Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Good Morning Friends.

I’m Pastor Joe Vivian.

I am the Associate Pastor for children and Families here at Eastern Hills.

Welcome to our Family Worship.

Thank you Praise Band for preparing our hearts this morning.

I want to also welcome all those joining us this morning online.

Great having you join us.

I have a couple of announcements to make this morning.

-First is a new position we are taking resumes for: Director of Online Media.

On November 14, 2021, the church voted to create a new staff position called the Director of Online Media.

The Director of Online Media position is a 20 hour per week paid ($18/hr) part-time role on the church staff for managing our church online presence, including the church website, streaming platform, and social media channels.

The Director of Online Media must be a member of EHBC, be technologically savvy, and have good communication and organizational skills.

Church members who believe they fit the qualifications and who would like to be considered for this position are invited to submit their resumes to the church office or email to joe@ehbc.org.

Resumes will be taken until Sunday, February 27, after which interviews will be scheduled, if necessary.

-Second is the Official Total from our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering…ya ready?

Praise God and thank you church family for your generous heart.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Intro/Scripture

This morning we will begin a 3 part study in the book of Philemon.

Please open up your Bibles to the book of Philemon.

It’s a short letter parked between Titus and Hebrews.

For most of us, it’s one page in our entire Bible.

I will share this study with our other 2 Associate Pastors on staff.

Pastor Trevor and Pastor Rich.

We will focus on the formula that I’ve shared in previous messages that I gleaned from our own, Barb Mulvey:

Forgiveness + Repentance = Reconciliation.

Friends, that’s the Gospel.

This is the shortest letter written by Paul, yet so powerful.

See, Paul’s letter to Philemon is unique in many ways.

For one thing, it is Paul’s only letter that does not focus on teaching.

In Philemon Paul wrote as an advocate rather than as a teacher.

For another thing, in nearly every other letter, Paul directly appealed to his apostolic authority commanding that things be done as he ordered.

But in Philemon, he explicitly chose not to command his friend, but to approach him as a co-worker for the gospel, and to ask him for a favor.

And besides this, Philemon is Paul’s most personal letter, expressing his deep concern both for Onesimus and Philemon, and making requests based on their friendship.

Let’s go ahead and stand as we read the entire book of Philemon together.

Let’s pray...

Prayer

You may be seated.

Foundation

Friends, I have the privilege of sharing on the first part of the formula, Forgiveness.

Remember,

Forgiveness + Repentance = Reconciliation.

Before I lay a foundation of key individuals in this letter and it’s background, I need each of you to write something down.

If you have your

Bibles open to Philemon, then you can write this in the margin of this letter.

If you have a notebook, then in it, or even on the bulletin in your hand.

Have you ever had conflict with another person?

Not just a disagreement, but something that tore apart a relationship?

This is what I want you to write.

Take a moment and write down that person’s name.

Did you write it down?

Good, we’ll come back to that later.

Let’s get started.

Like I stated earlier, this is the shortest letter written by Paul.

Before we can get into our study, I would like to introduce the two main people that Paul is writing to and about.

Philemon, in which this letter is named and Onesimus.

Philemon

Let’s start with Philemon.

Who is Philemon?

Let’s start with his current place of residence.

Philemon’s hometown is not mentioned in Paul’s letter to him, but Colossians 4:9 indicates that Philemon’s slave Onesimus was a resident of Colosse.

Consider Paul’s words there:

Since Onesimus lived with his master Philemon at the time Colossians was written, Philemon must also have lived in Colosse.

Colosse was a fairly small city situated in the Lycus Valley near the towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis.

The Lycus Valley lay in the region of Phrygia within the Roman province of Asia, known in modern times as Asia Minor.

Philemon himself appears to have been actively involved in ministering to other believers in Colosse.

For instance, in Philemon 7, Paul spoke of the way Philemon had lovingly refreshed the hearts of other believers.

Paul thought so highly of Philemon that in verse 17 he spoke of Philemon as his partner in gospel ministry.

And it may even be that in verse 2 Paul identified Philemon as the host of the local church.

But beyond this, Philemon seems to have had a significant history with Paul that formed a strong bond between the men.

Consider Paul’s reminder to Philemon in Philemon 1:19:

In all likelihood, Paul meant that he had brought Philemon to faith, although it is also possible that he had literally saved Philemon’s life in some other way.

But whatever the case, Philemon owed Paul a great debt.

We can also see the strength of their relationship in Philemon’s prayers for Paul’s release from prison, and in Paul’s plan to lodge with Philemon after being released from prison.

We read Paul’s words to this effect in Philemon 22:

The Bible does not explain how Paul came to know Philemon.

But it does say that Paul traveled through Phrygia during his second and third missionary journeys.

But as we have seen, Paul was not familiar with the churches in the Lycus Valley.

The truth is we don’t know how Paul and Philemon became friends.

But we can say with confidence that they knew each other very well.

Onesimus

Now Onesimus.

According to Philemon 16, Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, although it is unclear what kind of slave he was and in what specific capacity he served Philemon.

In the Roman Empire during the first century, slavery was extremely common.

As much as one-third of the Empire’s population consisted of various sorts of slaves.

Slaves were typically owned by wealthier individuals, and their status depended largely on that of their owners.

Some Roman slaves were uneducated and performed menial tasks, but others were educated — some highly so — and served in ways commensurate to their education.

They could be household managers, accountants, tutors, or almost anything else that was needed.

And although it was generally preferable to be free than enslaved, it is worth noting that more than a few poor individuals voluntarily sold themselves into slavery in order to obtain the security of daily food and shelter.

And we know from historical records that in the early church, some Christians sold themselves into slavery in order to raise money for beneficences such as feeding the poor.

Generally speaking, the rights of masters over their slaves were not absolute.

Roman law allowed slaves to earn money and own property, including other slaves, and even to purchase their own freedom from their masters.

And beyond these rights, many slaves were manumitted, that is, given their freedom, when they turned thirty years old, even though this practice was not mandated by law.

Because Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, he was a member of Philemon’s household.

But unlike his master, Onesimus was not a believer, at least not initially.

But after Onesimus left Philemon’s household to seek Paul’s help, the apostle led him to faith in Christ and grew to love him greatly.

Paul expressed his love for Onesimus in Philemon 10-16, writing:

I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains… [He] is my very heart … He is very dear to me (Philemon 10-16).

Paul referred to Onesimus as his “son” because he had brought him to faith in Christ and because he had developed a fatherly love for him.