Wait Till The End...

Philemon 8–18 (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.

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.

Introduction

How many of you appreciate a story with an epic ending?

I do.

I love the movies that leave you in the edge of your seat wondering what’s going to happen next.

You ever watch any of those super predictable movies on the Hallmark Channel? You can see the ending coming within the first two minutes of the movie! I’ll sit down and I’ll watch these sappy love story movies becuase I know that this is what a good husband should be doing… Amen?

But truthfully, I like a movie that blows my mind at the end.

Transition

And today, that’s what we’re going to read about here in this short little letter to Philemon.

Runaway Slave

The book of Philemon might be one of the most interesting books in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, when the early church was debating which letters should be included in our Bible, there was a lot of debate as to wether or not this short little letter without any chapters even belonged in the Bible.

I mean, Paul is getting into the middle of a disagreement between this man named Philemon and his slave, Onesimus.

Yes, you heard that right, a slave.

Onesimus is the slave to Philemon. Slavery and classism were not just culturally accepted, but was socially accepted. This was a part of the economic system of their day.

You need to understand that as humans, we have been dealing with the deep work of equality and justice forever. And here comes Jesus, born into a time with deep social injustices, and he turns the world on its head because he has a message of the Kingdom of Heaven, and in the Kingdom of Heaven we love one another. We don’t lord over one another. In the Kingdom of Heaven the greater person is the one who serves the lesser person. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is neither Jew, nor Gentile; rich, or poor; male, or female; slave, or slave owner. In the Kingdom of Heaven we are all equals in the sight of God, and we are all made in the image of God.

So here we have this letter that makes it into the Bible and Paul is saying to Philemon,

“Your slave who ran away was converted! He’s become my spiritual son! He has so greatly served me! But the appropriate thing for me is to send him back to you to be reconciled. And the appropriate thing for you is to not just receive him, but also reconcile with him.”

So what does this have to do with me Pastor Josh and the church?

I am so glad you asked!

Onesimus is the Story of Us

I see our story, Lighthouse, in this story. Let me explain...

The name Onesimus means, “one who is useful.”

And I want to you to see importance of this here in verse 11:

Philemon 11 (NIV)

Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

Onesimus’ name means useful, but under the slavery in Philemon’s house, and absent of Jesus in his life, he wasn’t useful anymore.

Let me explain it with an example. How many of you have seen those Snicker commercials when they say, “You aren’t you when you are hungry?”

Here is the deal, “You aren’t you when you are far from God.”

You have been fearfully and wonderfully made. You are not an accident. You were made on purpose, and for a purpose. The way to know your purpose, is to ask the one who created you.

So we go to God, and in the process of going to God, we grow in God. As we grow in God, we discover our purpose and we walk in our purpose.

But as long as you try and do it without God, and as long as you try and do things your way, you are going to find out this is useless.

Onesimus was created to be useful and instead, he became useless.

So if you want to answer the big question of, “why on earth am I here?” then you need to get to God!

Or, what we say at Lighthouse Church, we want you to KNOW GOD.

Let me layer this with you just a bit more...

Philemon was the host of the Colossian Church! They met in his house.

Philemon 1–2 (NIV)

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—

also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:

So Onesimus was actually around the church. He was there with Philemon who hosted the church, and yet he still was useless.

This is why it’s not enough to come to church. You can come to church, serve on a team, be a part of a Connect Group, but if you do not know God, you might still feel useless.

From Slave to Sonship

Now Paul is asking Philemon to receive Onesimus back, but he inserts something powerful into the text here.

Philemon 18 (NIV)

If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.

Listen, Paul was saying, I am going to pay this man’s debt, or what we say at Lighthouse, I want him to Find Freedom.

Paul was saying to Philemon, Onesimus, though he was a slave, came to Know God, and now that he Knows God I want him to live in the same freedom that you and I have.

Lighthouse heat me when I say this, we don’t get to pick and chose our mission statement as a church. Our mission statement is handed to us from Jesus himself, go and make disciples!

Well if we are going to make disciples we have to lead them to a place of freedom.

Paul is saying Onesimus is free under me Philemon, and now I need for him to experience and live in freedom with you.

But listen, it doesn’t stop there…

What else is Paul asking of Philemon?

Philemon 15–16 (NIV)

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.

He’s saying to him you need to now bring him back as your brother in the Lord.

Paul was saying to Philemon that Onesimus needed to move from a slave to a son. He’s your brother Philemon, which makes him a son of God.

Somebody say “Sonship”

Sonship is the goal.

When I think about my boys they start to grow from being my children to being my sons. I see this with Jaden. More and more I can’t refer to him as my child. Because he’s not a child. There are certain connotations when you call someone a child. It’s cute when a child acts like a child but it’s not cute when an adult acts as a child, is it?

You see what I am saying?

And Paul used this language in his letters. He said the milk of the word is for babies, who are not yet skillful in the word. He challenged the church to grow up, to mature and become sons.

I heard it said this way, “sons reflect the glory of their father.”

Well how does that happen?

Here’s how… we help people Discover their Purpose

I believe this is the mark of sonship. When we figure out what we are supposed to do with our lives we can now take everything that God has given us, and begin to use it and reflect the Glory of the Father in all we do!

The Bishop of Ephesus

As I come to close… I want to give you the end of the story.

Paul has this letter delivered to Philemon and if all you read is this letter you have no idea what happens next. I think this is why you don’t hear too many sermons on Philemon and Onesimus. It feels like we have inserted ourselves into someone’s drama.

But we know that Onesimus returns to Philemon and we know that Philemon was asked by Paul to reconcile.

So what happens next?

Well within the Bible we don’t know.

But when we read the letters of the Church Fathers we get answers.

The Church Fathers are disciples of the disciples. So for example, Paul discipled Timothy.

Timothy was not one of the 12 Disciples, but he was discipled by Paul and he would go on to become the Bishop of the Church of Ephesus. This was a church that Paul started on his missionary journeys.

In Acts 12 we read about a church that was started in Antioch. This was one of the most advanced churches of their time. The leader of this church was the Early Church Father Ignatius. He led this thriving church in Antioch that was able to thrive mostly becuase they were free from the persecution that many of the churches experience at that time.

As the writings of Ignatius are discovered there are several letters written to the leader of the church of Ephesus. As I said, the leader of the church of Ephesus was Timothy. He was given the church by Paul. However in approximately AD 97 Timothy is killed as a martyr. He is stoned in the streets and killed for preaching against the idolatry of the goddess Diana.

The letters that were found by Bishop Ignatius are letters written to their new leader, Bishop Onesimus of Ephesus.

Are you hearing me Lighthouse.

Onesimus goes from slave, to fugitive, to brother, and eventually Bishop, leading the very church that the Apostle Paul founded in Ephesus.

Here at Lighthouse we call that Making a Difference.

Conclusion

The beauty of what we celebrate here today is not just the completion of three years of ministry, but more importantly, we are seeing three years of the gospel transforming ordinary people and seeing them accomplish extraordinary things.

Lighthouse, we are just getting started, and daily I encounter people a lot like Onesimus. God is looking for a Philemon who will bring people from being slaves to sin to life in Christ. When they Know God, Find Freedom, and Discover their Purpose, they are positioned to Make a Difference.

Lighthouse, I pray that we never lose the wonder of seeing lives change:

may we never lose the wonder of seeing marriages restored.

may we never lose the wonder of seeing children come back home.

may we never lose the wonder of seeing addiction broken.

may we never lose the wonder of seeing the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Let’s never lose the wonder!

And along the way, I pray we see churches birthed out of Lighthouse.

Ministries birthed out of Lighthouse.

Businesses birthed out of Lighthouse.

Kingdom initiatives birthed out of Lighthouse.

If you are believing for this together with us, let’s just take a few moments to worship God together.