The Mind of Christ in Paul and for Onesimus
Notes
Transcript
Philemon,
what a letter.
A small letter with a big message.
One chapter, 25 verses.
A letter about an ex-persecutor turned Christian,
who was in prison—Paul.
He wrote this letter to Philemon,
who had agape for the people of God,
who had pistis for Jesus Christ.
But who also had a slave named Onesimus.
Somehow,
Onesimus made his way to Paul.
And Onesimus became a new creation.
He became a Christian.
Therefore, he became part of the family of God.
Paul made an appeal to Philemon to see Onesimus as Paul’s son,
as his very heart,
as a dear brother in the Lord.
Today, we will be finishing this small letter,
and begin seeing something magnificent.
We will see what makes Paul a true Christian leader.
And we’ll see him be more explicit.
I really hope it’ll be a blessing to you.
Let’s open up our Bible to Philemon
Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—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.
So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Let’s pray.
Perhaps...
//write perhaps
Perhaps...
That’s how our reading starts...
Perhaps...
Perhaps, there’s another way of seeing all of this.
//start drawing Onesimus leaving Philemon.
Yes, you know, slavery is horrible,
but running away from a slave master was still wrong,
especially in that culture.
Yes, Onesimus became a Christian,
but he ran away.
He caused Philemon to suffer.
And I know in our modern eyes this is weird,
our modern eyes have been influenced by the Christian ideal that everyone is made in the image of God.
Rightfully so,
But still, this was written in the first century,
when slavery was not viewed as something that needed to be abolished.
And running away was not the way the Apostles envisioned that change would occur.
Therefore, running away from slavery was pretty bad.
But Paul says,
perhaps.
This “perhaps” is not an expression of doubt or uncertainty.
But it calls us to see this in an entire different light.
To see things in a deeper way.
This is much more than a 1st-century slave leaving his master.
Paul is saying,
Think about this cautiously.
Philemon,
Listen to me.
Yes Onesimus left you.
He was subordinate to you.
But perhaps...
Look at it this way, Philemon.
God had a reason for all of this.
God separated Onesimus from you for a little while,
so that you could have him back forever,
or as some translations say,
for good.
When God is in the picture,
the entire picture changes.
//Draw God and draw line to runaway
This isn’t just a disobedient slave.
No,
God had a plan for Onesimus.
It didn’t matter how difficult the situation was.
It didn’t matter how guilty the culture saw Onesimus as.
God intended this for good.
He took this event,
which culturally looked wrong,
and he turned it to good.
He changed Onesimus, a slave, into a brother in the Lord.
//draw this.
...
This should remind you of a story in the Old Testament,
back in Genesis.
...
Draw Joseph.
There was this guy whose name was Joseph.
Joseph had several brothers, who made up the nation of Israel.
And these brothers weren’t great.
They were jealous of Joseph.
Jealous that Joseph was the object of Jacob/Israel’s love.
So they sold Joseph into slavery//draw selling Joseph into slavery.
Joseph went to Egypt as a slave.
But, perhaps.
Perhaps we can look at this another way.
God had a plan for Joseph, just as he did with Onesimus and just as does with you.
So even though Joseph’s brothers had sold Joseph into slavery,
God had a plan for Joseph and orchestrated events to work for the good of Joseph.
Because God was involved,
Joseph entered Egypt as a slave, but did not stay as a slave.
Joseph rose in the ranks, and he eventually became second to Pharoah.
He had gained a lot of power, and used his power to feed the masses.// draw him with a rod
It’s crazy how God changes things.
You know,
this does look bad —> draw left bad
But God changes things for good —> draw right good
This pattern appears over and over in the Bible.
But not only that, it appears over and over in our lives.
And it would be helpful to recognize this pattern.
Yes it can look bad,
it can look very bad.
Seriously, it can look horrible.
But when God is in the picture,
he can change that bad picture into good.
He can make darkness into light.
What is your darkness?
What is the evil in your life?
Was it something that you did, like Onesimus?
Or was it something that was done unto you, like Joseph?
Either way, God can turn it into good.
And yes,
it might look like there is no way that God can use evil for good.
Imagine Joseph...
There’s no way that God can turn this into a good scene.
Brothers selling their brother into slavery?
Becoming a slave in Egypt?
C’mon, there is no way that God can do good.
But he can.
And he did.
And he can do that within your situation.
...
Paul used this argument to help Philemon make his decision.
Philemon should begin to think,
Mhmm, maybe God did orchestrate it.
It doesn’t justify the evil that Onesimus appeared to do.
But, it does help me approach this situation.
This isn’t just a visible event, but there is something spiritual taking place.
Therefore, I need to give a spiritual response.
And that spiritual response according to Paul would not be the typical response.
What would the typical response be in the Roman world?
If a slave had run away, the slave master would have the right to do whatever he wanted to punish his slave.
But because this was not just physical—it was also spiritual.
And because Philemon has a role to play in the life of Onesimus.
Philemon could accept and recognize that God is working,
or
he could just see it in the physical, and say,
this is a rebellious slave.
...
Paul pleaded with Philemon that he would see Onesimus as who he was in the family of God.
Paul did not necessarily call for the abolishment of slavery,
but he called for something deeper.
He proposed that Philemon would see Onesimus,
not as a slave,
but a brother,
a dear brother.
Perhaps,
God orchestrated for Onesimus to leave so that Philemon could see Onesimus as his brother.
As a brother who is dear to Philemon.
A beloved brother.
Remember that beloved comes from this Gk word that is
ἀγαπητόν
Which comes from agape.
From love.
...
From just a slave
to a brother in the Lord.
God changes everything.
And he does it in mysterious ways.
Through ways, that might not look good.
...
And Paul wants Philemon to see this.
Philemon, like us, was a son of God.
He would call God Father.
When we call God father,
we’re not just thinking about strength.
We’re not just thinking about power.
When we’re calling God Father.
We are talking about a God who does not do things in an obvious way.
I know that as I was growing up,
especially in my younger years,
I would not know what my earthly father was doing.
Why does he wake up so early?
Why is he telling me no?
Sometimes we can’t understand the ways our fathers acts.
And we don’t understand how God acts,
like why allow this evil.
But like a good Father,
he can use this evil for good.
And he works in a way that is accommodated to how humans work.
humans work in messy ways.
In complex ways.
But through that,
he brings his family together.
Through the ways of humans, be it good or bad ways,
God works for the good of his people.
In this case, to have Onesimus, his son, reconciled to Philemon, his other son.
God the Father wants his family together in love.
And he also wants to overthrow slavery.
But he works within culture.
Within people.
good and bad people.
And he works through humility,
self-denial,
love,
forgiveness without end,
service regardless of reward,
sacrifice without compensation.
That is how we bring change.
It’s different.
But that’s how eternal/lasting change occurs.
Philemon would bring change if he followed Paul’s request.
// write: Paul’s explicit request: “Welcome Onesimus as you would welcome me.”
If we are partners,
comrades,
if we are doing this thing together Philemon,
then welcome Onesimus as a brother,
welcome him as you would welcome me.
By sending Onesimus back to Philemon,
Paul was giving Philemon an opportunity to demonstrate what he believed in.
Our faith does not just stay in here (point to brain).
It’s not something that just happens in our brain.
No,
it goes through our hearts and to our hands.
It becomes actions.
Because we understand,
that God like the good father that he is,
always welcomes us,
we then welcome all, openly.
As a son of the heavenly Father,
Philemon would welcome Onesimus.
...
You might remember back when Oscar spoke about the prodigal son.
The son left the father, used up his inheritance,
but the father didn’t hold a grudge.
When the son came back home,
the father gave a warm welcome.
That’s what God did to us.
We left him,
but he welcomes us back.
And as Christians we are to demonstrate that type of welcome.
Philemon would demonstrate the fatherly welcome of the son to his brother Onesimus.
The Christian faith is about welcoming others as God has welcomed us.
This welcome transcends cultural norms.
I mean look at this:
It’s unheard of.
A slavemaster welcoming his runaway slave just as he would welcome an apostle.
But that’s exactly what would happen with Philemon and Onesimus.
And it’s unheard of what God did with us.
The type of welcome he offers us.
We rebelled against him,
and we do it daily.
Yet God offers a warm welcome.
He invites us back home.
When Paul uses the word welcome, //underline welcome
he is not talking about just any type of greeting.
Like just hi, Onesimus.
The welcome is not even just a dinner party.
No,
the first century-readers understood this welcome as a welcome where the stranger becomes part of the house hold//draw line to house and write.
Philemon would receive Onesimus, his runaway slave, telling him,
“My home is your home.”
“Mi casa es tu casa.”
Onesimus is a brother in Christ now,
therefore, Philemon ought to treat him as an honored guest.
Let’s try to get this into perspective.
Imagine here in the States,
less than two centuries ago,
there were thousands of slaves.
Imagine a slave running away from his slave master and meeting a Quaker,
or another Christian leader.
The slave becomes a Christian,
and the Christian leader sends the slave back to the slave master who is also a Christian.
And the slave returns with a letter which states,
“Welcome him as you would welcome me.”
That would’ve been crazy!
Right?
Although we are not dealing with the same setting in Philemon,
the letter conveys that kind of shock.
And if you are shocked now,
this following depiction will bring even more shock.
Paul recognizes that for true reconciliation to occur,
for Philemon to extend a true welcome,
for this to occur,
it is necessary that the dues of Onesimus would be dealt with.
When Onesimus left,
he hurt the business of Philemon,
and it wasn’t uncommon for runaway slaves to steal from their masters.
Therefore, Onesimus owed Philemon money// draw
So Paul said this:
If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.
That’s very father-like.
If your son or daughter owed money,
broke something,
you as the parent would pay for it.
That’s what Paul is doing.
But he’s being fatherly with Onesimus,
who was not his biological son.
But he was family.
HE was family because he was Christian,
and as a Christian he was part of the church.
We need to demonstrate this type of love.
Let me, or somebody else, help you with your dues so that reconciliation is possible.
Or how can you help somebody else with their dues, like Paul would with Onesimus.
That should be our mentality.
Paul went in between//draw Paul in between.
He takes the dues.
He takes the charges,
that he didn’t deserve.
But he took it upon himself so that Onesimus could be a dear brother in the family of God.
And I hope this language is sounding familiar.
I hope your hearing this about Paul taking Onesimus’ tab,
and you start thinking about yourself.
Look,
like Onesimus, we owed God a debt// draw
We broke his economy,
his kingdom,
when we rebel against him.
The order he has established,
the shalom, he established,
it repeatedly becomes chaos,
because of our actions.
We break this beautiful creation.
We hurt other image-bearers.
We hurt this body that he has given us.
We have a debt that we owe God.
But somebody,
took that debt that we deserved.
That somebody did not deserve the debt.
But he got in between.
And he paid the debt we were supposed to pay.
He paid the price.
This person is Jesus Christ.
He gave up his life,
as a payment,
so that we can be free.
so that we can be part of God’s family.
...
And as part of God’s family,
we show the type of love that Jesus showed.
We pay the debts of others who do not deserve it.
We do what Paul did.
We do whatever we can to pay the debt of others so that they can experience the love God’s family.
...
I hope you are seeing this:
Paul,
and this is part of the reason why I don’t touch his letters too much.
Like he’s written so much of the NT and yet this is the first series we’ve had on his writings.
But part of the reason I am cautious with Paul,
is that his writings require a special type of cautious.
You could easily miss the type of Christian leadership that Paul exemplifies.
You can easily miss this.
Paul is being like Christ.
This takes being Christ-like to another level.
We say to others,
we'll pay the price of their sins.
We’ll take their consequences, just like Jesus showed us.
Paul promised that he would do that.
He would pay whatever it was.
He probably had some money to be able to say that.
But I really like what he said,
I—Paul—am writing this with my own hand.
If you recall,
Paul was in prison.
I could imagine him with chains writing this.
And Philemon being like,
man
Paul is serious about this.
Paul will pay for whatever Philemon did.
And then,
humorously,
Paul says,
“Oh, and don’t forget,
you owe me yourself.” // write this
It’s like parents trying to persuade their children of doing a chore,
“Do this, oh and you know that I don’t have to mention that I pay for the room and house you have.”
That’s what Paul is doing.
He’s saying,
welcome Onesimus,
I’ll pay for his wrongdoings,
and I don’t have to mention that you owe me yourself.
...
What is this talk about owing Philemon owing himself to Paul?
Well,
just like Onesimus became a Christian under Paul,
in a prior occasion, Philemon became a Christian under Paul.
Philemon was indebted to Paul,
because Paul led Philemon to a new life in Christ.
Before knowing Christ through the ministry of Paul,
Philemon was going towards destruction and chaos.
But now, because of the proclamation of Christ that occurred in the ministry of Paul,
Philemon was living a life of abundance.
A good life.
Consequently, Philemon was indebted to Paul.
Philemon owed Paul his very self.
The least Philemon could do was grant Paul’s request to welcome Onesimus as he would welcome Paul.
...
//draw heart
Paul elaborated.
If you remember back to our first sermon,
we saw that Philemon was known as somebody who refreshed the hearts of God’s people.
We also saw in our second sermon,
that Onesimus was the very heart of Paul.
And now we see,
that Philemon,
a man who refreshed the hearts of the saints,
had an opportunity to refresh the heart of Paul.
And he would be able to do this,
by welcoming Onesimus.
We should be known as people who refresh the hearts of the saints.
I think we do good as a church.
We are not big enough to really have grudges against each other.
I think we try to show the love of Christ to one another.
We want to refresh the hearts of one another.
And it’s kinda easy for us,
because while we have different personalities,
we are pretty similar when we compare ourselves to the larger community.
We are in the same age range.
We have similar backgrounds.
And while it’s good and dandy that we refresh each other—we need to do that.
There’s a need to refresh the hearts of those it’s hard to refresh.
Like welcoming Onesimus would’ve been hard for Philemon.
A slavemaster welcoming his slave.
Crazy man.
But we need to refresh the hearts of those who are different from us.
Go beyond your norms.
It’s hard,
but I’m confident that you can do it.
Refresh the hearts of those who are different.
...
What Paul was asking,
not commanding,
asking Philemon to do,
was a hard thing.
It was challenging for Philemon to do this.
But he believed that a Christian can do this.
And that’s why I believe in all of you.
You can show mercy.
You can bring reconciliation.
You can extend a welcome.
You can refresh the hearts of God’s people.
...
You can.
...
Philemon could.
In fact,
Paul was confident that Philemon would do the right thing.
Not only that,
but Philemon would do even more than what he asked.
Paul was confident that not only would Philemon welcome Onesimus,
not only would Philemon see Onesimus as a dear brother instead of just a slave.
Paul was confident that Philemon would even do more than that.
...
So you might be looking at this,
wow,
Paul is sending Onesimus back,
without commanding Philemon to accept Onesimus.
Instead, Paul asks out of the basis of love,
that Philemon would welcome Onesimus.
Why didn’t he command?
Because Paul was confident in Philemon.
...
The letter ends with a remark about Paul going to Philemon’s house,
for him to prepare a guest room.
That’s pretty good news,
because Paul was in prison,
so he believed he would soon be out.
He also talks about the people who say hello,
such as Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke,
we know Luke.
And Paul ends with his wonderful benediction.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
And that’s the letter of Philemon.
...
...
I’ve looked at this letter in detail for several weeks at a time,
two times.
And I am always blessed by it.
I hope you process this.
Meditate on this.
I don’t know exactly all the ways that this letter can be applied in your life.
But I know that the Spirit can help you identify all the ways.
...
In my experience,
I’ve picked up how Paul is a leader within this letter.
He had a lot of authority as an apostle.
He was theologically trained.
He could have used theological rhetoric to persuade Philemon to welcome Onesimus.
He could’ve been heavy handed.
But Paul instead prayed,
looked at the situation,
allowed himself to be in the situation,
and saw that there was an opportunity for God’s love to be manifested.
He made space for Philemon to show the love of God to Onesimus.
Ministers are supposed to be skillful,
but not a handyman.
We’re supposed to be knowledgeable,
a professional, but not a manipulator.
I am not going to manipulate you to do things.
Instead, I will plead with you on the basis of love,
having confidence that you will do the right thing.
You will do the right thing because you know what the right thing is.
You know what the right thing is because you have experienced God’s love.
My goal is that people will know God’s tender love for them.
And I think Paul’s ministry, really allows for that.
But this isn’t just for me.
This is for you.
How can you embody the love of Christ?
How can you create space to show the love of God or to allow others to show the love of God?
One scholar said,
When we continue to position ourselves to gain power over others rather than to empower them as agents of God’s grace, our congregations and families will simply fail to bear witness to God in our world.
It’s not through manipulation.
It’s not by saying,
“You better, or else.....”
No,
it’s through the love of God,
through the cross of Christ,
and us following that.
Following the model of Christ.
//Point to Paul taking the debt.
I remember the words of Paul,
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Look at Christ.
He had all the authority in the world.
He was equal to God,
but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave.
He became man.
And he went to the cross.
In obedience to the father.
Jesus did not deserve the cross,
but he took it,
so that we can be cured.
We had a curse,
but Jesus took that curse upon himself.
And I hope you see this and say Amen, and Amen.
But not only just that,
but you adopt the mind of Christ,
just as Paul adopted the mind of Christ.
We are going to do the will of the Father here on the earth.
We are going to do whatever possible to imitate Christ.
We want redemption take place.
We are peacemakers.
I close with words of a scholar
As Christians,
as people who are sinners redeemed from the slavery sin,
we need to extend this grace to others by humbling ourselves in taking place of powerless ones as we serve as mediators who able to preach the gospel through our living.
Let’s pray.