The Power of the Gospel

Its good to be back home with you this morning. I was given the opportunity to fill pulpit supply for a church in North Muskegon the last two weeks as their Lead Pastor is in the process of retiring and they begin to search for a new lead pastor. It was good because I knew basically nobody there and nobody there knew me so I could tell all the jokes and stories that you all have heard many times. Interesting thing is that the sermon series that I chose actually was very similar to the one we are in right now.

We are continuing the God of Second Chances this morning. Two weeks ago Pastor Gary preached on King David and the sin in his life, how God’s mercy is always available not matter the sins we commit. Then last week Pastor Andrew preached on Peter and Jesus and how Jesus forgave Peter for his denial, how God restores us no matter what we have done as long as we are willing to turn back and trust him.

God is a God of second chances and we are going to see that this morning in our passage on Philemon. We are going to see that sometimes we need to be open to the way God will change others. Sometimes we get in our head that someone else isn’t the right person for God to use or someone isn’t worthy of being saved because of something they have done.

You see that is the Power of the Gospel. The power is that the Gospel saves and empowers us to reconcile with one another. Through faith and love we are able to forgive and then unite with one another.

What would change in our relationships if we appealed to one another on the basis of love instead of relying on our rights, power, or position?

Are we willing to forgive when obedience to Christ actually costs us something?

1 John 4:19–21 “19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

Prayer

Philemon 1–25 NIV

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. 8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. 12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. 22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. 23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. 25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Prisoner of Christ Jesus

Paul writes this letter from prison. The letter is specifically addressed to Philemon and he writes this letter to basically urge Philemon to give a run away slave Onesimus a second chance. To accept his return and accept him as a new brother in Christ.

Its the 4th letter he writes while in prison in Rome and the 4 epistles are commonly known as the prison epistles. His writing is very standard with the exception of Hebrews. There is one exception to Philemon that was interesting in my study and that is that Paul says that he is a prisoner of Christ.

He doesn’t use this description in any of the books he wrote while in prison.

So why does he use it here one might ask? I think we find there are many reasons why he may have chosen that detail or that description.

I think its possible that he wants to elicit from his readers a sense of sympathy. Who wouldn’t have sympathy for an apostle of Jesus who is in chains for the cause of Christ.

He also may want to make sure that Philemon knows what situation Paul is in. He mentions chains multiple times throughout the letter so perhaps he wants to get that out on the table right from the get go.

He may also find it an honor to have that title of “Prisoner of Christ Jesus”. I am sure that being in prison meant he had a lot of time to think and ponder. Its not clear in which order he wrote the four letters while in prison but one could assume thoughts for one letter would carry over into others. for example

Philippians 1:12–14 “12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”

Its also possible that in Paul’s mind this being a prisoner of Christ is not just since he was jailed in Rome. In his mind Christ has had a firm hold on Paul’s life since the road to Damascus.

Others may think or view Paul’s current prisoner status as a cause for shame and I think Paul is fine with that. See for Paul he is coming into this letter wanting to remove any and all authority that may be assumed on Paul. He is coming at this letter with chains just like that of a run away slave. He does not come at this with assertion of any type of power or Philemon, his friends or even the Roman guards.

He diminishes his own status so that he can boost up Philemon’s status. Paul writes often in other letters that he strives to imitate Christ in all that he does, he strives to know Jesus beyond anything else in life and he strives to put Christ first and himself last. Perhaps we can see that same action if Jesus when he is tempted by Satan in the desert. Three times Satan is promising Jesus glory and wealth but all three attempts to get Jesus to give in to Satan were denounced by Jesus and all glory and honor was given to the Heavenly Father.

We see that in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prays to the father to take the cup of suffering away but Jesus says not my will but your will father. Jesus empties himself of all divine power so that God is glorified.

So perhaps for Paul this idea of being honored to be in prison for Jesus is to say that the gospel is being shared and people are becoming believers because of it.

As a prisoner Paul shares the alienation of a slave to appeal to Philemon as a friend in distressed circumstances, not as a spiritual director.

The rest of Paul’s beginning is like I said, very similar to his other writings. Typically he lets the readers know who is with him and in this case Timothy is with him. Second he addresses who the letter is written to or what church perhaps he is writing. In this case we know the letter is written to Philemon and others within Philemon’s circle of friends.

Paul gives a greeting from the Lord “Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He then begins to give thanks for Philemon and the work he has been doing and about his faith.

Praising Philemon’s Faith & Love

I always find it interesting how many times Paul writes that he has heard about this or heard about that. In this case he has heard about Philemon’s faith in Jesus. The other thing that I always notice is that Paul must spend an enormous amount of time praying and to have a memory of all the people he prays for. Maybe that’s what you get in prison I don’t know.

Paul confirms in verse 5 what he has heard

Philemon 5 “5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.”

The Greek text says it a little different in that it says “the love and the faith which you have for the Lord and unto all the saints. I know I have explained these in the past but this is a literary device called a Chiasm. A chiasm is a literary device that repeats words or structures in a reversing order or at times there is connections that span the verse with a central connector.

So the chiasm for this verse would look like this

See if you take the “A”’s you have The Love and all the Saints. If you combine the “C” you get “The Love which you have for all the Saints” and if you take the “B”’s you have the Faith in the Lord Jesus. If you combine the “C” you get “The faith which you have in the Lord Jesus”.

So this is what the verse reads in our NIV bible

Philemon 5 “5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.”

The greek text however shows us the importance of the relationship between Loving the Saints and Faith in Jesus. That would be the backbone of the Christian Faith. Missing either faith in Christ or Love for others renders any claim to be a Christian as a deadly lie.

Paul moves to intercessory prayer in verse 6 but like earlier there is some issues with the Greek translation into our English bibles and so the Greek wording would be more like this:

Verse 6

Paul is not indicating the Philemon is sharing his faith but rather that we all have a shared faith in Christ. In this shared faith we become effective or we are capable of producing intended results for the full knowledge of every good thing. Knowledge refers to moral insight and for this knowledge to be worth anything it must be acted upon. Every good thing refers to good deed, to something that is done or performed.

In the text this morning Paul is relating the good to granting his coming request concerning Onesimus.

For the church and for us today we as the church know and acknowledge what Paul says in

Colossians 1:19–20 “19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

If we are to share in that same faith in Jesus Christ then we are to do good deeds. We are to reconcile with one another. If the world sees and I think it certainly sees that today, but if the world sees a divided church then what can we say about the reconciliation that is offered by the blood of Christ shed for you and for me.

Pleading with Love

Philemon 8-16

Paul seems to have a slight change of tone in his voice in verse 8 when he says “I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do”. His statement sounds like a boss coming down with the hammer. Do what I tell you to do otherwise I will force it upon you.

I don’t think that is the intent or even the actual tone and here are a couple reasons why.

First, we just finished hearing Paul talk about love and reconciliation with Christ. Where do we ever read anything about ruling with an iron fist in the the gospels? To the contrary Jesus says in

Mark 14:48–49 “48 “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.””

Second is that boldness is not synonymous for authority. It is used with the sense of being willing to undertake activities that involve being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech.

Third coming at Philemon with an iron fist hidden in a velvet glove would undermine all that Paul stood for, all that Paul preached upon.

“Paul’s right to speak with candor and to command does not derive from his apostolic office but from being “in Christ”.

Paul sticks with his opening description of love and the fact that he was a prisoner in chains for Christ. He is pleading for someone that means the world to Paul.

We dont know much really about Onesimus other than the little bit written in this letter. What we know is that Paul described him as a slave, a run away slave for that matter. Somehow Onesimus while running can in contact with Paul and was serving Paul while in a Roman prison.

A runaway slave in that time would have most likely been punished severely. They could have been sold from working on a farm to working in the galleys or the mines. From crucifixion to being thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. It would not have been a good life or end of life for the slave.

Love becomes the virtue that wraps the community of saints together into a perfect unity and is the basis for Christian conduct.

Paul says in his famous love passage:

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Though Onesimus has runaway and spent time away from Philemon he was changed as a man.

Forgiveness was not the norm in Philemon’s world but it was fundamental for Christians.

Promoting Forgiveness and Unity

Philemon 17-25

Remember the words that Jesus spoke in Matthew just after teaching the disciples how to pray the Lord’s prays when he says

Matthew 6:14–15 “14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Paul has tried to paint himself and Onesimus as lower than Philemon. He has tried to show that while Onesimus was with Paul that he became a Christian and tended to the needs of Paul and now he is sending him back to Philemon and asking that Philemon forgive him and to welcome him home.

Verse 17 might be considered the climax of the letter. Paul is putting Onesimus and himself on the same level. He pleads with Philemon to receive him back but more than that to consider him a partner just like he considers Paul a partner.

Paul is so desiring this welcome home that Paul is willing to be financially responsible for any wrongs that Onesimus may have committed. In that day this would have been a pretty big statement for Paul to make. To agree to be financially responsible for any wrongs that a slave may have committed. That speaks volumes to the second chance that Paul is giving to Onesimus and the second chance that he is requesting Philemon give as well.

Colossians 3:11 “11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

The escapade turned out differently than any might have expected, in that Onesimus ultimately escaped into the arms of God’s grace. He could not however escape God’s eye on him. We cannot straighten the lines of our crooked paths in life, but God can. God can take our worst intentions and turn them around for good, healing broken lives and broken relationships. In Onesimus’ culture, others could only see a slave, a useless slave, and worse a run-away slave. God saw more and purposed greater things for him.

We can see a parallel to our passage this morning in the Old Testament story of Joseph.

Genesis 45:4–8 “4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”

Genesis 50:20 “20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

We usually can only see the traces of God’s hand in our lives in retrospect. The story for us behind this letter can help us see that even in our darkest moments, deepest despair, and most dreadful disobedience can have some meaning in God’s purposes.

Invite Praise Team up

As I begin to close this morning I want to shift gears just slightly to something that struck me a week ago. I think that either this has application to our sermon this morning and our family potluck in just a little bit or perhaps I am just twisting my mind to think that it does.

Many people have asked me over the last few years what I am doing and what is my goal in preaching. My response is usually something like I don’t know what my goal is but that I simply enjoy sharing the gospel. I love sharing the gospel with anyone that will listen but its my prayer that someone who hears something I say that through the work of the Holy Spirit their lives might be changed. Not because I said something but because the Holy Spirit worked in their lives.

The thing that struck me a week ago as I was writing a sermon for last Sunday titled The Goal of Knowing Christ was that there are too many people that don’t know Jesus.

Here are the statistics from data after the close of 2025:

Bible Sales up 41.5% since 2022

Spiritual App downloads up 79.5% since 2019

Christian music streams up 50% since 2019

Number of Americans who say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still meaningful in their lives is up 12% from 2022 to 2025.

You would think that this is good news right? Well I agree it is good news but listen to the rest of the data:

Christianity as a whole is less important to Americans than in the past and more Christians than ever don’t actually practice their faith.

In 2000, 74% of Christians said their faith was central to their lives, today it’s at 54%. That means that 46% of Christians do not consider their faith to be central to their lives.

50% of all US adults now qualify as non-practicing Christians. In fact of those who call themselves Christian only 24% actively pursue their faith.

You can read just 1 news headline story today and probably realize these statistics are spot on if not getting worse by the minute.

Friends that is why I say that I just want to share the gospel, that is why I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. I spent some 48 years not sharing the gospel and God gave me a second chance to share the gospel.

We have an opportunity this afternoon as a family here at South Blendon to live into our mission statement. Perhaps we can look at it as a second chance but however many chances it is the time is now. If you and I, if we are not sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ then who is? Who is going to share the gospel if we dont. I can tell you right now Satan is telling people about Jesus and he is telling them a lie. I can tell you right now the government is not going to tell others about Jesus. We can not wait another minute.

If these statistics make you mad then will you partner with all of us here and make a difference.

The gospel restores broken relationships and united all people in Christ's love through His transformative grace in our lives and communities.

Jesus' sacrifice on the cross redeems us from our sins and enables reconciled relationships among believers.