus- The Journey Home

Theme: Walking in Truth Despite the Cost

Map: This is the region of Colossae where Philemon and his household were

Genre & Structure: Philemon is a personal letter (epistle) from the Apostle Paul, the shortest book in the New Testament at only 25 verses. It's one of Paul's "Prison Epistles," written during his house arrest in Rome around 60-62 AD.

Key Players: We’re going to take the next four weeks and look at this letter from each of their unique perspectives. Paul - The apostle, writing from prison

Philemon - A wealthy Christian slave owner in Colossae, leader in the house church

Onesimus - Philemon's runaway slave who became a Christian under Paul's ministry

Apphia - Likely Philemon's wife

Archippus - Possibly their son, a church leader

Opening Illustration: I’m not a great patient. I’m not very patient. Two times come to memory when I had serious issues and it was frustrating and aggravating to go through the process to get better. Recently I had a frozen shoulder and years ago due to a motor vehicle accident, I suffered a partially ruptured disc in my spine.

With both incidents there was a point where I wanted to be done. I thought, I can make it from here. I’m ready to move on. In both situations, those at the point of care pushed me to go a little bit further, be a little more patient, do the work, keep doing what I needed to do in order to heal and navigate the moment.

I’m grateful for each of them. I have the majority of the motion in my shoulder and I don’t have critical, drop me to my knees, in pain because they told me to keep going.

I needed to be tenacious, do the hard thing, after the necessary was done came healing and flourishing. I’m grateful for the community around me to help me navigate this. A lot like physical healing, so too our relational, emotional, and spiritual healing takes a few things for healing to come about… tenacity to stick, willingness to do the hard work, and a vision for who God is calling us to be.

In our third perspective of Philemon, we are going to be looking at Onesimus this morning. Paul sending him on a mission that includes confronting Philemon and owning what he did, that he had the community around him but he had to do the uncomfortable work for their to be healing/restoration, and that they all had to acquire the vision of who God is calling them to be.

If you have your Bibles or devices, please turn to the book of Philemon. If you are able and willing, would you stand with me as I read our text this morning? This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Amen.

Please be seated.

Key Text Focus: Verses 10-12, 16, implied narrative

Main Points:

(implied journey)From Running Away to Running Toward

The natural impulse: escape when things get hard

When we feel threatened, there are responses we have that can seem second nature:

Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn (explain)

This is our brain’s way to keep us safe. Not just from physical harm but also from social, emotional, and relational harm.

It’s been my experience there is a desire to leave, flee, break relationships when there is something difficult going on that we’re not willing to address but then move to something much less significant and exert control or be overbearing in that in order to numb, distract, or compensate for that which we don’t want to confront or feel in control of.

We don’t know Onesimus’ context of when and how he fled, he just did.

What might happen if you have that desire to flee, but it’s in that situation that God wants to teach you something, that God is using that instance to make you more holy, more like Him?

One of my favorite shows is the Office… Steve Carell, Rain Wilson, John Krasinski. John tells the story of how he got this role, his real first start in Hollywood. When Krasinski left theater school, his mom made him a deal: "If you don't have a nibble or a bite in two and a half or three years, you have to make me one promise. You have to pull yourself out because as your mother, you can't ask me to tell you to give up on your dream." Two and a half years later, working as a waiter in New York, Krasinski was ready to quit. He called his mom and said "I was telling her to come get me." But she said, "It's September. Don't give up yet" - encouraging him to wait until the end of the year. "Three weeks later I got The Office." Krasinski was at his breaking point - the waiter job, the rejections, the financial struggle. His natural impulse was to run home to safety. But his mom's encouragement to "wait it out" for just a few more months made all the difference.

What might God be calling you to? Just show up. Sometimes we need to go. Sometimes we need to walk away. But in the evaluation of why we’re leaving, is it because it’s really dangerous, or is it because it’s hard, uncomfortable, or I might actually be challenged and God wants to use this for my growth?

Paul's discipleship: teaching him to face what he'd fled

Confronting our own sin, confessing our own sin, it takes away the power of sin. When we expose our sin in the light, when we bring what is difficult to trusted, caring, and capable adults, there’s freedom.

Paul is encouraging and calling Onesimus to get this out in the light. Confess, repent, move into a posture of humility and be set free. Trust God in the process.

Modern application: Spiritual maturity means facing, not fleeing our messes

We see those who have fled when it got hard: Adam/Eve, Cain, Jacob, Moses, Jonah

We see how God interceded and gave them courage to face those trials: Jonah, Jacob, Moses, Peter

In these situations God forms, redeems, builds trust, and establishes our testimony of His faithfulness.

The same God who met Onesimus in his running was now calling him back to his mess - not as the same person, but as a new creation equipped to handle what once overwhelmed him. Not only calling him back but giving Him a new community and family which both Paul and Philemon are a part of.

(v.10-12, 17) Community-Supported Courage

Paul didn't just convert him; he prepared him and sent him with advocacy

Discipleship: Matthew 28/Acts 1:8

In our cultural moment, this is being left to the “professionals”. Church this is a mandate for all of us to be about. I can’t stress this enough. Eph 4 says that God has given the church Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers for the equipping of the saints (followers of Jesus) for the work of the ministry.

Ephesians 4:11–13 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his 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.”

You, me, we’re all called to this. As a role I’m here to support and equip. So if you feel inadequate or ill-equipped, I can help. But all of us are called to witness (live out our faith in and amongst the people we have contact with) and disciple (teach, train, model, exhort in the way of Jesus in what he said and did).

City Youth, City Kids, City Women, Community Groups, one on one/two/three, City Men, Creative Christian Sisters, at the gym, intentional relationship where we talk about the way of Jesus and how it informs our life and relationships.

Preaching/Teaching practicum: we discussed that God has given us the 5-fold gift ministry set to equip the church. It was thought helpful to understand that each gift set tends to stress their own gifting/calling… whatever you feel resonates with you and are passionate about, is probably how God has equipped you (don’t feel guilty for not being something you were not designed to be.

We need everyone, we’re less when someone doesn’t use what God has created them to be.

"My very heart" - sent with love and support

When we spend time in discipleship, love, care, and relationship, we become like those that we spend time with. 2 Corinthians 2:14–15 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

This is what happens we spend time with one another, there are characteristics and attributes that start identifying us with others.

Modern application: We need community when walking into difficult obedience

If the church can’t be a place of redemption, reconciliation, and forgiveness, then there is a serious deficiency in our expression of the church of Jesus Christ.

Then the message that is spread is based on our experience. If we have found love, joy, truth, kindness, holiness, humility, that begins to change us… we become like that, because that is who Jesus is.

(v.11, 16) Identity Transformation in Action

"Formerly useless, now useful" - not just positional change, but character change

Play on Onesimus’ name… root of Onesimus in Greek is the word ‘useful’ - onesis

Where he cost Philemon at one point, now he is useful not only to Philemon as a fellow worker in the gospel, but to the mission of God.

From slave to beloved brother - stepping into new identity despite old context

This connects to the modern struggle of changed people returning to unchanged environments. The recovering addict going back to old neighborhoods, the new believer returning to skeptical family gatherings, the former troublemaker trying to rebuild trust at work. Others' memories and expectations can become prisons that keep us locked in old patterns.

Modern application: Living out our new identity even when others remember our old one

Mark 6:4 “Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.””

Familiarity can breed contentment. Because we think we know someone we can disregard the work in their lives. But we are live out the reality of what has happened in our heart.

Notice how Paul doesn't just send Onesimus back - he sends him with a letter advocating for how Philemon should receive him. Sometimes living out new identity requires advocates who can help others see the change. This suggests the church's responsibility to help people step into their transformed identity rather than keeping them trapped by their past.

The transformation isn't just about status ("slave to brother") but about actual usefulness in God's mission. This challenges both individualistic conversion that stops at personal salvation and social justice that focuses only on external liberation without heart change. True gospel transformation integrates both.

This framework shows how Paul uses Onesimus as a case study for what authentic conversion looks like when lived out in the complexities of real relationships and social structures in community of the church.

Key Applications:

What are you running from that God is calling you to return to?

How does community support us in difficult obedience?

Where do you need to step into your new identity despite others' memories of your past?

Conclusion:

Onesimus teaches us that spiritual maturity isn't measured by how well we avoid difficult situations, but by how courageously we return to face them as new creations in Christ. His journey from running away to running toward confrontation shows us that God often uses the very circumstances we flee to forge our character and deepen our faith.

The same God who met Onesimus in his mess is calling each of us to stop running from whatever we've been avoiding. Maybe it's a relationship that needs healing, a conversation you've been postponing, or a pattern of behavior you need to confess. Like Onesimus, you don't have to face it alone - God provides community, advocates, and His transforming power to equip you for the work ahead.

Your past doesn't define your future usefulness in God's kingdom. Whether others remember your old identity or not, you have the opportunity to live out who Christ has made you to be. The church exists to be a place where runaway slaves become beloved brothers and sisters, where the formerly useless discover their purpose in God's mission.

So the question becomes: What are you running from that God might be calling you to run toward? Trust Him with the outcome. Step into the uncomfortable work of restoration. Let your community support you. And watch as God transforms both you and the situation you thought would destroy you.

The gospel doesn't just change our eternal destination - it changes our capacity to face what once overwhelmed us. Stop running. Start walking in the truth of who you are in Christ, despite the cost.