2022-3-13, The Gospel Changes Everything: Accountability, Refreshment, Changed Relationships, Philemon 1-16
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2022-3-13, The Gospel Changes Everything: Accountability, Refreshment, Changed Relationships, Philemon 1-16
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So, a slave, named Onesimus, stole money from his owner, Philemon, who was a Christian, and fled as a fugitive to a huge city, Rome, at the center of the empire.
There, he crosses paths with the man of God, the apostle Paul, who happened to have led his master, Philemon, to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Coincidence? No. It was the sovereign Lord orchestrating circumstances according to His perfect will.
There are no coincidences. God orchestrates circumstances according to His perfect will.
The slave, Onesimus, heard the gospel and believed it. He trusted it. Like Paul and like Philemon, Onesimus became a believer.
His life was transformed by the gospel. He went from being a useless runaway slave, thief, and fugitive to being
a humble servant of God,
a new creation in Christ, a citizen of heaven,
a child of the living God,
and useful to Paul in the Christian cause in Rome.
The gospel has the power to transform lives.
But with this change came a mandate from the Spirit of God. The runaway slave couldn’t stay in Rome, serving the man of God. He remained a runaway slave, at odds with the law, and more importantly, at odds with his master. Reconciliation needed to take place.
The gospel reconciles us with God. Also, The gospel compels us and equips us to be reconciled with each other.
Paul, being the spiritual father of both men, was led to facilitate reconciliation between the two. He sent Onesimus back to Colossae with Tychicus (in part to protect Onesimus from slave hunters) with a personal note for Philemon.
The note contains a huge challenge for Philemon to forgive wrongs Onesimus did to him. Further, Paul’s note made it clear that their relationship as master/slave relationship will have to change because of the gospel.
This letter gives us insight regarding how our family and church relationships change because of the gospel.
In this letter we will see...
Our families and our church give us accountability and help us to be godly believers.
This is something we should welcome.
Philemon teaches us that...
Godly character and obedience refreshes the church.
This is something we should imitate.
Paul is also going to show us that...
The gospel transforms the nature of our relationships.
This is something we should marvel at and embrace.
1. Our families and our church give us accountability and help us to be godly believers.
1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This note is mainly between Paul and Philemon regarding Onesimus. However, more than these three are included in the letter.
A. Paul names Timothy. He was with Paul in prison. Timothy is Paul’s #1. He was highly respected in his own right in the early church. As if Paul’s influence were not enough, Philemon knew that Timothy was aware of the situation with Onesimus. Paul’s point is to communicated that the greater church was watching and was concerned about how it will resolved. It had implications for the cause of Christ.
B. Paul includes Philemon’s family in the situation- Apphia and Archippus. Paul wants people in Philemon’s life to know about this reconciliation he is facilitating.
C. Paul also involves the local church. “…and the church in your house.” Paul wants this letter to Philemon read in front of the church that meets in his house. We could guess that is 10-50 people. They have a shared testimony. The action of Philemon affects the testimony of the membership.
So Paul has invited many people to be in on this big ask that he is giving to Philemon? Why?
Accountability.
The family and the local church exist for accountability in godliness.
With many eyes watching, Philemon is more likely to do the right thing.
This is important to know. The church is filled with redeemed sinners. Yes we have new hearts and we are new creations, but Paul teaches us that we still have the sin of the flesh to battle with. This is true even for church leaders like Philemon!
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
Philemon may have been harboring bitterness toward Onesimus. He might have been thinking about what he’d do to him if he ever showed that good-for-nothing face around Colossae again.
But with the greater church, his family, and the church meeting in his home all watching the situation, Philemon had to think more about the implications of his actions.
If he rejects reconciliation and forgiveness, then that would undercut the message of the gospel and discourage those whom he leads.
Knowing that there will be a ripple effect from his decision, Philemon will more likely make the decision that glorifies the Lord. In this way, positive peer pressure supports Christians in godliness and integrity.
When others are watching, we are concerned that we don’t embarrass ourselves. We are concerned that we don’t embarrass the Lord. We don’t want to let down those whom God has given us to lead
We all need this accountability. In the home, we’ve a spouse and children, or parents and siblings watching us. We want the believers looking up to us to be encouraged by our actions, not discouraged. This affects our judgments.
Our families and our church give us accountability and help us to be godly believers.
We should welcome this.
In our homes and in our GGs...
Lift up the Word of God and strive to live it out.
Encourage one another by obeying it.
Demonstrate confession and repentance when we fail.
Next, in verses 4-7, we see that Philemon is a mature believer and a leader in the church. He has a great track record.
His
2. Godly character and obedience refreshes the church.
4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 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. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Here Paul celebrates Philemon’s love and faith (5). Philemon loves the Lord. He trusts the Lord.
As Philemon lives out his faith, he has fulfilled the commands of Christ:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Specifically, Philemon has loved other believers (5). In so doing, Philemon has shared his faith with others in the church and has refreshed the other believers (7).
This gives glory to Christ. Paul gets a lot of joy and comfort in his prison cell as he’s heard from Epaphras’s stories about Philemon’s faith and generosity.
Philemon is a good Christian man.
Paul remembers him in his prayers, and gives thanks.
I don’t know about you, but it strengthens my faith when I watch others be faithful. I think, “Wow!” Then I think, “I can do that too because the Spirit lives in me.” It is a confidence builder.
Obedience encourages the church. It supports the gospel.
Philemon is one of those people you want to have in your church. He is invested, informed, a leader, an encourager, a servant, and a teacher.
We should imitate Philemon’s character.
He edifies the church. He’s not a drag on the church.
It might be worth taking a moment for each of us to have some introspection. Do you edify your church like Philemon? or are you a drag? Are your fellow church members refreshed by your love and faith, or are they drained.
These comments by Paul to Philemon challenge me to be refreshing rather than suffocating.
The best way to be refreshing is to model obedience, especially in matters of reconciliation.
So, Paul wants Philemon to continue to be an encouragement to the church in the situation he’s writing about. He’s going to give a big ask. This ask is an opportunity for obedience and further refreshing in the church as reconciliation happens.
Paul is also going to show us that...
3. The gospel transforms the nature of our relationships.
This is something we should marvel at and embrace.
8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord.
Paul wanted to keep Onesimus with him. He was that great of a servant for the cause of Christ. But Onesimus was at odds with Philemon, his owner. Further Onesimus was a fugitive at odds with the law of Rome.
It wouldn’t be right for Paul to simply keep Onesimus in hand. Generally, Paul states in Scripture that the work of the gospel should be done in ways which honor the laws of the land (Romans 13). So, sending Onesimus back was the necessary thing to do.
But Paul sends a strong message with Onesimus in this letter. Philemon’s relationship with Onesimus had to change, especially since that Onesimus was now a Christian.
Paul explains that, like Philemon, Onesimus has become his spiritual child of sorts (10). Paul has a deep, sincere connection with Onesimus. So much so that he makes the statement that his heart comes with Onesimus- meaning, Paul’s spirit is with him and Onesimus should be treated as Philemon would treat Paul (who is Philemon’s spiritual father).
Paul goes on...
15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Paul directs that Onesimus can no longer be thought of as property, to be bought, sold, or traded.
Instead, the gospel mandates that Philemon see him as a human being, created in the image of God.
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Philemon should see him as a child of God.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Philemon needed to see him as a beloved brother- in the flesh and in the Spirit of God.
The nature of their relationship changed fundamentally because they are now both Christians.
They are of equal standing before the Lord. The have the same Father in heaven who is Master of both of them.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Onesimus’s mission had changed. It used to be to serve his earthly master, but now, they both carry the call to live godly lives and be witnesses for Jesus Christ.
Since the nature of their relationship has changed. The Roman slave-master format doesn’t really work anymore.
Slavery does not survive in relationships where the gospel reigns
So now it has to move to a family relationship where everyone has worth and dignity, redemption and purpose.
The gospel changes all of our relationships. Especially those in the household.
Husbands are men called to lead as Christ leads the church and worth of respect; not belittled as simpletons or emasculated
Wives are women to be treasured and presented holy and blameless in the Lord; not objectified or used in order to satisfy the impulses of men.
Children are a model of proper faith, the future of the faith, and are precious unto the Lord; not annoyances who keep us from doing what we want to do or people in whom we try to overcome our own failings in childhood.
Parents are protectors and trainers who teach their children to obey Christ and are worthy of honor, especially later in life; not people to rebel against because they keep you from doing what you want to do.
A good question for your household,
How does the gospel change the way you treat your family members?
A big problem is that we disconnect our personal experience with Christ.
The implications of the gospel need to break into our relationships.
1. Our families and our church give us accountability and help us to be godly believers.
2. Godly character and obedience refreshes the church.
3. The gospel transforms the nature of our relationships.
Application-
Look to your family and your local church (GG). Can you awaken to these principles of Scripture and start to see how these change our relationships?
Welcome accountability.
Become a refreshing person.
Treat people as they are according to God’s perspective.
