Delivered By
Jordan Hines

Delivered On
February 4, 2024 at 9:30 AM

Subject
Philemon

Description

Introductions
Philemon 1:1-3
By Jordan Hines

This morning and for the next four after this Sundays, we're going to have Jordan Hines here. He's been here several times before, so I think we're pretty familiar with him. But if you haven't heard or you don't know, he is going to be candidating for the position of pastor.

Part of having him here is to feel him out, to get to know him and his wife, and to see if God would want him to be the man to lead our church. So I hope you're going to pay attention because he is preaching the word of God, and that's extremely important. That's number one reason.

But number two, we want to get to know him in his preaching. So, Jordan, come up and share the word of God with us. Thank you and good morning.

It is a great privilege to be here. We feel like we've grown attached to you. We love you guys and we cherish every time we get to come here and worship in this house with you, this time as a candidate, and just to be thankful for what the Lord is doing in our lives and in the life of this church, I do not take for granted.

Anytime I get to speak from the word of God, it is a great privilege. It's a great responsibility. It's something that the Lord has allowed me to do by his grace and not by my own merit.

We're going to be looking at the book of Philemon. During my time here in these five weeks, I want to go through a book with you guys because I want to start something and finish it with you. And I think it would be great for us to walk through this book, this short little epistle.

If you're looking for it, it is after first and second Timothy and Titus. It's kind of sandwiched between Titus and Hebrews. So if you hit Hebrews, you hit too far.

But the little book of Philemon takes up one page. It's only 25 verses. And today we're just going to cover just some context, and we're going to cover these first three verses.

It's going to allow us to see what's going on, to give us a richer understanding of when Paul is admonishing and exhorting these believers to do things, why it's so important and why we ought to be listening today in 2024. Allow me to read the whole book here. Philemon, verses one to 25.

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia, our sister, and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. 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.

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus.

I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

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. But I prefer to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but by your own accord. For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer a bond servant, but more than a bond servant, as a beloved brother, especially to me.

But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? So if you consider me your partner, receive me as you would receive him. As you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it, to say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Yes, brother, I want 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 say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. God, you have given us a beautiful book, a beautiful letter here today that helps us to understand a little bit more of your character, a little bit more of your love and your faith, a little bit more of how we ought to be living in this day. And age.

I pray that we would, as we study this book, pay attention not just to the text, but to our own hearts and see what you would have us change. See where we need reconciliation, see where we need to grow closer to you. I pray these things in your son's name.

Amen. In school, many of you may have had to write a persuasive essay. A persuasive essay includes many elements, but one of those elements is evidences.

The evidences that Paul lays out in this book are strong evidences, and he is very clear and concise. In this letter, as you've just seen, we read the whole book. He provides evidence for why Philemon and Onesimus and his family should be reconciled.

And Paul is coming at this as the most trusted source for this church. He is the one who gave them the gospel. He is a trusted source as an apostle.

He is a trusted source as a disciple maker, as a man of God. But more importantly, Paul is not leaning on his authority, even though certainly he could. Paul is leaning on his authority that is found in Christ.

And that's what we find our authority in today. We do not find our authority in a pastor, in a speaker. We find our authority in the word of God.

And God by his grace, gives his messages through people, and he works through people. And Paul is being used here greatly in this book. The big idea this morning is that Paul wants Onesimus to be reconciled back to Philemon.

Why? Because of who they are in Christ. It's talking about family relationships, relationships that should be held together, not because of a social structure, not because of a financial structure, not because of a political structure. It's because of who they are in Christ.

We're going to do that this morning by looking at the context, the sender, the recipients and the message. To understand this book, we have to understand a couple things. The first thing is a historical context.

Paul is writing this letter from prison. He has encountered a runaway slave named Onesimus, who has become useful to him in ministry. This Onesimus belongs to Philemon, who Paul is writing to.

Philemon here is a church leader at the church in Colossae, and there are actually some questions here of when and where this letter was written. There are a couple primary views on this, and to be clear, we can disagree on this and there are a couple views. The first view is that Colossians and Philemon are connected and written at the same time while Paul is in Rome.

It would have been easy for a runaway slave to be free and to avoid detection in this large metropolis. This large city of Rome. And also the same names of Paul's co workers appear in the Book of Colossians.

So there is some similarities here. The second primary view is that Philemon was written from Ephesus, which is just about 100 miles away from this area from the Lycus Valley. In fact, Philemon verse 22 says, at the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that your prayers will.

That through your prayers I will graciously be given to you. So this seems in my mind to argue for an imprisonment that's near Asia Minor. That's one of the views.

The book of Colossians reflects a Paul here who is far less certain that he'll be able to join his fellow workers. That's Colossians 418. And there's also two different statements about Philemon's status, of his spiritual state.

Philemon verse ten says, he is a child in the faith, and Colossians four nine says, he is faithful and a beloved brother. Now, we can disagree on this. I'm not going to tell you which one to believe, but honestly, whether or not Paul was writing from Ephesus or Rome does not change the message of the book, does not change the fact that Philemon and Onesimus need to be reconciled.

It does not change that. The place that Paul is writing to is the Lycus Valley. It's where Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis, some cities that we are familiar with, are located.

It's the southwestern region of modern Turkey. It's a place where a lot of Paul's ministry has taken place. And theologically here, we're dealing with some heavy things.

Think through perhaps the most controversial thing with me, and we don't want to bring this up, but we have to, and it's slavery. As Americans, we don't like to think about slavery, but we have to get through this concept, through this idea. Do not consider American slavery and lay it over scriptural New Testament times slavery.

This is. Think more of an employment relationship, a boss employee relationship, or even an indentured servitude relationship. And it doesn't necessitate that there is hostility between the employer and the employee, between the slave and the slave owner.

These people are a part of the household, they are part of the family. And I'm sure there are some slave owners who were not kind to their slaves, did not treat them well. But let me be clear on this.

Paul does not call for the abolition of slavery in this passage. In fact, he does not in any of his letters what he does call for is christian love in the context of slavery. And slavery here is not the primary identification that Onesimus carries.

Galatians chapter three, verse 28. Another teaching from Paul says, there is neither Greek nor Jew, there is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female.

For you are all one in Christ. See, slavery is not the only thing that Onesimus is identified with. Onesimus is first and foremost a Brother in Christ in this book, and that does change things.

Along with slavery comes the idea of debt. Onesimus may have incurred a debt to Philemon and therefore landing him in slavery. Philemon 18 says, if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

Paul sees that the debt, the burden here weighing on Onesimus, and he is interceding on his behalf, which is another theme, another concept here. We have to understand. We have to see the ideas of slavery, of debt, intercession.

Much of what Paul is doing here is he's looking at the status of Onesimus. He's looking the status of this church, and saying, these people need to be brought back together. He's interceding on behalf of Onesimus.

Much like Jesus intercedes for us. Paul is leveraging his relationship as an apostle, as an evangelist, as a spiritual father here. And Paul can intercede for him because he knows him.

He knows who Onesimus is. He knows that he is useful for ministry. He knows that he loves the people.

He knows that he follows God. And that is why Paul intercedes for him. Paul can intercede on Onesimus' behalf because they are unified by the gospel.

Galatians 328 again, as we just read it, talks about how we are all one in Christ. We are all unified in the Gospel. So there is a slave and there is a slave owner, and there is a church, and there is a slave who has run away, who was disobedient.

And Paul is saying that no matter what, you are first and foremost a brother and sister in Christ with the people in this room, and that you should be reconciled to them. You should be brought back. This unity that Paul is talking about is based on the spiritual fatherhood that he has with these people.

Discipleship and spiritual fatherhood will come up in this book. See Paul evangelized and discipled Philemon and Onesimus. And Paul is actively discipling everyone involved in this passage, everyone involved in this book.

And he's calling on them through scripture, through the word of God, through the character of God, for them to live like the people of God, for reconciliation. Paul calls for more than reconciliation. As a slave to master relationship, he calls for spiritual reconciliation.

Verse 21 says, confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. The heart of Paul in this passage. The heart of Paul in this book is one of a confident relationship in a brother in Christ that he knows well.

He knows these people. He knows that not only will they obey him, but they will do even more because of their christian character, because of who they are in Christ. Which means that Paul must have witnessed, Paul must have understood their consistent, faithful character.

Paul intercedes for Onesimus, a runaway slave that he has been doing ministry with, to be reconciled to his master, Philemon, and to the church in the Lycus valley. Now that we've looked at the context for the letter, we can better understand the text. We can better understand why this is so important.

So look with me at the sender. This is the first half of the first verse. Here it says, Paul, a prisoner for Christ, Jesus.

And Timothy, our brother Paul here, is labeling himself as a prisoner for Christ. And Paul, remember here, is actually in prison. So this is very real.

He's not just making things up, he's looking around. He's experiencing things in real life, and he's applying it to what he is writing. He is in chains, but not just physical chains.

Paul is chained to the person of Christ Jesus. He is identified and chained to the work of Jesus Christ and to the purposes of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to the punishment that comes in gospel ministry. Because of his relationship with Christ.

Paul is chained to Christ. And you today, as a believer are chained to Christ. You and I, our relationships are shaped by our walk with Christ and everything that happens to us.

Perhaps if we are made fun of, if we are ignored because we are Christians, if we are put down because we are Christians, it's because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, because we are chained to this person, to this savior, this God man. In fact, what's interesting is that this is the only time in scripture that Paul uses this word to introduce himself. Allow me to take a brief overview of Paul's introductions.

In first and second Thessalonians, Paul introduces himself as just Paul. In Romans, Philippians, and Titus. He is a servant of Jesus Christ.

In Romans, first two Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians first and second, Timothy and Titus. He is an apostle. In Romans, he is set apart for the Gospel.

In Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, Timothy. He is called by the will of God. But only in Philemon is he specifically labeled a prisoner for Christ Jesus, which you can see some of these themes coming back to echo in the fact that Onesimus is a slave, which is not far from being a prisoner.

Paul here is not coming at them as an apostle in his introduction. He's not saying, I'm an apostle, do this, no questions asked. He's coming at them as a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

So he's calling on them to think through what that means. What does it mean to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ? What does it mean for you and me to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ? It means that we don't get to decide how our lives go. We don't get to choose where we go or what we do.

Our life is for someone else. Our life is for Christ. He also includes Timothy, his brother.

This is a familial connection, a common faith and future. This means they have a history together. Think of your families.

Think of the people that you are close and connected to. These people mean a lot to you. What they say and what they do mean a lot to you, and they affect you.

Paul surrounded himself with brothers in Christ who helped him to serve people well. Interestingly enough, Timothy is actually from Lystra, which is only a couple hundred miles from where Philemon is. He is a well documented minister of the gospel.

This isn't a sermon on Timothy, otherwise we would go in greater detail on Timothy's life. But he is a man who is of like mind with Paul and is trusted by Paul. And this is the foundation, this is the beginning of the letter.

This is who is writing to Philemon, Paul and Timothy. He is coming at this with an interesting approach. It's not a call from authority, it's a call from submission to Christ.

So with this context in mind, with knowing who is sending this letter, the sender is coming at it from a submissive mindset to Christ. We can see who he is writing to. The recipients here, the end of verse one and verse two.

To Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, Apphia, the sister of Archippus, our fellow soldier, the church in your house. Philemon here is a citizen of Colosse. He is our beloved brother, our beloved fellow worker, which means that either he has labored in the gospel with Paul, or Paul is broadly saying that he is a laborer in the gospel, or it could mean both.

He may have been converted during Paul's missionary journey through Ephesus and acts. Chapter 18, verse 23, and verse, chapter 19, verse one. That's acts 1823 and 19.

One Philemon, verse 19, says, I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it. Say nothing, to say nothing of you're owing me even your own self. There is a personal connection here, connections that only make sense in the context of evangelism and discipleship.

Owing me your own self. Paul is a spiritual father, I believe, to Philemon. And Philemon also here is a wealthy slave owner.

He has a slave. He has people working for him, so he must be moderately wealthy. He's also able to coast the church in his home.

He's also probably a husband and father. Apphia here, who is in scripture here called our sister. But most commentators believe that this is Philemon's wife.

And Archippus here is believed to be Philemon's son. But the language here is important. Apphia is our sister.

Paul isn't mentioning these relationships, perhaps because it's not what's most important. Our sister in Christ. We are in the family of God and then our fellow soldier.

For Archippus, this is literally a comrade in arms. In a military context, it is a soldier. In fact, this man, Archippus, is mentioned in Colossians chapter four, verse 17.

And I say to Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. A man who was fulfilling ministry, who was doing ministry. So he's proven to be someone who not just received ministry, but gave ministry.

In fact, many of the people that we're talking about in this book are people that Paul is counting on. And the language that he uses speaks to how confident he is in these people, that not only will they receive the word, but they will do the word. And I pray that this congregation that you, that me, that we together would be people that hear the word, that do the word, that know the word, that people see the word lived out in our lives, as in Onesimus' life, as in Philemon's life, as in Apphia's life, as in Archippus' life.

And Paul and Timothy, I hope that we, like them, would do the ministry. And Paul speaks broadly here to the church as well. In verse two, it's located in Philemon's house.

This is bigger than just one family unit. This is a local church that is to receive a brother in Christ. And as this brother in Christ is coming back, is returning, think through the fact that there's going to be a lot of perhaps bad memories, perhaps sins attached to what the relationship used to be like.

As Philemon has, as Onesimus has run away, he has sinned against God, but also against the church and against Philemon. And this church is called to reconcile with him. It's a big ask.

It's something that Paul is confident they will do, though. Next we will see exactly what the message of this introduction is. And it's very simple.

He says in verse three, grace to you in peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philemon, his family, and the church have godly character here. They need godly character, not human character, in order to do what Paul is asking them to do.

They don't just need basic social skills. They need to know who God is. They need grace and peace.

Grace to you. This idea of grace, this unearned goodwill from God. God is giving this, he's bestowing it.

He's pouring out his blessing, and we don't deserve it. I imagine as these people are reading or hearing this letter read, they are thinking through, well, Onesimus doesn't deserve this, and we don't deserve this. These people had been given so much unearned goodwill from God, the grace of God in their lives, that Paul doesn't hesitate to ask them to give this to Onesimus.

They have received the grace of God. They have received reward where there should be punishment. Every good thing that we have in this life is given from God.

You think of James chapter one, verse 17, says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Every good thing that we have is not because of who we are. Because certainly if we could lose our salvation or lose our reward, it would already be gone.

It is because of who God is. It is because of the gifts that God graciously gives us. These people would be asked to extend grace to Onesimus in ways that only God and his people can extend grace to you.

The only way that we can extend grace is because we've been given grace by God. That's the only way God has graced us with so many blessings, with salvation, first and foremost, that gives us the heart to give grace to others. The second thing in the introduction here is peace.

Grace and peace. Think of quietness, stillness, a lack of conflict. There is a relationship involved here, too.

It's not just the idea of calm, but it's also in the context of a relationship. It's that person you can go to and you can just talk about anything because there's nothing between you. I'm not sure if you've ever borrowed money from a friend or a family member.

But when you go to a holiday and you owe that person money, there's something between you, right? Even if they're not being mean, they're not being rude about it, there's something between you and that relationship. When we have peace with God, when we have peace with each other, it means that we're not muddied by that relationship, being constricted by what I need to do for you or you need to do for me. There is nothing in the way of us loving each other and caring for each other.

There is a lack of chaos, a lack of strife, a lack of anything between us. And we know this peace, right? As Christians, we understand that there is peace when we know Christ. Romans, chapter five, verse one, is perhaps the most common verse for this.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans eight, chapter one, says, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Relational peace is the end goal of reconciliation, which is what Paul is asking them to pursue with Onesimus.

Paul wants them to pursue this, and the only reason they can is because God has given them peace to begin with. And where is this message from? The source of this message is God the Father and the Son, especially in the context of grace and peace. God the Father gave us his son Jesus for salvation, and God the Son died for our sins, and God the Father reconciles us back to himself through Jesus His Son.

And Jesus is himself our great high priest, the agent of our peace in our relationship with God. He is the key. So let us understand this morning that in the context of slavery, Paul and Timothy are writing to these people so that they would receive grace and peace from God to extend grace and peace to Onesimus.

And how does this knowledge, how does this message affect us today? Is it applicable to us today? Understand that Paul's greeting in this small section of scripture is selfless and ministry focused. It's not about him. It's not even about Philemon or his family or the church.

There. It is about reconciling for the sake of Christ. Do we have the same kind of selfless attitude towards ministry with our brothers and sisters in Christ, with discipleship? How would your coworkers, friends and family describe your interactions? Are you selfless? Do you just talk about yourself? Philemon and Paul in this letter have an established relationship.

They have a bond, and we have to understand that this was not built overnight. Do you have a brother or sister in Christ in this church or outside of this church in a Bible believing church that you can go to, that you can have that kind of relationship where you can request something as strong as this, receive this brother. We ought to have those kind of relationships.

We ought to be building those kind of relationships. And honestly, what that means is cultivating relationships through difficult times, through times when you have to give up something to help that person. Do we have those kind of relationships? Paul will go on to make requests of Philemon based on their common faith in Jesus.

Does your relationship with God change your daily decisions? Does it come into play when you think about what you're going to listen to, where you're going to go, how you spend your time and money, what relationship in your life needs to be mended around the power of the gospel? I would submit to you that every one of us has a relationship that needs to be mended because we're sinners. We've seen the context here, the historical, the geographical, the theological, and all of this. We've moved to who is sending the letter, who is receiving the letter, and what is the message.

And as we close this morning, I want us to understand that this is just the beginning because Paul is going to continue to develop this idea of love and faith in Philemon verses four through seven next week, and then after that, the new identity that Philemon, that Onesimus has in Christ, and then in Philemon 17 to 22, the personal responsibility that Paul is taking and that the church should be taking. And then finally, in week five, we'll go through the summary and conclusion of the matter of this book and just understanding that God wants us to richly know him. He wants us to understand that his character qualities ought to be lived out in our lives so people around us can see this isn't just what we say we believe.

This is what we really believe. What this book does is it shows us an example of a church that not only receives the word, they receive the grace and peace from God, they receive instruction from God, but they do it. I pray that this church would do that today.

Let's go to Lord in prayer. God, thank you for giving us a short glimpse into this book, for giving us a picture of what it means to be a church that has received the grace of God and has received peace, and has received it through Jesus Christ, and that now we have the responsibility to share that with others in our relationships. Help us today as we look at your table, to remember what you have done for us, to remember that you died for us, that you shed your blood, your body was broken for us.

I pray that you'd help us to be faithful as a church. In your son's name we pray. Amen.