Refreshed In Christ—Philemon 1:1-11

Context / Introduction

Well good morning Barrhead Alliamce Church, it is so good to be here with you guys this morning, It has been awesome to get to know some of you, and wow have you guys just been an absolute lighht to my family, and we are just so grateful for you all, and we are gratfule for theb oppurtunity to serve all of you. And so thank you all for the love and care you have showed us.

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This morning we are beginning a two-week series through a book you may never have heard preached before—the book of Philemon.

Yes, that is a book in the Bible…It is only one chapter…, so if you’re not sure where it is, you may have to do the old “flip and find” until you come across the one page that says Philemon.

If you are having touble finding it, it is between the book of Titus, and Hebrews.

Philemon is the third shortest book in the entire bible, but this book deals with some major themes: forgiveness, reconciliation, and the transforming power of the gospel.

This personal letter is Paul’s shortest letter, and it brings us right into the middle of a difficult, tension-filled relationship.

On one side is Philemon, a wealthy and faithful Christian whose home was being used as a meeting place for the church. On the other side is Onesimus and we are going to find out that Onesimus, is runaway slave, who may also have stolen from or wronged Philemon in some significant way.

And standing between two men is the Apostle Paul, writing from prison and trying to bring them back together, to forgive and reconcile with one another.

We are calling this series Reconciliation in Christ because this letter shows us what happens when the gospel enters a broken relationship.

And so this morning, there may be more context than the length o this book —but the context matters because it helps us understand the weight of what is happening.

Context of the book

Paul most likely wrote this letter during his imprisonment in Rome around AD 60–62, (around 30 years after Jesus ascended).

And he wrote this book at roughly the same time he wrote Colossians. The two letters are closely connected, mention many of the same people, who were believers in Collosae.

And so before we get into the letter, there is one major part of the context we need to talk about, and that is slavery.

Slavery was a major part of the Roman Empire. Some estimates say possibly around 15-25% of the population of the Roman empire was slaves.

As a note on slavery, though slavery was most of the time often based on race, that was not necessarily true of slavery in the Roman world.

Slavery during this time was based more on social and legal status than race. People could become slaves through war, debt, birth, or abandonment.

Slaves worked in fields and homes,

but some also served as physicians, teachers, or writers. Some household slaves were given housing, wages, and greater security than poor free people which is why it made slavery be more appealing than being free…

Now of course, that does not make slavery during this time any better.

Gary Hamrick describes slavery as

“man’s inhumanity to man.” -Gary Hamrick

Humans were not created to be slaves or to be the property of other humans, but slavery had become a major part of the economic culture of Rome.

But the central reality of slavery is that an enslaved person was considered property. They could be bought and sold, separated from their families, beaten, and denied, and be denied common rights.

This all matters because , Philemon was a slaveholder, and Onesimus was enslaved to him.

Onesimus ran away from his master Philemon, and He runs about 2000, km to Rome, and guess who he meets in Rome? He meets Paul, while Paul was in Roman prison. Through Paul’s ministry, Onesimus became a believer.

And so now we see the huge tension in this letter. Onesimus is a believer, which is amazing, but he is still a runaway slave returning to his master.

Onesimus is in serious trouble because he was most likely accused of two serious offences in Rome:

Running away from his master.

Possibly stealing from him or leaving him owing money.

And So Philemon, had full right to make sure Onesimus got punished under Roman Law..

Now the major tension here is that Paul is going to appeal Philemon as a brother to go against culture norms, and forgive and reconcile with His slave Onesimus… And then Onesimus who is probably scared out of his mind knows he has to go back to his master—and accept the consequences.

Thats where we are now in verse 1 and so ill invite you to join me as we read till verse 11:

Scripture

Philemon 1–11 ESV

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)

Pray

God, You are so good, As we humbly approach your word, would you show us who you are. Would you spoeak through me, and calm my nerves, Help me speak clearly for you glory and honour, and Lord please help us as we study your word to see how this aoolies to us, Open the eyes of our Hearts Lord, for we want to see you..

Amen

Water

The first point this morning, is :

The Gospel Creates A New Family (Vv. 1-3)

Lets take a look again at verse 1 and 2

Philemon 1–2 ESV

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:

The most intersting thing about this is that Paul has written 13 letters in the New Testament, and in 9 out of 13 of Paul’s letters, Paul opens up by talking or identifying himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

But what we see here is that Paul does not assert his Apostolic authority.

We know that Paul could have introduced himself as an apostle. In fact, later in verse 8, Pauls says;

Philemon 8 ESV

Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required,

But Paul does not begin with that here in this letter, instead Paul begins by calling himself

“a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”

We established earlier that Paul is actually physically a prisoner of Rome…

But isnt it intersting that Paul knows that Rome does not have the final authority over his life.

Paul undertsand that He belongs to Jesus. And I just adore Paul for NOT being circumstancial focused but understanding, that Jesus is still doing work.

In this opening verse, I hope you see that Paul is coming to Philemon personally as a family member, as a brother with a heavy heart.

And that family language is found all through these opening verses.

Paul calls Timothy “our brother.”

He calls Philemon “our beloved fellow worker.”

He calls Apphia “our sister.”

He calls Archippus “our fellow soldier.”

We do not know too much about Apphia and Archippus, Lots of scholars belive that, Apphia may have been Philemon’s wife, and Archippus may have been Philemons son.

However We do know from Colossians 4 that Archippus had received some kind of ministry from the Lord.

But the biggest thing we see in these opening verses about them is that the Gospel creates a New family,

Paul realizes that because of who they are in Christ, it makes Timothy, Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus, a brother,fellow worker, sister,and fellow soldier in the Lord.

And so, we need to understnad that this is not the normal. the normal in Roman Society was status, you were either a citizen of rome or not, you were either rich, or you were poor, you were either a slave, or a master.

The way you were treated and the way people saw you was all determined on your status, and so—Paul reminds us in these opening verses that we are all brothers and Sister in the Christ…

…..

But do you guys notice who Paul has not mentioned yet??….

Onesimus….

Onesimus isnt mentioned, in fact Onesimus isn’t even mentioned until verse 10.. and so what we are going to see here is that Paul is going to be preparing Philemon for what he is about to ask.

..What we are going to see is if the gospel has truly created a new family, then Philemon cannot continue to see Onesimus only as his slave.

Philemon and Onesimus both come to Jesus the same way we all do—as sinners in need of the grace of God.

They are both forgiven by the same Saviour. They are both brought into the same family. And because of that, their relationship with one another now has to change.

Then look at the greeting Paul gives them in verse 3:

Philemon 3 ESV

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think this tends to be the verse that we could easily skip over that because it sounds like a normal greeting from Paul…. But just sit think about those two words in light of what Paul is about to ask Philemon to do…

…

Grace and peace.

Philemon is going to need extend grace if he is going to receive Onesimus differently. And there is going to need to be peace if this broken relationship is going to be restored.

And so, Paul reminds Philemon that grace and peace come from himself?

No?

“from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul is setting the scene that if any type of relationship is going to be reconciled or restored, it is solely going to be through the power: “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,”……and Not Philemon or Onesimus themselves

What a reminder.. right?

And so an observation that comes from this?

It is easy to call the church a family until someone in that family hurts us.

Right?

And to be clear The gospel does not tell us to ignore what may happen if a brother or sister wrongs us.

But the Gospel does change how we see the person who hurt us. If they belong to Christ, they are our brother or sister. And we need to see them in that light..

That is where Paul begins: the gospel creates a new family.

And in verses 4–7, we see that this gospel had already shaped the way Philemon loved others.

And that’s going to build into our next point:

The Gospel Refreshes Hearts (Vv. 4-7)

Philemon 4–7 ESV

I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Paul knows the situation between Philemon and Onesismus, and the tension between then and yet..

Paul constanlty thanked God for Philemon, and Paul recalls his love for All the Saints….I dont know about you, but it almsot seems like Paul is buttering Philemon up here,

Right?

is it just me?

Paul’s like to Philemon:…

Philemon you dont just love some of the saints, but you show you love to All of the saints (wink wink, nudge nudge)-

And so umm because of that Philemon im bring another Saint to you who is going to need that same love…

Now, Paul is not manipulating Philemon. But he is reminding Philemon of the kind of man Christ has already made him.

Philemon is a man of great character, abnd he is going to need to show that same great love and character to Onesimus.

verse 6 says:

Philemon 6 ESV

and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Now, verse 6 is a prayer, but it actually can be a difficult verse to understand. Different translations word it differently.

The word translated may be sharing, partnership, communication, generosity, or “fellowship” in your bibles.

But the Greek word here is this word koinonia. And i think the best translation for this word in this context is actually fellowship.

When we hear the word fellowship, we may think about staying after church for some cake, having coffee before the service, an awesome potluck, or maybe getting some mcfellowship at Mcdonalds after the service…

…And there is nothing wrong with that. That is absolutely an aspect of fellowship

But what this word fellowship really means is that because we share the same faith in Christ, because of our union with Christ, we now share responsibility for one another. We participate in each other’s lives, we share eachothers burdens

The more we understand what Christ has done for us, the more it should change how we treat those around us. And that is a big reminder for Philemon, but I hope also for us this morning.

And I mean lets go to verse 7, becauese i think Paul gives us a hint that this is already happening

Philemon 7 ESV

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

The word heart is actualy intersting becaue it is not the normal word used for heart, which would be the word (Kardia) .

But the word Paul uses hear, actually refers to the innermost part of a person, the guts..

One commentary put it like this

“what Paul is really getting at is that Philemons love touched the deepest part of a person- the place of our emotions and affections”

A question that practically appliess to us through reading this,

Do we refresh the hearts of the people around us?

When people spend time with us, are they strengthened? Are they encouraged to keep following Christ? Do they see the love of Christ through you”

I had a proffessor say

“ does the Aroma / scent of Christ follow you and linger in the room when you are in the room and after you leave”

Or i guess on the flip side, when we spend time with people: do we leave people drained? do we gossip slander, do we complain, or say ungodly things, do we go on about politics?

…… Water…..

Paul connects Philemon’s love for the saints with his faith in the Lord Jesus.

His faith in Christ produced love for people, and that love refreshed their hearts.

And this idea of the heart is going to run all the way through this letter.

Here in verse 7, Paul says that Philemon has refreshed the hearts of the saints. Then, in verse 12, Paul will call Onesimus “my very heart.” And in verse 20, Paul will say to Philemon, “Refresh my heart in Christ.”

And so do we you see what Paul is doing?

Philemon, you are known for refreshing the hearts of the saints. Onesimus has now become a saint—and he is my very heart. So if you want to refresh my heart, receive Onesimus.

I think if there is one way where this letter convivted Philemon, and where it certainly convicts me is

it is easy to show love to someone we like, or someone who has been good to us…

.. But it is another thing when that person has hurt us, or constanlty hurts us…

Right?

But is that not the gospel ?? is there not just a hint of Jesus here? we hurt him and stab him in the back and betray him, sin against Him, and in turn He stops loving us?

… …

….no He rescues us, and redeems us.

infact Jesus Christ refreshes our hearts,

Matthew 11:28 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

That word rest is the same word refreshed.

Jesus is the one who ultimately refreshes us. Philemon had been refreshed by Christ, and because of that, he had become someone who refreshed others.

But now Paul is going to ask him to refresh one more person.

And that brings us into verse 8 and our final point: the gospel changes People.

The Gospel Changes People (vv. 8–11)

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Look at verses 8–11:

Philemon 8–11 ESV

Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)

Paul begins verse 8 with the word “therefore.” Well when we see a therefore, we need to figure out what it’s there for,

and so essentially, everything Paul is about to appeal is connected to what he has just said about Philemon.

Philemon, you have faith in Jesus. You are known for your love toward all the saints. You have refreshed the hearts of believers.

Therefore, I am going to appeal to you on behalf of someone else.

Paul says,

“yet For love’s sake, I would rather appeal to you.”

Now, I absolutely love this verse in Philemon, because Paul i think what we are seeing is Paul wants Philemon’s response to come from the same love that has already refreshed so many other people.

Paul knows he does not have to boldy command Philemon, He trusts that Philemon’s faith will lead him to do what is right.

comtinuing on:

Philemon 10 ESV

I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.

Paul was 179 words into his letter of 460 words or 40% into his letter, and Paul finally brings up Onesimus,

And notice how Paul introduces him. He doesnt introduce him as Philemons slave, but he introudcces Onesimus as as his child”

Then we read in verse 11:

Philemon 11 ESV

(Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)

Now, there is a little bit of humour or wordplay here because the name Onesimus actually means “useful.”

And so Paul is basically saying,

“The man whose name means useful was formerly useless to you, but now brother is finally living up to his name.”

Onesimus this once useless individual to Philemon has now become useful…

Why?

Because Onesimus has met Jesus.

And I think that is really the main point Paul is getting at in verse 11. The gospel actually radically changes people.

The big picture of what Paul is saying to Philemon is , “I know you remember who Onesimus was. But I need you to see what Jesus is doing in him now.”

This was convictiong for me, And it lead to me to be reminded that : if I personally believe that Jesus can change me, Well… then I also have to believe that Jesus can change someone else.right?

Is there somoene in your life, that you need to see through the lens of the gospel?

We are going to talk much more about that next week when Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus back.

But for this morning, I think Paul wants us to see that nobody is outside the transforming power of the gospel. right..?

Vitamin A

Now, you may be thinking, “Okay Michael, what does this actually look like for us?”

What is the Vitamin A—the application?

First, do we actually see the church as our family?

Isnt it a cool thought to come to church on Sunday and see these are my brother and sisters? this is my family? and not even jsut here at BAC, but belivers all across the world!

That’s amazing! So do we actually see the church as our family?

And if you dont, i would encourage you to think about that this week.

Second, do we refresh people, or do we drain them?

Paul says the hearts of the saints were refreshed through Philemon. When people spend time with us, are they encouraged to keep following Christ?

Does the aroma of Christ linger after we leave?

Third, are we still defining someone by who they used to be?

Paul tells Philemon, “I know who Onesimus formerly was, but look at what Jesus is doing in him now.”

Is there someone youneed to see through the lens of the gospel?

If we truly believe Jesus can change us, we also have to believe that Jesus can change someone else.

And lastly, have we personally been changed and refreshed by Christ?

Because we cannot give people grace that we have never received ourselves. Jesus says,

Matthew 11:28 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Will you go to Jesus, will you allow him to give you rest… to refresh your heart. Maybe you are still trying to figure out who Jesus is, or maybe you know who Jesus is, but you just dont feel that connection anymore.

I want you to know that Jesus wants to change your life, He wants you to bring everything to him and lay it at the foot of the cross.