A work of restoration

A Slaves Story

I want to tell you a story today about a runaway slave.

Let’s call him Useful.

At one time, that was a common,

perhaps hopeful name for a slave.

Useful, could have been born as a son of slaves.

He could have been sold into slavery due to

family poverty

or family jealousy as what happened to Joseph in the bible

Useful, could have been made a slave because army lost a battle

But he didn’t want to be a slave.

So he ran away.

And as he ran, he came in contact with a Christian leader.

And he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior!

And Useful became a good friend and

he became much more useful than he had ever been in his life.

He helped out the ministry and this messenger of God, this minister

in many ways.

At some point, he must have told this leader his story

how he was a run away slave

Perhaps he even stole some things from his master, in order to fund his escape.

Paul had loved this young man,

loved his help and

wanted to keep him by his side

but he knew, Useful needed to seek restoration and forgiveness from his former master.

In today's world, advising someone to return to slaver sounds

unbelievable.

But this story didn’t take place in today's world.

It didn’t take place in the American civil war time either.

This story is found in the bible and was written in the 60’s

That is 60 - 69 AD in the Roman World.

Roman Slavery 60 AD

*It is estimated that there were 60 Million slaves in the Roman Empire at that time.

60,000,000 slaves.

It is estimated that in Italy at that time

40% of the population was slaves.

So the Roman’s were very nervous about rebellious, run away slaves.

There were too many of them to allow any thoughts of rebellion to spread.

Masters were expected to severely punish run-always

and could even have them put to death.

*There was no sovereign nation like Canada that would give run away slaves their freedom.

*Many of them were untrained laborers: farmhands, and miners for example,

But also they were also trained Accountants and Estate managers,

such as the job Joseph had for Potiphar

before Potiphar's wife notice Joseph and caused ruckus. (Gen 39)

*Most of doctors in the ancient world were slaves too, working for a master

Perhaps the master had paid for their training.

*Another difference between slavery by the Romans and and the African slave trade was that race was not a part of bargain.

The Roman’s made slaves of many of the people the fought.

Especially those who stubbornly refused to surrender to Rome.

The Romans enslaved Europeans and Mediterraneans:

People form Gaul, Hispania, North Africa, Syria, Germany, Britannia, the Balkans and Greece.

Fathers even had the right to sell their own Roman children into slavery.

On the other hand, freedom could be bought.

Now, if slaves had a child, the child was a slave too

But if they had obtained their freedom, their children would also be freemen or free women.

In our civil war erra, it would be easy to look at a croud of people and pick out who was or could have been slaves by their color

But in Rome, there was no way of looking at people skin tones to determine

who was free and who was a slave.

Was Paul in support of slavery, was he against slavery?

He said this in

1 Corinthians 7:21 NIV

21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so.

Paul recognized it was desirable to be free.

But he also recognized that being a slave or a servant

was not a shameful thing that kept you out of God’s love.

If Paul had taught open rebellion to slavery

Rome would have been even more vicious in stamping out Christianity

at the very start.

And it would have been very chaotic for the Roman society at that time.

We could discuss and argue the merits or faults in Paul's actions for hours but

Let’s read what Paul had to say to Philemon about Useful, the run-away slave, also known as Onesimus.

Paul's Letter to Philemon

Philemon 1–3 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.

This letter begins like Paul’s other letters, stating the letter is from Paul and lists the other people with him at the time.

But this letter is to a person, not a church, though it appears a church meets in Philemon’s home.

The letter is includes the people with Philemon

Apphia - who may be Philemon’s wife for sister and

Archippus - perhaps Philemon’s brother or son.

These people are all fellow Christians.

And a church meets in Philemon’s house.

The next few lines are very like Paul, he gives the reasons he is thankful to God for Philemon.

Philemon 4–9 NIV

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—

Wow, what do we need to do to get Paul's praise?

Love all His holy people

demonstrate faith in the Lord Jesus

being a ministry partner in christ.

and his desire,

the focus of Paul's prayers is that Philemon would deepen in his understanding

of the good things we share in Christ!

Amen? Amen!

There is one other thing that is really exciting to Paul,

That is that Philemon has refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Philemon has chosen to be an encourager of believers.

Can we say the same?

Paul’s Pleas for Onesimus

Now Paul is ready to make his request of Philemon

Philemon 8–11 NIV

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.

Paul want some influence on what Philemon does with Onesimus,

our friend Useful the run away slave.

Paul, as Philemon’s spiritual father/leader felt he could have just ordered Philemon to forgive Onesimus, but he wants Philemon to chose to forgive Onesimus.

I heard the other day that behavioral modification,

no longer doing something because of the consequences,

as opposed to no longer doing it because of a heart change

was a dangerous thing.

What reasons does Paul give so Philemon will chose to forgive Onesimus?

*Paul is spiritual father is now an old man in chains and would like him to do this

*because Onesimus/Useful has become a Christian and he did it while Paul was in chains

so he didn’t shy away in shame or fear.

*Paul wants Onesimus forgiven because he has become useful.

he has had a heart change, Onesimus is not the same man any more

Onesimus has become so useful and so dear to Pauls heart that he wanted to just keep him there with him.

It would have been easy for Paul to say

I need Onesimus helping me and

Philemon owe me his life

I brought him to Christ.

But Paul resists the desire to justify keep Onesimus aganist Philemon’s knowledge or will.

Philemon 12–14 NIV

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.

Non of us like forced favors,

do we?

Where the other person says,

since you owe me this, or that and can’t restore it right now

I’m gonna borrow your

whatever, fill in the blank there.

That’s not love,

That’s not working together.

Paul didn’t want a forced favor from Philemon either.

Philemon 15–16 NIV

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.

Even though, Paul really wants Onesimus to be forgiving and given back to serve Paul

He recognised that God could have used these events just to make

Onesimus into a better servant for Philemon.

Paul wants to make clear that Onesimus is no longer just Philemon’s servant,

Onesimus is also a fellow believer, a fellow Christian now and

that should change things.

We are called to love everyone, but especially the brethren, that is our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Paul's investment in this Reconciliation

Now Paul's plea changes

Philemon 17–22 NIV

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.

If Paul’s appeal is not enough to cause Philemon to forgive Onesimus, that Paul is willing to pay whatever damages, whatever debt Onesimus owes.

It’s very likely Onesimus stole some money from Philemon to make his get away and to live on for a while.

We don’t know the debt Philemon would want,

Maybe he hired detectives to find his run away servant and wants that repaired too.

Paul try’s a little more persuasion,

The New International Version Philemon

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.

And then because Paul really does care about Philemon

he lets him know, he hopes to be released soon, and wants to come visit him.

he says

Prepare a guest room for me.

Wow, they really are close.

And then Paul closes his letter

Philemon 23–25 NIV

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.

Ministry of Restoration

What this letter represent to us, is a living example of a ministry of restoration.

As long as there are 2 or more people in this world, there will come times when someone feels wronged, or is wronged, and someone has to deal with the consequences of their actions.

That is where forgivesness comes into play.

That is where healing and restoration is needed

That is where restitution is needed.

God of course is in the business of restitution.

Bringing sinful men and women but into relationship with him.

In our story of the Run Away, Mr. Useful, that is Onesimus, he needed help to make things right with Philemon.

He needed someone to speak on his behalf, and advocate for him.

He also needed a right relationship with God.

I want each one of you to consider this morning,

if we did a 3 person play of this story,

who would you be

The one wronged?

The one doing the wrong?

Or the one leading to God and

leading to reconciliation?

At times in our lives, we have probably all been wronged.

At times we have probably all done wrong to others

At times, hopefully we have all been the one working for reconciliation in someones

else life. If we had the means, we may have even taken care of debt.

The question today is

who are you today

and what do you need to do.

Maybe you have been asked to forgive someone

and you don’t want to do that yet.

Come pray with the God who has promised to forgive you.

Maybe you have been asked to make restitution

to humble yourself

You can get strength to do that

when you spend time with God at the alter in prayer

Maybe, you have been a friend to these people and today you need strength to

challenge them to put their lives in gear and take the first step in reconciliation.

Most people find it challenging to confront other

and restitution can be costly

and we don’t want to be used.

God can help guide us when we pray.

How will you respond?

Please bow your head and close your eyes as we pray.

Father we ask for courage and conviction as we examine our own hearts this morning.

Help us to see if we are one of the players in this drama.

If we are, please give us the power to take the next step.

While all eyes are closed, raise your hand or make eye contact with me

if you want to be remembered in prayer.

And all God’s people said

Amen.