A Slave and the Church
Notes
Transcript
Happy fourth of July.
It’s interesting how things work.
I promise you, I didn’t plan for this to happen.
But on this day, there were people who founded this nation,
and declared that humans have inalienable rights,
such as freedom.
But as we know,
not everybody experienced those inalienable rights.
Slaves did not have freedom,
legally, until Juneteenth.
Hence, people say that Juneteenth is the actual day of independence,
since that’s the day when freedoms were available to all people.
Slavery has marked this nation,
as it has marked plenty of other nations.
Today,
in the letter of Philemon,
we will see a Christian approach to a slave and his slave master.
We will discuss the role of reconciliation.
Today, we will see the key point of the letter to Philemon.
//write Key point to letter: Paul’s appeal 8-14
Let’s read the passage.
Philemon 8–14 (NIV)
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 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—that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 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. 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.
Let’s pray.
The passage we read began with a “therefore.”
We use “therefore” whenever we want to say,
“because of everything we just said, then, therefore, this.”
Like,
“I care about having a good marriage.
Therefore, I will spend time with my wife.”
Therefore, this “therefore” connects everything Paul has said with what he is about to say. // draw therefore and connect encouragement to appeal
Hopefully, you remember what last week was about.
We went over the introduction.
We talked about the church, Paul, and Philemon.
And we learned about Philemon, when Paul offered encouragement through his prayer.
//write the following
We learned that Philemon was a dear friend and fellow worker of Paul.
He had a ministry of faith (pistis) and love (agape).
And he understood the fellowship.
He renewed the hearts of the church.
Now because of this,
Paul makes the appeal that he makes.
When Paul was going to make his appeal,
he had this option.
write this: he could use his apostolic authority
He could have said,
God has chosen me to be an Apostle;
therefore, you need to do what I am telling you to do.
write this: he also had the option to appeal to “moral” authority
Another way to see it is this way:
Authoritative command vs appeal//write this
Paul could have used his authority,
his credentials,
to make Philemon do what he wants him to do.
It’s like a leader using his or her authority to make you do something.
While church leaders do have authority,
we have seen power abuse,
when churches abuse their authority consistently to make you do things.
Paul did not do this.
He did at times use his authority,
especially when it involved doctrine and beliefs, correcting that.
But when he wanted Philemon to act in a certain way,
Paul made an appeal, referred to moral authority (underline).
And he made the appeal on the basis of love.
on the basis of agape (draw heart and make line to top),
Paul could have just commanded Philemon.
But Paul decided for Philemon to act on love, instead of robbing him the opportunity to show love.
Think about it this way.
Say I tell you,
As a pastor, I urge you to stop acting out of bitterness towards your partner.
You can listen to me.
And you listen to me because you respect me.
You see me as an influence.
So you do it.
But you haven’t changed the inside parts.
You haven’t acted out of love,
but just out of obedience.
I do not want to rob you from the opportunity of acting out of love.
I want you to stop acting out of bitterness because love has changed you.
I want you to forgive out of the basis of love.
That’s what Paul is doing.
He’s telling Philemon,
“What I am going to tell you is not a command—I am not commanding you, I am not using my authority to tell you what you ought to do.
No, the appeal I am making gives you the opportunity to act out of love.”
Paul puts the ball in Philemon’s court.
It’s up to Philemon to do what is right.
And now we get to the actual appeal,
The appeal that Paul makes to Philemon is over this new person,
whom we haven’t seen in the letter yet.
His name is Onesimus.
And we know from the text that he was a son to Paul.//write this
A spiritual son.
This indicated that Paul had a strong relationship with Onesimus.
A very strong bond.
Paul would use fatherly terms to describe those whom he was very close to.
You might have heard about how Paul would address Timothy.
He would call him his son.
And we see that Onesimus had become Paul’s son while he was in chains.
Onesimus had become part of God’s family,
part of the church - draw the church.
Onesimus had become a Christian - draw
Another thing that might not be so obvious in our English translations is that the name of Onesimus means useful. //write name means useful.
This became key because Paul later makes a pun with the name.
But before going any further,
it might also not be clear,
especially if you haven’t read the whole letter,
but the name Onesimus was a common slave name.
And Onesimus was a slave,
was Philemon’s slave.
I think we might be feeling a sense of shock right now.
Because remember,
Paul said all of these endearing things to Philemon,
who now we know is a slave master.
And I think that shock is good,
in fact, I think that that impulse is Christian.
Before we go on pointing fingers at Paul for saying kind things to Philemon,
it’s key to put ourselves in their shoes.
And certainly,
100%, Christianity is against slavery.
No doubt about it.
But the Christian abolition of slavery took place over time.
And I think it started from this letter.
But when we think of slavery,
it’s so easy to transport our American view of slavery and put it on top of Roman type of slavery.
They were both horrible,
but they are different from one another.
And we would be wrong to think that they were the same.
The Romans believed that slavery was wrong.
But they held this contradiction because it benefited them.
They saw the institution of slavery as an institution which was contrary to nature,
because a person was subjected to an alien dominion.
Slavery was not natural in the minds of the Romans.
It was not natural for a person to belong wholly and in service to another.
Roman slavery meant that the slave master would have absolute ownership and control on the part of the master and the total subjection of the slave.
That means, that Onesimus was wholly Philemon’s.
Onesimus had lost his freedoms to choose his action or movement.
So far, Roman slavery sounds like American slavery.
But here’s one distinction:
some people willingly sold themselves into slavery out of necessity.
The person would make more money as a slave than as a free man or woman.
Kinda crazy to think about it,
but hopefully that gives you an idea that we are dealing with a different type of slavery.
Still bad slavery, and it was abolished, thankfully,
but it was different from the type of slavery we had in the U.S.
It wasn’t uncommon for Romans to give their slaves freedom after a certain amount of time.
And it wasn’t uncommon for parents to sell their children into slavery.
Thank God we don’t live in that time period,
but parents believed that it would be in the best interest of their children to be slaves,
because maybe the parents couldn’t support them or slavery could help them have a better future.
I know, it sounds weird.
But some slaves were actually doctors and writers.
Slaves were valuable property.
Although owners had the right under Roman law to physically abuse their slaves,
many didn’t because it would be a bad investment.
Slavery was inhuman.
All slavery is.
But Roman slavery was different.
It was also not related to race.
Skin color nor ethnic/racial origins determined whether you were a slave.
And here’s another interesting thing:
SLAVES OWNED SLAVES in Rome.
Slaves could also have a very good education.
It was encouraged.
Like I said,
there were doctors, farmers, tutors, sea captains,
and even city officials.
The slave population was at least equal to that of freedmen (non citizens), and has been estimated at anywhere from 25 to 40%.
And Onesimus was one of these slaves.
And somehow he made it all the way to Paul.
We really don’t know exactly how Onesimus got to Paul.
Like did he runaway so that he could get to Paul,
and have him help him out.
Or did Philemon send Onesimus to Paul as envoy, as a messenger to send gifts.
Or did Onesimus run away and suddenly ended up in Paul’s presence.
We don’t know exactly.
MY inclination is that Onesimus ran away.
And he landed in Rome, where he heard about Paul’s whereabouts.
Then he went to check him out, and there, his life changed.
And it’s crazy to think about from Paul’s perspective.
He’s in chains.
Paul is in prison.
And yet,
he did not give up an opportunity to share the wonderful news of Jesus.
I hope that inspires you.
If Paul can show the love of Jesus while in chains,
you can show the love of Jesus wherever you find yourself.
You can change lives.
I think it would be difficult to change lives in prison.
Like,
hey Onesimus, I’m Paul.
I got arrested for my faith.
That’s why I’m in chains,
would you want to be a Christian too?
And they would say YES!
And that’s because there’s nothing better than following Jesus.
It didn’t matter whether Paul was in chains,
Paul glowed with love of Christ.
And Onesimus was intrigued.
“How can this person who was imprisoned for Christ still follow him?”
It’s worth following him.
Your life changes when you follow Jesus.
I believe it.
And I’ve seen it.
Onesimus changed.
Remember his name meant “useful”
And Paul says that Onesimus was useless.
He was contrary to what his name meant as a slave.
But now, as a transformed person,
as a member of the church,
Onesimus has become useful,
not just to Philemon,
but also to Paul.
Onesimus had gone from useless to useful // draw
And now he could help the koinonia
The church,
the fellowship,
the partnership that both Paul and Philemon were a part of.
Here’s a question I have pondered over and over again.
What’s the church’s mission?
I want you to think about it.
I hope you that you take into consideration the last words of Jesus when you answer this.
The Great Commission tells us the mission of the church.
Jesus said,
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Making disciples is the mission of church.
It is the task of the church to make disciples
to help its members grow as followers of Christ,
It is the task of the church to help the spiritual formation of its people.
We all play a part in the spiritual formation of others.
Paul saw this.
That’s why he saw Onesimus as useful.
He can now help with the mission of the church.
And that’s how it should be with any convert.
If you have begun to follow Christ, you are useful to the koinonia of the church.
You can help create disciple,
and not only can you,
but you should.
Jesus expects you to.
Paul not only saw Onesimus as his son,
or as somebody who was useful,
but Paul saw Onesimus as his heart//draw and write
Paul says that Onesimus was his heart.
Maybe you remember back in the encouragement section.
Paul said that he had heard about Philemon refreshing the hearts of the congregation.//line
And now the heart of Paul was going to Philemon.
And Philemon would have the chance to refresh the heart of Paul through Onesimus.
Paul took it like this:
however Philemon treated Onesimus,
Philemon then treated Paul.
Pretty intense.
Imagine if I tell you,
however, you treat this person,
you’re treating me.
But that’s the type of bond the church should feel with one another.
If something happens your brother or sister in Christ,
you should feel it as if it had happened to you.
...
Now, Paul was sending Onesimus back.
Maybe he was carrying the letter,
or maybe Paul sent the letter beforehand.
We’re not sure.
But we do know that Paul is sending Onesimus, a runaway slave,
back to his master.
This should cause a question to arise//write return to Philemon and draw question mark.
Why is Paul sending a runaway slave back to his master?
According to Roman law, Philemon could do anything he wanted to punish his slave Onesimus,
but yet, Paul sent him back.
Why would Paul do this?
...
Paul would have liked to keep Onesimus.
He wished that he did keep him with him,
because Onesimus was helping Paul for the gospel.
Somehow, Onesimus was helping Paul in prison,
for the sake of gospel.
Paul saw that Onesimus was basically taking the place of Philemon in the koinonia, the partnership.
But, Paul sent Philemon back.
Why?
...
Verse fourteen gives us the answer.
Paul respected Philemon.
He respected his ministry.
He respected him as a brother.
And while slavery was wrong,
Paul saw that he did not want to do anything without Philemon’s consent.
The reason that Paul sent Onesimus back was because he wanted to get consent from Philemon// write “A: Consent”
Paul was not going to put his ministry first.
He was going to respect Philemon’s response.
And now,
Paul put the ball in Philemon’s court//point to the basketball.
When you put ball in somebody’s court,
if you give the ball to them,
that person has the opportunity to do some good or some bad.
But the ball is under the person’s control.
It’s up to the person how their going to act.
Paul gave the ball to Philemon.
It’s up to Philemon on he’s going to act.
Is he going to do good or is he going to do bad?
It’s all up to him.
Onesimus and Paul were under the mercy of Philemon.//draw
The Apostle Paul putting himself under the choice of Philemon--crazy.
And Paul even clarified:
He didn’t want to force Philemon to do anything,
though I know he hoped for him to do the right thing.
Instead, Paul gave Philemon the opportunity to act voluntarily.
In other words,
Philemon had free will // write on board.
Philemon had the free will to treat Onesimus as the heart of Paul or to treat him like before—a useless slave.
This is where we are stopping for today.
Next time, we will take more time looking at Paul’s argument skills.
But for now let’s reflect.
Let’s pause and process this.
...
...
...
...
You know,
reading this letter really makes me feel like when Alyda and I go out to eat.
We overhear the other party at the restaurant talking.
We try to guess what is happening,
what is occurring.
And that’s kinda what we do with the NT letters.
We’re getting a picture of this scene between three people:
Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus.
...
It’s crazy that this letter could cause so much change.
Have you guys heard about the “butterfly effect”?
Like one small thing can cause big changes.
The term originated by this guy name Edward Lorenz,
who analyzed the origins of tornadoes.
He suggested that the accumulative of small events,
like the flapping of a butterfly’s wing can have vast and devastating consequences.
Like starting a tornado.
We live in a complex world.
Small things could make big differences.
This small letter changed the world.
Who would’ve thought during the time of Paul,
that a slave running away from his master could cause so much change.
Who would’ve thought that turning to Jesus could bring so much change?
Onesimus was now Paul’s son and he is our brother.
Paul could never have imagined the precise details of the consequences of Onesimus’ conversion, but he knew it was important.
He wouldn’t have known that 2000 years later,
we would still be pondering this small letter he sent to Philemon,
and it’s causing us to think about the church, about family, about free-will, church authority, and reconciliation.
...
There was this influential preacher who died in 2011.
His name was John Stott.
He didn’t have a family.
In an interview,
he was honest about feeling lonely and envying families.
But then he said this:
In addition, single people are wise to develop as many friendships as possible, with people of all ages and both sexes. For example, although I have no children of my own, I have hundreds of adopted nephews and nieces all over the world, who call me ‘Uncle John.’ I cherish these affectionate relationships; they greatly lessen, even if they do not altogether deaden, occasional pangs of loneliness
Stott was following the example of Paul.
From what we can see,
during his ministry,
Paul had no biological family.
But he made friendships.
And then even found sons and daughters wherever he traveled.
Christians, the church, was really his family.
This should remind us that we are not building an empire.
No, we are building a family.
This is about relationships.
This is about people.
We’re probably not going to have so many spiritual children like Paul or Stott.
We don’t travel as much as them.
But that’s beside the point.
All of us have family ties to those in our local church fellowships
we are all each others’ brothers and sisters.
Paul invested himself in the life of Philemon, a slave master, and the life of Onesimus, a slave.
Likewise, we should invest ourselves in the lives of one another.
We are family.
And in this family,
no one should coerce people to act in a certain way.
No, we act freely.
And hopefully we act out of the basis of love.
I end with this:
Pray to the Spirit of God and ask him what you can do to live out a Christian life freely.
What can you do this week to refresh the heart of God’s people and others?
And if you are not a Christian,
what is holding you back from entering God’s family?
God didn’t design you to live alone.
I pray that you would take the necessary steps today and this week.
Let’s pray.
ADVERTISEMENT